let the celebrations begin

we had my family christmas gathering yesterday. we do a gift exchange since there are so many of us now. i had my niece monica this year. abercrombie and fitch perfume and gift card. my sister had me, yah! gap gift card and a COACH wristlet for me. i love that no one stuck with the budget this year; ). we gave my parents a really cool album with pictures of each of us from a photo booth. have you done one of those lately? OMG, so much fun. everyone did it, brothers, sister, sister-in-laws, niece and nephews. then we filled out a questionnaire about ourselves and each of us made a scrapbook page. really fun, and my parents loved it.

tomorrow, it's christmas with the brocketts. christmas eve we will be in brea with tom and sue. christmas day we will be home all day for the first time in forever. maybe even in our pajamas all day. bob and d will visit for lunch and my parents are coming over for dinner. i'm excited to give bobby his gift, but i can't talk about it because he reads this, and talks to you all. i'll post later what it was.

i did go out shopping today. i didn't have anything to buy, i just wanted to experience some christmas-ness without the stress of getting what i need and moving on. but i did get these in red . . .on sale of course! perfect for christmas day.

hope you are having fun and not running around. see you soon.

yes

-i am stuck in the stress of the holidays
-i have been christmas shopping every day for the past two weeks and i'm still not done.
-i have to make cookies and brownies for sofia's class, cupcakes for 30 kids for Jordan's class and sugar cookies for andrew's class by next week.
-i have to get jordan's birthday present.
-i have to help jordan with his book report, due monday.
- i have been keeping up with my christmas journal. you can see it here.
-we have our christmas tree up.
-i could use a vacation.

hope everyone is doing ok.

busy having fun

we had so much fun celebrating bobby's birthday this weekend. saturday we went to burbank for surf n turf at bob and d's house. oh, but first we picked up cupcakes at yummy cupcakes. mmmm. finally, i took bobby to the movies. well, actually he had the passes and he drove, so technically he took me. but it was my suggestion. we saw "dan in real life." what a great movie. sweet, sentimental, funny. we are big steve carell fans, (that's what she said?).


sunday was the granada hills holiday parade. it's right by our house, so sofia and i walked there and met up with my parents and brother's family. it was a beautiful day. we had fun waving at everyone as they walked by. sofia loved the dogs and the dancers and all of the christmas music. lots of girl and boy scouts. and all the way at the end were the y-guides. andrew's first time in the parade and he looked like he could care less. but he said he had fun. then the gang came back to our house for tortas and tacos. and of course an ice cream roll cake. happy birthday bobby.

friday was jordan's swim team banquet. it was great to see everyone again, even the coach. they had an awards ceremony where they handed out trophies to the mvp, coach's award and most improved swimmer.
our little jordan won the most improved trophy. we are so proud. what else can we say. there was a slideshow with pictures from the season. it made us all teary eyed. jordan was "eh" about the whole night. more interested in how helium works and who invented the balloon. oh well.

finally, i am working on a christmas journal this year. part of an online class i am taking. it sounds like alot of fun. everyday there will be a prompt to get me to write about the season and really help me focus on this time. here is the first page, a manifesto about why i want to journal this christmas.


have a great week. oh and we hope the breast cancer walk in san diego was a huge success. wish we could have been there.

let me fill you in

with all of the holiday todo we never mentioned andrew's t-ball experience. what a joy it was to see him grow to love this sport. he was the one that wanted to do it. but we did have to push him a bit when the time came. he was amazing. followed all of the coach's instructions. he learned the correct stance, throwing and catching techniques. and he can be baseball ready at any time. towards the end of the season they were pitching to the kids and he was hitting and taking bases. the best part was when he ran to home and then would just stand on the base and look at us, even when other runners were coming behind him. at the last game he got a medal (he was a little disappointed because he came into this thinking he was getting a trophy) but he was proud none the less. we are signing him up to play in the spring which begins in march, i think. looking forward to that.




had a great thanksgiving with my family. lots of good food and plenty of laughs. we made lists of things we are thankful for. here's a glance;
- Dora the explorer
- bionicles
- baseball and swimming
- that happy feeling in the morning when we hear little voices outside our bedroom door
- the cleaning lady
- food
- and cows (yep andrew had to throw that in for fun)



then we had another great thanksgiving celebration with the brockett clan. aaron, cherry, kate and the kids were in town and we got a chance to hang out and let the little cousins get to know each other. more turkey, cranberries and stuffing for all. it was fun watching the little boys (and big boys) play baseaball and run around. we are looking forward to visiting them when we go to colorado next year for the wedding.

yes, today we are cleaning out the garage and decorating for christmas. it feels weird to be doing it so early but exciting because we get to enjoy it longer. i'm working on some holiday crafts and of course our christmas card.

hoping everyone gets home safe and sound.

grateful

just wanted to stop in and say happy thanksgiving to those of you on the net today. so much to be thankful for. most importantly that i have my family and friends happy and healthy. especially today, i am feeling refreshed and renewed. making some changes around here and making plans for some more changes, too. feeling like we are getting a chance to start anew and make improvements in our lives that will help us to live a happier life. also getting through some of those things i have been putting off and making excuses for not doing. see what happens when bobby has a few days off to hang around the house with us. he wants to make some changes. i'm thankful because it is what i needed to get it done!! i love new beginnings.

hope everyone enjoys their turkey or whatever you chose to eat today!! i know we will.

love to everyone.
the bees

what a season!!

jordan had his last swim meet on sunday. it has been such an incredile learning experience for all of us. to think of those times when it didn't feel like it was going to happen. how he resisted and fought and i questioned what i was doing. struggling through practices 3 times a week, having to take all the kids and keep watch around the pool. getting up early to be at the meets for warm up, sunday we had to be there at 7:15 AM. who gets up at 6 o'clock on sunday? and jord swimming through it all; the heat, the cold, the tears, the soreness, the coach yelling at him, the coach praising him. it really has been an emotional time. jord has proved that he is capable of this and that he does it well. he was never motivated by winning, he told me he just wanted to do better than he did the last time. he never looked at what place he was in but instead paid attention to the points that he earned for his team. i have learned so much from him. he is a remarkable human being. we have learned to deal with his resistance and push through. we have discovered the bond of being on a team and supporting each other. we believed in him and were blown away by what he could do. jordan has received the reward from persistance, dedication and practice. In the end he earned 5 medals (more to come after we get the official results from this past meet), 3 heat winner ribbons and the belief that he can do anything he sets his mind to. will he swim next year? i hope so. i'm not sure how he feels though. i know i will miss it and i think he will too. looking forward to the banquet in a few weeks. it will be a fun chance to get together with his team, celebrate everyone's successes and he will get his trophy. i think it will mean more to him than any of the other awards because it is a trophy for committing to something and seeing it through to the end. to some this was just a sport but to us it was a life lesson. i feel so thankful to have gone through this experience. as i look at some of the pictures from this time my heart is full of pride and amazement for my little boy. what a blessing he is in our lives. and to think of what else he will accomplish in his life . . . wow!

time really flies

i still can't believe that my little neice is 15, well almost 16. we celebrated her quinceañera this weekend, kind of a combo sweet sixteen and quinceañera. my sister-in-law did a fabulous job putting together such a memorable day for EVERYONE. in case you don't know, a quinceañera is a celebration and sort of coming-of-age party for girls. my family has been planning this party for over a year. yes, it really is like a wedding. there is a special mass where monica was celebrated and blessed. then there was a party at a local reception hall. very elegant, yet youthful. my other sister-in-law practiced a waltz with my neice and her "court" of friends that accompanied her. beautiful. these kids worked all summer to get it right and it was great. my brother's band played at the reception. defintely a family affair.


we were honored that monica asked me and bobby to be her sponsors for the event. we got to dress up and be with her and support her throughout the day and of course throughout her life. i was so proud of her. she looked beautiful and composed. wow, she can start dating now!!

i worked on the invitations, favors, and the seating board. my scrapbooking supplies came in handy. sofia was also a part of the court. she was wearing a pretty dress and kept saying she was a princess. she danced the night away, until 11:30. to see her and then look at monica i know how quickly time will go and we want to enjoy and remember it all.