Santa Baby!

This year my sweet boy Carter, although terrified of Santa Clause, put on a brave face for Mommy's picture! I was so proud of him. He is really growing up! He wouldn't speak to or look at Santa but he got close enough for a picture on the condition that Gabrielle go with him. He loves her almost as much as she loves him. Grant on the other hand was all smiles asnd loved Santa, loved to high five him and talk to him and tell him everything he wanted for Christmas! It was great to see his eyes light up while he talked to the magic man.

Christmas Card 2009

I am sooo excited about this years Christmas card, eventhough the exposure is off, I am still really pleased with it. The kids were really cooperative this year and the pictures turned out really cute. I had a great idea for a card and since none of the cards at the photo processing places had a card that fit, I designed my own! I am pretty proud of it! I had some help with a templete from Two Peas, and my apologies I don't know her name but she shared a beautiful templete that I tweaked a bit for personal use. Thanks!!!!

Gabrielle's First Winter Formal!!

It's the Most Wonderful Day of the Year!!!

Gabrielle's Birthday Party!

My baby girl turned 15 last month. We had a huge party for her here at the house with all her friends, lots of food and cake and loud music! The kids stayed late and watched scary movies, it was a great night! The best part was the Silly String! I got 6 cans of silly string and recruited 6 of Gabrielle's friends to ambush her during a group picture! Only the six knew the plan! I was gonna take a group photo and then when I said "Now do something really crazy!" they were to get her! It was hysterical and of course my angel girl was a great sport about it! I love my Gabi-girl!!! I love her friends too! She has some great ones!

Grant's Teddy Bear!

Grant has recently adopted this Teddy as his "loved bear". It is the sweetest thing to see him love and cuddle his Teddy!

Our Church!

It's been about a year since we all became official members of our church! I try my best to take the kids every Sunday! This is not only our church it is where my boys go to private school and where Gabrielle goes to youth group, where the kid's go to VBS camp. We spend a lot of time with our church family! Wednesday nights are our favorite!!! It is Grace Night! It is so much fun. The church provides a meal in the Outreach Center. The meals are great too. We've had enchiladas, lasagna, spaghetti, chicken, etc. There is always a nice salad and bread and a veggie to go along with it. The kids have their own meal, chicken nuggets or corn dogs, grilled cheese with fruit and chips! The kids sit together at one table and the Moms sit at another. It is the one night of the week when I don't have to worry about making dinner! I can relax with my Mommy friends and enjoy being surrounded by really great people! We eat in the Outreach Center and then we take the kids to the playroom. Then us Moms will go to the Bible Study or sometimes we will just stay outside at chat about life, kids, school, work. It is incredibly theraputic to have that time between us. I am so grateful for my good friends and my wonderful church! Oh and afterward, the kids like to play on the ramp, the night would not be complete if they all didn't run the ramp and climb about for another 10 minutes while us Moms stand around and chat just a few minutes more!

Peter Piper Pizza!

So I realize these are not the best pictures! I took the boys to Peter Piper Pizza for some fun and pizza, they even got to ride the carosel! It was so much fun! I have been so busy lately, it is nice to take a break and do something fun with the boys!

Grant's First Dentist Visit!

Just when I thought I knew what to expect, I was so pleasantly surprised by my kids AWESOME behavior! It was Grant's very first dentist appointment and I had to take Carter along! Grant was a champ, very brave, and Carter was an excellent coach, telling Grant "be brave little buddy" while he held his hand! Carter is such an awesome big brother! I was so incredibly proud of both of them.

Kindergarten Homework!

Here is my little man doing his homework! Yep, there is homework in Kindergarten and lots of it. Every night he has to study his sight words for his vocabulary test and write a sentence in his writing journal, he also has a research project due once a week where he must memorize two facts about a specified topic! He is so conscientious about it. He is a very hard worker. His teacher is amazing and is really instilling great work ethic in him. He usually remembers all his homework and responsibilities on his own. I am so proud of him! He has been sick this week and on Thursday night he woke up at 4am in a panic because he didn't write his sentence the night before, well he was sick with 104 fever. I told him that his teacher would understand! The next morning the first thing he did was go downstairs and write his sentence and he was still sick and not even going to school.

Meet Miss Coral Amelia!

This little princess was 2.5 weeks overdue! She really kept us waiting! Once she arrived I was lucky enough to take the first photos. She is such a sweet natured, even tempered, and absolutely gorgeous baby! These pictures don't even do her beauty justice! She is that beautiful! I was lucky enough to capture a sweet sleepy smile and an adorable little frown! Oh and did I mention she has the BEST parents ever and an awesome older brother and sister who completely adore her! This is one lucky little girl!

Santa Monica Pier!

For the longest time, I have wanted to take a Ferris Wheel picture! When I found out there was a big ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier I was beyond excited. I just traveled to L.A. to visit my brother. For 4 fabulous days, he showed me around town and took me to all the great and interesting places. I had my own personal tour guide! Tuesday was our "beach day". First we went to Venice beach and saw all the sights there, then we went to Santa Monica Pier and waited for the sun to go down. It was chilly, Tom said it was freezing but I barely noticed. I was too busty trying to get the perfect focus, the perfect shutterspeed all while waiting for the perfect color scheme to show up in the lights of the ferris wheel! We spend over an hour on that beach. I took about 50 shots and these 3 are my favorite! Tom never complained, never said he wanted to go, he was very cold but very patient! I love him for that! It was one of the many favorite moments during my trip, just sitting on the beach taking picture after picture of the Ferris Wheel!