Happy Birthday Aria!

I can't believe that Aria is already 2! What a big girl she has become just over the last couple of months. She is talking up a storm and is bossing everyone around. She runs everywhere and shouts out "Hi Mom" as she is zooming by. She loves to hang out with her big sister and brothers, she follows them around like a puppy dog. Too cute! She has become quite the little character. She is full of serious personality. She loves to ham it up and do silly things to make us all laugh. She is very spunky and let's us know when she is not happy. She loves to sing and dance, just like her Momma. She also has a great memory and is always pointing things out to us that we think she couldn't possibly know.

For her birthday we went and saw "The Tale of Despereaux". It was a pretty cute movie. The kids liked it as well as the grownups. At times it was a bit scary and Aria had to hide her face in Daddy's chest. But she loved it and was cheering for the mouse and shouting out in the movie theater. After the movie we went to Macaroni Grill for some yummy dinner and then home for cake, ice cream and presents.

She was so cute trying to blow out the candles. She also decided to grab a "stoon" (spoon) and dive right in to the frosting on the cake. She loves cake and especially "Iseam" (ice cream). She's always asking for second helpings on treats, just like her Daddy. :)

She loved opening her presents and really had it down after all the stuff she opened on Christmas. My friend gave her this little microphone that plays songs and you can record on it too. She likes to carry it around singing, dancing and putting it in everyone's faces saying "Sing!". I made her a cute little apron for the play kitchen I will be attempting to build and Hunter made her a butterfly out of cardboard. He is such a sweetheart! But her favorite present had to be the cute little purse that Grandma Hunt gave her. Inside was a soft little doggy and some plastic keys. She now thinks she is ready to go!

We love Aria so much. I can't think of what life would be like without her in it. She is our little Sunshine and makes us all so happy. Everyone falls in love with her wherever we go. She is like a little piece of Heaven.

I Love My Family!

I have so much fun when I am around my family. There's something so special when you are around those you have known your whole life and who you grew up with. We had a great time hanging out together and the grand kids were off and running as soon as they saw each other. It's so much fun having cousins their own ages. Michela and Hailey are a lot alike. They have a great time together. Hunter and Whitney are a crack up. Whitney is very much the leader. Hunter is pretty easy going and tags along for the fun.

Hunter is also so sweet with the younger kids. He loved playing with Carley too. And Whitney and Carley couldn't get enough of Aria, they were like two little Mommies. Aria loved all the attention, she loved hanging out with the big girls.

We had lots of fun at Mom's house. It's nice to be taken care of by your Mom, especially when she does it so well. She is the best! I always feel so relaxed when I'm at home. It was also good to see my brothers. Here's a cute picture of "Uncle Cuckoo" with Chasey. Steve made us lots of yummy food and kept us laughing. Kurt and his family came down for a couple of days and then we went up to his house for dinner one night. Here he is with his cutie pie Carley.










The cousins all together. And a picture of me and Tiff with Kurt.











I'm so glad we were able to spend so much fun time together!

Cordonices Park

Growing up we used to go to this park in Berkeley as much as possible because it had a cement slide that you could go down. We would bring our cardboard pieces and have the best time zooming down the slide. I took the kids there a couple of years ago and when we were out there for Christmas we decided it would be fun to go again. Kurt and his family were there too, so the grandkids had a blast going down the slide. I love the expressions on their faces. Many times they have a look of fear mixed with exhilaration. I think Hunter scared himself pretty bad on this one.

Michela went so fast one time that she ended up going off of the end of the slide.










Even Tiffany and I got into it, I guess those speed demon tendencies don't go away with age.












Chase got a little bit beat up on his first run down. His hands rubbed against the cement. He had more fun playing on the swings and other slides in the park. Aria had fun swinging with "My Daddy".
















Chase finally did work up the courage for one more ride. Dad's gloves helped him feel safer. It was fun having the whole family there. Aria just loved hanging out with Uncle "Deve".















After the park we walked through the tunnel to go to the Rose Garden across the street. There were actually a few roses blooming. The kids had fun running up and down the steps and hiding in the bushes. Through a miracle we were able to get them all to sit down so we could take a picture. That's one Grandma is going to love!

Christmas in California

We had a great time in California for Christmas. It's fun that we can provide the entertainment on Christmas morning. Christmas just isn't as fun without little kids. Here's a picture of Mike and the kids on Christmas Eve. We had just put up our stockings and the kids were all in their new Christmas jammies.

Christmas morning was all excitement. The kids were up early looking under the tree for their presents. I had to kick them out of the living room so they couldn't snoop. They watched Christmas cartoons while the big kids got up and at 'em. We let them get into their stockings soon after so they wouldn't be too bummed to have to wait a bit.

They were all excited to get what they wanted from Santa. Chase got his Ben 10 Omnitrix and Hunter got his Spy Night Vision Goggles.

Aria couldn't wait to tear into her presents. And I was pleasantly surprised to get the exercise DVDs I had asked for. Mike had tried to trick me!

Michela was so happy that Santa brought her a Webkinz and Uncle Steve gave us this cool Indiana Jones edition of Life. Mike got his Christmas Apple Fritter from Mom and some other pretty cool presents too.

We were happy when my brother's family showed up that afternoon. His girls are all about the same ages as my kids so they always have lots of fun when they get together. Here are my three cute nieces in the hats that Michela and I made for them. What a fun Christmas we had!

Christmas Concerts

Michela is learning to play the violin at school as well as singing in the school choir this year. She is loving both of them. The choir performed at the mall one night. It was a lot of fun watching all those kids sing their hearts out. They performed some really cute songs. I was impressed by how many they had learned. The choir director is our neighbor so I knew they would be doing some good stuff.

Here's Michela with some of her good friends.
On Monday night they had a school concert where Michela sang and played her violin. Here's a picture of Michela with her violin. I'm so impressed with how quickly she has picked it up. I love to hear her practicing.

The school also had a concert where each grade performed a couple of songs. I loved watching the kids sing with their classes. Hunter's grade did "Rudolph" and his class sang it in Spanish too.

Disco Snowman

After the major snowfall the kids and I decided to spend our Saturday afternoon outside in the snow. A snowman was our goal, but the snow wasn't packing too well. We persisted, well I persisted and the kids would help out here and there.

It was slow going but we finally got it done. Our neighbors gave us this cute snowman kit a year or two ago. Everybody got to put something on the snowman.

It was Hunter's idea to put the arms in a classic disco pose. After we were done with the snowman we got a big snowball fight going. Basically it was the kids against me. We had so much fun running around the yard. The kids were attacking me and trying to get me face down in the snow. Good thing I've been working out or I would have been done for.

Gingerbread Houses

Chase came home with a couple of gingerbread houses he had made at school this year. Of course this made Michela and Hunter declare that it wasn't fair and I had to promise them that we would make them for Family night some night. Well, I kept putting it off until it was almost too late! We had a fun time making our houses. After the kids stopped stressing about making a peaked roof they had a great time. Mike was more into eating frosting and graham crackers than actually constructing a house.

Michela ended up having the heaviest house. She had so much frosting and candy on there I thought the house was going to drop through the plate!

Hunter quickly embraced the flat roof. He had a lot of fun designing how he was going to put his candy on.
Chase had a little pumpkin patch around his house. He, as usual, had more fun eating the candy than actually building the house.

My house actually turned out pretty well. Mine was the only one with a successful peaked roof.
I love having traditions like this that we can all do as a family.