"My present"

I was doing the dishes the other day and Kyla called me frantically! MOM, MOM - come here quick you have a present!!!

I was thinking that it was going to be one of the several random "presents" that the kids had wrapped with crinkled paper of a variety of things around the house. So I asked her to hold on a sec because my hands were wet.

She got impatient and called again: MOM, MOM - please hurry you have a present here waiting for you!

So I dried my hands and to my wonderful surprise at that moment, I was given the absolute best gift I have ever received to date. My sweet daughter had put a bow on her tummy and gave herself to me for Christmas. She even included her brand new stickers that her daddy had just bought for her!

Professional pictures with a 4 mo old, 2, 3, 4, & 5 yr old do not work!

My mom had high hopes that she would be able to get her 5 grandkids in a professionally taken environment. Well....................... not so much. First the wait was over an hour because they only had one person there, then the very nice lady taking the pictures wanted the positions to be just perfect despite me saying " listen, if you can just get 5 kids in one place looking at you at the same time, we'll be thrilled " she didn't take my advise and proceeded to make sure their legs were at the right angle their heads, etc... This made the process too intense for Kade and he broke down and refused. We tried every type of bribery that I could think of and it didn't help. This created Jack who does everything his brother and sister do, good or bad to also have a breakdown to get his mommy attention in.

The professional pictures ended up just being Aiden, Kyla, and Gavin and they turned out SO cute - but it was definitely not what my mom had in mind. Hopefully my mom learned her lesson and will stick to trying to figure something out in our own homes. (o: Love you mom!

These were taken by me while we were waiting and for punishment after the fiasco!! My internet has been down at work for 3 days, so I had tons of time on my hand to do some editing. It's not perfect but it looks kind of cool.

The first two I didn't have time to edit... you can see what I took out of the background of some of the others though

Playing in the rain!

My mom bought the kids umbrella's, so I went and got them snow / rain boots so they could splash around in the puddles with their new umbrellas! They had SO much fun and I had a hot bath waiting for them when they were done. I started the day HATING the rain because loading 3 sleeping children into a car while it's raining was NOT fun - but I ended the day with the rain making my children laugh........ so it was totally worth it!

Rain is also good for pretty drives into work the next day!

Other than that, I'm not a big fan!

Where does the time go?

I remember posting a year ago a Happy Anniversary post to myself. I seriously feel like it was yesterday - how did a year go by so quickly? That's why I'm addicted to blogging, it helps me remember the year as it has passed and appreciate all of the wonderful and difficult times equally. ( ok, maybe the wonderful times a little more! ) That being said:

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSARY TO ME! ( ROBERT TOO I SUPPOSE!! )

Tomorrow my mom will be keeping the kids overnight for us, and everyone keeps asking me what we'll be doing to celebrate. Well, we'll be enjoying the silence and maybe even watch an entire movie w/out hitting pause. I hope to cuddle, and laugh and talk while being in the same room together and maybe even by sitting next to each other, instead of in passing or from another room because we are occupied with one of the 3 bundles of joy we call Kyla, Kade and Jack! I may even throw on some makeup and do my hair and go out to dinner, but that's still up in the air......

I have to say that the past 5 years have been quite a journey, and I'm so proud to have made it to the point that we are at. I look forward to the next 5 years and I just want to take a moment to share the wonderful things that make my heart full of love.

If I am having a particularly difficult day / moment / hour with the kids - he will walk up to me and engulf me into his massive arms and chest and hold me tight. He wont let me go, whether the water is running for the dishes, or the kids are pulling at me screaming mommmmmyyy! He holds me there tightly while tears fill up in my eyes and rubs my head until my anxiety goes away. ( kind of like the tears in my eyes right now )

I have enless shows TIVO'd and tons of songs on my phone that I would never have even known where on TV or have thought to download, but he did because he knows I will love them. ( I however don't frequently get to watch these shows, but it's the thought that counts! )

If I have a craving for anything to eat at anytime, I don't think I've ever gone without no matter what the circumstance.

He wants to be a better man.

I feel like no harm will EVER come to me or our kids, almost like he is a protective bubble around us. Maybe that's a little naive, but it's an overwhelming sense of safety.

I love love, and I love being in love with Robert.

Guess what?!?!?!?!

ROBERT PASSED THE TEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I knew my life would change when he got hired on at Edison, but that doesn't compare to what he has just done for our family. Our lives will be different forever, in so many positive ways.

Robert, I'm so proud of you!!!

I missed blogging about 2 birthdays!!

Thursday December 4th was TJ's 29th birthday. 29. Seriously I just can't believe my brother is 29. I remember when he was born, I remember fighting with him and wishing he would just go away when he would want to hang out with me and my friends! So many years have passed since then and so many things have happened. My brother has seemed to have found himself in being a father ( a very good one at that ) and uncle whom my kids ADORE, and an audio visual specialist. I'm quite proud of where he is and am enjoying watching him continue to find success. Happy Birthday TJ, I love you more than you know. XOXOXO

We went to TJ's house on his birthday and had taco's and margaritas - Serina's family joined us and we had a really great time just being there. The kids all took turns blowing out the candle and I don't think ever get tired of singing happy birthday!

Sunday was my dear friend Kim's 34th birthday! We went to a place in Fullerton where all you had to buy was ONE totally reasonably priced entree and it was free flowing champagne and OJ until 2:00 p.m!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, you read that right! I have no idea how many bottles we went through, but I had a headache before I went home and still had one when I woke up the next day..... good times! Happy Birthday Kim!!!!!!!!! As with Jeana, I completely believe that YOU saved me when I went through the hardest time in my life to-date. Being your roomate at that wonderful apartment on the beach was something I am eternally grateful for. I can't believe it's been over 20 years since we became friends in 7th grade. ( Of course we met before that at my moms house and watched the parent trap in Elementary School but we were both too shy to talk! LOL ) I'm so lucky to have you as a friend, and love that our children now know each other too!! I love you XOXO

Thanksgiving and bubble baths....

I'm going to preface this post by saying that if I ever need a break and my kids are being grumpy the answer to all my problems is: bubble bath!

That being said - the kids took a few bubble baths this weekend. We've all had horrible sinus head colds since Thanksgiving ( well not Robert... why is it that the most un-healthy of all of us never gets sick???????????????? ) so the over all mood of the house isn't the best it's ever been.

Thanksgiving day was nice - Robert bbq'd the Turkey this year, and I have to say that I think we all agreed it was the best turkey we have ever had. We watched football during the day * GO COWBOYS!!! We may just get the opportunity to lose another play off game!* and then ate our yummy dinner. Next year though, I want to do lunch so we can have more time to hang out and have yummy turkey sandwiches!

Here are some pictures of our beautiful turkey!! LOL

I'm not sure who's idea it was but it was decided that it would be a cute picture of Gavin if he was holding one of the huge turkey legs..... he got his little lips on it and was in absolute heaven!!




The kids were being quite rowdy ( big surprise! ) so Robert re-focused their attention to wear them out! It was so funny because they were missing for so long, I finally went back there to see what miracle he performed to get them to be quiet....






My mom, Becky, and I met at 6:00 a.m. at Toys R Us on Friday - a first for all 3 of us! We decided though that we just couldn't pass up the deals. I saved so much money it was totally worth it!!!! This was the line to get in to Toys R Us. They had it all organized. They let a certain amount of people in at one time, then there were employees scattered through out the store keeping things in order and ready to help - I was impressed.



I hope everyone had a wonderful healthy long weekend with their friends and family!