Happy New Year!

Some of us will not make it til midnight tonight, so we're wishing everyone a happy new year early!

Merry Christmas!

This is the best we could do in the way of Christmas pictures this year ;) We enjoyed our first Christmas with Stella, and we enjoyed a visit from the Hernandez Family and visiting Granddaddy and Judy, Nanny and Charles, and Aunt Debbie.




Here are all the stockings lined up in a row filled with goodies from Santa. Aunt Debbie hand made each stocking with loving care, and we will always cherish them :)



Ellie is happy with her Mulan Barbie from Santa!



Caden was so excited with his cowboy rifle from Santa!



Roland was very thoughtful and bought me a beautiful, soft plush blanket with his own money.



Roland and Jonathan were thrilled with their XBox 360 with Kinect from Granddaddy and Judy - definitely the hit of Christmas this year! (no picture of them opening it, unfortunately)

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

Stella at 5 Weeks

Not the best quality photo (taken with Roland's ipod), but you can see how much she has changed in just a week!

1 Month Old

Stella will turn 1 month old on Monday. Here is a picture from today.

A Long Day

After a busy day, everyone conked out in the living room while I was getting a chance to catch up on my rest in my room. Notice Stella and Caden both in Michael's lap. Michael is the only one pretending to sleep - everyone else is really asleep, including Jonathan!

Plenty of Love to Go Around

Everyone wants to hold baby Stella. She certainly isn't short on attention.

1 Week Old

Stella is now 1 week old and starting to wake up more. She has been so sleepy. Here she is with her eyes open :)

Baby Stella Has Arrived!

We are happy to announce the arrival of our baby girl, Stella Dianne, born at 5:59am at home on November 15th. She is 7 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long. We are so blessed.

Roland's First Wrestling Match!

Today Roland had his first wrestling meet and won one of his matches. Here is a video clip of Roland in the winning match. He is wearing the blue singlet.

Roland's Poem - Alpine Forest

Roland was recently given an assignment in his sophomore English class to write a free verse poem. I think it turned out very nicely. Here is a copy of the poem he wrote entitled "Alpine Forest."


Heavy snow falls about the forest, the last autumn breezes have ceased.
Something so beautiful, it’s hard to imagine, could be such a life snatching beast.
What was once known as the lake of Geese is now an iced over trap.
The humble wolf makes her way to her den, oh; the ice is so thin it could snap.

The Earthen floor, once buzzing with life, is now claimed by winter’s great hand.
Such elegant patches of clean white drifts encase the entire land.
Towering conifers bearing the undue burden of nature’s cold ways,
As the bright moon swallows the great undying sun, keeping us lost in the maze.

The graceful polar bear sleeps in her cave, awaiting spring’s warm break,
Fresh flower buds hide in their bare cocoons, just waiting to escape.
Spring anticipation is strong in the hearts of many things,
Such hope and such greatness Spring brings.

At last, the sun makes a grand appearance. Young plants can now grow.
Life picks up where it left off, days are no longer slow.
Young bear cubs burrow their way out of their mother’s strong den
The next generation of life begins.

38 weeks pregnant

Well, we are now in the last 12 days of this pregnancy and are getting really excited about welcoming the newest member of our family soon! At my last appointment, the baby's head was engaged and in the optimal position for labor/delivery, so any day now :)


Fetal Development Pictures Slideshow: Month by Month on MedicineNet.com

Happy Halloween!

Tonight we celebrated Caden's b-day with family and enjoyed a festive Halloween dinner.

Monster teeth apples



Mummy Dogs



Spider Veggies



Festive Cookies




Opening Aunt Debbie's Present




A Fire Station from Nanny and Charles



Dad and the kids all dressed up and ready to go



It's more fun to ride!



Roland decided to stay home and play pranks on older trick-or-treaters by pretending to be fake and then coming to life if they tried to take too much candy.



Looking at their stash

World's Biggest Burger

Michael outdid himself and created an enormous 10 pound hamburger designed (hopefully) to fill up our teenage boys. We cease to be amazed at how much a 15 year old and 13 year old boy can eat, but even they couldn't conquer this burger! Even with everyone eating some, we barely even made a dent in it! Hope we can finish it before it goes bad :)

First we have the homemade hamburger bun.




Next, we have chef Michael seasoning the meat just so...



The burger partially assembled with lettuce, tomato, cheese and bacon (mushrooms and condiments could be added later if desired)




The finished product



Check out that expression - Dad knows he has won the battle this time!

Caden's Big Day

Yesterday was Caden's 4th birthday! We celebrated by going to Let's Jump (Dad even took off a half day to join us). He thoroughly enjoyed being the "king" for a day. His garbage truck cake was a big hit - we had lots of fun making it :)

Pumpkin Carving

Tonight the big kids helped the little kids carve pumpkins using stencils. It looked like a tedious process to me! The boys were pretty patient with it, though, and the little kids were so excited to be getting ready for Halloween.

Our New Niece

Baby Athena made her arrival a couple of weeks early, and we are so excited to meet her! Here is a picture of her in the hospital.

Creative Halloween Costumes

Today the little kids had fun making their own Halloween costumes at the library. They had several choices to choose from, and Caden chose the sword and shield while Ellie chose the Hawaiian grass skirt and lei bracelets. It was lots of fun!

Baby Shower

Nanny (my mom) gave us a beautiful baby shower for family to welcome our newest blessing last weekend! Thanks to our wonderful family for coming to support us during our time of joy :) In case you can't tell, Alex (my SIL) is also expecting - due November 2nd, so our children will be cousins born just a couple of weeks apart. What a blessing! Here are some pictures from the event.