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i've decided that thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. families together, all the yummy food, the anticipation of christmas decorating, music & celebrations, people sharing what they're thankful for (instead of grumbling about the other stuff).... it's such a magical weekend, thanksgiving. here are some snapshots of ours:

some early morning football and breakfast... a great way to kick off thanksgiving day.

rian and the kids with the blue pacific in the background.

thanksgiving day at rian's parents home in fullerton. the kids put on a good show.

cooking with grandma.

joel came out from arizona (on couch with rian) and maceo spent some good time playing with the kids.

while the rest of the world was shopping on black friday and rian went into the office for a bit, the kids and i set up for christmas. the next morning we cut down our tree at peltzer pines in silverado canyon. it was a chilly crisp morning, with crystal clear views of the city below as we drove over the hill. we found a cute little tree, perfect for our family!


decorating.

ever since rian and i have been married (this is our 9th christmas!) we have slept under the tree on the first night. the tradition continues, only now with juice boxes, christmas cartoons and lots of bouncing around the tree.

Christmas time is here!

Thanksgivings

Five things I am thankful for this year.

1. Our home. Our game plan did not include us still living in the condo we bought 7 years ago. But here we are and I am so thankful that we chose a place that can easily hold all our kids, give us a back “yard”, a huge front yard, wonderful (and quiet!) neighbors, a fixed and affordable mortgage payment and to be so close to everything important to us. I have been feeling so content in our cozy home.

2. Rian’s work. While so many people are out of jobs or struggling to work multiple jobs to pay the rent, Rian’s work has been consistent and even enjoyable. It is such a huge blessing to watch your husband be excited to go into work each day. And an added bonus is that his office is 5 minutes away allowing him to have lunch with us a few days each week, stop by if we need anything, and be home minutes after he calls saying he’s left the office.

3. My Mama’s Group. Some are new friends, some I’ve known for years. I’ve been meeting with these girls for over 2 years on Thursday nights. Part of our time is spent discussing the current book we’re reading (books on parenting, marriage or spiritual growth). The other part of our time is spent sharing what’s going on in our lives and how we need specific prayer that week- for ourselves, each kid, and our husbands. People tell me what a rare thing this is. The depth of the things we share, the acceptance we have for each other, the parenting ideas we give/receive, and the constant reminder that we’re not alone in this season… it's an amazing thing to have these girls and my parenting would look totally different without them in my life.

4. My kids. It is a gift from God to be able to get pregnant and literally a miracle when the baby grows healthy and ends up in your arms nine months later. I am so thankful for Wallace & Skyler. They are truly a gift. They have brought so much joy to Rian and I. They have taught me so much about myself and given me perspective on God’s love for me as His own child.

5. Supper Swap. I am so lucky to have Juliana & Heather! The three of us teamed up over a year ago to swap meals each week. Every week I cook a meal three times, one to keep and the others for the girl’s families. They do the same on their certain days. So our week looks like this: Monday we have dinner delivered to us by Heather. Tuesday we have dinner delivered to us by Juliana. Wednesday there are plenty of leftovers. Thursday we eat our own meal and I deliver it to the other families too. Over the weekend I might cook once, or we’ll have leftovers or dinner out. I cook about twice each week and in return get a full weeks worth of homemade healthy and delicious meals. So thankful for how smooth this makes my afternoons!

L.A. by Train

We celebrated our 8th anniversary on November 2nd and Rian planned an awesome weekend away in LA. We took the train from Santa Ana to Union Station.

We started in Little Tokyo at Rian's favorite ramen shop. It was amazing. Maybe even my favorite meal of the weekend.

Then we walked to our hotel, Hilton Checkers, and enjoyed some reading by the rooftop pool.

This was one view from our room.

This was the view out our other window. It was a gorgeous weekend. On the verge of rain, which never came, only big beautiful clouds

On our way to dinner, I tried to show off my bump in the hallway mirror.

Enjoying the bar at Chaya. Dinner however, brought us possibly the worst waiter ever. But the rest of the night made up for it.

Across the street from our hotel is the Biltmore. We got dessert and played cards while watching a fantastic jazz band play late into the night.


Sunday morning we enjoyed a yummy breakfast at the Original Pantry. It was really fun. The line was out the door around the building but they got us in really fast.


After breakfast we walked around LA Live and explored the top of the Ritz Carlton, towering over the city, which made my stomach almost fall out. We took a cab back and strolled around Grand Central Market, Pershing Square, and then sat at Starbucks watching people and hanging out.

Another highlight of the weekend was dropping the kids off Friday and meeting my sister and brother-in-law for dinner in Laguna Beach. They celebrate their anniversary a week before ours and we switched places... they left LA to come to stay in Newport for the weekend and we left for LA! We had a blast this night with them. After dinner we walked here to get shakes. And I'm really excited about something.

Here we are home from the weekend, watching the new addition to our family. GiGi and Poppa let Wallace pick out his first pet!

dan the handyman

he's coming over today to look at our upstairs bathroom. i think we have a slow leak from our tub behind the drywall. we'll see...

also we took the minivan off-roading this weekend. she held up well but i don't think we should ever do it again.

in addition, rian is taking me away on the train to los angeles in a couple of weekends. we will celebrate our 8th anniversary there. he is doing all the planning and i am trying my best to stop demanding information inquiring about his plans.

pumpkin patch

this is our 3rd year coming to this pumpkin patch. two years ago i was just about as pregnant as i was this year. here are the munchkins (liv, wally, jude, skyler).

skyler is a huge fan of nulls (tunnels).

the teepee was a big hit.

the kids did many rides.

so did i.


i painted wally's face. it's a lizard obviously.

here we are 2 years ago:

rockin it in the new minivan

we had a really big car decision to make after my nissan xterra sold within a few days of putting a 'for sale' sign on it. we had 2 nights to decide between a minivan or suv, and then actually find one that we liked. we did a lot of research and tons of praying. on the second night before heading home when the car we went to look at had just sold, we found it... God had the perfect car for us waiting there. stats, you ask? 2006 toyota sienna limited. 42k miles. pearl white. i never thought i could love a car, much less a minivan, this much. it is awesome.

sometimes we drive around town with the kids out of their carseats. jk.

this tiny mirror allows you to catch anything naughty going on in the back without the kids knowing you're watching!

i don't really know what's happening here.

after watching a few sesame street podcasts from the ipod, we made it clear that car dvd's are only for vacations and rewards (ie: bribing them when we have doctor appointments and errands all day).

what we do

i'm a big fan of taking a drive. especially early morning. or in the rain. or during a sunset. or under disneyland fireworks. or in my new car (more to come on that later).

here we are driving towards the beach during a beautiful post-rain day. this morning we had some ants in our kitchen so i said enough. the kids and i, in our pj's, loaded the car for a drive. we stopped at chick-fil-a to use my free breakfast entree coupon. then we drove. ok, we went through starbuck's drive through for a peppermint mocha. you know, it's almost christmas, plus i'm pregnant. that's the excuse i give rian.

today we had no plans so after the drive we did this craft. then we ate a picnic lunch out front (less crumbs to attract more ants). then the kids played alone upstairs for an hour (seriously). while they napped i did laundry and read 1 and 2 thessalonians. and then i got so hungry but there was nothing to eat. then rian came home from golfing with clients (second time this week. wth?). then he left for the office and skyler woke up. actually that's where i am now. i keep calling up to her room saying, "lay down skyler, it's not time to get up" even though it is but every time we do this lately, we hear her bounce back down and lay quietly for a good 10 minutes. it's this awesome new little trick we do with her. but then it stops working the second or third time.

and this was our day. plus it's friday, so i'm a bit ecstatic to have the weekend ahead of us. i will head to the chiro once the kids are up, then warm up our dinner of last night's leftovers and then celebrate the weekend with a family outing.

someone is awake making her dolphin sounds. and i hear wallace climbing out of his bunk bed. here we go...

early october

Skye at our first pumpkin patch trip this season.

Many of our lunches are picnics out front or back. So much easier to clean up!

Skyler fell into the corner of her dresser drawer, which required another trip to urgent care for liquid stitches.

24 hours later she smacked into our bedroom door while running around the corner. I promise I'm not just sitting on the couch all day, letting my kids jump off of things and run around crazy... Is this not the biggest goose egg you've ever seen?

We got together with our old lifegroup for a bonfire. It was so nice and I realize how much I miss these friends. I have such fond memories of meeting each week together.

Wally & Jayden.

Two cuties waiting to be loaded in the car.

Tball & dinos

We decided to introduce Wallace to his first sport this fall. This morning we went to Citrus Ranch Park in Tustin for his 1st (of 8) Tball classes. He's been excited all week but this morning when he woke up, he wasn't sure he wanted to go. Halfway through during a water break he ran up to me saying "I LOVE it now, Mama!". He had a great time. Rian does a lot of it with him and I keep tabs on Skyler and talk to the other moms. Super fun and relaxed.



This is a familiar car situation. They love singing their "kid music" together. Excuse the blurriness... it was a backhanded blind shot took while driving.

Sweet sweet Gypsy. Skyler especially has taken to using her as a stool. And she puts up with it. Sweet dog. I have no idea how long they had been doing this when I finally came outside.

Skye and I staying cool on the 110 degree day last week reading her all time favorite book.

Wally loves do draw. LOVES it. Months ago his circles became suns with rays and those became faces and lions and now he's really into drawing dinosaurs.