Happy Birthday Grandpa!

One of the great things about having a blog is that I can publicly say how much I love my family, and today I want to say happy birthday and I love you to my father-in-law, Dee. My father-in-law is a great guy with many talents and one of them is winning the hearts of all who come to know him. He is patient, kind, and soft spoken. He (along with lots of help from Marcene) raised great boys and for that I'm eternally grateful. Dee taught Shaun so many of the things that I love most about my husband; a great work ethic, loyalty, and responsibility. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of my kids with Grandpa Dee.

Grandpa and Abby in Washington, D.C.

Abby & Lily with a darling doll house bookshelf Grandpa made for them.

Grandpa and baby Lily at the Cabin.

Grandpa saying Hello to Spencer Dee.

Grandpa and new little Sadie Jane.

Sadie Jane and Janie watching a movie with Grandpa.

Happy Birthday Nanna!!

So for 11 years while I lived in Utah I would ask my mom, "Is there anything you would particularly like for you birthday?" and every year she would answer, "I just want you here." And of course a plane ticket was a little out of the budget so this year I thought for her birthday we would suprise her (since going to see her no longer requires a plane ticket) and show up at her house for her birthday, and she was so surprised!

Dad and Lis helped us keep the arrival time open and top seceret. We had a great weekend with our wonderful Nanna. On Saturday, Lis and I took Mom for a girls day out and got pedicures and lunch while Poppa, Shaun, and Eliseo played with the kids. Later that night, Oma & Opa treated us all to dinner at our favortie Mexican place, La Rosita's, and we enjoyed having a big table full of family! On Sunday, we made Cafe Rio Salad and birthday cake to celebrate and sing a grand "Happy Birthday" to our Nanna.

Mom, I love you! You are the best and I've learned so much from you. You inspire me to learn new things and never be afraid to try. Thanks for all the sacrifices you have made and continue to make for me and my family! I only now, as a mom, realize all that you gave to me growing up. Thank you , thank you, thank you!

Smarty Pants

Spencer started pre-school this week, and he is the happiest kid on earth! I know I'm a little behind in getting him into a pre-school but to make a long story short between the move and changing our minds about sending him to Kindergarten next year (he has an August birthday and originally we were going to wait a year to put him in school) I just wasn't sure what would work. There was an opening at a school were several little boys in our Ward go and their moms loved the school, so it seemed the perfect fit and we signed up.

Spence got to get a new backpack and this is what he chose! It's really fun to get to see all that comes with having a boy. I usually ask the kids to look through hand-me-down backpacks to see if they find something they like but I just didn't think Shaun would go for Spencer using a Hello Kitty or purple butterfly back pack! Do you think you can get beat up for that kinda stuff in pre-school???

Spencer's class was upstairs and he felt so big walking up to his class. The school is really big for a pre-school and has separate teachers for PE, music, library, and Spanish. He loves that he gets to take his lunch to school like Abby and Lily. We visited the school mid December to check it out and get him registered and since then he has been counting the days until Christmas break was over. On the way to school he said, " I can't believe it's actually here, my very first day of school." He was so sincerely happy! He is such a great kid, and I'm sad to that I'm going to have to share my days with him with the schools he'll be going to for the next 13+ years. Makes me think of the little saying that motherhood is the only occupation were the goal is to work yourself out of a job. OXOXOX to my little Smarty Pants!!

A New Year with new accomplishments!

We are excited to announce that we have a new bike rider in the family! Lily has taken her training wheels off and is riding like a pro.

Here is Lily cruisin' around the cul-de-sac. She did so many circles I'm not sure that she didn't get dizzy. The weather has been beautiful and we are loving the time outside to burn a little extra energy.

We have a great walking path that runs through our neighborhood and goes right by our house. The kids like to use the path the speed down on their bikes. Lily is taking her first solo ride down the trail.

Lily and Shaun coming home from a ride on the trail. This is the back of our house. We love looking out to the green belt and walking path.

Way to go Lily!!!

A Visit with Santa

The kids went to see Santa at the mall and tell him what they were wishing for this Christmas. Everyone was excited as we stood in the long line to get our turn with Santa. Even Sadie Jane was waving and blowing kisses, well that is until we plopped her down in Santa's lap. Sadie Jane wasn't so sure she liked sitting on Santa's lap. Santa was so sweet and listened patiently to the kids wishes. I love how each of our kids have a picture of them as a baby crying on Santa's lap! A right of passage,I guess.

Christmas 2008

Here is the official Christmas 2008 picture.

This year the kids were very cooperative and I just love how the picture turned out. In years past we haven't had such a good experience! Having 4 babies in 7 years is lots of fun but it doesn't always make for a good picture taking experience. We feel very blessed this Christmas to have wonderful, happy, healthy, and extremely lovable kids. It's so fun to see them grow and learn and so sad to know the time is passing too fast. Which brings to mind another thing I'm thankful for! Lots of pictures and home videos, so I will be able to look back and remember just how darling they were!

Family Reunion

I know I'm running behind on my post but I didn't want to let this great time slip by with out blogging about all the fun we had when Shaun's family came to visit. We loved seeing lots of new parts of Dallas that we hadn't visited before and most of all we loved just hanging out and letting the kids play and play. We are hoping it won't be long before they come back!!!

We took a trek over to Ft. Worth to visit the historic stockyards and enjoyed eating BBQ and having a rodeo clown make us a set of Texas longhorns.

Shaun, Shad, and Corie took a little ride on a mechanical bull after lunch. I'll have to say that Corie won the event. I always knew Corie was a cowgirl at heart!

I don't know who this guy is but it was really fun to see them saddle up a longhorn. They also have a cattle drive down the middle of the stock yard several times a day. We felt like we were back in the Wild West.

Dallas World Aquarium was great! You start at the top of the building in the tops of the tree of a rain forest with beautiful birds, monkeys, and sloths then slowly wind your way down into the deep ocean with all kinds of fish, sharks and even a manatee. We loved seeing the river otters swim super fast and the manatee cuddle with the man cleaning the glass on the tank.

Thanks to all the Warren's for a great family reunion! We can't wait to do it again! Love you!!