Pretty Pretty Princesses...

So on Tuesday, Celeste invited Emma and Abby (her 2 BFF's) over to party with her for her 4th Birthday! I have to admit that I hardly did anything except the food- Leah didn't have school, so she became the big sister/mother there for the girls- she is trying to convince me that I need to pay her for that! But anyway, she dressed them up and we had lunch and then cupcakes that they decorated; they watched The Little Mermaid, and then they played Hullaballoo. Fun times!! Another birthday celebration for the lucky 4 year old Princess!

Then later that day, Leah had watch week for her tumbling class, so I took some pics there, but she is fast, and my camera is not! Here is the best I could do: She and Julia are still great friends!
Her back walkover is coming along pretty well...



These last two pics were a few of the first ones I took with my new camera!! Yep, that's right, a new camera- an early Christmas gift to me!! I think it will suffice for a while- until I can get the one I truly want- it's got great megapixels, so hopefully they will be a little clearer and it has great zoom and fun features- I haven't really gotten time to play with it yet, but rest assured, I will!

Celeste is 4!!

I know what you are thinking, "she can't be 4?!" Well, I am thinking that too!! NO fair! She is growing too fast- I hate it. Honestly, my baby, my little girl now wants to be a big girl...as long as she stays this cute and sweet, I will let her keep growing, but it is not easy on me!! We love her to pieces- she completes our family, and for sure will always be my baby.
I just love all her looks and antics- she cracks me up- and don't get me wrong, she loves to be photographed- but only until I say, "look at me!!!" a few too many times- then she is done- these were harder to get than usual! But worth every one.

We went to my parent's house for her cake and ice cream...Sean and Steph and the girls were there too- Aunt Liza came. It was fun- her cupcakes spell out:

C 4

And then I wrote "Celeste is the bomb" on them- she loved that! And of course, she got tons of fun gifts- here she is enjoying them all.

Lucky girl- she is one lucky, special, one-of-a-kind, bundle of love, fun, wonderful, sweet, cuddly, gem of a little, big girl who we are lucky and blessed to call ours. Happy 4th Birthday, Celeste- we love you more than you will know...

Fall Favorites

The leaves have been changing for some time now, but they are finally falling and looking even more beautiful! My kiddos raked leaves the other night, but tonight we went to a park to enjoy the scenery. It was so nice. Here are the collages from the day:


I am debating on getting a new camera- this one is old...my good one broke this summer- remember?! Now this one does a decent job, but the megapixels are just barely enough to make the pictures clear...if only I could afford the Sony SLR- too bad I can't - so for now I will just have to deal with this one...

Booming Bonfire

On Saturday, we celebrated Julian's 4th birthday with Aunt Annie, Uncle Javier, Christian, Julian and Aunt Liza! We ate yummy Chinese food- Julian's fav- mine too, by the way...and then after that, Aunt Liza hosted a terrific bonfire! It was super nice- a perfect evening- new people to meet and chat with -great temperature outside and delicious strawberry marshmallows to roast- topped off with soups and hot cider- wow- it was great! The kids had a blast, as usual, and so did we!

Halloween Trick or Trunk 2009

What a fun night Friday was!! The kiddos had a blast and so did the adults- once again, the Youth (ie. Suzanne, and her crew) did a great job planning and executing it all! I was super impressed, and just love that the adults dressed up too! Dana and I elected not to (I worked and he just didn't feel like it), but our kids did, of course.

Here is "Gangsta Boy"- who won a certificate from the YW for "funniest costume":

Here are my brides- don't they look lovely?!

It is supposed to rain on trick or treat night, so I am glad we got another chance for them to dress up- here is a montage of the night too:

We already have too much candy- and the kids are loving it!!

Round Town Pumpkin Show

So the Pumpkin show has come again!! What a great time! We had a fun night, once again! Perfect weather, perfect food, and perfect friends to be there with! Here are some highlights:

We ran into Alex's friend Jared and his grandparents there! How funny!

Alex helps Celeste pick the right duck!

Celeste got to ride the pony- his name was King!

Just the toys they won playing the games- Celeste won the ball playing the duck game; Leah won the bear shooting water into a balloon until it popped, and Alex won the pumpkin tossing rings onto bottles!


Celeste loves Steve!
Alex's glow in the dark shirt that I tried to get to glow for the picture.

This year we had a pumpkin ice cream shake, and pumpkin donuts- first time for both- and for sure wonderful enough to get again next year!

Skating Sensation

So Leah got invited to a skating party for her friend Lily's birthday from school. We have been invited and had chances to go skating before, but have never actually gone...until last Saturday. This was Leah's first time EVER skating- and me, well, I haven't been in probably 15 years, at least! Dana and I used to go ice skating when we were first dating, but that is a different type of balance all together! So anyway, Leah and I went, and this was how it started for her:

And this is her after a two trips around the rink:



Not bad!! She got the hang of it pretty quickly! I was happy after those first two trips around, because she was falling quite often- I promised her I wouldn't post pics of that!! As for me, well, I did pretty well...I never fell, though I did nearly lose my balance a time or two, but I even skated backwards for these shots- not bad for many years off the rink! It was really fun, though, and so I am proposing a girls night skating party for all who are up for it! I think it would be a blast from the past to skate again like we did many years ago- so let me know if you are game!

School Picture Day

Another year where the school pictures are a mint to purchase- so here we go again, with Mom's lame attempt to take them herself- (a mere minute before we were late to school)- great mom, I know! These are even worse than last year's - but oh well- at least I take enough others throughout the year that it makes up for them!!

Alex- 4th Grade Leah- 2nd Grade

In then Out

Okay, so an update:
On Friday, our buyer pulled out of contract to buy our house. As depressing as that was for a minute, it is really a great blessing...we are overwhelmingly blessed by so many good people...things happen for a reason, and we are not sad, we understand there may be bigger and better things in store for us...
I will still update - but for now, the house is on the market again for about 30 more days or so- we are having Jake's crew put on a new roof this week, we are having some electrical work done by our friend JR, and so things are great. After the 30 days, we will pull it and then relist in the Spring. We are not at a loss here- we feel like we are doing all we are supposed to do, and so things will be fine...whether we stay here this winter, or whether it sells this week...we will be fine.
We know we are going to move, we KNOW that- it is just not today...perhaps soon...perhaps not...but it really doesn't matter- I know whom I put my trust in and that is where we leave it.

In Contract

For those of you who don't know...we are in contract for selling our house! As excited as I am, I still realize there are other hoops to jump through...we have inspections tomorrow and Weds and then the appraisal...this is an answer to many prayers- so I have to have faith that things will work out.
I will post pics and more info as things progress.