A Family Fairwell

Here goes my last post of the night... and I will consider everyone caught up. A couple weeks ago we sent our prayers on the road with Andres' father as he moved to Mexico. FAR into Mexico! Javier packed up and moved to a town located about an hour outside of Guadalajara, wow that name has a lot of 'A's in it. He assures us he is very happy to be there and, although Andres misses him tremedously, we are happy for him too! We love Connor's Grandpa and are excited to share lots of stories about him as time goes on. For now, he is only a phone call away and we look forward to a place to visit when we begin our family vacations. My love goes out to Javier and I thank him for raising such a passionate man with a heart of gold.

Michelle Kelley, This ones for you!

I would like to submit my letter of apology to the Kelley family. My bargain post on the Costco Christmas wreath did not have a positive affect on them. After searching the Temecula Costo the wreaths were no where to be found. Is Rancho the only store who treated their customers to such a nice suprise? Or was Temecula already aware of such a great bargain and the Kelley's took too long to act? Hmmm... we'll have to check again next year and compair notes.

Fine, I'll admit it this one time

OK, so maybe my blog did get a little boring over the holiday. Between Connor's first Christmas, a week of having to blow my nose every 10 minutes and preparing Christmas crap, I have been a bit busy. So hereis my 2Nd half of December recap.
Post One: We had Connor's pictures taken for the first time in a studio and it was lots of fun. She is so cute and was sooo good! Here are a couple of my favorites! (I made this pretty red Christmas dress... yeah me!)

Post Two: Connor's foot attack! Monday (the day of Connor's pictures) Penny got a hold of Connor's cute little feet and decorated them with new Christmas socks. Her first pair appeared in the picture above and were white with candy canes on them. Then Tuesday came and she struck again. This time with red and green candy cane socks. Wednesday was the final day of the sock attack. These were my favorite and I will admit, I was sad she only bought the 3 pack!

That Tuesday we attended Heidi's annual Christmas cookie exchange and had lots of fun. I brought my usual sugar cookies and enjoyed tasting every one's new recipes. My favorite were Heidi's gooey cookies. Why were they my favorite you ask? Because they were sooo sweet, you could lick a crumb off your finger and satisfy your sweet tooth for at least a month... dang girl, I thought I was sweet!

The following Thursday brought us to Connor's first trip to Disneyland! You have to check out Connor's smile in this picture. She had lots of fun hanging out with her cousins and slept thru most of the day.

Uncle Ian was performing with his band and the WHOLE family went to show our support. It was a trip seeing our little brother walking down main street in a High School band uniform beating on a drum! Good job Chub! (He's in the middle with the Mickey Santa hat)

We got back to work on Friday and found Connor's first Christmas present from her Great Grandpa in South Carolina! It was a first Christmas Vermont Teddy Bear. She loved it immediately but did not enjoy the taste of the fuzz!

Christmas Eve found us at Aunt Marti's celebrating Grandpa Hooties 50th Birthday! We enjoyed an evening with Family and Food (our favorites!)

The following morning we got up bright and early to get to Grandpa and Grandma Hooties! We had a long night of stuffy noses and crankiness so I was glad to get up and get going. We all had lots of fun opening presents together and seeing what we all got. I love buying gifts for our family and watching them get excited when they open it. I felt good about the gifts we got this year, I think everyone was happy!

Daddy spoiled me this year and it was lots of fun. My favorite gifts from him were my new Coach purse, my navigation (so I don't have any excuses!) and my earrings (all 3 pairs!). Pretty insane yet even more exciting. My parents got us a lap top (which I am finally enjoying while I blog in bed at midnight!) as well as a tool box and Golfsmith gift card for Andres. Connor got lots and lots of clothes, toys and...wrapping paper to eat! She is easy to please this year but I know next year will be a different story!

If any of you read Heidi's blog (which I am sure you do, my readers being Mel, Cheryl and, well, Heidi) then you know about the underwear tree. If you don't, check it out at the link to the right. In the mean time, here is a close up of the undies added this year... too cute! We had lots of fun this Christmas, making sure it was a special one for all of us. Below is a picture of the goodies I still have to find someplace to store. Notice daddy's gift to Connor... the Big Red Wagon, complete with a Connor license plate mounted on the back. It is beautiful and we are excited to sit her in it and pull her around anywhere and everywhere. Daddy also got his precious baby girl her first Diamond bracelet. It is a beautiful silver bracelet with a little heart charm and a diamond in the center. It is still a little too big to wear, but she will grown into it in not time. You know she turns 5 months old on Tuesday!

Well folks, thanks for taking the time to read thru our Holiday adventures. I am sure I could add more pictures and type more text, but I will spare you all... for now. Have a safe and happy New Year and we'll talk again in 2008!!!

Bargain Bragging

So maybe I will make this a weekly post for me... my bargain of the week! I'll call it Bargain Bragging and share my exciting finds! This week my bargain was found at Costco (love them samples). Anyhow, check it out below and make your guesses before I break it down! (Sorry the pictures sideways, I guess it really doesn't matter)I saw this in a bin by the frozen foods at the Costco in Rancho Cucamonga and smelled the freshness. Andres saw me and told me to "Get It!" I couldn't imagine spending how ever much money this thing must be on something to hang on my door that will die in just a couple weeks. So I checked out the sign above and threw one in the cart... at $4.50 a piece I should have thrown one in for each of my readers (what's that, about $13.50?). Anyhow, check it out! It is already decored with pine cones and berries and looks SOOO pretty (not to mention expensive!)

The Broken Buster Update

We picked up Buster from Central Animal Hospital Tuesday night and here he is!

He goes back in about 8 to 10 days to remove the stiches but is on house arrest for 8 weeks!!! He hasen't tried to walk on it (yet) and is still excited about life... BUT still walks under my feet.

Happy 6th Birthday Brad

Today was Connor's Cousin Bradley's birthday party. We had lots of fun hanging out with the Cooks, they are my favorite in-laws! We love you guys.

Our Poor little Buster

So Friday night was a tough one for Buster, I noticed as Connor and I were going to bed that he wasn't walking on one of his back legs. I decided not to worry too much till the morning, maybe he would 'walk it off'. Well, 6 hours and 2 x-rays later, the poor guy needs surgery. I spent saturday dragging Connor and Buster to Banfield Animal Clinic for my first opinion, the on to Upland Animal Hospital for the referral. The doctor said he has a good size fracture on his growth plate, above his knee and it will need pens or a plate. How did he hurt himself you ask... I stepped on him! It happens often by everyone because he walks under our feet. This time he wasn't so lucky. It was a long day and my arms were killing me from carrying both babies all day, but we take him in tonight for the surgery and will keep everyone posted.

My Picture Fest of a Weekend

First off, Happy 15th Birthday to my little bro Ian. I can't believe he is almost old enough to drive. His birthday was Saturday and the family enjoyed a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, our favorite. The Thompson's got him a razor to mark his coming of age, he took it as a joke but I think it was or will be useful one day.
Sunday Andres, Connor, Mel and myself went to the John Force Holiday car show in Yorba Linda. It was a beautiful day and we got to see what my parents do every other weekend. Looks exciting dad, those chairs must be pretty comfortable.

We walked around the show and saw lots of fancy cars. I can't believe how much money people put into cars that they won't even drive to the grocery store.
I don't have a good story to go with this picture, I just think she's so stink'n cute!

Christmas wouldn't be complete without this next picture!She was a bit on the cranky side this weekend which is why she cried I'm sure... usually she lets anyone hold her. But daddy calmed her down quickly and she was good to go, Santa on the other hand was just about ready to call it a day... a LONG day!.

There was no fee to enter the show, they only asked families to bring an unwrapped $10 toy... here is what they got! Toy Mountain!!!

The weekend was lots of fun with lots of family time. We look firward to our weekends together and know there are many more great ones to come!