Thirty Something...

Today I turned thirty-three but I don't feel a day over twenty-three because my darling girl has decided to sleep through the night for the last two nights! Thanks Charity-what a great present!

(I can't put enough pictures of her on this blog...)

We had a yummy dinner at Wabi-Sabi and then we celebrated my birthday and Mitt's big Florida win with the giant cookie cake Ladd surprised me with. Fun birthday night!

Here I am at age 33 with my 3 greatest accomplishments (although two of these accomplishments are in desperate need of a hair cut!)

Pine Wood Derby

Tanner participated in his first Pine Wood Derby for cub scouts yesterday.

He made a police car and won "Coolest Design" award.

It was a fun race with lots of friends!

Finally, a post!

Life has been busy lately! I will goes days without even turning on the computer which shows how busy my days are! But I thought I would make a quick post so my pictures don't get lost in the depths of my computer somewhere never to be seen again!

Hunter still LOVES his Lego class. I love picking him up early so I can see all the neat things he makes like, merry-go-rounds, spinning tops, and remote control cars. He always has so much to tell me about his creations.


The boys are doing basketball this month. Tanner says it is one of his favorite sports and Hunter is excited for dodge ball to start next month!


This little sweetie is growing cuter and bigger each day. She is officially an independent sitter now with no desire to crawl, which I am grateful for! She is really into her toys now, or anything she can get a hold of, and the boys really enjoy playing with her! She melts my heart daily and makes all of my worries seem to disappear when I look at that sweet little face.

San Juan Capistrano Mission

Last week we headed out to the San Juan Capistrano Mission. If you ever want to see what fourth graders in California do on their Christmas break, go there! I think every group there had a fourth grader making a video of the mission. It was a beautiful mission.

I liked the audio tour that told about each area of the mission. It was very well done.

Little miss Charity is one educated baby with all these field trips she goes on!

Christmas Fun

Wow, Christmas is exhausting! Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays and seeing the excitement on my kids faces as they walk downstairs on Christmas morning, but I have to say I am glad we can get back to normal life, including better sleeping and eating habits! Here is a recap of some of the fun we had this Christmas...

Gingerbread Day...
The boys made gingerbread houses that they were so PROUD of at the Bourgeous' house (Thanks Julie!) Tanner's was a two story house and Hunter's was an Indian longhouse. Later that night we were ding-dong ditched and a beautiful Gingerbread house was left on our door!

Hanging out at Bass Pro Shops while waiting to see Santa...
Only Hunter got to see Santa-Charity was sleeping and Tanner didn't want to wait in line. Hunter was cute and shy with Santa although he is pulling quite a face in this picture!

Christmas Eve at our house with my Dad, Grandma, and Monica...

I hope Charity grows up to be as beautiful and talented as her Aunt Monica!

Santa Baby...

Santa Came!...
We open our presents from Santa before heading over to my mom's for breakfast. Both boys must have been on the nice list because they got what they asked for!
Tanner makes for one skinny Santa in his Christmas jammies!


Christmas Morning at my Mom's house...

We also went to church (I wish Christmas always landed on a Sunday-I love to sing the Christmas hymns and be reminded what all this fuss is really about!) and went to Heidi's house for dinner. I somehow missed taking pictures of all the cute cousins but you can trust me that it was fun for all with all 15 grandkids there!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Feliz Navidad!

We've been learning about the Spanish and Mexican history of California for school. So, when deciding what theme I would do for our Christmas Day Camp, I decided to do Christmas in Mexico. We read a Mexican Christmas folktale, learned about Three Kings Day, did a poinsettia craft, made galletas de Navidad,
ate tamales for lunch,
and had a pinata!

It was a fun day and I am so grateful for the traditions we've established with our homeschool friends!

Earlier this month I took the kids, with friend Bradley, to La Asistencia in Redlands. It was like a mini mission the padres built out here so they would have more land to graze their livestock. Who knew? It was a quaint little place rich with history!

In Charity's world, "field trip" and "stroller" are synonymous!

December, so far!

December is always a crazy month! Here are a few things we've been up to so far...

Calico Ghost Town Field Trip








The boys love Thursdays because it's time for Hunter's Legos Engineering Class and Science Explorers (no picture) for Tanner!

Then it's off to PE, this month it's Kickball!

We also attended a live Nativity Program which was really well done!