peach days 2013

i have to say that after spending an afternoon at the county fair and an afternoon and evening at peach days, peach days takes the cake.  now if only they had the demolition derby, then it would be above and beyond the fair... no.  but really.

and then there was labor day.  we did nothing.  but that's okay.

trip for the 4th

independence day has always been one of my favorite holidays.  i was thrown a little off this time around because i was overly emotional.  i was able to get out of town - which was great and got to spend time with my sister and her little family which made it all pretty fun.  my sister and i got on our best 4th outfits (bandanas and all!) and hit the town.  kind of.  something about my sister and her friends is that they are all so hospitable.  we spend the 4th day at a bbq at her and her husband's friends house and they were just the nicest people.  even though i was down in the dumps - lame, i know - their friends were so welcoming and jorel had a great time, too.  we also hit up the fireworks just a block away from my sister's later that night.  we went to the l.a zoo while we were there.  jorel was actually into it this time so that was pretty fun.  we also hit up the griffith park train - one both stephen and jorel enjoyed a lot!  my sister is the greatest and she has the best husband and kid ever.  :)  thanks sissy for being the coolest!

easter 2013

one of the funnest parts about spending time with someone else's family so much is to pick up on their traditions and the way they celebrate the holidays.  mike's family does the egg dying thing big time.  i don't remember it being such a big deal in our family, i mean, we did it, but i don't think we boiled 5 dozen eggs.  we ended up hiding 56 eggs in the house for the kids to find the next morning.  mike said that wasn't that many, but in their little place, it was just enough.  i added our own tradition of getting our own box of cereal to the mix.  it was always such a special treat for us.  

christmas two?!

christmas this year was a little different.  christmas eve we had swami come and visit again (like during thanksgiving) and bring the kids some more gifts.  i thought it would be kind of fun to start a little polar express "train" ride that night in their new christmas pajamas and hat and gloves and go around and look at christmas lights.  well, it was a little late and the kids didn't make it very far so it was kind of a dud.  but anyway.  the next morning mike, jake, and odalis all came over to open presents with us that already live here (mom, ron, markus, jorel and i, in case you didn't know?).  we didn't do a christmas dinner, but instead just finger foods for the day.  mike, jorel and i went to get his kids that afternoon to go to grandma lori's for their presents over there and spend the afternoon and evening there with some of mike's family.  my mr "never gets sick" boyfriend was feeling pretty crappy that day, so i tried to keep the kids entertained with their new toys.  it was a pretty good day overall.  i really enjoyed the holidays this year, even though my sister and her family weren't here :).

our polar express dud... 

 

christmas morning tree after santa came

christmas morning 

 

odalis's cool creation

christmas tree at the legg's

someone got caught, twice! 

two thanksgivings?

i believe this is the first time in my [adult] life or childhood, maybe, that i went to two thanksgivings... that i can remember.  my family always eats on saturday to make it easier to accommodate those that are traveling and things... anyway, i ate with my boyfriends family on thursday and the rest of the weekend with my family. of course i didn't get any pictures while my sister was around except for with my iPhone...  

anyway, i always love this time of year.  yeah for the holidays!

mike's family - he failed to mention that his mom asked if i could take a picture of them... thanks hun.  was not ready so this is what they got.  

my sister was so awesome to take some pictures of mike and i and our kids.  here's one of the gems, don't we look great together?!  thanks sis!  you seriously rock!