Party House? Really?

I'm long overdue on my post about our renovations. We are very pleased with how everything has turned out. (Thank you Accutek!) The floors are so pretty, I am really, really happy with them. My camera doesn't take the best pictures, but I snapped a shot the other night during Maren's 30th birthday celebration
that shows the floor and the new door style.

 

Speaking of which, I must say, Maren transformed my dull little bungalow for the party. She is so clever! She routed the guests through our side yard, which by the way, has been a major annoying spot of my yard. I think she changed my mind about that area. Add a few tiki torches and christmas lights and, who knew?, it doesn't look too bad after all!

 

 

David said, "Mom take a picture of me for the blog!". He's perfecting his pose...

 

Not to be outdone, Abby is working on acutally looking at the camera.
I'm going to go take some pictures of the powder bathroom to post. I"m not missing the golfing wallpaper one bit!

Ringing In 2010

It's a New Year's Eve party, kiddo style! These girls are party beauties!

 

Fox is ringing in the New Year with some new tricks. What a cute guy!!

 

The guys had fun with RockBand, even though our tv picture quality isn't the best. "These things are sent to try us"

 

It was an extra treat to have our friends, the McNairys in town visiting. They even treated us to a song or two.

 

 

Parker and I had fun chilling out on the couch. This guy loves to have his picture taken. Can you blame him?

 

The actual moment(east coast time) snuck up on us. But, not to fear, we have ways of manipulating the clock! I had joked that everyone was welcome to stay from 6:30 until 9:02, but when it came down to it, I didn't want anyone to leave. We had a blast and ate some really good food too.

 

The kids tipped their hats to MJ with a Thriller dance tribute. I was so impressed. And a little jealous of my son's moves too. (By the way, the beanie is the new hat du jour for 2010.)

Round 2- G&G Style

Oh, the joy of Christmas morning!

 

 

 

All we Moms really care about is the hugs, right?

 

 

 

James hasn't lost a bit of his enthusiasm for Legos. Long live the Lego.

 

We ended with a "what's behind the curtain?" surprise. Everyone got new bikes. It was a blast!
p.s. that's Abby's prized sequined dress she's sporting in this pic. Her dear eldest brother got her that for Christmas. (from you know where....)

Did He Come?

Santa came to our house!

 

He brought Abby some wonderful things!

 

Oakley got a big bone from Aunt Chris and Uncle Bill. He's finally met a bone he can't destroy!

 

A star is born! Off to G&G's for more gifts we go!

 

T'was the Night Before Christmas

One of my very favorite Christmas traditions is going with the kids to the Dollar Store to do their Christmas shopping. Poway just got a new 99cent store so it was a little less of an adreniline rush than going to the store in the ghetto of Escondido. But, it was still so fun! When we pulled up to the store David exclaimed, "You lied! This isn't the dollar store, it's a 99 cent store!!!" It took a lot of convincing to get him to realize it was actually a better deal. (I'm sure glad that he's getting a really good Poway USD education. Maybe a little more time on money concepts and a little less on learning the moves of the Electric slide...)

 

The kids love using their own cash to buy gifts for everyone. They take such pride in the whole process. They come up with some really thoughtful gifts. This year, I let them do the wrapping without any assistance. It was a great way to burn up some time and they did a great job.

 

 

We had our traditional gathering at Granny and Grandpa's home. They say it's the last year, but I'm totally in denial.

 

Ahhhh, the anticipation....