December in LOTS of pictures....

Sydnee broke her arm And loved every minute of it...

Took lots of Christmas pictures in our Christmas shirts...

Spent hours and hours staring at all the pictures with Santa...

Sydnee went to sing with Grammy at the retirement home where my dad works...

They are quite a duo...

Celebrated Daddy's b-day...giving him a little extra lovin' on that day!

Had class parties....

and book exchanges...

Decorated gingerbread houses....

Went to Thunder games...

Went to see Christmas lights in a limo, thanks to Granddad. Wes is SUPER excited about it!

Annie checking out the lights out the window...

Went Christmas caroling...in our neighbors 12 passenger van which made it even better!

Took obligatory family pictures at my parents house on Christmas Eve...

Opened presents! Mom with Sarah's stocking because they stayed in Louisiana this year :(

Played in the wrapping....

Checked out Santa's loot on Christmas morning...

Took sleepy Christmas morning pics...

Headed to MarMar and Granddad's house for more Christmas... Annie feeding Graham...

The girls...

Played with presents....

Syd sang on her karaoke machine ALL.DAY.LONG!!!!!!

All together for the first time on Christmas EVER (Rob and I always went to San Diego and Carrie and Wes had been in Brazil)! Annie was napping...

Missed Andy, Julie and Sarah...

FUN TIMES...FUN TIMES!

Merry Christmas

A Look Back... Santa Style

Well, We start in 2004 when Gabe was 17 1/2 mo old. We skipped 2003 with our 5 1/2 mo old because we were YOUNG, new parents and the thought never crossed our minds to have Gabe see Santa....So,we start with the classic Santa picture! Gotta love it! We skipped 2005 again because the 2 1/2 yr old Gabe must have remembered the previous year because HE DID NOT WANT TO SEE HIM that year....
So here is 2006 with our 8mo old Sydnee. This is classic Sydnee because she was known for just staring at everyone with out cracking a smile!

2007 with Syd still staring...

2008- YAY for smiles!

2009...picture perfect

2010 ...we add little Annie Banannie

And now..... 2011....with another classic......Annie screaming! I have to admit, these crying pictures are my favorite!

Buddy, Daphne and the Peacock

So, Gabe went from painting himself as Kevin Durant last year to Buddy the Elf this year! "Does somebody need a hug"?
Gotta love his range of costumes! He got major unwanted attention (if you know Gabe you know he does not like attention unless it is when he is playing sports) from the 30 and under crowd! He might consider not being the character from a cult classic next year!
Thanks to my mom for the AWESOME peacock costume that I talked her into making for me! "Cause it looks really easy"
And also thanks to Syd for wanting to actually be something that I could buy most of on clearance at walmart!
Annie loved her costume! I thought she would be messing with it but she had an extra bounce in her step when she had it on! She knew how cute it was! Here we are at Trunk or treat at church... We could have stopped there, they got so much candy!

Storybook Parade at school (they have to have a book to go with their costume)...

"I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite"

Ready for some trick or treating... "I'm a cotton-headed ninny-muggins"

I was the bummer this year with no costume, very unlike me, but can you really count throwing on a mask at the last minute (Rob) a costume? It did come in handy with scaring some lucky adults we know! hehe

The gang...

"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup".

"What's a Christmas Gram? I want one"

We are gonna get some good use of Gabe's costume at Christmas time too!!! YAY!

SD

So Annie and I took off for a short trip to San Diego....We were catching the tail end of my Mom's trip... Since my parents moved here we don't go as much, obviously, and I need to breath that fresh ocean air for my well being! It is still "home" to me. It had been almost a year since I had been and that is way to long! The kids were mad because they were used to going like 4 times a year and now they haven't been in over a year and they are begging to go! I felt bad leaving them but, hey Annie is still free!

Here she is checking out the view...
About to kiss her possible future hubby, Ben! (My bffs little boy who is 2 weeks younger)
Me and Meg(bff) and our little ones....

My Aunt Judy came down from Bakersfield to join in the SD fun! La Jolla...

Ready to jump over...

Lunch at the Hotel Del Coronado...

A little sand in her toes...

An early morning goodbye...

A little airport fun...

Until next time...

8th annual...

Pumpkin Patch pictures.... Ever since Gabe was a baby I love taking the kids pictures at the pumpkin patch pics(aka Under the Sun because I love all the different kinds they have). Here are some of my favorites from this year...
I also don't know how much longer Gabe is gonna let me do this. He was sort of over it this year!

I wish Annie was looking in this one....

Note for next year... wait till sun goes down or turn off my flash... Not the best lighting...not the best photographer!