some xmas pics...

christmas morning started quite early with cyrus running to his brothers' room and yelling, "come you guys, get out of your beds, santa came! santa came!"

what an abundance of stuff these boys received. cyrus was so excited to open his long awaited remote control dinosaur.

lukey and nico too...

then for an evening any

"woofy's" house. here are all the cousins playing together... in birth order...
thea 5
cyrus 4
lily ann 3
lukey 2
nico 2
isabella 2
marley 2

and what a mess to try to take a pic of all of them at once!!! it's nearly impossible...

santa visit...

what i thought would be an easy pic to take, was not...

both lukey and nico started crying.. hence that is why i had to be in it..

and cyrus was so patiently waiting and telling santa what was on his list...

baking exchange...

some of my close friends from work and i got together to exchange baked goods, and mostly enjoy each other's company amidst our home.

domestic we were trying to be...

there was chocolate cake, coffee cake, 7 layer bars, and p-nut cookies with hershey kisses...

enough to make you shake with sugar...

we've decided that we will be meeting more often and possibly starting a book club.

cyrus performs...

on december 14, cyrus the great sang at st. timothy's...

he did a fabulous job!!

we are so proud of him...

wuelo and yaya's xmas party...

this year all the kids were at the party...

lots of lights...

santa handing out toys... (santa with a real beard!)

they had a wonderful time raiding the appetizer and dessert tables...

choo choo train ride...

all 5 of us in a pic...what a miracle!!! and everyone facing the camera!!! woweee...

mehr and i took our brood to the el dorado park train ride. the kids loved it.

a MUST read...

this is such a wonderful little book.
it's all about...

* the hoop las that you don't need in order to be a great parent

* the crazy gagdets that the baby industry says you must have! sterilizers, table bumpers, you name it.

we just threw away the diaper champ. i was so happy to get rid of that thing! i wished we'd never had it. it was the nastiest smelling thing ever! how could poopy diapers in a bin be wonderful to have in a bedroom? no amount of bleach, coal, or baking soda could rid the smell.

* the nonsense that the toy industry says you must have for your children ( and how giving your kid all the toys they want will make them seek immediate gratification when they become adults and have spending problems)

* how we should spend less $ on our kids. (personally I loved this chapter because i think it's the most ridiculuous thing to have your kid wearing brand name clothes just to give yourself a name, or for your kid to make a mess of!) they don't care what brand their wearing!

* letting kids learn how to do things on their own

* having a life of your own, your own time and not feeling GUILTY about it

* who cares about all the ridiculous parenting advice from gurus, do things your own way

* the pressures that our little 2 year olds are supposed to adhere to, such as getting into pristine preschools, of all things can't kids just be kids?

i would love to hear from anyone out there that has read this book! it was wonderful!!!

our little halloween...

first you can see our "fruit bat", cyrus. then you'll see our monster rockers, lukey and nico. this year these two were not the slightest interested in a costume. but next year will be different i'm sure. we carved a pumpkin, burnt the most the seeds, and trick or treated down the street. it was the cutest thing to see all 3 running to the different doorsteps.