Christmas cards!

All I am going to say is that for those of you getting our Christmas cards this year, I am sorry...getting 3 kids to sit and all look at the camera and smile at the same time is next to impossible. So I am posting some of the antics here. Hey, I did the best I could :)



In this one Jenna was VERY mad about wearing a headband with a big red bow on it. She claimed that, "she was NOT a baby". It shows on her face.


This one would have been perfect if it were not for Lucien blinking at the wrong time...
....and this one pretty much speaks for itself. I know Luc buddy, I feel the same way!

Cheerleading

Jenna is officially a cheerleader and Friday night she cheered at her first basketball game. The uniforms are not in yet but she had her socks, shoes, hair bow and pom poms. She was so exited and nervous but she did such a good job!

Holiday fun

Last night I had some work friends over for a night of good food and ADULT conversation (and drinks :)) we had a great time. The theme was sort of "sushi night" but I made some other foods as well..........we had so much food! It was all yummy especially my favorite cocktail the Aspen Sugar Daddy:

1 oz. vodka
1 oz. cointreau or triple sec
1 oz. amarula
1/2 oz. pomegranate juice
3 oz. good quality Margarita mix

Dessert was chocolate fondue. You can tell we had a good time. Today I started to try and take some pics of the kids for holiday cards. We shall see if I can pull it together in time. Luc is growing so much every day. He can stand is starting to try and take his first shaky steps. He is in to everything and is really just a very happy baby.

Really cute!

http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016

Thats all!

Pirates, fairies, witches, skunks, and yoda...oh my!

October has been a fun month and I can't believe that we already have to say goodbye. It went by so fast and the kids had a blast with Halloween this year. The week before we went to a party and Woodhaven country club. Jenna chose a pirate costume, Belle a spider witch and Luci was our little skunk...turned pirate at the end :) They all got into the part.

On Halloween they decided to switch it up a little. Jenna stuck with the pirate but Isabelle decided she wanted to wear her Tinkerbell costume and Lucien was Yoda...reluctantly. But he fell asleep 20 minutes after we started walking anyway.

It's my blog and I'll blog if I want to

http://www.palinaspresident.com

Scroll over everything. My personal favorite is open the door on the left....several times.

My friend...

My best friend Julia got married today and I couldn't be more happy for her. She looked beautiful. Excuse me if I seem a little over mushy but I don't have any sisters. I never really spent time thinking about what that would have been like, but I guess how close I feel to Julia probably skims the surface of those emotions a little.....without any of the sibling rivalry ;)

If you have one true friend, you have more than your share. ~Thomas Fuller~

My new haircut

Thanks mom for the birthday present! Decided to go with a big change:

My meez

Getting dirty.....and cleaning up.

Lucien is now starting to enjoy the teething biscuits. He is quite happy to sit for a while and make a big old mess! Then again he loves to get clean again. This boy loves the water just like his sisters! You can see this in the "before" and "after" shots. He looks so cute in his robe. Last week we went to the zoo on my off day. This was Lucien's first time playing at the splash park and he had a wonderful time in the smaller kids area. He had it all to himself.

Sears pics

I finally figured out how to post the pics that were taken last week. The kids had a great time and I think we got some really good shots. They look a little dark but I think it's just the way they loaded on the computer. The final product is not like that.

So much personality!

Not much to say today. Took Lucien to get professional pics made for the first time. They came out OK. He looks sweet but then I come home and find out that the best way to catch his personality is not to spend $100. It's to whip out the digital camera! He is such a happy little guy, and growing up much too fast.

6 months......

Lucien is beyond 6 months now and really growing up fast! His newest trick is scooting around on his knees. We are calling it crawling just becaue he can pretty much get wherever he wants now! He is 16 lbs. and totally healthy. He loves to eat and his latest new addition is green beans which I thought he would have to get used to but he didn't even make a face.

Trip to Fripp

Well we just got back from our annual trip to Fripp Island, SC. The kids always have a great time and this year did not disappoint! The girls left on Friday the 4th and road with Tirzah and Larry (jeez you guys deserve a metal!!) they stopped halfway at a hotel to break up the trip. Unfortunately I had to work on Friday so we left about 9 am Saturday and drove straight through with Lucien in tow. The trip down wasn't so bad at all, we got in about 10pm.

The week was spent as it always is, relaxing, swimming, playing and talking with friends and family. It really is a nice change of pace to get away from town and not think about anything back home for a week. As you can see from the pics the girls had a great time and little Luc got his first experience at the beach and at the pool. The little man loves water. We also visited a lighthouse on nearby Hunting Island. LOTS of steps!

So now we are back, back to work, back to day camp for Isabelle, back to lazy summer days for Jenna and it wont be long before school starts up again. Man time flies!

I am here!!!!

Wow it has really been awhile!! Our computer situation has been so on again off again I haven't had time to post. So much has gone on I am just going to have to do a pitiful job summarizing it right here.

I am now officially back at work as of May 1st. Many people always marvel when I tell them I am a zookeeper and it is usually followed by, "I bet you have so much fun" or "don't you love your job?". Now don't get me wrong people, if I had to sit behind a desk all day I would probably scratch my eyes out and yes I do consider myself fortunate that I get to do something I love. But man if someone told me I never had to go back again, I don't think I would loose any sleep over it! I mean I would probably go back as a volunteer or something but if it's a choice between work or my kids...yeah, I would rather stay home. The schedule has been the hardest thing. With Adam back at work and me having to be in so early plus the kids are usually going to 3 different places now that school is out. Well I would probably make you tired just trying to explain it all.

The girls both turned a year older at the beginning of June. Isabelle was first my big 4 year old. She had a fabulous Mermaid party held at Aunt Tirzah's house. Everything was there that she specified: balloons, cake, a pool, presents and her family. What more could a little girl want? The pic is of Belle with the fishtank we got her. Jenna was next. Nine years old can you believe it??? She has enough attitude for a girl twice that age but hey, what did you expect, she's my little girl:) She had a pool party with all her friends. A great sun burnt day was had by all (note to self: you can never have too much sunscreen).

Lucien is growing like a weed, at his 4 month appointment the beginning of this month he was 13 lbs 8 oz. That is 25%, he is doing fine and really getting a personality. He loves to grab at everything and is really finding his voice. This is a picture of him trying avacado the other night....he was not amused. I think it was the texture more than the taste. Ah well, we are not pushing food on him too much at this point. More so just seeing what he thinks of it all. He is very interested in watching people eat.

Shake, Rattle and Roll!

Well spring has hit us full force. It has been a month since my last update and I can't believe that a month has already gone by so quickly. Yesterday we experienced our first earthquake(my first one anyway!) . About 5:30am I was up feeding and changing Lucien. I was sitting on the couch trying to get him to sleep when Kiwi (our bird) started to flap and jump around in his cage VERY loudly. I thought he was having a heart attack so I got up to go check on him and right about that time is when the shaking started. At first I passed it off as a big truck or an airplane but then it continued for about 30seconds and the only possible explanation was earthquake. Sure enough I had the news on and they seemed just as confused. It even woke Jenna up. It was centered in IL and registered 5.3. It was a pretty strange morning!

Last week I got in my first wreck. We are all OK but unfortunately my car didn't make it:( I was taking Jenna to school and getting off the expressway. One car was in front of me at the end of the ramp. I watched her brake lights go off and she started to move so I turned my head to check out the oncoming traffic. There was one car in the distance so I laid into my gas pedal and straight into the back of her SUV. Turns out she had stopped. Since her bumper was higher than mine, she crunched in the front of my car into the engine. It might not look that bad but due to the age of my car and the fact that the transmission was getting ready to go out in addition to many other issues, I knew that I would not be getting it fixed. Time to car shop. I wont go into the long drawn out details but basically every horror story I have heard about it was true. The haggling, the stress........ultimately I decided on an 05 Chevy Venture. It has passenger seating for 7!! It has been very hard to get exited about it due to the car payment I now have :(

Little Lucien is growing like a weed. Not gaining a tremendous amount but he really looks filled out. He is getting really active as well. Cooing and "talking" up a storm. He does however have eczema, who knows if it will carry on into adulthood or if allergies are exacerbating it. Only time will tell. We have a pretty good regime to deal with break outs but other than that it is all about prevention with hydra cortisone and special lotion, 100% cotton etc. Here are some recent shots of him and his beauifuls smile. Also he really likes to "study" Pepe.

The girls are doing well and enjoying the warmer weather. Jenna has finally had some decent weather here lately to play soccer. So many practices and games had to be canceled this spring. Enjoy the pics!