This and That

Hard to believe it is already March!  Time is flying by and before we know it the wedding is going to be here.  It is only 128 days away!

T & I went to the Howard School fundraiser last month and the theme was "Celebrity Red Carpet".  It was so much fun.  We bid on some items and only won one thing.  We had a great meal with friends, and then danced the rest of the night away.  I love that T takes me dancing!

All decked out like celebs...

We took the kids to Palm Springs a last month to spend the weekend with T's sister Shelly, her kids, Phil, and his daughter. The kids had so much fun and the weather was perfect!  T and I manged a couple of date night dinners...we had a great dinner at Johannes in Palm Springs and wonderful sushi at The Venue.

Megan and her gorgeous smile!

Sabina texting by the pool

Charlie and Jenna

TJ

These two are two peas in a pod!

A kiss for Cita :)

T & me hanging by the pool

T's sister Shelly and me!

Lastly, T and I went to my mini high school reunion this past weekend.  It was so much fun and my friends just LOVE T.  It was the first one that he was able to attend with me.  We had a great time!

T, me and Mark!

Gina and me :)

Valentines

I awoke this morning to a sweet and thoughtful surprise next to my coffee pot.  It is the first place I drag myself to every morning.  T snuck over in the early morning hours to leave it there...what a sweetheart!
Tonight we have a sitter coming to watch the kids and we are going out to dinner.  I love hanging out with my man...we really don't need Valentines to be romantic, but it is fun to participate in the day of love with everyone else.  :)

On a sad note though, Kami is sick with the flu that everyone else has had.  I had hoped she was going to be all better today.  She and Claire Marie sat at my table yesterday making all of their Valentines to pass out at school today, however she woke up with the fever back and not feeling good at all.  :(   She and Jenna are going to spend the evening with their dad, I sure hope she feels better so she can enjoy it.  I'm so ready for this sickness to be out of our homes!  The only ones who have steered clear of it are T and TJ.  I sure hope they aren't next!

Sickness!

Not fun...that is how I would describe the past week and half.

On Friday, January 27th Jenna left for her first every church camp with Reality Carpinteria.  She was so excited and I was so excited for her!  Sadly, that night she texted me that she wasn't feeling good and it progressed all weekend.  They thought she was just homesick, but when I picked her up Sunday, it was clear she was not feeling good.  Then, on Sunday night, I started coughing and had it too, as did Kami!  I spent 3 days in bed barely able to move and Jenna spend 5 days in bed!  This flu was brutal.  Kami was the only one who bounced back quickly....as far as T's house...Claire Marie actually had it the week before and somehow he and the boys managed to escape it.  

Sick together...

Lucky for Kami she was all better by Wednesday and got to go to her best friend Madison's slumber party on Friday the 3rd!  It was super exciting for her because they took a limo out to dinner.  Of course all of the other kids were mad...all we heard was "that's not fair" all weekend long!

Kami and her friends in the limo

On Superbowl Sunday, Claire Marie and I were still coughing, so T and I chose to stay home and watch the game from home...as you can see, T was pretty focused on the game...I on the other hand just kept him company (and browsed Amazon for the new dishes we want).   

T very watching the game intently...

Me shopping for new dishes...

DISCLAIMER:  DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DISCUSS DISHES DURING THE GAME.  IT MAY RESULT IN A NEGATIVE REACTION.

Goings On Around Here

Last Saturday we got to spend some time with Shelly and Phil.  We had a good time hanging out in the little town of Los Alamos, which we love.  That area is so nice!

Shelly and me

This week has been a little crazy...T had to be out of town two different days on business, which meant I had to leave work early and get home to watch the kiddos.  It was great, as I was able to bring work home with me and work from the table while the kids did all of their homework.  T's house stayed neat and orderly and all the kids picked up after themselves.  Kami told me I should come home early everyday because everyone does what they are supposed to when I am there.

Well, good news, starting next week I am going to be coming home every day when the kids get home and working from home.  I'm so happy that the church I work at is making this option available to me.  I absolutely hate not being there when the kids get home.  The kids are in for a big surprise as I am a big one for routine and order.  But then again, I think kids thrive on routine.

Another thing that happened this week is that I got braces...thank God for Invisalign .  Nobody can even tell I have them on, unless they look really close.  And the good news is they pop out, so when we get married, I don't even have to wear them.  Oh, and T said he thinks they are sexy...not sure what to make of that one.
Here is a picture, you an hardly tell (ignore my dorky look on my face).

Tomorrow Jenna will go off to her first Church Jr. High Camp!  I can't believe she is old enough to do that!  I'm really excited for her and so is she!  Hopefully she will take pictures and I can post some here!  

176 Days...

Until the wedding....

Okay, part of me feels like that is really far, but the other part of me is starting to freak out and realize that is less than 6 months away!

I am on wedding duty, T is on honeymoon duty...I think i got the short end of that stick though.  Just kidding, I am loving it!  

One thing we have to do is find a home that will fit us and 5 kids.  This is actually kind of exciting...there is something about us finding a place together and making it ours that is very cool.  We found a home we really like and will see what happens.  The town is small, the school is great, and it is closer to Jackie, JP, and baby Hope (but not too far from the girls Dad, so we could still work out the weekends, etc.).  All in all, it would be a nice fresh change.

Anyway, not much else happening in our neck of the woods.  The kids are back in school, weekend sleepovers are happening again, dance has started again for Kami and Cita, Jenna started going to youth group at Reality, and Charlie and TJ are enjoying the video games they got for Christmas <giving T stink-eye for that one>.

Here is a photo of the kids from this last weekend when we went house hunting, we stopped for a bite to eat in Santa Ynez.  It was fun, but the only ones that decided they like looking at houses are Kami, Charlie, and Cita...TJ and Jenna said they don't want to go next time.  :P~

Winter Break & Wedding Planning

Life has been busy since the holidays....the kids had three weeks off, which is just way too much.  By that third week they are bored and ready to go back and see their friends.  On a good note, they didn't drive each other crazy and the dynamics continue to be great with all five of them.

T and I are busy getting ready for the wedding and all of the other details marriage will include (where we will live, premarital counseling, etc)...for some reason, even though we are trying to keep it simple, we feel like we are way behind.  We have set a date of July 14th.  It will be a smaller size wedding, with just family and close friends.  Of course T's family counts for almost 50!

We kept busy over break and tried to do fun things with the kids (bike rides, short trips, bbq's, etc).  Here are a few pictures from a hike we went on...Maggie came too!  :)

End of trail...see T peeking through the trees?

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas! Here are the kids with their new kindles!