Monday, December 31, 2007




We hope you all have a Happy New Year!

Tonight we were sitting around talking about what our favorite thing of the year was and both Annie & Charlie agreed it was our trip to Wisconsin this summer. We spent a few days in Chicago and then at a huge water park in the Wisconsin Dells before we went to visit John's parents in Cumberland. Annie must ask 3 times a week if we can go back to the hotel and the water slides. I think they are looking forward to returning again this summer. I will never forget walking down Michigan Blvd with the kids and watching their faces in awe as they took in the valley of skyscrapers. We took the kids to have real Chicago Pizza and then to Millennium Park and they played in the public fountains! We had a wonderful time in Wisconsin and the kids loved visiting with Nan & Pop. They loved fishing in the lake and both Annie & Charlie caught fish - Annie was even out there baiting her own hook!



We have been truly blessed in our lives and it has been so fun this last year to watch all of the kids grow and enjoy life so much.

We hope you all have had a great 2007 & we wish you a great 2008!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

What we are up to these days.

Life has been going non-stop for our family for a few months now. In September John & I got a wild hare of an idea to look out in Rancho Murieta for a home and low and behold mid-October we were packing our house up and moving. We have settled in and are getting used to our new routine. We love our new home and living in Rancho Murieta. For those of you who don't know where it is it is about 20 miles outside of Sacramento off of Jackson Hwy. Rancho Murieta is a small gated community of about 5000 people. There isn't much out here but that is one of the reason's we love it. John's college roommate Dante & his wife Marissa live just a few streets away and it has been lots of fun spending time with them and having a couple to come over for game nights.



Charlie is in Kindergarten and he loves it. He is so excited to get to ride the bus each day. A few times John & I have tried to surprise him after school to go do things and he gets upset that he can't be with his friends on the bus. Charlie seems to be doing great in school. His teacher told us that Charlie makes her laugh all the time. Earlier in the year the students were writing letters to the soldier's in Iraq and Charlie wrote under his picture "thanks for killing all the aliens". You have to love the things our kids say

Charlie is full of energy these days and into all things boy! He loves to play catch with his dad and has recently taken up shooting hoops in the back yard. The one thing he wanted for Christmas was a real football! He tells us all the time he is going to play for the Gators and the Kings when he grows up - not that dad is upset about that or anything. One of his new favorite things to do is to watch the Kings with his dad, you can hear him cheering throughout the whole house when they score a point. Charlie is taking Karate and it is so fun to watch him at practice each week.

Charlie has such a sweet, sensitive side to him that is always making John & I stop and smile. Recently I was putting Charlie to bed and he started crying. When I asked him what was wrong he said he was going to miss us when he grew up and went to play for the Gators.


Annie is our redheaded princess. She is three going on thirteen somedays. She is in preschool and she is enjoying being a big girl. She loves getting to go to class every Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She is also taking a ballet/tap class that is just so cute. All these 3 & 4 year old girls decked out in pink dancing around and doing things on the ballet bar.

Annie loves playing with her dolls and got a bunch of Barbie dolls for Christmas that she has loved playing with. It is fun to watch her be so creative with her toys and to set up these whole little scenarios with them. She is also very into dressing up and playing princess. She got a vanity table for Christmas with a bunch of toy make up and I don't think I have seen her in the last few days with out pink lipstick or colored eyelids!

Annie is a little ham who is always cracking us up with her antics. She loves to listen to music and is the first on to say when we get in the car "mom, I want my songs on!". She loves to play with both her brother and sister and is such a sweet little girl.



Audrey is now one and raring to go. She is just the happiest little girl you could imagine with an infectious smile. She is a mellow little girl who has her whole family wrapped around her fingers. She walks everywhere these days and has mastered the stairs. One of the cutest things she does is Dance! She loves to dance and has all these cute little moves she does. My favorite is one where she tips to the side and bounces her knees or when she puts her head on the ground and bounces her bottom.

Audrey is getting to an age that she will sit and play with her toys for short periods of time and she loves to play with Charlie and Annie. Charlie got a bean bag for Christmas that he and Annie pile on, when they start this Audrey jumps up and runs over to join them, it is fun to watch them all playing together.

Our life is busy with our kids these days. John still travels quite a bit and I am going non-stop chasing after our kids.

Into the world of Blogging

I am finally taking the plunge into the world of blogging and starting one for our family. I hope more than anything this will become a journal of sorts for us and will allow our friends and family to see what we have been up to.