Our Christmas and New Year were great this year. We got to spend it visiting lots of family and playing a lot. We even got to celebrate my Grandpa's 80th birthday smack dab in the middle of all the fun. At this time of the year I would be truly remised if I didn't say how thankful I am for all the things I have been blessed with. A great job, renters for our Cleveland Summer Home, four wonderful boys, a home to live in, food to eat, and a great family. What more could anyone ask for or need. (A girl? maybe?) (No I am not making an announcement!!!!) Any way we hope all of your holidays were great too. Happy New Year!!!

Santa delivered a trampoline this year and the boys have been on it every day since. I love this picture of the three boys. They love each other so much. I am so grateful for that. What better friends can one have then their brothers.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve

We let the boys open one present on Christmas Eve. This year Axel go two books. It was fun to watch him actually open up his present.











The boys got Bionicles. They loved it.














Here are all the cousins waiting for the go sign so that they could open there presents.

Me and my honey on Christmas Eve














Jorden playing the wiseman in the Nativity play. I just loved this picture, check out those ears.













Here is JJ with his gorgeous sisters. It was fun to see all of them.

Cousins

My sister Kim and her son AJ came to visit and stay until Christmas. Axel and AJ are 2 days apart. They had so much fun stealing each others toys. But I do think they really liked each other. How fun to have cousins your age. We did miss having the third baby of our trio here with us, little Bryce. But we will see him soon.

I realize it has been a month since I posted so here you go. I have updated you on our happenings. Thanksgiving was yummy, we spent it with my parents and sister's family. I love being back around family again. We did miss our Thanksgiving dinner with friends though. But we sure have a lot to be thankful for.

Saturday is a special day!!

So mom got fed up with cleaning the boys bathroom so now every Saturday the boys get assigned a part of the bathroom. I have never had such a clean bathroom!! They do such a great job and right now they even like it. In fact they even ask to clean my bathroom. This is great. I will take it while they still like it.

Here is Jorden cleaning the toilet. He did a fabulous job!!!!


















Here is Michael, he was in charge of the sinks and the tub.

















And here is Gunnar, he was in charge of the mirror and the counter.

Soccer

Here is Jorden playing Soccer. He is the one kicking the ball. He loved it!! He was on the same team as his cousin Aiden. My sister signed her husband up to coach and then followed that up by signing JJ up as the assistant coach. They did so great. All the kids by the end of the season knew how to stop the ball and they even knew which goal they were supposed to kick the ball into, for the most part. Jorden won the "Big Foot" award. That meant that whenever his coach would tell him to go get the ball he would put his head down and run with every ounce of speed he could muster up. He did great and even made a few goals this season. By the middle of the season we even convinced him that playing goalie is fun, so he even gave that a go. He did great. We were so proud of him and he was so excited to get to do something that up to this point only his brothers had been able to do.

Oh Fall in Cleveland, How we miss thee!!

Fall in California

We missed playing in the leaves this fall in Ohio, so we raked up all the leaves in our yard and Jorden jumped into the pile.

My 4 boys!!

Axel has learned how to climb up ladders so we walked into the boys room to find this. They were just too cute to pass up this photo op.

Halloween

Aren't they cute!!! I mean handsome!
Michael-Clone (white)
Gunnar-Jango Fett (gray)
Jorden-Luke Skywalker the Jedi (yes I had to add the Jedi to it.)
Axel-Yoda

And no JJ and I did not dress up this year. We were total bums. But just wait next year we will blow your socks off. (Assuming we come up with something great!!)

Halloween

Oh the fun pictures we get on Halloween. Here is my neice Reese dancing the night away.

























And here are all the neices and nephews together before we left for candy. We were just missing little Eva the Indian Baby.












Here is our little Yoda. Doesn't he look adorable the next picture is even better. He was fascinated with the candy in his bucket.











What more can I say than what a perfect outfit for a little guy!!!! He was our inspiration for the costumes this year.

Jorden's Birthday

Well my Jorden had his birthday last month, and what a fun day it was. He wanted to have a soccer party, so a soccer party he got. He invited his friends from his primary class and his cousins and had a grand old time.
















Here is the wonderful cake made special by dad and the great lego's we own.













And of course the party wouldn't be complete without the pinata. Doesn't he look like he is ready to do some real damage!!













Here are all his friends waiting their turns for the pinata. From left to right, Cousin Makenzy, Zach, Aiden, Jake, Ethan, Jorden and Gunnar.

I was tagged!!!

I was tagged and asked to list my crazy quirks. Well what I have found as I read others quirks is that I am not alone in some of mine. So here goes...

1. I hate to be late. 10 minutes early is right on time for me. When I see that I am late my heart starts to beat really quickly and I start to get really ansy. I have to talk to myself to get myself to calm down.

2. Toys. I hate to lose toys. For example we have this oreo matching game. It has 12 cookies in it that pull apart. I will spend hours, days even looking for each piece after my children toss them around. Now I know you are saying just stop looking your children obviously don't care, well I do, I am OCD about it and I can't stop!!! If I ever were to give a hand me down toy to anyone it would have every piece that came with it.

3. My bed. Once I make the bed you can not lay on it. Yes that is right, I can't stand laying on a made bed it just ruins the perfectly made look. If you want to lay in it you must pull down the covers.

4. Binkie's. Like the toys, I can not lose a binkie, I will search my house top and bottom, I will walk the isles in the stores until it is found. They cost money and I don't like to spend it on them if I don't have too. Again I am OCD I can't stop looking.

5. I hate to take showers and baths to get ready in the morning. It takes up so much time to do it that I wish my hair was never greasy. I feel like it is such a waste of time. Now I know you are thinking so take them at night. No way I hate what my hair looks like in the morning if I do that. However once I am in the shower or bath I could sit there for hours just enjoying the hot water. I know call me crazy.

6. Doritos. I love doritos, but it is not my love for them that makes it one of my quirks. It is how I eat them. I have to get all the cheese from the chips onto my lips as I eat them so that in the end I can lick my lips and taste all of that fabulous cheese. My hubby gets a kick out of watching me eat them. Come to think of it so would all of you!!!

Well I hope I could give you all a little inside into me and let you see how weird I really am. Not that you didn't know it already.

I tag Misty, Stefani, and Alison

Axel walking

I just wanted to let every one have a peak at my little one year old walker.

Jorden's Art Show

Jorden got a hold of the camera this morning and I thought it would be fun to share his pictures with everyone. Isn't he adorable???

Happy Birthday Axel

My baby turned one on the 17th. I will admit I am sad at how quickly he is growing up. But I will say he is by far the best baby in the world. These pictures don't lie. He really is this happy all the time. I love you Axel!!!!!

We are still alive!!!

Yes we are still alive and doing well. School has started and life is looking up. I am sorry I haven't posted in a while but life has been a tad bit crazy. But I have now gotten you all up to date with the happenings here.