Happy Birthday Rylee

I can't believe our little Ry Ry is 1 year old.

We had a little Birthday Party for her today and this is the Hat Cake I made for her

And she was such a little lady about eating it, she didn't even dig into the piece we gave her. She loved all her outfits and presents and so did her sisters...

Spring Into this

So I'm going to play catch up... first with a couple of Easter Pictures

Of my adorable kids and hottie husband.... aren't they cute!

Now Spring Break... we started our week with a trip to the park where we had a picnic lunch

Chased the ducks...

and where I tried to keep track of my four kids plus my niece Lexi... Jesse thought I was crazy for going by myself

But it was a blast...

When the wind picked up and cut our play time short though we decided we needed to take a trip to Nubi's (my favorite place in town: A serve yourself Frozen Yogurt shop).

The next day we picked up our new puppy Tonks... Short for Miss Nymphadora Swan Tonks.. (the kids couldn't decide whether they wanted to name her Miss Swan or Nymphdora Tonks, let me rephrase: The Girls couldn't decide. We're still working on the whole compromise thing with them)

Wednesday we left the puppy the desert and Jesse (he was taking a class) for the beaches of Santa Barbara

Where we went to the Ty Sea Center a really cool museum on the pier..

While we were there we got to pet sharks and hold spikey things like this, They even have a life size gray whale and her calf hanging from the ceiling (that I think is glass blown.)

After the museum we took a stroll over to Mother Stearns Candy Co. and stalked up on candy

For the ride... Let me just say this thing is harder than it looks especially when two people are pedaling for six. But we pedaled up and down the beach for a while and the kids loved it. They kept saying faster faster... (probably becuase we were going ridiculously slow)

Thankfully the kids were spent after dinner and pretty much passed out once we got to hotel.

They woke up Thursday morning ready to roll and rested up. So we headed for breakfast on the beach... and ate yummy California Burritos and Orange Juice Pancakes at the Shoreline Cafe...

Then literally a stones throw from the ocean we set up our stuff

and just played in the sand for a while...

It didn't take long for the kids to start asking when we were going to the Santa Barbara Zoo

And meet up with their cousins... the monkeys!

The coolest thing about this small zoo is that you can feed the giraffes. The kids loved their big purple tounges...

So after a fun filled day in the sun we packed up our stuff and headed home.

The only thing that could have made it better would have been having Jesse there. I'm glad that my friend and babysitter Kacy was there with me, I just hope my kids didn't scare her off from having kids of her own someday.

The Little Nermaid

Sunday was Micaela's Birthday She turned Four!!! I can't believe what a little lady she is. Saturday night my sister treated us to dinner and the ballet. Micaela and I ate Chocolate cake for dinner and after we went and saw the Little Mermaid, or as Micaela calls it the Little Nermaid.

(Me and Micaela)

She had so much fun watching Prince Eric and all the characters dance, but she never took her eyes off Ariel, and when she wasn't on stage she would ask me where she was, constantly.

(MJ and Micaela)
Everyone there kept telling Micaela how cute she was I swear this little girl makes friends wherever she goes.

(A Cril Micaela a Seahorse and Me)

After the show some of the characters came out and she was able to take pictures with them and get their autographs. She was so excited.

(Sebastian and Micaela)
As soon as the show was over she wanted to see it again. We had to convince her that Ariel had to go to sleep so she settled for a little mermaid doll and mermaid crown.

Rylee 9 months old

Rylee turned 9 months old on January 14, but we put off taking her pictures until now. She had a cold for about two weeks, plus the weather hasn't been the best. But today Adriana couldn't wait any longer and took her. She is the hardest kid to get to smile, so this is what we had to settle with. The first two pictures were the closest thing to a smile. Either way we still think she's the most beautiful baby in the world.

Long Time No See

It's been a while, but we haven't fallen off the face of the map like most people probably think. We're just staying busy with life. Here's a few pics of the kids, hope you enjoy!





Rylee loves this piano. Put it on one of the thousands of demos it has and she'll dance forever.









Girls having a pajama party.







Christian taking an upclose pic of his mug.


Rylee loves oreos.....isn't it obvious?

Santa Came!

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and the kids loved every second. As usual we spent Christmas Eve with Adriana's family. We first went over to her grandma's for the traditional Christmas Eve get together. Afterwards Adriana's mom and sister came over and we opened up presents. On Christmas day the kids were kind enough to let us sleep in, but not too long. They tore through their presents, but were most excited about their bikes. We usually go over to my parents' house afterwards, but this year we invited my family over for Christmas dinner. We opened up more presents before dinner, and by the time we were done with our 3 sessions of unwrapping we had 3 big trash bags full of stuff and a garage packed with cardboard boxes. What a day!

One of Christian's favorites....a Venom mask with web shooter. He used up the entire can of "spider web" that day. The entire house was covered in it!

Here's Micaela showing off her new ride. Nobody gets more excited about Christmas than her....she's just as excited about her presents as others opening theirs, and she wants to help you open them!

Alina got a brand new baby doll.....one of many she actually got this Christmas. She loves babies and takes as many as she can fit in her arms whenever we go somewhere.

Rylee just enjoying her first Christmas. With that smile she'll be getting whatever she wants!