Wyland's 1st Birthday!

My baby boy is one-year-old!  This past year went by so quickly!  Oh, how I love my little Wyland!!  He is such a handsome little man, my only baby with hazel eyes and olive colored skin.  He has a beautiful smile that makes my heart melt.  And he is the best snuggler...I love how he hugs me so tightly and buries his face in my neck.  He makes the cutest cooing sounds when he is happy and has the loudest scream ever when he is upset.  I guess as the fourth child he  has to be loud to make sure he gets the attention he deserves!  Wylie was our surprise baby...I love surprises...I love my Wyland!!!

Ezekiel's 3rd Birthday

On December 2nd Ezekiel turned 3 years old.  My baby boy is growing up.  Oh, how I love my sweet and snuggly Ezekiel who continues to be the entertainer of our family.  He keeps us all smiling...and laughing. 

At Z's request, we went as a family to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate his birthday.  He was the happiest little boy on earth!  He ran around that place non-stop spending his tokens.  His favorite thing to do there was sit in the car next to "Chuck E" and get his photo taken.  We ate pizza, drank soda, played games, ate cupcakes, and Zeeker opened his presents.  His favorite present was...

A few days later, on the weekend, we celebrated with the rest of our family at our home.  Zeke wanted a Thomas the Train cake so after much searching of the internet I was able to get enough ideas and examples to help me create his cake.

Performances

Kai was asked to sing a solo in our ward's primary presentation.  He opened the entire program with his solo.  I think he felt like a celebrity that day...after church he said, "Mom, a lot of people told me that I sang great!"  I video taped it only because Grandma wasn't able to make it to see the program and Matt was home sick that day.  I'm glad to have the video, though!

Eden has been taking piano lessons for about a full year now.  She really enjoys playing the piano.  She had a piano recital at the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad.  She didn't take her piano books with her and I was nervous she would forget how to play the songs...she didn't forget one note...she nailed it!  Great job, Eden!!

   Eden also had her "Art Alive" ballet recital for Carlsbad Performing Arts Academy where she takes ballet lessons.  She danced to the Sugarplum Fairy song from the Nutcracker.  She would never show me at home the dance she was learning in class.  So it was so exciting for me to see her dance on stage at the recital.  She looked like a beautiful ballerina that night.                                                                                                                                                           

Family Pics 2010

The last time we had family photos taken we only had two children...it was time for some updated family photos!  I saw some great photos of friends on Facebook and learned that they were taken by Kelly Willardson of Bubba-loo Photography (www.bubba-loo.com).  Needless to say, our family photos were taken by Kelly.  We met her in downtown Carlsbad which is fitting since Carlsbad has been our home for the past 10+ years.  She took some beautiful photos!  Thank you, Kelly!   I love being the wife and mother in this family!!

Haunted Dinner

As part of our Halloween celebrations this year I made a Haunted Dinner.  We feasted on guts and eyeballs, witch fingers and ogre toes, poison ivy salad topped with maggots and ants, and we washed it all down with some Witch's Brew.  For dessert we ate a skeleton skull complete with flaming eyes!  The kids absolutely loved it...new family tradition!!

 I also made some fun appetizers to share with friends on Halloween...Mummy Dogs & Cheesy Pumpkins 

Halloween 2010

We had such a fun Halloween this year!  We went to Sea World's Halloween Spooktacular where the kids were able to trick-or-treat and watch a "spooky" Sea Lion and Otter show. We also went to Legoland's Halloween celebration where the kids went "brick-or-treating", did a scavenger hunt, danced, went on rides, and Kai went on stage for the costume contest.  We also went to our church "Fall-O-Ween" party where the kids played carnival games and went "trunk-or-treating" while Matt was the DJ of the night spinning some "wicked" tunes.  The music he spent so much of his time preparing and playing completely set the tone of the party.  And we spent Halloween with dear friends at the home of Jim and Chanda Davis complete with her famous white bean chicken chili.

As a family we dressed up as Harry Potter characters.  It all started with Kai wanting to be Harry Potter...after looking at photos online we decided he made a much better Draco Malfoy.  Eden wanted to wear a scary costume this year so she wouldn't be Hermione like I wanted her to be and instead went with a Dementor.  Ezekiel wanted to be a dragon and I thought that fit well enough with the theme.  I made Wyland's costume and he became Harry Potter's snow owl, Hedwig.  I dressed up as a witch (maybe a little too true to my character) and became Minerva McGonagall.  And Matt became the name that must not be spoken...Voldemort.