Christmas 2008

We had a very busy week before the holiday. Joe and I were both very busy at work getting everything finished up before being off for the holidays. We hosted Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with Joe's family. Jonah woke up sick on Christmas morning, so we spent most of our gift exchange in his bedroom. I felt so bad for him. He's still not back to normal.

We are planning to spend New Year's with the de Lachica family in the desert. We hope you are all enjoying your holidays. Until next time...

Thanksgiving 2008

So, this year, we didn't go to Yucaipa. We tried someplace new. Since we didn't book until October, we went to Lake Perris. I was pleasantly surprised that the place did not live up to my memories of jet ski day trips from 1988. It was actually a good place for us to all get together for the holiday, except for the flies. The flies actually made me a little nostalgic for my childhood spent in Chino. The entire de Lachica family was present, except for Jordan. She is now a working girl and was not able to take off the weekend since she works in retail. I remember those days well. My family also joined us this year. With my Dad being newly retired, he and Deb brought their motor home. My brother, Justin even joined us.

You could have called the trip bring your dog(s) to Thanksgiving. We had 42 people for dinner and 7 dogs on the trip. Wow! We were so happy with Milo on the trip. He was so good being an only dog. He was even trying to show the new guy, Obie, the ropes.

On Friday, my Grandma and Abe came to spend the afternoon for a visit in Abe's new Corvette! I only wish I took a picture of them pulling away in that car. Uncle Bob, (Jonah's god father) rode out for the day on his Harley and spent the night with us.

We celebrated Joe's Dad's birthday Sunday morning with a big breakfast before we all headed for home. When we came home, Jonah promptly got a fever. My boy gets sick every time he has a really good time!

We hope you all had a great holiday. I have a feeling the next 30 days will be a blur. Only 23 days until Christmas vacation! Until next time...

Thanksgiving 2008

Smert's Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!

Four Years Old...

Our beautiful boy turns four today. I don't know if anyone will have the time to sit and look at all of the pictures. I know it's a lot. What can I say, I'm a proud Mom. Joe and I say every day how awesome our little boy is. What a perfect little science experiment he has turned out to be. He brings more and more joy to our lives every day.

Happy Birthday Smert! Your Mom & Dad love you sooo much!

Happy Birthday Jonah!

Yes We Can!

What a truly historic and amazaing time for our country!

Halloween

My Dad & Deb came into town to spend Halloween with us.  Below are a few pics from the weekend...

Getting a lift from Pa

Joe & Jordan
GI Joe & GI Jane

My Little Woody
Pumpkin Carving...

Jonah takes a shower...

I must confess that I'm really trying to do the whole "3 R" thing...  You know, reduce, reuse, recycle.  I have a compost jar in my kitchen and I'm a recycling nazi at home and at work.  I have been trying to gently coax my son to take a shower instead of taking a bath at night as it uses much less water. For some reason, he has been afraid and very unwilling to be flexible on this issue. 

Somehow, tonight was the night.  I don't know what I said to change his mind, but it worked!  I am happy to report that he now loves to shower!  I know this is a very small thing, but I feel it has been a great accomplishment in my household!

Until next time...

Dream Halloween

The other night, we attended Dream Halloween in Santa Monica. We were given tickets by my boss, and friend, Rochelle. It's a charity event that raises money for children with AIDS. Jonah got to get his face painted as "Gothic Woody", as his Dad called it. He got to meet a ton of his favorite "guys", and got to go trick or treating. It was an amazing evening and a great kick off to the Halloween festivities. Thank you, Rochelle!

Jordan takes Jonah to Disneyland

Jordan took Jonah to Disneyland for some sibling bonding.  This was a completely different trip for Jonah without any parents or grand parents...

He got his face painted as a "Dragon Bat"
    This is right before he's boards Thunder

Mountain for the first time...

Jonah has beat his Mom's high score at age 3!

Go Drew!

So, Drew loves football.  Drew is a senior and we have been enjoying going to watch several of Drew's games this season.  Tonight was such an awesome night.  If I have my statistics correct, Drew ran over 220 yards and made FOUR touchdowns.  This was the first win of the season for his team.  We had a large group out there tonight for support.  Congratulations Drew!

                                                          Drew's # 1 fans!
After the big win! 30-13
                                              "Drew, your cheeks are stinky!" 

Jonah's 1st Field trip

Today was Jonah's first field trip and my first time being one of the parents attending a field trip.  I must admit, I found it pretty humorous being called Jonah's Mom, as my name, all morning.  I was in charge of a small group of three including Jonah.  Jordan, Brooklyn and Jonah were my group.  We walked from school to the pumpkin patch. The kids had a great time going on rides and running through the "spooky house". Except for the exceptional hot October weather, the morning was perfect.  I was so excited to get to spend the morning with my little munchkin and see him in action at school...

Jordan, Brooklyn & Jonah

Notice Jonah on the far right yelling at the top of his lungs.

Yep, I have the loud kid. Imagine that...

St. Bonaventure Carnival

We went to the carnival tonight.  Jonah and his buddy Maxx were partying like rock stars one minute and they were done the next...

Crazy Boys...
   10 minutes later, out for the night!

Jonah's 1st Homework...

I must admit that Jonah didn't have a lot to do with his first school project other than hanging out with me while I cut out the pictures.  He had to decorate this house with pictures of his family.  The house was on display for back to school night.  The finished product is now proudly on display on our fridge...

Another Hickory Huck perfection...

So, my husband made another gorgeous roast that I have to share.  This beautiful pork roast is covered with apple slices.  It made the whole house smell like Christmas when it was in the oven.  We had Joe's Mom & Dad, his brother Jason, our nieces and cousin Melanie with us for this for this dinner the other night.  The evening was topped off by the Angels winning in Boston.  Too bad they lost the next night and they're out for the season.  At least we had one great dinner to go along with their last win of the season...

Happy Birthday Jeedee

We celebrated Jordan's 19th Birthday with another fabulous round of carne asada care of Joe.  The food was great and the day was going along smoothly until I broke Jordan's super nice camera by dropping it.  Guess I'll be heading over to the Cannon repair center next week...

We spent the day with most of our family.  One side of the family was not able to be here, since they now have a dog they need to stay home with.  Hi Jess, we missed you guys!  Jordan's starting off her new year with a sassy new hair do.  Check it out in the pics below.  

Until next time...

One Dog Girl...

We're back to being a one dog family.  This was a LONG and hard decision for us, but we have adopted Maggie out to a new family.  We were fortunate enough to find a great family for her who will be able to give her the attention that she deserves.  They have already sent us pictures of her so we know she is doing just fine.  Jonah has transition very well and even told his Dad he likes having one dog better.  Wow, kids are resilient!  

So, now, except for when Jordan is here, I'm surrounded by boys; husband, son, dog and cat.  Milo has become a much more mellow and obedient dog now that he is back to being and "only dog," and our household has become quite peaceful.  I wonder how it will be when Milo's new cousin, Obi comes to visit?  I can't wait to find out...

What a difference a year makes...

Last year, Jonah was my sweet little boy on his first day of school...

This year, he is a little punk...

He really is still my sweet little boy, but this picture was too funny not to compare to last year.  Yesterday was his first day of school and it went off without a hitch. It's hard to believe this is his last year of pre-school already.  He is very excited to be in the "Jade Room" at school.  For those of you who haven't seen Kung Fu Panda three times like my son, you might not be familiar with the Jade Palace. This is a very cool thing to my son.  Until next time...

A Day at the Beach...

We took the trailer down to Bolsa for the day.  My friend Kristie & her kids came down from Chino to spend a day at the beach with us.  Joe's brother, Jared and his family came to join us for "Hickory Huck's famous carne asada."  The day would have been perfect if we didn't have to call the Auto Club to jump start the truck @ 9PM.  Thanks Kris for coming down.  It was great!  Until next time...

      My dear friend since jr. high...
      Kristie's handsome sons, Ian & Shane
   Jonah & Abby Rose

 working hard on that famous meat!
  Jordan & Jonah racing
working on sand castles
   Do we have cute kids, or what?

Camping @ South Carlsbad State Beach

We received a last minute invite from our friends Mike & Wendy to join them camping at South Carlsbad State Beach.  The timing was perfect as this past weekend was the start of our vacation.  Joe's sister & her family came down to join us.  This was our best camping trip yet.  The best part is, we are home and still have another week off!  Thanks Mike & Wendy for inviting us. 

Until next time...