Our New Ride

Check out our new ride! We got it yesterday! Mommy is officially a soccer mom!

Spring Piano Recital

Today the girls had their Spring Piano Recital. We were lucky to have Uncle Joseph, Nana and Papa, and some neighbors attend. They did an amazing job. See the man with the camera standing up in the background of the picture with Elizabeth playing, that's their proud Papa.

The kids are off track now, yeah!!!! You know what that means.... sleeping in! Also, we'll be headed for another trip to Big Bear soon. Standby for some pics!

The Playhouse

We've recently switched from the Parentshack website to this new blog. Since the switch, I've lost a lot of good photographs, especially of the playhouse. I wanted to repost them here so that in twenty years from now the girls can look back at the pictures and re-live their memories. Daddy built this thing with his own two hands during his paternity leave when I had Megs. He drywalled, ran electricity, installed flooring, and also threw in an air conditioner. Mom and the girls painted. It turned out great. We've had it up for about a year now. The girls, their cousins, and all of the neighborhood kids get quite the use out of it. Santa even visited it this past Christmas and left it full of gifts. Daddy put Christmas lights on it and as you can see from these pics they're still up. Kind of ghetto, I know. But that's how we roll, at least on the playhouse.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

And now for the news you've all been waiting for ............(drumroll)....... some of you have already guessed it....... Yup, our family will be growing by the end of this year! I'm so excited! Megan is too! Can you tell?

Tune in tomorrow...

Did you notice the quality of the pictures in my last post? Yup, you guessed it. I got my camera back from the camera cleaner. Oh, how I missed it. Here's our weekend recap: Saturday we took the kids to the cemetery to pay a visit to their Grandpa. We bought him some really cool Disney pinwheels to leave on the gravesite. Some of the kids had other plans for those things, they wanted so bad to take those pinwheels home and put them in front of the playhouse. Argh! How do you explain that to a 3 year old (Matthew) and a 5 year old (Emily). Well, my explanation went something like this... Me: No, I'm sorry, honey. These are not for you, I told you that when we bought them. You said you understood. They are for Grandpa! Emily: But Grandpa can't even see them!!! Me:Yes, he can! Matthew: Is Grandpa gonna pick them up when we leave? Me: No, not exactly, Matthew. Matthew: But, why not? Emily: Because he CAN'T, Matthew! Matthew: But, why? Emily: (frustrated with Matthew, turns to me and says) Well, if he is in heaven then he can see them from anywhere! Why don't we just put them in front of our playhouse and he can enjoy them from there! Me: (my conversation with myself in my head) Argh, she's got a point! Is it worth the fight? Is it really worth all the but, why's'? Exactly what lesson am I trying to teach these rugrats!!! I'm not quite so sure myself. Long story short, we (reluctantly) left the darn pinwheels behind! I'm sure Grandpa is enjoying them at his gravesight, right?! (This is when you laugh in agreement [with me, not the kids]). Here's a family pic of us at the cemetery. It was taken by timer. Kinda corny, huh? After the visit with Grandpa, we took the kids to Uncle David and Aunt Teresa's house for a birthday party! We had a great time and left very late. The next day mom and dad got a sitter for the kids, went to brunch, and proceeded to throw all dad's vanity and pride out the SUV door and begin our search of a minivan. Yes, I said minivan! We didn't bring one home though. It was more of mom's attempt to introduce dad to the idea and get him comfortable with it. He sat in one of the Honda Odysseys and was pleasantly surprised at all of its cool features, from leather to dvd to navigation. We'll try again next month!

Now, for a little surprise... We have some exciting news to share... but, you'll have to tune in tomorrow to hear, errr... I mean see it. Megan is quite excited to show you what it's all about! See you then!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

I like this picture of the kids. As simple as it is, it's one of my absolute favorite pictures of the older ones. It sits on my nightstand so that it's the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing I see before I close my eyes. Brianna looks quite happy to be the leader of this crew. Elizabeth's face captures her innocence. Emily isn't quite sure if NOW is the time to smile or not. And Matthew, totally oblivious to what's going on around him and the fact that he's fallen victim to three older SISTERS!!!! He has no idea what's in store for him in the near future! To me, this picture is the epitome of goodness and wholeness. It is the epoch of youth. It speaks volumes of sibling fun. It's the essence of a summer afternoon. It's childhood captured. It is why I enjoy having a LARGE family!

You're probably thinking..."What the heck is she rambling about?"- sorry, it's late and I'm tired. If it helps you understand bettter, then let me preface all of the above with this...

I was sitting here kind of bored and eventually found myself looking through old pics of the kids. I especially love doing this reminiscing thing with Miguel because I find it hilarious that he has difficulty telling one kid apart from the next. All of them look somewhat similar when their babies. However, I'm a MOM, and moms always knows which of their babies is which. As I'm staring at the baby pictures of each child I can't help but get sad, I find myself pondering time and where the heck it goes. Before you know it, I'll be babysitting my grandchildren. It's so easy to get caught up in the moment especially when you're busy living life, working, and trying to raise kids amidst everything else. It's easy to forget what your priorities are. It's easy to forget precious moments like this...

or this... I don't want to wake up one day and regret not taking the time to enjoy my family, my kids. From the time I was a little girl all I wanted to do was grow up and be a wife and a mommy. Well, here I am living my dream and I have no plans to wake up anytime soon! I want to savor these precious moments. I want to freeze this year and just live it over and over again for a long, long time. If only that was possible. I now know the meaning behind the saying "in the blink of an eye" --

Because in the blink of an eye, this lil guy

Became this

And this lil girl

has become this

Megan is growing like a weed as is her personality. The above picture depicts one of her educational/entertainment stunts this past weekend while attempting a flight of stairs at the cemetery we visited. Babies this age are so much fun. The best part was watching her succeed! She was so proud of herself. She started at the bottom step, then stopped midway, turned around to evaluate her progress, smiled when she realized she got caught by mommy (she knows she's not supposed to be climbing stairs), and then continued forward towards her goal! She breathed a sigh of relief (or perhaps it was weariness) once she hit the top. Ahhh, the sweet smell of success!

Okay, I'm done reminiscing for now. Sorry for the long post!

Sidenote: I wanted to post baby pics of the older three for your comparison, but sadly, I do not own a scanner. I consider their baby pictures prehistoric to date; they are from the pre-digital camera days. Oh, how I wish I had a scanner/printer! Hmmm....... birthday gift..... perhaps??? (Mom... Dad... hubby...anybody???) Just kidding. Okay, seriously, I'm not really kidding. My birthday is coming soon. Just kidding again.

Mantel Completed

I must brag again! Look at what the finished project looks like. After all of the projects he's attempted (without any past carpentry skills) he never fails to blow me away when he's completed. This came out better than I imagined. My husband is amazing! Thanks Papa Bear!

Happy Belated Birthday, Megan!

I've not posted in awhile, been quite busy with the demands of home, work, and school. Even worse, my camera is out of order right now- it was in much need of a thorough cleaning. I couldn't have taken it for repair at a worse time with Megan's birthday and Easter a week later. I didn't realize that it was going to take 3 weeks to clean. Megan turned the big ONE on April 8th, we haven't officially celebrated it yet. I'm hoping to plan a birthday/baptism bbq for her. Standby for pics. Once I get my camera back I'll be in the full swing of things again, I promise.

Easter was amazing, we had beautiful sunny weather, we went to church, daddy heated the pool and the kids went swimming all day. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!

So excuse the pics lately. I'm resorting to poor quality cell phone images. Here's two pics of the beautiful birthday girl. My-- has she changed! Here's her birthday poem...

Her name means Pearl thats just what she is the apple of our eye our 4th little girl. She's mild and sweet a lover of all a joy to meet. Give her a blankie and she'll suck it til slumber No boys will ever get this lil one's number! Her nicknames include Megs, Meggie, and Megs n Bacon the day she was born Our hearts were taken. Happy 1st Birthday, Megan!

Dad's Latest Project

Check out the latest project dad has been working on.

Mommy's been wanting a mantel since we moved into the house almost five years ago. Daddy built this puppy in a day. All they have left to do is paint it and place a wall quote over the front of it, mom will post more pics of the completed project in another day or two.

Thank you, Daddy!!!! Mommy can't wait to see all of the stockings hanging from there come December!

No More Cast!

I haven't had the opportunity to upload any pictures lately. I so hate doing blog posts unless I have a picture to share but I couldn't help but share some good news! Today was another follow up apppointment with Matthew at Loma Linda. He got his cast off and I'm happy to report that I haven't seen a more beautiful xray than today. The bones were PERFECTLY aligned. I couldn't help but reach over and hug the doctor for doing his magic. Aside from an itchy, stinky arm, he's doing great! He's been given the okay to start using the arm. The more he uses it the quicker the stiffness will disappear. Daddy and I were talking the other day and saying that it's hard to remember a time when he didn't have his cast on! I can't wait til it's all a distant memory and he has full use of it again. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers.