Our New Hammock.....

May 2, 2008. Garrett & Aaron testing out the new hammock. I had always wanted a hammock in our backyard. We moved into our house in 2001 and we got our backyard done in 2002. It took 6 years for the trees to get big enough so that we could put up a hammock. We searched and searched for the perfect hammock. We finally found one and put it up between our two pine trees. We love it and we look forward to being lazy in the hammock every spring since then.

My Little Goofball.....

Pictures of Jake taken April 30, 2008. He's 2 years old here. I remember him coming out of his room with these glasses on and no pants. I think we had told him to put his pjs on and he got side tracked and came out with the star glasses. I love this kid. And I can't believe he's not 2 anymore.

I'm Back! Marissa's 5th Birthday (continued)

I never WANTED to stop blogging.....it just happened.

So I'm going to continue where I left off. I have lots of pictures of the kids and the family that I want to share and blog about.

I want the kids to be able to look at the blog in the future and see how everyone's changed (even if I took a break here and there).

So here we are looking at pictures from Marissa's 5th Birthday (nearly 2 years ago!). This was on April 30th, 2008 (her actual birthday).

Gina & I & the boys followed Marissa & Kathy to get Marissa's hair cut for the first time and to get her ears pierced. She was so excited about both events. She got her ears pierced at the mall so we were able to goof around a little with the kids. Then came time to get her ears pierced. It didn't go quite as smoothly as we had hoped. She freaked out just a little bit but Kathy ended up sitting with her and the deed was finally done. She was glad she got them pierced and she still loves to wear her earrings. I'm glad I got to be part of the event.

Marissa's Birthday Party....

When Garrett first saw Marissa with her princess makeover, I remember him saying, "wow, Marissa, you look nice".

We celebrated her birthday with family at John's Incredible Pizza. Actually, Jake & I ended up staying home because Jake had a high fever and wasn't feeling well at all. We were sad to miss it but Aaron was kind enough to take pictures for us. Nevermind that he almost lost my camera while they were playing games.

Princess Marissa.....

Here she is taking her picture at the photo studio. All of her pictures came out great. It was hard to choose a favorite. Here she is also with my mom who came along for the fun at Libby Lu's.

Marissa's 5th Birthday Present....

For Marissa's 5th Birthday present I took her to Libby Lu's to get a "princess makeover". She had a fun time transforming into a little princess. We also went shopping for a new outfit and got her pictures taken. She loved being pampered salon style and I had a great time watching her.

T-Ball with Lito April 2008....

Here are Garrett & Marissa on the T-Ball field with Lito. This was taken a year ago. The funny thing is that they are on the Green Team again this year but this time Jake is on the team with them. Aaron & Frankie are coaching the team too. So far so good.

And a picture of Jake enjoying the team goodies after their game. This is the part they enjoy the most.

Spring Water Fun.....

These were taken in April 2008, a whole year ago. I remember it being abnormally warm and the kids wanting desperately to go swimming. There was no way I was gonna get near the pool water. I did the next best thing I could think of.....I let them play in the garden hose sprinkler. They loved it.

The Best Part of T-Ball......

Here are the kids after one of their t-ball games. The best part of each game (according to the kids) was getting treats after the game and eating the treats on the bleachers with their team mates. The treats always consisted of a sugary snack washed down with a sugary drink. What more could you ask for? And even though Jake didn't play on the team with Garrett & Marissa, he always got lucky and "earned" a treat too.

Jake's 1st day of Pre-School.......

Jake's 1st day of Pre-School was April 7th, 2008. He was 2 years and 7 months. Here he is posing with his new "Thomas" back pack. He was ready and excited to go to pre-school. He had heard so much talk about Garrett's pre-school experience and now it was his turn.

Jake had no problems adjusting to his new environment (except for a couple of biting incidents...oops!). He was ready to learn and be stimulated in the classroom. We always laugh because his teachers reassured us that he was an "Angel" at school. He listens, follows directions, is helpful, and friendly to others.

The Jake we know doesn't do any of those things at home which is why it was so hard to believe that he was the "Angel" they claimed he was at school. He only goes to school 3 days a week and when he's not there, the teachers miss him terribly. His favorite teacher, Ms. Stephanie, never wants us to take him home. I'm glad that his school experience brings out the "Angel" in Jake :)

Daddy's 34th Birthday.....

Here are pictures from Aaron's 34th Birthday on April 2nd. We spent it with the family by going out to dinner for family style Chinese food and then back to our house for cake and ice cream. We got him a golf net so he could practice hitting golf balls without hitting them at the house or over the house. He FINALLY got around to opening the golf net and setting it up this February (almost a year later).

T-Ball Season 1......

We signed Garrett & Marissa up for T-ball in the Spring of '08. This was the first t-ball experience for both of them. We weren't expecting much from them out there but they actually did pretty well.

The best part for them was getting "snacks" after the games. Marissa played with a right hander's mitt even though she is left handed. Jake loved being outside and playing in the dirt. Garrett was able to hit the ball without the Tee towards the end of the season. We are excited for t-ball this year because the 3 of them will be on the same team. It should make for some entertaining t-ball.

Easter Sunday 2008.....

Here are some pictures of our Easter Sunday before meeting up with the rest of the family. We hid eggs in our backyard for the boys and they loved it.

They loved it so much that whenever Grandma comes over to watch them, the boys make her hide eggs in the backyard. (we kept a box of the plastic eggs because we felt bad just throwing them away...we're being green!)

We store the box way up high in Garrett's closet thinking they'll forget about it. But, nope, they ALWAYS make Grandma get the step stool and take the box down to hide the eggs. It drives me a little crazy but it makes them happy.

And yes, I know my boys are NOT twins. I'm continuously reminded by my sister that they're not twins, so why do I dress them as twins? Because I can and I like too :) I don't have any girls to dress so I have to dress my boys. I know that someday they won't let me dress them at all. I've got to do it while I can.

Easter Dessert 2008.....

We had our Easter celebration at Frankie & Kathy's house last year. I was in charge of bringing dessert. Actually, I was supposed to bring jello. I didn't want to bring boring old jello so I searched for something unique and tasty made from jello.

I found this beautiful rainbow jello creation online and decided I needed to make it. I don't think I'll ever make it again. It took ALL day long (I made it the Saturday before), and you've gotta have a lot of patience to wait for it to set properly. It really was beautiful but it was also a pain in the ass. I remember taking these pictures and telling myself, "you've gotta blog about this because it will never happen again". I also found a key lime cheesecake at costco that I thought was really pretty. It turned out to be pretty tasty as well.