Our little Super Hero

A few words about Jonathan:
He is so full of energy and never stops making us smile.  I looked at him the other day as he was explaining something very serious to me. I was trying not to smile, but I was thinking about how very cute he was and I thought....man I wish I could freeze time for a little while.
He went out in the garage the other day and emerged with a pillow case from off the dryer and quickly turned it into a Super Man cape.  He has been wearing this cape for days and days.  He is very enthusiastic about his super hero powers and will run through the house yelling, "Super Man to the rescue!"  Here is our little super hero.

LOVE this guy!

The Fabulous BBQ Cafe'

Last night James decided to create a restaurant at our house.  The name of his restaurant was the Fabulous BBQ Cafe.  Here is the menu he created all by himself.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the table setting.  It was complete with flowers, candles and cloth napkins.  James got dressed up in nice clothes. He had music playing and he prepared the food almost all by himself.  Dad help cook the meat and mom helped make the homemade BBQ sauce.  It turned out to be a lot more work than he thought and got a little stressed when it was all coming together.  This morning after breakfast James said, "Mom can you do the restaurant next time?"

We had the missionaries joining us for dinner and they thought the whole thing was pretty cool.  Oh and when we were heading to bed James handed each of us our check.  This was the bill for our fine dining experience.  I love this kids imagination!

Thanks James for a lovely night at the Cafe'.

Love this Girl!

Rachael smiles almost all of the time.  She loves school and is usually in a great mood when I drop her off.  She has so much energy and loves playing with her friends.  She was looking particularly cute and sweet the other morning when I took this pic.

Rachael....our little ray of sunshine!  Love this girl!

What a week!

Last week the kids were out of school for the week and it was so good to have them home for a few days.  They were helpful, fun to be around (most of the time) and we got to go on a little vacation down to the central coast together.  We left Thursday morning with very few items on our agenda and left for an adventure.  We had a great time and crammed a lot of fun into three days.  I think this was one of our best family vacations so far!  And the last day of vacation happened to be my birthday, so that was an added bonus. Here are a few photos.

Point Lobos was gorgeous!

Hearst Castle was cool and interesting.

 While in the castle Jonathan kept asking me to put him down and I kept telling him no because we weren't allowed to touch anything.  He then said to me very matter of factly, "Mom I just want to sit on the couch!"  Oh Johnny.

Bubble Gum Alley in San Luis Obispo

We made our own contribution. GROSS! Funny thing is we didn't even get gum stuck to our shoes and it was all over the ground too.

Morro Bay was one of my favorite stops.

 This is above the Natural History Museum...a great place for the kids!

The kids each had a turn driving the boat on our bay cruise!

 We saw lots of sea otters with their cute little babies and we also saw some sea lions.

  Avila Valley Barn.  Super fun!  Lots of yummy corn, apples and pears.

 Jonathan climbed up on this hay stack and started chomping his apple.  After a little while he came down and shared the rest of his apple with the goats.  They didn't mind that it had already been munched.  While Jonathan was feeding the goats lettuce he also tried a bit for himself and decided it was better for the goats.  What a funny kid.

The kids got to feed all kinds of animals, including emu.

Not sure why the kids are glowing in these pics, but it is kind of cool.

 We also went to a little zoo in Atascadero, swam in the hotel pool, ate at a Bayside cafe for my birthday dinner, stopped to see elephant seals along the coast, went to the San Luis Obispo farmers market, had a hay ride through the farm, and played at a lovely park near Pismo Beach.  It was a wonderful vacation and the great part was the minimal driving to get there.  I am so blessed to have such a great family to spend time with.  Great memories!

It's all about LOVE!

I LOVE my family!  I feel so blessed to have them.  We celebrated Valentine's day last week with a tradition  I started last year and I am going to continue for as long as I can...the Valentine Tea.  I prepare the table with nice snacks and we enjoy some kind of lovely beverage together.  This year we drank some Izzi soda.  It really makes Valentine's a great day for me because I am able to serve my children in this special way and we have a lot of fun enjoying our time together.  I even made heart shaped crackers!  When James sat down he said, "Thanks Mom!  It looks like you put a lot of work into this." Here are a few pics from our Tea Party.  We had a friend visiting us if you are wondering who the other child in the picture is.

Jake and I celebrated Valentine's evening with a date to a cooking school.  We prepared shrimp cocktail, salad, strawberry flowers, mushroom risotto, fillet mignon, lobster tails, and molten lava cake.  It was fun spending time together.  Another wonderful day with the man that still melts my heart!  I love you so much Jake!