Welcome to 2012

Our baby girl has a birthday in January and this year she turned 5 years old.  5!  Where in the world did the time go?  It seems like yesterday this 9 pounder with black hair graced us with her presence-and now she is 5!  Happy birthday Lolo!
Things that Lolo likes to do:

Read
Ride her bike
Sing
Play with friends
Draw
Go to preschool
Watch Harry Potter
Dress up
Play with her babies
Wear lipstick, lip gloss
Try on dangle earrings (I won't let her wear them yet)
Be barefoot
Giggle

Lolo, we sure love you!

Lolo was also able to have her first "friend" birthday party.  She was thrilled to be able to invite friends from church and from school.  They played freeze dance, musical chairs, and pin the tail on the donkey using hearts.  They had a blast!

 Then, of course, we have all the family come for cake and ice cream-I swear these birthdays are turning into a Gala Event....but the smile on her face is worth every crazy moment of it.

Happy birthday kiddo!

Family Pictures

These pictures were taken by Amber Togisala-Togisala Photography-and I must say she did a fantastic job! 
You can check out her work HERE.  I hope you enjoy these pics!

This pose traumatized Z-man the rest of the shoot.   

My kids' expressions are priceless!

Gpa Ted and Gma Sandi with their grandkids 

Up next is family pictures with Trevor's side of the family....it's only been a year in the making.

Random

I am tending my cute niece (1) and nephew (3) today.  My nephew told me he wanted to help me with the laundry (his mom wasn't kidding when she said he would help!) so he sorted with me and we took the baskets into the laundry room.  Now, our washer and dryer are in our storage room which also houses our MASSIVE food storage shelves, an extra fridge, some more shelves full of storage, as well as our cat and dog.  Yes, I am a sucker-I bring my sweet lab in every night to sleep-I don't want her scared outside or cold!  Anyway, we walk in and H immediately says, "It stinks!"  Turning to his sister who was still in the family room he says, "Don't come in here.  It stinks, so stay there."  So protective.  And yes, it did make me laugh.  I am not stupid-I know that if animals are in a room, chances are that it will stink.  I just thought we did a great job in containing the smell by changing the litter and spraying Febreeze just about EVERY time we go in there.  Well, the saying goes, "Out of the mouth of babes..."  Thanks H for reminding me that my storage room stinks :)

It's in the blood

Look who's taking after her momma....

Merry Christmas...in February

I really am late, Late, LATE on this post.  We were able to enjoy Christmas Village as a family.

 
Then, Christmas came and went and, as usual, we enjoyed it.  However, poor Trevor came down with the stomach bug so he spent most of the day in bed.  We had Christmas Eve with Trevor's family.  It consisted of a family talent show and then a gift showdown-his parents gave all of us (and there are 23 of us) a trip to Disneyland.  It's no secret that we are fans of that vacation so we were more than thrilled!  Here are a few clips from the talent show.  Enjoy:

Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year, we just had one hour of church-Sacrament Meeting, where we partook of the Sacrament and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas program full of music and definitely filled with the Holy Spirit testifying of Christ's birth.  After church, we came home and opened gifts and sent Trevor to bed.  My family stopped by for "breakfast" at 1pm of french toast, eggs, bacon and sausage.  Unfortunately they didn't stay long due to the icky sicky in our home.  The rest of the day we enjoyed playing with the new toys and spending time together as a family.  Later that night the kids and I went back to Trevor's parents for leftovers and to hang out for a bit.  All in all, it was a great day.  Poor Trevor.

Merry Christmas!

Back track

I am soooooo behind.   Lolo's preschool sang Christmas songs at the local Christmas Village.  It was so cute, so sweet and soooooo freezing!

These cute little tykes sang their hearts out-well, screamed their hearts out :)