Owen is 4!!!...way back in November!

Owen couldn't stop staring at his "Buzz Lightyear Arms" One has buttons that say things like Buzz and the other has a laser that shoots disks...very fun!

I asked him what color frosting he wanted on his cake...purple? Who knows!

Sitting, waiting for his picture...he had a very hard time waiting to open those presents!

Soccer season for Macey

Soccer season ended in October...and now it's starting up again! She has made some great progress in her "soccer skills," as she calls them. It's a lot of fun to watch her learn and play.

Romeo's first halloween!

I was surprised he smiled so much that night because this was still in his VERY cranky/colicky stage. I don't know what kind of parents we are...we forgot to take pictures of Macey, Penelope and Owen... :( Owen dressed up as a few different things...Batman, Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear... whatever dress-up he wanted to use for each party he went to. Penelope was a "fairy ballerina." Macey was also a fairy ballerina...she wasn't too happy when Penelope decided to copy her idea. :)

So, I'm about right on track...it's been about every 2 months or so that I've been adding new pictures! HORRIBLE! Okay, here are some new pictures for all those who care to see:

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We went to tuck the kids in the other night and this is what we found. Owen really loves Macey; he has from the very beginning. He's starting to like Penelope but for the most part he just wants to be with Macey. It's pretty neat to see their special relationship.

Helping Grandpa in the backyard. Owen will do anything as long as he is outside.


Penelope turned 5!!!!! This was her favorite gift from her friends Kaylee and Brayden. It is a Webkinz Tree Frog. Penelope is our frog lover, everything has to be either princess or frogs and if it's a frog princess then we're in business! Brayden's face in this picture is too cute, he just couldn't wait for her to open the present...oh, the anticipation of a 6 year old!

At Penelope's friend party they just had ice cream cones since she was going to have her big frog cake later. Owen loved his ice cream cone.

This is during our family party later that night. Lucky girl got 2 parties on her actual birthday.

During Thanksgiving at Aunt Kristina's house, Grandma Sanchez painted everyone's faces.

Owen LOVES dogs (any animal really) and he could not get enough of Tank and Mara at Aunt Kristina's house.

Owen often gets out of bed and finds toys to play with.

One of Owen's new favorite toys. He walks around the house with this thing on. There is a part that hangs down with buttons that say different things from the movie and also a voice distorter.

Owen's cleaning out his toes again! He got some new socks and they kept leaving fuzz in between his toes and he had a great time picking it out...even during dinner!

Owen was trying to be like the big kids. He was saying "ta-da"

We need to get a new camera so I don't think there will be many pictures until that happens.

we're back!

Again, it's been too long. My sister recently started blogging and has given me a renewed sense of duty to pass along pictures of the cutest kids in the world! So here it goes...


Our first time trying rag curls. The girls were so cute but we forgot to get a picture the next day.

The girls love having campouts in the toy room.

Owen is so very peaceful (and cute) when he's asleep...he's not getting into anything and everything, not pinching anyone or pulling their hair, not figuring out a new way to get out of the house...I just have to cherish these moments!

First day of Second grade! It's hard to believe that Macey's old enough to be in 2nd grade now! We forgot to take the picture before school so this is right after school.

If you take a picture of one child the others want their picture taken too!

SANCHEZ FAMILY REUNION JULY '08 OREGON

Macey was so brave...she jumped off of a cliff that was about 15-20 feet high! They had so much fun.

One of the people who came to the reunion brought this cute little dog. She was so good to Owen. He walked that dog all around every chance he got. Sometimes he walked the dog...

Sometimes the dog walked Owen...

and sometimes Owen just couldn't figure out why the dog didn't want to be pulled on yet another walk!

Uncle Dan was so good to the kids...rode them around and around on his bike.

Penelope didn't get to go when the bigger kids went to jump off the cliff so this was her little date time with Phillip...fishing. She was so proud that she had caught a fish; she had so much fun. Just look at how happy she is!

Taking a bath with a broken arm!

Yes, Penelope broke her arm...and bad too. Between her wrist and her elbow was a big 'V.' Such a horrible image to get out of my head. She was hanging upside down on a bar at the park. When she fell, she landed just the right way (or wrong way depending on how you look at it!) to snap her tiny little arm. My poor little girl. She was amazingly brave through the whole process. We were at the park for Macey's soccer practice when it happened. Thank goodness there was a mom there who is a trained EMT/Nurse. She helped so much, I don't know what I would have done without her because, needless to say, I freaked out! Poor Penelope had to have that horribly broken arm just inside of a soft splint all night until she could see the specialist the next day. She had to have surgery to reset the bones (they didn't brake through the skin, thank gooness, but they still had to knock her out to reset the bones). She had a hard splint and sling for 1.5 weeks, a cast up to her shoulder for 2 weeks, and then a cast to her elbow for another 2.5 weeks, then a brace anytime we left the house for another 2 weeks. Only after this brace was able to come off for good was she able to play soccer again. It was a long 2 months! Thankfully, for Penelope's sake, it was after the family reunion.

Macey did Penelope's hair before bed, isn't it gorgeous?

SOCCER

Macey's first soccer game:

Soccer season is finally over...thank goodness! These pictures are of Macey's end-of-the-season pizza party with her team. She is very proud of her trophy.

Coach Glenn and Coach Denise. They were so good to Macey and taught her so much. She REALLY enjoyed playing soccer this year and cannot wait until next season.

Penelope's first soccer game after getting her cast off. She missed the whole season except the last 2 games...which she loved running around in. At this age, it's pretty cute, they just cluster around the ball all over the field.

The Raspberry Rockets

At this soccer game, it was rainy and muddy. I didn't want Owen getting all muddy because right after the game Macey had her pizza party...so he had to stay in the stroller the whole game. At first he was fine but then, of course, got very bored.

WASHINGTON D.C.

We went to Washington D.C. for 8 days!!!! Let me rephrase that: We went to Washington D.C. for 8 days with no kids!!!!! Now you can see why it was such a great trip! Phillip's Dad and Nancy came to watch the kids and I don't know if they will ever be so willing to volunteer for that again! Owen pushed the screen out and climbed out the window (thank goodness we only have a one story house!), he also discovered how to unlock the front door and wouldn't stop trying to get out and run off...he was very polite though, he would always shut the door behind himself when he got out. They had mostly good and fun moments with the kids but quite a few that I'm sure made them seriously question being an active grandparent! THANK YOU Dad and Nancy! You two are amazing! We can't say that enough, it was a much needed date for us. So again, THANK YOU!

So our first night in D.C. we were walking around the National Mall (at one end is the Capitol Bldg and at the other end is the National Monument, hence the first two pictures) and we heard some music. We finally found it at the Black Luv Fest! Very interesting night! A couple of the bands were great but some were just plain offensive with the language they used...so we left.

At the BLF there was this booth that Phillip had fun in. They had a DJ system set up and you could learn how to scratch records. This guy was super nice and Phillip had a good time.

THE SMITHSONIAN: The National Museum of Natural History

One of the coolest places we visited. It took us 1 1/2 days to go completely through the museum, it's just huge. Such diversity too; there were so many different types of things to see. One thing we didn't get a picture of but was so cool was an actual thriving beehive! There is a vent that goes outside the building and the bees come in and out as they please. You can see them crawling and flying around...made me feel a little creepy crawly but still cool to see.

The sign said that the skin alone for this elephant weighed over 6 tons!

In the Smithsonian there is a Butterfly Pavillion. Such a neat place. They raise their own butterflies in there. There are so many butterflies flying around you really have to be careful where you walk. They keep it VERY humid in there so don't plan on having nice looking hair after you leave the pavillion! There are so many beautiful colors in nature.

This moth was HUGE. The picture doesn't even do it justice.

Sometimes I tease Phillip for taking so long to take a picure but I must say...I'm thankful he does. Look at this butterfly! You can see the probiscus going into the flower, it's just beautiful.

Part of the World War II memorial. Very neat place. This wall, if you can see them, is covered with gold stars. Each of the 4,082 stars represent 100 people who died in the war. The whole memorial was a very humbling place. We highly recommend it.

One evening we went to a concert of the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center. After the concert and out on the balcony...this is the view we had.

The White House

We snuck onto the White House lawn and got a picture of the dining room! If you look closely you can see President Bush in there eating! Can you believe it?

Washington D.C. Temple

One night we went to a restaurant to hear a local band. One of the waitresses said he was a personal friend and that he's really good. We don't quite understand her definition of a good singer because he was AWFUL! I don't know how he ever got hired to perform there that night but yikes! His back-up singers were actually really good but they won't get very far with him as their lead singer. There were a few times that everyone in the room was plugging their ears because he was shouting into the microphone and gave the word deafening a whole new meaning.

THE NATIONAL CATHEDRAL

Absolutely one of the most beautiful buildings we've ever been in. The architecture is amazing.

On the Cathedral grounds they had beautiful gardens. There were so many different kinds of trees and flowers from all over the world. I have no idea how they can all grow there but they each have signs stating the name, where they're from, and what medicinal pupose they have, if any. We spent a lot of time in here but when it started to rain it was time to leave.

The ceiling inside the Capitol Building. This was a really neat tour; to hear all of the historical facts about the building.

After the Capitol building we went the the National Archives. We had to get access passes as researchers. We had to fill out paperwork on what we wanted to research and then we were issued a card with our picture on it. We went to the Rare Books room and were able to look at a few old books from church history. It was really neat.

WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND A WASHINGTON D.C. TRIP TO ANYONE WHO CAN MAKE IT. THERE ARE SO MANY GREAT THINGS TO DO THERE. IT'S DEFINITELY WORTH EVERY PENNY.

Owen got these wrist bands at our primary activity in August and still loves to wear them. Every time he sees them he just has to put them on, no matter what he's wearing. Owen's version of helping with the laundry

THE PUMPKIN PATCH!

Yes, there is actually something pretty fun here in Patterson! Shocker, I know. There is a corn maze (the kids are still too little for that), a hay bale maze, 2 hay bale pyramidS, a hay ride (pulled by a tractor...Owen LOVED this since he loves tractors so much), a lot of tractor tricycles (these were Owen's favorite), 2 corn boxes (like a sand box but filled with corn instead...very fun. I was finding corn kernels for about a week afterwards!), and of course the pumpkin patches. We didn't get to take pictures of everything because our camera stopped working halfway through our time there and didn't work again until the day AFTER Owen's birhtday!

He can't quite reach the pedals so he just walks around on it, inch by inch. It was the cutest thing because it made him SO very happy each time...just look at that smile!

Owen turned 2 on November 2nd!!! He's such a big boy now. Since the camera was broken we had a disposable one. As soon as we get those pictures developed then I'll put them on here. He's a very inquisitive boy! He has the patience to sit down and figure something out if he really wants to get in there. Yesterday and today he has unfortunately figured out how to open the drawers that have the child locks on them...what's next?