The last day of 2007... a look back...

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Last day of Kindergarten in 2007!

Maddie and I had a blast together today at her school. The Kindergarten class had a little celebration before the Christmas break. We decorated cookies and cake, sang songs, played games and took some fun class pictures. I love being able to help out at her school. The kids are just adorable and so much fun at this age. I think it is so funny that they call me "Madeline's mommy". Having kids is a blast! They are just so much darn fun at this age!!

What a surprise!!!

Oh my gosh... Today was such a crazy busy day. We are having our retaining wall re-done and that itself has been a bit chaotic. Chris is working today so I have had to keep after the workers while running Maddie to and from school, dragging the twins along, and keeping up with their whining too. Maddie is having a play date today with her very good friend Delaney from school and I had finally put the babies down for their second nap. I had the girls watch a movie so I could catch up on the never ending pile of laundry and mess that the girls made... Needless to say I was feeling a bit frazzled.

This is where the surprise comes in. I went upstairs to check on the girls to make sure they were sleeping (our Gardner had just shown up and was using the leaf blower). I came downstairs and I see someone wearing red standing by our front door. I was puzzled and wondering who would be visiting us right now???(And who the heck was knocking on my door that could possibly wake the babies up?? LOL) Well, guess who it was??? Santa and Mrs. Claus! Yes, I am serious! They came all the way from the North Pole to say hello to my children and brighten my day. :) They couldn't have come at a better time. I feel so happy after seeing Maddie and her friend get so excited from them visiting. What a wonderful surprise. :) :) :)

Lucy and Ava are 16 months old today!

Happy 16 month Birthday girls!! I can't believe it has been 16 months already! Before I know it we are going to be celebrating your 2nd birthday. We spent the morning today at the pediatrician's office getting shots and making sure you are healthy. Here are the latest stats:

Lucy:

22 pounds 13ounces and 29.5 inches tall.

Ava:

21 pounds 13 ounces 30.5 inches tall.

Ava is really grwoing fast since she started out a 1/2 inch shorter than Lucy and now she is an inch taller! They are both healthy and as happy as can be! :)

It's been a while...

I have been pretty bad about updating the site lately. We have been so busy trying to get through Chris' eBay season, plus his regular duty and overtime, that I have just been exhausted! On top of that I am sick with and I think I have a sinus infection, plus all three girls were sick and Lucy and Ava are still sick. It has just been a rough month and I sure hope that we will all be on the mend soon. So, on to better news.

Maddie has first report card and we had out first parent teacher conference a few weeks ago. Maddie is doing outstanding and got perfect grades on her report card. San Juan Unifed school district now grades on a scale of 1-4 instead of A, B, C, D and F. 3 is the highest grade you can get unless the teacher thinks you are a genius and you need to be in the next grade level up. Maddie's teacher said that she sees the potential for Maddie to be skipping a grade in a few years from now!! Right now the kindergartner's are supposed to be writing simple words and reading simple words... Now this is where I have to brag... Maddie is writing 3-4 sentences and can read books by herself!!! I am truly amazed how how smart she is. Actually I am scared because soon she will know more than me! LOL

More good news is that Chris' work bid for new stations today. The bid will stay in effect for 3 years and we were really hoping that Chris would get a station close to home. Well the good news is, he did! He got station 32 again which is about 1.3 miles away from our house. With the new 48/96 schedule they have going on this will only make our transition that much easier!

Lucy and Ava are doing well, despite being sick. They are now into pushing each other and pulling each others hair. I am not sure what to do about this yet as the aggressor is usually laughing at making the other cry even when being punished. The both constantly fighting for my attention and I can honestly say that the bickering has not been fun. I think we are in for a long phase of this so I better get use to it soon!!

Oh, here is a funny thing that Lucy does. Almost every night at dinner Lucy will finish all her food first so we let her play while we finish our dinner. Lucy loves to go over to Ava's chair and steal food off of her tray and eat it. This of course makes Ava very mad! LOL This is definitely more funny in person than what I am trying to explain here...

We had the chance over the last few days to put our Christmas tree and light up. It really is starting to feel a lot like Christmas! :) I am excited for the twins to open presents this year and I am looking forward to Maddie still believing in Santa. I think by next year she might start to catch on, but hopefully we still have a few years of fun with the idea of it all. :) The twins of course are having fun taking the decorations off of the tree which has forced me to move all of the decorations to the top half of the tree. LOL They love to look at Christmas lights and I am excited to show them all the pretty decorated houses in the different neighborhoods.

Here are a few cute pictures of the girls playing in the ever growing pile of leaves in our backyard. It was fun throwing leaves in the air and seeing the girls laugh. I am so glad that they are easily amused. :)

JBF dinner

We had our annual "Just Between Friends" dinner today. It was so awesome seeing all the girls and all the kids. I got teary eyed just looking at all of our children because just 3 years ago when I met this fabulous group of women, none of them had children. I had Maddie and I was truly grateful to have her, but after I had her I was struggling with infertility myself. Now between all of us we have 13 children with 4 on the way! That really is amazing!

Each one of the girls in our group are very special to me. It amazes me that we can get together and never argue, and are 100% comfortable around each other. The pain of our infertility seems to have brought us a special bond and closeness to our friendship that I could never replace. They are the best friends a girl could ask for.....

A trip to Apple Hill!

What a beautiful day it was to go up to Apple Hill. The weather was gorgeous and all three kids were cooperative! We decided the only way to get up to Apple Hill this year was to skip Lucy and Ava's afternoon nap... I know, a scary thought! Once we got up to the farm, all the girls had fun. We bought some apples, pears and and apple pie... yum! Maddie wanted to go fishing in the pond, so we did. She caught a nice trout in the first 45 seconds! Maddie loves to fish, but won't have anything to do with the fish after it is caught unless it is Mahi Mahi. LOL Lucy and Ava loved to eat the apples whole. They both took one from the boxes and starting eating it when were picking out our own apples. The theifs!

The evening was a bit tough since the girls didn't nap. OK, it was more than a little rough, they were SO fussy! But I have to admit it was nice to get out and have a family afternoon. :) Oh, and the babies are 15 months old today! :)

Our 6th Anniversary

Chris and I got married 6 years ago today. I can still remember our wedding day as if it were yesterday. I can't believe it has been 6 years already! Chris is a wonderful husband and father and he is truly my best friend. I still feel a little bolt of excitement when I hear him walking through the door, a little flutter in my stomach when he smiles at me and gives that certain look. I still feel so special when we hold hands, and I still feel so warm and loved from his hugs. I still feel like we are "that couple" and really don't think that will ever change.

Happy Halloween!!

Today was a fun day. Kaitlyn, Uncle Jeffrey, Chelsea and Grandpa came over to go trick or treating. Maddie and Kaitlyn have gone trick or treating together every year since they were both born! Maddie dressed up as Tinkerbell, Kaitlyn was Snow White, Lucy was also Snow White and Ava was Cinderella. Lucy and Ava were not so excited about getting dressed and going out past their bedtime to sit in a stroller and have lots of strange people talk to them. LOL We got so much candy I seriously don't know what to do with it all.

Getting ready for Halloween!

Look, I'm really helping!
You have to eat cookie dough when you are making cookies, it's the best part!
MMMMMM...
hey mom, where did the cookie dough go?

I want more!!! PLEASE?!?!?!

Maddie, Lucy, Ava and I made cookies today. :) We decided to be somewhat festive and make pumpkin cookies since we have not been to the pumpkin patch yet nor do we have any Halloween decorations up.. (Does this make me a bad mom??) Everyone had fun and everyone helped out. Maddie wanted to make flower cookies after we had done a tray of pumpkin cookies. We added a bunch of different color dye to try to make a kaleidoscope effect. Aren't these cookies the cutest you have ever seen? J/K of course...

Happy Birthday Jeffrey!!!

Yes, my brother is 28 years old today! It is so hard to believe that we are all getting older. As a kid I can still remember thinking that one day we are going to be in our 20's and 30's! LOL And here we are! Tonight Chris and I went to the Oasis for dinner to celebrate with him. Chelsea was there (of course) and so were Eric and Amber. It was a really nice adult night out. Jeffrey insisted that we not make a big deal out of his birthday at the resteraunt, so we didn't... Amber didn't listen though! :) We sang Happy Birthday and has some awful cake...

A gift from Grandpa Siler!

The girls got a surprise gift from Grandpa Siler today! Maddie was beyond excited when she saw the box on the front porch and I told her it was for her and the girls. When she first opened it up she wasn't quite sure what it was... a play tent that can either be a school bus or a fire engine! Once all the girls got in there, they had a blast. Maddie ended up making it a home and "school" for her stuffed animals. Thank you Grandpa Siler!!

Visiting the fire station

Chris has been working a lot lately so we went to go visit him at the fire station. The girls missed him! When we first got there Ava freaked out when she saw Chris... I am still not really sure why. They are usually all over him! Anyway, once we got into the engine room, they had a blast. Lucy, Ava and Maddie were chasing each other all over the place. The twins were not so excited about getting their picture taken though. :) Maddie loved climbing up the dozer and sitting inside. Overall it was a very good visit.

Almost every night after dinner we go outside to play. All the girls have a great time. Maddie usually will ride her bike with all the neighbor kids, and Lucy and Ava like to push their toys around or do something mischievous like crawling way under the orange tree where I can't reach them! And then laugh at me when I ask the to come out! LOL

Anyway, we have these two tress in our front yard called Autumn Purple Ash. Every time I see these trees I am in awe. I love these trees (maybe that is why I wanted to plant two?) and I just had to capture their beautiful color. They start of with green leaves, then turn to dark purple and and the last stage is this fiery red orange color. They are just gorgeous! At our old house we lived in we had about 20 rose bushes.. seriously! I really miss my roses, and I only have two rose bushes at our new house. This particular rose smells so good. :)