2/14/07: Happy Valentine's Day! We had a nice morning. My mom left her house at 6AM to come and spend the morning with us. It was a treat to have her here for Valentine's morning. The girls got pink roller blades and protective gear and Landon got toddler non-spill bubbles. I got Christian a golf bag and he let me choose anew outfit (plus he let the girls each pick out a surprise gift for me- pretty pink jewelery). Christian and I have a date planned for tonight. We are going out to dinner at Peony Thai and to the movies. It will be very nice to spend the evening out just the two of us.
At Maddy's school today they had the "Jump Rope for Heart", it's a marathon of jump roping to raise money for the heart association. My mom and I were there to be helpers to turn ropes for the kids. It was a lot of fun! Maddy jumped 32 times in a row; she was really happy that we were there to be with her.
2/14/07: Emma is the queen of folding laundry. She loves to help fold clothes. When Maddy is at school, Emma is my big helper with laundry. She has gotten really good at it! She can fold towels, blankets, and kids' clothes just as well as I can. She still struggles with the adult clothes, but hey- she's 3. She gets so proud of herself while folding; she starts giggling when she's almost finished with an item because she knows I will be shocked at how good she folded it. What a helper!
2/12/07: My good friend Michele is having contractions 5 minutes apart this morning. If her contractions continue to be consistent, she and her husband Sean will head to the hospital soon. Keep them in our prayers throughout the day. Their due date was yesterday. Today may be the day.... To visit their website click on the stork below:
2/8/07: Landon stood up on his own without holding on to anything today. He was crawling at Robert's house while Madeline was taking piano lessons. All of a sudden he was standing with a big smile on his face. Emma and I cheered for him and then he did it over and over and over....
2/6/07: Madeline's softball team voted on team names that the parents had chosen. The girls decided they liked the "Diamond Diva's". Their
other top pics were "Sugar N Spikes" and "The Fireflies". I think the one they chose is a really cute team name for 4 - 6 year-old girls!
Another dad offered to coach the team with Christian. So, Christian gets to be the "Team Manager" like he originally wanted. He also is the assistant coach.
The girls have had 2 practices so far. They are doing great. This is the first year for every single player...It should be interesting! All we ask is that they all have fun! Go Diamond Diva's!!
2/6/07: You know what Landon calls a brush? He calls it an, "Ow, Ow, Ow". That's what he hears his sisters say when they get their hair brushed. He picked it up and was holding it the other day going, "Ow, Ow, Ow". Now when I brush his hair or if he brushes his own, that's what he says.
2/5/07: We got our puppy on Saturday! She is sooo cute. We talked all week about what to name her. We wanted to give her a western name like our other dogs: Bodie, Belle, and Wrangler. Our choices of names on Saturday were: Half-Pint, Shelby, or Dakota. We went round and circles with all three names completely undecided. After we picked her up we were driving to Pet-Co to buy her a collar and Christian came up with the name, Sadie (named after our first date, The Sadie Hawkins Dance in college). That was it. The girls liked it, I liked it and Christian liked it. Sadie it is! She is a playful, energentic, and such a cute little thing. EVERYTHING goes into her mouth! She has itty-bitty little puppy teeth and she chews on everything in site. Luckily we have a couple of dog toys and some old baby toys that will become hers. Our goal is that she learns what is hers and what's not. This is going to be a tough job! I'll post some pictures of our little Sadie soon.
2/5/07: We had busy weekend of traveling to see our beloved friends and family. On Saturday we went out to Murrietta for a combined birthday party for my niece Karly, and her cousin, Noah. The party was at "Sky High" a really cool party place for children. It was full of bounce houses, bouncy slides, tricycles, and more! the kids all had a blast!! On our way back from there we stopped at Lito and Lita's house for Lito's birthday. We visited and played there for awhile and then we were off to pick up Sadie from the shelter.
Sunday, believe it or not, we went back to Lake Elsinore for a Superbowl party at the Aguilars place. With the 4 families that were invited, there were a total of 10 children- the oldest being 7-years-old (6 of the children were 2 and under!) It went really well; the kids all played together nicely and everyone had a great time!
2/02/07: I have added a bunch of new sig tags to my website. Sig tags are personalized clipart that was made just for me! My first few were done by Jen Wilson. She is playing around and making sigtags for her friends... Thank you Jen!!
My newest "siggies" are from my sister's friend, Windy. She just opened an on-line sig-tag store. I ordered some from her. She is donating part of her procedes to a Breast Cancer Walk for Life. She has some really cute sig tags there. Check it out! To visit her site, click on the link below:
1/31/07: We got the puppy!!! Christian went to the animal shelter today on his lunch break to find out that nobody claimed her. He got to take her into the fenced playing area and play with her a little while. Christian said she was really active! Christian is really excited to train a puppy. He has had dogs all his life, but never a puppy. We can't take her home yet because she has to be spayed. The vet comes in on Friday and they will call us to let us know when she is healed enough to go home. We can't wait! Now, we have to come up with name??!!
1-29-07: Our new dog, Wrangler that we adopted from the animal shelter a month ago had to be returned. He had snapped at Christian and I a few times, our neighbor once, and then at Landon on Saturday morning. He never broke the skin on anybody, but he barred his teeth, and growled angrily when somebody would move him out of a warm and comfy position. We just couldn't take any risks with him- especially since we have small kids. It was a little sad to let him go, but not too bad since we know we had to do it.
We have 30 days to choose a different dog from the same shelter. While I was there, there was a cute little black and white female lab mix puppy that had just been picked up as a stray. She is 3 months old and adorable! I put in my name as the first name on the waiting list for her, but we have to wait 4 days to see if her owner claims her first. If nobody claims her by Wednesday, she's ours. We're keeping our fingers crossed! Originally we didn't really want a puppy, but after our experiece with Wrangler, we think maybe it's best to get a dog with a clean slate. We'll see????....
1-29-07: Landon is finally over his virus. He skipped church again yesterday to be safe not to transfer it to any other children or the nursury, but he was back on track today. He was terribly affected by that virus- VERY moody!! But, he's back to his happy little self and doing real well!
1/23/06: Cute story of the day... Landon uses a lot of sign language to communicate with us. He has over 30 signs that he uses. Today I bought new sippy cups to replenish our supply. Shortly after we got home, Landon signed to me that he wanted a drink. I went and got him some white grape juice in one of the new sippy cups and then handed it to him. A few minutes later he came to me and asked for a drink again. I said, "I just gave you some juice, Go get your cup." He went and got his cup and brought it to me, and signed that he wanted another drink. I said, "Drink your juice." He shook his head No, and signed "cold".
The cups we had before were the insulated Playtex cups that did not get cold on the outside of the cup. These ones are not the insulator cups so it was cold in his hands. I guess that doesn't work for him!
1/22/06: We are now on night four of Madeline not sucking her thumb to go to sleep!! Yeah!!! Some good friends of ours had a thumb sucking little girl and they told us what they did to stop the habit. Their little girl, Kristin, actually went through shaking withdrawls while trying to quit. Wow! Their plan of attack was this: Lay in the bed with the child calmy and lovingly. Every time she puts her thumb in her mouth, gently pull it out. Pray with the child and ask for self-control. Talk about becoming a big girl, having nice teeth... Be sympathetic to the desire of wanting to suck the thumb, but hold firm to the fact that they will fall asleep without it tonight. Continue to pray and ask God to help them fall asleep without the thumb.
We did it! We pinned a mitten to the sleeve of her pajamas. It took 2 1/2 hours of laying with her (I was prepared for it to take more than that). She didn't even cry. She whined. She told me a thousand times that she couldn't do it. But, finally after lots of prayers and lots of rubbing her back, she finally fell asleep! The second night was even easier, and the last two nights she has gone to bed with her mitten on and slept the whole night through without any problems without Mommy or Daddy. Thank You Bob and Carole Ann for your advice... It worked, and none of us shed any tears! Thank God for his unfailing love in times of struggle (even for a five-year-old!)
1/22/06: This has been a tough weekend! Landon had the fussiest weekend of his whole life. He has always been an easygoing, happy little guy. This weekend proved to be a real test for Christian and me!! On Friday afternoon he came down with a fever of 102. It was brought down with Tylenol and we continued dosage to bring it down through Saturday. He was soooo weepy; everything set him off crying. On Saturday afternnon I noticed little blisters on his tongue. When I investigated further, he had them on the insides of his lips and on his gums. Poor thing!! We have continued giving him pain reliever every three to four hours, but it is obvious he is very uncomfortable! The girls both had this (hand-foot-mouth-disease) a couple of years ago. It is highly contagious and very painful! Hopefully the girls don't catch it and it goes away quickly for Landon. Today was a little better than the last three days, but he is still on the mend.
1/19/07: Hey there! Not much to report on here. We're just treckin' along. Updates... Madeline is cute as ever with her two front teeth out. The missing teeth make her talk kinda funny too. She is reading like crazy and her new thing is writing and illustrating books. She cuts paper and staples it like a book and then writes a story from her imagination. Her spelling is phonetic, so her books have many misspellings, but easy enough to read! I love it!
Emma is writing letters now and coloring in the lines. She can write all the letters in her name, she can tell you how to spell Emma, but when she writes her name down, the letters fall where they may. It's age appropriate..I'm not concerned. It's nice to see that she is gaining fine motor skills to write letters at all. She is very much into shoes and fashion! She loves to choose what she will wear every morning.
Landon is talking a lot lately. It seems that he is learning a new word every day! He now answers "yes!" to many questions. In the past he always answerd "no". No with a shaking head meant no, and no with a smile meant yes. But now, he answers no for no and yes for yes. Wow, that sounded confusing! His newest words are: bath, banana, shoes, book, Barbie, and wee (for swing). He still is not choosing to walk at all, but he will take steps if we stand him up and let go. He is such a happy baby (or should I say little boy??)!!
1/15/06: Landon is still taking steps little by little. He is getting braver, letting go of things to stand alone for a second. It's cute to watch!
Madeline finally lost her 2nd top front tooth. It was hanging by a thread yesterday. She pulled it early this morning. She got up, grabbed the camera off the dining room table, took a self portrait, then came and told us that she had finally pulled it out. I think it's so funny that she thought to take a picture immediately. That's my girl!
1-15-06: We are home today for Martin Luther King Junior Day. Christian had to go to work, but the kids and I have a nice relaxing day to be at home together. Christian has a big presentation (his annual goals) at work today. He left the house this morning a little nervous, but looking really good in his suit and tie! I'm sure he'll do great! Good luck Babe!
On Saturday I drove out to Ventura to go to Michele's baby shower. Her baby, Rachel Sue, is due on February 11th. We are so excited for her and Sean! The shower was a lot of fun. It was great to see people I havn't seen in awhile. She got lots of nice gifts- all they need now is their baby girl!
Saturday night we went to Christian's Grandma's 90th birthday party at Robert's (Christian's cousin and Madeline's piano teacher) restaurant "The Bistro 400". It was a nice evening, seeing family that we havn't seen in years- some since our wedding! How blessed Nana is to celebrate a 90th birthday. Her health is exceptional; she amazes us all! Happy Birthday Nana!
1/11/07: Landon took 2 steps yesterday and FIVE (consecutive) steps today!! He's progressing quickly. Our baby is finally going to start walking... 16 months old. He took his sweet time on this one, but he is well on his way. Look out world; here comes Landon John!!
1/10/06: Today we had Cheryl Thompson and her girls over for the day. It was so great to see them... it has been too long!! We had a fabulous day! The kids played beautifully together! It is so fun to see our children share, play, giggle, and play make-believe together. They really enjoyed eachothers' company. Cheryl and I hardly had to intervene at all- no fighting! The kids and the moms were all happy! Cheryl will be in Cali for at least a month; we look forward to having more play days with them!!
1/10/07: Landon took his first step yesterday!! He didn't really do it by choice. I left him stranded -standing alone. He took one step toward me and then fell down on his bum. It's a start.. Go Landon!!
No more sickies in the house. We are all doing well!
1/9/06: We havn't had a sick kid in the house for quite some time now, but that cycle has been broken. Madeline was complaining yesterday of a tummy ache. We didn't think much of it... gave her some Pepto and went on with our evening. Last night at 1 AM she woke up screaming for us because she had thrown up in her bed. Poor baby!! Christian and I had only been asleep since 11:00 and he has to get up for work at 4:45 AM. Normally we tag-team the throw-up nights, but I didn't want to wake him last night. I was up for an hour in the middle of the night giving Shivering Maddy a warm shower to wash all the vomit out of her hair and body, dragging in the mattress from the toddler bed for her to sleep on the rest of the night, and getting her jammies and sheets started in the wash. I should be counting my lucky stars that we hardly ever have to do this!! Thank God she went went back to sleep the rest of the night and is doing pretty well today. She doesn't have a fever, but I still didn't send her to school today. She's not eating much, but I think she'll be fine by tomorrow.
We had a scheduled play day with my friend Cheryl Thompson (babyhomepages.net/sarah_and_emma) and her girls today. They are visiting from Florida. We had to rescedule for Thursday because we didn't want her girls to catch this bug from Maddy while on their vacation! I am sooo sad to have to wait 2 more days, but I can do it. We met the Thompson's while we were all newlyweds at our Lakes Apartments in Fullerton in 1998-99. We havn't seen them in 18 months.. She has never met Landon. I can't wait to see her, Sarah, and Emma. Thursday is the day!
Only a few more days til I get my camera back...Yippee!
1/8/07: Christian took Maddy to sign up for girls softball on Saturday. She will be playing in the t-ball league until she is 6-years-old. Christian volunteered to be the team manager. They brought home 2 boxes of candy bars to sell too. Practice will begin the first week of February and games will begin about 4 weeks after that. Madeline is sooo excited! She has already sold 20 candy bars to our neighborhood families. She can't wait to get out and buy her, glove, cleats, bat, and ball!
1/8/07: This past weekend we celebrated my Grandma Dory's 80th birthday. Lots of family came and celebrated with her and we took lots of fun family pictures. It was held at a nice little French restaurant in the valley called, "La Frite". I accidentally left my camera at the restaurant when we left so my parents took it home with them. I'll have to wait until next weekend to get it abck from them on my way to Michele's baby shower. I hate not having a camera!! Despite my forgetfulness of my camera, it was a great day! Happy happy Birthday Grandma Dory!!
Last night we went to Christian's parents house to celebrate "Dia de los Reyes". We have celebrated this Mexican holiday with them many times before. It's a celebration sinifying the 3 kings bringing gifts to baby Jesus. It was nice to spend the evening with Lito, Lita, Tete, and Nana. ~no camera, no pictures~
1/5/07: Happy New Year! It has been a fun 2 weeks with Madeline on vacation from school. She has enjoyed being home and says she doesn't want to go back to school. (uh-oh!!) I'm sure she will be happy to be back when she gets there on Monday.
Landon has a new thing he has started.. He had his first temper tantrum! Yesterday he wanted to go outside and we wouldn't let him. He started crying and then threw himself to the floor- screaming! I tried to pick him up, but he arched his back and screamed louder. I left him on the floor of the living room and walked out of the room. He continued his fit for about 3 minutes. Finally, when he figured that nobody was going to pay attention to his tantrum, he stopped. Hopefully, we won't have another for a long time!
2/14/07: Happy Valentine's Day! We had a nice morning. My mom left her house at 6AM to come and spend the morning with us. It was a treat to have her here for Valentine's morning. The girls got pink roller blades and protective gear and Landon got toddler non-spill bubbles. I got Christian a golf bag and he let me choose anew outfit (plus he let the girls each pick out a surprise gift for me- pretty pink jewelery). Christian and I have a date planned for tonight. We are going out to dinner at Peony Thai and to the movies. It will be very nice to spend the evening out just the two of us.
2/6/07: Madeline's softball team voted on team names that the parents had chosen. The girls decided they liked the "Diamond Diva's". Their
other top pics were "Sugar N Spikes" and "The Fireflies". I think the one they chose is a really cute team name for 4 - 6 year-old girls! 
2/6/07: You know what Landon calls a brush? He calls it an, "Ow, Ow, Ow". That's what he hears his sisters say when they get their hair brushed. He picked it up and was holding it the other day going, "Ow, Ow, Ow". Now when I brush his hair or if he brushes his own, that's what he says.
2/5/07: We got our puppy on Saturday! She is sooo cute. We talked all week about what to name her. We wanted to give her a western name like our other dogs: Bodie, Belle, and Wrangler. Our choices of names on Saturday were: Half-Pint, Shelby, or Dakota. We went round and circles with all three names completely undecided. After we picked her up we were driving to Pet-Co to buy her a collar and Christian came up with the name, Sadie (named after our first date, The Sadie Hawkins Dance in college). That was it. The girls liked it, I liked it and Christian liked it. Sadie it is! She is a playful, energentic, and such a cute little thing. EVERYTHING goes into her mouth! She has itty-bitty little puppy teeth and she chews on everything in site. Luckily we have a couple of dog toys and some old baby toys that will become hers. Our goal is that she learns what is hers and what's not. This is going to be a tough job! I'll post some pictures of our little Sadie soon.
1/23/06: Cute story of the day... Landon uses a lot of sign language to communicate with us. He has over 30 signs that he uses. Today I bought new sippy cups to replenish our supply. Shortly after we got home, Landon signed to me that he wanted a drink. I went and got him some white grape juice in one of the new sippy cups and then handed it to him. A few minutes later he came to me and asked for a drink again. I said, "I just gave you some juice, Go get your cup." He went and got his cup and brought it to me, and signed that he wanted another drink. I said, "Drink your juice." He shook his head No, and signed "cold". 
1/10/06: Today we had Cheryl Thompson and her girls over for the day. It was so great to see them... it has been too long!! We had a fabulous day! The kids played beautifully together! It is so fun to see our children share, play, giggle, and play make-believe together. They really enjoyed eachothers' company. Cheryl and I hardly had to intervene at all- no fighting! The kids and the moms were all happy! Cheryl will be in Cali for at least a month; we look forward to having more play days with them!!
1/9/06: We havn't had a sick kid in the house for quite some time now, but that cycle has been broken. Madeline was complaining yesterday of a tummy ache. We didn't think much of it... gave her some Pepto and went on with our evening. Last night at 1 AM she woke up screaming for us because she had thrown up in her bed. Poor baby!! Christian and I had only been asleep since 11:00 and he has to get up for work at 4:45 AM. Normally we tag-team the throw-up nights, but I didn't want to wake him last night. I was up for an hour in the middle of the night giving Shivering Maddy a warm shower to wash all the vomit out of her hair and body, dragging in the mattress from the toddler bed for her to sleep on the rest of the night, and getting her jammies and sheets started in the wash. I should be counting my lucky stars that we hardly ever have to do this!! Thank God she went went back to sleep the rest of the night and is doing pretty well today. She doesn't have a fever, but I still didn't send her to school today. She's not eating much, but I think she'll be fine by tomorrow.
We had a scheduled play day with my friend Cheryl Thompson (babyhomepages.net/sarah_and_emma) and her girls today. They are visiting from Florida. We had to rescedule for Thursday because we didn't want her girls to catch this bug from Maddy while on their vacation! I am sooo sad to have to wait 2 more days, but I can do it. We met the Thompson's while we were all newlyweds at our Lakes Apartments in Fullerton in 1998-99. We havn't seen them in 18 months.. She has never met Landon. I can't wait to see her, Sarah, and Emma. Thursday is the day!
1/8/07: Christian took Maddy to sign up for girls softball on Saturday. She will be playing in the t-ball league until she is 6-years-old. Christian volunteered to be the team manager. They brought home 2 boxes of candy bars to sell too. Practice will begin the first week of February and games will begin about 4 weeks after that. Madeline is sooo excited! She has already sold 20 candy bars to our neighborhood families. She can't wait to get out and buy her, glove, cleats, bat, and ball!
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