On the Way Home...

...we stopped at the temple so we could see the christmas lights. I've always wanted to go, but haven't taken the opportunity 'til now.

Drive by temple shot.

Knott's "Merry" Farm

For the last 4 years (minus the year I had just had Emma) we have taken advantage of getting into Knott's for free for Fire & Law Enforcement days! It's getting better as the years go by because the kids can ride more rides and even most by themselves! They really enjoy going and LOVE to ride "Co-Coasters" (as Michael refers to them as!) This year we were able to take Grandma K with us since she was in town!

Here are the kids in Camp Snoopy on the first ride!

The airplane ride.

Ridin' the rails.

The girl loves her Choo Choo trains!

Awwww!!!

Emma & Grandma K

Michael & Grandma K

Mommy & Emma

Michael & Emma on the mini scrambler.

Michael & Daddy on the Ferris Wheel.

Michael giving Emma a hug.

I LOVE this picture!

Check out Michaels face!

Finally!

After several weeks of Michael still sleeping in his toddler bed NEXT to his bunk, I FINALLY ordered a mattress for his new big boy bed!!! I only got one, for now, but will probably get the other soon. He was SOOOOOOO excited to sleep in his new bed! He even waited up for daddy to come home from work so he could show him "a suprise".

Christmas Decorations

We decorated for Christmas a couple weeks ago and this is the result...

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Crazy Kids!

I was cleaning out some drawers and found a bunch of old pacifiers (I started hiding them when I took them away from the kids) and put them in the throw away pile. When I turned around, this is what I saw:

I was in the other room and Ron told me to get my camera and come into our room. When I came in, I found what Michael had done to the cat. It's one of those velcro glove things that you play catch with tennis balls.

Thanksgiving in Pismo

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This year we decided to spend Thanksgiving in Pismo! It was so fun! We spent 2 nights at the Seacrest Inn. The hotel was very nice and right on the beach (as long as you walked down a billion stairs to get there! Going down, not so bad, going back up...eesh!) The weather was nice and the company was fabulous! It was the first time the kids shared a bed in a hotel before and they had a difficult time getting to sleep because they were so excited! We had Thanksgiving dinner at Marie Callendars and it was REALLY good (minus the yams...yuck!). We took a night walk along the beach that night and then called it a night. Friday morning, my parents and I got up really early to hit up black friday deals, grabbed some complimentary breakfast, got ready and went out to the beach for some family photos. After the photo shoot, we had us some Splash Cafe (yum!) and then Ron's friend from high school and his wife came into town and they took off to play golf. His friends wife was supposed to meet up with the rest of us, but they were having hotel issues and it was too late by the time they got resolved. We took the kids to San Luis to the Children's Museum. It's all hands on and the kids had a BLAST! It's 3 stories tall. The first floor has some science areas, dinosaur digging, virtual soccer, etc. The 2nd floor was mostly dress up stuff where they had a diner, firetruck w/costumes, a fed ex truck w/boxes, a doctors office w/check-up table, x-ray films, weight scale, etc, a trolly w/benches, a performance stage w/lots of dress-up costumes, a farmers market & a police motorcycle (this floor is where we spent most of our time). The 3rd floor was the smallest and had a large train track for the kids to play with, a huge train you could pretend to drive, and a big doll house area that you could build and play in. (I'm sure there were more things, but by the 3rd floor, I was exhausted!) For dinner we went to Hoagies in Pismo. It was pretty good! Later, we put the kiddos to bed, my dad came to our room and we went out with Ron's friend & his wife and went bowling in Morro Bay where I bowled the BEST GAME OF MY LIFE!!! We played 2 games and on the 3rd, we only made it to the middle of the 9th frame when they shut down the alley. I went strike, strike, strike, spare, spare, strike, spare, spare, 2 (I guess I got tired by the 9th frame!) I was so upset that I couldn't finish!! We got up the next moring, had breakfast at Denny's and then headed home, since Ron had to go to work that afternoon. We had a great time and it was so nice to not have to worry about cooking and we were still able to get some black friday shopping done!

My Little 2 Year Old!

Well, my little girl turned 2 this last Wednesday! I can't believe my baby isn't much of a baby anymore! Time is going by so fast! Sometimes I wish it didn't, but it's so fun as she gets older and learns new things! My little miss is such a sweet little girl! She makes me laugh all the time, even when I'm mad at her! She is so stubborn and gets in moods where SHE has to do it HER way or ELSE! For the most part, she is a happy little girl who loves babies, Tinkerbell, princesses, her brother, phones, and LOVES to put ANYTHING and EVERYTHING in her mouth! She's our little "sweet pea" and we love her SO much and thank our Heavenly Father daily for this sweet spirit! We love you, sweetie girl!

Emma at the hospital:

Emma's 1st birthday:

Emma's 2nd Birthday:

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My Halloween Scare

I put the kids down for a nap on Halloween and was fighting with Emma to stay in her room. After awhile, I heard a thud and went running in there to this...She had pulled out ALL the drawers in her dresser and it fell over! LUCKILY there's a hutch that caught the fall and she wasn't standing between the dresser & hutch so it didn't pin her in or anything! She started crying, but I think it just scared her more than anything. She finally went to sleep! That girl! Geesh!

Road Trip to Lake Isabella/Kernville

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Last Thursday Ron & I took the kids for a drive up to Lake Isabella (to throw rocks) and then up to Kernville to play at the park near the Kern River. We had a good time and it was nice to spend the day with my most favorite people in the world!

Halloween Festivities

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This year we definately got our moneys worth of the kids' costumes! We started out the season by taking the kids to CALM for "Boo at the Zoo". I met up with my parents and my brother's boys since Amanda had just had the baby, and my parents had them. The kids had a great time looking at all the animals, playing in the bounce house & riding the train. Their costumes got filthy (Michaels WHITE pants & Emmas GLITTER shoes!) Luckily, his costume cleaned up with a little Spray 'n Wash & Zout, and Gabi (our babysitter) cleaned up Emma's shoes for me! (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my sitter?!) On the 28th, we had our ward activity on the athletic field and had a good time. The kids loved eating all the candy & cupcakes! The kids stayed the night at my parents house on Friday night so they could "help" my dad put together the spooky house (the bigger kids were the only ones interested, the little ones got scared). Saturday morning, we got the kids dressed in their costumes and took them to Ron's grandparents to go trick or treating and to show them off. After a late nap (for Emma especially...I'll post why on another entry) we went to my parents for pizza and trick or treating. After dinner Ryan, Amanda's parents and I took the kids around my parents neighborhood for my kids first time door to door trick or treating. Michael heard someone say "Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat" and decided to say it as well....all night! After a few houses, we went back to my parents and passed out candy to the kids brave enough to enter the spooky house! It was a long night & I'm glad it's over. Now it's time to clean up all the glitter that came off of Emma's dress!

Cute Conversation

The babysitter told me today that she and the kids were reading a princess book in which at the end it said that they "fell in love". Michael was asking about that and she explained that his daddy and mommy "fell in love" and Michael was concerned that his daddy had actually "fallen". She explained that his mommy & daddy "fell in love" and got married and then explained that one day he would fall in love and get married. He then insisted that he was going to marry Emma. She told him that he couldn't marry his sister and he said "But I NEED her!" Too cute!

Meet Abigail Noreen

Big Brother Jarom with Little Sister Abby

Baby Abigail

Jordan and Abby (and Jarom playing "goochie goo" with Abby)

Proud Big Brothers!

Aaron and Abby

Barn Dance

Our Stake had a barn dance for ages 14 and older, so we got a sitter and went out! It was a lot of fun! They had it decorated so cute, had good food, and a floor show which I was a part of. I was part of the women's dance to "Any Man of Mine" by Shania Twain.

I HAVE A NIECE!!!

Amanda had her baby girl last night at 11:10. Little Abigail Noreen weighed in at 8lbs 4oz, 21 1/4 inches long. Both mommy & baby are doing great!

My Girl Likes to Potty ALL the Time!

So, she hasn't gone potty in the big girl potty since my last post about her, but she likes to tell me she needs to go "poo poo and pee pee" ALL THE TIME!!! I know she doesn't have to go, she's just doing it because something triggered that she wants to sit on the toilet. It usually ends up with her sitting on there, telling me that "it's coming" and then all of the sudden says "all done!" as she climbs off the toilet! I don't want to NOT put her on the toilet because I want her to stay interested, but it gets a little annoying!

In other "potty updates"...I never posted about Michaels progress. He was still having accidents AT LEAST twice a week. I had bought him his own toy computer (so he'd stay away from mine) awhile back, but hadn't told him I did. I was waiting for him to go a whole week without having an accident (during the day) and I figured he would be good. About a week before his birthday, he'd had an accident and I explained that he was going to be 3 soon, and that 3 year olds don't have accidents. I then told him what I had bought and he got all excited and wanted it right then. I told him that if he could go past his birthday party (the day before his birthday) without having an accident, I would give him the computer. And he did it! (with the exception of the day of his birthday party he was running a fever of 105.0---yes, I typed that right--and when he woke up from his nap he was soaked, but I'm going to blame that on the fever!) He was so excited to get his computer and loves to play it. It has a game where it tells you what letter to find and he has to find it. He's still learning his letters and hopefully this will help. He's still wearing pullups at night. I'm waiting for him to go a week waking up dry before I get rid of those. I'm afraid he may sleep like his daddy and not wake up for ANYTHING, which means he probably wouldn't get up to go potty. I'm still debating on taking him potty before I go to bed, but I don't want to start any habits I can't break. Any suggestions on night time potty training?

IT'S A GIRL???!!!!

As most of you have heard, Amanda called after her ultrasound today, being as she is 2 weeks from her due date, and they informed her that she is NOT having a boy, but IS having a girl!!!! Her shower is this weekend and we'd been planning for boy stuff and now need to change gears to GIRL!!! I'm SO excited for her! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Disneyland 2009

For my birthday, I decided to take the kids to Disneyland. Since Ron's out of town, I asked my parents to tag along as my birthday present. We had a GREAT time! I hope we can come back with Ron next time! Enjoy the pictures!

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