Christmas at our house

Caution: Long post Reminder: Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Our family was very blessed this Christmas. Several of our grandparents have gone in together to buy us passes to Disneyland this year. We are all very excited! Also, Santa was truly inspired this year. Even though a Zhu Zhu hamster city could not be found in any store...he brought it to us. I believe we have 7 of these little battery operated hamsters now. Santa also brought the Wii (video game system) to a house that is not heavy into electronics...but will try to be Modern.

Still love opening our stockings to see what Santa put inside. Santa brought everybody a new Hallmark ornament. We wrote on them so we can remember what year we received them. Some of them play music and some even move!

Grandma and Grandpa Ludloff came over for a short visit. They appreciated their gifts that the kids thoughtfully purchased. If you know me, you know I couldn't do what I do without the love and daily support of my parents. They are truly a daily gift.

Libby opened up a cool scientific gift from her cousin Ben. Brooke likes her Japanese building set from cousin Gavin and Sage loves her challenging game from cousin Nathan. She is taking it on our car trip tomorrow. We played Monopoly City for the first time yesterday...it is much more involved than the original (thanks to Lucindos). Staci's biological father also came over for breakfast. He not only opened presents but he helped blow and sweep and rake all the leaves in our yard. We were sweating and very satisfied in the end.

Brooke is showing what she received from Perry. The kids each spent their own money to buy presents for each family member. The school holiday shop really helps their funds go a long way.

Perry is showing off his gift from the Sacramento cousins.

Some years there just seems to be those toys that everybody wants. Chixos...little tiny balls of #?!$^%&^&. You really need some great fine motor strength to keep those things in place. Nana was getting some for Sage, so Brooke and Libby needed some as well. You spray them with water and hope they stay together or you spray them again. Don't even get me started about them rolling away on the ground or the table getting bumped. You do it because they LOVE them :)

Libby and Perry were able to spend Christmas Eve with their biological grandparents and mother. They have a family tradition of going to In-N-Out for dinner. I know most of us are jealous, but you could always adopt the tradition. They spent the night with their mom, so Santa visited them in 2 places...what a swell guy! Libby and Perry were showered with gifts that are very practical. Perry received a digital camera among other things. Libby received many new outfits and a cute pink robe.

Brooke's 6th birthday

Brooke has been celebrating her 6th birthday for about a week now. We started with Grandma and Grandpa Ludloff taking our family on the harbor of lights cruise in Huntington Beach. That was fun and adventurous for us.

Then we went out with all girls to eat at El Torito (kids eat free on Saturdays!) Libby loves the chips so much, I think she may have eaten an entire bowl herself. Brooke loved her chicken dipped in ranch, ketchup or whatever else they had to dip in.

Then we headed to see the Nutcracker at Golden West college in Huntington Beach. It was a full length 2 hour version, but the girls enjoyed it. The sugar plum fairy was fabulous!

Brooke wanted a chocolate chip cookie for her cake.
She helped pick out all the decorating tools and she went at it. She wanted to draw a "Fairytopia fairy" on it with pink frosting.
She is all dressed up because we attended a musical Christmas program that night (Lee, Perry and Libby all performed).
Our nights are filled just as much as our days. Today Brooke went shopping with Grandma Suzette, Sage and Mommy. She found a few things that she liked, but mostly a chipmunk that she named "Flower". The chipmunk sat inside the "Frog princess purse" she got to watch the movie. We went to go see that after the shopping. Sage and Brooke ate big circular lollipops during the show. Yesterday, she enjoyed playing a new Leapster game she received from Uncle Scott. Isn't it great to be six! She still has birthday money to spend from her Nana, but I thought she did great at shopping.

Cabrillo Aquarium Field Trip

Sage and Libby were able to go on a field trip to this hands-on museum because parents drove them out to San Pedro where it is located.

Excellent learning opportunities for the children. They broke them up into 6 children per group.

I would recommend this aquarium to all ages.

Good friends, good times

Summer's birthday was a good excuse to get some ladies together for breakfast.
We sadly left Holly and Laura out of this photo, but we enjoyed their company.

Colin

The girls enjoy holding cousin Colin. It is hard to be patient and take turns. Why didn't Jenny have 4 at a time?

Libby's Baptism on her actual Birthday!

Libby was baptized! She was very excited to be making a step forward in her life.

Her biological mom was able to make it as well, along with her parents from Placentia and even grammy's parents from the south. Yes, we had great grandparents present. Libby also had many family members that traveled down from northern california. Thank you to all those that made the effort to come and to those that wanted to, but just couldn't.

Grandma Suzette and Sage played the prelude.

Brooke and school activities

Thanksgiving is a fun time during Kindergarten. Brooke dressed up as a pilgrim for her feast and her friend Jaden dressed up as a native American.

Brooke works really well at her table.

They had relay races for the turkey trot. At this age, they fall and cry and get a hug from the nicest principal. Brooke loved it!

Brooke took this photo of Mr. Anderson, her favorite playground supervisor (shhhhh...don't tell the others). He plays organized games with the kindergartners after they eat lunch.

This is Allie and Brooke after school. We wait for about 50 minutes until the other kids get out of school to go home. Sometimes we go home or even make a quick run to the post office, but mostly wait. There have been times that we play card games and complete HW, but mostly wait!!!!!

Remembering Brian Salice

Reminder: Click on the photos to enlarge.

We still have good and bad days, mostly good. Now it has moved to mostly a few bad moments.

Just a few things that reminded us of "Daddy" during the memorial.

This is the hamster city "gift from God" that I found. While searching the apartment for items that belong to the girls, I heard something moving. It was 2 little dwarf hamsters. These hamsters have helped during this transitional time. The girls were thrilled to know that I found the hamsters!

These are the balloons that were sent to heaven with a note attached for "Daddy"

Sad times in our home...

Sage and Brooke's dad passed away last week. After telling the kids about it on Tuesday, we held a kid-directed memorial for him in our home on Saturday. He was a dedicated Father to his daughters. His love for them was great. While cleaning out his apartment I came across items that will help the girls remember him. One of the best things found, was a trunk filled with letters and photo albums from his mission. His last year he wrote (spoke) his journal into a tape. The girls (including Libby) are enjoying listening to his missionary stories at night while going to sleep.

Sage played a piece on the piano that was her Dad's favorite. She would play if for him on the phone at night. He called faithfully every night.

A video of Sage's balloon going up.

Many friends have sent thoughts about Brian, which I plan to include in a memory book along with family photos for the girls. Please don't hesitate to still write something, it may take me months to get it all together.

Brian's mother is still alive and has been very supportive during this time. Unfortunately, she moved out of state weeks ago, making it harder for the girls to feel connected as they were before that.

And it came to pass...

Brooke on 2 wheels!

Brooke is so lucky to have a patient step-dad that kept waiting for the right moment to take the pedals off her bike. He was ready for her after school last Friday afternoon. I believe it took less than a few hours to have her riding around our block 5 times. This video is a week later and she still has no fear!

Children or Angels?

Please click on the program to enlarge and realize the spacing was messed up during conversion.

The primary program was on my mind all year, took weeks and months to write and put together. The children learned and practiced the songs month after month. I couldn't help but be speechless about the performance. When they sang, "God gave us families, to help us become what HE wants us to be" - I just couldn't help but hope that they will realize what that means to the rest of us...someday. Thank you to the village of people that helped support this program, especially the parents and teachers. Big thanks to my mom that played the piano without even practicing with the kids. The beautiful full page program that Brother Lodwick prepared and labored over for several weeks is not given justice with this converter program I had to use. Blogger wouldn't accept a pdf file.

Highlights: 3 of our children singing in the program, Sage playing the prelude for 10 minutes as a duet with Grandma, my Aunt and Uncle coming to watch, Brooke actually speaking into the microphone, Perry and Libby's biological mom coming to watch, Libby singing a duet with Noah, Aunt Jenny (2nd counselor) left 1 week old baby at home to come and watch the program, shall I go on and on?

Service brings happiness :) Worth it? Absolutely!

New man in the house

This guy went from "Perry Hotter" to one fine young man in about 30 minutes. Look at how handsome he is. We can see him and better yet, he says he can see!

One of his young men leaders, Jon Mallette, has provided our family with so much service lately, I wasn't sure we could let him do one more thing for us...but he cut Perry's hair into this great style. Perry is excited to be using "gel" now. Perry has very thick hair.

Happy Halloween!

Presenting our Halloween costumes:

Perry Hotter

Native American Princess

Cowgirl Sally

Ariel

Snow White and the Clown

Work hard, then play hard

I lead a fun and BUSY life. Moderation in all things is key to being well balanced. I need to have PLAY TIME! Two of my girlfriends flew down from Utah for a weekend in Palm Springs. Our jaws never tired, even though we talked non-stop the entire 4 days. I miss these gals a whole lot. Thanks to the family members and husband that helped make this possible.

While driving to Palm Springs, we stopped at Glenn Ivy (Corona, CA) for a relaxing day at the spa. I will not be posting most of the photos (courtesy to my friends' wishes) because of the bathing suit attire.

We loved our time in several different pools, baked in the sun with mud all over us and even sat in a mineral bath that was very stinky. It is very affordable, you just gotta try it (all ages are welcome).

We went to In-N-Out

My parents hooked us up at a time share condo, "Cinamaron Golf Course Resort". We had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath place with a full kitchen. Not a care in the world...

We spent a day at the pool, since it was over 100 degrees every day we were there.

We had pedicures done.

While we shopped at the stores along the main street in PS, we found this soap store that lathered us up and let us smell combinations of all sorts of scents. Personally, I appreciated the fresh air outside the store, but it was an experience for sure.

This statue attracted many, including Holli. We had the best smoothies at the Mexican restaurant behind her.

I think we went inside almost all 130 outlet stores, including this new "Brighton" store. No kids and the whole day to shop. We were definitely exhausted, but we kept on going!

We ate at Ruby's on the Seal Beach pier and then they experienced Trader Joe's. They had to take another carry-on the plane with all their stashes.

I have been lucky to call these ladies my friends for about 11 years now. We all bought our first homes together, we lived in the same neighborhood, we went to church together, we had our first babies together, we even spent a week together on Lake Tahoe. There are so many experiences to list, but they are the best and I love them lots! Thanks for coming to Cali.

I highly recommend for moms to get away on occasion.