We have a SIX year old in the house!!

It is so hard for me to believe that it was 6 years ago today that this sweet little baby girl joined our family. Time has really slipped through our fingers way too quickly!

Happy 6th birthday Ellie!

Ellie--one day old--Newport Beach, CA

Ellie--6 years old--OC, CA

The birthday girl says..."Let the festivities begin...."

Brownies and singing with her kindergarten class

**The day before her actual birthday, we took her out of school and she and daddy got to roam Disneyland--just the 2 of them! No diaper changing breaks, no melt downs, no napping schedules to stick to, no Dumbo rides--just Disneyland--pure Ellie style. She was in total bliss according to Mark (and didn't even mind the rain a bit!)

**Ellie was definitely spoiled rotten on her birthday! Even though there was no surprise kitten like we had tried to arrange, she got more Zhu zhu pets than she knew what to do with! She also had a stack of presents taller than her to open first thing in the morning, a princess crown she wore all week, a birthday banner made especially for her, a delicious breakfast, an outing to the movies--"Alvin and the Chipmunk's 2", a shopping spree, pizza for dinner (we tried to get her to eat Cafe Rio a 2nd time...), tons of phone calls, and she got to stay up really late to play with her new presents!

~It has been such an adventure and joy to be Ellie's mom. To watch her learn and to grow over the years has been such a pleasure and blessing. I have loved watching her little imagination develop--she is so amazingly creative and talented--always coming up with some kind of "craft" or activity for everyone to participate in. She loves to sing and dance and perform and is often caught singing in the bathroom or making up her own songs. She is so caring and thoughtful, not only towards her friends and parents, but especially to her 2 younger siblings--you couldn't ask for a better oldest child. She is very laid back and has a very "go-with-the-flow" personality which makes it fun to take her shopping or to places most kids her age couldn't handle. She is fairly responsible and seems mature for her age in a lot of areas. She is super smart and has an astounding (almost eerie at times!) memory. She has an amazing personality and is able to make friends with just about everyone she comes in contact with. Her sense of humor is similar to her dad's--very funny! She is such a delight and such a fun spirited gal whom I love so dearly! We hope she had a wonderful and very memorable birthday!

Beach day--in January??

Monday is usually my cleaning/laundry/catch-up-from-the-weekend day, but since this past Monday was gorgeous, we decided that a little impromptu beach trip was in order. We had a blast--and no matter how cold the water is, there is NO WAY of keeping my kids from getting in and splashing around in it. (And Will discovered that he really likes eating sand--YUCK!!)

There was a lot of dancing along the beach,

wave jumping, rock throwing--(to keep the birds from stealing our snacks),

and sand (and rock) eating to be had!

What better way to spend an afternoon in January?

(Sure beats laundry!!)

Our Christmas Card 2009... Unveiled!!

Now that our Christmas cards have been sent out, I can unveil our most recent family pictures. (And to those of you that didn't get a card, you probably need to send me a new address for next year!) My good friend was wonderful enough to take these for us--I really like them. Next, I plan to blow them up on canvas and hang them in our family room.

Believe it or not, this was taken in Julian--just about 40 minutes from our house here in San Diego!

Our 3 darling kids

Sweet Sisters

I thought this one was darling of Maddy and Will. I love Will's "what's up" expression!

2009 in review...

So, 2009 has come and gone. It was definitely one of the crazier years for our family!! But we still made the most of it and had lots of fun and made some great memories...Let's review the Biggest milestones for our family in ....

2009

~So let's see...where to begin?? I took a fun photography class in January--(but unfortunately, am still not any better at quality picture taking. Or have yet to catch up on any one's scrapbooks...), but I did get a really nice new camera that I love and enjoyed taking pictures of all our fun activities this past year.

~In February Ellie turned the BIG 5. We decide to go to Disneyland to celebrate her big day and then decided to buy season passes for the whole family (and have definitely gotten our money's worth over the whole year as we went about 10 times!)

~In March we had some hair-brained idea to build on a 4th bedroom to our house... Which leads to ripping up 80% of our floors... Which leads to laying new wood floors and base boards... Which leads to repainting most of our house... which leads to a very crazy time in our lives!! (Need I remind you that I was 8 months preggo??)

April *13th~ Little William Mark was born. He has truly been an AMAZING baby. However, having 3 kids slowed me down physically, yet sped me up emotionally. A LOT. (Mark can attest)

May

*8th~My oldest sister Mandy got married in SLC, UT and our whole family flew out. (Will is 3 weeks old)

*9th~ We blessed little Will in the same church building Mark (and Ellie) was blessed in.

*This month, Maddy also decided it was time to potty train--right after getting back from our UT trip!--then 2 days later (22nd) my youngest brother Tommy graduated from hs--road trip to St. George UT. (Will was 4 1/2 weeks old)

June~

*10th~Ellie graduated from preschool--her final year before kindergarten!

*17th~ We celebrated Mark's birthday--true OC style.

July~

*Ellie learned to swim!!!

*12th-19th~ We spent a week in Newport Beach with Mark's whole family living it up and soaking up the sun.

*29th~ Mark and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary! We celebrated by taking a nice, relaxing little getaway to Orange County--without the girls.

August~

*20th~Ellie started kindergarten (sniff! sniff!)

*27th~We become a soccer family. Every Saturday for the next 10 weeks or so is spent at the soccer fields, not to mention every Wed night at practice.

September~

*Maddy started going to preschool two days a week , plus had an extra day being gone at a co-op play date.

*I turned 30 and we enjoyed a few day in OC and then started my mid-life crisis! (30--REALLY?!?!)

October~

*Halloween and all the festivities that it entails. (Complete with being one of Ellie's class room parents too.)

November~

*6th~Maddy turned 3. (enough said...) We did celebrate with a fun filled weekend getaway at La Costa Resort in Palm Springs--hanging out at the pool, water slides and lazy river among other fun things.

*14th~ Soccer ends. We reclaim our Saturdays. Until next season anyway...

*Spent a week at Thanksgiving in OC. We celebrate the big day with dad, Nancy and Tommy. We also went to Sea World, Disneyland (2 days) and then all our partying puts Mark over the edge and then he is out for 2 1/2 weeks with the swine flu...

December~

*While trying to play catch-up from Mark's bout with illness, the month goes by in a whirlwind--Christmas shopping, packing for 5 to UT (um...we have NO winter clothes!!), and all while trying to squeeze in all our wonderful holiday traditions...

*18th-29th~ Road trip to Utah to spend Christmas with all three of our families.

**And then back home to spend a little time "stay-cationing" in our beautiful San Diego before our crazy life resumes.

**So let's recap... (Now mind you--these were just the biggest events that we listed)...so...in 2009, we did a HUGE remodel, had our 3rd child, celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss. Ellie starts kindergarten, begins playing soccer and learns to swim. Maddy is potty trained, dethroned as the "baby" of the family and starts preschool 3 days a week. Will joined our family and by force has had to become the best baby ever as he gets dragged from activity to activity. We spent lots of time this year at Disneyland, Sea World, and the beach, not to mention every park in San Diego. We visited northern Utah, southern Utah, Orange County, and Palm Springs a couple of times each and had a blast! We also had lots of visitors--Angie and family, Robin, Grandma Trish, Grandpa Ed and Grandma Nancy, Grandma Connie, Gary and family, John and Amy, Ash and Wes-- just to name a few...

Here's a toast to 2009 (imagine me holding up my glass of Martinelli's...)--

2009 treated us well, but let's hope 2010 is a little less crazy for us!!!

Christmas Chaos!!

We had a wonderful--yet CRAZY Christmas this year! We attended many fun, festive parties, a play and a nutcracker ballet, we paid a visit to Santa's Village and then Santa came to visit us!! We enjoyed all the holiday foods and treats, the joyous lights (even though we didn't get ours up this year!) and then we headed to Utah (the first White Christmas since Ellie was 10 months old!!) and we had a blast visiting everyone from both sides of our families.

Here's a sneak peek into all the holiday happenings.... (More to come...)

Our ward Christmas party

Santa's Village with friends

How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Old Globe Theatre

(We were so excited that Maddy is now three and could attend--Will had his first babysitter!)

Christmas Eve Santa came to town to check up on the little ones

We had such a great time! A little chaotic, but we wouldn't have it any other way!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

If you're happy and you know it....

Ellie~ still LOVING kindergarten, playing with friends and just finished her first season of soccer! She is super creative and imaginative. She is jumping up reading levels rapidly and according to her teacher is "ahead of her class" in other subjects! She is a HUGE help at home and having her gone full day this year makes me really miss my "little girlfriend"! She is an awesome big sister!

Maddy~ just turned 3 on the 6th!! She is becoming more "independent" and loves to do everything for herself. She is our little sweetheart and is such a thoughtful and caring little girl. She is enjoying going to preschool 2 days and having a big co-op play date once a week, and loves getting more one-on-one time with me when Will is napping. She is a wonderful helper with Will.

Will~ is seriously the most easy-going, well-natured baby ever! However, he is starting to "army crawl" and continues to get faster at the rolling--hence he never stays in one given place. He is doted on by his big sisters and is currently cutting his second tooth. His favorite food is carrots--I swear he is turning orange! and he LOVES to shake his head "no" which always makes us laugh. He is always found laughing or exploring.

**Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but please know that we are doing well and check back in soon!

Maddy's 3rd Birthday!!

Our sweet Maddy has now entered the wonderful world of a 3 year old!! She had a super fabulous birthday celebration. We left early on Friday and headed to Palm Springs and spent the entire weekend celebrating Maddy and all her wonderfulness.

Our BIG 3 year old

Opening presents bright and early birthday morning--some of her favorite birthday presents were her baby doll care kit (stroller, highchair, crib) and a ride-on plasma car

Maddy enjoying her birthday doughnuts

HOW old am I???

We arrived in Palm Springs and hung out at the pool/splash pad/beach area/water slides/lazy river at the Las Palmas Resort for the rest of the day (and the rest of the weekend)! The weather was totally perfect and it was so amazing to be together under a big bright blue sky with the five of us floating along side by side--(Well, Will was on laps) along the lazy river. Not a care in the world--and it seemed to feel like we were the only ones in the world.

That night we went to one of our favorite restaurants--Babe's

They have the most AMAZING sweet potato fries!

Hanging out at grandpa Ed's and Grandma Nancy's is always fun

We talked Gramps into going to the Living Desert Zoo with us

Dad and Nancy had a wonderful party all set up at their house--complete with a yummy feast and this little birthday hat

The cupcakes and ice cream were delicious

(Seconds after this picture was taken Maddy's hair lit on fire!!)

What a wonderful way to celebrate such a wonderful, sweetheart as Maddy! She is truly one of the most caring girls that you will ever meet. She is always there to watch out for Will and helps out with him without even having to be asked. But Maddy is also so amazingly thoughtful and loving towards everyone. She is a cheerful, easy going girl who is so selfless and creative. We are so blessed to have her in our family! Happy birthday Maddy!!

The next week, we got to bring cupcakes to share with Maddy's preschool where they sang and celebrated her some more!!

Our spooktacular festivities

Halloween this year was spectacular--or should I say "spooktacular"?! Ellie was a cute/good witch, Maddy was Marie the kitty from Aristocats, and Will was Squirt from Finding Nemo.

Our good little witch

(Her costume was revamped from a costume my mom made me when I was little! She had a cute black hat, but it was really hard for her to keep on)

Marie

Squirt

Ellie's kindergarten had a costume parade followed by a fun class party

On Halloween day, our ward held their annual trunk-or-treat party and the girls had a great time visiting with their church friends. And then it was straight home to our cul-de-sac's block party, which soon after, we took off with some neighbors and friends to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood!

We had such a great Halloween! I love the dressing up, the parties, the cookie decorating, the fun, but especially the CANDY!! YUM! YUM!! (And thankfully my girls are very good at sharing--even if they don't know it!)

Pumpkin Patch

Happy Halloween From our Family!!

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