Game Night

It has been a while since had Game Night and played cards with our great friends the LaPray's (we let the kids run wild upstairs!)

Our favorite games are: Hand and Foot, Spades, and Domino Crazy Train. The gals rock at Dominos and Hand and Foot but the guys use evil methods to win at Spades ... such as counting cards and sending telepathic messages to each other ;) - This has earned Steve the nickname Dr. Evil and inspired our devil duck mascot - but the gals did well despite their efforts!

Dr. Evil!

(we were ahead the whole time and only lost by 10 points ... pretty good for us)

Let's not wait so long to do this again!

Bunko!

Here we are - The Bunko Girls!

We always have such fun together ... talking and laughing!

GooD TiMeS!

Monster Jam - Part II

So last night by the end of the show Sam looked like this - enough with the loud noise!

but, just as we thought, he has talked about it non-stop to anyone who will listen and watched a slide show of the pictures I took over and over and over this morning! Such a silly guy!

(telling grandma all about it)

Monster Jam!

We are officially Red-Neck! Steve and I took Sam to see MONSTER JAM tonight! It was a lot of fun - Sam was a bit overwhelmed with how loud it was (even with cool 20$ earphones on)... but I am sure he will be talking about it for days! Sam liked these smaller trucks because they weren't as loud :)

This was one of several crashes!

I am SO excited!

Blue Lily Photography is coming to Sacramento for a few days in March and we booked a session down at the American River. She is the gal who took the NieNie family pictures and I have been looking at her site for a while and loving it! Since she travels all over the place taking pictures I have just been waiting for my chance ... so check out her work and see if you too want a photo shoot ;) http://bluelily.squarespace.com/

A Family of Scouts

Over the weekend Steve took the scouts camping and came home with this picture. It doesn't matter how old you are ... if you are a boy ... you LOVE to throw rocks! (only one boy required stitches and thankfully he is recovering)

Then on Monday, Christi and I had our troop of girl scouts over to earn two badges - Lets Get Cooking and Science Discovery. Susie had so much FUN! She made muddy buddies and smoothies and learned about safely handling food. Then she did science experiments, made a kaleidoscope, and learned about careers in science.

A little peek ...

at Susie's room (grandma wants to see how we are coming along). It is still a work in progess but she is loving it so far. Our 'to do list' includes: hanging curtains, spray painting baskets, and ordering furniture.

Ice Fun!

Today was Sam's Preschool Field Trip to SkateTown to Ice Skate!

We snuck Susie out of school to join us and had such a fun time that we were the last ones off the ice!

The buckets help the little ones (and their moms) keep their balance while skating - then they were quickly going around with great speed!

Sam also loved riding in the sled.

FuN TiMeS!

Paint

Gabriel, the painter, has been here all day! Susie's room is the lovely shade - Lilac Lake.

Sam's is Summer Sky (a pale blue)

you can't really tell the colors very good in the pictures ... but it is very EXCiTiNG!

The End of the Season!

Ben in action

Brendan going for the ball A final pep-talk

We spent the weekend in Fremont, CA cheering for Ben and the Red Devils at Association Cup. They were AWESOME ... but not awesome enough to win the tournament :( So this season is over ... hopefully allowing all the injuries to heal.

GReaT SeaSoN ReD DeViLS!

Decisions ... Decisions!

Susie's room is currently in redesign mode - which is a lot of fun. Right now we are deciding on the perfect shade of PuRPLe! We had to get my choice and Susie's choice and paint them on the wall for a few days before we can make a decision. Susie likes things a little darker/brighter than the Mom ...

will it be GaTeWay To PaRaDiSe or LiLaC LaKe?

2010

We rang in the new year with a New Year's Eve Bash!

We played games, sang karaoke, ate, dipped goodies in a chocolate fountain, and watched the ball drop and then ...

the kids went crazy blowing horns and exploding streamers!

CHeeRS to the NeW YeaR!

Snow Fun!

Fun times were had playing in the snow with our cousins over Christmas Break!

... with the exception of Sam's sledding accident resulting in a scraped up face :(

Owww!

It is looking better now!