December recap

So my lazy ass has finally decided to blog again.  I'm going to do a recap of the month.  I really love December, it's when we got married and of course there's Christmas.  I love Christmas.  I love all the shopping, baking, parties etc.  We celebrated 15 years of marriage on the 8th of December!  We decided to stay in town because Michael had school the next day but we went to the Grand Hotel for the night while Michael stayed with Grandma.  It was a really good day, we started out having lunch at the Olive Garden, then we went shopping and then we ordered room service and had some wine in the jacuzzi.  A couple of days later we took Michael for a trip on the Polar Express.  We drove to Hood River & got on the train, which took us to the North Pole where Santa got on the train to visit with the kids.  Michael was looking forward to seeing Santa but when the big guy got on the train he wouldn't talk to him (no surprise).  Michael loved being on the train though.  The reality of the trip is you get on the train & go for a few miles to a bunch of rundown buildings that the conductor points out as being where the reindeer are, where they make video games, where they make barbies etc.  While you're riding the train "chefs" pass out hot chocolate and a cookie for everybody and the book Polar Express is read to the kids.  Then Santa gets on the train and talks to the kids on the way back and all the kids get little bells.  Personally, I thought it was kind of lame but I guess through a child's eyes it's pretty magical.  None of the kids seemed disappointed in the least.  We took some pictures so here they are.

                                                        Getting ready for the train ride

                                                            Checking everything out

 

Santa Claus!

Christmas was really fun this year except for the fact that Michael had a virus and wasn't feeling well.  This was the first year he was really into the whole Santa thing and being excited about opening presents.  His favorite presents this year were his bike, his vacuum cleaner & his pillow pet.  Santa brought him the bike and he loves it!  We took a lot of pictures of him opening presents but I won't bore you with all of them, just some of them along with other Christmas pics.

                                         Checking out his fishing pole in his new coat

                                                   Milk, cookies & a note for Santa

                                            Christmas morning before Michael woke up

                                                                    The bike!

                                                       Check out that bedhead!

                                                                        Presents!

                                                                       Presents!

                                                               & More presents!

                                                                   A pillow pet!

                                                                   Night Night

 

                                                                        My Mom

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving pictures

                                       I lied-There's one of Rick getting ready to fry the turkey

                                              Not a good picture but there's the outfit

 

 

Rick's Grandpa with his great great grandkids & great grandson Michael

Our Nephew Rojelio rockin' out

Our Niece Santana & her boyfriend Freddy

Tuckered out after turkey

Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving at our house.  I always like to have the holidays at home even though our house is not big and really does not flow well : (  There was only nine of us this year so we didn't have to worry about tables & chairs so that was nice.  We deep fried the turkey and it was wonderful.  We had way too much food but it was all really good food! I bought Michael a cute outfit last year on clearance for Thanksgiving.  I'm not sure why because we're not really dress up kind of people but the outfits are so cute I can't help myself.  We took a few pictures but we didn't get any of my Mother in Law or me or Rick.  I hope everyone had a great holiday!  Ok I'm having trouble finding the pictures so I'll post them later.

Halloween

Michael was a fireman this year for Halloween.  Unfortunately he was sick so he didn't get as much loot as he did last year : ~ (  I'm going to put pics of him in his costume and some of my brother and nephew in their costumes.  Dusty, Chris's girlfriend, dressed up as a Japanese Anime character.  Of course, I forgot to take pics but she looked amazing!

                                                 Trying it on to make sure it fit

                                                             The full view

                                Trenton as a Jabbawockeez member-drinking thru a straw!

 

                                 Chris was an Elder.  He didn't have his bike helmet on though.

 

                                                  Making sure the flashlight worked

                                                              Happy Halloween!

Last week Rick's car got stolen.  Thankfully he still has his truck so now he's trying to fix it up a little.  He's sanding it down and priming it now.  It will take some time but he's enjoying working on it.  Hopefully this will be a better week!

Michael is 4!!

Yesterday was Michael's 4th birthday!  I can't believe it's been 4 years, time really does fly.  We had his party on Sunday and it was a little chilly but at least it stopped raining during the party.  We had a bouncer again and Michael and all the kids loved it.  Last year we were really lame when it came to taking pictures so we were better this year thanks to my cousin Karrie.  Thanks Karrie!  Here are some of the fabulous pictures that were taken.

 

                                              My Lovely Photographer & Abby

                                                    Apparently our singing was off key!!

So yesterday was Michael's first day to ride the bus.  He was so excited and did great.  We took cupcakes to his school for his birthday.  We also saved his presents from us & his grandpa so he would have something to open on his birthday so I think he had a pretty good day.  Here are some more pictures.

                                                     Michael took a self portrait

Happy Birthday Baby boy we love you so much!

Countdown

I should have posted this a couple of weeks ago but I'm lazy.  Last year on Michael's birthday he wasn't very interested  in having cake & ice cream or opening presents so this year we've been talking it all up.  So I decided to do a paper chain like the ones we would make in school to countdown for Christmas.  He loves cutting a ring off every day & talking about how many days left until his party and everything he's going to do.  Hopefully it works and he actually opens his presents : )

                                          Please ignore the dirty wall : ~ )

There are only 3 days left until the party but I took this picture when we first made it and there were like 17 or 18 days left.

School & other poop

On Tuesday September 21, 2010 Michael began his educational career!  OK what I meant to say is he started preschool.  He was so excited and did great!  No tears, no separation anxiety just a very happy, anxious for mom to leave little boy.  I took pictures of him in by the front door and in his classroom.  Unfortunately, I developed the pictures yesterday and deleted them from my camera before I realized I never put them on the computer! : ( He was super cute though in my oh so objective opinion.

Michael hit another milestone yesterday when he announced he had to go poop in the toilet, and then he actually did it!  I had bought him a puzzle at least a month ago to try to bribe him into going and he was so excited to finally be able to put it together!  I took a couple of pictures but they had weird lighting so they're not so great but here they are.

                                              Proud and excited!

His Dad & I are so proud of him!  You always hear that they'll do it when they're ready but I was beginning to wonder.  But as usual he did it on his own timeline and that's ok.