Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone! This is what Christmas looks like at our house! We had such an early morning, Brody was up at 6 and reese heard him and once she opened her door, she was screaming and smiling ear to ear! Soooo much fun when Santa comes to our house! This year Santa brought Reese a shopping cart with two babies, and a lawnmower for Brod. And, for all of us a trampoline. This year was especially special. Not that we wouldn't love to be with our family in WA. But, we were by ourselves all day and didn't have to go anywhere. It was nice. We stayed in our jammies all day and played with our new gifts and really enjoyed our little family. Jake and I are really blessed with the family we have, what a wonderful gift from our Heavenly Father. I have been reading alot of Nativity stories and showing them on a felt board about the birth of Jesus. I think Reese has got it down! I want them to know the reason we have Christmas, and not just look forward to all the {presents}! A big thank you too all who have sent us cards this year, we look forward to checking the mail everyday to put another greeting up on the wall. I like to save them on rings so we can look back at the past years. WE hope that everyone enjoyed their Christmas day! Mom, Dad, Mom and Dad Lay, we love you guys soo much and wished we could of seen you this Christmas. We are especially grateful to have you all in our lives. Posted are some pics of our Christmas! OHHHH I forgot!!!! Sadly, Jake has finally gotten the stomache flu, and has been sick all afternoon. I am just glad it is over now. We have all had it within the last week, and it has been NASTY! He is in bed resting, and I have kept the kids away from him so he can have quiet! Thank goodness for all the new toys and trampoline!

{Reese and I decorating the tree with our fancy earrings}

{Brody had to give it a try too, silly boy}
{Fireplace photo of sibling love}

{We tried}

{Reese is our new photographer, she has great skills}

{Our free Christmas tree Jake got on base! our best one ever! Most the ornaments are 3ft high, due to Brod whacking them all off.}

{His new tow truck, fascinating!}

{Reese loves her Shrek baby}

{Jake and Reese are super excited about his new lunchbox. It came with a promised lunch every workday.}

{Our Christmas day mess}

{THE NEW TRAMPOLINE, which is going to get the most use}

{Thank you Grama and Grampa Lay}

P.S. This is funny! We didn't have presents under the tree before the Eve. Reese really wanted some so we wrapped up a box of cake mix and Frosted Mini Wheats cereal, just incase Brody got to them. Her first gift that she opened after playing with Santa's gift was the cereal. We forgot to take them out! Once she opened it she screamed...." I GOT FROSTED MINI WHEATS, WAAAHOOO! I LOVE MINI WHEATS!" and same with the cake! Who knew? we could of saved alot of money!

Fall Time Fun!

"I like to post tons of pics for all of you up in WA"

Brod and his friend eating!
Our egg carton spiders!
Yes we have a bubble head~

Park Halloween Party!

Yes, they are almost the same size!

In the hot air balloon at the museum, they didn't like it, can you tell?

In the soda room, brod loves turning wheels!

My mantel that Mom Lay helped me with!

I can't believe it is almost November!!! Jake and I will be celebrating our 4th Anniversary on Nov. 4th! In only 4 years and already have two kids. WOW! Anyways, Halloween is coming up and we are trying to decide what to dress the kids up as. Reese really wants to be a tiger and for Brody to be a elephant. I know I can't make either of those, so we will see what we come up with. We just came from a little party my friend Taralee put on at the park, great day for it! We decorated our own cupcakes, a blast for the little ones! A few days ago we went to a local museum called "Pennypickles" I think. It was a lot of fun, there were soo many things for the kids to do and look at. The best thing I think was the soda can room, Reese spent alot of time in there. The idea of this room was recycling cans and paper. Here are a few pics of our adventures!...PS Brody is saying CHEESE now, and has the cutest face ever!

Ohh where has the blog gone!

Seriously, we are still alive in Temecula. Just a little busy than usual. With fun things of course! Jakes mom came down for two whole weeks, and it was amazing! To just see a family face was nice! She helped out soo much, with the kids, making dinners, and even cleaning my home! I am sooo grateful for her visit! We got to just hang out most of the time, and we even went out and did some fun things. One of the most fun outings was to the local carnival! There was a pumkin patch, and fair rides. Reese fell in love with the bungee jump, and did it two time. Each time was 15 minutes, so it seemed like the whole time! Both of the kids did the swings, and Brody is such a butterball, he just relaxed and enjoyed the ride! CHUNK! He is almost as big as Reese, I jsut cant believe it! Then, I challenged Jake to this blow up rat race thing. It was huge, had tunnels, hills, slides and it was full of air. You know, one of those blow up things? I was really pushing Jake telling him that he was afraid to lose, that is why he didnt want to do it. So, it bugged him, that I could possibly beat him at something and he went and paid $1 each for 4 more tickets to try and beat me. Sure enough, he won! Its funny, we would never think of doing something like this because we have to watch our kids, thats why it was soo nice for Mom Lay to be here! After the race, we were both short of breath, hurting lungs, coughing, and I was sweating. I didnt think we were out of shape, but it was sure worth every hard breath of it!

We also made these adorable egg carton spiders to hang from my mantel. They were soo much fun, Reese helped with painting them, her favorite thing to do right now. And mom lay and I finished them up. It took us over an hour to finish them all! But, my mantel looks great! It was worth the time! We sure do Miss everyone in WA. Unfortunately, we are not going to make it up this year. Our finances are just too tight this time of year. When Feb. 2010 comes you will be seeing us. Jakes sister is getting married, and I am soo excited to see that day! Hopefully someone will have a spot for us to sleep at their house? We will see. Hope all are doing well, we miss and love you much!!!

fAMILY pHOTOS

If you would like to see a few of our photos from our session with Alisha Hammond, please see her blog! She took tons of great pics, here are just a few!

http://www.hammingitupx6.blogspot.com

Brodys Birthday!

It was such a wonderful day when Brody came into our lives and we are extremely excited to celebrate his first birthday! He is such a great kid. He is full of personality, smiles, hugs for other babes, has a distinct laugh, and is very gentle. And now he is a BIG baby. Fully walking and running, he just started saying the word BALL, which is his favorite toy besides when he gets sneaky enough to steal Reese's baby that is also his fav. He also says DAADEEH....ALL DAY LONG! We had a few friends over to party with us for the night! If you don't have a FB here are a few pics to keep you posted!

A few new photos!

As Always, super adorable REESIE PANTS
BABES working on the hot tub!

Reese and I taking a Birthday picture for me!

This is the day I am 26 years old...is that old? Sounds old!

This kiddos love watching anything cooking in the oven...it is extremely exciting to see how it changes I guess! We are going to celebrate Brod's birthday this Saturday, and I will post up some new pics then!

My Birthday Present!!! Finally finished!

This is MY garden, a place for me to unwind and relax away from everyone else, hopefully! Since we moved, I have been wanting to grow a vegetable garden in this space. Before it was only wood chips and then was becoming a poo bed,,, Daisy no no. Sooo, Jake let me get started on tossing the wood chips and getting loads of new soil and compost! I love it! I just finished sowing all my seeds, took me two whole hours! There are going to be delicious veggies to start eating in about a month! We decided to plant strawberries, I hope they will continue to grow, we bought the plants. Also, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, onions, peppers, chives, garlic chives, zucchini, mint (i love in my water with lemon) and basil. WOW, I know, Lots of stuff! On top of that we have an apple tree, plum tree and a lemon tree too!

You are probably wondering how the rest of the fam is doing? Reese, is the sweetest girl I know! She tells me she loves me, I am pretty, and helps me around the house! I never thought it would happen, then she started sweeping up her playdoh messes, and picking up her toys. She even helps me put the dishes away! Crazy little toddler! Millions of words come out of her mouth, some I can't even understand! Her new thing is to say "NO WAY" and then shake her head like we are weirdos. She is a full time pantie wearing girl now, well except at bedtime, we are still working on that. Habit of drinking milk before bed doesn't help. Reese is super excited for Brodys birthday, and that we will be having "birthday cake".

Brody is a running machine! He has the cutest teeth, and eats everything. He says mama and dada when he needs to. Surprisingly, he is a disciplined little guy. Sleep patterns are great now! I know the first 10 months of his life were difficult for us, but now they are making up for themselves. I think the poor kid just wanted to walk this whole time! He is such a blessing. I have learned soo many things from having two babies. Patience is a virtue. I just can't believe its been a whole year already!!! Soo excited for his first birthday, just next week!

Jake has been working in the office lately, so he is now on a set day shift. Lots is going on with his MOS at the moment, and we will update once things change. He has been great with the kids, and taking care of them so I can do some other things. I think it is hard for him to be with the babies all day, but now he knows how I feel! LOL, no really! We are settled into our house, and really like it here. It feels like home to us, minus our family and friends from WA!

Below you will find pics of the kids playing in the backyard, Brody on his walking way and us on a hike, in the dead wilderness around here. There were still beautiful things but it is just extremely dry! Yes, Jake did insist on carrying both of the kids...he's strong, why not!

Music Time

During our move Jake found his Sax from High school, that he used to play soo well, he said. Now he can't remember a tune, except for Twinkle and Mary had a little lamb. He pulled it out this morning, and played for Reese. Reese wanted a turn, and was blowing slobber all over it! She was having a blast! Its almost her size, and it was heavy for her too. And, yes she is in Big Girl Panties...its a working progress!

We have moved, to a smaller place. Pretty much to stay cooler, and to start saving money to move to WA someday and buy another house. It's quite comfortable, and really feels like a home. Our other house was big, we bought too many unnecessary things to fill up the house. I guess we are also trying to simplify our lives. In our new place its just the perfect size. Only 1200sqft so we are adjusting big time, from 1900sqft. Which means we have lots of stuff to get rid of! Ahh the sweet sound of yard saleing!

Jake is still trying to figure out what is going on with his job. Its still up in the air, and he has been down from work for almost 4 months. But, it has been very nice to have him home more and going to be very hard adjusting to him going back full time! Jake is a wonderful HUSBAND. I am a truly blessed woman to be his.

Reese is a busy body. Talking all the time about everything. Saying the darndest things that we have no idea where they came from. She is repeating things such as "stup*d id%ot". I yelled it to a driver that ran a red light during my turn. Reese's version is "srupid inkidnot" It was soo funny, but I learned my lesson. She is learning different feelings. Being scared is her most recent. Such as the lawn mower and some movies are scaring her. And she tells us all the time when something makes her happy, like chocolate milk, her sweet addiction.

Brody is a little butterball. He eats everything, way more variety than Reese. He could eat all day if I let him. He has his 5th tooth coming in and is causing him lots of pain. Brody loves our new backyard, where the apples fall is his favorite place to search for rocks to throw. Also, he is walking, yes, walking at eleven months. One month earlier than Reese, so we have our hands full now. I thought it would free up some of his fussiness but the teething is getting the worst of him. It is fun to watch his walk room to room. He gives kisses and hugs, usually three of each.
Soo many things, well just the move really, but we have been soo busy. I am trying to keep sain with soo much to do! So, when the weather calms I will blog some more!