BIRTHDAY BOY!!

Riley and his birthday loot!
Dad did another awesome cake (fighter jet) , this definitely rivaled the Larry Boy one for #3 birthday!
Yes and I lost my marbles for those few short minutes I was at the store and I bought loud party blowers. Fern is full of these "eyebrow faces" lately!

These were all on the 12th, Riley's birthday was the 11th but Dan was in Florida, so we waited and partied on Monday. Riley spent Sunday as any birthday boy should... in his PJ's! The whole day!! He also was quite spiffy and got numerous phone calls of happy birthday wishes!! I can not believe my baby is 6! It has just gone way too fast! :)

Keeping Us Warm!

Grandma J. is doing her best to keep her California babies warm! We got packages from her, the kids each got a stocking cap, Jake got a great Orange one, Riley a blue one (he says it keeps his ears really warm, but does mess up his hair), and Fern got this pretty pink one! I opened the package for Fern then told her to pull it out, she cautiously put her hand it, when she saw it she immediately put it on her head. How sweet does she look!!! No one else was up for posing! :) It was mostly in the teens today so these are welcomed! Fern has a little cold though so she will not be trying hers outside just yet!

Movie Day!

Ha Ha, do you all remember this movie? I rented it for the boys and I to enjoy, it was perfect for this snow day! When I was a little girl I really liked this movie, I remember watching it with my sister Mary and my cousin Nancy, we would then pretend to be witches, we'd get old books and pretend they were spell books. It was like a precursor to Harry Potter! As a side note the final Harry Potter book is being released July 21!!!! I love that so many people line up for a book release, just like a movie release. If only all books got that much attention! :) Anyway back to the movie, it was great, Angela Lansbury was very young, and I had more fun than the boys watching it!! So go rent it!! It's on DVD now!

Fun Outside!!

Of course we all went outside! It took us over a half an hour to get all the warm stuff on, Fern and I are lacking in that department! Here are the boys making their first tracks!
We had some good sledding down our little hill.
Fern screamed from when I put her warm clothes on until I took them off. Jake followed close behind because his hands hurt so much. (He would not keep gloves on). So I put a movie in for the 2 party poopers, and went back out to play with Riley, we had a great time sledding. We then thought it would be good to shovel our driveway. Yea, we have a bum shovel that is bowed, the center does not touch the ground. So I was using the kids shovels, but Fern just could not handle life with out me, so I went inside. I am hoping the shoveling fairies will visit so I can go to church tomorrow. We'll see! Riley played outside for over an hour, his cold feelers must be on the fritz!!!

Outside!

Here is what we saw last night at dinner, look we still have grass! There was no snow on the ground when this started!

Here is the same picture this morning! Look at the roof of the shed!!
Here is the front of the house. As an inexperienced snow dweller I'd say we had somewhere around 3-4 inch.!!!

Look What Happend Today!!!

Well we finally ventured out into the cold and went to the library! It was nice to be there, I have missed it! I did not get to get a book for me, but that is ok, I have a couple. But they have a good children's library, it is separate from the adult library, same building but the children's is down stairs. They even have an area with toys! It was nice because they had all the books little kids might like in the center in almost bins, separated by first letter, or they had a couple popular areas, like a bin for all the Aurthur books. Then under the bins there was a bin sideways, that is where all the board books were. This wasn't little ether, probably 8 feet long, 2 bins deep.

The big news was that Riley got his very own library card! The rule was that he had to be able to write his name (full) on the little line. We have been working up to this for a couple years, it made it so special! We filled out the info, then we started looking for books, when the librarian was finished making the card she called Riley, he went up and got it then came running back and gave me a big hug! He is so proud of himself!! Then after he had picked out 3 books he got to go check them out by himself! The librarian was great, explaining all of it, and telling him when they were due. Now Jake is looking forward to when he gets to get his own! So here is Riley with his books (are you surprised about the first book?) and his library card. He is so excited! I hope it lasts!!

Out My Door!

This is one thing I love, almost above anything else about my house, the view out my back door. I probably look out it a million times a day, and night. This is what I saw tonight as I looked out. I was worried I would not get the beauty with my camera, but it actually came out pretty true to life. Tomorrow is the full moon, it is neat the moon rises out my back door, and usually is setting out my bedroom window when I am up nursing Fern. I love seeing it. So now you all can see what I am seeing! Good Night!

SNOW!!

This was taken the night after we had gotten back from Calif. The Snow we have had usually falls at night when the boys are sleeping, so they have not seen it. Well this night it started falling (lightly) so Dan took them all out to see it. They all thought it was really cool, the boys even stayed out in the back yard for a while playing. You can't really see it in this picture, but there are a couple flecks falling! I stayed inside, I may have moved here, but I am not THAT crazy!! :) This morning we woke up to a little snow, so the boys were out trying to sled in our side yard, but it melted quickly, ya no because it was so warm like 34 degrees F.!! Crazy!! Next year they will have to find an alternate hill, I think that is where I am going to put my garden. At least they are enjoying it this year! :)

Dan is off again, actually in the air right now! He is only gone for 1 night, although then he leaves again Friday until Sunday. Oh well! I keep thinking about taking the kids to the library, we use to go every other week, but I would just rather hunker down and stay out of the cold! But I am afraid that once it warms up, we'll want to play outside, not visit the library! Maybe I will have to brave the cold.

Jake!

Jake is at that age where he teeters between telling me "I am a bigger man" and "I am just a little guy mama". It is too cute, and I know the days of my little guy are numbered. Soon he will not think he is my little guy. :(
Just the other evening he was helping me in the kitchen, then all of the sudden I was saying "where is Jake"! Well I found him on the couch! He never woke up for dinner and slept through the night. What a cutie. He looks so small in this picture, but he is a pretty big guy! No matter his size I am glad he is mine!

Range of Emotions!

Look at those eyebrows!!
Look Ma, I have teeth!
You talk'en to me?
Sorry these are all so blurry, Fern was getting really close and moving alot, but they were so funny! This was just after the pirate pictures, she just decided it was time to pose! These were all taken with in just a minute. She has recently found that she can use her eyebrows to make her unhappy feelings known. It is too cute, I usually end up giggling! :)

Pirates!!

Here are my 2 pirates and the damsel, not in distress! :) The boys got play silks from Aunt Mary for Christmas, they have been put to good use!!
The damsel then decided that she was going to pose! What a smile!

Party!

There are many pictures of the shower, although not many I was happy with. :( But it was great fun, lots of gals and no boys! Of course it was Mary's party, but I think all would agree that 3 other girls stole the show! So here are the 4 party girls!

#1. Mary got many wonderful gifts.

#2. Fern thought they should be hers, Aunt Mary found out how strong her niece is!

#3. And Fern's new friends, Maya & Sahara. Don't ask me which is which, they were both just adorable! Sorry for the blur, moving targets!! You can see clearer photos on their Mama's Blog.

It was great to see old friends and make new, and of course lovely to be with family! Can you see Mary's cute belly, she is getting good and round now. The dress she is wearing is one she made herself! Oh, if only everyone were so talented!! :)

More California!

Here is our gang of skaters, good thing they are better behaved than the previous skaters I hung with! :)

Ryan and Aunt Mary got the boys skate boards for Christmas, they had a blast landing on their faces!!

So here is Riley winking while skating, Ryan trying to show Jake he should stand on it instead of belly ride. And Miss Fern our skater girl with the help of Grandpa M. It was a lot of fun, too bad there was not enough room in our luggage to bring them home on the plane, so we are waiting for them to come in the mail, of course that is another fun thing, getting mail!! :) Thanks Mary and Ryan!!

The last photo is our family shot, we were going to go to a portrait studio, but we partied too long at Mary's baby shower. So this will have to suffice! It seems we end up taking quite a few pictures with the timer, Dan thinks I should get a tripod. He just doesn't like all my balancing acts!! :)

Dan is enjoying Florida sun, yesterday it never got out of the teens and with the wind chill it was negative!!! Today we got in the twenties, and watch out tomorrow it is suppose to be in the low 30's, toasty! :) Dan will get to enjoy the negatives tomorrow night when he gets in. Then off to New Mexico next week. I have recently decided I'd like to see New Mexico, maybe I'll go there someday! :)

Time Out!!

From Calif. pictures for the first before and after pictures of the house!!! We finally have a room primarily done! Wow only took us 3 months! :)

So here is the kitchen, we ripped all these cabinets out, Dan grabbed a couple to use as a work bench in the garage, the rest we junked!!

We used our fridge, the dishwasher left was dead, and the stove worked occasionally and was extremely gross!! So we had propane plumbed in so we could get a gas range and we got a new dishwasher! There was just a single sink, so Dan made me happy and we got the farm house sink I love!!

And after!! We built and put in all the cabinets, installed the sink, dishwasher, etc. Then had the counter tops custom made and installed. They are like corian just with out the name!! :) There are a couple things not up yet, but it is pretty much DONE!!!!!!

What a Diffrence a Week Makes!

Last Monday we were enjoying the day with Grandpa at the Wild Animal Park in Escondido (where I was born!!). Today it never got out of the 20's and it is snowing!!!

The big fun last Mon. was that Jake is now a "bigger man" so we bought him his very own San Diego Zoological Membership!! I can't believe he is 3!!

The first picture is Riley and Fern popping out of a fake log they have out for the kids to play on. The second is a picture of my 3 flamingos out in the Heart of Africa! Pretty cute hu!! Plus they don't smell quite as bad as the real deal!! And last but not least, our adventures at the Lion Camp! Here is Riley, Jake, Fern, and Grandpa.

We have enjoyed going to the Wild Animal Park for a long time, and the pictures are the same only the kids are bigger! I have a picture of Riley and baby Jake popping out of the log, and I have a picture of Grandpa and little Riley in front of the lion! Too much fun!!

More of our trip to come!!

From the end!

Well I thought I would start our trip from the end. Why not, I know it is not "normal" but have you ever seen me do anything "normal"?

So here is a photo of Fern and I yesterday before we left Daddy's. I mostly took this picture for Aunt Mary, when we were there we did our Christmas together and she got both Fern and I boots! Fern is in love with her lavender boots! She wants to wear them all the time. I got lucky with a new pair of Uggs! I have been wearing my old pair since Jr. High or High School when Daddy finally relented to my pleadings that it was not a fad, but that I would really wear them!! :)

The second picture is what Fern has learned from Jake, he had an ear infection a couple weeks ago so he was sensitive to loud noises. Fern thought it was hysterical that he covered his ears, so she started doing it too. This is her last night on the airplane being silly!

I'll try to post a few pictures every day, Dan leaves for a trip later in the week, so it will be busy. So no flaming Aunt Mary!!! :)

Leaving...

California :(

We are packing up and getting ready for our 4-5 hour flight to JFK, where it is snowing!!!! Please cross your fingers that our flight is not delayed, and that we can drive safely back to CT!!

Watch for some great Calif. pictures next week!!

Off to California!

We'll be back soon, we are going to visit pregnant Mary! Don't forget the link to Mary and Ryan's Baby registry! I'll still check my email! Love ya all!

My Cooking Staff!

Who would not want these handsome boys cooking in your kitchen!!! They just look too big in this picture! These are their new aprons, Riley's is The Cat in the Hat, and Jake's is Green Eggs and Ham.























Here is Miss Fern, she did not want to take a picture with her brothers. But I had to get a picture of her looking too cute! Her new apron is Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish. She likes to be the taste tester when we cook, along with Jake! Grandpa M. got these for the kids for Christmas from Bumkins. They have adult sizes too! :)


Posts may get a little infrequent in the next week (sorry Aunt Mary). We are getting ready to head out to California (to see Aunt Mary), I am praying for sun, Santa Ana's, and lots of HEAT!! Dan keeps teasing me that I just want to go thaw out! :)
Dan got back safe and sound from the Caribbean on Tues. he walked in all tanned, with beautiful pictures of the beach. It was not nice! But we are glad to have him here. As of right now, knock on wood he will be flying out to Calif. with the kids and I. THANK GOODNESS!!! Flying with 3 kids by myself is not what I call fun! :)

Happy Cooking!!

Hard Work!

Of course while Grandpa was here, Riley and Jake wanted to do their favorite things; work, outside, tree house, hammer, and build. All the better because the got to do it with Grandpa! Our little California boys have less feelers than the big California boy, Grandpa came in for some warmer accessories before they had been out long. Dan and I enjoyed watching them work together (from the comfort of the warm house), it had been much too long! Maybe it has been so warm this year to be nice to Grandpa! :)
Our temperatures have gone down a bit, my new wireless weather station said it was 28 deg. F. when I went to bed last night. It seems to get colder when Dan is off gallivanting, right now he is on the beach on an island in the Caribbean. It looks lovely there. Hope your New Years celebrations are fun. The kids and I went out and rented a bunch of movies and got some snacks. The boys can't wait to dive into the licorice, Mama got crazy and said yes to their petitions! Happy New Year!!!

Real Life!

Ok lets see if this works! On my page it does not show a picture, but if you click on them they will take you to a video. One of Fern and her new skill, and another of Jake and his too cute new song! :) I hope this works! The videos are a bit dark, sorry. We'll try a video of Riley tomorrow! Love ya all!!