Pictures with Santa

This past weekend the kids got to see Santa twice, once at Zach's school and the other at the fire station.  They were all so excited to see him this year and certainly did not hesitate to tell him what they wanted.  Both Jilly and Luke gave Santa a big hug and Zach had a big smile on his face.  They are really hoping to be on Santa's nice list this year although at times, I am sure Santa has had second thoughts....:))

Updated house pictures

Here is the most recent pictures I have from the house.  The stucco was just finished.  I am so happy with how it looks, getting excited to get the inside livable.  Loving how it is all turning out!!!

The workshop...aka Mike's man cave :) 

Happy Thanksgiving-2011!!

This year we had another wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  Our week started with a trip to Arizona to visit friends.  We stayed with the Marr family and had a blast!  The kids had a wonderful time playing with Trevor and Madison and watching them play soccer.  They especially loved Sydney and Miley (their dogs) and are constantly begging to get dogs of our own again. And NO Santa will not be bring them dogs this year.  On a good note, we will get dogs again once we move into the new house :))).  

We were also able to help Erin and Emily Mclouth celebrate their first birthday!  We had a wonderful time and even got to spend a whole extra day playing with them.  We did enjoy dinner one night with our cousins, the Radu clan.  The kids had an awesome time playing at their house and loved seeing Titus the giant desert turtle.  As I found out he will live another 150 years and will be passed down thru the family in the years to come.  Who knew that this would be such a great pet.

Once we made it back to San Diego we had 3 different Thanksgiving meals.  The kids had a blast seeing the family,  have having fun with grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles! Below are a few pictures I took on Thanksgiving and the Saturday afterward.  

Listening to Great Papa tell a story

Zach hijacked another fan....

Playing ball with the Madison

Talking to Great Aunt Allene

Coloring all the fun things Cousin Kirstin brought to Thanksgiving for the kids.

Uh oh... look what Great Papa is doing!

Jilly with Tori, and Calin

Luke is all business

Halloween 2011

The kids had a lot of fun celebrating fall and of course Halloween with their friends and cousins.  We made it to the pumpkin patch twice, but only had to buy one pumpkin as we were able to grow two big ones and lots of small ones in our own garden.  For Halloween the kids were able to wear their costumes on three separate occasions which made them happy.  As you can see we had one police officer, a firefighter, and Tinker Bell.

 The two pumpkins on either side of the big one in the middle were home grown!  Funny that they smelled like cucumbers and not pumpkins...

Zach, Riley, and Little Zach 

Jilly is under that mask somewhere 

Annual picture at the Newman's bar

Harvest Festival and Vista Fire Open House 2011

Our church had a harvest festival in early October.  The kids had a ton of fun playing games, petting animals, and getting their hair spray painted.  Fun for them, mess for mommy. After the carnival I took the kids up to Mike's fire station for an open house.  The kids had an awesome time as always sitting in the trucks and pretending to be firefighters.  They even had fun in a smoke room and got to see mommy get dressed up too!