Big Brother

Caleb is so sweet with Gillian. This picture shows that soft side of him. Caleb calls gillian "my baby" and wants to guide her around and help her all the time. Although gillian is very independent, she really loves her big brother and best friend.

Caleb Sings.....sort of

Today I heard what I thought was crying in the backyard. When I looked out the window, I saw Caleb in the sandbox playing his version of a concert to some of his make believe fans. By the time I got the camera the show was almost over. When he noticed me taping him, he threw himself into concert mode again. Watch both videos. The second one is hysterical. What in the world is he saying???? Well, When I interviewed the star after his performance he told me that he was singing, "Carlee, I lub (love) you foreber and eber. Lightning McQueen and Sally I lub you foreber and eber too." What a crack up!

Gillian

Here's a picture of sweet Gillian. She is 19 months old now and amazing us everyday with new things, words and expressions. She is starting to scream a very high pitched sound when Caleb teases her which is a lot of the time and then she swings her arms at Caleb when he is trying to hug her which is the rest of the time. We call her "Miss Independence". Her favorite words right now are "up, (like get up and get me something), we dance, no no, and outside." She loves to wear dresses and "pretty" clothes as she calls them. We are still waiting for her hair to come in. We love our baby girl!

Rainy Day Fun

O.K. so a few weeks ago we had a lot of rain. I guess my boys were bored because they thought it would be a good idea to give Carlee a bath since she was already wet. What a sight! Thank goodness it was a warm rain. By the time it was over, Caleb was pretty much naked. As his clothes got wet, he would lose them. I'll spare you the picture but you get the idea.

The King has found a Queen

While we were in Southern Cal. we stopped at my cousin's home in Lake Forrest and went to church with them. Caleb was in heaven because he got to go to a new primary class with his cousin's Nate and Kate and they all got crowns to take home.

After church we went to the Foster's house for dinner. We visited and the kids played. At one point, Caleb and Kate come out hand in hand with crowns and ball gowns on announcing that they wanted to show us their dance. So Julie put on some music and Caleb took Kate by the hand and led her thru a sort of waltz with dips and spins even. It was hysterical but they were very serious about their dancing so we just went with it.

When it was time to go, Caleb was heartbroken.....literally. He cried and hung on to Kate and kept saying, "I don't want to leave her." Oh brother.....if this is any indication of what is to come for him we are all in trouble. He was so distraught that we had to call Kate on the cell phone from the car so he could talk to her "one last time." What a kid!

Disneyland or Bust!

O.K. I know we seem a little obsessed with Disneyland. But we started taking the kids when Cam was a baby and we just keep going back. It never seems to get old for us. We always buy an annual pass so we feel like we have to get our money's worth. haha. We always spend 3 or 4 days in January there with our friends the Watson's. Both of our families have grown so much that it is a little crazy sometimes but we always have so much fun and the kids consider it one of their favorite traditions.

Caleb made it into Jedi Training this trip so he was very happy. He was a little nervous or maybe concerned while he was learning to fight as a Jedi but he took on Darth Maul and graduated with honors.

Christmas Vacation

We had 3 weeks for vacation this year so we packed our bags, loaded the car and headed down South for almost 2 weeks. First we made a stop at my mom's house in Apple Valley to visit and enjoy a late Christmas together. My brother was there and as usual gave my kids very thoughtful gifts. My mom made us a very nice dinner and had fun playing with the babies.

It was a nice visit.

We got back in the car and made our way down to Coronado. Grammy and Grampy were there so we got to have another late Christmas with them. The weather was beautiful and of course there was a lot of excitement with New Year's Eve around the corner. We did many of our usual or traditional things during our week in Coronado. We took several walks thru the Hotel Del and on the beach every day. We rode the ferry to San Diego and ate at Anthony's. We rented a buggy bike, played in the sand,visited museums, did a little shopping and ate way too much!

Baby Gillian at our hotel surrounded by her brothers as usual.

Grammy gave Gillian a baby doll for Christmas.

Firefighter Caleb on the Ferry from San Diego to Coronado.

We love Coronado!

Christmas Morning

Christmas was a little different this year. Since the babies were sick, my family didn't come to visit so it was just our family Christmas morning. I think this was a first. Santa was good to our kids bringing them scooters, race tracks, baby dolls, guitar hero and an air hockey table for our game room.
We enjoyed watching the babies eagerly tear thru presents and light up with excitement. Caleb went crazy. We all had some good laughs.
The older boys were happy with gift cards to book stores, clothing stores and game stores.

Even though it was a smaller crowd than we usually had, I still made our traditional Christmas dinner while everyone played with their new toys and rolled around in all the empty boxes and wrapping paper. haha.

Christmas Eve 2007

It is Christmas Eve and I am waiting for the kids to go to sleep so Gary and I can finish up down stairs. The babies woke up last night with the flu so we didn't plan to do any of our traditional Christmas Eve things since we didn't know what today would bring. To our surprise, Caleb and Gillian both slept a lot today and seemed so much better tonight as you can tell from the pictures. Yeah!

The big boys went caroling in our circle with our friends next door then Garrett dressed up as Santa (I guess) and made us all laugh so hard. He was hilarious! Caleb figured out pretty quickly that Garrett was "the pretend Santa" but went along with it to get a present. Gillian stayed away.

After the Santa Show, Gary spent the evening in Santa's Workshop where we have set traps outside the door of the bonus room in order to catch any children who might try to sneak a pre-Christmas peek. We have "Do Not Enter" signs posted all along the hallway and the kids are dying to see what is going on in there. Hahahahahahahah. It is hysterical.

I will post more pictures tomorrow.

Our Ward Christmas Party

We had a great Ward Activity last weekend that our family had the good fortune to help plan and implement. Our Activities Committee took the ever popular "Trip to Bethlehem" program and told the story of Jesus Christ's birth from the Book of Mormon stand point. It was an incredible evening!

We jazzed up our nativity costumes with some bright colors and animal prints and decorated the cultural hall with fabric wrapped booths, white lights and lots of greenery. It was so beautiful. (the pictures don't really do it justice but you can get the idea).

We served food and had crafts at the booths. Everyone was really busy moving about the marketplace visiting and hitting all the shops.

The program that my friend, the Bishop's wife planned was awesome. When everyone first entered the city of Zarahemla, they were asked if they believed in the Christ that was to come. Of course they all said, "Yes" so they were given a bracelet as a symbol that they were a "Believer". During the night, little vignettes were going on where different Book of Mormon Prophets were portrayed talking or preaching in the marketplace just like it might have been during that time. People would stop what they were doing and gather in the center of the marketplace to listen. Actors in the audience portraying "Non Believers" would talk against the prophesies saying that it wasn't true that God would send a Savior born in the East. Incredibly, others who weren't a part of the script would just randomly chime in saying things like, "We believe", "Have faith", "How do you know that a Savior won't come?", "We know that God will bless us with a Savior", etc.

Even the littlest of children got into it. They listened to everything that was going on and participated in their own way. As you can see from the slide show below, Caleb had a sword and pretty much tried to take on any bad guy (as he called them) that didn't believe in Jesus. Way cute!

There were also slide shows and music that would play depicting the birth of our Savior. It was a beautiful evening and a lot of fun. Our family was grateful to be a part of this special night. We all agreed that it set a wonderful tone for our whole Ward Family's Christmas Celebrations.

A Trip to Zarahemla

The King

A few weeks ago after Caleb watched Gillian's, Barbie Island Princess Movie he wanted to look like the prince. He kept saying, "I want that on my head" pointing to the Prince's crown. So I made him a crown and he has been wearing it ever since. He wears it to preschool, in the car, around the house, outside playing and even to bed. He gets upset when he can't find his "King" as he refers to it. Now we can't get it off him. Oh....... what have I done???????

Boas and Scarves.....Gillian's New Thing

Tulare Christmas Parade 2007

Peanut Butter, Sweet Peanut Butter!

Caleb decided that he was hungry the other night and instead of asking for something to eat, he climbed on top of the counter, then up into the cupboards (3 shelves high), got the peanut butter and hunkered down in the family room for a little midnight snack. When I saw what he was doing, I was so mad but then I started to laugh at the unbelievable scene. Peanut butter was everywhere and Caleb was smearing it and licking it all up. It was funny and naughty all at the same time. That's our Caleb. Now we not only have to keep locks on the lower shelves for Gillian, but we need to have them up high too. Oh brother.

Thanksgiving 2007

This year we went to my cousin Lee's home in Lake Forrest for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. His wife Julie did almost all of the cooking and I brought Marie Calendar pies. (Boy did I get off easy!) Julie's family was there from Utah as well as my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Gary and a few of my other cousins that I hadn't seen in years. My mom and my brother Duane came over too. We had a huge group. It was a lot of fun to have a little time to reconnect with my cousins and watch our children play together. I am so thankful for such a wonderful family.

Click on the Title below and see Garrett with the Tulare Western Band performing this year's stage show. Go Mustangs!

Pandoras Box

Garrett and his good friend Clara after a long day and a great performance! Clara's mom and I drove down to L.A. to watch the show and do a little shopping. We all had a super day!

Disneyland November 2007

We went to Disneyland for our annual Thanksgiving week trip. We had a great time. We spent a lot of time on Tom Sawyer's Island exploring and helping Caleb look for Pirates and Griffin was chosen to attend Jedi Training School. Fun, Fun, Fun!