Jeremy's 7th Birthday!

Last Friday was Jeremy's 7th birthday! It started out with a happy birthday phone call from Great-Grandma Parker. Then it was off to the donut shop with Daddy to get a dozen of Jeremy's favorite donuts for our traditional donut birthday cake! It was so yummy! Then we got ready and went to Disneyland! We got there right when it was opening and rushed to get on California Screamin', Jeremy's favorite roller coaster. It was so fun being there early, right when they were starting the rides up, and before all the crowds got there! Jeremy has been telling people for weeks that when he turns 7, he can go on the rides by himself. This was his first one, and he was so excited! Birthday boy on the carousel! Birthday boy's cute sister on the carousel. Jeremy and I on Soarin'. He wanted to go on it by himself, but I convinced him that it would be okay for me to go too. Love that ride!Special ice cream treat for his birthday! It was so fun for Jeremy to be chosen to be in the Jedi Training Academy on his birthday!

First he trained. Then he fought Darth Maul. Then he got his certificate and boy was he excited! While Daddy and Jeremy hit up some big rides, Kelsey and I went to go see Mickey and Minnie. Kelsey's having a love affair with them right now. She gets so excited whenever she sees their picture, and loves to squeeze the stuffed ones she has at home. Look Mama, there she is! Then we played in the fountain. Back with our crazy birthday boy again! He has always wanted to make a double lightsaber, so that was his birthday present. Here he is building it with Daddy, Uncle Jim, and the Disney helper. How did she know these two were lovers? She kept making their noses kiss; it was so cute! Walt and Mickey at sunset. I was so surprised and proud when Jeremy read this sign to me! He's learning!

We went to Mimi's for his birthday dinner and they gave him this piece of chocolate mousse cake and sang to him.

When we got home he showed us his lightsaber skills.

Happy birthday baby!

Family Photo Shoot

Our magnificent SIL Kathryn was so kind to take our family pictures when she was here for Thanksgiving. Most of you have probably seen them on Facebook, but here they are!

New Year's

So I've been feeling overwhelmed thinking of posting all the fun stuff we did in December so I've decided to skip it and move on into the New Year!!!

My awesome sister gave us a gift of 4 nights in her timeshare in Solvang. It was so great to get away and go to that beautiful, green, delicious place! The day before we left, my month-old cold turned into a sinus infection. I woke up early on New Year's Eve, went to see the dr. and got antibiotics and we were on our way up the coast! Thankfully Kelsey has become a much better traveler since she likes to watch movies in the car. We stopped at the outlets in Camarillo on the way up and found some fun things at the Disney store and some cute jammies for Kelsey next Christmas. The first couple of days I was pretty wiped out from the sickness, but the antibiotics kicked in and we had some fun! David discovered that Neverland Ranch was just up the road from Solvang. It was interesting to see how one of the most famous people in the world lived in such a quiet, unassuming place. It looked like you could just hop over the little wooden fence and run around the property, but there were securtity cameras everywhere!! People had written messages to Michael all over the rocks on the wall and left little bunches of flowers tucked everywhere. Just outside of Solvang there is an Ostrich Farm where you can view and feed the ostriches. They charged so much money though that we decided to see them for free along the side of the road. After that we went to eat some dinner at a BBQ restaurant nearby. They had a cool treasure chest that kids could get a prize out of. Jeremy got these fun glasses and a snake he named Lily. Kelsey was pretty much a disaster. Those poor people that had to clean up after us. The timeshare had a game room where we had fun playing ping pong. Kelsey had fun chasing and retrieving the balls for us. She even found one when we didn't know where it was. The town square was pretty and full of people enjoying themselves. Jeremy liked this rock sculpture and found some boys to run around with. Kelsey just wanted to climb the steps. These adirondack chairs were everywhere and I told David I didn't see why anyone would want to sit in them; they looked so uncomfortable. Well, we sat, and I understood. Now I want some. LOL Kelsey had her own seat in a big Dutch shoe. The town is so picturesque and has lots of fun things to see. These were my favorite things of all. Aebleskivers. Mmmmm...I could eat these every day. Our neighbors gave us fun bath toys for Christmas right before we left so we took them with us. The kids had a ball! Jeremy had fun "shaving." Kelsey drew all over the walls with her bath crayons. On Sunday we went to church and then to Nojoqui Falls Park to meet our favorite cousins. Kelsey proved to be quite the daredevil, big surprise, and we had to watch her like a hawk as she tried everything out. There was a really cool hollow tree. Jeremy was afraid to go in it at first, but Kelsey didn't care. On the hike up to the waterfall, our cousin showed up this cool tree slide. Pretty neat. Jeremy and his cousin "fishing." Kelsey testing the water. I took her picture and before I knew it she'd walked right into the water! Whoops! It must've been cold, but she didn't seem to mind. After the park, we all went back to the timeshare and had Hawaiian haystacks. It was so fun to spend some time together. The kids are so cute together and I wish we lived closer. Thank you Cherish for our wonderful vacation!!!