It is that time of year!!

Every year after Thanksgiving, we decorate the house for Christmas. This year we spent a lot of time on the front of the house. Jason strung the lights with Logan's help and I replanted both of the front flower beds.

Thanksgiving

Wow! Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. This year I spent the holiday with my sister and her in-laws as I wanted to be with family as my folks are now out-of-state. Lots of good food to be had and good conversation all around. We were able to talk to my folks via the web cam (The 1st time I have seen them in months, I started to cry) and we were able to see some family that we haven't seen in a few years.
Being able to wake up every day and see and talk to family is such a blessing. We actually celebrated Thanksgiving over 2 days, Thursday with my sis and Friday with my in-laws. I am so tired of turkey!!!
I am taking a hint from my sister's blog and coming up with a list of things that I am thankful for. Here it is:
1) My wonderful hubby who stands by me with some of my crazy ideas and actions. He always tells me to make decisions that will make me happy. As the old saying goes, if Momma ain't happy, no one is happy.
2) I am thankful to God for giving me 2 beautiful and healthy boys. As you know, my pregnancies and deliveries were difficult but look what I ended up with in the end!!
3) My wonderful loving and extended family. My little sis and her awesome family (now including dog #4), my in-laws and all of my family and friends.
4) That we have good jobs and a roof over our head. Our house might not be fancy and needs some work, but it is home.
5) I am thankful that I wake up every day to be surrounded with the love of my men. (All 3 of them)

Halloween Night

Jason took the boys Trick-or-Treating in Evelyn's neighborhood. I was at home with a severe sinus infection. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee rocked the neighborhood.

Logan's Halloween Party at School

I had a meeting all morning so Jason attended and helped at the party this year. Tons of cute costumes!!!

The Great Carving Party

Evelyn loves having all of her kids, significant others and other family come over for our annual carving party. We have all agreed that it is more for the adults than for the kids. While the kids were playing, the adults were hard at work.

Pumpkin Time at Tom's Farms

The Saturday before Halloween, the four of us along with Uncle Chris and Grandma and Grandpa Ohlheiser spent the day at Tom's Farms. The boys had a blast at the carnival like rides and even got to ride the ponies.

Play Time

One afternoon after Jason had left for Karate, the boys wanted me to take pictures of them in various poses. Daphne had to get in on the action too.

Disneyland, September 21st, 2008

We took some family time and used our passes in a quick visit to Disneyland. We hit some of the old favorites and came home after a couple of hours.

Santa Ana Discovery Museum

The guys all went fishing on September 20th leaving Evelyn and I to entertain the boys. We headed out to Santa Ana, had a nice lunch and went to the Discovery Museum. Everything was hands on so the boys had a blast. The coolest part were the T-Rex and brachiosaurus replicas. You are able to walk inside the brachiosauras and see "intestines/blood cell" amongst other things. Highly recommend it for some time with the kids!!

San Francisco

Jason and I took a little time for ourselves this last weekend and headed up to the Bay Area for some much needed us time. We spent a fabuolus day getting around the city, had a wonderful evening with his cousin Cinda and her boyfriend Nate and then headed out to see the Eagles crush the 49ers. What a blast!! Here are photos from the trip. As you can tell the weather was just perfect!! As many of you know, clear weather is a rarity in San Francisco.

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Potty Mouth

Need I say more?

Scooter Dudes..

Logan kept asking me for a scooter so that he can be a big boy like his cousin Evan.

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Homework

Logan receives a weekly homework packet in Miss Amber's class. Gage wants to do homework too so I bought him his own special little book. Logan was so proud of his coloring job on his "A" page.

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Best Buds

I was hesitant about bringing another big dog into the house with Daphne, but my worries were without merit.

The Karate Kid Action Movie

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Yes, I Am Insane....

OK, my friends and family know me well enough but they will still think that I am insane for doing this......
Meet Ranger...aka Power Ranger according to Logan. Ranger is a rescued dog from the Riverside Humane Society. He is about 2 years old and found starving in a field. He is still really skinny so he will put on another 30-40 pounds once he starts eating well. Logan chose his green collar, leash and even his green ID tag. He is already neutered and vaccinated and even has an ID chip in his skin. He is very shy so he will be talking doggie obedience classes once I get some extra $$.


The girls seem to be adjusting well to him. I decided to get a male dog so that there wouldn't be 3 female dogs competing for dominance. Shelby sniffs him and then goes and lies down. Daphne is trying to figure him out. We left him in the dog run while we went out for dinner and Daphne decided to join him, to his distress, in the dog run. When we got home, Daphne was still in one piece and Ranger was hiding in the dog house.

I did get some distressing news on Shelby today though which broke my heart. I know that she is 11 years old and has lived a long and happy life as a member of my pack (terminology thanks to the Dog Whisperer) but the vet told me today the she believes that Shelby has Neurological Degenerative Disease (some fancy name that I don't recall) and she might last another 3-6 months before she loses control of her bladder and bowel. Shelby no longer wags her tail and when she walks, she stumbles and is crossing her hind legs. Shelby is my special baby. She has been my dog for 10 years and was there for me through some very lonely times before I met Jason. I wanted to get another dog in the house before she passes so that she can help me teach him what it is to be a great dog.

March Air Force Museum

Jason and Larry took the boys to the museum on Saturday while I took some time for myself with my friend Carmen at Glen Ivy. It was a very hot day but the boys were troopers for their daddy. Larry would have liked to spend more time there according to Jason but the boys were done after a while.

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New Carpet

We finally decided to put new carpet down in the house and get rid of the ugly cream colored berber that the previous owner had put in. We went with a taupe color because of the boys and the puppy. We have rearranged some of the furniture around the house: the piano is no longer in the main living room as it took up quite a bit of space and the wood didn't match the rest of the room and we are not putting our sleigh bed back together. After the carpet was replaced, we walked in and saw how much more room was in there. Daphne was quite upset that she couldn't hide under the bed. We are going to put the old bed into storage and buy a new metal frame and try to be like the designers on HGTV and build a headboard.

Summer Fun, Part II

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Last Saturday we went to Evelyn's house as I had a hair appointment and Jason was at one of his computer gaming events. It was very warm so we pulled out the sprinkler and unleashed the boys. Uncle Chris got into the fun for a bit but didn't want to get too wet.