2011 in pictures

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and can't believe it's already time to say goodbye to another year. Here are a few of our favorite photos from 2011...

Amazing family reunion for Christmas, great having the cousins together.


Favorite family photo from 2011.


YES, this is Eli! Mia had fun dressing HIM up.


Proud moment for mom and dad watching their daughter score two goals that help beat the undefeated team.


First day of school, Kai's a kindergartener, so sweet.


Pure summer fun, they are so free.


One of my favorite shots of Eli, how could it not be?


I love these boys, they are best buds.


Mia became a pirate make up artist.


Miss that bald head, one of the first GOOD shots of his smile.


I love this shot of Aaron, he looks happy and not tired.


Eli knows what a good big brother he has.


Fun family get together in So Cal.


One of my other favorite shots of Eli, wish there was a pause button on the teeniness.


I waddled around the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and loved it!

Ta-da!

Finally made a dinner without Eli crying, all I had to let him do was let him make a mess of the kitchen.



The kids participated in the City of San Mateo's Festival of Dance again. They also begged me to do the mom and baby dance and I reluctantly agreed since I knew this was our last baby. It turned out to be a lot of fun and nerve wracking. All the kids did a great job and I expect they'll want to be in it again next year.

You'll call me a liar...

after you hear this run of bad luck we've had. I wouldn't believe it if someone told me all this happened to them.
It all started in September with our new computer. We bought a new desktop computer for Mia to do homework and reports on. After using it about two weeks it crashed. We took it back and they wouldn't give us a new one, they would only repair it at their store. Then our dishwasher started leaking. Luckily Aaron and his dad are pretty handy and said they would work on it. Well by October we still had a leaky dishwasher and the computer we sent to be repaired was collecting dust on the table. The hard drive on the computer was bad so when they put in a new one it cleared all the programs as well. We had to BUY restore discs for the programs that were included on the computer to begin with. When we went to install them the whole computer froze. We took it back to the store and they said they would give it a whirl. The dishwasher was trickier than the guys expected so a whole two months after the repairs started it was decided a new dishwasher was necessary. Oh, and just to make it more fun our washing machine died. It was time to go appliance shopping. We had a new dishwasher installed and it was defective! Not kidding. You think this is about when our story would wind down, not so! We had to fight to have the dishwasher repaired and we even bought the extended warranty. Next up our new washing machine, our beautiful, huge, energy efficient washer was gong to be installed. We're in mid November now, still with a broken computer, but at least the dishwasher's done. Well the installation team arrived and removed our old washing machine and noticed the floor was so warped underneath that if they installed the new washer there it would void the warranty. Well there was nowhere else to install it so we had to put our new washer in the living room and I had to continue taking our laundry to Aaron's parents house. We discovered the floor became warped because our water heater had a slow leak and had completely saturated our whole laundry area. At this same time the leak wasn't so slow anymore and we hardly had warm water. Now we need a new water heater and new laundry room floor, not kidding! So here we are nearing mid December, we still don't have a functioning computer, they couldn't fix it and still won't replace it or give us our money back. We have to send it to Gateway in Texas. Our new washing machine is still in the living room, but the floor is finished and we have hot water again. We're just waiting for a new coat of paint then we can hook up the washer and dryer and do laudry at home again. I feel like I live in the Bermuda Triangle. I pray this is the end. If I remember I'll let you know if Gateway it actually able to fix our lemon of a computer. So go ahead call me a liar. I wish it was all a lie!

Giving thanks and stuff

I have so much to be thankful for. Sometimes I can get a little pessmistic, but I always know that I have so much, first and foremost a wonderful family. Words can't express my gratitude for the family I am lucky enough to be a part of. I love how my family and Aaron's family get along and we really can celebrate as one big happy family.





After a little black Friday shopping we got to check out an amazing light display. It's chinese laterns formed into world landmarks. It really got us into the Christmas spirit. The kids wanted to get out our Christmas decorations that night.

Happy Halloween...is over!

Halloween is a lot of work. I love seeing all the costumes, it's a fun holiday, but between pumpkin patches, church carnivals, school carnivals, and trick or treating I'm happy to see the calendar flip to November.
We were a band of pirates with our little parrot pal. Aaron had a costume, but unfortunately he never got to take it out of the package. He hurt his back on Saturday and skipped most of the festivities. There's always next year.

In case you were wondering...

This is Eli when I was making dinner last night. No improvement from my last post here

He's still as tricky as ever. I was hoping he would turn a corner at 6 months, but he's 8 months already. Now I'm hoping for the one year mark. You think being surrounded by toys would be more fun than hanging over mom's arm in the kitchen, but nope! The minute he's picked up he stops crying. He's in his jumper crying right now so I'm typing as fast as I can. I've done my best to try and prep as much of the dinner as I can while he's napping, but there's always some point when I need both of my hands and he has to be put down.
I didn't want to leave with only a crying picture since it's sad, so here is a very happy little guy getting ready to crawl. He's only pushing up, not going anywhere yet.

GOOOOOOOAL!

Soccer season is upon us, and it's busier than ever. This year we have two in soccer and Aaron is coaching Kai's team-The Sharks. Kai is loving every minute, he's a serious player even though he's confused a lot of the time. Mia's in her 5th year and is on team "Bright Lightning". All Mia's ever wanted is to be on a purple team, but every year she's green or blue and this year, neon yellow. It was funny when Aaron opened up his coaches bag to reveal Kai's PURPLE jersey. We couldn't believe it! All we could say to her was "maybe next year". Despite jersey color disappointment they are having a lot of fun and have both scored for their teams. Next year we'll have 3 in soccer...I think Aaron and I will need to clone ourselves.

Homemade

We have lots of blankets in this house. LOTS. There are a few that though that stand above the rest, they're the homemade ones. My mom has made all of the kids a crib quilt. I love each one (kids too).

No place like home?

Today was not a good day. I can't keep up with four kids. I'm on the verge of pulling a Marie Osmond and running off. Seriously, if I went missing you could start by looking here...

or here...



Or maybe I'll be somewhere inbetween the two like Topeka, Kansas. A)because I've never been there before and B)because nobody would think to look for me there.