Holidays!

Impromptu photo shoot 11/08!

Hailey taking a break from our holiday photo shoot!

I love the holidays! I'm especially looking forward to Christmas this year, being in our new house for the first time, and for Hailey to really understand and enjoy opening the presents! We've been having a good time with the boys, who have already written a couple of letters to Santa Claus! Jackson has written about 4 or 5, in which he gives Santa a list of "awesome toys" and "cool toys", and he also has confessed to Santa that he has been bad once or twice and asks that those times be overlooked this year, in order to receive said "awesome toys" and "cool toys"!!! How cute is that! I'm also looking forward to Hailey getting some more "girly" toys, since we just got done play sword fighting and racing cars around the house! Santa, this girl needs some dolls!!! :-)

This time of year also makes me reflect on all that has happened throughout the past year. I have so much to be thankful for, not the least of which is for our Awesome and Mighty Lord who loves us and saves us! I am also grateful to a man named James Dean who, while risking his own life and bodily injury, SAVED MY SISTER-IN-LAW'S LIFE!!!! Many of you read my posts earlier this year about how my sis-in-law, Laurel, was in a horrible car crash and suffered major burns to almost half her body. Well a complete stranger, James Dean, happened to be driving on the same road minutes after Laurel crashed and came to her aide pulling her from her burning car. He suffered second and third degree burns to his hands and arms, but still mangaed to pull her out of the car! Praise the Lord for this heroic man, and thank you God for taking care of Laurel.

Yes, I have a lot to be thankful for this year. I hope you do, too! God bless.

THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you all have a blessed day with family and friends and also that you remember to be thankful, for all that God has blessed you with. I know I am so thankful, especially for you, my friends and family! Love you!

Cliff Diving at Rick's in Jamaica!

This is James diving into the ocean from a 50 foot cliff in Negril, Jamaica! It was pretty spectacular to watch, hard to capture on camera though. The locals will jump from about 100 feet if you pay them and boy do they put on a show. They climb out on the tree limbs and hang from one arm, sideways, and then do a crazy dive straight down into the sea. It really was fun!

Jamaica Mon!

Yeah mon! James and I got to spend a week in Jamaica to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary this year! We had a great time soaking up the sun and just being together. A great big thank you to my Mom and Stepdad, Jim, for coming down to watch the kids for us. It was a big job and you guys did so great, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We stayed in Negril, Jamaica, which is on the western side of the island. We did get hit with a little of Hurricane Paloma, but nothing too scary. You can see some of the aftermath in the pictures below. Mostly lots of rain, wind, and rough surf which made for a messy beach. It only lasted two days and we had great weather the rest of the time. We went on a horseback ride one day where you ride for about an hour on a trail, up and down hills, through rivers and eventually into the ocean! Just the horses heads were above water, it was amazing! We also went to the famous Rick's Cafe, where they have cliff diving into the ocean. You can dive from up to 50 feet, which of course James did and I didn't, and you can pay the locals to dive from about 100 feet! It was awesome to watch, and it also made for a great sunset! We also did some kayaking, snorkeling and of course some laying out and relaxing! What a great vacation, we feel so blessed! Enjoy the pictures.

Most of these shots are from our balcony. Pretty impressive sunset! And yes, those are our feet, just chilln' on the beach, mon!

This is James jumping off the cliffs at Rick's Cafe! Pretty cool picture, huh!?
Below is us on our horseback ride, you can see how deep the horses are in the ocean. We had a great guide who told us about the plants and animals and also took our picture for us, which isn't easy when you are riding on a horse!

These last two pictures show the aftermath of the hurricane. Nothing major, although the waves did come up and wash out one of the beachfront grills! They had to scramble to move everything inside and start making food again!

Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween this year! We invited our good friend, Katie, and her two boys to join us for the trick-or-treating fun! Jackson went as Darth Vader, Ryan was the Red Power Ranger, and Hailey was Little Red Riding Hood! Katie's oldest boy, Tommy was Mickey Mouse, and the baby, Johnny was a pumpkin! They were all so cute and had so much fun. We enjoyed our first Halloween in our new neighborhood! Oh, and check out the pumpkin we carved, the one we got from the pumpkin patch! Pretty cool!

Pumpkin Patch!

Just a couple of days before Halloween we made a trip out to the Pumpkin Patch! It was such a fun day, too! We got to go on a train ride, a hay ride, pick out our very own pumpkin to carve, feed and pet the animals, and to top it off, have an ice cream cone and play on the giant slides! What a day! Hailey really enjoyed petting and feeding the animals, it was really fun to see her get all excited when they ate from her hand. They boys loved the train ride the most, although playing on the slide was pretty close! We will definitely be making this a family tradition!

This is the kids enjoying their ice cream cones! You can see the ice cream all over Hailey's face and how excited she is to get some! She wouldn't hold still to get her picture in the sign, like the boys!

PS. Jackson had crazy hair day at school that day, so both the boys spiked their hair for it. That's why they have crazy hair in these pic's!

Park Day!

I took the kids to the park the other day and we had so much fun! Hailey's finally getting to the age where she can do most things without help and the boys enjoy playing with her. They all took turns on the slide, and of course I was ready with the camera!

Then we played a game of find Luigi (as in Mario and Luigi). I was Rosalina, Ryan was Mario, Hailey was Peach and Jackson was, well, Jackson! We tracked Luigi down to this drain in the grass, he was trapped inside. You can see Hailey and Ryan really looking for him in the picture! Fortunately, Ryan had a special power that brought him out of the drain without us having to go down in the muck and get him, thank goodness! It was such a fun day hanging out and playing with my kiddos!

The Irvine Castle!

Since we are finally done moving, we decided it was time to get rid of all those boxes. Well, James and Jackson were reading a book together and it was about how everyone was bored and the Mom got the idea to build a castle, and whala - The Irvine Castle was born! Unfortunately I was sick when they decided to build it and didn't get to participate too much, but the boys sure had a good time with it. James even made a draw bridge, you can see the boys sitting on it in the picture. They have had a lot of fun with it, decorating it and hiding in it, especially Hailey - she loves to run away from me and hide in there! It's still in our front living room, I'm not sure how long it's going to stay, but for now it's alot of fun!

My best friend, Kelsey, had this on her blog... See if you can answer these "6" questions!

6 TV shows I like to watch: 1) Grey's Anatomy 2) The Office 3) ER 4) Desparate Housewives 5)Criminal Minds 6) CSI any of them!

6 Restaurants I like to eat at: 1) Daphne's Greek Cafe 2) Ruth's Chris Steak House (Hey, I like to think big!) 3)Red Robin 4)In-n-Out 5)Johnny Carino's 6)Costco Hot Dog and soda!

6 Things that Happened today: 1) Made pot roast for dinner in the crockpot 2)Laundry
3)Went to Mom to Mom at Church (great speaker about parenting!) 4)Vacuumed the whole house (we're talking 3500 square feet and it's mostly carpet!) 5)Gave Rocky his antibiotics on time! 6) Helped Jackson with his homework, even though he was complaining and on the verge of tears!

6 Things I am looking forward to: 1)Our vacation to Jamaica in less then two weeks! 2) My Mom coming down to stay with the kids for said vacation 3) Sunday, when James is finally off for a whole day! 4)My Dad coming to visit in December 5)Getting the computer chair back from James so I don't have to type on my knees! 6)Bed!

6 Things on my wish list:1) Getting our backyard, including a pool, done 2)a bottomless bank account 3)a laptop 4) new kitchen appliances 5)That my kids always stay healthy and happy and free from injury! 6) A housekeeper!

6 People to tag:1)Anita, if she had a blog 2) Laura 3)Jeni 4)Renee 5)Stefanie 6)Carla

Superstar Ry-guy!

Ryan has been learning lots of new little songs at preschool lately and he will sing them all throughout the day as he's playing. Well, I asked if he'd sing one for me while I video taped him and of course he obliged! It's a little long but the end is the cutest part, so you have to watch the whole thing! Enjoy!

Ryan singing the Five Little Ducks Song!

(PS. You can hear Jackson playing the piano in the background!)

Black Eye!

Last week Ryan recieved his third black eye in his short little life! It was a Wii Sports injury to boot! He and Jackson were playing Wii Baseball and Jackson swung right into Ryan's cheek, just below his eye! He came running down the stairs, blood running down his face and everything. Of course, James the EMT, had just left! I have to say, I think I handled it pretty well. Afterall, Ryan's given me a lot of practice! Oh, and just the other day he hit himself in the other eye with the ladder from his bunkbed. Not as bad as the Wii baseball injury, but enough to make a matching bruise on his other cheek! I'm afraid if he gets hurt one more time that his preschool teachers might be calling CPS on me! (I'm kidding!) Anyway, check out his shiner!

In case you're wondering, the third black eye was from when he fell and cut himself just above his eye. He had to have stitches with that one! I'm just counting down until he has his first broken bone!

Fire Station Open House!

We got to go to James' fire station last weekend for their annual open house and it was so fun! They had a bounce house, a giant slide, hot dogs, balloons, and they even did a mock drill where they slid down the fire pole and put on their gear and drove the fire engine away with lights and sirens blaring. It was great fun for all of us! The kids loved it of course and made sure to tell anyone who would listen that their Dad worked their, that he was a firefighter! I'm sure that James didn't mind it too much! It was really fun for me this year since we've gotten to know more of the guys James' works with and they know our kids! Enjoy some pic's of the kids playing!
That's Jackson going down upside down!
There's the Ry-guy. I think he went down about 10 times!
Even Hailey got to bounce! Last year she was still too little!

Having fun!

Ryan and Hailey are such good playmates! I was playing with them the other day and decided to take pictures and they immediately hugged each other and posed, well sort of! Hailey WAS trying to grab the camera and I think Ryan may have come one a little too strong, but still, aren't they cute!?!? I just love these guys.
a rare moment when Hailey wasn't reaching for the camera!
Hailey loves her big brother, can you tell!

Happy Birthday Ry-Guy!

We celebrated Ryan's 4th birthday last weekend and boy was it fun! About 10 of his friends joined him at Bounce U for an hour of non-stop bouncing fun! Even the Dad's got in on the action and had a blast. After the bouncing was over we settled down with pizza and cupcakes and then it was on to the presents! Ryan got a ton of new toys to play with and he is so happy to be four years old now! He is such a fun kid and he makes me laugh everyday. We got him a Power Wheels and the video of his reaction is to seeing it is great, I've posted it at the bottom. Hope you enjoy the pic's and video as much as we enjoy our Ry-guy! Happy Birthday, buddy!

Ryan playing hard at the bounce place!

The boys waiting for the big surprise! They were both excited to get a power wheels, even though it was Ryan's present. He was very good at sharing it too! What fun!

Gramma Donna!

Gramma Donna came down for a visit and to help me do a little decorating around the new place! I really appreciated all her help and most of all her company. There's no better shopping partner then my Mom! The kids LOVED having her around and I know she enjoyed them, too. They may have worn her out, but she enjoyed them. We can't wait to see her again in November! Gramma in front of our new house!

Gramma and Hailey wishing Jackson a good day at school!
Gramma and Ryan being silly together!

Baby Tilden!

Our good friends had their first baby on Sept. 16
and we got to go meet him at the hospital!

Waiting, waiting, waiting..... to meet baby Tilden!

New Mama, Brie and her BEAUTIFUL baby boy, Tilden James. We feel so lucky we got to meet him when he wasn't even 12 hours old yet. Brie's husband, Mark, and James are best buddies and co-workers at the firestation so we will get to see lots more of this cute little baby. Congratulations to Mark and Brie and welcome baby Tilden!