Finally....

I don't even know where to begin!!! I know it's been forever since I've wrote anything. I just haven't really been interested in blogging. I love reading other people's blogs, but it's sometimes tough for me to get going and actually write something or post pictures. I hope there are still some of you readers left out there...

Gabs got a haircut...

Church Christmas concert...

Megan all ready for her school Christmas concert...

Megan has her school Christmas concert at the beginning of December. She wore her special "candy cane" dress from Grandma & Grandpa V. Her class sang a song and said a little poem. It was really cute! Because of the teachers strike, it was only during the day, so Jeff was unable to come because he was working. So I took lots of videos, so he could still watch her.

We had a wonderful Christmas with family!! Both of Jeff's brothers and their wives came out this year...and we had an extra special new addition to the family. Eric and Traci had a baby boy, Arthur James, just 10 days before Christmas. We were so grateful that they made the trip up here with a newborn. I LOVED snuggling that sweet little boy, he is such a blessing to our family.

Christmas Eve, we all went to the early service at church and then all of Jeff's family and my parents came over for dinner and the evening. It was so nice to all be together!

My "dog" wrapped Christmas gift from Jeff!


Holding cousin Arthur for the first time..




Christmas morning, we spent at home, just our little family. The kids loved opening their presents and just playing with them. I had made our breakfast the day before, so I just had to put the caramel French toast in the oven. In the late morning, we headed over to Jeff's parents place and opened more presents. We had lots of fun!! Then we had an amazing Turkey dinner and headed home for the kids bedtime.

Playing with his new car garage!

We celebrated Christmas with my parents on Boxing Day! Mom made a delicious brunch for us and then it was more present time. We just hung out and relaxed and enjoyed our time together.



Funny story! My mom opened her gift from my dad and she pulled these pants out of the box...

My mom very kindly said, "oh, what size are these?"...we burst out laughing, they were a size 18!! My dad said the sales lady was helping him and she had picked out the pants and they were supposed to be size 10.

**Eric took lots of pictures at Christmas and now I can't seem to get them onto my blog, I will try again another time.

Jeff was off work most of the week and it was SO nice to have him home! I was able to go out shopping one day with my sis-in-law and we had fun. I am so thankful for our families!!

Jeff was so thoughtful and bought us tennis rackets for my Christmas present. We had talked about starting to play tennis last summer and so this was great. Although, we can't use them just yet! There is a great park up by our house that also has a tennis court, so we thought in the summer we can play some tennis while the kids play at the park!! I find it so much easier to exercise in the summer, I'm just not a big fan of the winter:(

I'm trying to think back to before Christmas and remember things that happened. We had some family photos taken in the fall that we used for our Christmas cards this year. Our good friend is a photographer and she took these for us. We are really happy with them. The kids were really good for most of the shots, but Marty doesn't like to sit still and pose of photos!



Just before Christmas, my friend lost her husband to a heart attack. Megan and her daughter are really good friends at school. I have gotten to know her over the last year or so. We get together for playdate's and just to chat. I got the phone call early one Monday morning from a mutual friend of ours. I was completely shocked! My friend had just lost her dad three weeks earlier and she was really close to him, and then to loose her husband. My heart just aches for her. I was able to go over to her house and be with her that first day and I actually managed to see her every day for the week, just to be with her. And some amazing ladies from our church provided meals for her family everyday. I know this was a huge blessing to her. I've never been through this with a friend before, so sometimes I'm not sure what to say or do, but I'm just trying to be there for her right now. She has two daughters, ages 6 and 9. So, if you think of them please pray that God would give them comfort and strength as they go through this journey. And that maybe through all of this that they would find Him!

On a different note, my parents leave for 2 weeks in Mexico soon and then Jeff's parents are going to Hawaii for a month!! I'm starting to get a little bit jealous of all these people that get to go somewhere warm during the winter. I would love to go on a vacation, but a vacation with the kids is just not quite a vacation...maybe when they are a bit older! I'm thinking our next vacation will be to Disneyland in about 3 years.