A Year In Photos 2009

Here are some of our favorite photos from 2009... Happy New Year!

Our Christmas

(Posing for pictures before opening presents, Calista making the cheese face,

I am sure we haven't seen the last of that face...)

We had a wonderful Christmas day! We had to wake Isabelle up

but as soon as she was awake, she knew exactly what day it was.

The girls made their way down the stairs

and stopped to check out what Santa brought.

Then they checked to see if Santa ate the cookies and Coca Cola,

Isabelle was excited that he wrote her a little note.

Then it was off to see if the stockings had been filled....

We let the girls each pick a present of their choice to open and then we had breakfast before digging into the rest. The girls were so excited, it was such a joy to watch their little faces. We all stayed in our jammies all day, it was so fun. We played with toys, took naps, enjoyed yummy food, watched a movie together and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

It was a fun day we wont soon forget!

The day after Christmas we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa G

and Auntie Sarah and Gabe.

Isabelle was so excited about her present from Grandma and Grandpa G.

Both girls got pillow pets. Isabelle has been wanting one for a very long time.

Calista loves her pillow pet too!

Grandma and Grandpa G and the girls and their ladybug pillow pets.

Auntie Sarah, Gabe and the girls.

The Night Before Christmas

Daddy and his girls!

I woke up this morning and couldn't believe Christmas Eve was already here, where did the month of December go? The girls have been so excited all day, anxiously waiting for Daddy to come home from work so we can start some of our fun traditions. We made a Birthday cake for Jesus, did some last minute shopping and went to the Christmas Eve service at our church.

After church we came home and decorated gingerbread cookies for Santa. Freddie read the girls the story of Jesus' birth. Then we called Nana and Pops and Pops read to the girls, The Night Before Christmas. He use to read it to me when I was a kid right before going to bed on Christmas Eve and he does it for our girls now on Christmas Eve over the phone. Then we set out cookies and a Coca Cola, (cause Santa gets a lot of milk) Isabelle wrote Santa a little note, with Mommy's help spelling. Then we put Calista to bed and Isabelle got to stay up and watch a Christmas movie with Mommy and Daddy before going to bed.

As soon as the movie was over she was running up the stairs and getting into bed with zero prompting. This is not the norm for her, she usually uses every trick in the book to stay up. Tonight she was seriously concerned Santa would skip our house if she were awake. As we were saying prayers tonight, Isabelle thanked God for sending Santa to bring gifts for Jesus'

Birthday. I don't know where she got that, but I love it.

Freddie reading to the girls...

I had to include this one, Calista put her cheese face on when I pulled out the camera...

Decorating Santa's gingerbread cookies.

Calista preferred to eat the cookies, and steal the candy... here is her cheese face again.

Sneaking candy...

Listening to the Night Before Christmas, read by Pops.

Mommy and her very excited girls...

From Our Home To Yours....

Merry Christmas!!

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you: he is Christ the Lord!! Luke 2:11

Here is a close up of our Christmas Card photos.

I Hope I Never Forget This Day!

Today was a crazy day! The girls were stir crazy, Christmas time excitement in the air! It wasn't a bad day, just a day that I just couldn't fill up with enough things for them to do. They did make me laugh all day every time I turned my back they were finding trouble. Calista found a pen her sister left on the floor and while I was on the phone, proceeded to color my side of the bed on the sheets.

Today Isabelle decided that she no longer wanted to be named Isabelle, she wanted to be named Tiana and insisted we call her Tiana. When I would forget she would correct me. I thought she was kidding, but she is serious. As of right now, she still wont let us call her Isabelle. It cracks me up.

This evening I took Isabelle out to dinner and to run some last minute errands. We went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner. Isabelle loves to go out to dinner just me and her or just her and Daddy. She was on her best behavior! Then we went to Color Me Mine to pick up some pottery we made earlier and while we were there we found out that they just got in Princess Tiana figures, so of course we had to stop and paint one. We decided to do it together and we had so much fun! Isabelle painted the dress and I painted her head basically and all the details on her face. Isabelle was wearing one of her Tiana shirts so that helped us determine colors. After we were done painting we went to the book store to read books. We sat on the floor in the children's section and read several books, I let her pick out a coloring book and we bought a book for Calista for Christmas and we headed home. In the car on the way home Isabelle said, "Mom this was the best day ever, better than anything!" I hope I never forget this day, the good and the bad!

Cause blog posts are more fun with pictures....

Here is a picture of Isabelle and our finished Tiana from my camera phone.

Pen Pals

Isabelle with her latest mail from Jonah...

Isabelle has a pen pal. It all started when I went to my friend Kacie's house to take some photos for her a couple months ago. Kacie's son Jonah was sad that I didn't bring Isabelle with me. He sent me a card to give to Issy. Isabelle was so excited she immediately wanted to write him a card. Ever since then they have been writing each other cards and notes, every week via snail mail. Isabelle loves getting mail from Jonah. The kids even have us writing out messages now to each other. They are so cute, it melts my heart. If she could, Isabelle would write him a note everyday, but because postage is so expensive, I make her wait until he writes her back and send one note at a time.

I don't have a picture with Isabelle and Jonah, but here is one of Jonah and his twin brothers. Jonah is in the middle.

Pre Christmas

This Saturday we spent the day in the Bay Area for Grandma Jenny's Pre Christmas Celebration. To me this gathering is one of the best days of the year. Freddie's cousin Phina worked hard on the decorations and organizing fun activities for the kids. Grandma Jenny cooked up a huge meal and her famous Pumpkin bread. The kids were full of energy and having so much fun. The big kids even had a food fight while making gingerbread houses... The best part of the day is when we were all packed into Grandma's tiny living room singing Christmas songs at the top of our lungs, off key, but enjoying every second of it.

Isabelle and her BFF Ixchel working on their snowman crafts.

Some of the Cousins...

Joseph, Issy, Chele, Edie, Reyna and Gabriel

Grandma G and Calista I love this photo! When Freddie and I were dating and he invited me to his Grandma's house for a family BBQ, I saw how he walked in the door and all the kids came running to him. He always looked like this, kids climbing all over him and squealing with delight, I love to watch him play with the kids.

Of course Calista getting her fair share of the fun with Daddy!

Love this face! She was so cute walking around exploring everything!

On our way home we made a stop at the Vavak's for a quick visit, here is a pic of the girls and Samantha.