The Awesomeness that is The Hair.

When I first met Rick, he had long hair. Long, frizzy, blond, crazy hair. He was such a cool guy... such a rebel. Riley heard that his dad used to have long hair and now Riley wants the same kind of hair. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That will *not* happen. Because we now know about such things as curl enhancing mousse and detangling spray to make crazy curly blond hair more manageable. I think it's time, though, to take a little trip down the path of memories that leads us to The Awesomeness that is The Hair. Shall we?


This first picture was when I was in college in San Diego and Rick and I spent a Saturday on Coronado. We were in this cool little park that had a merry-go-round. This is my favorite pic of Rick from when he had long hair. :)



Now this next one is dear to my heart. This is the first pic he sent to me, just after he met. This is his 10th grade school picture. I think he totally looked like Ricky Schroeder here. And, honestly, who doesn't love a good feathered mullet? ;)




And, ahhh yes. His Madrigals portrait. Junior Year, I believe. Check out the boots. And the facial hair. And of course, the flowing blonds tresses. I mean, honestly! How can you *not* fall in love with this handsome fella standing at the edge of a heart-shaped lake?

And... finally... the Piece de Resistance. The Awesomeness That is The Hair.

This, my friends, is Rick's SENIOR PICTURE. The ONE THAT WAS IMMORTALIZED IN THE SCHOOL YEARBOOK. Yes. That is right. Not only is the hair awesome, but HE WORE A HEADBAND. You gotta love a man who is so secure in his manhood he can wear a headband in his senior portrait. And a bolo tie.

I strive to take senior portraits as awesome as this.

Now I hope it is clear to all of you why I fell in love with Rick. I mean, scroll up for a second. Take a look once again. That is right. It was all about The Hair.

Another good kid.

The 6 year old is a super good kid. He loves his mama, loves Jesus, and America, too...
hm.

Anyway... he also loves to draw. This was a recent picture he did for school... the assignment was to draw something your family did together recently. Check out the cake with the "6" candle on it. HAHA.
Something else that this good kid has been doing is pretty awesome. He can read now. Not just words that he sounds out, but actual BOOKS. And he LOVES it. The TV can be on Spongebob in the next room, and he would rather read a book. Just a couple weeks ago, he read the entire Green Eggs and Ham book to me. I was so impressed!
Here, he is reading another one of his Clifford books...
I love that he is on my lap, READING. I love that he loves reading. I want him to be an avid reader like me. Violet would rather do anything than read, but not Riley. It makes me so very happy.
A new library opened up right down the street from us. It is AWESOME. We went there the other day and checked out a pile of books. Both kids have their own library cards and Violet was super impressed that she could check out FIFTY BOOKS AT THE SAME TIME. I told her that 4 is enough for now. Riley picked out three books for himself. (there is this cool self check out at the library, which the kids completely LOVE to use!) There's also a special computer area just for kids, along with an awesome selection of children's books on CD. I cannot wait to explore the library some more!

And, in closing, another piece of art that Riley did recently. This was a Portrait of a Family Member. :)
I totally love Luke's hair... and green shoes... and his awesome "grinden" skills. :)

The Three Kings

On January 6th, the 3 kings came to our house while the kids were sleeping. They were on their way to visit Baby Jesus and had made a quick stop at our house. The kids left out grass and water for the camels, and in the morning when the kids woke up the grass and water were GONE and the three kings had left the kids each a little present of thanks. This year they were especially generous... we got two new Wii remotes so we can now play 4 players on our Wii games. It was a very smart gift, because now we can all play together on the Wii as a family when we do Family Game Night. Our current Favorite Family Wii Game of Choice is Boom Blox:


Seriously it is super fun and challenging for EVERYONE. We have been loving it!

Do you have any unique family traditions like Three King's Day? I would love to hear them!

Good kid.

Yeah, I know I have a good kid. So today I am going to brag a little bit. She earned straight As for the first trimester at school and made it on the Straight A honor roll. I got to see her receive her certificate at a special awards celebration.
And then in December, Violet had three separate speaking parts in her class performance of Twas the Night Before Christmas. She did the intro, where she spoke of Clement Clark Moore's life and history, and with the rest of her class, recited lines from the poem itself. Violet is so good onstage and so ambitious. She memorized all her lines, including the biography, even though it wasn't a requirement.

She's a good kid. She is now taking part in an afterschool drama and acting camp and I can already tell it's a perfect fit for my girl.

Riley Turns 6

On December 28th, Riley turned 6. To celebrate, he wanted chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. YUM!
Did I mention how much I love my new lens? Cause it is so fun. I LOVE IT. Oh and this boy who entertains me with his facial expressions.

That night we had an impromptu mini family/friend get together for him. Violet made the cupcakes all by herself just for him...

I think he liked them... :)

and he got some super fun, great gifts. He got General Grevious's ship from uncle Bob and Tiff, new sleds for the snow from us, a radio controlled car from Violet, the new Kirby Game for the DS from Papa and Mama Lali, Mario Party 8 for the Wii from Grandma Dee and Grandpa Rich, and Lego Batman for the DS from Liane and Carl.

He decided that since it was his party, he would play some Mario Party. Goodtimes. :)

So yes, the boy is 6. He can tie his shoes all by himself (did I mention that he taught HIMSELF how to do that one day??), ride a two wheeler, and can make Easy Mac (with a little help from Violet). This boy is officially a Big Kid now.

Sledding on the mountain

The day of the snowball fight we also did some sledding - the snow was pretty packed and the hill was steep - so the sledding was FAST and HARD!
Violet barrelled down the hill...

Riley's sled took off without him...

and even I went down a couple of times!

And then there was Rick... you can imagine the speed he got up to at this point...

and his sled popped out from under him!

Luckily he has some padding on his backside or he probably would have been really bruised!

Family Vacation is the best. Just waking up every day knowing there was NO school and NO work for anyone was wonderful. I hope we can do this every year!

Snowball Fights and Lessons on Snow Etiquette

Rick spent the week of Christmas off work, just having family vacation. One day we went up to the mountains and played around in the snow. We had a super fun family snowball fight -
and Violet used whatever means necessary to shield herself from oncoming attacks from Dad...

so instead Rick snuck up behind Riley, who was busy smiling for the camera...

and pulled off the attack of the century!

HAHAHA. Riley had a great sense of humor about it, too. :)

And the lesson in snow etiquette... avoid making yellow snow by going *on* the tree. :)

Christmas 2008 Celebration

Christmas 2008 was a wonderful celebration of love, family, joy, and Jesus. This is one of the pieces of our Nativity from Department 56 (Little Town of Bethlehem). It's been discontinued since 2005, so I can't ever add to it - we just have the main nativity, the 3 wisemen, and the shepherd with his sheep. Oh and the Star of Wonder (sorry Jenene Boardman). This year it sat atop our piano in the living room and was perfect there. Love love love love love.
Our tree on Christmas morning after everyone came over and added their presents was INSANE. Maybe it was a celebration of excess.. yikes! We started off with our famous Waffle Breakfast (this time we used Grandma Jane's yeast recipe - HOLY AWESOMENESS BATMAN! That was the way to go!!! They were the best waffles EVER), then we read the story of Jesus' birth. After that we all gathered in the living room to start the Present Opening Marathon!

Riley was so excited to pick his first present. I was so excited to use my new 17-40mm wide angle lens and get the whole room all at once! Wheee!

Sage came over (we let Titus spend Christmas morning in the garage with his new chew toy and his bed) and she sat on the ottoman with Rick all morning.

The kids got some great gifts from Santa - just three presents, and all of them were gifts they had to share. This one was the big one - a skate/bike ramp! They were a little excited.

Riley LOVED his hat from Aunt Tinty and Uncle Luke. He wears it all the time.

for Papa and Mama Lali, who have everything in the world and are freaking impossible to buy for (because the one time you get something you know they really want or need, like last year when Liane got them Lost Season 3, they had already bought it for themselves. Hmpf.), the kids decided to get them a sheep. This sheep will be given to a family in need to provide milk and wool, and will be the start of a future with promise for someone who might not otherwise have one. The kids wrote and illustrated a story called "A Dream Come True" about the little girl they think received the sheep from Papa and Mama Lali. And Mama Lali cried (SO I TOTALLY WON! HA!!).

Carl's dream came true too. A case of Mexican Coke for Christmas! WOO! They now sell Mexican Coke at Costco and if you have never had one you NEED TO TRY IT. it's made with cane sugar, not corn syrup, so it's a totally different (and WAY AWESOMER) flavor. Trust me on this one. You have to try it. If you don't want a whole case of it, find yourself an authentic burrito place or Latin market and get one. You will be glad you did :)

Violet got a hat, too - and she seriously wears it everywhere. To the snow, to play outside... she even wore it to school the first day back from vacation!

And our super cool awesome family gift from Papa and Mama Lali - the Wii Fit!! WOOHOOO!

After the Christmas Morning Marathon at our house, it was off to Tish's house for more family, more food, and more presents.

(seriously how much do I love this lens?)

The grownups all sat around the big table and ate an amazing dinner of roast pork, potatoes, corn, veggies, rolls, and jell-o (and of course, wine). The kids were at the kitchen table with their own awesome spread, too. After eating, we did our Grownup Gift Exchange (we all draw names and buy a gift for one person). Liane and I had our mom & dad, so we went in on our gift together and got them a Wine Wand. We are not sure how it works, exactly... but encapsulated within the glass wand is the frequency of Oxygen, or something... and when put into a glass of wine for three minutes it does what would normally take 3 hours. The difference in taste is significant and amazing, and we all sampled wine and tried it. And again - finding a gift for our parents that they haven't gotten for themselves is HUGE. So that was good. My cousin Darrick had my name and he got me this awesome magnetic wall calendar with dry erase markers (that is now on my pantry door and looks SO RAD). And Tish had Rick's name... she got him tickets for the two of us to see Man of La Mancha in Los Angeles for Valentine's Day! WOOOHOO!!! I got us ticket to fly down there and it will be a totally fun weekend.

Christmas this year was full of joy and blessings and fun and happiness. We are definitely blessed and grateful for all we have, especially our family.

Back to my blog! Really this time!

This sad little snowman was the remant of our wonderful snow day in Las Vegas. The kids made him in the backyard and he was just so sweet and sad I had to remember him. :) The night it had snowed, all of us had gone to the park in our neighborhood and had made a HUGE snowman... I think he was probably 8 or 9 feet tall... but, alas he did not make it through the night. Some hoodlum kids in the neighborhood had knocked him down. LAME! You'd think that, since we only get snow like once in FOREVER, maybe the snowman could stay a night.

Okay. Anyway. Back to my update and my blog and my resolve to keep my blog updated as much as possible. I have had a tendency to get distracted lately by Facebook and next thing I know I have wasted my Internet time and the blog is once again neglected. SO. This is the first of what will be No Less than 100 Posts This Year! WoOooOoOo!

Since we spent the majority of last weekend taking down Christmas stuff, I decided I wanted to post some of my favorite Christmas decorations I have in my home and why I love them.

I had already shared my village, but I didn't get to share what I had hung above the village - this wreath is a very special one. On the wreath hangs my Silver Ornament Collection. Every year since Rick and I got married, my parents have given us a single silver ornament to add to our wreath. They are all unique and beautiful and special, and all of them are engraved with the year on them. I love this wreath, and I love every year taking it out and hanging the ornaments.

As you had noticed from my previous blog posts about our Christmas tree, we do not have a real tree. This is mostly because we live in Las Vegas and real trees just don't fare well in our climate. Also because I love to have the tree up for as long as possible... and also because I want a HUGE tree, and those are ridiculously expensive. The downside, of course, is that beautiful pine smell that envelops the house. There is no "pine scent" candle that can suplicate the freshness of a real evergreen, but for the last few years I have received this on my doorstep - a real pine Christmas wreath! This does not get hung on the front door, though. I put it on the pantry door so I can smell it every time I walk through the house. Sometimes as I go by, I squish the needles in my hand to release more of that gorgeous scent. And my house smells wonderfully like Christmas. :)

My other most favorite Christmas decoration is this advent calendar from Restoration Hardware. I had Liane get it for me a few years ago when she was living in Virginia (since there was no Restoration Hardware over here) and it is absolutely perfect. We fill each ofthe doors with a couple candies for the kids, and they love counting down to The Big Day. This year the treat of choice was Reese's mini Peanut Butter cups. :)

And, finally, the decoration that makes our Christmas the most special and most unique - our stockings. Knitted by Grandma Jane, these stockings hold all sorts of memories. Whenever we go on a special trip or experience a significant event in our lives, we pick up a pin to add to our Christmas stockings. It's a great way to keep all those pins somewhere meaningful, and pulling these out each year always sparks conversation, memories of the fun we have had, and ideas for future experiences. I love our stockings so much. Even Rick has one, thanks to the amazingly talented Tisra who knitted one for him, too.

The decorations are all put away for another year, and the house is back to normal once again. It's nice to be back in the routine - with the kids in school and sports and work and everything. I still need to post about Christmas, though. Maybe that will be next! Coming soon... :)

Right. Update. Still.

Agh. I need to get blogging. Finally the kids are back in school so I can get back into regular blogging and I can do all those updates that aren't finished yet. More to come, hopefully soon. Right now I am off to do my workout on the Wii Fit. Wiiiiiiiiiii!