We Survived the MOVE

HOLY MOLY..............We have officially made the move from San Marcos to LEUCADIA! I knew that packing up the family would be tough and draining, but I didn't expect it to be this taxing. I have no idea how we stuffed all of the junk we had in our little townhouse! Insane! We have been here for a week now. I am proud to say that we have unpacked most of the house! I am still searching for random items of clothing, office papers, the iron, and a few other misc. items, but all in all I feel pretty accomplished! I am proud of my 3 1/2 year old son who manages to make friends with anyone and everyone that walks by the street. He is my ticket to meeting the neighbors. He yells out..."Hi!! What is your name?"

Most of all we feel blessed to be living in my Nana's old house. We couldn't be happier. The house has so much old charm, tons of character, and a dream yard for 2 growing boys. Someone PINCH ME please.....

The Cavity Store

Mason has had this obsession lately with TEETH. It stems back from his cousins, who have fillings and he just thinks cavities are so cool. He also loves Yo Gabba Gabba and they have an episode on teeth and the tooth fairy. Well, today was his dentist appointment. He was so excited to go to the CAVITY STORE. I quickly told him that cavities are NOT cool and you definitely don't want them because it hurts when they fill them. Ironically enough, the kid has a cavity?!? WHAT? I was shocked...well, I guess not totally shocked because he is a sugar fein. I sort of feel like a crappy parent because my son has a cavity at 3 years old! I was in my 20's when I had my first one. We brush twice a day (well, we can be bad about brushing after breakfast...I can admit that), don't eat that many sweets (although Mason is known to find the sugar stashes), and we definitely don't drink sodas. I am feeling like a bit of a dental hygiene failure at the moment:(

**thanks Greta for showing me how to change the font and colors!

Santa went through the cat door

Mason wanted to know how Santa was going to get inside to bring presents since we don't have a fireplace. We told him he has a magic key and can get into anybodies house whether they have a fireplace or not. He looked over to the cat door and said, "well, he could come in how kitty comes inside." Of course! Now how come I didn't think of that? Except Santa would definitely have to lose some weight first:) I just love Mason's imagination. He is so clever, creative, and funny! We love his spirit (on most days!!). Santa brought Mason a remote control dirtbike. It had to be a dirtbike with a "kick start"....that is totally different from a motorcycle, as I have now found out. We spent the morning together as a family and the next day at my families house for an Italian feast and an over abundance of presents. Merry "belated" Christmas!

Winter Wonderland

I am so behind on my blog! The holiday's came and went with a frenzy. We finally had what we call "Winter" in Southern California. A few storms blew through back to back giving us a lot of rain and cool temperatures (~50 degrees during the day). That is COLD for us Natives! With all the rain, brought SNOW to the local mountains. We went up to my families cabin in Julian for some sledding and R&R.

December Days..and Nights

It is already the middle of the month? Where did it go? Here is to the beginning of the busiest month of our lives! We started it off with Mike, Marisa, and Mara's birhtday. Everyone always says, "it must be so cool to share your birthday with your husband and sister." Seriously, it isn't that cool. I mean, I love sharing it with them, but if they were all on different days, than we would have more excuses to get out and celebrate! right? Mike and I dropped the kids off and went to Temecula to go wine tasting for the day. We had to stop after 2 winerys, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to pick them up!!! We had a super random occurance at Leonesse Winery... We ended up being their "models" for a brochure.. I guess they liked that we were the only buzzed ones at their winery at Noon on a Wednesday! We scored a few bottles of wine out of the deal! Not bad.


A few nights later we went to Dana Point on my uncle's girlfriend (Lorrie's) boat. We were just going to go out into the marina and put around, but leave it up to Pat to find his way into the middle of the parade. It was a beautiful night..it definitely needs to be a tradition for years to come.






We wish everyone a very safe, healthy, and happy Holidays!

Gobble Gobble

Turkey day was a success! We celebrated at Nana's house in Leucadia this year. It was the 1st time that we have ever had Thanksgiving there, and it was so nice. Nana passed a few months ago and we all know that she would have loved to have been there (not to see the mess, just to enjoy the company!). I actually didn't stuff myself this year, probably because I was too busy making sure the kids eat to eat myself....
We had smoked turkey, bourbon sweet potatoes, corn pudding, broccoli gorgonzola casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, and of course a jello salad (in memory of Nana), apple cranberry currant pie, ginger pear crisp, pumpkin pie....anyone hungry?

Desert Weekend

We packed the family up and headed North East to Yucca Valley to visit the McBride's this past weekend. It was a quick trip, but a nice visit. Mason loved riding his bike on the dirt roads...definitely more of a remote atmosphere than he is used too! It sure is a different world out there. While taking a walk we found these HUGE footprints on the dirt road. Was it Big Foot? or do they really have Aliens out there? We lucked out with the weather, it was beautiful! While we were there we celebrated Miller's birthday & Big Papa's birthday.






On our way home we stopped by The Vanderhorst's house in Riverside (aka the "new" family). The kids had a blast playing together, and I won't lie... the adults did too:) Tim roasted pork, made the best Bacon Jalapeno Poppers, and we put back a few beers (& tequila shots..thanks Aimee!). We always have so much fun with them:) THANKS GUYS!