Christmas 2007

Christmas Celebration!

Some of the participants:

Danny
Laurie
Grandpa Frese

Grandma Frese

Josh (Danny's younger brother) & Kelley

Emily (Josh & Kelley's girl)

Isaiah & Laurie (wrestling)

Naomi

(Other participants included: Jonah (Josh & Kelley's son), Natalie (Danny's younger sister) & Cam & their kids, Drew & Allie. It was a full house with 7 kids that are 4.5 years & under.

There was so much going on that we didn't notice that Allie's diaper had come completely off! Oops!

Isaiah said this was the coolest soccer ball in the whole world.

Isaiah loved his spider man bike. (We still have to work with him to learn how to ride it fast!)

Naomi was excited about her princess bike. These super long sidewalks were great!

Kelley adjusts Emily's helmet so she can ride her princess bike, too.

Grandma and Jonah.

It was decided that Jordan's hair was getting way too 'patchy' all over, so...Dad and Grandpa took care of it. She difinitely has a 'clean slate' to start her new hair growth!

Here she is with her new bald head getting comfort from her aunt Natalie.

Green Eggs & Ham

What could be better for a Sunday morning breakfast at Grandpa & Grandma's house than Green Eggs & Ham?! I do like them, Sam I am.

Camping

Heading to the desert...
Danny got the urge to go camping, so off we went, East to Aqua Caliente which is in the Anzo Borego Desert.


We borrowed our friends' camper trailer. It was so nice to have lights, a stove, running water, and especially a heater. (It's pretty much cheating as far as camping is concerned, but come on, we have 3 little ones!)

Aqua Caliente. Below: our campsite.

Naomi was pretty proud of her accomplishment of climbing so high in the tree. Getting down was a bit tougher, though.

Danny decided to disect this cactus to see the wood underneath.

Isaiah got distracted from hiking because he had to poke holes in the sand with this little stick...the mind of a 2.5 year old is quite interesting!

Cacti, cacti & more cacti...


The kids eating lunch and climbing on the rocks.

We all enjoyed the hammock, including Jordan Kate.

Aqua Caliente wrap-up: We stayed for 2 nights, & considering we have 3 kids including a 3 1/2 month old, we did really well. The days were in the high 70's and the nights were very chilly, but we had a nice heater in the camper & lots of blankets. The kids loved just being able to browse around, throw rocks, jump off things, climb trees, roast hot dogs & marshmallows & just get dirty! I even got to relax in the spa for a bit. We'd consider the trip a success!

Smiles

Our little Jordan Kate brightens our lives!

At 10 weeks, she is so cute. She smiles frequently, especially when you smile at her. Naomi holds her hands and sings, "If you're happy and you know it..." and she smiles and giggles a little. Jordan also makes cooing sounds, and Isaiah laughs and says, "She's talking to us." The interaction between our kids is so great and fun to watch. There is an instant bond.

She enjoys her little blanket with toys that hang over it in an arch. She often tries to grab the toys. She's sleeping about 7 hours in the nights, sometimes more. I took her in to see the Dr. for a check-up last week, and at 9 weeks old she was 12 lbs 2 oz and 23 3/4 inches long. She is in the 75% in weight and 90% in height. Not bad! She just has a sweet disposition about her, and we look forward to seeing more of her personality come out over time!

October Festivities

Our Little Trick-or-Treaters

Naomi is showing off her real style in her purple princess dress, while Isaiah is the cutest UPS man you've ever seen!
We decided to join our neighbors and do some trick-or-treating in our safe little UCSD gratuate student housing neighborhood. Naomi was so excited about being a princess. I curled her hair and told her I'd put make-up on her. She looked at me in shock, as she normally only gets to put lip-gloss on. We did the whole nine yards with blush, lipstick, eyeshadow and all. She was even so excited to get to wear her sparkly hi-healed dress-up shoes outside, instead of only inside!

Isaiah was not as appreciative of the UPS costume, but he got into it, especially after Danny made a sweet package for him to put the candy in. Jordan was just a cute fuzzy pink bunny, but she just slept the whole time with me carrying her, so she didn't even know about the festivities.

Our first try at this whole ordeal was a bit rough as we met with a group of friends to go around together. One set of parents who we didn't know, decided to dress up as well. Isaiah spotted the mom in a witch costume right away and said he didn't like it. Then he saw the dad and freaked out. I didn't see his costume until I looked up when Isaiah came running and screaming towards me. He was wearing a 'Scream' mask with a black cape. It was frightening and I didn't understand why a dad would do this. Needless to say, Isaiah refused to continue to go on with these people. He and Danny went by themselves, while Naomi hung out with the group of girls. (She's all about the social affair!)

All in all, it was a good time. Isaiah still talks about being the 'package man' and people saying that they liked his costume. Of course, eating the candy at the end was a great finale!