25 Random Things About Me...

I did this on Facebook and thought I would post it here as well...


1. I am a terrible house keeper. I could be a good one if I wanted to, but I hate doing it. Even when I became a stay at home mom and major budget cuts came into our household, worked Gloria (our house cleaner) into the budget.

2. When my kids get older I would like to get into a nursing program and become a labor and delivery nurse.

3. I am a tap dancer…although I hesitate saying that since I have not attended a class since I was pregnant with Aaron. I really want to get back into it but I have not found the right studio yet.

4. My favorite time of year is the fall thru Christmas. I don’t like New Years…mostly because it brings on a sense of change and I don’t like change.

5. The only kind of change I am really in favor of is in regards to decorating. I could redecorate my house every couple of years if given the financial opportunity.

6. Adam and I would like to build our own house one day. We want a lot of land with a beautiful custom craftsman style house with enough room for not only an office and workshop for Adam, but a craft/sewing room for me AND lots of rooms for grandkids to come and stay.

7. I wish that I would have lived somewhere else before I got married. Don’t get me wrong, my parents were wonderful to live with, they are seriously the best parents in the world, but I wish I would have experienced a bit more of the country before being tied down to a mortgage, job, kids, etc. I think that New York City would have been a great place to live for a few years.

8. My best friend Carrie moved down to San Diego when she got married 8 years ago and I miss her incredibly!! We don’t get to see each other or talk as much as we like, but the connection of our friendship will never be broken! I secretly wish that she and Brian and Kasey would move back up here. Ok, maybe it is not such a secret…

9. I am a serious volunteer addict. I have a physical problem that as soon as someone asks for a favor or says that they need help doing something, my hand sticks right up in the air. It is almost an uncontrollable action, although I have been better about controlling it lately.

10. I have the absolute BEST family in the entire world. My Dad is a superstrong man who can make anything and will always be there with big open arms when his girls come crying to him (and we do still). My Mom is a SUPERWOMAN who will do anything for you and then when she is done she will apologize for not being able to doing more. My older sister Amy is seriously the smartest person I have ever met in my life. She is the girl I call on when I need to talk thru something and need a fresh perspective. She tells me what I need to hear, not just what I want to hear, but in a very loving way. My little sister Allison has the biggest heart of anyone I know. She would give you the shirt off her back, even though it is a designer original that she got for a rock bottom price. When I cry, I call these people. When I have wonderful news, I call these people. When I need a laugh, I call these people. I could not live life without these people.

11. I think that my kids are the smartest, most beautiful, talented, funny kids in the entire world…but then again, what Mom does not think that about their kids?

12. I am constantly amazed at my husband. He goes to work and kicks ass all day long. He will work day and night in order to provide for his family and allow me to stay home and us to send our kids to Catholic school. He has the strongest work ethic of anyone I have ever met. When he is done with work he comes home and has tireless energy with the kids. I feel so blessed that I have found him in life. He challenges me to be a better person thru his words and example. I love him with all of my heart.

13. I am not a photogenic person. Out of 20 photographs taken of me, usually 1 will come out ok. I would rather make a funny face in a photo to make it look bad from the beginning then to try and take a good one.

14. I suppose this one goes along with #13 but I am very critical of myself. I pick myself apart in pictures as well as the mirror and I also lay in bed almost every night and run thru conversations I had with people in my head and freak out about what I said and if it offended or hurt someone or made me sound stupid.

15. One of my favorite things to do is to bake. If I could bake something every day then I would.

16. I love sweets and baked goods. If I did bake every day then I would eat every day and I would be 300 pounds.

17. I hate, with a passion, cream cheese. I hate it on bagels. I hate it in dips. I hate it in desserts. I hate it in cheesecake. This has saved me MANY calories over the years.

18. I thought for years that I was allergic to cats. Adam has a cat and when we first got married my eyes itched for 6 months to the point where I rubbed them raw. I dealt with the cat but always kept my distance because of my “allergies” Last year I got tested for allergies. Guess what? Yeah, not allergic to cats.

19. I feel like rearranging the furniture in my office right now. I might just do that when I am done.

20. Don’t tell me I can’t do something. That will make me do it.

21. I have belonged to an online mom’s board for the past 6 years. The ladies on it are amazing and I consider them close friends although I have never met most of them. I was lucky enough to meet about 10 of them last year and it was both surreal and wonderful!

22. I am freakishly good at sports, even when I first play something. I am not great, but I can usually hold my own.

23. My Catholic faith is one of the most important things to me in my life. It guides me, provides comfort and promise, and makes my life complete. I wish that I was better at evangelization to share my passion of my faith to others. It is something that I pray about every day.

24. I hate to scrapbook!! I tried and have completed a few, but this last summer finally came to the realization that I just don’t like to do it. In an attempt to keep some memories down for the future I have an online blog. I don’t always update it as often as I would like, but I try. If you would like access to it then let me know and I will send you an invite, as the blog is set as private. The address is www.hawleyfamilyca.blogspot.com

25. I am a serious procrastinator. That is why it took me this long to make this list even though so many of you tagged me ages ago.

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!

Aaron's Dinner

So, as we are finding out, we were generally spoiled with Alec when he was a baby, toddler, and boy with his eating habits. Alec would eat almost anything and would enjoy almost anything. There were (and still are) the normal struggles with veggies and such, but overall he has a very good appetite and variety of foods that he will eat. Aaron is a different story.

Aaron is ME as a child. That's right, my Mom is LAUGHING at me now because I have a child JUST like me when I was little. Aaron loves milk, pizza, yogurt, tortillas, fruit, pasta, hotdogs and on a good day, chicken nuggets and floutas. That is about it...except of course for SUGAR and SWEETS...he loves those. If none of the above mentioned foods are being served at any given meal he will simply skip it and wait for the next meal to see if it is any better for him. This is the reason I started giving him pediasure...just to make sure he had some kind of vitamins in him!

Well, Last night I made chicken fajitas for dinner with refried beans. Alec, Adam, myself and Ashley enjoyed our meal immensely. Aaron had a tortilla and mandarin oranges on his plate. Well, since everyone else was having "mini burritos" guess what Aaron wanted? A orange burrito! He took his little pile of mandarin oranges and placed them in the middle of the tortilla. He was trying to roll it up but Daddy ended up stepping in and helping him. As I was watching I was wondering just how many bites into it he would loose interest and I would have to again break out the pediasure drink for him. Believe it or not, HE ATE THE ENTIRE THING!! Seriously?? He won't eat the yummy food, but hey, give him a orange burrito and he is a happy camper! Sigh...

Christmas concerts...

I mentioned in my Thursday post of last week that the boys had their Christmas programs coming up. Alec's was Thursday night and Aaron's was Friday morning. Both went very well, but they truly showed me what totally different kids these two boys are!!

This is Alec all dressed up getting ready to go to his concert. I took him down to Valencia High School Theater where it was being held. I turned him over to the Kindergarten teachers at the side of the theater as they had requested. I told Alec that I was heading back to the car and I would pick him up when it was done. You guessed it, I lied to him. BAD MOM! I actually went in and got a seat pretty near the back of the theater. About 20 minutes later Adam came with Aaron and Ashley in tow. The show was very cute and Alec's class actually performed near the end. Alec walked right up onto stage and did everything he was suppose to do! I was SO proud! When the show was over we headed up to the front to pick Alec up. He was so happy to see us and both Adam and I wondered if he was onto us, knowing that we actually did watch him. I guessed we were safe when he said to us, "So, how was it waiting in the car? I know you did not see me but I did so good!!"

The next morning was Aaron's preschool concert. I dropped him off at school just like a regular day and then we had to be back in the church by 10:30 for the performance. I had him dressed in his nicest pair of jeans as well as a cute brown plaid shirt. I thought it would be functional for playing in before the show but still look nice for the performance. Below is a little video of part of the performance. Aaron is the end kid on the bottom row. Notice what he is wearing...

SWEATPANTS!!! WHAT?? Apparently Aaron went down the slide in the playground that morning and went right into a big puddle of water that was left from the rains the day before. They had to put him in emergency clothes. Sigh. Ok, beyond what he was wearing....how stinkin' cute was he?!?! For the first two songs of the performance he stood there and sang all the words and did all the hand motions. By the third song he switched to picking his nose the entire time. By the last two songs he was bored with the nose picking and decided to turn around and watch all the rest of the children singing. He did finally rejoin the group for a round of "We wish you a Merry Christmas" at the end.

It is amazing what a difference between Alec and Aaron there is in these performances!! Even in preschool Alec was holding back and not wanting to get up on the stage and perform. If he did finally get up there he would just stand there and certainly never sing. Apparently the problem was having Mom and Dad in the audience! Aaron does not care, he went right for it! Too funny!!

Bear and I in the classroom after his performance. I sure do love my little peanut guy!!!

Thursday 10 - All about the kids!

There have been so many times lately where I have wanted to blog something, but of course the holidays have just made us so busy this year. Here is a Thursday 10 to catch up on a few things...

1. Alec's Christmas program is tonight. He has informed us that we are not allowed to go to it. He told us that we can drop him off, go back to our car, and listen to "Do you hear what I hear?" from the CD in the car (that is the song that they are singing) and then come back in and pick him up when it is over. He does not want us to watch him performing. We told him we would do just that. Yeah, we are sneaking in the back and watching. It is in a dark theater, there is NO way he is going to see us! Little weirdo!

2. Aaron's Christmas performance is tomorrow. This is the first time he has done anything like this so it will be interesting to see how he does. I really don't anticipate any issues. He is much more comfortable in front of people than Alec ever was.

3. Alec got the chance to go to Target after school today and pick out a gift for his 8th grade buddy, Brian. I was trying to encourage him to pick out an ornament but he knew exactly what he wanted to get him. I let him lead me and we went right to the star wars section. He wanted to get him a light saber since he did not have one. Who am I to argue with a 5 year old about what he wants to get his friend for Christmas? :) Very cute.

4. Aaron learned his Pledge of Allegiance!! I am still not exactly sure where or from whom he learned it, but he recites the entire thing! It is too stinkin' cute when he says it and I MUST get it on video and download it to here. SO funny!

5. Ashley is SO scared of Santa!!! Santa and Mrs. Claus came by our neighborhood Christmas party that we hosted last Saturday to talk to the kids and give some small gifts to them. Each child got a chance to sit on santa's lap and talk to him. When it came to Ashley's turn I went to go set her up there and she freaked out! She had a death grip on me and would not let go. She usually likes older men so I think the issue was his white gloves. She freaks out over gloves...hates them. Let's see, that puts her scared tally at Santa, brooms, vacuums, hairdryers, and moving/singing dolls. Interesting!

6. When Alec was in his first year of preschool they did a little hand print at thanksgiving and on it the teachers wrote what each child was thankful for. Alec was thankful for Baby Brooklyn (she was just born the month before) Aaron has Alec's same teachers so they did the same activity with him this year. What is Aaron thankful for? Firetrucks. hehehe!!

7. Ashley STILL won't walk. Almost 15 months old and won't take a single step without holding on to something or someone. Lazy bone jones!

8. When Alec was at school on Tuesday, Aaron, Ashley and myself were at home doing laundry all day. At one point we were in Ashley's room playing on the floor. Aaron got up, went and got his little case that holds his coloring pens and his sippy cup full of milk and said to me, "Ok Mommy, I am going to work, I wuv you!!!" He disappeared into his bedroom. About 5 minutes later he came back saying, "I'm home Mommy!" I asked him what he did at work and he said, "I got bad guys and put them in the back of my police car!!" Daddy was SO proud!

9. Alec wanted a snack after school the other day and asked if he could make it himself. I said sure, as long as it was something healthy, and he headed to the kitchen. I of course followed and hid around the corner to watch what he would do. He went to the refrigerator, opened it, stared into it for a while and then finally took out some leftover pasta from the night before. He went over to where the plates are in the cupboard, crawled up onto the counter and got a plate down. He then got a fork and proceeded to put some of the pasta on the plate from the tupperware. He closed the container and put it back in the fridge. He then took his plate and went over to the microwave, crawled up on the counter again and put his plate in the microwave (it is quite high so it was difficult for him to reach.) He stared at the microwave for a minute and then punched in 5 minutes and pushed start. I went in and stopped the microwave at 2 minutes but other than me doing that, he did the entire thing completely on his own!! What a little chef I have on my hands!!

10. What I want for Christmas...
Alec - Millennium Falcon and toys for the kids whose houses burned down.
Aaron - An airplane.
Ashley - She would be happy with just a unending bottle full of milk! :) Easy to please!

Happy Family

Ok, so I am spoiling the surprise for anyone on here who will be getting a Christmas card from us, but here is our family picture we took last weekend with Sipper Photography. There are a TON more, but since the files are so big I can only upload one at a time on a post. I still CAN'T believe that we got all three children looking at the camera and smiling! Amazing!! I love my family!!!

Shhhh....

Ok, I am going to share this with you, but you CAN'T tell Alec...

I got a call from the secretary at St. Joseph School yesterday. As every mom does, I am sure, my heart sank. I immediately thought, "Is Alec ok? Did he throw up? What did he do? He LOVES school! OMG!!" Immediately after those thoughts ran thru my mind the secretary said, "First of all, everything is fine with Alec, but we wanted to call you and let you know that he has been chosen as student of the month for December! We would like to invite you to a special assembly on Friday where Mrs. Knapp will introduce him, say a few things about him and give him his award. This is a surprise, so don't let him know about it!"

YEA!!! I am SO excited for him!! I am going to have to figure out a way to sneak in the back of the hall so that he does not see me otherwise we will have a repeat of the Thanksgiving Prayer Service fiasco. Oh, did not blog about that one? Must do that. Pretty darn funny! Anyway, just wanted to brag quickly on here about my WONDERFUL son and how PROUD I am of him and his accomplishments in kindergarten. Do I get one of those obnoxious stickers for the bumper of my car? Let's hope not cause I would HAVE to put it on. ;)

Wow...

Remember all that talk about whether or not we should put Alec into kindergarten? Remember how his teachers just thought he needed some extra time? Remember how much we agonized and prayed over the decision?

WE SO MADE THE RIGHT DECISION!!

Alec started reading today. It clicked in his brain. I don't know how the light turned on, but it did, and he is reading! I know it is normal development for a child of his age, but I am in absolutely heaven right now with how PROUD I am of him!!!

Alec has been progressively practicing his letter sounds and trying to sound out words for weeks now. He would see a word and say all of the letter sounds but was unable to put the sounds together to understand the word. He got it today. We have the Hooked on Phonics system that we have been using loosely for a while. I have brought out the books from it in the past but Alec was just not that interested or he would get frustrated quickly. I decided to try one tonight with him and he read it like an old pro! I went and got the next two books and he read those as well!! CRAZY!!!

SO proud of you Al!!!

Photo - Tag

My friend Liz from church tagged me last week! I am suppose to look in my 6th photo album, at the 6th picture on my computer...so here it is! It is from December of 2003. Alec is just 5 months old!! SO CUTE!!

I have to pass it on, so I tag the following people...

1. Michelle - She has a private blog.

2. Giselle - http://giselles2.blogspot.com/

3. Ashley - especially since I am sure she is bored with her hubby being gone right now http://mr-mrs-kawamura.blogspot.com/

4. Laurie - LOVE the new blog girl!! http://texaslaurie.blogspot.com/

Have fun!

Some October moments...

I always find it interesting how in the busiest times in my life when I have the most going on, is when I have the most to blog about. Of course, when it is so busy like that I don't have time to blog. Catch 22!! Well, here are some pictures and moments from October that I did not want to let pass by...

My sweet little Ashley has turned into a TODDLER!! When did that happen?? She is not quite walking yet but finally started cruising and even standing up randomly in the middle of the floor. She LOVES getting into the pantry and all the drawers in the kitchen. Her favorite things to play with is the Top Ramen packages and the plastic sandwich bags. I have an entire cupboard full of tupperware that she is welcome to play with, but apparently it is just not as exciting for her. Go figure!

In the middle of October Alec had a 4 day weekend to celebrate Columbus Day. Adam had been trying to take the boys on a camping trip since this summer but it had not happened yet. Because of the long weekend Adam finally decided to take the boys. Originally Ashley and I were suppose to go on the trip as well, but at the last minute I decided that a dirt camping spot plus a toddler who crawls and puts EVERYTHING in her mouth would not go well together. The boys had a BLAST with Daddy and still have not stopped talking about it! They can't wait to go again...maybe Mommy and Ashley will venture with them next time!

Daddy and Aaron camping. The spot they had found was on Palomar mountain in San Diego. Ashley and I took the train down to San Diego on Saturday morning and met up with Brian, Carrie, and Kasey for the day. That night Adam and the boys came the rest of the way down from camping and joined us. We had a wonderful visit with the Day family before heading home on Sunday night. What an adventurous weekend!!

Ashley is at that stage where every day starting at 5:00 p.m., just as I am starting to make dinner (I call it the witching hour) Ashley starts whining and crying. She wants to be held. It is next to impossible to hold a 13 month old child while making dinner so unfortunately most nights she just follows me around the kitchen as I cook fully crying her eyes out. Not so fun for anyone involved! In an attempt to entertain Ashley during this time period I put her inside a delivery box we had received with a couple of her dolls. Alec was kind enough to push the "choo choo" back and forth on the carpet in the living room. This entertained Ashley so much and kept her out of my hair while making dinner. THANK YOU ALEC for being such a wonderful helper! I really don't know what I would do without you!!

Adam and I's 8 year wedding anniversary was this October. Adam was up in Sacramento for training the week before it and then at the end of the week I flew up to meet him. We kept his rental car and drove up to Lake Tahoe for the weekend. When planning the trip we were so excited to be able to go hiking, mountain bike riding, and possibly horse back riding. Lots of fun outdoor stuff. Well, all of those plans were brought to a dead stop when SNOW started falling while we were driving to the resort! We were SO not prepared for this!!

The resort we stayed at was called The Resort at Squaw Valley. It was absolutely beautiful and our room not only had a fully stocked kitchenette but also a dining room table and fireplace. Let's just say we did not leave the room very much! We did manage to find some outlets to shop at one day and head down to south Tahoe the next day after church to do some gambling but other than that we mostly sat in our room, snuggled, and read. Quite the relaxing trip!

Another baby? Alec's answer...

So we were sitting around the dinner table yesterday having dinner and chatting. Ashley was doing something funny, as she almost always is at dinner, and Adam said to me, "Look, you don't have a baby anymore! Time for another one!!" I just laughed (Adam would love two more and I say we are DONE!) Adam looked at Alec and asked, "Alec, do you want another baby in the house?" Alec just looked at Daddy and wagged his finger back and forth with a stern look on his face as if to say, "No, no!" This of course made us laugh. Adam then said to Alec, "But there is one empty chair at the table! Don't we need to fill it?" Alec responded, "Dad! That chair is for Jesus!!" There we go Adam, it is decided! hahaha!

What is most important?

Today was Lisa's funeral. I knew it was not going to be easy. What funeral where a young mom leaves 5 children and a loving family behind would be easy? I have to say though, it was BEAUTIFUL. Lisa's sisters Marie and Theresa worked tirelessly over the past 5 days making sure that Lisa's life was celebrated properly. There were balloons from Disneyland where Lisa worked for 10 years and loved visiting with her kids, there was a beautiful eulogy that so appropriately and eloquently summarized Lisa's life, and most importantly there were a TON of memories shared. I was truly moved by the Mass and have not had that strong of a reaction to the Eucharist in quite a long time. Maybe it was the fact that Lisa had such a respect and dedication to the Eucharist as well and it was reflected thru her? I think so.

As Marie was reading her eulogy she was listing many of the things that Lisa had done in her life. She traveled thru Europe for months, she went to the beach at any time she could, she loved poetry, theater, and art, and experienced the arts in any way possible at any moment she could. What I find especially remarkable is that most of these things that she did, she shared with her children. She was always taking them to Disneyland, to the beach, or on some other adventure all the while taking a million photographs. I was listening to this in church today wondering why I don't do this as much with my own children.

After the funeral everyone headed to the cemetery for the burial. Amy, Chris and I skipped the burial and went to the Spiers house to set up for the gathering afterwards. We were getting ready to set out all the food and we started opening cupboards looking for serving bowls, platters, serving spoons, etc. What we found instead was mismatched plates and cups. Nothing that looked like it cost more than a few dollars each. I know that Lisa sacrificed to stay at home with her children, especially with a husband that was not always there for them, but it really hit me at that moment just what kind of a mom Lisa was. She was the mom that would rather spend her money making memories and having fun with her children instead of filling her kitchen with all the latest gadgets and serving pieces.

What is my kitchen filled with? The latest gadgets and serving pieces. I think I need to take a lesson from my dear cousin. Thank you Lisa for teaching me something very important thru your example. We will miss you!

Happy Hawleyween!!

One of my favorite holidays of the year is Halloween. I love the fall weather. I love making Halloween costumes. I love trick or treating. Well, I got one out of the three this year!! It was SO hot when we were walking around trick or treating that Alec was sweating in his costume. There goes the fall weather! Then, with things being so busy traveling back to New York and the responsibilities that came with being a room mom in Alec's class this year I did not get an opportunity to make my kids costumes this year (can I hear a collective "GASP" in shock?) I know, I know. I purchased Ashley's costume in September knowing full well that I did not have the proper sewing machine to make a stretch bodice for her Tinker Bell costume. I was, however, going to make Alec's Captain Hook and Aaron's Peter Pan. The week that I had scheduled to make them was the week we were in New York. I decided to head to the Disney Store and just buy them. Good plan and took A LOT of the pressure off me...plus, by the time I decided this the costumes were 1/2 price, WOO HOO!!

We had a blast on Halloween night! As soon as we got home from school Alec and Aaron "helped" me carve our pumpkins. In actuality I carved with my big professional carving tools while they instructed me where to cut. We then made some homemade pizza just in time for Daddy to come home from work. After dinner we got suited up to go trick or treating!

Never-never land here we come!!

Our family getting ready to head out to find some yummy candy! If Mommy had her act together a little more then Adam was going to be John and I was going to be Wendy. Oh well, the important ones got their costumes!

Grammie and Papa with the munchkins. We loved that they were able to join us trick or treating this year! They were headed off to another party after they were done, hence my mom's black dress. Also, you can see our neighbors house in the background. They did a mini-haunted house with their front porch. Of course, my kids would not go near it...but then again, neither would I!

Grandpa and Grandma getting ready to trick or treat with us also!

Allie, Jason, Brooklyn, Melinda, Jason and Phoenix also joined us for trick or treating. Brooklyn was dressed as Dorothy and Phoenix was Tigger (not in this picture). We had a big group going around and it was so much fun!! The kids really got into it. By the end of the night their bags were so full of candy that Aaron could not carry his anymore!!

What a wonderful night it was!

Alec's School Conference

Alec has had 1/2 days at school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week due to school wide school conferences. Alec's was scheduled for 2:20 yesterday. At St. Joseph they want the children to be at the conference with the parents as to be involved with what is going on. Alec and I headed over and met Adam before going in. I have to say, I was a bit nervous going in. I did not think that there would be any problems, but it is always weird for me to sit there and have another person critique my child, especially on actions that happen when I am not there! Well, as we were coming up to the classroom Mrs. Knapp saw us an said, "Oh good, Alec! An easy one!!" A good way to start a conference in my mind and absolutely calmed me a bit.

We went into the classroom and the three of us sat across the little table from Mrs. Knapp (NOT easy for a 6 foot tall person!). She had examples of Alec's work from the beginning of school and then examples of where he is now. WOW what a difference in two short months!! His writing has improved tremendously and his drawing and coloring skills are so much better! Mrs. Knapp said that Alec is an excellent listener, he follows directions very well and is a self starter. She said that at the beginning of the school year he was quite hesitant about doing anything without asking a question about it, but now he is able to jump right in and do something. Mrs. Knapp made specific mention that he is doing SO well and that she could not imagine us having waited a year to put him in kindergarten. What a wonderful report!!!

Mrs. Knapp also gave us a sheet of paper with specific details of the conference for us all to sign (even Alec). It listed the following...

Strengths:

1. Very helpful in and out of classroom.

2. Makes good choices and develops relationships with all students.

3. Great improvement in area of confidence and independent work.

Needs:

1. Blending sounds into simple words and readying decodable books.

2. Writing numbers 1-20

We could not be more pleased with both St. Joseph School and Alec's teachers, Mrs. Knapp and Mrs. Rivers. The amount of spirituality and knowledge of his faith that Alec has already retained has made me a true believer of Catholic school!!

We are SO proud of you Alec!!

Saying more goodbyes

Part of the mystery of life is trying to figure out our purpose here on earth as well as God's plan for us. With all of the events that have happened in the past few weeks, these thoughts have been on the forefront of my mind.

Yesterday morning my cousin Lisa passed away. Lisa was 38 years old and had 5 children ranging in ages from 16 to 3 years old. Leah, the youngest, just had her third birthday a few weeks ago. Lisa found out that she had cancer when she had a large tumor removed from her abdomen just this last March...now she is gone...it happened that quickly. Now there are 5 heartbroken children and a very broken family left here on earth without her. I have to say, I don't understand. I accept it because I know it was God's will, but I don't understand. There has to be a bigger plan, but what could that POSSIBLY be?

Lisa was a VERY smart woman who could talk to anyone about anything. She was incredibly dedicated to her family, both immediate and people further down the bloodline. Lisa enjoyed good jokes and the noise level that many children brought. She was a devout Catholic who celebrated her faith and lived it in her daily life. Lisa was the social coordinator, always trying to get cousins and family together to hang out. Even in her final days while she was surrounded by her family, Lisa was able to bask in the attention and stories that all her family brought to her.

This next week will be such a trying time for Lisa's family, preparing for her funeral and burial. Please keep them in your prayers.

We will miss you Lisa.