Top 9 of '09

1. Jacob graduated with his Master's! (is there an apostrophe in that?)
2. Jacob got a job with NASA!
3. We moved to sunny southern California!
4. We both forgot our Anniversary.
5. I got TWO new sisters! Yay for Sher and Whitney!
6. Charlie turned ONE.
7. Emerald turned TWO.
8. Jacob turned 25 and can now rent a car. Woot. Woo.
And coming in at number 9......



9. We decided on having baby #3 in the near future. ;)

Christmas 2009

Went a little over board for our kids this year on Christmas... :) Emerald and Charlie got a train set from Ikea. Emerald LOVES trains for some reason. And Emerald also got a little plastic tool set so she can help Daddy build things in the garage. :) She's such a good helper! She loves to hammer and use the screw driver. It's really cute. She also got a Snow White dress up outfit (complete with shoes, purse and crown) from our friends Mike and Darcy. She wore the dress all day Christmas and the following day. She even slept in it...she just loves it. Uncle Nick and Aunt Sher got Emerald the movie Stuart Little...she has been watching it over and over and over since she opened it. Thanks Nick and Sher. :)

The kids also got a doctor medical kit and Charlie got a rocket tent. He loves climbing through and hiding in it. Then Emerald comes along and says, "peach a boo!" It's so dang cute. She likes tickling him too. They seem to be getting along better as Charlie is getting a bit older. He has learned to defend for himself a little now and when she tries to pick on him, he rolls over and tries to sit on her. Haha. He's a big boy! :)

I bought this awesome hand built, wooden doll house at the D.I. a few months ago and fixed it up before we moved. Painted it and put new wallpaper and carpet in. So I got Emerald a few things for the dollhouse...those cute Fisher Price Loving Family things. Super Cute.


Jacob got a model rocket that he hopes to launch in January at the next Rocket Launch for the Rocketry Club out here. It's really cool. He also got a new model air plane that we have been waiting to fly...it's just been so darn windy here! And of course, with all these new toys for Jacob to be working on....he needed a Man Cave. So we got some wood and a saw so he is working on building his Man Cave in the half of the garage where his car used to park. He's really excited about it and I am too....the washer and dryer are in the garage and so I told him he can do all the laundry while he's out there too!! He wasn't too stoked about that idea...but I loved it! :) Jacob also got the game Ticket to Ride from my parents...YES! We are really excited to play and so are all of our friends since none of them have that game! We are hoping to squeeze it in on New Year's Eve after our round of Bunco! :)

I got some really nice perfume sets from Victoria's Secret and a sewing machine!!! YAY!! I am so excited! My first project is making some sheets for my kids' beds. They look really easy! (Let's hope...) I've just been biten by a crafting bug and am really excited to sew and learn crochet and do some jewelry too! I swore I would never turn out to be like this...but... oh well!! Gotta do something to keep me sane while I stay at home all day! :)

After we opened our presents we had a HUGE brunch at our house with our neighbors....YUM. There was so much good food. We planned to go to the beach after we ate, but we ate so much we were all too tired to do anything. So we took afternoon naps instead!

Oh and we also went and saw the Festival of Lights down at Griffith Park in L.A. after we dropped Whitney off at the airport. It was beautiful! That will definitely be a new family tradition for us!

Ginger Bread House

Support your Local Cat House

Whitney (Doug's Wifey) came and stayed with me and the kids while we were both without hubbies...it was so much fun and she was such a great help while the kids felt yucky and I was exhausted! Thank you Whit! We went to the Exotic Feline Breeding Compound here in Rosamond! I didn't know what to expect...but turns out, it was freaking awesome! They breed tigers, jaguars, lions and other wild, exotic cats and supply them to zoos all over the world! And it's right in our own backyard...seriously, it's like 2 mins down the street. Kinda freaky...would if the cats got out? Not good.

It was really cool because you could literally stick your finger through the fence and touch the cat...if you wanted to get eaten. But that's how close you could get. One kept growling in the back and we saw two baby tigers...cutie patooties! A female lion kept eyeing Emerald like she was ready to eat her! It was freaky.
Emerald had to bring "Horsey" with her and show her all the cats too. (Horsey is the horse she made at Build-A-Bear...she named it Horsey...I have such creative children.)

Fun at Grandma's! (aka "MaMa")

We loved visiting with Mia :)




I went to Utah while Jacob was away on business in New Mexico. I had originally planned to stay for 3 weeks and spend Christmas there with all my family ....but ended up only surviving a week in Utah. Hehe. I really love it in So Cal and was so excited to have a Christmas with NO SNOW! It was wonderful. Emerald had fun with her Movie Marathons...she LOVES movies. "Watch a movie Mom," she says. And Emerald enjoyed taking naps on MaMa and PaPa's bed. Charlie enjoyed getting into things...as usual.

Charlie turns ONE!

I'm seeing babies

Everywhere Jacob and I go we seem to see BABIES everywhere. It's crazy. My doctor told me I shouldn't have any more kids because of what the pregnancies do to my body (I almost didn't make it through delivery with Charlie). It's really sad hearing that and I never thought I would be told that I couldn't have any more kids. I'm torn. I know there is one more child that is waiting to join our family. (I'm hoping for a black baby....hehe) But, I guess we will see what happens. :)

Man...they really do grow up so fast. These are pics of Emerald as a newborn.