The Christmas Card

It sounds easy enough. Take a cute picture of the kids and make a card. Well let me tell you that it is not so easy. First there will be at least one who does not like what they have to wear. Then one will not want to be in the location you picked. Next the bickering starts. And last but not least Jake is only 2 so this alone is a complication.
So we headed to a park by our house. Usually I do this by myself but Scott decided he would help out. Yeah for me ! So he found this old tree that had fallen over and the quest for the perfect shot began. Basically the girls have to just sit and smile and wait till Jake smiles to. The only way he would this was when Scott hit me in the head with a branch. So I am standing on the side of a slippery hill being whacked by a branch . It worked look how cute they all look. I love the adventure each day brings. The chosen one ! Happy Holidays to you all.

Cate was so over us all. She was hoping I wouldn't make her be in the picture. No Way. Look how cute she is I know everyone wants to see how she has grown this year too.

Taylor is always ready with a smile

Sam the monkey had a great time. She was all over this tree. She wanted to stay and play .

Cate will be mad when she sees this. HeHeHe!

Jake was not a fan of sitting way up high on the tree.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah We love you all !

The Chainsaw

Scott will not think this is as funny as I do. In fact he may not even appreciate that I posted this. Scott has been looking for a chainsaw for some time. Well it just so happened my dad found one deep in his garage. It was my grandfathers. I don't think it has been used in 30 years. Scott is very handy and got the thing to finally almost work. Seriously the whole garage was filled with smoke I could barely see him. The pictures do not do the situation justice! I laughed so hard he chopped up a bush in the front yard and part of a tree in the back. He was having way to much fun..... So if anyone has a chainsaw we can borrow let me know. :)

The Tree

Every year we head off to the Christams tree farm......at Home Depot to pick out our tree. We live in southern California do you know how much trees at all those other places cost ? It is always a challenge to get everyone to agree on the PERFECT tree. Scott always wants to get the first one we look at . We usually do end up with the first one but we have to dig through and make sure. This drives my poor husband crazy! He wants to grab and go . We got our tree all picked out (yes the first one he grabbed) and then the guys who cut the base told us it had a very crooked trunk. So the kids were all excited we got to look again. Scott not as much. He is smart and brings gloves and a knife to cut through the wrapped up trees. I love that guy ! So for the next few weeks our house will smell and look festive ! Merry Merry!

My little All Star

Tay had a great season in soccer this year. Coach Hank and Coach Dan did such a good job. I couldn't have asked for better coaches. Tay loves to play. She is working on passing and centering the ball. She still loves to take it up the side and shoot. The Gator Girls took second place in there division, and Tay made the all star team. Way to go little one ! In January she will try out for the signature team and the in February she will start her spring team. Taylor is so fun to watch on the field. God has given her a real love and talent for this game.

Hide-n-seek gone bad

Jake and I were playing the other day and he decided to hide from me. I didn't actually know we were playing hide-n-seek. Oops! He hid on my bed and this is how I found him. Fast asleep. It kind of freaked me out. I was bringing a load of laundry to fold and there is this little foot sticking out. I lifted the covers and there was my sweetest boy fast asleep. How can moments like this not make you smile!

American Girls

Well we finally got to go to the American Girl store for Tay's birthday. Once again we all had a great time. Although it took for ever to get there it was worth the wait. My Mom went with us . We had lunch ,and shopped , the dolls got their hair done and the girls got to get matching outfits with there dolls. I know some of you think this is silly. But this is a big deal to little girls. This was such a special treat! Sammy and her doll Mia

Taylor and her new doll Nellie

Ok so some of you know that I am constantly taking the girls especially Sam to the bathroom ...every 5 minutes. No Joke ! So at the store they have these special holders for the dolls. So funny , I had to take a picture. I know I am probably the only one who would do this . But how funny is this.

Me and my little girlies!

The End of a Season

Well Volleyball has come to an end. Cate did a great job. Although she did not get to play that much this year I am so proud of how hard she worked. I will miss sitting in the bleachers cheering them on. I know it was emotional for her to end this season both on the court and in her life. I too felt sad . It is so weird to have your children grow up. How do you hold on and let go...... This I think will resonate throughout this year. Sorry It is really harder than I imagined it would be. Well here are some fun shots of Caitlen on Senior night. Way to go little one. Now you can get ready for Water Polo!

The Seniors

The sleep over

For Taylors 8th birthday I promised her she could have a sleep over. With soccer finally over we had her party last Friday. I have been throwing birthday parties for 17 years now and never I mean NEVER have we had one where everyone can come. That said we invited 21 girls. I know I know but I hate to hurt feelings. .....Only 1 girl couldn't come. CRAZY. So in my tiny house we had a ton of little girls. They were so fun no drama,fights,or even complaining. Thank God for my sweet husband. He was so helpful . All the girls think he's so funny. We made bracelets,bookmarks,played bingo and watched movies.Oh and ate a ton of pizza ,snacks and popcorn. I think it went really well. I started to get all proud when I had all the girls asleep at 11. But got knocked down a peg when they woke up at 4:30 am and wanted to know what I had planned for them to do now. This is not my best time of day. I told them SLEEP was what I had planned and we were not going to get up right then. They compromised and watched movies til 6:30. What a blessing to have such a fun group of kids . I do not foresee us inviting this many over for quite a while. At least till next year when my Sweet girl looks at me with those big blue eyes. We just laughed when we saw them all squeezed in. The neighbors even came over to see the show. The picture does not truly give the situation justice.

Dominican Republic

Last night Caitlen left for a week to go to the Dominican Republic. She is going with our church youth group, 25 in all. Rebekah Holbrook is there on a 2 year mission working and teaching at an orphanage. The kids are going to do speechless,vbs and manual labor. What an amazing opportunity . I am so thankful Caitlen was able to go. Please pray for all that went . My prayer is that this will be a life changing trip for my daughter. If you would like to see updates here is the blog for the trip. http://www.dominicanupdates.blogspot.com/ and this is Rebekahs blog so you can get to know the kids there and special prayer requests. http://web.mac.com/tiarivka/Site/Blog/Blog.html Please check out both sites especially Rebekahs I know my heart is touched by all she is doing there.

Trick or treat with the Brownies

Last week Taylors Brownie troop went to Nohl Ranch Inn ( an old folks home) to trick or treat. They go at dinner time (4:00) and go from table to table and the people give them candy. Its really cute everyone makes such a big deal over the kids. I met the sweetest lady . I had a volleyball t-shirt on because we were going straight to Caties game after . The lady told me her granddaughter plays for Elmo which is the team we were playing that night. So I got to see her granddaughter play . What a small world ! She invited me back to teach me to knit,crochet, or sew special volleyball pillow cases. I love how these women love to touch. They crab on to your hand , touch your hair, or your back. It reminds me of how my grandma used to be. I think I enjoyed this time more than the girls. Later as I was going through her candy I found a viactive (calcium supplement) One of the grandmas must have kept the candy and started handing those out instead. I laughed so hard. Sneaky sneaky grandma !