Beautiful Flowers

Here is a link to some more pictures from our visit to the Descanso Gardens. These pictures were all taken by Chris. There are some really beautiful flower pictures here...I think I'm going to have to make a photo collage.

PICTURES 4/4/09_Chris

Power Out and Proud of V!

Hi, all. Well, we had a pretty eventful couple of days this week. On Wednesday, about 5:30pm our electricity went out...right in the middle of my dinner preparation and laundry! It didn't come back on again until 4:45 AM. Luckily, the meatloaf was basically done, but we had to finish cooking some of the sides on the grill. As you see in the pictures, we did our bedtime routine by candle light. Which was pretty fun! And since it was not really cold , we didn't have to worry much. I was just a little annoyed that my load of laundry had to sit under water all night. We didn't lose any food in the fridge or freezers, so that was good.

On Thursday, Virginia had a very big day! She was named one of the Peach Hill students of the month exemplifying the core virtue "integrity". That same day, she also received a certificate for a free meal at Mimi's Cafe for having the most reading minutes in her class! Plus she celebrated her birthday at school that day and had dance class and got to choose Panda Bear for dinner! Big day for V!

Also in this set of pictures are some photos of John in his preschool class at Horizon Hills. And with his two best friends William and Billy.

PICTURES 4/10/09

Heidi!

Hi, all. Last weekend my very oldest friend, Heidi, came to spend the weekend with us! On Friday she took the train up from San Diego (where she was attending a conference) to Moorpark. Saturday we started our beautiful sunny day at the Descanso Gardens. The kids and I visited the gardens once before with Aunt Ellen and loved it...and we loved it again this year! It's not a very formal garden, though it is divided into themed areas. There is always something in bloom every month of the year and there is a real air of peace and beauty there. After a yummy lunch at Zankou Chicken (where they have the BEST garlic spread EVER), we headed home for a nap. But later in the afternoon, we headed out again to pick strawberries! We took a tractor ride out to the strawberry field and each picked a pound of berries. In the evenings, after the kids were in bed, Chris and I introduced Heidi to the joys of Guitar Hero! She rocked! Finally on Sunday, Heidi and I got to have a ladies-only lunch and go shopping!

PICTURES 4/4/09
PICTURES 4/5/09

Virginia's 6th and John's 3rd Birthday Party!

Yesterday we had a big party to celebrate Virginia and John's birthdays with many of our family friends. We made pizzas, decorated hats, ate cake and opened presents! Enjoy the pictures! I especially love Virginia's pink party dress and everyone wearing their little sunglasses. :)

Happy Birthdays, V & J!

PICTURES 3/28/09

Yeah, it's been a while.

Hi, all. It happens every year around this time, I think. I just can't seem to update the website during February/early March. Anyways, I'm back and have lots of pics to share. First, we have a few extra photos from our sledding trip on Valentines day (2/14/09_b). Then we have a bunch of "around the house" stuff (3/21/09) including taking down John's crib, building a new herb garden and planting our vegetable garden and Chris' outdoor fire pit. If you've been reading Chris' blog, you'll have seen some of these pics already...he's been much better about writing than I've been lately! I've added captions to a lot of the pictures since there are so many. Finally in the album 3/27/09, I have a picture of my birthday cherry pies and one of the beautiful roses Chris and the kids gave me. Also some pics of Virginia and her Care Bears cake since that is what I spent my whole birthday doing...decorating cakes! It was a nice way to spend the day. :) I will say that I'm pretty proud of the cakes this year...I managed to remain patient and not rush the prep, assembly or decorating...at least not until the very very end. Then, I will admit I lost it and was unable to do any writing. But I don't think they suffered much from that. I really enjoyed my new gel food coloring and was impressed by the deep red (it took a whole jar!), green and black I was able to make. I will also mention that since we were using Oreos on J's Cars cake (they look like tires!), I made the cake inside look like a big Oreo too. I don't think we have a picture of it, but the cake was chocolate-white-chocolate inside. I got the idea for J's cake from pictures on the internet and the idea for the M&M rainbow too. Chris has given me a cake decorating class for my birthday, so we'll see what I can manage after that. Roses? Fondant? Who knows!?


PICTURES 2/14/09_b
PICTURES 3/21/09
PICTURES 3/27/09

Valentine's Day Sledding

For Valentine's Day this year we decided to get together our motley snow gear and our brand new sleds and head up to Frazier Park to find some snow! We had been meaning to do it for, like, 4 years but never did. It's about an hour and a half drive from our house up into the mountains. It had just snowed the day before so there was plenty of snow on the ground, and still some hanging onto the trees and bushes. Very beautiful! Especially since it wasn't very cold...only 38-40 degrees. We had a marvelous time. Virginia fearlessly slid down the hills by herself, and John loved zooming down with Mom or Dad. Mom and Dad loved it too. Chris has already blogged on this trip, so check out his website for more pics and video.

PICTURES 2/14/09

Random February Stuff

Here are a few pictures from our February here. There're some pics of J and Chris playing trains (more on Chris's blog), a few pics of Chris and the kids washing the cars, and one picture of J and C watching the Superbowl.

PICTURES 2/1/09