Happy Birthday DAD!!

I know this technically isn't a so called "milestone" birthday,
but in so many ways it is.
Four months ago not many people thought you'd see your next birthday.
As for me, I never let my mind wander that way because I had to focus my
energy on the positive. Looking back now, as I often do,
I can't express enough, how proud I am of you.
Why some might ask? Because I watched you have the fight of your life.
I saw the fear and the struggle you were faced with.
It was your strong will and your love for your family that kept you going
because you knew it wasn't your time to go.
And yes, it WASN'T your time to go.
I was not ready to lose my father, my friend.

I love you DAD!

And for me, this is the Happiest of Birthday's!!!

Weights to help build back your legs and arms of steel! :)


The kids made their special cards and got him some special cologne...Old Spice!


Happy birthday Dad, you truly are my HERO!!!

Typical Weekend Sleepover

Every weekend the kids want to have a slumber party.
It changes every week where they end up sleeping.
It's either Jordyn's room, Ryan's room, living room, or family room.

They look forward to this every Friday.

This time it was Jordyn's room

Yes Smokey joins the fun and so does Maggie
but she's sleeping in the bean bag on the floor.
They're one big happy family

I love how they want to be together.
I know it won't last too long so we enjoy every minute that we can.

Beach day in January???

Only in California right?
We miss the beach so any opportunity to go is fine by us.
We literally spent the whole day there.
We started the fun with some family football.

Jordyn & Ryan vs. Daddy

First the boundaries had to be made...

That part was easy. It was the catching of the football that was hard


Maybe it's because you have quarterback Daddy firing the ball at you! :)

So Ryan moved on to hiking the ball. Much easier!


Well kinda!


What was Mommy doing? Trying to catch some rays!!!
(and taking pictures of course)

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the actual game because I video taped it.
Funny footage let me tell you. The score was a million and twenty five to zero.
Hmmm who was keeping score?
I didn't think the kids would want to go in the water too!!!
It's freezing...why don't kids care?
I don't get it. BUT if I wanted pictures, guess who had to go in too? YUP!



So what's a beach day without sand play?
Can you guess what Ryan's making?

Waves of course. He's so creative!

To add to our fun, Kerri, Yannis, Zoie and Aly joined us. Cousin picture time!

We ended up walking around Main Street and taking in some of the fun 3 day holiday spirit.
In other words, it was crowded!
The sunset was beautiful though.


Oh I love this picture
Ryan was done by now with pictures!


I can't believe that the next week it rained!!

Jordyn & Mommy's Beauty & Shopping Day

Finally, much awaited haircuts for us both!!

December is such a tough month that things like getting my hair done seem to get pushed way down on the priority list. We couldn't wait any longer!

So here she is enjoying every minute...

Oh the massages they give here are always so good.
Jordyn was all smiles the whole time

This is Donny. He's been cutting my hair for like 10 years!

And finally we were done. I never like the way they blow dry my hair!!

So on the way home we end up going to Brea mall to "return" something. Well two girls in the mall and no boys to bug us, we kinda took advantage of our situation. So we ended up with a few packages...we deserve them right? :) In fact, we closed down the mall that night!!! I tried to tell her that we don't have to tell Daddy everything we got and she said, "We kinda do!"
Yikes! In time she'll learn! HA!
Back home we took another picture because my hair was a little too wacky for me.


I think cool cuts might not be so cool for little Miss Sassy Pants now.
She might be trading in the twisties for the curls.
Doesn't she look adorable??
I love Mommy and Jordyn days!!!

What's for lunch??

After picking Ryan up from preschool, his first words (once we get in the car) are always, "I'm hungry!" My usual response it, "OK what would you like?" He always says, "I don't know." But today was different. To my surprise, he says, "can I make our lunch myself?" I thought, hmm, this is a nice break from the usual routine, I'll take him up on that offer. I'll even let him pick the menu....

He says, "First, we'll have "healthy fruit" (he's real into being healthy!) :)

Then of course a sandwich. "That's all we need!"

He must of been real hungry because he was caught tasting the food along the way! :)

He was sooooo proud that he made Mommy Lunch!

It was such a beautiful day so we went outside to enjoy the sunshine and our wonderful "healthy" lunch. Ryan took a picture of his Happy Mommy!

I think someone else was pretty happy and proud of what he did!

I love you little Bubba!
Thanks for a wonderful afternoon together!

Hoo's Ready 4 Story time?

Week 2 play date with Jeremy was at Story time at the library. Sounds perfect. Well the deal was even sweeter. The Story time was all about owls. I thought it was so cute especially since owls are my new found love.

The librarian had the kids fly like owls...

Then they looked through their owl glasses

And finally, they got to make their own owl craft!


Let's not forget playtime


I think we found our permanent Thursday activity. Ryan loved it. Next week's theme is dinosaurs. Can't wait!!

Thirty-Skate...ok 8

Over Christmas vacation, yes I turned 38! Don't remind me. Thankfully I didn't think about it too much and instead had probably the best day of the year! We started out by going to Eat at Joe's in Redondo Beach to have my favorite breakfast, a John Wayne Special. After that, we decided to check out the outdoor iceskating rink they put down at the Seaside Lagoon in King's Harbor. We thought at least we'd check it out and then decide whether we were brave enough to actually skate. Once we got there, Jordyn said right away, "oh yeah, let's get skates!!"
So her and I decided we'd brave it out first. Then the boys could join if we were able to handle it.

Well...things started out a little rough,

But soon we were all out on the ice

Jordyn was determined to skate and never let me or her take a break. We skated for 2 hours straight but she did get the hang of it.

Ryan enjoyed eating the ice

The atmosphere was so beautiful, palm tree, sail boats, ocean breeze and let's not forget the
80's music they played.

The night ended with Sushi for me, teriyaki chicken for the kids

And last but not least, we ate cake with the Wille's

What a wonderful Birthday!!!