Thankful

A dedication to the 2 people that care for our kids:
To say that I am lucky to have my family is an understatement. I truly have the best, most wonderful, supportive, caring family I could ever ask for. My mom, and my grandma are what make my family, my family. My mom: She's the one I can call literally 15 times a day and it doesn't seem to bother her. I can tell her anything and she will give me her best shot at an un-biased opinion, she'll bring me soup when I'm sick, go our of her way to help me when I really need it Oh, and did I mention, she watches Shad and Kaihla every week. I am so, so thankful to have such a great caring mom, who spreads her good-ness to my kids every week. They love their Grandma so much!
Kaihla, Grandma, and Shad

Shad and Grandma have a very special bond. It's pretty obvious in this picture.

Kai loves her grandma too. Such lucky Kiddos.

My Grandma..where could I possibly begin. I don't think that I have ever known, nor will I ever meet someone that is as self-less and giving as my grandma. My grandma always has an answer for everything, or an opinion if I'm looking for one. She continuously goes out of her way for people with out ever looking for what she get's back. She inspires me to be a better person, to be a thoughtful person, a giving person, and a loving person. She inspires me to be like that, because she is like that. She's tough when she needs to be, and loving when she needs to be. Oh, and did I mention that she watches Shad and Kaihla also!! Grandma (or as the kids call her "GG") comes to my house every Tuesday and every other Thursday to pick the kids up..drops Shad off at preschool, picks him up and brings them back to her house. AND she's the one that offered to do it. I'm so glad that my kids get a chance to be with her, learn from her and be spoiled by her! How cool to have your Great-grandma watch you!?

Papa Ron, GG, Shad and Kai

Shad loves GG

Kaihla and GG (or as she now calls her Geeg)!

I am so thankful that my mom and grandma are able to watch the kids while Sean and I work. I don't think they will every really understand how much it means to us. So Thank you Mom and Grandma for being great!

Christmas pictures with Santa

We took the kids last weekend to see Santa! Shad was SO excited. Especially because he knew he would get a treat after! Kaihla was pretty indifferent to the whole thing. They both waited patiently for Santa to arrive...once Shad knew that if he asked Santa for something he might get it..he was stoked. As you can tell in the picture below...he enjoyed the Santa visit...

Now our precious little girl...well, she didn't quite agree with her brother. Santa is an OK guy...from a distance. In fact she was great until she realized we wanted her to sit on this guy's lap. And as you can tell by the below picture...well doesn't that say all you need to know!?

I love how Shad is oblivious to Kaihla's screaming and proceeds to sit still, looking at the camera with a very calm, posed grin!
I love my kids!!!

Thanksgiving Holiday!

For Thanksgiving we went up Shingletown to spend time with Sean's mom. We've been going up there for Thanksgiving for years, and a 5 years ago or so, we started a tradition. The day after Thanksgiving we load up the truck with our left-over turkey and a saw... We go get our permit to cut down a Christmas tree, we find our tree, cut it down, put our turkey on a stump, eat left-over turkey sandwiches and hope we see a bear coming to get the turkey we left! It all started when one year we did that, but we dropped off the turkey first..we found our tree, and while driving back, we saw a huge bear, right in the middle of the road! Ever since that, we swear the bear was there because he ate our turkey!....
So here's a TON of pictures from our long weekend..we had the BEST time, the kids loved spending time with their Nana, being in the Forrest, quadding, and exploring around her property! Thanks for the wonderful, relaxing, fun time! Kai Kai was all bundled up and ready to go!

Kaihla fell in love with Vickie's dog, Sky. I swear every 10 minutes she would ask " where's sky?" It was pretty damn cute. Sky was so great with Kaihla too. Kaihla is our little animal lover!

Shad, Vickie, Me and Kaihla ready to look for our tree!

Here's a family shot while we were looking for the "perfect" tree. I absolutely h-a-t-e this picture of me, but love if of Sean and the kids...so I put it up anyway..just ignore me!

While Sean went back to the truck to get the saw, Shad thought he would save us some time and cut the tree down himself. Too bad he was using a stick. Nice try buddy!

There's Sean cutting down the Christmas Tree! and look how much fun he's having! Thankfully this tree was a lot easier to cut then it had been in previous years!

Mr. Serious looking cute

Sean and Shad getting ready to go for a Quad ride..matching jackets and all..

Daddy had great little helpers while he was trying to set up the tree

Turns out the box the lights were in was much more fun.

Seriously, Kaihla has NO FEAR when it comes to these quads. She's borderline obsessed. Well, actually, she's fine until she hears one start up...she gets upset if she isn't the one riding.

We all went on a Quad ride, and along one of the trails was a Christmas tree farm. Not the kind -where people can come and pay for their tree..the kind where Sierra-Pacific owns it, they sell it to private party's, where they come and get them and sell them somewhere else. Anyway, there were a bazillion trees, and Mt. Lassen is in the background (I don't know if you can see it in this picture) But it was so beautiful!!

Shad and Nana stopping to look at all the trees!

Kaihla waiting patiently for Daddy to get back on and ride!!

Didn't I tell you she loves this. It was the cutest thing to see, ever...

Kaihla having so much fun!!

At the end of the ride, this is how she was sitting with Daddy...she's crazy! I guess quad rides are fun and relaxing!

Kaihla loves to Quad

I love the fall

I love fall in Sonoma County. I love how the vinyards change color...it's so pretty! This is just up the street from our house.

Halloween 2008

The kids had so much fun at Halloween this year...well Shad did at least...Kaihla didn't really get what was going on. She was excited in the beginning, then just couldn't make up her mind what she wanted to do! I don't remember seeing Shad so excited! fun night! Shad, a.k.a Mickey Mouse!

Goof ball...

Mickey and Minnie Mouse, waiting outside our house, getting ready to go trick or treating!

Kaihla is all dressed up and ready to go!

Mickey and Minnie mouse

Kaihla looked SO cute! Grandma Sharon made both kids costumes..didn't she do a GREAT job!!! Thanks Grandma!!

After a while, Kaihla got tired of walking, we forgot the stroller, so Daddy's shoulders were the next best thing!...until that got old, then we borrowed our friends stroller for her..that was a lifesaver..taking a 16month old out without a stroller just doesn't work

By this time, Shad was really getting the hang of this whole 'trick-or-treating' . The first house we went to, he asked me to say 'trick-or-treat' after a few houses he was saying 'trick-or-treat', 'thank-you', 'happy halloween', 'next house!'

Kaihla really did enjoy herself for a while!

Rick and Colleen's Wedding

My Uncle Rick recently got married! The wedding was at their home, and everything about it was beautiful!! Here are some pictures from that day! Grandma and Shad dancing...Shad discovered that he loves to dance!

Sean thinks he's pretty cool to have a cute chick like my sister on his arm!

My grandma, Uncle Rick and Papa Ron!

The newlyweds! Uncle Rick and Aunt Colleen! She had the most beautiful dress, and looked so gorgeous!

Shad and Kaihla love it at Uncle Ricks, there's SO much to do there...throughout the ceremony Shad kept asking when he could go feed the goats! Anyway, Shad was showing Kaihla there was a kitty over here that LOVED all the attention he was getting.

Me and my mama!

Me and my Kai Kai

Daddy with his little girl (and her little girl!)

Grandma with her grand kids!

Me and my sister..crazy how grown up she looks!...almost 13 already!

Shad's new scooter

Grandma Kim bought Shad is very first Scooter for his birthday! He just loves it! We took a walk to the park, and he rode it the entire way!! Good job buddy!
Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen?!?!

Sorry for the crooked video..stretch your neck first, then watch!!

Birthday Day with Daddy

Shad's actual birthday was on Monday. Sean took the day off work so he could spend it with him!

They started the morning off with blueberry waffles for breakfast!
Next stop was Scandia for some Pee-Wee golfing! Apparently Shad did not need/want ANY instructions on how to golf, and proceeded to 'hockey' hit the ball.
Shad with Daddy. They had so much fun!!
Stopping for a bite to eat!
Once they finished 2 rounds of golf, they went inside and played games, Shad won enough tickets to buy a toy! Then they went and rode the race track! After that they went to Toys R Us to where Shad got to pick out a toy for his birthday! then the went to Costco and shared a frozen yogurt!

Here is some video of Shad's putting!!! Enjoy!