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A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! My hubby is in a picture!

If only more miracle's could come our way. Hopefully in 2011, all the crooks and scumbags who have crossed our path the last 2.5 years will be punished.

Fingers crossed!

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I love when Lila changes her picture, and I wanted to let everyone know that I have changed my picture too :-) This is from last Halloween, but basically how the kids still look, although they actually look a tiny bit older :-D I love this picture though, so you get this one till I have time to take another. :-)

HOLIDAY DECORATIONS

My son loves Christmas so much. If it wasn't for him, I don't know if I'd decorate :-) By the way, DOUBLE CLICK any picture to see it bigger :-D

Here are some pictures of my favorite things that I MUST do every year :-) We just got the fence in our backyard replaced with this new cool GLASS FENCE. I was so worried my lights wouldn't work on it! I bought some suction cups and they are working PERFECTLY! The first picture is of the lights at night. The second is the fence at dusk, and last is in daytime so you can see how much more gorgeous our view is without all the wrought iron blocking it! :-)





Our first year in this house, my sister Jenalyn "made" me buy these little trees at Walmart. She was SO RIGHT in making me! They have been my favorite outside decoration ever since! It's always the VERY first thing I put up, and definitely the one I look forward to turning on most each night. They are so dang cute, but the picture doesn't do them justice! Everyone loves them when they come visit or drop off the kids.



OK, and last, but CERTAINLY not least, my FAVORITE inside decoration. These are all the little things my kids have given me or made over the years. Every year a few more pieces get added. I know there aren't many more years where I'll have things to add. I love looking back at the cute things they did, and I know how much love went into them. They LOVE seeing the things they made, and how much they've grown.

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY!

It's just around the corner! HOLY COW! STOP THE PROGRESSION! :-)

OK - so I'm working on his bday invitations, and trying to find an "appropriate" picture of him. He just bought this SWEET Nerf gun with his own money, even though I said to wait to see if he gets money for his bday.... (can't stop a boy with passion...)

Bennett just posted pictures of his son, who turns EVERYTHING into a baseball bat...wouldn't that be nice...MY son turns everything into a gun... :-) These are him trying to look "tough" :-)

HALLOWEEN

Not our most creative costume year - found some GREAT skeleton costumes at Old Navy for $12 so HAD to get it, and talk my friend into them for her boys :-) Baby girl didn't know what she wanted to be. I had purchased some fairy wings and told her she could use those, but she decided in the end to wear her 50's girl costume again (LOVE HER! Gotta get our money out of that costume) :-)

For trunk or treat, I wore a "Ben Franklin" wig because I knew I'd be busy with the haunted house. It was pretty hilarious that people didn't recognize me! Weird!

Anyway, we had a nice and mellow Halloween. We went to church in the morning, and then spent the day with our friends, barbequed and carved pumpkins. Yes, I did let the kids trick or treat - are you kidding!?! I've got a pinata to fill in a few weeks! :-D

After trick or treating, we came back and had root beer floats and witches brew (the kids LOVE it, and it's a tradition).

Here are some pictures.

Oh - also, little man, and his buddies went to a halloween party Saturday night. How cute is THAT!

TRUNK OR TREAT

Every year at church, we participate in "trunk or treat". This year, they offered a PRIZE for 1st place - a really cute 5 piece stoneware set! (casserole dish, with lid, 13x9 casserole dish and two cute "brass" stands). I gotta admit, I really liked them! They had other prizes too, all of which I wouldn't have minded :-D

So, Friday morning, the day of trunk or treat, I was driving to Target, and I thought, "maybe I'll make my van into a haunted house". A million years ago, someone turned their motor home into a haunted house at trunk or treat, and I thought I could to :-)

I purchased a cool little light set - it had 3 different battery operated light strands. I also bought some spider web. I borrowed my friends fog machine and a couple really cool decorations, her large brown tablecloth and HUGE brown sheet. My plan was to leave the tail gate up, and turn it into an "alcove", have the fog come in that and float up into cabin. I use my own tablecloth to block out the front seats, took out the middle seats, and the back seats fold down so it was wide open :)

While we were getting it ready, my neighor asked why we were decorating our CAR? LOL After we explained it to her, she said "you HAVE to borrow this thing I just bought" and brought over the ugliest, scariest, most PERFECT decoration. I wasn't sure how I was going to incorporate, but knew I wanted it by the entrance :-)

It was a HUGE HIT! Not only did we WIN FIRST PRIZE, all the kids had a blast! Even the little kids who'd been scared at the beginning, were coming back towards the end and camping out :-) LOL I had plenty of volunteers who wanted to help "scare" the kids. Even the adults liked it.

The pictures don't do it justice :-( It was the experience of it that was magic. But here are some pics to give you a little idea :)

SINGLES 4.0 FINALIST

Darn that I don't have the OFFICIAL picture for the blog, but earlier this month I played in the club singles championship. There were only 4 of us, but it was some tough tennis! I don't play singles, so this was quite a stretch :-)

I won my first two matches, and the next day had to play my friend. I knew it would be tough, because she's so good, and she's SCRAPPY! Plus, her nickname is FANCY PANTS, because she's such a brat and has some FANCY, tricky shots :-) It was a great match, and I lost :-( But, I get to be on the wall with her for the next year, and next year, it'll be ME with the gold trophy :-D

This is us AFTER the match - getting pedicures :-D After 8+ hours of tennis that weekend, we just wanted a 60 minute foot massage :-)

Fall 2010

Two exciting events this year - Little girl earned her GREEN belt, and little man FINALLY is back into sports! WOOHOO! :-)

NEWEST MEMBER OF THE FAMILY

MEET OUR NEW BABY!

BEN FRANKLIN

I don't think I posted these, but earlier this year, little man had to do a report on an American Hero, and he chose Benjamin Franklin :-) He was sooooooo dang cute!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2010

Better late than never :-D

BETTY CROCKER

Baby girl has taken a BIG interest in cooking this fall :-) Here is her VERY FIRST batch of brownies!

FINALLY A TEENAGER!

Yes, I realize it was MONTHS ago, but I'm still reminded daily that a teenager lives in this house :-)

Here are some pics from her bday party :-)




Geee, can you TELL she's a teenager? Phone, phone, phone! :-D



and....if you're wondering what little man is holding in ALL the pictures (if you could see all of them...) it's.....HIS VERY FIRST POCKET KNIFE! :)

I'M AN AUNTIE!! POSSIBLY TWICE OVER....?

This BEAUTIFUL little baby, JULIET RYAN, was born yesterday morning at 4:07am (pst). She was 7 lbs, 15 oz; 21 inches long! She is Bennett & Jennifer's newest addition! Isn't she delicious!!!

Her middle name, Ryan, is after my sister in laws brother who recently passed away from cancer. I think that's awesome! So special! Jen was scheduled for a c-section today, but her original due date was 6/9. Looks like Juliet had other plans. I was thinking at tennis yesterday morning, I wonder "why" Juliet decided to come so soon! Well.....

Yesterday evening, I get a text from my sister LILA!!!

Here is a direct post from her blog: OUR BABY GIRL! Yes you read it right. We got a call this evening from a friend in Sacramento that someone she knows had a baby girl this morning & has decided to place her for adoption. So she called US! We just talked to the birthmom Cindy (please pray for her and her family) on the phone & it went great. We are still awaiting many details of how long we will be there & how soon we need to leave but we may be in california tomorrow to get our daughter!!!! Crazy! And, incase you didn't notice, my brother had a daughter today too & our sons are only a month apart. :) soooOoOO excited. So UNprepared! Oh well, off to talk to the sacramento caseworker... Did I mention we are in shock? Ok, just checking. :)

WHAT!!!!!! TWO BABY GIRLS IN ONE DAY!!!! Some might call it irony, some fate. I call it AMAZINGLY AWESOME!!!! So exciting!

To keep up to date on the progress of my other very special niece, here is a link to Lila's blog: http://michaelandlila.blogspot.com/

and, in case you don't still believe in fate - here is a PICTURE of Lila's little girl - they could be TWINS! :-)

HAPPY JUNE BIRTHDAYS

Can't believe I've got such a big birthday coming up! HOW DID I GET SO OLD?!?

We had a nice Memorial day weekend with hubby's sister and daughter. My sister-in-laws birthday is today, so we took her to Farrell's while she was here. The kids had their FIRST pig trough! LOL We couldn't finish it, but they still go the ribbon, the drum, etc. So much fun! Always a good time, and SIL got to experience the magic that is Farrell's that we all remember from our childhood.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

TENNIS, TENNIS, AND MORE TENNIS :-)

My friend took some pictures at our recent USTA match of the team playing tennis. Here are the ones she took of me:

I learned a few things.

1) I can never wear that outfit again - it's not as cute as I thought...
2) I need to go on a diet :-) hehe
3) I make funny faces when I serve
4) My feet do weird things when I play ;-)

AND, let me explain why I look like a "seniors" player - I have on like 5 braces! ha! One brace, is to continue to support my calf which I tore really bad last August, the ankle brace is because I ignored a pinch in my neck about a month ago, which gravitated to my right shoulder, which gravitated to my lower back - specifically my left sciatic area, which gravitated down my leg and settled in my right ankle and achilles! Not only did it settle there, it SLAM DUNKED there the weekend of the aforementioned club Doubles Championship (which is why I played so horribly - I was a cripple!). After two weeks of frequent visits to the chiropractor, I'm feeling much better and am brace free :-)

These pictures have grown on me over the last week, and I no longer care about the 4 lessons I learned :-) hehe

The pictures at the beginning of the post are all serves. I have a great serve if I do say so myself :-) Thanks to my parents for the 6 lessons with Bernardo back in '88 - he DEFINITELY gave me a great start to a serve, and it turns out, teaching me the continental grip helped me learn to volley and backhand better 20 years later! :-)

These next five pics are mostly of my backhand shots. Big THANK YOU to my mom for my amazing slice backhand :-) It makes people CRAZY!






The next few are of my forehand and one is when I was a little "jammed" :-)



These last ones are split steps, and running for a wide shot to my forehand.