Taking advantage of the moment.

Ian is starting to enjoy books now. The other night I turned around and he had climbed into his chair and was looking through his book. Then he came over and sat down next to Nathan and I took a picture. I showed him the picture and he climbed back up by Nathan and said, "cheese". He was motivated by getting to see his picture afterwards, so I took advantage.

Family came to visit.

In February Dawn came to visit. She spent a week at our house and a week at Jason and Shelby's house. We did craft projects, went on walks, and went to the park a few times. Nick, Kiki, Eric and Porter came to visit too. Everyone had a great time. Everyone was playing the Wii and Ian decided he could snow board too.

You are not a dog Ian!

One night Ian dropped to the ground and started acting like a dog. Nathan thought it would be funny to tell him to go in the crate. Ian even had a Scooby snack.

Bubbles!

Bath time for Ian used to be a dreaded task, but thank goodness for bubbles. He seriously would cry at the mention of taking a bath until Nathan discovered he enjoys bubble baths. Now I mention bath and he runs to the bathroom saying, "bubbles".

Ian and the DS.

One day I was looking for Ian and I found him in Alyssa's room with the DS. He is so funny when he is playing the games. If he dies in the game he will look up and say, "Oh No". There is one game that is like Where's Waldo, but with Mario Brothers characters. He is so good at that game it amazes me. If he gets stuck on a game he will just restart it and he knows how to push the correct buttons to start the game again. Anytime I need him to behave I just have to give him the DS.

Kaeli's first band concert.

This year Kaeli was able to join band. At Garin Elementary you have to be a fifth grader to join. She decided to play the flute. At first she thought about the clarinet, but after getting to try the instruments at orientation she went with the flute. January the band had their first concert. Kaeli was nervous, but she did great.

This is her friend Katherine that lives in our neighborhood.

Ian really enjoyed the music. He clapped after every song.

Great job Kaeli!

Visit with cousin Leanna.

In January Staci and Leanna came to visit. Josh was over that day and they all had fun on the trampoline. After Staci was here for a few days we took off to visit Bryce and Kristian. We enjoyed our visit with them and their new litter of puppies.



This was Bella after I gave her a bath. She is almost four months old in this picture.

Beginning of a New Year.

At the beginning of this year we decided it was time to take down the crib. Ian was a little confused at first. I was really nervous, I didn't know how he would react to the change. He did amazing he took to his new bed very easily. It definitely helped that he was obsessed with Thomas the Train at the time. He would call it his choo choo bed.

For the New Year we made some goodies. Ian actually liked the chili cheese dip. The kids were excited that they could stay up this year, only Kaeli made it to the end.

The girls had fun the next morning setting off poppers, since we forgot about them the night before.

Happy New Year 2010!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 in the girl's words, was the best Christmas ever! We went to Atascadero to visit everyone. The kids always have fun seeing their cousins Christopher, Leanna, and Lucas. We even got Bella involved.


Bella loved being held like a baby. She was just enjoying getting to be in the house and around everyone.
Even though Ian's shirt says Here Comes Trouble, he really didn't get into too much trouble this Christmas.
It's not a good visit for Alyssa unless she gets to see Christopher.

The kids were very anxious to get to their presents.

During Christmas is when Ian really started liking trains.
Brandon is very excited that Christopher got a shirt!
Santa brought Kaeli a motor scooter this year. She couldn't believe it, since we told her there was no way we were getting her one.
Leanna loves playing mother to her baby.



Kaeli was very excited to get a video camera. She loves to act like she has a web show like iCarly.

Alyssa is still very into animals as you can tell.





We always stop and see Kiki, Nick, Porter and Eric.





Kaeli didn't want her picture taken.


Ian loves cookies.
When we were back home the girls couldn't wait to play with their crayon maker. You put all your old crayons in, melt them, and pour them into the crayon molds.

Best Christmas ever!