Category: General

    CHRISTMAS EVE!

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    Here’s the play by play on Christmas Eve!! The last few years we have gotten together with Ben’s sister and her family but this year all of Ben’s siblings that live in Utah were able to reserve Christmas Eve for our family so we all got together at Pete and Amanda’s. It is tradition to eat all of our favorite snack foods throughout the night… This was the table o snacks also known as dinner – So yummy!

    it still looked this full after we had all eaten!

    the little girls table

    Christmas Eve is never complete without the family Nativity…

    Practicing being Sheep and a Shepherd Girl.

    The Guys waiting for the show to start.

    Benji's trying to quiet the other sheep during the presentation

    Rose got to be the star of the show this year.

    The whole crew singing "away in a manger"

    Emily and Schyleur moved back to Utah so they came to the party and Schyleur got to meet Rose…

    Now she just needs to meet my brother Sean and Ben's brother Rick and Sister-in-law Jen then she'll have met all 26 of her aunts and uncles!

    We then started a new tradition of Christmas Eve Dancing… Benji wanted to show off his Dance move’s that he has been practicing (usually in the kitchen after dinner with his dad and siblings). He danced for everyone and then we had all of the cousins join in for the rest of the song.

    The Dancing King - he does pretty good if you can convince him to stay on his feet and not roll around on the ground.

    Cousin time

    more cousins

    CAli loves to Dance

    Packer Dancer

    After that we had a cousins and siblings gift exchange and then hurried home to get ready and in bed before Santa tried to come. The boys left cookies and milk for Santa and a celery stick for Dasher. They were super excited and super tired and went right to sleep.

    Ben with Em and Schy and his new Shirt!

    Categories: General, Nettesheim

    Pre – Christmas Fun

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    We went and visited Ben’s Grandparents on the Monday night before Christmas and it was great. We had Family Home Evening with them and really enjoyed our visit. One of the best parts was them trying to remember the ‘popcorn’ song.

    Grandma was Mary, Grandpa was a wise man. Our kids are getting the story of Christ's birth down pretty well!

    This was Rose's first time meeting her great grandparents - aren't they cute!

    Grandma showing off her 80th birthday bracelet that we all got her - she LOVED it.

    On Tuesday before Christmas we had a lot of snow so we took some time to play and sled with the the Falabella cousins.

    Lalo, Diego, and Benji

    Packer and Luca

    Mia and Cali

    Then on Thursday I took a cute Picture of my baby πŸ™‚

    I love when they discover their tongue.

    And I got a picture of the kids visiting Santa at Cabelas which needs to be documented.

    little people in little chairs

    the 3rd time was not the charm for Cali - she is still not a fan of Santa - she says he is "scary".

    Categories: General, Nettesheim

    a silent night

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    It’s 10pm on Thursday night – the Eve of Christmas Eve. Ben took Benji to go see “A Christmas Carol” at the Hale Center Theater and they are still gone. I put the kids to bed but Rose just wants to be held. She screams if I put her down but snoozes happily if I’m holding her… I just want to hold her. Sometimes after putting the other kids to bed I hold Rose the rest of the evening and we fall asleep together – I don’t like being that unproductive at night but I LOVE holding this little baby. On Tues and Weds I read a book and the whole time I read I held her – I love baby stage.

    I just went up to check on Packer and he is wide awake – this is the guy that usually hits the pillow and is asleep within 5 minutes but he said that he is waiting for Benji to get home so that he can sleep. How cute is that? I love this little family.

    Before bed I took some time to really play with Cali and Packer since they knew Benji and Dad went to do something fun. We played animals in Cali’s room – pretending to eat and sleep and swim… Cali loves the pretending to eat part which is awesome cause she’s gonna love her Christmas present :). Then we moved to Packers room at his request and continued the fun with more animals. It was a simple 30-45 minutes but I could tell that my kids loved the attention. I used to “play” more often, then they started playing better with each other and I always have something else to do BUT I want to make “playing” a priority again.

    Benji and Ben are home! Excitement is in the air. They are talking about the Door Knocker on the way in – I’m sure that is just one of many questions that Benji will have as he processes the play. Good Night.

    Categories: General

    Walnut Creek, CA

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    We made our first trip to Walnut Creek CA. We were there for just over 24 hours and never left the Hancock’s home but that still counts. It was great to see their new life and to just let the kids play – these 6 kids just go and go and they don’t need entertainment or discipline. It is a parenting dream. We had yummy dinner and a few good games and we got to try out the “guest house”.  Oh yes, we did leave, we went to the park for an hour or so…

    Buds

    Packer and Claira

    counting while Camry goes to hide

    They all found Cali and Claira

    They all found Cali and Claira

    Erica and I got to swing on the swings with our babies πŸ™‚

    Categories: General, Nettesheim

    We HAD friends Again!

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    that's A LOT of little kids

    And we all loved having our friends back… The Hancock’s came for the weekend and we PLAYED. I love that when we get together we have a 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 year old and now 2 newborns!!

    chill time

    I love that Pacen and Benji match right down to their shirts coming up to show their tummies and Cali is trying so hard to be like them. And true to life Packer and Camry are in sync.

    Claira, not crying like in pic #1

    Probably the most calm 2 year old around – this girl knows how to entertain herself and she talks like she’s 3.

    Gentry and Rose - 1st Pic Together

    Rose meets Gentry for the first time – I had to put this pic cause my baby is smiling.

    FRIENDS

    1 month old babies are hard to photo shoot – they just don’t get that we want them to stay exactly how we placed them and it would be nice if they’d smile πŸ™‚ – BUt We Tried Anyway…

    sweet little girls

    Rose is one day older, a hat size smaller, Γ‚ a pound lighter, an inch shorter, and a few shades whiter!

    you talking to us

    hugs

    This was just the beginning of a busy month – I like busy months. We said good bye to the Hancock’s late Saturday night :(, Rose and I made our first appearance at church and LOVED it, and we got to spend the evening with our local Netteshiem family which now includes Emily and her family!! We are excited to have them close by again. Oh ya, did I mention that BYU won, Utah lost, and the Packers won so it was a GREAT football weekend. bye

    Categories: General, Nettesheim

    4 days of Halloween

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    THURSDAY 10/28 – CornBellys

    We went to Corn Bellys again this year! The kids loved it. It was COLD but they didn’t care at all. Rose slept through it all and I was the only one requesting hot chocolate by the end of the night. We went with some of the cousins and had a great NIght.

    Benji and his Balloon Penguin!!!

    Packer at the Snake maze

    Cali and MIa in the Hay

    Luca, Benji, Diego, Lalo, Packer

    the younger half of our crew

    On the bouncy train ride

    just say the word haunted and Benji will jump

    FRIDAY 10/29 – Costume Parade at School, Great Pumpkin MOvie Night

    POWER UP - Red Ranger

    We went to our first school event. It was not that cool. I had the 3 youngins and no stroller and they were running late and Cali was in charge cause I didn’t have her strapped in to anything and… WHEN WE SAW BENJI AND HIS FACE LIT UP it was ALL WORTH IT !!

    There's our Kindergartener

    That night was our Great Pumpkin Movie!! We had a great time with neighbors and friends. Glad that everyone came and missed those that didn’t make it. This was our 6th year doing this Halloween Get together!

    SATURDAY 10/30 – Trick or Treat

    Ready to Trick or Treat

    Nacho, Witch, Red Ranger, Wolverine

    It was another rainy trick or treating night but… the kids went and loved it. I am happy to report that LaNell was able to get Cali into her witch costume so we did not have a Spiderman this year – I was 99% sure we would have 3 little supers but I am glad that we had one girly girl out there with Dad and brothers. I stayed home and passed out candy with Rose and Lan and we finished the night with the cousins.

    we wore orange and called it good

    We had our last adult soccer game on Saturday so my siblings came over before trick or treating. We ate Pizza and celebrated Bradys 23rd! My brothers tried to get Cali to ride the broom… and we definitely need one more picture of Nasty Nacho…


    SUNDAY 10/31 – Halloween Day

    Carving Time

    By Halloween Day we had done it all and just relaxed. We carved our Pumpkins on Tuesday night and actually started early so we weren’t up until midnight like last year. Packer wanted a scary face. Benji chose Iron Man. Cali and I did word ones and Ben did the one elaborate one this year. We had a fun Halloween weekend and now we are ready for the Holiday Season ( Yes, Ben turned on his Christmas music November 1st)

    Proud Pumpkin Owners

    Pumpkins 2010

    Categories: General, Nettesheim

    1 month old

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    My baby is already a month old! In honor of the big day I let her wear her first real outfit – not just a comfy jammies:

    at her 1 month mark she has just started to get some chubby cheeks. She is outgrowing all of the newborn clothes and the 0-3’s fit now. Her eyes are really looking blue and she is a super content baby and a SUPER good night time sleeper. SHE IS A KEEPER.

    In other news:

    We had FHE last night and talked about Loving Everyone like Jesus does. FOr an object lesson we handed Benji a bag of Chocolate chips and told him he could either eat them all or he could show love and share them…  He shared and gave each of us 4 chocolate chips and then he ate his 4 :). Next we handed the bag to Packer and gave him the same choice – – he started eating the chocolate chips soo fast. After downing atleast 15 of them I asked if he would share with me so then he gave each of us 1…. Not sure if he got the whole concept, I think he stopped listening after the whole ‘you can eat them all’ part πŸ™‚     Ben and I were both trying so hard not to laugh as he downed the chocolate.

    Late last night Ben and I were in on our bed finishing the world series and the MOnday night game and just hanging out. Our room is across the hall from the boys so after they had been in bed for over an hour Ben started playing “Angry Birds” on his phone and from across the hall we hear… ” I know what game you are playing Dad!” Benji – what? I could barely hear the music. This 5 year old is obsessed with anything electronic. Everyone else was asleep and he was claiming to have a stomach ache so we let him come and chill with us for a bit πŸ™‚

    Ben is a man of his word… Since the day we got the dog it has been his dog. He feeds him, bathes him, cleans up after him, trained him… Well, right as Ben walked in the door from work last night the dog threw up! He never does that! My first instinct was to yell for Ben to come clean up after his dog… He came, cleaned, and didn’t complain. Then I felt bad… WELCOME HOME FROM WORK Honey πŸ™‚

    And I wanted to Thank the Giants for giving me a reason to not have to do my hair this week – I pulled out my old dusty GIants baseball hat and wore that all week. I don’t watch a lot of baseball and haven’t really followed the Giants since Candy Maldonado, Jose Uribe, and Will the THrill Clark but it still felt like my team when they won it all last night. Well done guys.

    Categories: General, Rose

    Lots of Pictures from the last month

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    ATTENTION: posting all of the things that I would have posted earlier if I wasn’t snuggling with my new little baby all day (and if my netbook wasn’t taken by the Geek Squad).

    September:

    Social Sucker

    Cali never liked a Pacifier much BUT if any of her friends have one then she needs one too. And when new baby has one then she thinks she needs one – it’s pretty funny to watch her try to talk and play with it in her mouth – luckily it doesn’t last long.

    My Blanky!

    This blanket was given to baby Rose before she was born but Cali was very possessive of it and wouldn’t let anyone touch it.

    My 31st Birthday

    I spent my birthday afternoon in the hospital and was too tired to have birthday cake and party afterwards so… we ate birthday cookies thanks to my great Visiting Teachers and I went to bed early.

    October:

    TIME OUT

    Here is Cali in her timeout spot! She almost enjoys going there because she gets attention. I am trying to give her positive attention so that she doesn’t need this kind of attention. She is pretty cute in timeout though…

    keep your nose on the wall

    and my husband would not let a birthday go without birthday cake so we did eat it a few days late. BUT I did get out of the party this year which is one reason I am glad to have a birthday baby to share the party with every year and give the attention to someone else πŸ™‚

    last pic of family of 5

    birthday cake

    I have 3 siblings in Provo/Orem right now so we have had many a ‘gaming night’ and I am loving it. We play a lot of ‘Dominion’ and we have recently been into ‘Settlers’ again. I could game every night of the week – soo much fun. The siblings are also on the’ Nettesheim and Crew soccer team’ so we get to see them every Saturday for the soccer game and then if we offer food we can get them to come and stay for a couple of hours before they go back to college life.  How can you not have fun when kids show up like this?…

    dumb and dumber

    my girls

    Here are my girls. Cali is getting used to baby Rose and enjoys playing with anything that is ‘the babies’. We have 2 mornings a week when it is just the 3 of us girls. One of them is usually a trip to the store and the other a lazy morning with books.

    delicious

    We have raspberry bushes in our garden and they are the best part of that garden. Packer tells me that the reason that some of them are golden is because they are golden raspberries – very smart 3 year old and still our little gardener.

    more raspberries

    Packer’s Joy School Costume Party:

    Packers Costume Parade

    Joy School is awesome

    And Following is Cali throwing one of her fits. Her reaction to new baby has been to go into 3-4 whining fits per day… she simply decides she is not happy and then moans for the next 5-25 minutes until we get it figured out. Annoying – Yes. Time to break her of this fun habit – Yes.

    Typical FIT

    Rose is growing like a weed!

    OCTOBER 21 = 20 days old

    pumpkin finders

    Ra ra Ra Ra Ra! Go Red Dragons!

    Fall Soccer Season is over! Benji, Ben and the Red Dragons had another good season. Hopefully next spring our eldest son will learn to go to the ball instead of stepping away from it.

    Benji - Fall Soccer 2010

    And baby Rose with her Dad – – Ben was sick earlier this week and we locked him in the room so that we wouldn’t get it. It was a long couple of days without his help, he helps a lot in those hours between dinner and bedtime.  We ALL missed our Dad time but are glad that we seem to have avoided the nasty sickies.

    Dad Time

    DID YOU KNOW THAT IT IS OK FOR LITTLE GIRLS TO WEAR THEIR BIG BROTHERS OLD SWEATSHIRTS AS LONG AS THEY HAVE CUTE SHOES ON?

    Cute Shoes

    book pile

    And since we spend A LOT of time in the house with baby Rose we have been reading a lot of books. Cali puts all of her books in her lap and then as she ‘reads’ each one she throws it on the floor. So we often have a book pile on the ground in front of the couch.

    everyone getting in on book time

    sporting the Aunt Kelsey Blanket

    Kelsey and I thought baby was sooo cute this day πŸ™‚ ( her mom thinks that every day!)

    FIRST SNOW! Wednesday Oct. 27, It was beautiful!

    And Last Night we had a relaxing night watching Game 1 of the World Series, taking turns holding Rose, reading a few books during commercials and eventually falling asleep in the 9th inning…

    Big Brother Benji

    Me and Kids - I have 4 of them now!!!!!

    EXHAUSTED

    Categories: General, Nettesheim