Double Digits, Baby!

Bella is 11!  So hard to believe, but oh, we are so blessed to have her in our lives!  We had a nice low-key birthday party at home and she and Rose had their best friends spend the night (who are sisters as well!)  She got super spoiled this year, which is fun to do because I always feel she gets slighted because her birthday is five days after Christmas.  So I had a ton of fun spoiling her sweet little self this year!

She got Nascar gear, Lego's (lots and lots of Lego's), movies,  and clothes, clothes, clothes!  She is most definately a tween as you can tell by her gifts!  She also made her own cake for the first time, which is a milestone in itself!

My camera is being a bit grumpy, so I will have to post pictures later.  For now, here is a few of my favorites of my little Southern Belle!

Just being our silly selves!

Oh, she loved that little girl in the mirror!

Always smiling!

Great America in San Jose

Easter 2002 - Whaddya mean I've had enough Chocolate?

2003 - A ballerina needs her beauty sleep!

2003 - her self titled "Salon of Relaxation Salon" was a booming business!

2004 - First day of Kindergarten

2005 - Such a good big sissy!

2006 - My all-time favorite!

Love you, my little one! 

Phantom of the Opera

For Christmas we gave Rose & Bella tickets to see Phantom of the Opera!  This was my mostest favorite-est gift ever!  (I know those aren't real words, but real words do not describe my excitement, people!) 

Phantom of the Opera holds a very special place in my heart for several reasons:

• I was introduced to Andrew Lloyd Weber music by my Father & Smother.  I remember listening to the stories of Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cats, Starlight Express, Jesus Christ Super Star, etc. from Anne in her Texas drawl while playing card games and drinking starbucks.  Not to mention that the music was always streaming in every room of their California house that my father had wired his coolio stereo system into!
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was the first Andrew Lloyd Weber musical that I saw on-stage.  It was in Wichita, Kansas where we lived at the time, it was put on by a youth drama company.  I loved it!  I knew all the songs, because of course Father & Smother had given me most of the CD's as presents over the years! 
• Hubby and I saw Phantom of the Opera three years ago and really enjoyed the music.  I must admit, I knew every word of the songs, but the storyline did disturb me a bit.  People who were there to see it were dressed up as the Phantom, complete with mask and cape!  It made me a little uncomfortable how obsessed people were when I realized the Phantom is a sick-o! 

• The movie came out when I was pregnant with LaLa.... I remember this because I didn't see it in theatres; I watched it on video in my truck ~ I was doing the extended gestational diabetes test at the lab because I had failed the first one.  They had told me I could leave between blood draws and come back and I didn't have the energy to run errands, so I sat in the truck and watched the movie in between sticks!  (There's a random side-story for ya!)
• I have been reading the "Classics" this past year, and the Phantom of the Opera is one of the best books that I read.  The movie / play cannot portray the backstory of the Phantom in two hours the way that a book can.  It makes you see the Phantom as a terribly wounded person who was never treated with an ounce of love or affection.  Good Read.
• The movie is Bella's VERY FAVORITE movie ever!  This is the child who loved to watch ballets over and over and over.  We watch the movie together at least once a month and she sings every word every time!  Rose & Bella have been begging to see it on stage for a couple of years now.  What a perfect gift!

The music was amazing, Rose loved that we got to look down in the pit after it was over.  Music is her LIFE and she plays piano, french horn & a little guitar.  She loved that there were four french horn players in the orchestra and she has mentioned several times that she would love to play french horn professionally.  What a job that would be!    Bella kept singing, and I had to ask her to stop a couple of times!  We had the most amazing seats, too!  Center Stage right under the chandellier and I am not saying any more because I don't want to ruin it if you haven't seen it live!  There is a HUGE suprise and we were in the perfect spot for some excitement! 

That was so much fun and it was such a pleasure to share that with the girls.   Rose posted on her Facebook status that "seeing Phantom was the Best Christmas Present EVER!!!" I hope to instill in them a life long love for music and the arts.  What a way to start!

P.S.  We just found out that Gerard Butler plays the Phantom in the movie and he sings every note!  Did you know this?  We have seen the movie at least 50 times and never realized it until we were finished watching it right before Christmas and I noticed it on the credits!!  That's another reason I love Phantom! ;)

Christmas 2009

Happy Birthday, Jesus! The Q-Crew had a wonderful day

celebrating your birthday and getting presents in your honor! 

Thank you for this season to indulge in food,
toys, music, and each other! 

The twinkling lights, a tree decorated
with ornaments from years gone by;

 the food, the !Candy! the spirits :)
the presents wrapped with ribbons,
the candy canes, hot chocolate and the carols sung off-key!

Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring on our piano keys;
tiny hands playing with our Little People Nativity.
Advent candles and calendars decorate table tops and walls;
Christmas Cards arriving daily with pictures of loved ones
to hang on our bulletin board for the year to come.

Butterflies in tummys and ribbons in pretty hair
Princess dresses for dainty girls is a treasured indulgance every year.
Handel's Messiah played by an orchestra,
Christmas Cantata by the choir;
and an annual Nutcracker Suite Ballet night out.

Christmas Eve traditions include the Children's Worship Service
some dress as angels, shepards, wisemen and even Mary and Joseph.
 We sing beloved songs as well as listening to the story of Jesus' birth.

Then Smore's, laughs, lots of speculation and anticipation
proceed cookies left for Santa as we snuggle in new PJ's.
Lots of lullabyes to lull little one's to dream of sugar plums,
as busy elves finish preparation and perhaps a glass of wine!

Christmas Day dawns after children have been up
and sent back to slumber;
finally time to share our bounty, stockings are stuffed to overflowing!
Things long wished for, worked for, bought with much care and love;
a day full of joy and laughter, dreams come true, a Christmas Feast!

These are the moments we hope and pray for;
treasure always, live for, love.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!
The presents were wonderful, but not as great as Your presence!
The gift of importance is our Messiah, King of Kings, Emmanuel.

God with us!

Rock-n-Roll-n-Runnin'

I did it! 

My first race ever!  The Las Vegas Rock-n-Roll 1/2 Marathon!  I think I may be hooked on this running thang!  I had the best time, it was a lot of hard work, but oh so much fun!  The race started out bright and early, I had to be there at 5:00 to prepare for the starting gun at 6:15.  There were 27,000 runners with running Elvi, a run through wedding, people dressed up in costumes (my personal favorite was a guy dressed up like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz - including bright red ruby slippers instead of running shoes! or maybe they were be-dazzled running shoes?), there was also show girls, tigers in cages and rock-n-roll bands every couple of miles!  Including a couple guys from church playing with their bands! 
The run was very well organized ~ I am so glad I joined the running group though.  I would have been a mess without the guidance of the coaches and my team mates and I couldn't have done it without the support of my hubby and kiddos!   

Here's some training and race memories:

• Saturday Morning Running Group: 5:30 every saturday from June to December
• Two pairs of running shoes - Saucony all the way!
• Lots of running clothes - gotta make it fun to keep motivated, right?
• Shin splints for 4 months, so glad I figured out I had the wrong shoes for my tootsies by race time!  (So much for the fancy gait analysis, I hated those shoes)
• Logged 250 miles in 6 months!  Never thought that would happen!
• Couldn't do it without my I-pod and my mantra "the Lord is my Strength and Song and is become my Savior"
• Bananas are the sweetest reward after a long run!
• New friends and coaches (and a LOUD alarm clock!) depending on me helped get me up in the morning!
• Lost 10 pounds - 6 from running and last 4 stubborn ones by cutting out candy... boo hoo.
• Running is the best stress reliever I have found, yoga (my first passion) is a great reward afterwards!
• Cars really do not watch for runners... keep on your toes!
• Gel is so yummy and gives much needed pep in your step!  Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla....
• Race Day is so much fun!
• Racing in December is a tad bit cold - 36 degrees to be exact.  Love Under Armor, gloves and headbands!  My toes finally thawed out at mile 3!
• Running on the strip was a blast!  A whole new view of Las Vegas (and a reminder that it isn't so glam in the daytime, haha!).  City Center looks like Gotham City, I'm a little scared of it.
• Miles 1-11 rocked! 
• Mile 12 was tough, I couldn't figure out why I was so tired, I had trained hard and was prepared....
• Mile 13 - saw the family and a bestie in front of the Luxor - they cheered me on and energized me!
• Finish Line!  Cross one off the Bucket List and add to the yearly to-do list!
• Now I know why I was so tired - finish time of 2:19:28!!  I had projected to finish in 2 1/2 hours! 
• Sweet, sweet endorphins, family and friends.  Life is good.

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving Day!  I love this holiday!  It means a long weekend at home, lotsa leftovers and naps!  Hubby is home this year, too ~ Yay!

My girls are complete opposites of each other.  Rose doesn't care to cook, doesn't care about decor and would stay in her PJ's all day everyday if she could and Bella loves to cook and decorate and dress up.  So guess who helped prepare Thanksgiving Dinner, that's right, my 10 year old Bella!  They had the funniest conversation about what Thanksgiving will be like when they are grown up and have their own homes, here it is:

Momma:  Someday you two will have to cook Thanksgiving for me and I will just come to your house and eat!
Bella:  I'll prepare a Thanksgiving Feast for you Momma!
Rose:  Not me, I just wanna eat it! I'm too lazy to cook all day.
Bella:  I'll have the fancy plates and wine glasses and the table will be all decked out and beautiful!
Rose:  I'd have to order food in and serve it on paper plates.
Bella:  OK then, I will cook dinner for everyone and then we can go to your house for dessert!
Rose:  I'll serve Ice Cream and pie, but Bella, you have to bring the pie!

Love them. My only request is that they don't live to far away from me when they are grown up.  Is around the corner too much to ask?

Money, Money, Money ~ In a rich man's world

Little man has an obsession with "The Circle Dot Store", which is commonly known as Target.  He refused to call it Target for a long time - now he does & the rest of the family calls it The Circle Dot Store.  This obsession of his is not limited just to one store, any store he knows sells toys he will beg to visit every time we drive by.  Maybe it's a boy thing, he LOVES games of any kind, video is his favorite, but any card game, board game, or guessing game will do.  Anyone want to play rock, paper, scissors?  Uno?  Candy Land?  Wii?  Nintendo DS?  A puzzle?  Tag?  If the game involves guns, oh that's so much better!  His obsession became begging to visit the store, one particular instance sticks in my head and goes like this:

"Mom, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Don't know son, what are you thinking?"
"Chuck-E-Cheeses!"  (With the cutest little melt the Momma smile I've ever seen!)
Because you know Chuck-E-Cheese has the best games ever, and then you win toys! 

I decided it was time to stop the begging and begin the earning.  You know the saying, if you give a man food he will eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he will eat for a lifetime?  So begins the responsibility of earning money by doing chores around the house...... ALLOWANCE! 

Little man has had chores for a couple of years now, easy ones for his age like clearing the plates after eating, picking up toys at the end of the day and such.  He is such a good boy and helps out a lot, but allowance brings a whole new set of responsibility in our household.  I spoke to him about making his bed everyday, keeping his bedroom floor picked up and keeping his backpack where it belongs.  He will earn some money to be able to spend it at the Circle Dot Store with his own money instead of begging for toys every time I go!  We also have a rule that of course, extra chores are encouraged!  Just ask what can be done and we'll negotiate a job and a price!  My girls don't really care to do extra, but Little Man has cleaned windows, folded and put away his own laundry, wiped down cabinets and anything else I can think of for a 5 year old to do to earn extra cash!  He's a working machine!  Every morning as soon as his little head pops up from the top bunk, he is making the bed as he gets out of it! And in the evening when his big sissy's are doing their chores, he is asking what he can do to earn an extra quarter!

After a lot of hard work for a couple of weeks, he had enough money to go buy his own toys!  This is what he bought with his hard earned cash!
 

Marshmallow Gun Attack on Daddy! 

Nothing like the pride of ownership and victory over Poppa!

Now, If I could just get everyone to not eat the marshmallows that they find hiding in every corner of the house!  ;)

Back to the Future

All my back-posts are now done and I can officially come

Back to the Future! 

I will try to keep updating on a regular basis, looking back I have actually done pretty well (for me!).  My mom and sister Model-T have volumes and volumes of journals, but I didn't get that gene obviously because I have volumes and volumes with two weeks worth of entries each!  My blog now has more entries than all my diaries put together! 

All Saints Day

Today is All Saints Day, which up until today meant absolutely nothing to me.  After today's sermon, I see it all much differently and much more personally than I did before.  Our Pastor, and new Associate Pastor (a 25 year old woman; fresh out of seminary and oh so amazing!) had placed two tables on the stage with lace coverings and about 200 lit tea-light candles on top.  It was beautiful and seemed very traditional, so I knew a surprise was in store for the sermon! 

The Pastor started off talking about saints and those that have gone before us who have made significant impacts on the Christian faith.... this is a little unusual for my protestant church... we don't worship or pray to saints like other religions do.  We believe that we may have an intimate, personal relationship with Christ Jesus and do not require intercession. Then he asked us to make All Saints Day more personal by looking into our own walk with Christ and people or persons who led us to Him.  He asked us to come forward and say their name and light a candle for them because this day represents their being in the presence of our Savior.  I named my Step-Mother (Smother!) because she was integral in my becoming a Christian. 

My Father & Smother 2002

Smother and I had many conversations about religion when hubby and I lived with them after transferring from Utah to California for a job in 1994.  We stayed with them for a wonderful 3 or 4 months and had marathon "Spite and Malice" games and popcorn by the bucketful!  Over the years, I attended Midnight Mass with her on Christmas Eve and drilled her on religions, culture, musicals, books and anything else she would tolerate.  I loved that she was so smart and could remember vivid details at the drop of a hat and loved to tell stories of her many insurance fraud investigations.  And that woman could COOK!  Oh, just thinking of her jumbalaya, cheesy scalloped potatoes, seven minute frosting, coffee smoothies, mimosa's.... makes me gain ten pounds!  She passed away in 2005 from Lung Cancer and I miss her so much. 

My family has a "theme song" that we play before and after family time bible lessons and I would like to dedicate it to Nanny / Smother's memory today because her Lifesong gave me a glimpse of what My Jesus looks like.  Thank you for sharing your faith and your love with me.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEwB0pkes7U

Trick or Treat my Pretties

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year... what a great time to have fun, dress up, eat candy!  Yummy!

• Rose was too old to care about carving pumpkins :(
• Bella carved her own pumpkin :)
• Little Man and LaLa made carving pumpkins very fun :) :)
• Trick or Treating with 4 kids gets you lots and lots and lots of CANDY!!

Rose the Candy Cane Witch

Bella the Zombie Southern Belle

Little Man as Darth Vader

LaLa as Snow White

 

LaLa originally wanted to be Princess Leah - which I loved (Darth Vadar and Princess Leah - how cute!), but she changed her mind after I bought the Snow White DVD.  Bella was going to be a cute Southern Belle but decided at the last minute to add the zombie part (I think it's because she loves to play with the makeup!).  And I can't tell you how many times Rose changed in and out of her costume; adding leggings, shorts, changing her mind, then changing back again.... Little Man; however, never once changed his mind on his costume!

It was a great evening with lots of laughs and sugar all around!  Come to think of it, we will all be on a sugar high for at least a week!

Happy Harvest!

Slug a Bug

Woah, can you say slacker?  I haven't posted at all since school began.... can you tell I have a hubby, 4 kids, a job and a home to care for?  No excuse, since my friends and family seem to be able to post a couple of lines a week!  Just like scrap-booking - if you wait, it piles up and the mountain is too big to climb!  Yikes! 

So much has happened in the last couple of months, so I pledge to catch up the blog via post-dating in the next week (or so, who am I kidding anyway!). 

Cuz you know, I can just delete this post and you won't know the difference, hahaha! 

OK, OK! To keep me honest, here is my posts-to-come list!  You know me, if I write it down, it HAS to happen!

• First Day of School
• Princess LaLa is 4!
• Happy 18th Anniversary
• Cirque du Soleil "O"
• Casting Crowns Concert in So-Cal

TTYL (type to ya lata!) <3

Casting Crowns Concert Weekend!

One of my favorite bands is Casting Crowns and I have been wanting to see them in concert for a few years now.  It seems they aren't going to come to me, so I decided to go to them!  I looked on their website and found they were going to be in Southern California on a weekend that my family could schedule in!  Yay! 

 Family Vacation Weekend 2009! 

Oh, it was such a perfect weekend!  One of those that makes you go, WOW, this is what I always pictured when I was a little girl and wanted a husband and children!  Sorry so Polly-Anna, but it was a

much MUCH MUCH MUCH much

 needed weekend getaway that only laughing, tickling, music, ocean, movies, junk food and the people you love most that makes the daily grind worth it all! 

• The kids watched some great movies on the car ride down (whoever invented the built-in DVD player; I love you sooooo much!). 
• Saturday morning was full of driving around Hollywood trying to get our GPS unit to work with no success, so instead of geo-caching, we played tourists and drove in circles around the Hollywood sign; good times (it is a QCrew tradition to "get lost on purpose" so we see more sights, I truly love this part!)
• Saturday afternoon was spent at Zuma Beach in Malibu enjoying the sand between the toes, waves, and playing tag with little Man, I think we ran a 5k on the beach!
• Finally, time for the Main Event ~ Casting Crowns ~ BEST CONCERT EVER!!!  I would drive to Cali anytime to see them again.  My favorite part?  That my girls loved it when Mark Hall (lead singer who is also a youth pastor) spoke about his faith and told about their new album coming out November 17th, titled Until the Whole World Hears and how their mission with this new cd is to share the love of Christ Jesus with the whole world through World Vision (seriously??? This was their favorite part of our Hollywood / Malibu / Beach weeked???? ).  It was especially touching because we recently started sponsoring a child in Albania through World Vision and just received our first letter from his family!  It really hit home that we are trying to share our faith with others as well! 
• Sunday came way to fast, but we decided to drive to Malibu and up the coast a little then swing over to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.  It was so much more than I expected, they had a full size Air Force One there and a piece of the Berlin Wall.  We spent all afternoon there because we just couldn't leave without seeing absolutely everything!  Of course we got home super late, but it was so worth spending the time doing all we did!
• The ride home was the icing on the cake!  We had an amazing, open, honest, serious life discussion with our teenager about life, love, friends, marriage, music, God, Jesus, family....... it was amazing and I am so grateful we have the family I always prayed for. 

Rose & Bella didn't come out of the water for hours!

Little Man and LaLa didn't make it throught the concert, Casting Crowns weren't as exciting as the beach!

piece of the Berlin Wall

I can't figure out why Air Force One is sideways, sorry to give you a crink (sp?) in your neck!

http://www.worldvision.org/

CastingCrowns.com

 *** Reminder!!  The new album comes out November 17, 2009

 & after hearing most of the songs during the concert, it is going to be aaaaahhhhhmazing! ****

O, Oh, Water!

Hubby and I went to see Cirque du Soleil's "O" pronounced "Eau" which is french for Water; who knew?!  Wow!  I have trying to come up with a description for this amazing show, and I have failed miserably... can't do it justice.  So I must just say, GO SEE "O"!!  I literally cried when it was over because I didn't want it to end!  Hubby gave it props because he didn't get bored (this coming from the poor man who loves me sooooo much that he sat through Celine Dion's A New Day for our last anniversary!).  I just couldn't decide which part of the stage to watch there was always so much going on, dancers, divers, ariel acrobatics, etc.  Since neither of us did any drugs, we can only guess that the show represented what must be a really good hallucinagenic drug trip!  haha, no offense anyone ~ I just really can't think of any other way to describe it!

I must also rave about our fabulous dinner at Olive's... oh I loved the olive tempanade and herbed crackers we had there; I can't find crackers like it anywhere yet, but have found a delicious olive tempanade at Trader Joe's that I have been eating constantly with tomato-basil wheat thins, yummy! Note to anyone who goes there, though.  The atmosphere is very trendy and tables are very close together, so if you want an imtimate dinner, ask for balcony seats; then you can also watch the fountains of Bellagio with a front row seat! 

Our good friends kept the kids for the night (THANK YOU!!)  and I think they all had just as much fun as hubby and I did on our big night out on the town! 

Yes, I am already planning our anniversary date for next year, and you can bet it includes another Cirque du Soleil show (maybe even a repeat of this year's "O"!?) 

http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/

Here is the link for you to browse and watch the trailer if you would like to! 

Happy Annivery to the love of my life!

Happy Happy Happy Anniversary to the love of my life!  The one whom I have loved since I was 15 years old and who I have now officially been married to for HALF MY LIFE.....  woah, I feel old.  I thought you may enjoy a couple of pictures from days gone by! 

Junior Prom 1990

Christmas 1990

The Proposal - Valentine's Day 1991

September 7, 1991

While I am being nostalgic, here is the story of how we met as well!

The summer before my freshman year of high school, I attended the "Last Chance Dance" before football season started.  Where I grew up, Football is FOOTBALL and the boys aren't allowed to talk to girls or socialize (too much) because it distracts them from the FOOTBALL, thus the "Last Chance Dance" where, you got it, it's their last chance until FOOTBALL season is over! 
I went to the dance with my best friend, who, like most girls at our school, had a major crush on the quarterback.  The dance was held in my TINY town at the old abandoned swimming pool / skating rink.  I don't remember the dance being held there any other time, but it was a good place to have a dance ie; spooky background for silly girls who need a shoulder to cling to; but I digress....  Bestie wanted to ask QB to dance, but didn't want to go alone.  She dared me to ask quarterback's friend to dance so she wouldn't have to walk across the dance floor by herself. 

And then I met the love of my life....

He was funny, tall, dark hair, handsome, witty and sarcastic!  We danced, laughed, and goofed around all night and I don't think I ever stopped laughing the whole time!  I was very much smitten!  I couldn't believe I didn't know of him before the dance, after all, he was going to be a senior, and he was best friends with the quarterback of the FOOTBALL team.  I asked him if he played football and he said that he loved football, but wasn't very good at it so they let him be the waterboy.  Huh?  The waterboy?  In my town, they let EVERYONE play FOOTBALL - it's just that important!  Ok, whatever...... he is so funny, tall, dark hair, handsome, witty and sarcastic.... I guess I can get over the fact that he doesn't play on the FOOTBALL team, right?  Right. 

Fast-forward to the first day of my high school career - Fresh Meat.  The Cheerleaders had a pep assembly to welcome the new year and get everyone riled up for the football game later that week.  I was just enjoying the show, when the head cheerleader announced that the FOOTBALL CAPTAIN was going to come up and give a speech.... you guessed it.... it was my WATERBOY! 

Did I mention he was funny?  I do believe that was what hooked me - his humility, sense of humor, beautiful green eyes and his ability to make me feel like the most beautiful, loved, capable woman in the world at the same time he makes me realize how completely dorky, quirky and vulnerable I am!  I absolutely adore you, Husband, even if you are only the waterboy. 

You are my best friend and my love

Dolphins & kisses

 for ever and for always! 

Oh, My Minnions ~ you may serve me now!

Princess LaLa is the big FOUR!
We went to a bbq at our Pastor's house and it turned into a shin-dig for LaLa!  She was in heaven and a true princess enjoying all the attention and love from everyone!

I was soooo excited to give LaLa her presents this year!  I got her "Bitty Twins" by American Girl!  These dolls are a BIG deal in our house!  Rose is too old for them now, but Bella and LaLa sure love to play with her old ones and theirs.  Many, many, many happy hours have been spent in our home combing hair, changing clothes and pretending with these beautiful dollies and I couldn't wait to give LaLa her very own babies to love!  The fun thing about this gift was the fact that they were twins!!  You can get boy/girl combinations and customize to hair / eye color (although a little dissappointing that the brown hair boy only had brown eyes and the blonde boy had blue eyes - I guess they don't get enough orders for boy dolls? I had to settle for a brown eyed boy which took the little man about 0.1 seconds to point out that the boy doll didn't have blue eyes.  oh well....).

Little man and LaLa are only 15 months apart, which qualifies them to be called "Irish Twins".  They really are like twins, so close in age and best friends forever!  LaLa thinks she is going to marry little Man and gets so upset when I tell her it isn't gonna happen!  They are little partners in crime!  So I thought it would be soooo adorable to get LaLa a set of twins to play with! 

In true Princess LaLa fashion, she promptly named the babies after herself & her brother! 

Little girl, I love you so much 

You are the little bonus baby God knew I would adore! 

You are my sunshine, my silly willy, picadilly, alligator stare..... you are my ice cream sandwich, my watermelon gum, my soda pop, my lollipop, my yummy yummy yum! (borrowed from our favorite book "You're my little Love Bug" by Heidi Weimer)

  Our family is complete!  September 6, 2005

LaLa made quite the entrance, didn't wait for the Dr to arrive and was delivered by the Nurse!

She's 1!

at her first b-day party, begging food from sissy! 

LaLa sneakin' some frosting from her Magenta Cake for her 2nd Bday!

She's 3 and a true Barbie Princess!

(Love Bella covering brother's mouth!)

It was so hot, the icing melted off the cake - gotta love the 110 degree September days!

The cutest scrunchie face EVER!!

and this is how I remember MY bitty twins! 

School Days

First day of school is finally here! Rose has been counting down days for weeks (ok, months) and is so ready for her first day of the last year of middle school - she is in 8th grade now,

Bella is excited to be able to wear her cute new clothes to 5th grade, and is happy to have one year in elementary with her brother,

and the little man is so ready for Kindergarten!

Poor Princess LaLa, one more year....

Oh,  how I love those kids... they are growing way, way, way too fast.  I am so thankful that I get to be their Momma!

Off he goes into the world

Have a great year my QCrew, I love you ~ Dolphins & Kisses!