Thanksgiving break 2012 in El Centro, At the Park

 Wow time sure does tend to get away from me, just think or try to imagine that it's really 3 months ago and then it would be Thanksgiving break which we spent down in El Centro with my family.  We had a lot of fun and since the weather is still nice and warm (we should have brought our bathing suits!!) the kids had a great time at the park with their aunts!! They crack me up, but I have to say it is a really fun park and the kids had a blast.

 

 

 Ok so can the smiles be anymore off, well I guess so I think Alex looks a little pained to be smiling and Brianne is just trying to show a bit of her teeth.  On the other hand Taylor looks great and I think that is one of her nicer smiles that she has had in a while.  (she has been a bit camera shy for a few months now)

 Now this picture on the other hand is how it really is!!

 

 

 

 Swinging fun, sometimes I think we forget how fun it is to just swing on the swings!

 

 

Thanks to my sisters for taking the kids while Lily slept and Dan and I got to go to the movies it was a great day and we had a lot of fun!

Halloween 2012

Wow Halloween this year seemed like it lasted forever, well actually just the whole weekend and to finally end on Halloween.  We started off withe the kids at school having their parties and parade on the Friday before Halloween due to the lower grade teachers being out of the classroom on Halloween.  So that meant parties and getting all dressed up as well as the school parade.  

 So this year Alex wanted to be a mummy, now you would think that would be easy, well I thought so and in theory it wasn't that bad, I went to the fabric store and they had aged muslin and I thought oh this is great I will just rip it into strips and we will wrap him up.  That was the plan and it worked (well kinda).  By the end of the day when it came time for the actual parade he was unraveled quite a bit, but he had a great time and loved his costume.

 Brianne wanted to be a few different things but she finally decided on being a baby, (so funny) although when I asked her if I could put her hair in pigtails well that was a definite no!  She said "mom I will look stupid"  I had a good laugh since she is so funny when it comes to her hair, but I was glad that she let me put in a half pony with ribbons.  She also didn't want to wear the bib for school either.  But all in all she had a great time.  I am one of the room mom's for her class and had all the party stuff ready so I got to help with that and she was quite happy.

 Then it was time for the parade but not before we got a picture of all the teachers and the principal, I thought this was so cute and fun!

 

 Parade time and as you can see Bri is just walking no worries as Alex is all unraveling and slapping every ones hands as he walks by.  After a long day of fun school activities we rested up on Friday night to have our friends over on Saturday night for dinner, fun and pumpkin carving.

 

 

 

 As you can tell the kids are having a great time all intent on getting their pumpkins done, Lily even tried to help Brianne scoop out her goo.  So much fun!

 

 

 

 I love that they all have these super intense looks on their faces and they concentrate so hard on what they are doing.  It was a great time to hang out with our friends and let the kids have a great time together.  We always love getting together with the Garner's and Pedro's and I am glad we all enjoy each others company!

 

 So here are my 3 kids pumpkins Brianne carved her all by herself and designed it too.  Alex was going for a perry the platypus and I love the little mini one that he carved as well.  Taylor went for Mickey and she did a great job!!  So now that we finished that all we had to do was wait for Halloween night to come, the kids wanted to go trick or treating with their friends in Spreckles so we got all dressed up and headed over. 

 As you can tell this time I told Brianne I was going to help her and it was ok to do her hair and wear the bib and all.  She really liked the added touch of freckles, she does have some of her own but of course not that dark.

 Taylor wanted to be a witch, and that was great she was a bit understated but enjoyed it anyway.

Lily was my little elephant and she was so super cute I could hardly stand it!! I love babies and their costumes they are so stinking cute!

 Here is the whole gang and Alex is all mummified up again and we hope this time the wrapping wold stay a bit better so who knows we will have to see.

 My little elephant roaring (well yawning)  she is so cute!  that was before going out!

 She was a great little trooper had a ton of fun just hanging in her stroller as we went with our big group, she stayed nice and warm in her costume and had a great time!

 As we were out Brianne ran into one of her classmates and they had to get a picture together!  They were cute.  All in all it was a great night and Alex did come unraveled but that's ok he had a great time with his friends and that's all that matters.  I have to say I am glad that Halloween is over and now we can get onto the next set of holidays which will be a lot of fun!  Halloween 2012 is now in the books so until next year!

Alex turns 11!!!

Happy Birthday to Alex wow he has turned 11!! Yikes that is one year closer to having another teenager!!! We had a great time this year we started off by going to my parents house down in southern Cali for a short visit and while we were there we had to celebrate his birthday!  So it was lots of fun to spend with family and Alex always seems to have a great time, He was very excited to open his presents and it was a great distraction for my parents and sisters.

 April got his presents all set out for him!

 

 I love to see the smile on his face he is so excited and happy with his new things.

 He sure does love his Nerf guns!! I think he has had them on every birthday and Christmas list for years!

 He was really excited for his K'nex they are really cool he can build a ton of things and it can be motorized, he spent almost the whole next day making new things.  It was a great time to spend with my family and we were glad to be able to celebrate while we were there.

 On his actual birthday a few days later we had Laurie and her family over for a good dinner of his choosing which was good old Mexican fiesta and fruit salad.  He was quite excited for his present from them as well.

 

 Angry Bird flingers, too much fun.  Dan and I even tried them out and I have to say they are quite fun!

 

Time for cake???? well not really Alex really isn't a cake kind of guy, so he asked for pie! Candles still work in a good pumpkin pie, we actually had pumpkin and apple thanks to Costco!  Oh such yummy pies!!  It was a great day and he had a blast celebrating.  This year he asked if he could take donuts to school instead of cupcakes or cookies so that was good for me!  All the kids in his new class were great as soon as we walked into class all his classmates were wishing him a happy birthday and then started singing to him.  He has a great class this year and has found some great friends.  All in all it was a great birthday!

Lilyanne's 1st Birthday!!!

 Wow this year has gone by so very fast!! I can't believe that our little Lily is already 1!! Wow she is such a little cutie and such a huge blessing in our lives.  So we didn't do anything huge for her birthday just a bit of cake and fun times, as you can see she was so very clean when we started! I love it!

 Well she was fine when we had the candle in the cake and then after we blew it out and sang to her she was quite sad that we took it away, she really doesn't like to have things taken away from her!  So it took her a little bit to get back into the swing of things and get into her cake, which for a girl who does really like to eat sweets she wasn't really into her own cake like all of our other kids were. It really did take her a little bit to get going on it.

 But she finally did and with a little help from us she saw that it was ok to touch the cake and even eat a bit of it.

 At the end we knew that she was done because she just simply pushed the plate away and didn't want anymore.  If she would have been able to actually pick up the plate she probably thrown it on the floor, since that's what she usually does when she is done with food.

One last picture before we hit the bath tub!! Good times and great fun I can't believe she's one!!