Last Moments of 2011

I am typing this as the minutes tick bye bye on 2011. Nothing like waiting to the last minute.

November began with us celebrating our oldest daughters 8th birthday.  She is as sweet as that cupcake!

My heart briefly skips a beat during any of my kids birthday.  One more year I have had the pleasure to love, hold and just be their mom. One year closer of them growing up and finding their own way.  Enjoy every moment it really does go quick.

So for Chaise's birthday we went rollerskating. None of the girls in her party had ever been so you can imagine the chaos and excitement.

Just a few shots of my girls.  All of the girls that came along had a great time and even Mike, Owen and I went around a few times.

Chaise also started basketball with her best friend Alexis and shortly after so did Ella, (which I just noticed I do not have a picture of.)  Hey look I found a picture of Ella at basketball; and if you look close you will notice that she is wearing the leg warmers that her Grandma Jackie made a year or two ago. My little fashion model.  That girl cracks me up. Who wears leg warmers to basketball practice?

Ella is in ballet and has just wrapped up winter session in her performance of the Nutcracker.  She was a Christmas doll, I will post more on that later.  Here she is going to practice I love this picture.

And Chaise is still enjoying her riding lessons. Something tells me that a horse is in this girls future.

Owen is enjoying himself learning the trade of mucking stalls. If I am not mistaken I think this is the day that Grandma and Papa Burrell came and joined us at the Ranch. Of course I don't have any pictures to document this.  

                                              

 And now I need to show off Naia's sweet 3 month photos.  Love this girl, she just sparkles.

Just love everything about her. Thank you again Nancy for spoiling me and taking pictures of my sweet girl.  And here are a few pictures of my little man. Notice the fro. Haha love me some curls. He is practicing his look for the ladies. Watch out girls!

 And here is a picture of all my little girls. We are doing a test run for Christmas pictures.

Thanksgiving this year was celebrated at our house with the extra visitor of my brother. It was a wonderful week and a great Thanksgiving day.  Good food, family and a whole lot of fun.

As you can see from the picture above, Levi and Uncle James are having a bonding moment. And below Uncle James is bonding with his youngest niece while working and drinking coffee.  Exciting stuff.

Before uncle James left to go home, he helped us put our Christmas trees up. This is the living room tree all decorated.  Love our Christmas tree.

 

Owen's Birthday is first in the line up for December.  He turned 3 and I bet you can tell from the cake what the theme was.  

 Cars...Cars and more Cars.. He is one happy little man.  Love all these special pictures.

Nancy once agains captures just the perfect shot.  Note his fro is gone.  So sad the curls are gone, but he is so handsome. Again notice the look ladies. Much cuter with cake on the lips.

Next we have Ella and her school choir performance.  Those kids are adorable.  This is Ella and her pal Haylie. Love those girls and their smiles. These girls look like they are about to headline at a concert.

Next up Naia's 4 month photos.  Something about her eyes. And this girl has an amazing God given hairdo.  If you could see the back you maybe shocked to see she is bald back there.  hahaha.  And her gift for the month is her ability to roll over. Won't be long and she will be crawling.

Notice anything missing?  8 years old and she has only lost 3 teeth.  She has the cutest smile though.

Man that is going to be one big tooth that fills that gap!  We are still waiting for the other one to get loose.

Here is Ella dressed up as a Christmas Doll for her 30 second debut in the Nutcracker by the American Ballet Academy.  All proceeds go to the Salem Pediatric Wing at the hospital.  Great bunch of girls in her class.

That little sweetie that Ella is hugging is a good friend Emmalee.  Her mom rocks by the way.  So Thankful that we got to know each other better this year.  

Whew the holidays are exhausting and it is not even Christmas yet.  My little guy he melts my heart. I totally understand mama's boys.  Love my little man. Thank you God for letting me have this one.

This is the first picture of all four of my sweet little people.  I love it so much.  I had Christmas cards made from this shot, but they were in color. Nancy you did it again.  In this picture Ella is 6, Naia 4 months, Chaise is 8 and Owen is 3.  I think this one is getting blown up and displayed in my front hall

 These next pictures I just love..They seem so old fashion.  I think I need to take photography lessons.

Christmas Eve we had the pleasure of spending with family at the Pearson's.  This is my husbands sister (Brooke's) home.  We had a great time.  Brother Dave fixed and amazing Prime Rib and Brooke made an excellent everything else.  The desert was yummy.  My sis can bake!! You Rock Pearsons!!  My kids had a fabulous time playing with their cousins. Which they always do.  Okay, I don't know what it is with boys, but they never sit still like girls.  If it was not one boy blurring up the picture it was the other. This was the only one I had that was not blurry but you only see the back of Levi's head. Next time I am going to have one of the 6 girls sit on them.

Here is the Burrell Grandparents and their littlest Granddaughter.

Papa was the only one that could get this little peanut to sleep this day.

I just love this little outfit Naia is wearing.. I found the little dark silver tutu by chance at Old Navy and I matched it with a cute little ruffle shirt and those cute black and white stripe tights.  She was adorable

and only made more adorable by the cute little bows that she received as a Christmas gift from Uncle and Auntie Pearsons.  

Christmas came and we had a great celebration of Jesus's Birthday. We sang Happy Birthday and we opened gifts.  Than Grandma and Papa Burrell stopped by on their way home and we had baked Potato soup.  We have that every year for Christmas dinner. mmmm on this cold New Years eve night it sounds heavenly.  I trust you all had a great Christmas celebration with your families and friends.

Here we are on New Years Day.  Mike and I went out on a date day.  We got a sitter and went to brunch at the most awesome place.  Word of mouth.  If you are in Salem Oregon. GO!  If you every visit here do not leave until you have had the delight in eating there.  This is Mike as we await his spicy bloody mary.  Yes I said spicy and it was hot!!! He is crazy! that drank burned going down.

Here he is about to shock his body into action!! He became quite talkative after a few sips.  If you know Mike you know that he is not talkative.  It was hilarious. I think the spice got his mouth and brain in motion.

Yes I took a picture of my breakfast.  Whats the point in having a smart phone if you can't do stuff like this. Plus I wanted my brother to see that my Brunch was better than his Mexican lunch! I win!! This is Creme brûlée French toast with bacon and eggs.  Mike had Eggs Benedict. Not only was the food delicious, but the staff was so friendly.  I mean incredibly friendly.

After Brunch I dragged my hubby to Real Deals.  He so did not want to go, but we had an hour to kill before the movie. Unfortunately for me nothing caught my eye so we headed to the theater.

For Mission Impossible 4 and it was awesome!!! Man it was intense. I would have sat there and watched it again if given the chance. Well since we did not have time to see it again we stop in man land; aka the sportsman warehouse of killing animals store and than got some Starbucks.  Love the peppermint hot chocolate. Than off to home where I ran into my sweet neighbors.  (That came and caroled us earlier prior to Christmas. ) I helped him put their tree away and brought them Owen's crib bedding for their soon to be arriving bundle of joy.  So excited for them.  I am still so pumped that they came over singing Christmas Carols.  I always want someone to come and carol us and I will always remember it.  Just makes me smile. Maybe next year I will haul all of us to spread some joy.  What a great day and a great way to end it.  

Well there is just under an hour left in 2011. This year has been full of many heartaches for our family and extended family . We have lost loved ones, relationships, friendships, jobs, But we have gained also. Babies, jobs, relationship with family, and friends, hope.  I pray that none of you have to endure the difficulties that we had, but if you do, the trials do end and the end result could bring about something amazing. I wish you all a fabulous 2012. Don't let the difficulties of the past hold you back.  As Angela Thomas said to a bunch of us ladies in January 2011 at a Cannon Beach retreat.  Be the Sunshine.

September flows into October

My main computer is having a tantrum , or should I say still having a tantrum (since my last post). All my pictures were hijacked by some corrupt data blah blah blah; but my apple geeking brother recovered them and I should be up and running soon. So since I will have pictures to post, I will reminisce about September and October.

September began with a visit from my brother, aka Uncle James. Uncle James has a huge fan base in my kids. When he showed up the party began. The following day we headed to the state fair. Horse rides, farm animals, fantastic food, carnival rides and hot weather equals a whole lot of fun. My kids are fearless when it comes to rides, I have never seen grins so big. They got their uncle and dad to ride a few with them. Which brings me to a memory from my own childhood. My dad on a roller coaster ride, his very last ride screaming "never ever ever." My brother and I will always remember it and now I will always remember my brother riding the kiddie roller coaster with my son saying the same thing. Even if he was just being goofy it was hilarious hearing a grown man screaming like a little kid.

The one thing that always stick with me about my brother is how young of heart he is. No matter how old we get or the distance we are separated he always brings out the 5 year old in both of us. 

The next day we thought the beautiful Oregon Coast was in order. Unfortunately the coast did not agree. We left a beautiful day in Salem and ended up in traffic to miserable freezing cold weather at the coast. The only bright side... Well there was none it was cold! And foggy and he could have seen that back in San Franscico. So back home to the heat we headed. 

The following day the kids and I made it out of the house to give Uncle James some time to work, and to do some school shopping. But for the life of me I can not remember what we did that afternoon. The next morning before the sun was up Naia and I drove Uncle James to the airport. And this is when the party ended.  

The first day of school came really fast. Ella started Kindergarten this year and Chaise the second grade. Both girls were so excited. We have been so blessed in our teachers. All the way back to preschool. I love that my girl have connected with them, and that I have also.

  

A few days later Naia turned one month and my good friend Nancy took some great pictures. 

Naia has entered her second month of life and Nancy returns to take more wonderful pictures.  Thank you nancy these are brillant. I look at these pictures and I see Ella.  My littlest girl is all smiles. I love it. She smiles and coos and has a fondness for some pictures that hang above the couch. I am teaching this one early about color and home decor.

She is so sweet and so expressive. Ella thinks she is a genius. Owen is beginning to realize that this little thing is actually his little sister.  If the baby is not in sight he wants to know where she is. Although he still refers to her as "the baby".

September flows into October. This month is when our lives get busy.  Chaise began riding lessons. That girl has never been so happy. She is doing really well. It is in her blood.  It comes from her dads side.  I loved that Mike and I could make her dream come true. 

Ella is back to ballet. She has been very excited to perform in the Nutcracker. We were so excited to find out she is going to be a Christmas doll. The past two years she was a little mouse so this will be a great change. Now to find the perfect dress.  Ohh and I must mention that Ella ran in her kindergarten jogathon and she did 12 laps.  That girl surprises me daily.  I just love her! She is rocking those leopard tights.

Owen...well he is Owen. He is to young to participate in outside activities an so energetic that he needs to be in something. He is such a sweet little guy to his baby sister and a little bother per Ella to... well Ella.  Chaise is his favorite at the moment.  He will do just about anything if she ask.  Most days he is running around with his lala (pacifier), blanket and a hammer. You never know what to expect from this little boy.

From riding lessons to ballet and Rocksalt we are a busy family. Since Mike works evenings I am the one that shuttles this family to all events, and come November we will be adding basketball. Ah.. the sacrifice we mothers make for our little ones.

I can not write about October without mentioning our family trip to the pumpkin patch. We tried a new place this year. We went to Lee farms. Loved it and so did the kids. Great music from a local Portland band Cloverdayle, beautiful weather and the friendliest people. I thought the prices were reasonable, except the pumpkins. Mike had to pick his lips off the ground when he forked over $40 for pumpkins. Yikes...silly man. Thank you Lee Farms we will be back next year, but we are only getting 1 big pumpkin maybe 2.

I also had the privilege of attending Ella's kindergarten field trip to EZ Orchards. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time finding the perfect little pumpkin.

I know more has happened this month but we are going to end with Halloween. This was my first year taking the kids out trick or treating. Mike has always take them, but hey work takes priority this time. This year Chaise was a black cat, Ella a mermaid, Owen Batman and sweet Naia,who slept through the whole thing, wore a white bear snowsuit. After a fun-filled night (thank you Repplinger family) we headed home to our dark house to just sit. We put on jammies and watched a little Max and Ruby till we just fell into our snuggly warm beds.

This concludes the catchup do to my very unhappy computer.  My brother was gracious enough to send us his old laptop to get us through till he comes for Thanksgiving. November is going to rock! I will tell you all about it in my next post. And looking at the clock this won't post till Nov anyway. I must be sure not to let the time get away from me and my blog.

My sweet boy about to reek havoc on the Burrell girls.