I am running around trying to get the house cleaned up before Adam comes home this afternoon and I see Ashley walking around holding a grocery bag. I look inside of it and she has a pair of shoes and her bottle. She is carrying it around just like a purse...too funny!! I guess I need to get her a little purse to put her stuff in!! hahaha! Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE having a girl??

Thursday 10

Another edition of Thursday 10 is upon us! I know I have missed the last couple weeks, but I will try to do better!

1. I can't believe I have not blogged about this, but Ashley started walking last week!! Last Tuesday, January 6th, I was sitting at the computer in the morning checking e-mails after getting Alec to school and I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was Ashley walking across the room!! I quickly grabbed my camera and brought her out to the family room and got some video of it. She is so funny when she walks because she looks like a little Frankenstein and she just laughs the entire time like it is the funniest thing in the world! She has been practicing more and more every day then about three days ago was when I noticed that when she wanted to get across the room she would walk instead of crawl. LOVE IT!!! My camera is at my parents house so I don't have the video downloaded, but I will have it by this weekend and put it on.

2. I finally caught Aaron saying his pledge of allegiance on video. I will add that on this weekend as well. I can tell that the novelty of saying it is wearing off so I wanted to make sure and catch it before he refused to say it anymore.

3. This weekend is our Goddaughter Kasey's 3rd birthday!! Adam will be in Arizona with his explorers all weekend but myself and the three kids will be heading down to San Diego to celebrate on Saturday. We are doing a turn around trip, so it should be interesting!!

4. My mom and I are having Geo Challenge wars on Facebook. It is too funny because two day ago I beat her by 4 points, and then this morning she called me to let me know that she beat my score by a couple hundred points. What did I do this morning instead of getting stuff done around the house? I played Geo Challenge. But guess what? I just beat her by around 1000 points!! haha!!! I know, we both need to get a life!!

5. Adam and I took Alec golfing for the first time last weekend and we had so much fun! We did a 9 hole course in Brea that is nice and cheap. Alec had a blast hitting the golf balls and sinking puts. He was EXHAUSTED by the end of the day and actually slept 12 hours that night!!

6. Happy anniversary to my Mom and Dad, celebrating 38 years tomorrow!! You are a wonderful example of a Christ centered marriage for us all to follow!

7. Yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of my Dad's heart bypass surgery. He is still doing great and is enjoying life!

8. With the new year comes lots more planning of upcoming events. Tricia (my fellow room mom) and I are already working on Valentines Day party, Baby Shower for Mrs. Knapp, St. Patricks Day party AND Easter party. I swear, I am going to blink and this year will be over!

9. Congrats to my cousin Jason and his wife Cristina who just found out at Christmas that they are expecting a baby! They have a daughter who is 7 and are thrilled to be adding to their family! We love you guys!

10. Prayers please for Baby Jamie who 1 month old and in the hospital on a ventilator with RSV and major breathing problems. Looks like he is on the road to recovery but prayers are still needed. Prayers also for Adam's Uncle Dan who just found out that he has prostate cancer. They found it early and will hopefully be able to treat it with just radiation. Again, prayers please!!

Fun in the snow!

We were so lucky that Adam was able to take the two weeks of Christmas and New Years off of work! We had a list of things that we wanted to accomplish and/or do during that time. At the top of our list was to go up to the mountains and play in the snow. We decided it would be easiest to leave Ashley at home and just take the boys since she will was not quite walking yet. We also decided it would be best to go to Arrowhead instead of Big Bear since the drive is much easier on little tummies that might get upset on many turns. We headed up around 11:00 a.m. and got up there around noon. We found a great place to play in the snow and spent a few hours making snow angels, going sledding, and having snowball fights. The weather was beautiful with shining sun and by the end of the two hours we were tired, hungry, and WET!!

After getting changed in the car we headed into Arrowhead village to have lunch and walk around the shops. We ended up getting home around 7:00 p.m. Everyone was exhausted and we all slept very well that night!

Ralphy and Randy (AKA Alec and Aaron) all bundled up ready to play in the snow!

The boys making snow angels. It was not that successful since the snow was not very powdery, but still cute!

Alec, of course, found some trees to climb!

Aaron, the mountain man treking thru the snow!

Mommy and Daddy self portrait.

Christmas afternoon

Ok, so I am slowly getting thru all my Christmas pictures and getting them posted! Here are some pics from Christmas afternoon that we spent at my parents house. As usual it was a wonderful time filled with lots of food, fun and laughs!! My parents are so wonderful to host everyone each year!

Grammie helping Ashley open one of her gifts. She loves this musical wormie, as it has now become known as in our house!

Alec and Aaron opening their dress up Jedi costumes. This gift was a BIG hit! The boys have been chasing eachother around the house with their masks on while shooting eachother. I am trying to deal with the fact that my boys are actually boys and they like playing that gun stuff. If it was up to me they would just be hugging eachother and singing songs together. Thank GOD I had a girl!!!

Ashley opening one of her Christmas gifts.

Uncle Chris teaching the boys how to use the lap top that he and Aunt Ree gave them. They LOVE it!!

Alec opening his golf clubs from Grammie and Papa. He was SO excited!

Christmas Morning

As you can imagine when having three young children, Christmas morning was SO much fun! Adam and I actually woke up first and stayed in bed until the kids finally woke up around 7:30. We saw Alec and Aaron sneaking by our bedroom door, looking down into the living room at the Christmas tree. We called them into our bedroom and they came in running yelling, "Santa came! Santa came!!" We got Ashley up and all went down the stairs together. The first thing that the boys did was to go over and inspect the cookies and milk to see if they were gone. They were of course!

After looking at the cookies we led the kids into the family room to check out the stockings. As they dug thru their stockings (sees candy, flashlights, tape measure's, etc.) I made Ashley a bottle. We then moved onto the "big" presents under the tree. Santa brought the boys a Millennium Falcon from Starwars and Ashley a beautiful baby doll as well as a few other gifts. Something special that we do for the kids every other year (every year would be too much) is make a plate for them using a photo from that year on Discountphotogifts.com. They loved opening their plates! When we were almost done opening Adam brought out a gift from behind the tree for the family. I opened it and it was a Wii!!! I wanted one SO bad!!! He then brought out another gift and it was Wii Fit!! YEAH!!! FUN FUN!!! It took every ounce of restraint to not run and hook it up right at that moment!

After gifts and setting up the boys Millennium Falcon I made breakfast burritos for breakfast then we got ready and headed over to my parents house for our family Christmas celebration.

Mommy and Ashley opening her baby doll from Santa. She does not look too sure about it, but she did grab it after than and hug it while rocking and saying, "Ahh ahh ahh!!!"

Alec and Aaron opening their photo plates,

My three favorite Christmas presents!

Everyone happily playing with their gifts!

Christmas eve

So obviously I am a bit behind on my blogging, but hey, it has been Christmas break and there has been no school AND Adam has been home the entire time...we have been having some fun family time!

We had another blessed Christmas this year full of wonderful memories and loving family. Christmas Eve was spent at Adam's parents house as we do each year. We headed over around noon and then ate dinner around 2:00. We were able to get Ashley down for a nap during that time so we had a nice quiet dinner and she got a good rest in before the busy night. Around 3:00 we got dressed, did pictures in front of the tree and headed over to church so that we could get a seat for the 4:00 p.m. children's mass. We walked into the church around 3:20 and it was already packed! We managed to get a few seats in the front for the Moms (and Aaron, it turned out) to sit in but the rest of us stood in the back with the kids and the Dads. Since this mass was the children's mass Fr. Joe did a special homily geared towards the kids. MY child somehow ended up being the comedic portion of the homily!

As I mentioned, I was standing in the back but Aaron was in the front with Joan, Mom and Jeannie. At the beginning of the homily Fr. Joe asked all the kids who wanted to come up to the alter and have a seat on the steps. Alec refused to go up, but I saw Aaron being lifted over the front pew, but I did not see where he went in the crowd of kids. All of the sudden Aaron pops right around Fr. Joe's vestments right in the middle of the alter. All the church let out a cute, "Awwww!" Fr. Joe spoke for a few minutes and then came down and turned to ask the kids to all have a seat. Everyone did....with the exception of Aaron. He thought it would be more appropriate to stay standing right in the middle AND start picking his nose!! Now the congregation was snickering. Fr. Joe noticed what Aaron was doing and with great comedic timing, stood there, looked at him, and then finally reached into his pocket and offered Aaron his hankie. Aaron just looked at him, took the hankie, wiped his nose, then returned it and said, "Thanks!" By now the congregation was LAUGHING!! I SO wish I had a video camera on this entire exchange. Adam was outside walking Ashley around so he missed it, unfortunately. I will never forget that for the rest of my life!!

After church we headed back to the Hawley's house , changed into our pj's, and opened gifts and had dessert. When heading home that night Adam and I had the kids mesmerized looking in the sky searching for Santa's sleigh! FUN!! Once we got home we put out cookies and milk for Santa and then the kids went right to bed. Mommy and Daddy were not far behind!

All of us dressed up and ready to head to church!

Ashley looking so sweet in her Christmas dress! I had so hoped that she would be walking by Christmas as to not crawl around in the dress, but no such luck!!

My three beautiful children under the Christmas tree. I am so blessed!

All snug in our pj's ready to head home and wait for Santa to come!

Alec and Aaron setting out the cookies and milk for Santa!