Kristin Graduates to Level 1 Silver!

Yesterday we celebrated a momentous occasion... It's something you've all been waiting for (okay - well maybe just Kristin)! That's right folks - Kristin graduated from Level 1 Bronze to Level 1 Silver in Gymnastics! She was SO excited! Just one tiny step closer to the Olympics!! ;) She takes two classes a week, so she has two different coaches. The first three photos/videos are from Wednesday with her female coach and then the rest are from Friday with her guy coach. They had a Winterfest performance on both days and on Friday she received a certificate showing she's ready for the next level. Awww yeah! That's our little athlete!! :)

I didn't get to video a lot of Wednesday's routines because Katie was all over the place and my camera was acting up. Rrrr...crusty camera! To be honest, when I was watching Kristin - I wasn't thinking, "This is AMAZING!" I'm proud of her of course, but there's only so much she's capable of at this point. But when I watched the other girls in her class (who are about 1-2 years older than she is), she's doing so much better than they are!! I thought I was maybe just being biased, but then another Mom told me the same thing, so it has been confirmed by an unbiased observer! Kristin seems to take gymnastics much more seriously than the other girls do. She's so cute!!

Kristin doing her floor routine


Waiting for the awards ceremony


Getting her award! She's so cute! She was waiting to see the flash from my camera and didn't know I was videotaping it instead (I had to stop videoing, so she didn't keep standing there)!


On the bars


On the beam (I felt so bad for her when she fell near the end! It was so sad!) :(


She does better the second time...


Floor routine


Yay! She's ready for Level 1 Silver!!


Getting her Winterfest Award!


For now she's looking forward to taking 3 classes a week starting in the spring. We'll let you know when she moves up to the next level...Level 1 Gold!! :)

Christmas is almost here!!

So uh...it's been a while. I'm busy and behind. Yada yada yada. I'm sure this is what you've all come to expect of me, so it's no surprise to any of you! :) We've been keeping ourselves pretty busy - Jason with work, Kristin and I with school, Katie with destroying the house (while I'm doing school with Kristin) - on top of the usual Christmastime errands...mailing out Christmas cards, baking cookies, mailing packages and Christmas shopping. It's easy for me to get so busy that I almost lose sight of what Christmas is really all about - Jesus!

So anyways - here's a quick recap of what we've been up to since we got back from our trip to Portland. I'll try to make it quick anyways... :)

After our trip - it took a little while, but we eventually got back into the swing of our usual routine - school, keeping up the house, cooking dinner and going to the gym. Keeping up the house is getting more difficult though...Katie seems to thouroughly enjoy destroying each room in the house (right after I've cleaned them up of course). Ugh. I can't wait until she's old enough for me to reason with!!

I'm 30 weeks and a couple days preggers! Less than 10 weeks to go!! Woohoo!! I know I have more work ahead of me with 3 kiddies, but I prefer to have my babies out of the womb (after they've baked long enough that is)! I like being able to see that they are okay - instead of waiting for movement and kicking. Not that this little boy hasn't been kicking the heck out of me lately!!

A few days after we got back, we found out (from a couple of friends of ours), that the YMCA offers free membership to military families!! We ran right out and found the nicest YMCA in San Antonio and found out it was true! We signed up that night and were back the next evening to try it out! It's really nice and it's only a year old! It has a kid watch thing for babies 6 weeks to 6 years old (and that's included in the free membership)! It has an outdoor pool too (that's obviously not open right now - but it will be when it gets warmer)! Jason is a little disappointed that they don't have heavier free weights (to work on his gi-hugic muscles) or a pull up bar, but I love it! It's free and I have someone to watch my kids while I workout, so I can't complain!! I love the YMCA!! The girls and I have been going about 4 times a week now. I've only been using the treadmill, but after the next baby comes - I'm definitely going to try out the different exercise classes!

At 26 weeks


This shirt isn't going to last much longer...


We decided to get Katie's bangs cut. I couldn't bring myself to get an actual haircut (not yet anyways), but I went ahead with getting her some bangs, so she could finally see!! I loved putting her long bangs up, but after 10 minutes, she'd always rip it out! The rest of the day, she'd go around looking like a crazed animal with no eyes in sight! So she may look like a nerd now, but at least she can see! :)

I'm sure I could have done her bangs myself, but I didn't want to cut too much by accident! I'm more of a bang-trimmer, not a bang-giver.


Surprisingly, Katie didn't protest!


Aw! There's my little nerd girl!! She has eyes after all!!


Kristin's birthday present from her Grandma and Grandpa Capra came in the mail the day before her actual birthday, so Jason helped her rip it open (with his usual screams of excitment). We already had her birthday party at my Mom and Dad's house a couple weeks early, so she was excited to get another present!

Kristin's present from her Grandma and Grandpa Capra (Katie has apparently learned the rare art of the cheesy smile) ;)


Jason reading the girls their bedtime story. Why does he always outdo me?! It makes my storytelling seem so much less...over the top... ;)


Jason was on call at the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, so he didn't come home 'til the morning after. Jason's Aunt and Uncle up in Dallas (Shelley and Jim) were sweet enought to postpone their Thanksgiving celebration a day, so we could drive up after Jason got off work on Friday and celebrate with them!! The food was SOOOOOO good!!! Uncle Jim never disappoints when it comes to cooking yummy food!! Thank you for waiting for us!!!

Uncle Jim and Aunt Shelley


Becky, Kristin and Rissy


Uncle Jim, Kristin and Katie relaxing after our Thanksgiving gorge (spoiled little girls...) :)


Me after Rissy got a hold of me with her hair straightener and curled my hair (I didn't even know you could curl hair with a straightener)!


Jason and his brother Michael (who also came down for the postponed Thankgiving feast) in wrestling singlets ready to fight...but who can take them seriously in such tight spandex?! ;)


The next day, Becky, Rissy and I (and my monsters) went out for a little shopping. I really had to find something to wear to Jason's Anesthesiology Christmas party. I ended up getting something, but it wasn't anything I really liked - it was just something that fit this gi-normous belly of mine! Before we headed back to the house, we took a horse-drawn carriage ride around the outdoor mall. The horses were so cute!

Becky and the girls after our ride


The next afternoon, we drove back to San Antonio. It usually takes 5 hours to get home, but with all of the holiday traffic...it took a grueling 10 hours... Eek! It was horrible! We could almost have driven halfway to Virginia in that amount of time!

Not too long after the Thanksgiving weekend, we put up our Christmas lights and decorated our Christmas tree. One of these days we'll start getting REAL Christmas trees, but for now - we're going the lazy route and doing artificial.

Kristin was very excited to help with the lights


For some reason the girls thought this was a good spot to sit and watch us work


Jason putting up the icicle lights


Kristin and I also decorated our gi-normous tree out front. We wrapped about 6 strands of lights around the thick trunk. I wish we could have gone all the way up the tree and into the branches, but that would have taken a lot more lights and a huge ladder. Since we live on the top of a hill, everyone who drives onto the base can see our lights from the road. The tree I covered in lights looks like some sort of beacon or lighthouse from the road, so Jason makes fun of me and my gaudy tree every time he comes home at night. He keeps asking when I'm going to put out some lawn gnomes or something equally tacky. He finally admitted that my tree actually looks nice. :)

All done!


Here's my Christmas beacon...


Jason's primary job - the star on top of the tree


Kristin admiring one of her ornaments from a couple years ago. I'm sad that I haven't bought her (and Katie) a new ornament each Christmas, but I either forget or have a hard time finding anything I really like. :(


All finished!


Kristin happily sharing her Christmas wishlist (at least it isn't as big as last year) and one of her art projects for school ;)


Almost a couple weekends ago, we got our babysitter next door to watch the kids and we headed out to Jason's Christmas party. It has been a while since we've been out on our own, so it was nice to enjoy each others company (without someone talking, begging, screaming or crying at us)! I think the last time we went out alone - was when we went to the IMAX theater to watch The Dark Knight. When was that? It must have been a while ago - because that movie just came out on DVD a few days ago!! Man! We planned on going out alone maybe twice a month - now that we have a more than sweet neighbor girl to babysit for us - but I don't know what happened!! We need to hurry and get out a few times before this next baby comes - because he'll be sort of leech-y (for a while anyways)!!

Poor Jason didn't have anything to wear to the party, so he wore his suit from our wedding! He kept gasping for air on the way to the party - because his neck has grown a couple sizes since we married almost 12 years ago!! His pants were a little tight around the tushie too (probably from all of those ridiculous squats he does at the gym)!

Me and Jason (that is one gi-normous belly if you ask me!)


This past weekend, we took the girls to SeaWorld to see Shamu Claus, catch the Polar Express 4-D showing and watch a Christmas Shamu show. The 4-D show was great! I've never seen the full length Polar Express movie, but I loved that they sprinkled down snow (half bubble-ish half flake-ish) when the 20-minute show was over! The girls loved it! It's nice that we don't have to freeze here in the wintertime, but it's kind of sad that the girls don't ever get to see snow! Before we left the park, Jason somehow convinced Kristin to ride SeaWorld's newest water ride (Atlantis). She has always been too short for it, but she somehow grew a couple inches in the past few months and now she's tall enough! I thought she'd be too scared (it almost feels like a free fall), but she ended up liking it so much that they stayed on and went a second time (one of the many benefits of an almost empty park). Jason said she didn't even scream! She just held on tight and smiled! What a brave little cutie!

Katie's ready for her 4-D experience!


The girls with Shamu Claus


Katie went back for another hug!! She can't seem to get enough of big fuzzy creatures (like the Disneyland characters)!


Jason and Kristin going down Atlantis the first time around...


Then a second time... (they had the whole boat to themselves!)


So that's it for now. That wasn't really as quick as I thought it would be. I don't know why I ever bother saying I'll be quick - it'll never happen! I obviously enjoy rambling on and on way too much to ever be quick. :)

I'd say I'll post something before Christmas, but we all know that's highly unlikely given my track record! So if I don't get back on here before then (like I most likely won't), I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy and blessed year ahead!!

Trip to Portland and Kristin's 5th Birthday party!

In the spirit of pure laziness, I'm not going to write too much for this post. Not that there isn't plenty to write about, but I'm already starting to fall behind again in my blogging. I just can't seem to get ahead! I'm just now getting settled back into our routine after coming back from our trip to Portland. Apparently, home schooling is killing me and my perfectly perfect schedule! ;) I'm wondering if I'll ever get the hang of prioritizing my schedule, so I can return to my perfectly planned perfect life (well practically perfect anyways)! :)

Well - it finally happened...we finally decided to grace Portland, Oregon with our magnificent presence once again by visiting my family. Our jubilant return took place on November 8th, but we could only stay for a few short days - due to Jason's crusty work schedule. It was the shortest vacation we've ever taken, so it was slightly disappointing to say the least, but it was still fun to see my family and breathe in that fresh Oregon air!! It had been almost 3 1/2 years since we had last visited and I'm amazed that I could have forgotten how beautiful it is there!! I've grown accustomed to the dry flat desert-like plains of San Antonio, TX, so when my parents picked us up from the airport, Jason and I couldn't stop drooling at the sight all of the rolling hills, green trees, green grass and mountainous skyline. Ahhhh...now I remember why I loved Oregon so much!

Nov 8th - Our first stop after my parents picked us up from the airport was my Grandma's apartment, so I could say hi to my cute little Grandma and visit with her for a little while. Then we were off to Beaches - one of my most favorite restaurants! It's a little restaurant by the Columbia River on the Washington side. Mmmm...yummy!! Of course, I ate too much and I left the restaurant with great pain and suffering (well not really - but it was more than I'm used to eating)! :) Afterwards, we finally headed over to my parents house where Jenny and Richard were unknowlingly awaiting our secret arrival. I decided to show up without telling her because she has done it to me a couple of times in the past! Take that Jenerator! ;) We ended up staying up 'til 3am talking and jabbering the night away (the first of our late night ramblings).

Kristin and Katie with their cousin Jonathan at Beaches

Mom and Dadroo (a.k.a. Mamoo and Nigel) ;)

Me and Jason at Beaches

Nov 9th - The next morning we got up, got ready and drove over to my Grandma's to pick her up for church at Crossroads (the church Jason and I used to go to when we were going to college). Since it was Veteran's Day weekend, Pastor Richie had an Army Lt. Col guest speak for the service. He had his uniform on, but surprisingly he didn't have too much to say about the military, but he was a really nice guy and it was still a good message. Afterwards, we all went out to a Chinese Buffet in Portland. Ugh...now I remember why Jason and I never go to buffets! It was good, but I have a hard time resisting seconds along with 2 or 3 desserts when it's all out in front of me, so it's best that I don't go at all! :) After we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant, we headed over to both the Lloyd Center (across the street from the Applebees I used to hostess at) and Clackamas Town Center to use my 30% off Gymboree coupons before they expired! Mamoo ended up yanking the 2 baby boy outfits I had picked up (for our little man's upcoming arrival), stole my coupon (well I gave it to her) and bought the stuff herself! That little schemer!! ;) We finally made it back home where we spent the rest of the night, gorging ourselves on little snacks while we talked and cackled. When my Dad, Jason and Richard finally finished up their pin ball tournament, they came downstairs and we watched Casino Royale (to prepare ourselves for our upcoming preview of 007 Quantam of Solace). Of course my Dad, Jason and I all fell asleep within the first 20 minutes from exhaustion.

Nov 10th - The next morning, Mamoo prepared a magnificent breakfast feast of pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs and bacon. Mmmm... She already had a really good pancake recipe and now she has somehow tweaked it and made it even yummier!!! After our glorious artery-clogging breakfast, we headed over to the Oregon Zoo - the best zoo ever! It ended up being so cold though, that we didn't stay for very long. That and all of the usual stands and such were closed!! :( I've never gone there this time of year - I'm used to going in the Spring and Summer (the most perfect seasons of the year to visit the zoo). After that, we headed over to Cheesecake Factory in Beaverton for yummy dinner and then back home later that night where we attempted yet again to watch Casino Royale. I fell asleep again... Am I getting old or what??!

Jonathan and Kristin "helping" Mamoo prepare breakfast

Katie spending some time with her Auntie-poo...

and then with her Grandpa Neil


There's always time for some fun-loving wrestling! (Jason, Jonathan and Kristin - yes she's biting Jason's hiney) :)


The most-used picture spot at the Oregon Zoo...I'm not really sure why - it just is!


Kristin and Katie


The new baby elephant and his Mommy-poo


Your everyday average Sun Bear...

Whoa! Why is he sitting upright and looking as if he's expecting something from us?? Could Jason have given him something?? Nooooo...Jason wouldn't do that...

Or would he??? ;)

A photo op for Nigel and I to see how we measure up to different bears

Another picture opportunity for me and my Daddy-poo. Uh...it may look a bit strange, but we were re-inacting a picture that me, my Dad and Kristin took a few years back - when Nigel honestly and unknowingly stood behind the goat...not the best place to pose for a picture... ;) We didn't realize it until after I had developed the film (back in the day when we didn't have a digital camera). We had a good laugh... This time of course, it appears as though he's overdoing it...just a little. ;)

Nov 11th - We headed over to this new bowling center called Big Al's to watch my Dad bowl in his bowling league. Jason and I probably embarrassed him and my Grandpa Yingling (who is on the same team as my Dad) with our cheering, hooting and hollering, but it didn't seem to mess up my Dad's concentration! Sheesh! Look at those scores! I know I've mentioned it before, but why didn't I inherit the apparent pro-bowler gene?! Frig' me! ;) Afterwards, we stopped by Fred Meyer to pick up Kristin's birthday cake (her birthday is on November 25th, but my Mom wanted to throw her a party while we were there because my parents have never celebrated a birthday with either of the girls). We came home and my Mom got to work on her little tea party finger foods. My Grandma and I tried to help, but my Mom always seems to do most of the work. When everything was ready, we had Kristin's tea party birthday complete with Disney princess castle cake! I cannot believe she's already 5!!! Well - she wasn't at the time, but she officially turned 5 two days ago!! My little girl is getting SO big!! It's both exciting and a little sad!!!! I don't want her to grow up too fast!!! :( After Kristin's birthday party, we drove over to my cousins - Neil and Shannon's house. Neil was out of town hunting with a couple of the boys, so we visited with Shannon for a little while and then also with Shakara (my cousin Dustin's wife) when she came by to see us.

Nigel going for another strike!

Sheesh! I think he only ended up with a 280... Pssh!

He's unstoppable!

Kristin and Jonathan playing during Grandpa Neil's game

Katie is unusually easy to handle today...

Kristin and her dream birthday cake (she's been eying this cake for over a year now)!

Me and my birthday girl

Me, Kristin, Katie and Jason

Mom, Grandma, Kristin, Dad and Jonathan (Jenny and Richard both had to work - they have such crappy schedules)!

Some of the spread (cucumber and cream cheese, chicken salad, peanut butter and jelly and egg salad tea sandwiches, crab-stuffed pea pods, cheese cubes, and veggies and dip, tea and hot chocolate)


Pot of tea anyone?

Kristin and her cup of hot chocolate

Kristin blowing our her candle

No spit please! :)

Time for presents! A Leapster 2 from Grandma Christie and Grandpa Neil

Princess game for her Leapster from Grandma Christie and Grandpa Neil

Pet Palz Leapster game from her Mommy and Daddy

Metallic Rose DS Lite with Hello Kitty cover from her Mommy and Daddy

Jonathan assisting Jason is his usual screaming rampage during present-opening

Nintendogs and Cooking Mama DS games from her Mommy and Daddy

Jason taking on a few of my cousin's kids, Jonathan and Kristin with a rug challenge. Who can stay standing when Jason pulls the rug out from under their feet?... :)


Nov 12th - The next morning we headed out to get our pictures taken as a family (on Jenny and Richard's only day off together). Me, Jason and the girls were getting ready to have our annual pictures taken for Christmas cards anyways, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to also have a picture taken with my family also - since we haven't taken one since 2002 - when neither of our girls even existed. After that, we went to the closest Chuck E Cheese for some pizza, tokens and prizes! Before heading home, we squeezed in a visit to my Dad's theater to watch a preview of the new 007 movie and then High School Musical 3 after that. The 007 movie was excellent, but we were a little disappointed in HS Musical 3. I was surprised - especially since we liked the first two so much (Jason mostly...). ;)

One of the many pictures taken. But that's all you're going to get! We'll be sending out our own family picture with our Christmas cards shortly...just as soon as I pick out some cards...

Chuck E Cheese time!

Of course, Katie chased after the big fuzzy mouse every time she caught a glimpse of him. He seemed to really like her...hopefully he wasn't getting annoyed and rolling his eyes under that mask everytime she came running up to him!! :)

Nov 13th - We took a quick trip over to University of Portland to take some pictures and eat some lunch in the Pilot House after a mini shopping spree in the campus bookstore. It's so weird. I went to school at Concordia University a couple miles down the road from University of Portland (where Jason went to school), but I feel as though I went to University of Portland too! I spent more time there than I did at my own school! As soon as my classes were over, I'd head over to Jason's school to meet up with him, eat dinner and spend the rest of the night studying in the library or computer lab until we'd drag ourselves back to our house in time for bed. It's too bad the library had to close at night, we could have saved a lot of money in rent by just living at the library! We could have used the showers in the gym and kept all our belongings in our little roller skate-sized car! It would have been great! :) After a fun-filled visit to Jason's school, we only had time to do a drive-by viewing of my school because we were running late for my Dad and Jason's tee time at the McMenamins Edgefield golf course. Needless to say, I was very disappointed that I didn't have a chance to stop by and say hi to some of my old co-workers (I worked at Concordia for a year after graduation) and I didn't have a chance to browse my old bookstore for some momentos. Sure my bookstore is teeny tiny compared to University of Portland's, but still! There was a lot of construction going on anyways - I'm really excited to see what they're going to do to update and expand the campus! So anyways - we headed out to the Edgefield McMenamins. Jason and my Dad started off on their 9 hole golf tournament while my Mom and I (and the kids) waited in the restaurant while we talked over appetizers. Dad and Jason met up with us when they were finished with their game, then we stopped by the Jerusalem Cafe for dinner on our way home. Mmmm...yummy!!

Me and my Daddy-poo by the bluff at University of Portland

Me and Jason


Strolling alongside the bluff

Apparently, you can never have to many pictures of me and my Dadroo! :)

Will Jason's crazy camera-clicking ever end??!! ;)

Me, Mamoo and Nigel at Edgefield McMenamins

Awww...how cute!! Jason scribbled this really fast on the chalkboard in one of the many bars at McMenamins

Edgefield McMenamins

Jason and Nigel after their golf tournament

Nov 14th - The guys all did some yardwork while my Mom got started on her early Thanksgiving dinner. She wanted to squeeze both a birthday party and a Thanksgiving celebration into our visit since we haven't celebrated anything together for a really long time! Poor Mamoo! So much work and so little time! I felt so bad because I ended up not helping as much as I had hoped to - because I was feeling kind of crappy the whole day. Of course - I was still up to gorging on the feast when it was all prepared! After we ate and I had recovered from my pain and agony (this little baby is taking up a lot of valuable food packing space in my tummy!), my Mom brought me a plate of dessert - a slice of her fabulous apple pie and a slice of her scrumptuous pecan pie! Mmmm... There's always room for dessert!!! :) And that was it for our last night in Portland. :(

Who else (besides Jason) would ever think to desecrate a turkey by stabbing it with it's own turkey wing??!! That Jason...always joking... :)

Kristin and her Great Grandma Jackson setting the table for Thanksgiving dinner

Kristin is ready to eat!

An exhausted Tricia, Jason and the girls ready to devour the table of Thanksgiving food.

Nov 15th - We packed up our things and headed over to the Steakburger (a tacky little family-owned restaurant/mini golf course that Jason re-named Capra Country Club 7 years ago) for a cheap (but good) breakfast with my parents before dropping my Dad off at a bowling league tournament and then off to the airport to catch our flight back to San Antonio.

Good bye Portland!! We'll miss you!!!! (I was surprised - it wasn't too overcast the day we were leaving and we were able to catch a glimpse of Mt. Hood - ahhh). Now it's back to the dry treeless, greenless, flat plains of San Antonio... Oh well. ;)


Didn't I say I wasn't going to write much???... :)