Happy 16th!

My heart is happy today! Happy to celebrate this special day with my son. Happy to share the joy with my husband who has helped to raise a diligent and strong son. We've been truly blessed with a faithful and kind-hearted kid. A real band geek, braces, glasses and all who wows us with his musical talent. Of course, like all teens he can be whiny, will eventually eat us out of house and home, has a streak of laziness on the weekends when he tries to attach himself to the computer or PS3 like some kind of abnormal tumor. But a blessing and joy he really is to have in our family!

He makes us laugh (and laugh) and can take a joke and is not afraid to laugh at himself. He has learned to take things in stride and has learned about being responsible, accountable and more importantly he values his standards. I cry sometimes when I walk by his room and I see him kneeled at his bedisde in prayer. He reminds me that I need to be close to my Heavenly Father and I wish I could share all the times that he has been an example of faith, love, patience and service to me. For his birthday he said he wanted to receive his Patriarchal blessing and wanted to fast.

We celebrated the day with his friends. A great group of guys. We had pizza, soda, cake, chips, dip. Rockband. Games. Fun. Friendship. Family. Love! Happy 16th birthday!

Happy 7th Birthday Sebastian!

How can it be that the little 8.4 pound baby that I brought home 7 years ago...is 7? My pregnancy with Sebastian was so difficult, and after being put on bed rest at about 30 weeks I prayed that time would fly and I could hold him in my arms finally. He was born 3 days shy of his due date-the LONGEST I've ever been pregnant, all my babies were born weeks early of their due date. (Dote was born at 34 weeks and only 4 pounds.) Sebastian came into this world a sweet, chunky baby with a head full of beautiful golden hair! He was such a sweet, calm baby...just hungry ALL the time, and that hasn't changed!
I'm so excited that it's his birthday since Sebastian loves birthdays. He has been counting down the days until his birthday on the calendar since June! To wake him up this morning we sang Happy Birthday to him and his face just lit up.
We are so thankful for this little boy who loves giving big hugs, loves being in pictures, loves the beach, and loves birthdays!

Pismo 2009

Our summer beach trip was wonderful! These are some pics I took for my own little photo shoot. My dream is to have one of the local photography studios take our family portrait, which they do on the beach. Each year we go I see this little studio and I can't wait until we can take a family portrait without injuries and crying and fighting. They were so good for my little photo shoot. I love how sweet they look in these pictures, and that you can't buy from a fancy studio.

THE Haircut Fiasco

Here are the much requested pics of the kids' self-haircuts. The Friday before the first day of school, Sebastian, Sophia, and Elijah all gave each other haircuts! Although it was more like, Sophia cut some of her hair, some of Sebastian's and then they helped Elijah with his haircut. Sebastian also helped Sophia cut her hair in the back. And she of course assisted Sebastian with his cut. I don't have a picture of Sebastian's hair, but just imagine very, very lopsided bangs. On hair that is stick-straight and has a life of its own and therefore is impossible to style. Here are some pics:

Early in August at Pismo, before we trimmed it just an inch because she didn't want her hair to be short.

Here's the back before we took her to the salon to get it fixed.
Her sad little face...
The first day of school, a new short bob!

Here's a pic of Elijah the day before at his pre-school open house.

I'm so glad he has no idea that he has a bald patch on his head. He was too busy enjoying the leftover Nutella on his face.

The New School Year!

I am a day late in posting this since yesterday was just super busy. I did not even have a chance to sit at the computer. And since I'm helping the younger ones make some sleep adjustments, I was asleep by 9:30. We have crazy sleeping arrangements-more on that craziness later.
So the 2009-2010 school year is upon us and I have so many hopes for all of my kids. Dote is a junior this year, Sebastian is in 2nd grade, Sophia started kindergarten and Elijah will start pre-school in 2 weeks.
I was so proud that Sebastian knew where his classroom was and has offered his big brother services to Sophia: "I'll walk you to class in the mornings Sophia." To which she replied: "I can walk myself, I know where my classroom is." I'm so glad that they're being so brave because I honestly was feeling anxious for them and their "first day at school" experience. They did just fine.

They are both going to be a little upset...

...oh well! So in this picture of Juan, it is the cruise ship in Mexico. Mexico was awesome! The fun part? He had his appendix removed just 10 days before! What's more fun than that? His acute appendicitis was caused by a fecalith...I dare you to google that one. The poor guy thought he had gas, which, when he says that I usually roll my eyes and walk away. Then the pain worsened and by the following day he was being rushed in for an emergency appendectomy!

Now on to his junior...(he may not ever forgive me for posting this pic...but oh well!) He had his 4 wisdom teeth extracted and as expected his face had some major swelling...And 4 days later I could not believe my eyes as he casually walks by me with a mouthful of some Hubba Bubba bubble gum! I wanted to flick him with a fecalith...seriously, look it up.

Here's a super handsome one of him for comparison and I figured I'd add it so that maybe he won't be so upset that I posted his chipmunk-cheeked one. The pic below is from a few months ago when his HS band played at a senior citizens home. I was so impressed at how excited he was that all these "old people" knew the songs they were performing, so I took a picture! No better way to capture a special moment.

The last 4 months...

Ever since the cruise we...

...changed the carpet and put laminate flooring throughout the house and new carpet in our bedroom.

We got a new bedroom set!
Dote played keyboard for jazz band again and their annual concert was awesome!


Sophia turned 5! She had a ballerina-themed birthday party and her cousins and friends celebrated with her!

Juan turned 39 and we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary!


The kids celebrated their cousin Tobie's 3rd birthday on the 4th of July.

We celebrated the 4th of July with our friends in Tehachapi. It was wonderful! The kids loved their tire swing.

Sophia had her first dance recital...she did not like it, but she loved the flowers! Ok...this is a quick update, more to come!