Alyssa 4th Birthday

Alyssa got to celebrate her 4th birthday with both my family in WV and with her daddys family in NJ. She had a strawberry flavored mermaid cake at grandma's house and a round chocolate cake at chucky cheese.

We celebrated with friends and family at Chucky Cheese in West Windsor. All the kids enjoyed the coaster simulator, even Alyssa had her hands up!

She even

got a new cousin for her birthday. Kia Alexander was born early morning on July 11th. Here is a picture at the hospital where her other 2 cousins were visiting the new baby too. Aiden and Dhanya were very happy to see our girls and enjoyed the small amount of time they spent together. Baby Kia was sleeping.

I think she had a great birthday with Chucky Cheese, her friends, family and her lola even took her to Build A Bear.

4th of July in WV

We travelled to West Virginia for the 4th of July this year. We did the usually stuff, Yard Sales at 7:00 in the morning, but not before stopping at McDonald's for breakfast. Then did some food shopping for the weekend. Came home to feed the men since they were fishing all morning. At night we would all pitch in to make dinner then it was off to the fireworks show. We all had a fun time, even John. The kids had fun with their sparklers too. This is Isabel and her cousins. At night the kids all slept on one big air mattress. Poor John, one morning Alyssa curled up beside him. Then next morning I found him on the floor.
The girls spent most of their time playing with the new chicks. My dad incubated some chicken eggs so my girls would get a chance to see them hatch. There were over 30 chicks and the girls went crazy playing with them.

First Tooth

As you can see my little one has lost her first tooth. She is very happy about it too. The tooth fairy came to see her but with this hard economy she only left some silver. Isabel hopes with her next tooth that she will get some green paper$$$$!

Our first Easter in So Cal

Happy Easter! The girls enjoyed their visit from the Easter Bunny on Easter morning. After they came in to our room early in the morning and bugged us to go down stairs, we decided to let them hunt for their baskets, but first they had to hunt for all the eggs the bunny hid. They finally found them all and also found their baskets in the laundry room, how silly they thought. They then realized that Johnny had not been up to find the eggs and so they hid them again for their lazy brother who got up later.



After a long morning we all got our Sunday best on and went to Church. Our neighbor then had us over for a lovely Easter brunch

Balboa park with the girls

Here are my cuties on the carousel at Balboa park. A friend and I took our girls out for a day of fun at the park with every museum imaginable. The carousel was the first stop then it was off to lunch, the train museum, the butterfly garden, ice cream Sundays and then we finished with a ride on the little train. We skipped the big museums after we saw the long long lines since it was spring break for many of the local schools. The girls all had a great time and we plan to go back and ck out the science museum real soon.

Family campout with the princess guides 09

At the end of March we were invited by Isabel's princess guides tribe to join them on a family camping trip. Alyssa couldn't wait, she was so excited to be able to go, this was her first time camping and she enjoyed every minute of it. She got to trade beads like all the other princesses and she even got to go on stage with Isabel and friends to do a little skit at opening ceremony's. Alex even made her a Lacota in training t-shirt.










From the camp ground we all hiked 1 1/2 miles to the beach where the girls took part in a relay race with a sponge and buckets of water, it was fun for everyone. Isabel was tired after her walk and run that she and her friend Lauren decided to take a break in the sand.


Here is only one of the shots I got of John, he doesn't like his picture taken, so every time I tried, he would cover his face. After this he decided to jog back to the camp site. When we got back, we found him fast asleep in the tent. He did finally get up for the water balloon launch where he proceeded to fire them directly at me. What a loving son!

Johns 18th birthday

My baby boy turned 18! I can believe that it was 18 short years ago when I had my first baby and now he will soon be off to college. Alex and I celebrated with John by taking him out to a comedy show in San Diego. We all had a great time and even plan to go again soon. We also all went out to dinner to Johns choice of restaurant, Islands-a big burger place, after opening a few gifts. Here is his new tennis racket for when we go down to the courts for a little one on one.

Happy New Year From Sunny So CAL

Happy New Year !
We celebrated our First West Coast New Years Eve with our new neighbors last night. The girls had a great time playing with the other children and shooting off their poppers at midnight.


We wish you all Many Blessings this New Year and hope that with all my posts that you will want to come out for a visit. We are enjoying the weather and taking advantage of it when we can. The girls and I hiked to the park on the last day of the year in 640 weather. The girls enjoy the park more then the hiking but as long as we have snacks and water then they're in. My kids love food so we need to stay active! Today we may visit moonlight beach playground while daddy goes mountain biking. Here are my two silly statues on the big rock!

Christmas morning 08

This was our first Christmas in our new home
in California and besides being a little sleepy the girls had a great time opening their gifts. Here is Alyssa opening her train whistle and trying it out first thing. Ashlee also got into the spirit. She was trying to open all the gifts including the yummy gold chocolate coins. (later she did get the coins and also some strawberry chapstick). The girls received some fun board games along with some electronic games, along with movies and lots of over goodies.Mommy and Daddy got new Ipod Shuffles with arm bands so we can start our new year off on the right and left foot. Mommy also got a new pair of running sneakers while daddy got some of his favorite red wine. The girls spent the day in their PJ's and playing with all their new toys. We had dinner together around 3:00 PM and homemade pumpkin pie just shortly after. Alex and I took a little nap in there too. John was in New Jersey this Christmas spending time with his Dad and spending New Years with his friends. We all missed him this morning.

Decorating the tree

The girls had a blast decorating their Christmas tree this year. Alyssa is aware of what is going on and they both look at each ornament and remember where it came from or who made it before they put it on the tree. The dog, dear old Ashlee, on the other had could care less!Daddy was playing Christmas songs on the keyboard as Alyssa put all her ornaments on one side of the tree, we had to spread them out before the tree when lopsided. Too cute.

Old fashion Christmas

Our family attended our new Church's old fashion Christmas party on December 29Th. The Girls got on stage (all the way to the left)to do their happy birthday Jesus song for everyone. After we enjoyed some yummy cookies and punch the girls started dancing off all that sugar. While there was singing on stage our girls found an area off to the side to show off their moves. Here they are taking a break. Then back to making themselves dizzy!

Gingerbread /Spice houses

Here are my beautiful girls making their yearly gingerbread houses. We usually only make one house and decorate it together but this year we decided to make one for each of them. Daddy helped putting on the roof's but we had to kick him out of the kitchen when he started eating the decorations. We used gum drops, candy canes,spice cookies in the shape of trees and little men. It was really hard for them to not each the decorations too. But the icing was everywhere and I am sure some of that made its way into their mouths. It was a good time and a good mess!

Christmas parade

Isabel and Daddy marched in the Encinitas town parade with their Adventure Guides troop. The theme as you can see was a charlie brown Christmas. The pictures are not very clear because I had to copy them from an email but Auntie Beth took them for me while we all enjoyed the parade. The girls carried twigs with one ornament and the dads all carried a wrapped present. John's snoopy had a seat high on the dog house that was pulled on a wagon. We all had a great time, even Alya and Alyssa liked seeing the street cars and lighted floats.

The living nativity

Last week we were invited by our neighbors to visit a nearby church that has a live nativity.The girls first made little lambs then played a few games before we went to eat. Afterward while the adults waited in line to see the nativity, the girls, myself and my neighbor walked around and snacked on many of the treats offered from chocolate covered strawberries and marshmallows to caramel covered apples. Then while in line we of course had hot chocolate and more food, corn dogs and churro's. The girls were quite full by now and ready to see the show. The girls got gold coins to pay the taxes on our way in. Isabel really enjoyed each part of the show where Alyssa was not as interested. There was also camel rides,and some lambs and goats to pet. There was also this baby camel.