Has it really been over 3 months? Seriously??!!

Wow!! I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by since I last posted something on here. I'm afraid there's just no hope for me people. I'm obsessive compulsive about A LOT of things, but blogging apparently isn't one of those things! ;) Well - I guess it would be pretty sad if I was obsessed with being on the computer constantly blogging, so I guess it's a good thing that I'm so lazy when it comes to keeping up with this thing. I'm still sorry though - to have failed all of my many many readers out there...so please accept my most sincerest apologies...all one or two of you... ;)

Okay - now that the excuses and apologies are out of the way - I'll get on with it! :)

So February came and went fairly quickly...as did March and then April. I'm trying to remember if there was anything significant that happened, but nothing comes to mind (but then again I have pregnancy brain), so you'll have to excuse me while I consult my planner... Okay - I'm back! So...let's see here. Why have I been too busy for blogging?? What all have I been up to?? Hmm...not too much. Curious. Nothing out of the ordinary. Well - this is just sad. Okay - let's get this over with. Here's a quick rundown to get you all up to date on whatever it is we've been up to...however little and unexciting it may be... ;)

I've been keeping up with our usual routine of home schooling, gymnastics, going to the gym, resolving fights and arguments between the kids (mostly Katie and Caleb), changing poopy diapers, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking and OB appointments - while Jason works, goes to the gym, goes to jiu jitsu...oh and goes out of town for conferences and TDYs. ;)

February

- Much to my embarrassment, I watched the newest season of The Bachelor on ABC. It's a shameful habit of mine. Luckily I always miss a season here and there, so that makes me feel a little less guilty about it... ;)
- Had our own mini Superbowl party and we ended up with a lot of finger food leftovers...
- Caleb decided he was ready to pee on command. He still can't control his bladder when wearing a diaper, but he can force himself to pee on the toilet by grunting. He's very proud of his manly accomplishment...although it doesn't seem so very manly for a little man to be sitting on the toilet instead of standing. Jason must not be around enough to give poor Caleb some pointers... We'll figure it out one of these days... ;)

Misc pictures from February - Kristin showing off her mega blok giraffe/Superbowl/Jason and Caleb doing some yoga stretches (hahaha)/Caleb on his potty and Katie showing off an art project from the gym kid-watch place

- I bought a real sewing machine (the kind you wouldn't find in a high school home economics class anyways) and I love it! I bought it from a local quilting/sewing/fabric store (WAY better than your average Joann Fabric chain store). This store offers a ton of different classes - for the newbie sewer/quilter to the extra advanced sewer/quilter. In February I took a class to learn how to use my extra special sewing machine - which was a prerequisite to any other classes I'd want to take. Since then I took a quilting class in March and a sewing class in April. I thought I'd squeeze in some learning before I pop this baby out and have even less time (if that's even possible) for hobbies! It was SO much fun! Now I don't feel as intimidated about starting quilting/sewing projects on my own! Yay!
- Kristin also started a young sewer's club this month. She goes to one class a month where they learn and put together a new project. It's so cute to see her so excited about having a hobby!

24 weeks preggers (if I remember right)

- Celebrated Valentines Day with a giant sugar cookie and surprises for the kids. Kristin being the sweet daughter that she is - made us some paper flowers, a sweet card and spent her hard-earned allowance on a $6 box of Almond Roca for her Mommy and Daddy. She's such a cutie!

Valentines Day 2011


- Luckily for me, Jason agreed to start going to a physical therapist after I found him a therapist and made him an appointment. He's been having back pain since before Christmas and I couldn't handle the grumpiness anymore! It has helped a lot - he just recently had another episode, but I think the therapy is still helping. It isn't fun when your hubcap is grumpy and in pain!
- We celebrated Caleb's 2nd birthday on February 19th. He was very excited about eating cake and opening presents. Greedy little boy. ;) Since he has been obsessed with Disney's Cars for quite some time now, I thought it might be worth the HUGE hassle of decorating a Lightning McQueen cake (instead of going the easy route with cupcakes). It was exhausting!!! It took about 3 hours! 3 hours may sound horrible to most people, but I'm happy to say that I've shaved 3 hours off my usual cake decorating time of 6 hours. No - I'm not joking. I decorated my very first cake (something other than a sheet or circle cake) for Kristin's 1st birthday (an Elmo head) and it took me a whopping 6 hours! Yikes!! Anyways - I'm hoping to one day take a few cake decorating classes at Michaels, so I can figure out what the heck I'm doing wrong!! ;)

Caleb's 2nd birthday



March

- Jason went out of town to Las Vegas again for another conference. This time he was able to meet up with his brother James who's there for a few months for Weapons School at Nellis AFB, so that made Jason's trip to filth-hole Vegas more worth it. I'm still trying to figure out how Las Vegas has become a "family-friendly" place to bring/raise kids... I'm SO glad I was only there long enough to be born and then wait around a few years for my sister to be born! I really don't have any desire to visit (let alone live) in Vegas...not for a long time anyways...
- While Jason was gone on this trip - I was lucky enough to pull Kristin's 4th loose tooth...shudder shudder. I hate loose teeth! It brings back so many bad memories of having my own teeth pulled! I don't know why, but it always used to bother me A LOT! Ouch!! My worse tooth-pulling memory is of my Grandpa (normally my Dadroo was the one to pull all of my teeth, so I'm not sure how my Grandpa got this assignment!) tying a piece of dental floss to my loose tooth and then tying the other end to an open door and then slamming the door shut with all of his might and my tooth flying in the air!! Eeeeeeeek!!!!! Not one of my favorite memories!! ;)

Misc pictures from early March - Caleb/Jason and Caleb/kids in the girls' barbie jeep/Katie showing off her puzzle skills

Kristin with another missing "toof" :)

- I mailed Jason's sister Rachel a box of some of the girls' old baby clothes - she's only a few weeks behind me with her 2nd baby girl, so I thought I'd mail her some clothes for both of their little girlie girls. I'm thinking this may be our last baby, so I may end up mailing Rachel the rest of the girls' other clothes (except for maybe a favorite here or there for memory's sake).

Some old baby girl clothes. How did the time go by so fast? :( And Caleb sitting at his favorite table in the living room. :)

- Jason's brother Mike came to visit us for a weekend in March since he was in the area on TDY. He always seems to be the uncle who visits us the mostest. :) He ordered us our usual King Kong pizza and then I had the privilage of watching Mike make Jason drink too much sake whilst watching the Last Samarai with Tom Cruise. They had to take a drink every time they heard the words samarai or sake... and they ended up sharing a whole bottle! Ugh. The thought of drinking that much makes me want to throw up! Blah!
- We also took a trip up to San Francisco to walk on Pier 39, munch on some yummy food, gaze at scary Alcatraz and breathe in the stinky sea lion air.

Mike visiting

Random day feeding some crazy ducks who showed up on our doorstep out of nowhere! There isn't a pond nearby or anything, so I'm not sure why the heck they might have been wondering around in the neighborhood...but the kids loved it!

Celebrating Jason's brother Tony's birthday with some cupcakes with homemade frosting made with real butter (one of Tony's favorite foods...wait butter isn't a food is it?) ;) We love and miss you Tony!!!!!!!!

- We celebrated Katie's 4th birthday on March 20th. I cannot believe she is already 4!!! I just can't figure out how time seems to be slipping away on me!!! I'm thinking of getting rid of the majority of the things in our house, so I can spend less time cleaning and more time focusing on the kids before they grow up and leave the house! I can't handle time going by this fast - it freaks me out! Oh - before we lit the candles on the cake, we called everyone into the dining room. Jason called Caleb down saying, "Come on! It's time for Katie's birthday!" Of course, Caleb came running while yelling, "Yay me!!!!" He's such a greedy little boy! ;)
- The Spring Equinox was also on Katie's birthday and we thought we'd test out that whole egg- standing-upright-thing at a specific time during the day...me and Jason could NOT get our flippin' eggs to stand up straight, so we gave up after 15 minutes...but guess who didn't give up... That's right...Big Baby!! She kept trying and finally got the egg to stand up! She's always trying to outdo us! ;)

Kristin was more persistent than Jason and I were and was able to get her egg to stand up. Little Miss Overachiever... ;)

Katie's 4th birthday

- Spent much of March buying things here and there for baby #4...I don't know why buying new things for each baby is so exciting for me. It's almost exciting as when I started baby shopping for Kristin...almost... :)

April

- Went to Santa Cruz for the day with Jason and the kids. I think I would have had more fun if I wasn't sick with food poisoning from the night before. Ugh... Still - I was able to enjoy most of the day (except for when I had to make a quick stop on the way to throw up for 5 minutes in a nasty gas station bathroom - ew ew ew ew ew!).

My quilt and Jason's pajama pants that I made in my quilting and sewing classes

Kristin showing off her projects (pillow case, flower pin cushion, backpack and tote)


Trip to Santa Cruz

- Jason and I celebrated our 14th Anniversary. Yay us! ;) We got a babysitter the following Friday and went out to a Turkish restaurant to celebrate our Turkish romance/wedding... :) My Momroo and Dadroo went a little crazy and bought us $800 brand new dishes from Crate and Barrel for our anniversary present, but I felt it was just too ridiculous for them to be spending that much of their hard-earned money on us, so I forced them to take it all back! I take all the credit for having saved my Dadroo from a mini-heart attack of some sort. ;) They're too sweet - I'd say it's the thought that counts, but they did more than just think about spending that much money - they actually did! Yikes! I think they think a little too much of us than they should!!!! ;) Love you Mommy and Daddy! :)
- We finally found out that we'll be moving to Eglin AFB in Florida August 1st. It was either Florida or Alaska. As much as I would have loved to live by close friends in Alaska, I was pretty nervous about the cold weather and feeling of isolation! Although I'm sure (based on all of the wonderful things I here about Alaska) that I would have loved it there. Maybe next time we'll heading out to Alaska! For now - I'm looking forward to warm weather (not the hurricanes, big bugs and alligators though) and being closer to Jason's family! Yay!
- We remembered Tony's bravery and ultimate sacrifice on 9 April. This marks the 3rd year since Jason's brother was killed in action in Golden Hills, Iraq. There honestly isn't a day that goes by when I don't think of him and miss his many many phone calls. Thankfully, he left behind a part of him in each of his 5 children. We love and miss him SO very much!!
- Jason's brother Mike came up to visit for the weekend to take us crab fishing with him (since he's only 4 hours away in southern CA for a couple months on TDY. See I told you he visits us a lot! ;) We went to a Stanford baseball game and got another King Kong pizza... :)
- Mike came out again the following weekend to go crab fishing again - this time I stayed home with the crazy kids and Jason went with Mike (they caught 3 crabs and brought them home to cook and eat - it was kind of scary and just a little gross to cook live crabs...especially in my own kitchen, but they were yummy!). He also celebrated Easter with us the next morning before heading back home.

The kids taking turns getting swung around the living room by Uncle Mikey/The girls and Caleb on Easter morning

Easter 2011


- Much to my disappointment, Caleb got his first haircut this month. Jason sort of did it without my consent. Sniff sniff. I'm really not a fan of curly locks on boys, but I wanted to wait until he grew a little more hair on the top of his head, so he wouldn't look so bald! Why does it seem like he already has a receding hairline?!?! He never even had much hair to begin with! Wah! Anyways - he still looks like a little cutie to me, so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal... ;)
- Jason was out of town for almost a week in April - this time he was in Maryland for an acupuncture course. He'll be going again for another week-long course in both July (a few days before we move) and then he'll finish up the course sometime in September. By the end of it he'll be certified in Acupuncture and can treat patients with some alternative pain management techniques. He sure leaves a lot doesn't he? ;)

-Kristin and I finished up her 2nd grade curriculum on April 29th, so we have a long summer break ahead of us! Yay! I wanted to finish a little early, so we could have some kind of break before Joshua comes. We did a few double lessons here and there to make it happen and it was SO worth it! It's nice to be able to relax and not worry about having to work on lessons with a newborn baby. Ahhhhh... Now when we start up 3rd grade, the baby will be about 3 months old. :)

May

- Now that we know where we're moving, it feels more official - and so begins my crazy psycho routine of going through the whole house looking for things to sell, donate or throw out. I have 4 weeks left (hopefully 3 God-willing) of this pregnancy, so it seems like a good time to purge the house of junk - who knows how much time I'll NOT HAVE after the next baby comes!!! I can barely keep up with the 3 kids I already have! There's no telling how little I'll get done with 4 kids - especially with one of those 4 being so tiny and helpless!! Yikes!! It's a scary thought! ;)
- I pulled yet ANOTHER one of Kristin's loose teeth while Jason was in Maryland! So far I'm winning at the tooth-pulling competition...Tricia-3 teeth vs. Jason-2 teeth! ;) Our other competition is baby eye color. :) So far the girls both have blue eyes and Caleb has brown, so we're waiting to see whether we're going to tie or whether I'm going to win with 3:1! I'll keep you posted on the results when they become available...around 6 months from now!! ;)

Me at 35 weeks (3 May 2011)/Kristin with one less tooth

- My Dadroo drove my Mom and Grandma down to our house overnight last night after he got off work and they just arrived this morning after 12 hours of driving (how sweet and exhausting is that?!). My Daddy-man is flying back to Portland tomorrow and then he'll be flying back here 7 June (hopefully Joshua will have already arrived by then!) and then they'll head back home a week after that. Ah...it's nice to have help! I feel relaxed already!! Yay me!! ;)

That's it for now folks! I tried to keep it short, but it's sort of hard to do that when I let this thing get SO far behind! It's just ridiculous I tell you! I'm curious as to when I'll be on here again. Hmmm...probably not before the next baby comes (based on my long history of blog slacking), so I'm not sure how long it will take before I'm able to do anything besides taking care of 3 animals whilst caring for a new baby milk hog (not to mention moving on top of that!). We'll see... Who knows! I may surprise everyone - including myself!! ;)

The Ultrasound Is In!

21 weeks (1-25-2011)


So for the past few months, everyone had been asking me which sex I'd prefer baby #4 to be. It's a question I REALLY don't like answering because if I were to say one thing...and get the opposite...I'd feel SO horrible!! Of course there's always that little voice in the back of my head that says what I think I'd like, but it's really all up to God and since He's the one with the plan - of course I would be happy either way!

Way back when - I had hoped my first would be a boy, so he could take care of his siblings (since I was the oldest growing up, I always felt a little tom-boyish having to stand up for my little sister, so you know...). Obviously, I ended up having Kristin first and I can't imagine not having had her as my firstborn! Then for the 2nd, I had hoped for another girl so the first two could be friends (even though I didn't really care either way because it took SO long to get pregnant the 2nd time around!) and out came crazy Katie. After that, it was time for some boys! ;) For the last two, I had prayed ahead of time (with each one) that if it was within God's will, it was the desire of my heart to have a boy. So then there was Caleb (a.k.a. Dogbone)...and now...we just found out that baby #4 is also a boy! Hooray for 2 and 2! It feels like such a nice even number. :)

Joshua Michael


Ultrasound Tech (with Filipino accent): Oh boy...
Me: It's a boy?
Tech: Yes - it is definitely a boy! Look at that - he's right at 12 0'clock! Now that's a boy to be proud of!!
Kristin: It's a pickle!!
Me (with bright red face): Hahahahahahaha!!!!


Before we found out that #4 was a boy, I was thinking 4 kids might be it for us (of course I'd still be open to whatever God has planned...I'm just sayin'). ;) But now that I know baby #4 is a boy...I'm getting a weird feeling...the feeling like I'd like another baby girl somewhere down the road! What in the heck is wrong with me?!?! I went out looking for 2 yr old clothes for Caleb...and the only thing that kept jumping out at me was one adorable baby girl outfit after another!! Sheesh! Not that it's all about clothes, but it just got me thinking. Maybe that's my problem...I need to stop thinking! ;) So that's all I have to say about that - either I'm crazy...or God has a funny way of letting me know that I'm not finished yet! ;) Hey! I know what you're thinking!!! But you're wrong! I'm not crazy!! Just tired...very very tired... ;)

Crazy Busy!!

So I usually get on here (every few months or so) with the usual excuse of being extremely busy yada yada yada... This time it's no different - only this time I've had the added busy-ness of a lot of visitors, traveling and of course all of the holidays in between! All in all - it has been a VERY busy and fun 2+ months and I am completely exhausted!!

So first of all - we have big news...many of you already know - since my Christmas newsletters went out before I had a chance to update my blog - that we're expecting our 4th baby! Yay! We found out October 1st! Luckily Caleb (our third) didn't go into total animal mode until after we found out I was pregnant, so I didn't have a chance to second-guess whether I was ready for another baby. ;) It has made me question whether I can handle any more babies though. Since I was pregnant with Caleb, I thought I wanted 6 kiddos, but...I'm wondering now if 4 might be just the right size. Enough to make me go crazy, but not tooooo crazy. That's what I'm thinking anyways. :) I just want to make sure we can give the four kids we have enough attention. Time has been flying by so fast - I don't want to be so crazy and insanely busy that I miss all of our kiddie-poos growing up years!! :( We'll see. I'm more than willing to go along with whatever God has planned for our family, so I'm not worried about it. I'm just saying'...for now - 4 sounds nice to me. :)

Uh-oh...What just happened?? ;)


October
- Jason left for another weekend conference/workshop - this time in Denver.
- Started and finished the first season of Glee on netflix. I love netflix. :)
- Uncle Doug, Gala and kids came to visit the weekend Jason was in Denver. The following afternoon, we left all the kids home and went to a yummy Mongolian restaurant where Gala and I enjoyed watching Uncle Doug sweat (most profusely) from all of the spicy food. ;) Mmmm...spicy food... :)
- Jason's sister, Rachel, flew in with her sweet little baby girl Charlotte to visit for a week. It was lots of fun! Lots of cackling episodes...in between long stretches of nauseousness (on my part). Ugh... But I tried not too be too annoying (as far as whining and complaining goes). We watched a lot of netflix movies, went to a couple of restaurants, the mall (gymboree in particular), a Christian bookstore and Pier 39 in San Francisco to walk around a bit and eat lunch at Bubba Gump...Mmmm. I was sad to see my little midget girl go. :( Back to school and the usual...

Our visit with Rachel and Charlotte


At Pier 39


- After Rachel left, the kids and I finished out the rest of October up in WA State where we visited with my Mom, Dadroo and Grandma. We stayed for about 2 weeks while Jason worked through a wretched 2-week rotation at the hospital where he was either working, on call or being paged every 5 minutes all day and all night for 2 weeks straight. Blah! I felt so bad for my family since they had to listen to me whine and complain (and gag every now and then) our entire visit because I was extremely nauseous the whole time! Surprisingly the kids did really well on the 12 hour trip! I was nervous driving that far without Jason, but the kids were easy on me! Thank you Jesus! :)

Ahhh...I know I'm almost there when I start getting into all of the beautiful scenery!!


At the Pumpkin Patch with Grandma Christie...alas there were no good pumpkins good for picking though...


We warmed up later at Chuck E Cheese's for dinner and games.


The kids were all dressed up to go to Haleluia Night at my parents church (the one we used to go to when we were going to college in Portland), but for some weird reason they changed the date to the following week, so we missed it. :( Oh well - they still enjoyed dressing up...except for Caleb apparently... ;)


While we were there, I had to (gulp) pull one of Kristin's loose teeth!! Eek!! I would have let it alone and let Jason deal with it when we got back, but her gums were all red and inflamed, so I had to do something! It wasn't as horribly nasty as I thought it would be, but it still gave me the heebie jeebies!! ;)


My Mom and Grandma took me and the girls out to Tillamook, Oregon to have tea at La Tea Da. It was fun and really yummy!! Meanwhile, my Dad took Caleb and went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory for a few rounds of free cheese samples. :) We also made sure to stop


While we were in WA, we had the privilege of watching my pro-bowler Dadroo bowl on his bowling league (well okay - he's not REALLY a pro-bowler, but he's dang good!! It's not uncommon for him to get scores in the 260s-290s. 298 has been his best score so far...300 being the highest score possible! Yeah - he's that good. :)


November
- Left my parents' house after Jason's horrendous hospital rotation was over.
- Jason and I were disappointed that the hospital didn't give their employees the day off on Veteran's Day. He has decided that he will be going in to work on Martin Luther King Day in silent protest (since they are given that day off). That's just what he's been saying anyways. ;) Both days are important days to reflect on and appreciate - I can't believe Veteran's Day wasn't seen as important enough to have the day off. Tisk tisk. :(
- My Mom, Dad and Grandma drove down for one week to go to Disneyland with us for 3 days, celebrate Kristin's 7th Birthday an celebrate an early Thanksgiving dinner together. Jason (of course) went to another workshop - this time in Arizona, so luckily for him he missed the 6-hour drive down to Disneyland. My parents, Grandma, the kids and I went to Disneyland the first day by ourselves while Jason was in Arizona and then he flew into Orange County that night and took the shuttle over to the Disneyland Hotel where he met up with us and then he went with us to Disneyland for the last two days. It was lots of fun - and much to my surprise they had already decorated the whole park for Christmas!! Yay!

1st day at Disneyland!!


Daddy made it!!


Day 2 at Disney on the Finding Nemo Submarines




Waiting for our reservation at Goofy's Kitchen


Goofy's Kitchen...a lot of the characters were missing since it wasn't a busy day, but we got a lot of attention from the few characters that were there, so that was fun. Only they visited us so much - I didn't end up eating a whole lot...which made it seem even more expensive than it already was since I didn't get my money's worth in food (which saved me some calories...I suppose...) ;)




Meeting Rapunzel and Flynn Ryder and Buzz Lightyear


Fake snow falling at the end of the fireworks display


So pretty...if only my camera was better at capturing it (or maybe it's just the photographer...)


3rd Day at Disney - meeting Pluto and Tinkerbell and friends/Dumbo ride


Spending a little time over at CA Adventure


Bye Disneyland! See you in the summer when we're on our way out of California!


Early Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad


Celebrating Kristin's 7th Birthday - I can't believe how fast the time has gone by!!! My big baby is getting SO big SO fast! :( (Unfortunately, my camera battery died and I had to use my phone camera for the rest of her pictures...definitely not as nice...)


- The same day my parents left, Jason's brother Jake came out to visit us over the Thanksgiving break. Over the 4 day weekend, we went to Stanford, did some shopping, ate my Mom's Thanksgiving leftovers, went to San Francisco, tailgated and went to the last football game of the season, watched Tangled at the drive-in theater (which was really cute BTW) and got Jake a much-needed haircut at Jason's favorite barber.
- Praise God my nauseousness ended around Thanksgiving - if that's not an answer to prayer - I don't know what is!! Pregnancy is much more enjoyable when you're not feeling terrible! :) And I am very thankful it only lasted about 4-5 weeks! Whew!

Spending some time over at the Stanford campus with Jake - mostly so Jason and Jake could get some filmage for Jason's next running/dancing video... :)


In San Francisco to do the same old same old...Pier 39 view of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge, seal watching, window shopping and lunch at Bubba Gump. :)


December
- Took family pictures with the self-timer, so I could have something to send out with my Christmas cards. It didn't make for an enjoyable afternoon... Jason was grumpy by the end of our "session", Katie couldn't take it anymore and Caleb made a run for the fountain between every shot...and got dirtier and dirtier by the minute! We will definitely be having our pictures done professionally next year!! :)

This was as good as it was going to get... ;)


Caleb and our first ultrasound picture of baby #4! :)


- Jason went to ANOTHER conference/workshop...this time in Las Vegas. It's too bad Las Vegas has to be so trashy. It has so much potential. It's so pretty (at least at night) and it almost seems like an adult-version of Disneyland (or something equally far from reality), but then it has to have that trashy component thrown into it. Jason said there were so many posters of half-naked women every where you look and then - if that wasn't enough - there are also crazies on the street shoving flyers in your face (literally) of half-naked women. It's just sad...and gross. I've heard over and over again that Las Vegas has become so much more family friendly over the years (which I'm sure it has), but literally shoving sex-related material in people's faces hardly seems family friendly to me! Yikes! The only good thing that ever came out of Las Vegas was my sister's and my births at Nellis AFB!! :) Other than that - I'm happy I didn't have to live there past the age of 4!!
- Got an early Christmas present from Jason...a new treadmill!!! Yay!!!!
- Finally found a babysitter and went out alone (for the first time since we've moved here) to Jason's Christmas party. It was a lot of fun to finally meet all of his co-workers. I can't believe it was the first opportunity I've had to meet them. I'm not sure why they never had a "Let's get to know your family" party at the beginning of his training! Seriously - we've been here for 6 months already!
- Raced to get Christmas cards, pictures and newsletters together and out in the mail and all of the cookies baked while keeping up with home schooling, the kids and the house. Christmastime really shouldn't be an exhausting time of year - at least I don't like it to be! I need to come up with a better plan for next year, so I can focus on the real reason for the season! :)
- Jason had a week of leave, so we drove up to WA State together with the kids and celebrated an early Christmas with my parents and Grandma. We HAD to - we hadn't had a Christmas with them since 2000 and none before that since before we were married in 1997! Horrible - I know! :( I'm most disappointed with myself though for not taking enough pictures - I'm always a little lazy when it comes to picture-taking when I'm visiting family...because I'm too busy visiting! I'm always sad later though when I realize all of the picture-taking opportunities I missed! :( Wah!

We pulled up into my parents drive way to find they'd actually put up lights!! I don't remember my Dad putting up more than one string of lights in one window when I was growing up, so this was a lovely sight to drive up to! :) Good job Dadroo!


3-day early Christmas with Grandma Christie, Grandpa Neil and Great Great Jackson!


- We got back home the day before Christmas Eve and Jason was paged within an hour or so of us walking in the door. Boo!
- We spent Christmas Eve evening looking for/buying James and Tish' Christmas presents (since they're our Capra Christmas partner this year) and luckily they just happened to be in CA visiting Tish' family for Christmas this year, so we postponed our Christmas and they drove up the morning after Christmas and we celebrated together.
- Spent Christmas Day cleaning up the house and grocery shopping at Safeway for our day after Christmas dinner with James and Tish. Spent that night preparing lasagna and cheesecake, so I wouldn't have to waste time in the kitchen while they were here visiting.
- Celebrated our little Christmas with James and Tish (and her Daddy) the day after Christmas. It was so nice to see them - we don't see them much these days since they're always stationed in faraway places...like Germany and Italy... Spoiled brats! ;) Anyways - I'm disappointed YET AGAIN because we did not take any pictures when James and Tish were here! Maybe because it was only one day and we were so busy with presents, food and visiting. I did get one picture of James, but then I got annoyed that my camera kept taking blurry pictures, so I stopped and then forgot to try again later! Argh!

Christmas Day - opening Grandma and Grandpa Capra's presents and Aunt Shelly and Uncle Jim's presents.


The one lone picture we got of James (and a blurry one at that) opening one of our presents to him. The only evidence I have of Tish and her Dad being there is her knee and his foot on the left side of the picture! Dang it!


- James and Tish left the next morning and we went about the rest of our week as usual - work, school, etc. Then we drove down to Uncle Doug and Aunt Gala's house Friday afternoon to celebrate New Year's Eve with them. We had fun ringing in the new year with them, their kids and their friends...well - at least me and the girls did. Jason and Caleb couldn't handle the fun and they past out around 930pm. Tisk tisk tisk. ;)

So that's where I am now...spending New Year's Day at Uncle Doug's typing away on this blasted laptop whilst pondering my New Year's Resolutions. Of course - I have too many to count, so I'm going to have to go for now, so I can start working on narrowing down my list of impossibles. Don't want to let myself down too much this year, so I'm going to need to keep it somewhat simple. God, marriage, kids, health, family and friends, hobbies. There - that's my rough draft...now I'll have to go and elaborate on it somewhat. ;) Happy New Year everyone!!! I pray you all have a wonderful and blessed year ahead - full of happy memories!!! :)