Happy Birthday, Nana!

Today is Nana's birthday. Happy Birthday to the awesomest Nana (and mom) out there! We are blessed that you are ours!

Leave a Comment

Please.... don't be shy. Go ahead and leave a comment. My lovely husband was looking over our blog today and felt the need to point out that we pretty much have no readers!!! Thanks, babe. I quickly proclaimed, "it's because my LARGE group of blog readers don't know how to leave a comment and some of them are pretty shy too!" I know I have readers because I hear the sweet VERBAL comments all the time from you all. Help me prove my 'NOT SO SHY' husband wrong and comment ALREADY, pretty please!!! If you're not sure how, just look at the bottom of whatever current post you may get the urge to comment on and look for the big fat "0 comments." Click there and wallah! You'll be directed to a little pop-up that allows you to say whatever your little heart may so desire at the time. Just be sure it's PG-13 as my kids like to read this blog too! Hmmm, wonder how much I can pay them to comment (under an alias name, of course)! And you must know that I'm normally NOT a hostile person and I NEVER threaten people but...

We're Moving!!!

I'm just giving you all a head's up... we'll be moving soon. I'll give you our exact address just as soon as I find out what it is. I do know that it's a little further north (Sonoma) than where we already live. You see, we'll be winning the new HGTV Dream Home pictured here because I have been entering daily under both my name and Miguels! If you want to give it a try, go ahead, but I'm telling you right now, I'M gonna win! Isn't it beautiful. Don't worry, you'll be invited to the first party just as soon as we get settled in.

Oh, and look at my kitchen, isn't it just dreamy?! Maybe it will inspire me to cook more for my husband and kids! Nah, I wouldn't want to get it dirty!

Train Days

We spent yesterday at the San Bernardino County Museum. They had a special train exhibit and we all know how much Matthew LOVES trains. We even brought our cousin along. Poor daddy had to work. Thanks to Papa for finding this event for us. Check out our day!

They're coming!!!

Megan's two bottom teeth that is. All of my babies get their teeth pretty late and can't seem to grow some decent hair until about 2 yrs. So, I wasn't suprised that my lil toofless 9 month old baby is just now starting to sprout some pearly whites. You can't quite see them here in this pic, but I took a peek inside her mouth and saw 2 white specks. She's had fever for the past 2 nights, a runny nose, and has been somewhat irritable. But... at least she's achieved 1 of her goals! Now if I can only get the other kids to work as hard at attaining their goals! Oh, and any suggestions for growing that hair??? I want her to look more like a baby GIRL! And now for some Q&A.... Q: What can be worse than teething? A: A big brother who just doesn't understand that you're not feeling up to par and you just wanna be left alone! Poor Megan!!!

Off-track Goals

We're off track til February and now that the holidays are over with mom doesn't want to hear any "I'm bored" comments coming from the little ones. As a kid myself, I remember my dad making my brothers and I write down a list of goals that we wanted to achieve. So I'm now making my kids do the same, they can thank their Papa later for this, hehe. These are the goals that they've come up with: Brianna: Learn to sew Learn to type (fast) Elizabeth: Learn to sew Read more books Emily: Learn to tie shoes (She hopes to gain membership into the 'Shoe-Tying Club' at school) Learn to ride a bike Matthew: Bug sisters (Just kidding, he's a tad to young to understand the goal concept) But if he was going to choose just one I would hope it would be to stop getting hurt! (This kid is accident prone lately, did you notice the mark under his eye in the last post) Megan: Grow teeth Grow some more hair Daddy: Please mommy Teach kids some Spanish Please mommy some more Mommy: Teach kids some Spanish Have 5 more babies within the next 6-8 years Disclaimer: The above blog post contains (baby) jokes that may not be funny to some (ie- grandparents) but sure as heck are funny to the author. As a general rule of thumb, you may want to take 1, maybe 2, okay- perhaps 3, small baby aspirin prior to reading. Hmmm, perhaps I should have posted this at the beginning, oops!

Windy Days

Yesterday was such a windy day. It's one of the few drawbacks to living where we do; we have to put up with days like this.

Mom forced us to stay inside all day in fear of us blowing away or Matthew's asthma starting up again. Dad was at work and we were bored. So we did some piano homework.

Then we baked with absolutely no help from mom! Brianna did just fine giving orders and the cinammon bread turned about just about perfect.

While we waited for it to be done, Elizabeth read to the dog (she loves reading and will read to anyone who will listen) and Brianna started her typing lessons. Last week the kids established some goals they would like to work towards while they are off track- one of Bri's goals was learning how to type fast like mom. Mom will write more about our goals in another post.

Before we knew it, the bread was done. We enjoyed our dish while listening to some Speed Spanish tapes (thanks to Papa) ! And yes, I said 'tapes' as in cassette tapes! I guess some people still have those things around! And all of this on a FRIDAY night! Those 'going out days' are long, long gone :(

Favorite Christmas Gift

I have to admit, my kids' favorite Christmas gift didn't come from Mom or Dad or not even Santa despite all of the money he/we spent. It came from Nana who was inspired by all the volunteering she does at the kid's school. She wanted to give them something homemade where she put a lot of thought into it. Because my kids love arts and crafts, it was their most favorite gift this year. Check out Pottery Barn's version of the gift at $49.00...

And being the savvy shopper that Nana is, I'm sure her version was much less....

I do have to say that they play with this ingenious gift everyday and sometimes twice a day!

And I can't end this post without commenting on what MY favorite gift was, I'll give you a hint..... It has something to do with a favorite film of the 80's in which the main character's favorite candy was Reese's Pieces... have you guessed it yet?

It's funny how the smallest gifts can mean the most, holding E.T. in my hands brought back so many memories. I'm sure my mom and dad spent a few pretty pennies bidding on this lil guy (thank goodness for Ebay) but the gift of a childhood treasure is priceless. Thanks again mom and dad for giving me a small, pricy- yet tangible- treasure from my childhood. Oh, did I mention that I got the movie too! I ended the night with letting the kids watch the movie the good 'ol fashioned way, just the way I used to as a kid... in mom and dad's bed that is! The looks on their faces were heartwarming and so were the giggles that could be heard... I pictured me and my big brother Joseph laying there watching it together, life flies by.... one day the kid is me, the next day I'M THE PARENT! Scary!