Too Long Since My Last Post!!!

Here are Pictures of our new house...This is the view from our front deck. That is the ocean in the distance, but of course it is better in real life. This is the 1960's kitchen, it works very well.

And This is the coolest light fixture that we have in the house. And a small sample of the lovely planeling ithat is/was the main wall treatment in the entire house.

Here is Jenessa on Her 7th Birthday!

Jenessa turned 7 on March 20th. (I know it is October...there is a lot to catch up on.) She has lost several teeth and is growing bigger and more beautiful all the time. She brings such light to our lives. This picture is her wearing her brand new birthday dress and ready for school. We then had a party at Round Table Pizza and she recieved LOADS of presents.

My Baby Boy turned FIVE! He is excited about taking karate and going to the big school. We had a very fun day. He decided he wanted a rocket cake and was a little disappointed that it did not stand up or have real smoke. We watch Ace of Cakes every week and he has very high expectations.

We have been very busy...Gavin turned 5, we (Gavin and I) signed up for karate, Gary tested and received his driving permit, and our washer drain was plugged and the washer flooded the garage, Mike tried to fix it, we had to call and plumber, and for the few days I was without a washer the kids got the stomach flu and puked on every available towel and sheet we have in the house. But, Hey we live at the Beach and we love it!! (and I am loving Karate.)

We survived Thanksgiving! We had 18 people and managed to seat them all in our little house. It took some creative arranging and a little squishing, but it was nice to have everyone in the house and seated for dinner. In the morning, Mike took all the men and kids on a Thanksgiving Day hike at Oso Flaco Lake (This, I think, is a great new tradition). This left only the women, one napping baby, and Gary (who stayed at home to read Twilight), at home to prepare dinner. We were able to get most of dinner going and the tables set while they were gone. Gary is a great help because he is tall and strong and cooperative. He brought in tables and chairs and moved things and reached things and read whenever he could. (A teenage son can be so useful.) It was a nice weekend. The cousins played well together and the adults all played nice also. Pop made pancakes for Breakfast on Friday and we all had pancakes and pie for breakfast. In the afternoon we went down to the butterfly grove, we walked along the beach and looked at butterflies. I just love that we get Monarch Butterflies just down the street from us, they overwinter here in the central coast from October to March. Well, we enjoyed having everyone here and miss you all.

My little girl is trying to grow up too fast. Today, she was invited to a birthday party. The party is for a little boy that is in her school and church class. She was really excited to go, but was upset to find out the I intended to stay at the park during the party. She wanted to just be dropped off at the party. She came up with what she thought was a "great idea". She wanted to take my cell phone and just call me when the party was over...I'm am still speechless....I took her to the party and stayed. What a crushing blow to my sweet little girl (Insert tears and whining). I was really surprised to see that the only other Mothers there had daughters. Mothers of boys dropped them off and came back, but mothers of girls stayed and sat in the hot sun, watched the kids play and chatted with each other. Is this a double standard or was it coincidence that the nervous mothers had girls?

For fun tonight, Mike is taking Gary and our nephew Konner to the roller derby in Paso Robles. (Yes, I said Roller Derby.) I wasn't interested on going myself, so I am staying home with Jenessa and Gavin. Since Parker is at the lake with a friend and his family, it is just me a little ones. I am not sure what to do with only two kids and a whole evening with nothing to do.

Here is Parker on his 10th birthday. I made a volcano cake 4 layers high. I scooped out the middle, put in a cup and then put in some dry ice and water, which made a cool effect, but kept putting the candles out. This picture is the second round of lighting the candles.

Here are my little loves at the church Halloween Party. Gavin's costume is the easiest to figure out, a hand me down from Parker and a new trick or treat bucket from the store. Jenessa wanted to be scary and chose to be a vampire, but the final result is not quite scary. Her costume was free vampire teeth form the treat box at work and clothes from her dress up trunk. Parker's costume was a little difficult for people to figure out. He came up with the idea himself and then Mike and I worked together to make it. We purchased a Walmart sheet and black iron on fabric. Can you tell what/who he is?

We are still house hunting, 3 offers on 3 houses and we haven't won the race yet. I know they say it's a buyers market but in our price range and area it is still very competitive. We still love it here and want everybody to come and visit. Today it is 78 degrees and sunny. Gavin is across the street running through the sprinklers with his friends.

By the way, Parker is the Carlie Brown ghost with too many holes in his sheet, not the holy ghost as Josh and April guessed.

Well, My Birthday was on the 17th. We celebrated on the 19th by taking the kids to dinner at Marie Callendars. We were seated in the sun room at the back of the restaurant and were able to watch the sunset over the ocean. We all had pie for dessert so I didn't have to make my own birthday cake. It was a very nice evening. Mike took me shopping for my birthday present and I bought new curtains for our bed room. I'm so happy with them and every time I walk in the bedroom I say to Mike "Don't they look pretty?" His answer is "I don't care." He does care though, because they let light in the room and he can't sleep. I am going to have to buy some black out curtains to use as liners.

We are house hunting and made an offer on a house on my Birthday. It is in much better shape then the first house we offered on, but it doesn't have the ocean view. I guess we have been spoiled by the house we are renting, but we cannot afford to buy in this neighborhood. Anyway, it is a short sale and we are not sure when we will hear from the bank. I will certainly let everyone know as soon as we hear anything.