I know, it's been forever

Christmas of 2011...I will catch up from here, and then it truly is a fresh page for us as there would be tooooo much to catch up since where I really should. So for Christmas, we had my entire family here to celebrate with us in Chicago. So much fun!!! It went all too fast with many highs and well, a big low of Greta breaking her leg on our trampoline. :-( So sorry, Greta!!! With so many people and fun going on, there was hardly time to grab the camera a snap our happiness, but here are some pics.

Elsa feeding Eliana. Elsa is so cute and very into babies, so she enjoyed being the older kid for once and loved talking/playing/feeding our "baby" Eliana.
Ah, one of the truly few pictures of the kids as this was the night before Greta broke her leg and then the camera really did stop. Here are the kids playing on our new Wii game of Just Dance. The kids really liked this both big and small...we don't have pictures of the big kids aka the adults, playing, but trust me, it was a blast! I can't hear "Cotton Eye Joe" and not think of this moment!
My Mom and Dad were the first to come out to Chicago. This was taken on Christmas day, right after church...can you tell that the kids were done with pictures and church clothes?! Just look at Eva...her picture really catches a slice of the energy she had that day! Baby was fussy, Ariana is done, Regan is telling her just one more picture like Mom and Dad keep saying, my Dad is laughing, and my Mom is glazed over as this was the 8th picture we tried to capture....ah the joys!
Here we are...the best of our pictures... :-)

So...we have fallen behind on the blogging wagon. Last time I remember posting, I was trying to catch up from the kids' last day of school...yikes! So with it being a new year...and the last day of January, I thought I would start a fresh page and start posting to catch our lives before the kids are gone off to college... :-) Ryan and I have been talking a lot about how in 5 years, Maile will be off to some university...EESH! Five years is not a very long time and since our kids are close together in age, it will be one after the other. It is a very sobering thought for us indeed. Where did the time go?! I find myself staring at Maile frequently and thinking, "I'm not ready!!!" It seemed like just yesterday we moved here and had our favorite babysitter, Katie Berns, who had just turned 12...and now she is well into her college years! How did this happen?! So, I will try to document our lives more in a simple way to catch the moments that we have at our current season in life.

California

The kids were super excited to collect Pinata Bob's treasure chest contents. Even the little ones knew what to do.
All the kids went to thank Pinata Bob.
Loved seeing the smallest ones enjoying their candy.
Looks like one of the adults got caught enjoying the loot too! We had a great time at Bob and Nancy's. I didn't get to capture the motorcycle trip that Uncle Bob took me on. That's right, folks, Uncle Bob took me on an amazing 45 minute Harley ride all the way through the freeways of the Los Angeles area. It was AMAZING to feel the wind in my hair and skin as we drove through the beautiful scenery. Bob told me that he is hoping to sell the beautiful bike we rode on...I'm wishfully hoping that he will hold onto it for a little bit until we have the money for it... a girl can always dream!!!

California Trip Continued

While being down in Southern California, we got to be with extended family. We spent the day with my Dad's side of the family. Even Matt from Hong Kong, was there. Here are Eliana and Great Grandpa Pierson. My Grandma Pierson told my Dad that it is interesting how when a baby is so young, time is huge. The same goes for those in their golden years. Here are two people at two different points in their lives.

We told the kids when we were going down to LA, that Bob had passed away. The kids were all horrified and said. "Pinata Bob died?!" They thought that Uncle Bob who they call, "Pinata Bob" from when he did a pinata for the kids last year, had passed away. They were very happy to know that Pinata Bob was indeed very much alive and that he had a pinata for the kids to crack on our trip there. Here are Cailyn and Pinata Bob.

Ana took a bunch of swings at the treasure!

Regan took some swings and finally cracked it open. The kids were so thankful that he did! Pinata Bob, and Aunt Nancy throw quite the party while we were there. They even had bags for the kids to decorate. Maile, Eva, and Kyla were not able to come due to contracting strep. They were super bummed to not go. Thanks to Grammy for taking care of them while we were gone! Grammy is amazing times 10!

California

Regan loves Gma Red! As a reward for staying brave with her, she sent him with money by himself to order food and bring it back. He loved doing that! I remember my Mom doing that to me as a child and I was not so brave!
When we came out of Space Mountain, we saw Regan with his own food. Here he is showing us what he got....PIZZA!
We worked up an appetite at Disney, so for lunch, we went to a Mexican place. It was seriously the best Mexican food I have been to since, well, since the last time I was in California!
This is the last shot I had at Disney. We were having too much fun to capture it all on the camera. This was outside of pirates of the Caribbean. This was the ONLY ride that we ALL wanted to go on really, really badly...and guess what?! It was the ONLY one closed! So they had pirate workers playing instruments and singing with the crowd. We loved joining them. The twins did a dance for everyone...so cute! Love Disneyland! Love being there with my family!

California

Here are some of us running to the opening gates. Love this picture of Kyla, Gma Red, Bib, Maile, and Eva!
What would our Disney experience be without a potty trip? MANY times throughout the day! This was the first of many...so we are missing some of us in the picture!
Love the cousins!
We were really excited to try out the Halloween version of Space Mountain. Some of us chose not to go or could go...so Grandma Red had all three babies as well as Regan has her helper. Regan doesn't care for fast and loud rides, so he opted to be Gma's right hand man.

California

Dan made DELICIOUS Indian food one night! Ryan and I were SO happy about this!
What would a trip to Cali be without Disney? In celebration of my sister's birthday, we went to the happiest place on earth. Dan and Heather did the shirts again. We received many compliments on them!
Bryce girls and Kyla ready for fun!
Moochie and Chelsea ready.

California

The kids had fun being together. We called everyone to the dinner table and when we didn't see Greta or Maile, we went looking. We found this scene. We told Greta to come to dinner as Maile fell asleep, but she wouldn't leave her. She told us that she had to be with Maile. I love how she was holding her hands while she was sleeping. SO SWEET!
Close up of Greta and Maile.
Elsa and Bib playing together. So fun to see the cousins together!
Isabel found this doll bonnet at Grammy's and wore it around the house. It was so cute!