Our Christmas Weekend

 Christmas Eve morning moments. Someone is excited to read!

 On our way to Christmas Eve festivities in Nashville with Michael's family, this is what I found. Evan sucking his finger (meaning he's exhausted) while letting Cora hold his other finger. I don't know if you can see her face reflected in the baby mirror but she has the biggest love face and smile for Evan. Very cute!

 After a delicious meal, it was gift time at Mike's brother's house.

 These are Evan's antlers from Grandma Jennie but he wouldn't wear them. He was too interested in something up his nose I guess. lol.

 Evan getting "Rocket" pajamas. Grandma didn't even know it's his new obsession word. When we sing him his good night song and include people he knows or things around his room (ie: "Good night window/light switch/ blanket/ toys" etc) he wants us to sing "Good night ROCKET" over and over and over. We don't know what it's about but it cracks us up. The picture of Grandma is of her finally receiving much hinted about photos of her grandchildren! Now if we could only get the parents of those children to cooperate and all take a photo together... we'll see.

 Poor cousin Lauren was sick and laying down a lot so not too many pictures of her but Brooke had a great time with Evan and he really appreciated the attention and energy Brooke had to chase him around and humor him. :) We appreciate that too! ha ha ha.

 I had no idea that he knew how to hold a guitar but he was obsessed with the Wii guitar.

 Twin pajamas! Sweet brother to his "baby sister" (which he calls her on occasion).

 I wanted a picture of their size difference. It really cracks me up.

 Back to our house and getting ready for Santa to come.

 Even the pets were 'nice' this year and got some treats. :)

 Christmas morning faces.

 

 This is why Christmas morning is going to start getting fun. Look at that face over a bunch of plastic zoo animals. Priceless!

 Thank you Grandma Karla/Putsie and Grandpa Allen for recording your voices in our book from cousin Luke. Both kids L-O-V-E it!

 Daddy and Cora Grace were total buddy's while we opened gifts. I was able to capture this cute one.

 Mike got some special wax lips from Santa in his stocking. We all wanted to try them out. ha ha ha ha.

 Evan got 3 remote vehicles for Christmas! This truck was from Santa and he got 2 trains from Michael's family. He could use a few more in his mind. We have played with them all day. Each works differently and he is getting to know them quickly. Here he is trying to run over his sister with his truck. lol.

 These pictures are pretty lame of the snow a few hours later (because of my rebellion against flash) but I hope you get the idea that Evan was having fun and that we had a decent snow storm here. Oh, and he's letting me put his old caps on again. Whoo hoo!

 House cleaned up and relaxing in his new chair from Santa, Evan played with Cora's new chew toy and just looked too cute not to take a picture. :) P.S. Thank you Meghan for your sweet idea on how to hang Greeting cards from a ribbon with clothes pins. It looked awesome and gave me sanity. :)

 I have wanted a little 'boom box' to play music for the kids since Cora was born and my awesome sister in law Kelli had one and would play music for the kids. I think music (the right kind) is very beneficial to small children. I love the Mozart and Beethoven Cd's for them but also the nursery rhymes etc that get them to interact. Well, recently Michael got this one but I really didn't have Cd's until Christmas. Here you see Evan obviously riveted to the "Silly Songs"CD Mike put in my stocking but do you see that sweet baby in the background also paying attention to it? :) First thing Sunday morning, Evan went right to the CD player, carried to a comfortable spot, sat down and tried to turn it on. Dang he's getting so big and smart!

 Being silly this morning while he ate his pancakes and sausage (well, our dog Smokey actually got fed his sausage. Evan is so 'sharing' sometimes. lol).

 Swoon!

 Playing in the snow on Sunday. He fell down and didn't want to get up. He said, very pitifully, "Help... me". It was so sad, he was just tired and worn out poor little guy. I'm glad he let me help him. Being a 2 year old, that's not always the case. :)

I just want to close this post with how grateful we are to have our children. They are the greatest gift anyone could give and we really do believe that God sent them to our home. We will always strive to do our best for them including resolving to always be good to each other as husband and wife. It has been hard since Cora came, for us to connect as we used to but we are working hard to be more patient with each other with our added responsibilities and make time for just us. We know that will make us better parents to these beautiful children. I am grateful for this season that we have to remember the sacrifices our Savior was born to make for us and for us to think of what good we are doing in the world in return. I hope to work harder on how I am not only to my family but to who ever I meet. It's always feels great to plan this in my mind, now I need to make time to do it. I hope you all will have confidence in the goals you will be making for the new year, that you can accomplish them and that they will bring you joy and fulfillment. God Bless.

It's gonna be a White Christmas!

Our backyard railing right now :).

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Merry Christmas Eve

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Cora Bouncing and Evan Singing Videos

Boy are these kids talented or what!? ;)

*these were recorded earlier this month but couldn't be posted till now*

Santa. Opryland Hotel. Reading. Garth.

We went on a date! Proof, we are by ourselves. :)

California... the REST of the story.

I'm too tired to put these in order or anything so with no further delay...

(this is the continuation of a previous post. i had to buy more space in order to finish posting the pictures I wanted documented for not only the California post but for the remainder of the year. i hope it was worth it for the next week. lol)

Here's a few of my sister Carlyn (sibling #8) being silly with C.G. that I loved loved loved! I'm my brain, I had planned on capturing ever sibling holding my kiddos and making whatever faces they wanted. :) It didn't happen as my time was not my own and I couldn't get my head together. darn it.

 My nephews Liam (sibling #9's son), Noah (#6's son) and Alexander (Jace) (#4's son). They are posing on our family trampolineS at my parents house in order to who they worship. aka Liam worships Noah and Noah worships Jace. ;) It's very cute cause the older worshipee doesn't exactly like being worshipped by someone younger but they are very good sports about it. lol.

"LUKE! I'm your Auntie" :) #6's son who is 6 weeks? older than Evan just chillin' and looking deviously cute.

 My brother Bennett (#6) and his cute wifey Jennifer just chillin' on my parents new sofa. Trust me, it's always a big deal when my parents get a new sofa. ;). I would like to blog about their story one day (from my perspective) but in a nutshell, they have had way worse fertility issues than me, adopted their oldest son, then their daughter but then they tried to get pregnant again and successfully had Luke who is only 6 weeks? older than Evan and then Juliet who is coincidentally born the same day as Cora. It's fun and of course would be more fun if we lived closer to each other with all these babies (including 2 other siblings with similar aged children) that can play together. Neither of us is willing to move to the other so maybe we all need to just meet in the middle ok? :) he he he. More about my sister in law Jennifer later...

 Needing to get out of the house and enjoy the 80+ degree weather, we planned to go to the beach but on further thought, we didn't want to drive the 25 minutes to the freezing water and wind when we had an awesome playground nearby. After we could go to the fun fountain at the Janss Mall for Evan to cool off. Here's my brother Jesse (#7) with his son Stewart, carrying on a family tradition of being addicted to chap stick. I am proud to say, my husband helped break me of my habit but I still always have a stick around for emergencies (and i do always need it when i go back to the desert of CA).

 Jesse's Adelle!

Stewart and his baggy pants. Gotta love it. lol.

 I found the cutest part of both my niece Adelle and nephew Stewart (3 mo older than Evan btw and the kids/family we stayed with when Cora Grace was born). They have very unique toes! This isn't the greatest angle but they are pretty much awesome.

 Evan commanding the water to rise up to splash him. ha ha ha. It was pretty cold in the shade but it did not stop this little guy and he did not want to leave. I swear we were there for an hour and he was NOT tired. Pretty sure I had to bribe him again with a sucker. I'm a bad mother, oh well.

 Eek! Adelle, you are sooooo cute! even blurry! :)

 See her daddy in the background trying to ruin my picture? rrrr. Thank you Kelli for being normal. :)

 C.G. with my dad Grandpa Allan. Both cute + both no hair = twins! :)

 C.G. with Grandma Putsie (Karla). I decided recently to give my mom my own name for her as grandma and I adopted her nickname from childhood "Putsie". It makes me happy, and she is so easy going, she could care less. If anything, she likes it. These pictures were all taken as we were loading the car up for the airport. C.G. is exhausted, can't you tell?? lol.

 Evan giving his famous hugs to Grandpa. Miss you guys, hope we see you soon but not too soon for our pocket books. wink.

 Ok so Cora still isn't allowed to be blessed or sealed to us yet :(. We are 'patiently' waiting for CA paperwork to process through their courts then here before we can Finalize her adoption here in Tennessee. We are hoping for January for many reason. One being below! My sister in law has 4 children including an identical aged daughter to C.G. who actually crawls! (meaning more work) Annnyway, she made her daughters dress so I cautiously approached her asking if she'd make C.G.'s and here it is! I will take better pictures later but I wanted you to see it and have it documented before so much time goes by waiting that she doesn't fit it!!! knock on wood. The dress looks wonderful! I'm so grateful to her for adding something so special to us on her busy list of things to do and she didn't just go simple, she had to learn how to so some things I requested. Hopefully she is glad she learned those things for her personal portfolio. lol. :)

I just purchased more picture space for $5.00. That should be enough for the rest of the year. ;) I plan to start a whole new blog for 2011 so I can print this one. Please leave a comment if you have printed your blog to a book, who you used and if you liked them. Thank you!

Garth Brooks concert final report

We had a great time (despite the efforts of inebriated row mates) on our date and the kids loved being spoiled by Sam, Alex and Layne (sp?). Thank you ladies! I'm not really a 'concert' person but Michael loves all things concert, live sports and movies for that matter. He was able to go to the first show that was last week and last night was the last night. I am excited to hear how much money was raised for the Nashville flood victims. Some of the treats of the show was a woman held a huge hot pink sign announcing how far she drove to the concert so as he sang, he beckoned for her to come down and handed her a guitar pick. Well, that wasn't enough, he motioned for her to come back and he GAVE HER HIS WHOLE GUITAR!!! ugh! It was totally spontaneous and special to watch. After his encore song/s he left but came back alone to sing a few acoustic requests that were on signs then the band came out for one last "2 Margaritas" song (pretty sure that's not the name but it's the point of the song). It was even nice to walk out in the cold cold night cause it means Christmas is here. There is even a chance of snow on Christmas day fyi! That would be the coolest. So, thank you Michael for taking me on a date to the concert. (even though I didn't stand the whole time and complained a little about the drunk people).
On an unrelated note, I'd like to say CONGRATULATIONS to my friends Kyle and Amanda on the arrival of their first baby, son Easton born last night. :) I was going to go to her house this morning to take pregnancy pictures. ooops! Guess not! lol. xoxo
p.s. i think i'm caving to buy more space to show you pictures ;( boo.

Garth concert report:

I'm not sure what's more entertaining... Fending off the flailed arms of the obnoxious drunk girl next to me or the fact that she is 'performing' the entire concert as if she's the main attraction. Lol. :)

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Date night

A very special thank you to Sam for watching the kids tonight while we go on a date! Garth Brooks here we come! I would not describe myself as a country music fan in general but I definitely love some country music and Garth not only does a great concert for his fans but the proceeds of this rare concert benefit the Nashville flood victims of last May. Thank you Garth for caring about our community!

(i'd send pictures but my blog won't hold antmore with our purchasing space. Anyone out there ever perchased more photo space? If so, tell me about it please. Xo)

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Friday Fives - belated.

5 favorite gifts that you have ever gotten or given

1. BICYCLE. Every year, every birthday, every falling star, every wishing well or fountain since I was about 5, I wished a SECRET wish that I could have my own bike. When I was 5 I vividly remember teaching myself to ride a bike with my sisters banana seated, light purple, chopper handle barred bike in the driveway of our Mulholland Drive home. Since that moment of pride, I wanted my own bike. In the mean time my brothers got many bikes each and still, I had to use my sisters purple one. Finally, I didn't need one, I turned 16 in February (7th for those of you wanting to celebrate it) but you better believe I was wishing up until then folks. I didn't go for my drivers licence till October or so. I finally gave up on the bike (mildly bitter about it) dream so I revealed my secret wish all these years to my Mom I think, secure now that I would have a car to drive and no longer needed a bike. I GOT A BIKE FOR CHRISTMAS!! It was hilarious but so fun and for at least one day, I enjoyed my new mountain bike riding it around, bunny hopping, basking in the glow of my very first bike ... AND THEN ... my brothers Bennett and Jesse (who let me remind you, owned many bikes each through the years) took it for a 'test ride' and BROKE THE GEARS! So there you go, I'm pretty sure it lasted less than 24 hours. Awesome. :)

 

2. SURPRISED MY MOM FOR HER 60th BIRTHDAY. I don't know why I decided to do it but I told my sister Katrina and or my dad first of my desire that we should throw a surprise party for my mom. I asked my dad for a $200.00 party fund and my sister Katrina worked on the guest list which included finding some addresses of my moms friends from childhood that she found. My mom never needs anything so I mentioned on the invite 'no gifts' but still people brought some (which was nice). In lieu of a gift, I included an index card and asked them, whether they came or not to write a note, favorite memory with my mom or a favorite scripture/poem for my mom and bring it or send it back to my brother Carl's address. I found some old slides of my Grandfathers (mom's dad) of which he always developed his pictures to be a slide and planned sort of a movie theme. We ordered a cake with my mom and her twin brothers childhood nick names on it. The menu would be (i think?) Nachos and popcorn for when the 'movie/slide show' began and lastly we organized for a big Mylar 6 and 0 balloon set to be there (3 feet high each?). Ok, so how we 'fooled' her at her own house... My birthday is Feb 7th, Mom's is the 8th, we lived at the same house and I was planning to move back to Tennessee soon with Michael. I asked her if I could have a game night with some friends at her house on her birthday before I moved and even asked her to help me clean. lol. ;) She said yes and asked how many I was having over. I told her no more than 10. he he he. We sent over 100 invites! I arranged with my dad to make sure they went to dinner while we set up and people arrived so as time came closer we pushed her out the door. I was a little bummed cause she was so busy helping me clean, she was still wearing her clothes from cleaning instead of getting make up on and dressed for a date on her birthday. opps! Luckily she always looks adorable :). As soon as they were down the driveway, we got to work setting up decor and food! Guests started arriving... and arriving... and arriving and arriving! There ended up (including our humongous family, childhood friends, new friends and old friends) being about 80 people there! (and their cars parked all around our house and driveway! ha ha ha - so much for 'no more than 10 friends') My dad wisely 'stalled' my mom after eating by insisting that they go pick up something from Kmart or something then I think called us to 'see if we needed anything'= code for we're on our way is it all clear to return. ;) It was and we all anxiously waited for them to come home. My sister Jenalyn and then boyfriend waited outside with a walkie talkie to tell us when they were to the door cause the crowd couldn't be quieted to hear their approach. The lights were off and they opened the door. SURPRISE! we yelled as the lights came on and started singing Happy Birthday dear Karla... mean while, my moms face was priceless. We were singing and she still had NO IDEA the party was for her!!! ha ha ha. She's still thinking this is my/Lila's friends and party and later said she asked my dad while walking from the garage to the door, "I thought she was only having a few friends?" Isn't that a riot!? ha ha ha. Anyway as she is smiling ignorant to the fact that SHE is the guest of honor that we are singing to, she is gazing happily around the room at the crowd... suddenly you see on her face that she is recognizing people that shouldn't be there for me and starts naming them out loud, like "there's Diana, hey, that's Anne! THAT'S MY BROTHER!" Finally it clicks as we yell to her again that "the party is for YOU mom! SURPRISE!" ha ha ha She FINALLY got it and was stunned (this is an example of her humble heart, not ever expecting such a thing). She was so happy to see her Twin brother Butch who always calls and meets her for their birthday but hadn't and as she mingled around the room, she got happier and excited to see all her variety of friends. I was also great to watch my dad who seemed to glow that we were celebrating his cute wife who has done so much for so many outside our home. He also loved visiting with everyone and it might be the most animated I've ever seen my dad, kinda like we took him back to 1959 for a night. As it quieted down for a bit, we passed out popcorn and  showed the slides of my mom's and our families lives from the 1940's-80's when my Grandfather took the pictures, while the carpenters played in the back ground (my choice cause my mom always listened to them in the car when we were driving all over town). She did a great job telling us about the pictures we were seeing even though she hadn't seen them for over 30 years! Everyone loved it. One friend that came I don't think my mom had seen since they were in a social club at Hamilton H.S. in Los Angeles in the late 50's but she said she was at my mom's 5th birthday party and that they lived on the same block. CUTE! In the end we brought her cake out and asked my Uncle Butch to come over as it was his birthday too. He seemed shocked to find out that the cake was 'addressed' to "PUTSIE and BUTCH", (their childhood nick names) and I think it really touched him as we sang to both of them at the end of the night. It was complete. I loved doing the party for my mom and loved her innocence that such a thing was done for her. She has and does touch many and I thought it would be great to do a "This Is Your Life" (look it up) moment for her. People complimented us for weeks on what a great time they had going down memory lane etc and that was the real success. That was almost 9 years ago and I still glow about my mommy and the thought of that party for her.

 

3. THE MUG. On Mike and my first Christmas married I got a design your own mug for Michael that I wrote and drew on all our 'pet' names and sayings for each other. "You are my world", "Cat's Pajama's" "pookie face" (a joke one) and etc were included. When he opened it and saw it, he actually cried! He was so touched by a homemade gift and the sentiment that he didn't know why but it made him cry. I will never forget it and now either will any of his buddies who I'm sure after reading this will all buy him 'personalized mugs' for Christmas. lol. Sorry honey, for all of it. I love you!

 

4. CHILDHOOD GIFTS. Favorites: Easy Bake oven hands down! hours and hours of baking enjoyment. I literally used mine for YEARS. Crystal Barbie, the only one I owned after the one I did have before it, my brother Vincent shaved a Mohawk on her head and threw her off the balcony :(. Meany.

 

5. SERVICE. I have found as an adult that I really don't need anything for Christmas as far as a gift goes cause I can get it throughout the year. I like it best for my kids in the future (once they understand what all the fuss is about). I do love to get angel tree child at Christmas time and/or feed a family through a local grocery store sponsorship. In the future Michael has wanted our family to get more involved with the needy for Christmas instead of the gift exchange we do now with our CA family and many have expressed an interest in that as well starting next year even so I'm hoping we can plan a great project that makes someone else's Holiday wonderful, that would make mine even better!

Cute fact

Evan officially identifies stop signs as 'octagon!' On another note, he also repeats 'water fall' while we're in the car. We have no idea what that's about. We just think he loves waterfalls. ;)

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi