Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas! We spent the last 2 days with family and friends and enjoyed a lot of visits. The kids have been so excited for Santa to come. Last night we got a surprise visit from Oma. We knew she was coming for Christmas but she came early ans spent the night. Santa left presents for the kids at Grandma and Papa's house this year. I guess he knew Papa has been sick and couldn't get up and out of the house too early so we all went there to open presents. Then we came back home and opened the rest of our presents here. We then had a wonderful meal cooked by none other than .. me!! It was yummy but I had a lot of help! What a wonderful day to be with family and see my kids have a good time!

Mikey Turns 2

Mikey finally turned 2 last week. I can't believe how fast time flies. It seems like yesterday that I was holding this little newborn in my arms and now he's a madman. We had an Elmo party at home with family and he had a great time! I even made Elmo cupcakes for him. We love our Mikey boy very much!

Chrtistmas Baking!!

Well I'm running a little behind but I need to catch up so... a couple of weeks ago we decided to do some Christmas baking. I remember growing up we always made cookies with my mom. I wanted to start this fun tradition with my kids. I figured things might be a little hectic in the kitchen so we invited grandma to help. The kids had a lot of fun, all 4 of them!

Pics At The Park!

Well a couple of months ago I got the brilliant idea that I wanted to take the kids to the park to take pictures. Picture People is cute but way expensive and a lot of work because my kids are not good posers! With all that's been going on the pictures kind of got pushed to the side. Finally, this last Saturday we made time to do it. It was cold outside. 49 to be exact. I didn't want pictures of the kids in big jackets so I strategically dressed them in thermals and long sleeves thinking they would stay warm. Not the case. We got a few pictures, not sure if any of them are framing quality but hey are cute! After about 10 minutes Ezra was crying because his fingers were cold and they hurt. Mikey's nose was ice cold and Brooklyn's face was all red. We put them in the car with the heater on full blast and by the time we got to the pizza park they were warm! The bad part is I'm not really sure if we got any usable pictures. Sigh.........

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year Thanksgiving has a new meaning for me. It will still be a fun day full of food, family, and more food and fun but this year it means so much more. My family has been going through a very difficult time the past few weeks and it has really taught me a lot. I have so many things to be thankful for and I want to share just a few. I am thankful for my parents. I learned just how important they are in my life and my kids lives and how quickly that could be taken from me. When you face a situation where you may not have the chance to see someone again in this life every little detail about them brings on a whole new meaning. I am thankful for my mom and my dad. I am thankful for medicine, technology, and doctors. Without these things my dad would not be here this Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for my husband. Even though he can be a stinker sometimes, like right now, he supports me in everything I do. It's not always easy but he makes it possible. I'm thankful for my kids. I've spent a lot of time at the hospital lately and every time I came home my kids would run to me and give me kisses and hugs. I love them. They are my life. I am thankful for my sister and her family. She has taken on a tremendous amount of work and stress to make sure that my dad can recuperate well. I cannot always be with him because of my kids ages it would be a little hectic, but she has been there for my parents every step. I have a new perspective on things now. Family matters, friends matter, material things do not matter. Remember what's important in your life and give thanks for what you have! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Update!!

Just wanted to give a quick update on how my dad is doing. He came through the surgery good and is currently in ICU. They removed the breathing tube around 1130 today and that gave him a lot of relief. He is very tired and his body is exhausted from the surgery. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. Don't stop -- we still need them!! We are hoping within a couple of days he will be moved to a step down unit from ICU. That will be a big step. Thank you all for your prayers!!

Keep Us In Your Prayers!

Well I don't normally blog about things that don't involve my kids but I'm sitting here trying to find something to do with all my nervous energy. We found out today, in a very round about way, that my dad has to have open heart surgery. It will be sometime this week. He has not had a heart attack but they have found several blockages in his heart. I am really scared. My dad and mom both keep saying they have faith and that he will be fine, I wish I had that faith. It's very hard, as I'm sure some of you know, to watch your parents get old and see their health decline. My dad is the rock of our family and he keeps us all going. Please keep my dad and our family in your prayers.

Happy Halloween!

With three kids under 3 years and the fact that last year I ended up carving 3 pumpkins by myself I figured this year we would do a family pumpkin. The kids helped just enough for me to get some pictures but they really weren't that interested. They liked the Pooh Pumpkin that grandma got them a lot better. On Wednesday night we went to our ward party where the kids got to go "trunk or treating". Brooklyn wasn't feeling to good so she didn't get a lot out of it but the boys had a blast.Ezra wanted to keep going around and Mikey was just happy that he was there. He kept telling me "Mama .. I eating candy". He couldn't figure out why nobody was stopping him. We had a fun time and they ended up with a huge box of candy -- that's what it's all about right!

I have an awesome friend!

I have an awesome friend! Her name is Emily. The last couple of days I haven't been feeling very well. I think I have the flu or a virus, and Michael has it too. Anyways, yesterday Emily called to let me know she had finished a hat she was knitting for Brooklyn and she wanted to bring it by. I told her to stay far away from my house so she wouldn't get sick. However, being the kind hearted, generous person she is, she insisted on bringing dinner to us. Since we already had food for last night she brought it today. Yummy fried rice with egg rolls, and the koala hat she knitted was adorable! Nino kept going on about how nice she was and that he was relieved that he didn't have to cook. Just when things couldn't get better he found a warm plate of chocolate chip cookies waiting for us under the pan of rice. He was so excited I think he did a little dance. It's nice to have friends that go out of their way to take care of us! Thanks Emily!!

We've made it through 7 years!!

Today we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. The day was a little hectic .. still dealing with Ezra and his crankiness from his surgery and on top of that Michael fell and cut his lip open which got me a trip to the ER but no stitches. After all this, I was very happy to find out that Nino actually remembered we had an anniversary this year. Still no card -- he didn't have time .. hmmm -- but I'm trying to learn that it's the thought that counts. He took me out to a nice dinner at my favorite place --Olive Garden, although even McDonald's is considered nice when we don't have 3 kids screaming and crying. After dinner we drove to the park where we went on our first date and went for a romantic walk and then he serenaded me with our song .. oh wait a minute .. that was the dream I had last night. After dinner we went and got his haircut and then went to Target. Not quite as romantic but hey we were alone for almost 3 hours. It's been a long 7 years, a lot of ups and downs, things didn't go the way we planned on them, but I can honestly say today that I am married to my best friend and I wouldn't have wanted to go through the last 7 years with anybody other than him.

Goodbye Tonsils and Adenoids!!

Anybody who has ever heard Ezra breathe / sleep / snore etc knows that he was a very loud guy. He was seen at Valley Kids ENT a few weeks ago and we found out he had to have his tonsils and adenoids out. He was showing signs of sleep apnea and had enlarged tonsils. He had his surgery on 9/23/08 and the doctor said that when he actually got in there his tonsils were about 3 times as big as they looked from the outisde and the adenoids were also enlarged. Ezra did fine through the surgery and is still a little bit whiney but I'm sure he'll be fine. He just doens't want to eat much right know although I don't blame him. We took some pics to docmuent his eventful day. The first one is before surgery but after they gave him versed. The second one is after surgery - he lost that excitement I guess!

Today's The Day We Got Ezra Day!!

Oh my how time flies! Two years ago yesterday I was sitting at work contemplating whether or not to go ahead with my next infertility procedure since the last one had just failed. My whole world changed about 30 seconds later when my phone rang. It was the lady from the adoption agency asking me if we wanted to take a little boy about 7 months old. He was ready to be placed for adoption. Of course, my answer was YES, obviously, and so September 1, 2006 became "The Day We Got Ezra Day" and every year we celebrate him! Many things have changed since that day, we have 2 more children and Ezra is no longer a quiet, shy little baby, but as we celebrate having him with us for 2 whole years I look back and think of how blessed I am to have him in my life!

Brooklyn's Pictures

Just a note to let you know that a free 5x7 photograph is never "really" free. Michael had an appointment at Valley Children's today and when it was finished we decided to go to Babies R Us. I can't go to Fresno and not visit that store. While browsing, one of the ladies from the photo area asked if we would like a free photo of our children. I say yes to anything "free" so with a deadly look from my husband off we went. Michael was past nap time and Ezra was mid crisis so I figured why not do Brooklyn's 1 year picture .. for free! So 40 minutes, 2 screaming boys, an irritated husband, and $25.00 later this is what we got. So cute!!

Going to the Temple!

Well we finally made it! It's been a long 2 years but we're done. Our adoption was finalized July 25th for both boys and on August 24th we went to the Fresno Temple to have the boys sealed to our family. It was a very neat experience. We had our family and close friends there with us and it was a very meaningful event in our lives. Thanks to all who shared the day with us!

Vinyl Lettering Open House

I'm sure a lot of you know my sister Melissa and I do vinyl lettering on tiles, glass blocks, and wood signs. We sell our items at Zion Books in Visalia. The website is www.zionbooks.net
We will also be hosting our first open house on Saturday September 27 from 10 -2 at my sister's home, 3825 E Oak, Visalia. We will have our current items on display in addition to all of our new holiday creations. Everybody is welcome, so bring a friend and get some early Christmas shopping done. We will also be taking custom orders if you've been wanting something special!

Fun In The Sun!

We finally left the house for a playgroup! On Wednesday we went to a playgroup with the kids from church. It was at the new park in Visalia, Riverway Sports Park. They have a really cool water play area that was perfect for the kids. Michael and Brooklyn jumped right in. Ezra was a little water shy at first but by the end he was having a blast! We're going back next week!

My First Blog Ever!

Okay, so after a mass amount of peer pressure I have finally created a blog! I'm new to the whole "blogging" thing so I'll need some time to get this figured out. Look for more int the next couple days!