New addition...

Chris has always wanted a big dog...so here is his new puppy. Her name is Precious and she's a full bred rottweiler (both parents are 1/2 american rot and 1/2 german rot). She really is cute and is getting along well with all the kids and dogs.

Funny kid...

I took Gabriel Christmas shopping. He bought gifts for everyone, but Dad. He asked me "What would Dad like for Christmas?". I said "Peace and quiet". Gabe responded, " Let's get him duck tape!"

November 09

We finally had the chance for someone to take a picture of all of us together.
One of these days we'll actually get a family picture taken. Until then, this will have to do.

Halloween...a little late

Gabriel as "Snake Eyes"

Valerie (dark hair) and her friend, Jenna

Yvette (right) and her friends

Christopher, the Gatekeeper

With Grandma's passing, I didn't get Halloween pix posted. All the kids dressed up and had a good time. Valerie decorated the house and did a good job. She also did make up for the kids. It was a fun night.

Valerie set up a strobe light...looks cool

Happy Birthday Yvette

Today Yvette is 14...it's hard to believe. She was only 5 when she came to live with us. It's a real challenge having 2 teenage girls in the house and certainly never boring! Yvette is very talented. She's artistic and athletic. These things come naturally to her. This year she is doing cheer and is the school mascot. She will start horseback riding in a few weeks. She has a very strong will that will serve her well in the future, but is a real challenge to her parents right now. Yvette didn't have an easy start to her life and it presents challenges to her every day. Her dad and I and her sister and brothers want her to have a happy life and to be able to enjoy the world. But, she is 14 and so what that means to her and what that means to us are vastly divergent. We love you Yvette.

Grandma

December 3, 1921- October 27, 2009

We miss you.

Farewell

The top picture is our new 2010 Prius. The bottom picture is our 2004 Prius. It died this week...the engine seized...couldn't be revived without buying a new engine. It had 146,7oo plus miles on it and we drove it for over 5 years. I was on a mission to drive it until it reached at least 200,000. It drove as well on the last day as it did on the first day(that is until that final moment when the engine seized). I hated to see it go. The new Prius is pretty nice...lots of new technology. I'm so happy I was able to transfer the hybrid plate so I can still drive in the carpool lane. I drive 35 miles each way to work and last week when I had a rental I was very unhappy watching all the cars zip by in the carpool lane while I was stuck with the masses in the regular lanes. Tomorrow will be much more fun going to work...new car and carpool lane. Life will be good.

10 years old already!!!

This is Gabe on his 3rd birthday. His second birthday with us and the first birthday in our new home. He turned 10 on Sept 3. He is such a nice boy. He is very thoughtful and very inquisitive. He loves being a Cub Scout and is very excited to be a Weblo. He loves to work on scouting awards. At Christopher's first pack meeting as a Cub Scout someone was getting their Arrow of Light Award and they were being presented a banner with all their badges and belt loops. Gabe's eyes got so big when he saw all that 'bling'. He wanted to earn all those awards. He is always working on earning a new belt loop. Now that he's in Weblos, he's very exctied to be able to earn pins. He loves to read, play his Ninentendo, learn about science and collect just about anything. He has a really good sense of humor and loves to have fun.

We survived another summer!!!

Here are the boys on their first day of school. Yvette left before I could get her picture.

Gabriel is in fourth grade and has the same teachers that Christopher had for the last 2 years. He is very excited because he gets to change teachers and classroom after lunch. He has moved over to the middle school wing of the school and is across the hall from Christopher's homeroom and the boys see each other throughout the day.

Christopher is in 6th grade and changes classes all day, preparing for junior high next year. He loves his homeroom teacher because he is very funny and Christopher loves anything or anyone who is funny.

The summer went surpisingly fast. We didn't get to do a vacation this year, but no one seemed to mind. The boys were able to stay home with Valerie quite a bit and they liked that. The week before school started I took the boys to the Arizona Science Museum and they really enjoyed that.

Yvette is in 8th grade and spent the summer going to the Boys and Girls Club. They did lots of field trips and activities and she really enjoyed it. Summers are hard when both parents are working, but our kids are great and make it pretty easy for us...they are not complainers and they enjoy being home.

I think they'll all have a great school year.

they just keep growing....

An updated picture of the kids. We were going to a wedding...it was really hot (112 degrees) and the wind was blowing really hard. No more little kids at our house.

Dinner $40...Not so great concert seats $200...hearing your favorite performers LIVE....Priceless!!!

Chris has always loved Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. The inspiration for Valerie's name came from a Steve Winwood song. Eric Clapton has given concerts in Phoenix before but we couln't afford the hefty ticket price. Well, Clapton and Winwood have been on tour this summer and gave a concert at the Jobing Arena last week and we went to see them. Chris was so excited...Our seats weren't very good but that didn't matter to him. He knew every song by the second or third note of the intro and was really excited by the whole experience. It was fun. Chris doesn't usually ask for things...he lets me buy what I want and never complains about it. I was glad we got to go to the concert...

Boys Scouts and beyond...

At the June Pack Meeting, Gabriel earned his Bear rank and Christopher was awarded his Weblo rank and advanced to Boy Scouts. I was glad that the boys were able to get their advancements together. Gabe has a bearclaw danish hanging around his neck. He had to drink "bear blood" (probably kool-aid). Christopher had to do a challenge with someone and he chose his dad (thank goodness, for me). Here's the video...it's pretty funny.

This is the cabbage that Gabriel grew. He planted the seed at school and brought home the small plant. We transplanted it into our garden and it finally got big enough to eat. Chris cooked it with onions and apples. It was really good. The boys are so excited about the garden they will eat any kind of vegetable now.

Valerie is 19!

Today is Valerie's birthday. We had a fun day. We went to a day spa and for lunch, a little shopping and then a bunch of her friends came over for dinner. Then she was off to a party with her friends. It was great that she wanted to have her friends over for dinner with our family...they are a good bunch of kids. I'd like to post a picture of her when she was little, but that was before digital and they are all in a photo book. How archaic!

When Valerie was little I would decorate the house for her birthday. I couldn't afford to do many parties then and it made the day festive. She has decorated for my birthday and for her sister in the last year, so I finally returned the favor. She liked it... I think the last time I decorated she was 10!

Last Sunday morning I got a call from my sister-in-law, Barbara. She and her sisters and her cousins were in Scottsdale. We spent the day together. In addition to being my sister in law, we went to high school at the same time (she was 2 years ahead of me) and her sister, Lorraine, and I were friends (she was a year behind me). This pictures were taken at Uncle Ray's restaurant in Phoenix. The hats are ones he uses when he does tea parties for little girls. It was a great day of laughing and catching up. Below is a picture of Barbara and her sisters, Suzanne and Lorraine. Just a bunch of Jersey girls hangin' out!

It was so much fun and a really great surprise!

on to Boy Scouts

Christopher is a Boy Scout now. Look how big that shirt is. It has to last him until he's 18. He's already started working on his badges for Eagle Scout. He got his swimming badge. He swam for several hours doing life saving and emergency stuff. He was so exhausted when he got home, but he passed off everything. Not bad for a little guy.

Christopher's 11th Birthday

Yesterday Christopher turned 11. The other picture is from his 4th birthday...his first with us. We were living in a townhouse waiting for our home to be built. He's still smiling and excited about everything.

This is a big birthday for him because now he is a Boy Scout. He was going to advance at the last Pack Meeting but I was out of town, so the ceremony will take place in June, but he will start attending the Boy Scout meetings right away. There is a camping trip in June and he is so excited!

Christopher is so easy going...unless he's losing at a video game. He is helpful and loving. He is also very funny. He was so happy yesterday that he got to be in Valerie's car when it ran out of gas. He wonders about everything and always says "I can't believe that....." or "Whoa, that's so cool!" He takes nothing for granted and acts likes everyday is the first day of his life. He is still as excited today about seeing a police car or fire truck as he was when he was 3. He is a great big brother to Gabe and they really are best friends and he loves his sisters, even though girls can seem unlovable sometimes. He is very compassionate and tells me that he loves me several times a day. He loves to tease his dad until he wrestles with him and the rougher they wrestle the better he likes it. He says he's the fastest kid in the 5th grade and loves to run (I see a bright future in track).

Yesterday, Valerie took him out of school and took him to lunch. On their way home, about a block from the house, she ran out of gas so he got to spend the afternoon swimming and hanging out with his big sister. That was a fun surprise for his birthday.

Our birthday tradition is that you get to pick what dinner will be. Christopher picked hot dogs, cucumber salad, french fries and white cake with chocolate frosting for his cake.

HMMMMMMM.......

from our garden

enough said.

another generation....

Chris and his brother took the boys out shooting this weekend. They are finally getting old enough to have some interest, which makes Chris very happy. Gabe was finally able to shoot without being afraid of the noise and they are getting big enough to handle the handguns. Of course, there are serious safety lessons that go along with the shooting. Afterward, Chris showed them how to break down the guns and clean them before putting them back in the gun safe. He was a happy man after a testosterone filled day with his brother, nephew and sons.

Looking good....

Our garden is growing pretty well. Chris is out there watering once or twice a day because he likes to and he doesn't trust the drip system that we put in, so we're going to add another watering system of some kind for when it gets hot. Gabriel and Christopher are SO excited about things growing. Christopher just naturally gets excited about everything, but Gabe is just amazed that the things he planted are growing. His mystery beans are green beans and he can hardly wait to pick them.

We've added more stuff until we are out of space. We planted a pommegranate tree, a fig tree, peppers for salsa, green beans (before we knew that's what Gabe's were), garlic, more strawberries and more tomatoes...oh yeah, and artichokes. We'll be eating them all in about a month, I guess. Here are some pictures of some of the things that are growing. We are really going to have a lot of grapes!


Above is the fig Tree...those little green balls at the end of the stalk will be figs...

A Day of Fun

< Yesterday we went to the Zoo with 165 people from my child care center. If you go together you get in for $4...a huge savings. We took the opportunity to have a family outing. We had a great time. Valerie and John hadn't had much sleep the night before, being young adults and night owls, but they did really well getting up early and being on time. We hit all the spots we wanted to at the zoo and by 1230 most of the animals were hiding in the shade and difficult to find, so we went to lunch. We took the kids to a Tepanyaki Japanes Restaurant where they cook your food at the table. They don't do as many tricks for lunch as for dinner, but when we told the cook it was the kids first time he added extra stuff for the kids to see. They really liked the onion volcano. I have a video and I'll try to figure out how to add it. Here are some pictures from the day. ......waiting for everyone to gather ......Yvette rock climbing. The others did also.

.......Camel rides

......Valerie fading

......John to the rescue

......goin' home

Here's the onion volcano at the restaurant...


We had a really fun day. Chris and I had to work during spring break, so the kids just hung around and never complained about it. It was great to spend the day together...we have really great kids!