Pojda Family

Easter Dresses

2010-03-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

Can I tell you how much I love matching the girls? I made the girls dresses this year and love how they turned out.

Family Night Bowling

2010-03-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

My children LOVE bowling. Jim and I took them one night for family night. Now everytime they see a bowling alley they want to go. I must say it was pretty fun to watch the kids trying to get their ball down the lane.

Lilliana would do a dance/karate chop thing after everytime

Mark

T-Ball

2010-03-13T21:52:00.000-08:00

We signed Lilliana up for t-ball this year. She could definitely hold her own with the boys. She would often times get dressed in her uniform right after we got home from school around 2pm and the game wouldn't even start until about 5. I think that pretty much sums up how she felt about it. Grandpa thanks for the wonderful Christmas present - it couldn't have been better.

Train Expo

2010-02-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows Mark understands that his whole world revolves around trains. He can even make train sounds like no other person I know of. You can always hear him coming by the sound of the train whistle (without a whistle). So it was a no brainer when my dad told us that there was a huge train expo at the cow palace in SF. I was a little worried how we were going to get him out of there, but it was surprisingly easy when we told him we were going to eat lunch in a train car...

She's 6!!

2010-02-05T21:22:00.000-08:00

Lilliana turned 6! And where did she want her party...Chuckie Cheese. All I can say is that it wasn't at my house and the planning was relatively easy - and let's be honest with a 3 month old baby that was all I could handle. She invited all the kids from her class. It was a star wars party. You'd think it would be easy to get a star wars cake made?? Nope no cakes and the cake decorator had no idea what a light saber was so having 2 light sabers crossed on the cake was out. Hmm what to do what to do? Well the Super Bowl was that weekend and they had a lovely FOOTBALL cake that Lilliana decided she just had to have. So she had a superbowl cake for her birthday. All I can say is that Lilliana marches to the beat of her own drummer :) Gotta love her!

Blessing

2009-12-27T21:10:00.000-08:00

What a special day for Camille - not that she will remember it. However our whole family gathered together to have Jim give her a name and a special blessing that will help her through her life. A very sweet lady in our ward took notes for us and I have a wonderful summary of the blessing Jim gave Camille. We are so very lucky to have her as a part of our family. We love you Camille.

Ummm Christmas

2009-12-25T21:07:00.000-08:00

So I was going to post some photos of our Christmas but Mark is completely naked in most of them...Here is the lone photo to represent our Christmas this year.

More Camille

2009-12-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

2009-11-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

Every year we go out and cut down our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. The weather wasn't really cooperating, but we went anyways. It was cold and wet! It was the fastest we had ever found a tree - about 10 minutes! Afterwards we warmed up with hot cider and sandwiches.

Buffalo Hunt

2009-11-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

Lilliana's class has been learning about Native Americans and their culture in school this week. At the end of the week they have a pow pow and a buffalo hunt (ok it's just a parent dressed up like a buffalo, but it's lots of fun). The kids make all their own things. Lilliana's Indian name is Thunderbolt. They had to earn the feathers in their headdress by mastering the color sight words.

Lost Tooth

2009-11-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

Lilliana lost her first tooth. It has been loose for weeks now. She came home from school and announced to everyone that she has a loose tooth. She was wiggling it constantly so I thought it would fall out within a day or two. Nope weeks later it was still hanging in there. So finally I asked if I could give it a little tug, and out it came. Lilliana had me sew a special envelope to put the tooth in for the tooth fairy. She was very excited.

Camille

2009-11-15T07:22:00.000-08:00

She's here. She arrived on Nov 14, 2009 at 12:20p. She came 3 weeks early. It was a very fast labor. If you want to read the birth story here it is:

I was up with the kids on Sat morning around 6:30 when I started to feel some light cramping. Both of my other labors started this way so I started to look at the clock just to see if they were regular at all. they seemed to be about 7-8 min apart. Lilliana was going to see a movie that morning with grandma and jim was getting ready to meet with a client. i wasn't sure if this was actual labor though because I had been up and about doing things I thought well I bet if i just lay down they will stop. But alas there was much to be done that morning just in case I was in labor... I got Lilliana ready to go and then started to clean up the house and get a few things ready to go in case it was the big day. (I was only 37 weeks so I was pretty skeptical that this was it). But the contractions kept on coming. Around 10 or 10:30 they were strong enough that I had to stop what I was doing to breathe through them. At 11 I called Jim and told him he needed to come home - thankfully he was already on his way and was home a few minutes after I talked to him. Called the doc and they said to come on in. By this time the contractions were a few minutes apart. Oh and did I forget to mention that Camille was breech? For most of the pg she was transverse, but that morning I woke up with her head in between my ribs. Around 11:45 Jim and my mom manage to get me into the car and off we go to the hospital. We are only about 5 min away (thank goodness). We get to the hospital and I have to stop 2 times in the parking lot for contractions. They get me upstairs and I go into the bathroom to change. While there I am starting to feel the urge to push a bit. I tell the nurse that I am feeling a lot of pressure so she checks me and I am fully dialated and my bag of waters is bulging. Now they are starting to rush around to get everything ready for a c/s. One nurse is getting my iv while the other is having me sign the papers for a c/s. One nurse asks if we have the camera and I panicked that we didn't have it, it was out in the car. The nurse said there is time to get it if we wanted to so Jim ran downstairs to get the camera. In the meantime all but one nurse had left the room. I started to have a contraction and bang my water broke. That's when things got dicey. I have never in my life felt the uncontrollable urge like that to push. The poor nurse is trying to get me to focus and not push while she's calling everyone back to get me down the hall to the OR. We get to the OR and I'm expecting them to put me out because there wasn't time for an epidural, nope I'm pushing this baby out. She was coming. Jim was also back at this point with the camera. So they tell me to push when I'm ready. Well that wasn't hard! I think I pushed through maybe 3-4 contractions and she was born butt first. It was so surreal how fast everything happened. She was born at 12:20p and we got to the hospital at 12:01! She is perfect though, 6lb 15oz, 17.25 inches long :)

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T17:12:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun this year for halloween. I managed to not spend a dime on halloween costumes. Lilliana decided she wanted to be a ninja and a power ranger (both of which we already had a costume for), and Mark was a train engineer - and a wonderful friend gave us the hat! Lilliana got to go to the pumpkin patch twice (once with her class and we went as a family a week later).

Halloween night was lots of fun. I only made it around the block and then went home to hand out candy. The kids, Jim, Grandpa, Papa, Nani, and Nona kept going. Mark was really excited to get candy, but got a little scared at some of the houses where the person who answered the door was all dressed up.

Then when the kids got home they had a lot of fun handing out candy. Mark had to make sure everyone got some candy and wanted to answer the door each time.

Kindergarten

2009-09-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

First day of Kindergarten! Doesn't Lilliana look so grown-up? I know everyone says this, but I can't believe she's a kindergartener. She's been so excited to go. All the other kids in the neighborhood started school in the middle of Aug, and Lilliana's school didn't start until after Labor day. She's been very anxious to go and asks me everyday if it's a school day. She's also wanted to start wearing her uniform before school started. I'm excited to not have an argument over what she chooses to wear each day!

Family Vacation

2009-07-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

This year for our family vacation we got to spend some time at the Russian River with Jim's family. We had such a wonderful time. There are all kinds of fun things to do with the kids. One day they had a kids carnival with a huge slide, bounce house, games, cotton candy, popcorn - you name it. The best part was the games and things only cost .05 so you could have fun all day on like $2! That's my kind of fun :) The next few days we would go to crafts in the kids center, play at the park, and go to the beach. There were lots of other kids there to play with. Jim's cousins Hannah and Nick were really sweet to play with my kids all the time and let Lilliana tag along with them.

One day Jim decided to rent a canoe for he and I and Lilliana to go down the river...it was supposed to be a nice relaxing afternoon on the river. The last time Jim did this was in high school (over 10 years ago) and apparently there was a lot more water in the river. So that meant that there was literally NO current in the river to help move us along. Oh and did I mention that it was ridiculously hot that day? Oh wait and towards the end of the "ride" the wind picked up and was blowing against us. I think this was my most favorite activity (insert sarcasim here).

Overall though we all had a wonderful time making memories together. Mark kept asking for weeks afterward when we were going to go back to the cabin. Lucky for us Jim's mom invited us to come back up again a few weeks later for a few days :)

Thanks Kathy for helping to make our summer vacation awesome!

4th of July

2009-07-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

The week of 4th of July we spent at Seacliff beach with my family. I know I've said it before but when you have kids, RV "camping" at the beach is the only way to go. The bathroom is right there, there is shade when you want it, a fridge for keeping food cold, you can put the kids down for a nap if you need to...it's perfect!

Lilliana and Grandpa played a bit of baseball and she actually got pretty good a hitting the ball. Mark was more into playing golf or hockey with the bat and ball :) They both had a great time playing in the water and sand.

We love spending time at the beach together.

Gilroy Gardens

2009-06-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

This summer we bought passes to Great America, but they also got us into Gilroy Gardens. So the kids and I went on a weekday to check it out. Can I just tell you this place is wonderful for younger kids. We had such a lovely time. The rides were perfect for my kids. There was plenty of shade, even on a hot day in Gilroy I didn't feel super hot. They really had a wonderful time. Mark's favorite ride was the train - I think we rode it 3 times. Lilliana loved the hot air balloon ride which they both wanted to ride again and again (which we could since there were NO lines). My stomach could only handle that ride about 2 times in a row. I was a bit worried about going to an amusement park with 2 kids by myself, but they both did really great staying right with me.

There was one area that had a waterfall that you could walk behind. You did get a bit wet but it was nice a refreshing. Mark was too afraid to walk through on his own so his big sister picked him up and carried him through. It was really sweet to watch her take such good care of her little brother.

It was an awesome day. One that we will repeat a few times this summer since we have passes!

Poem Recital

2009-05-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Towards the end of the school year Lilliana's class all recited poems that they had memorized. Lilliana did a WONDERFUL job reciting Teddy Bear Teddy Bear with her friend Sean. (Movie to come when I have time to upload the video).

Here she is with her best friend Oliver. I still can't believe I convinced her to let me put a hairbow in her hair! She tells me that she and Oliver are going to get married, he will change his name to Pojda and then they will live at our house. :)

Chicken Pox

2009-05-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

My poor baby boy came down the the chicken pox. He actually fared pretty well. There was only 1 day were you could tell he was sick (other than the spots). That was a very LONG night to say the least. But he recovered and now has a lifelong immunity.

Easter 2009

2009-04-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

This Easter was filled with activities. On Saturday we went to the ward easter egg hunt at a local park. They had 1000 eggs hidden through out the park. (I know how many because I helped put candy in some of them). Lilliana had a great time collecting eggs and even had a young man helping her out :) Mark on the other hand would not collect any eggs. I even tried putting some in his basket and he literally threw them out! Afterwards the kids played on the playground for a bit. It was a very nice morning.

Sunday after church we tried to get pics of the kids, but alas Mark wouldn't let me put him down. So I only have a pic of Lilliana in her Easter dress. After church we left to go to Hollister to have Easter dinner with our family. Visiting with family is always lots of fun. After dinner we had another easter egg hunt. The kids couldn't wait to get out the door and get started. Even the adults joined in (some of the eggs had $, and gift cards in them). Lilliana and her cousin Myra banded together and searched for eggs together. As you can see in the pics Lilliana is carrying a huge laundry basket to collect eggs in. She and Myra had that basket FILLED. Mark finally got into the collecting eggs. After all the eggs had been found we still hadn't found the grand prize egg of $20. Come to find out my cousin Sammi had given some eggs that morning to a friend who had forgotten to put some eggs together for her kids. Guess where that $20 egg went? You guessed it her friend's little boy found it! :) We had a great time with the family.

Mark and Abby

2009-03-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

Mark and Abby really have a great time playing together. They are so cute to watch as well. Their first lunch date

Nap Time

Chillin at the discovery museum

I sure hope these two stay great friends :)

SF Adventure

2009-02-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

The weather had been unusually warm so our family decided to make a trip to San Francisco. We drove up the night before and had a sleepover at my dad's house. We had planned to go to the California Academy of Sciences, but when we got there there were a TON of people outside so we didn't even bother. So then we decide to go to Zeum (the children's discovery museum) there in the city. So we get there and guess what, they don't open until 1p! There is a neat park right near by so we played there for a while. It was getting to be lunchtime and instead of waiting around for the museum to open we took the trolley car down Market Street to Embarcadero and to Pier 39. We ate lunch there and then went and saw the sea lions. After that we saw a magic show and all of us were pulled up on-stage. The kids and I rode the carousel and let me tell you don't ride the spinning cups on an already spinning ride. Overall we had a great day even if we didn't end up doing what we planned on.

She's 5!!

2009-02-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

On Lilliana's birthday day we got to take snack in to school. She choose pizza. It was a lot of fun to stay in the class with Lilliana and share her special day. Mark LOVED being able to stay and participate with the rest of the kids. I was put to work helping cut-out shapes for an activity later in the week.

For Lilliana's 5th birthday we had a party at Chuck E Cheese. Not my first choice but ever since her friend Carter had a party there, well there was just no way I could convince her otherwise. So Lilliana and about 18 other kids had a wonderful time living it up at CEC. The party was a spy theme so all the kids got a badge with their picture on it to identify them as official spys. I took pictures of the kids beforehand so I could print off the pictures onto those pin on name badges. Then for the cake I choose a cupcake cake and let me tell you that was the best decision ever! No cutting and you can get different flavors of cupcakes. I didn't actually eat any but i was told they were very delicious (thanks Safeway). For treat bags the kids got a spy essentials bag with notebook, pencil, magnifying glass, and a compass. It turned out to be a great party and the best part was that it wasn't at my house :)

Later that afternoon we had the whole family over for more cake and ice cream. It was a great way to all celebrate together without the stress of trying to feed 20 some people.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Lilliana.

Christmas Time

2008-12-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It started off with going on our annual trip to get our Christmas tree the day after thanksgiving. We drive up Bear Creek Rd off of 17 and head to Mackenzie Ranch. Since it's just after Thanksgiving the weather is usually great and we get to have a nice picnic. Well this year, not so much. The fog was super thick so we found our tree and had a short picnic by the car. Overall good fun, but the weather could have cooperated better.

Lilliana had her Christmas concert at school and she did a great job singing all the songs. Following the concert was a surprise visit from the big man himself. It was a wonderful evening.

Another school event was a field trip to a local Christmas tree farm. The kids got to learn how trees grow and how long it takes really takes to grow those HUGE trees. They also got a demonstration on tree flocking. The end of the trip included a ride on a small train. I think the kids had a lot of fun.

Haircut

2008-11-26T18:45:00.000-08:00

So I finally gave in and took Mark to a friends house and got Mark's haircut. :( It was his first one, he's 28 months old! I guess neither Jim nor I have the hair growing gene. Well it was finally time to cut off that baby hair and give him a little boy cut. He did SO well. He sat nice and still for Sascha. I was so proud of my cute little man. He looks so cute with his new haircut.

Bike Riding

2008-11-21T09:10:00.001-08:00

So Lilliana finally convinced us to take her training wheels off (she got the bike last year at christmas, and has been asking ever since). Jim takes her over to the school across the street and starts to teach her how to ride on 2 wheels. She was riding on her own in about 2 minutes. I was shocked! I guess when they are ready, they are ready. Now all she wants to do from sun-up to sun-down is ride her bike. I'm so proud of her for learning it so quickly, and being so brave those few times she did fall. She would get-up and say, "I'm ok, I'm not hurt, " and then get right back on her bike.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T20:43:00.000-07:00

It took some convincing to get Lilliana away from wanting to be a power ranger for halloween, but I did it. She and Mark were Tom and Jerry. Their costumes turned out really cute. We went to our church halloween party the week before and did trunk or treating. Mark and his friend Abby were so cute during the costume parade. After the trunk or treating Lilliana was ready to go door to door.

Halloween night the kids were geared up and ready to go out. It threatened to rain the whole time. We met up with some good friends and trick-or-treated together. All the kids had a really great time.

First Day of Preschool

2008-09-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

Lilliana's first real day of preschool

She's in the "begindergarten" class. The classroom is really neat. It has a swing in the middle of the room, a playhouse with an upper level, huge play yard out back, and multiple class pets. It's really a neat program. I'm so glad Lilliana is able to go to this school. She is very excited to go to school each day. I think this will be good training for Lilliana when it's time for her to go to kindergarten next year.

The Incident

2008-09-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

The day before Lilliana officially started school was quiet the busy one. She had a lemonade party at school to meet her teachers, the other kids, and get to know where things are in her classroom. It was a great introduction to her new school. Luckily there are a few kids at this school who were at her old preschool so it makes the transition a little bit easier.

Now onto the incident. Later that afternoon a friend asked me to come over to her house so that she could pick-up one of her kids from school. One of her other kids was arriving by bus any time and someone needed to be at home. So she asked me to be there. So my two and two other kids hung out at her house while we waited for the bus. The kids went out to the backyard to play. Not more than 3 minutes later Lilliana starts crying so I go outside to check it out. She's holding her head and just ask she starts to walk to me, blood starts to drip from her hands. She of course starts to freak out. I get her inside and grab a bunch of paper towels to help stop the bleeding. And wouldn't you know it right at that minute the bus arrives!! I'm starting to sweat bullets now! Ok I tell Lilliana to hold the towel to her head and I rush out to get Ryan. My son Mark follows me outside and starts to freak out when he sees me get on the bus (thinking I was leaving without him). Ryan is now also crying. Ok grab Ryan and bring Mark back inside. Back to Lilliana...she has a one inch gash in her forehead. This is gonna need stitches. Oh did I mention this happened with a metal golf club. Yes she was kneeling behind one of the kids when they wound up to swing the club. OUCH!! Anyways I had walked over to my friend's house so I grab my phone and call Jim. Luckily he was working from home so I told him to get in my car and drive it over here so I can take Lilliana to the emergency department. I get Lilliana loaded up and off we go. There is no one in the emergency department - YES! They take us right back and have a little look. Since it's on her face I request that a plastic surgeon stitch her up. Ok no problem we just have to wait a bit. The surgeon is seeing patients at her office and will be here in about an hour. Dr. Lynd arrives and we get Lilliana ready. They had to strap her in the papoose board so she wouldn't wiggle around. Lilliana didn't really appreciate that. Dr. Lynd was very fast though and she was done in less than 5 minutes. So my little baby now has 2 stitches under the skin and 8 on top.

Here's a picture of it from the next day:

Old friends

2008-08-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

Last night some old college friends and I got together for dinner. It was so much fun to see everyone and their kids. It was neat to see mini Kat's, a mini Katie, and mini Liesel's. I couldn't have asked for a better evening. Thanks Kat for coming into town so we finally had an excuse to all get together :) Also thank you Eliason's for letting us invade your home.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK

2008-08-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

My sweet baby boy turns 2 tomorrow. He had his birthday party yesterday with our family. I can't believe it's been 2 years now. Everyday he gets a little bigger and a lot smarter. His vocabulary is growing too. It was so cute to hear him say "Thank you Grandpa" when grandpa gave him a balloon to play with. He's a little boy now, not a baby. Peter and Jonathan (the twins) made an appearance as well and both Mark and Lilliana just loved having them here. Mark just could not wait for them to wake up and kept pointing to their eyes, willing them to open.

Mark is our little chef, so for his birthday he got a small kitchen. He played with it all afternoon and all this morning before we left for church. He didn't even want to nurse this morning he wanted to go cook breakfast instead. Lilliana seems to really like all the play food as well. When we got home from church this afternoon this is what I saw...

I think the kitchen and food are a hit!

Dress Up

2008-07-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Whenever Lilliana's friend Sarah comes over they play dress-up. It's so fun to see the crazy outfits they come up with. Mark got in on it too (he is wearing a spider halloween basket...)

Gilroy Garlic Festival

2008-07-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

In all the years that I have lived in the San Jose area, I have never gone to the garlic festival. So Friday afternoon Jim says let's go! OK sounds yummy. So we pack up the kids and head on over. Since we went on Friday it wasn't super busy and we didn't have to wait in any lines. They had all kinds of delicious food to taste. It was a good thing we came hungry - I wanted to try a bit of everything. We even tried the garlic ice cream. Now I must say it wasn't BAD - but it wasn't great either. Mark liked it though so he got to finish it :) They had a neat place for the kids (although in my opinion there could have been more room allotted to the kids area). Lilliana and Mark both got cute aprons and Lilliana and I build a small sail boat out of wood. Then Lilliana had lots of fun going on all the kiddie rides they had. Mark got to play in the bounce house. By then the kids were getting tired so we decided to call it a day. But before we left we got some ice cream cones - the kids both really enjoyed these...

Russian River Vacation

2008-07-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

Our family went on vacation this summer to the Russian River up in the Sonoma area of California. We had a wonderful time. The kids an I stayed in a cabin at the Odd Fellows Recreation park in Guerneville. The place is made for families. There are all kinds of activities for the kids and also things for adults. We played at Piggy Park, swam in the river, dug in the sand on the beach, caught tiny fish, did crafts, played games, roasted marshmellows, listened to live banjos, went to a kids carnival, just had a great great time. It was truly a very fun vacation that we will talk about for a long time.

Sandbox

2008-07-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

I got tired of the kids digging in the dirt so I decided to make them a sandbox. The first thing every morning Mark asks me to go outside and play in the sandbox. Saturday mornings are especially tough since I don't want the kids outside to early waking up our poor neighbors :) But once he's out there he is as happy as a clam. Gotta love good old fashioned digging.

Twins

2008-06-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

My brother's wife, Gioia just gave birth to twin boys :) They are so sweet (well what newborn isn't). Both of my kids are very excited to have new cousins. They live close by too so we get to see them often. Lilliana loves to hold them and feed them. Mark is enamored by them, he is so cute holding the babies (only one at a time). I hope both of my kids are this much into babies if we decide to have more.

Brother and Sister

2008-06-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

I am so lucky that my children like to play with one another. Lilliana will often include Mark in whatever she is playing. This time she made a spaceship and they were blasting off.

Summer

2008-06-17T10:52:00.001-07:00

There's nothing like a nice cold popscicle on a hot summer day. From left to right: Lilliana, Carter, Trevor, Abby, Chase.

Dance Recital Practice

2008-06-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

So the girls in Lilliana's dance class had a little mini performance for their dance recital. They all started to dance and then Lilliana decided that she didn't want to dance...I sure hope she doesn't decide to do that in the real performance. They are dancing to Splish Splash.

Japanese Tea Garden

2008-06-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

After a little happy hollow visit we decided to check out the Japanese Tea Garden right next door. It's a good thing it was practically empty so we weren't bothering people who were looking for a little peace and relaxation! There was a huge pond full of ducks. The kids had lots of fun feeding the ducks, there were even a few ducklings. The kids all had a great time pretending to be power rangers...

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend we had a nice warm day. So we decided to take the boat out onto the lake. Surprisingly there were only 3-4 other boats on the water - which was really really nice. This year Lilliana decided that she wanted to go out on the raft so she and daddy went out for a little ride. She loved it. Whitney and her friend Shea spent most of the time out on the tube. Remind me not to tube with Whitney - poor Shea was the one who usually fell off!

Happy Hollow

2008-05-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

A friend and I took our kids to happy hollow today. I love having nice warm weather, there are just so many more things to do with kids. What's great about this place is that it's geared toward a younger crowd so there are lots of things for toddlers and preschoolers to do and climb on! Happy Hollow is getting a face lift this summer and will be closing in July. Hopefully we can have a few more trips there before it closes.

Just Chillin

2008-05-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Mark and Grandpa Jack are just chillin in the glider.

Having Fun

2008-05-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

Mark and Lilliana both get so much fun out of life. Mark and Lilliana were playing catch in the house the other day and having such a great time, it's hard not to smile :)

Beach

2008-04-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

We had some really nice weather so we went to Santa Cruz for lunch and then for a walk along the beach. Mark surprisingly didn't mind the COLD water :) I think grandpa had fun with the kids. Good thing I had baby powder in my 72 hour kit. (In case you didn't know baby powder is GREAT at getting sand off).

Style

2008-04-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

Mark certainly has his own sense of style. While I was getting Lilliana ready for dance class, he brought me Lilliana's nightgown to put on. Then during her dance class he was dancing along to the music.

My builder

2008-04-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Lilliana has had quite the imagination lately. She's been really into building boats, planes, and space ships. In this pic she made a space ship. I think all the kids are taking a flight to the moon. :)

General Conference

2008-04-07T21:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend was our churches general conference. It's a whole weekend event starting on Saturday morning and ending on Sunday afternoon. It's broadcast all over the world in many languages. Since we have digital cable we get to watch it in the comfort of our own home. We invited some friends to watch with us on Saturday. We had a lite brunch in the morning during the session, and then took a break for lunch. With full bellies we watched the 2nd half that afternoon. Since the President of the Church passed away in Febuary the new President was sustained. It's an awesome experience to sustain a new prophet of God.

On Sunday we went to my mom's house and had delicious cinimon rolls and hot chocolate for breakfast. As we sat and watched Mark was entertained with some stickers (Grandma helped).

I think Mark and Grandpa Gary had a good time :)

Oakland Zoo

2008-03-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was such a beautiful day that we decided to go to the Oakland Zoo. I guess lots of other mom's thought the same thing as it was pretty busy. Oh well we still had a good time. We went with a good friend of mine and her 2 kids, Carter and Chase. We also picked up another friends little boy, Trevor. It was fun but definately with just two moms and 5 kids we were outnumbered! Overall the kids were pretty good though. The two youngest Mark and Chase were pretty good about being in the stroller.

There were lots of animals to see and lots of things for young kids to do. Boy whoever set-up the layout of the zoo didn't think about moms pushing strollers - there were a lot of hills. It was a good workout though.

I think the kids favorite part was watching the crocodile being fed. The croc was in the water and there were acrylic walls so the kids could see into the water. The croc was right by the wall so the kids had a SUPER close up look at just how big those jaws were. ALL the kids loved it. I was suprised at how interested Mark was in the animals. He had a really good time with all the big kids.

Easter Egg Hunt

2008-03-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

Boy Easter sure snuck up on me this year. I didn't even get out any of the Easter decorations. It was a busy weekend. On Saturday we went to the ward easter egg hunt and both kids had a great time at the park. After the egg hunt there were a few games for the kids and adults to play. Lilliana and her friend Chase did the 3 legged race. They did really well.

After the egg hunt my Dad and Doug were going to watch the kids while I went to a baby shower. The baby shower was cancelled because the mom was in the hospital having the baby. It turned out great for me because I was able to get some cooking done while the kids played with their grandpa's. I made jello easter eggs, and decided to retry making some "bunny" rolls. I had tried to make them the day before but my bunnies heads kept falling off. These new bunnies turned out really cute. Then I even had time to clean up the house before we headed off to my Mom's house for another easter egg hunt and dinner there.

We spent the afternoon and evening at my mom's house having an egg hunt with the cousins and aunts and uncles. This easter egg hunt was great because there were eggs with money in them. You can bet that even the adults participated in this egg hunt. Lilliana managed to come home with a bunch of change and 3 $1 bills. She also scored an electric guitar (for kids), and Mark "found" a big dump truck that he LOVES to play with.

It was a great way to spend the day before Easter. I am trying to teach my kids about the difference between Easter and the whole easter bunny thing. We tried not having a hunt on Sunday to keep the spirit of the day, but Lilliana was just so upset that the easter bunny was only going to come on Sat. So we did a short egg hunt in the morning before church. After church we had a delicious lunch at Jim's mom's house and we enjoyed everyone's company.

All in all it was a super busy weekend. It was great to be able to spend time together as a family.

Sliding

2008-03-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

Who doesn’t love going down the slide. Mark is no exception. He’s learned to go down the slide and he loves it.

Lilliana's 4th Birthday

2008-02-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

Lilliana turns 4 on Feb 4. We had her birthday at the Jungle. There were about 10 kids and they all had a blast playing on the slides and with all the games. The best part was everything was taken care of, we just had to show up! It was a very fun day for all.

Getting our Christmas Tree 2007

2008-01-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

Each year the day after Thanksgiving we head for the hills to find that perfect tree. This year was no exception. So we packed everyone (yes we all fit in the Volvo) and off we went. After hiking around for a good hour I finally found the perfect tree. Jim thought it was HUGE...and it was. After cutting it down it was about 12 feet tall. I figure you can always cut the size down when you get home, better to be safe than sorry. After we cut the tree down it was time for a nice picnic on the grass. It was a perfect day and we got to enjoy each other’s company in the warm sunshine. The tree is now standing proudly in our living room reminding us of this special Christmas season.

2008-01-16T13:56:00.001-08:00

awww isn't mark so cute

Children's Discovery Museum

2007-10-19T15:11:00.000-07:00

Lilliana and Mark both had lots of fun at the discovery museum today. Lilliana had fun dressing up like a mailman and delivering letters all over Clifford’s town. Mark especially enjoyed driving the cars. The kids really have a lot of fun there so we will have to go back often.

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

What a fun day for the kids in Lilliana’s preschool class. They took a trip to a local pumpkin patch. There was a small hay tunnel, some tractors to climb on, and a train complete with volcano! Mark got to come too, although trying to lift pumpkin bigger than you is easier said than done. The kids had a great time running around.