the wild holiday break...ferrets, armadillos, lions oh my

Happy 2012. 

We rang in the New Year at 9pm while visiting the Solanos up in Northern CA. The kids watch the ball drop at 12am NY time and go to bed happy with how late they stayed up. The kids loved the noise makers suprisingly enough...they are usually such quiet children, except when Warren screams like a girl. :) It was a fun Christmas break and I have picked out some pictures to illustrate some of the highlights. It was great to be with family and to celebrate together.

The girls had a great time dressing up a few times to pose in living Nativity scenes. Angels, shepherds, sheep. They really got into their parts.

We spent a lot of time with animals, both fake and real. Claire got a cat Loulou which walks and meows...hopefully that bought Brock and I some more time before we have to get any real pets for out animal loving daughters.

Warren was extremely happy about this Lion from Grandma.

We hiked up Steamboat Rock to relive Brock's childhood memories.  It was fun to get outdoors and the girls got into it and Brock carried the Warrenito the whole way up and got a good workout.

Unfortunately Jim and Angela (Brock's cousins) had to raise the stakes a little higher by getting a real dog for Christmas.

I don't think Lara will be asking for a turtle anytime soon  After staying with Grandma and Grandpa Solano, we drove over to San Francisco and got a backstage tour of the Zoo courtesy of Eva and Branner...it was AWESOME!!  We got to see, hold, pet, and feed so many animals.  The ball in my hand it a curled up armadillo, the girls got to feed the rhino celery the giraffes bananas and lettuce, and the ostrichs some salad they really didn't like.  Lara was excited to pet the soft Koala which she might call a gorilla accidentally 

These moustaches cracked us up

Sweet Carolina the giraffe.

PENGUINS!!

a 40 year old Sea Lion is behind the girls that used to work for the Navy...neat.

Ashlyn got to sing in a Children's choir for a Christmas concert.  We were so proud of her.  She stood up in front of such large audience for the first time and was very confident and sang so well.  She practiced a lot and sang the songs in Church and for our family Christmas gatherings as well. 

The girls had fun buying presents for eachother.  This was the first year we had Christmas morning at our house.

We had Mexican Pastries,

We had Abuelita (Mexican Hot Chocolate) and Tamales.

Mom made everyone new hooded towels. :)

We had a delicious Christmas turkey dinner with my parents and brother Riley, sister-in-law Kristen and their cute little girls Julia.  They will be having a second little girl this summer.  YEAH!

The girls can't get enough of their cousins.  Unfortunately the Stomach flu inflicted some of our poor cousins on both sides of the family this year :(   We thought our kids were doomed to get it, but it passed by us.

Cousin Daniel gets the prize for the most appropriate present for Claire--princess Claire.

We gathered for a Christmas Eve Eve with the Plumbs and had a fun time singing and exchenging gifts.  We love our families!!! 

the great compromise

When I told the girls tonight that we probably wouldn't have time to do bath time AND dessert they proposed a win win situation.Warren finally got fed up with the drama around here decided to hit the hay in his highchair right after dinner tonight. All my kids did this at least once.

"That's a lot of girls"

Venturing out to shop with all the kids is a little risky, but I've had to bite the bullet from time to time. Today I had Warren in his car seat in the big part of the shopping cart, I was carrying Lara in my sling because she had just woken up from a nap and was a little groggy, Claire was sitting in the front part of the cart and Ashlyn was walking alongside me. As we passed by a couple exiting the store, the man said to his wife, "That's a lot of girls." :) Yes it is. (They were very well behaved in the store today. Hallelujah)

Every one says that Warren looks the most like Claire. What do you think? I just love how he smiles and giggles at all his sisters shenanigans.

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

Brock's parents came down a couple weekends ago to celebrate Brock's birth. On Friday the girls were excited to take them to see the Mormon Battalion visitors center. For those who haven't been recently, they have a fun interactive tour and then you pan for gold afterwards and get to take one shiny nugget home. Whahoo. On Saturday, Ashlyn's soccer game was canceled due to projected thunderstorms, so we hit a park since she was anxious to show off her new-found courage and strength in conquering the monkey-bars. Her prowess was obviously inherited from Grandpa Solano.

We then went to my parents house to watch the BYU basketball game, and I went with my mom and Brock's mom to Claim Jumper for lunch, which we just had to wash down with their chocolate motherload cake.

Grandma captured this next picture of Lara who was very happy about her new St. Patty's day get-up. (We owe a debt of gratitude to Grandma Jo for keeping us prepared to celebrate the holidays in style.) Lara cracks us up. She thinks she is so grown up and expresses her opinion quite decidedly for one so young. At night, after we've put them to bed, if we have to open their door for any reason, she'll say, "Hey! Why are you doing that!? I'm not talking." Lately she'll also sing, "Wa-Wa-Wa WAWA War-ren" to the tune of Dora. Next time you see her, try to convince her she is not Lara and she'll put you straight.

I love this next picture too. I don't know who told a joke, but with his three crazy sisters running around, Warren has a lot to laugh about.

See what I mean. Here was a dress-up party with Grandma...no one will be pinching us this year.

On Saturday evening we reinacted Brock's b-day and ate Bday cake #2. A new favorite that I found on allrecipes.com called a Raspberry Walnut Torte. Brock deserved to celebrate a second time since we were all sick around his real birthday this year. As you can see, Claire just wanted to blow-out the candles. It was a wonderful, memorable week-end but the icing on the cake that made it perfect was BYU beating SDSU at basketball.

Tide Pools

When my brother Jesse came into town with his wife Cami and their two boys Ezra and Henry we all met up at the tide pools. My Dad also came with my sister Becca and her little boy Joshua. It was a beautiful brisk day, low tide was at 3, and Ashlyn was happy that her cousin Ezra did not mind that the water was freezing. They both got soaked jumping over the waves. The girls love exploring the pools. We did not make any amazing sea life discoveries aside from hermit crabs, anemone, and muscles (oh wait, I think those were just J-man's new muscles from P90X :)). We dug up tons of baby sand crabs, my dad worked on teaching the girls how to catch a football, and Joshua made sure the sand still tastes good.
I've lived here most of my life, but am still amazed to get gorgeous days like this in February.

Happy day after Valentines

This picture was taken last year when Claire turned three, but I thought everyone needs a good kiss from Claire. Pucker-up.

I love all my little valentines. It was nice to capture one of those loving feel good sibling moments when everyone loves each other.

four months old

Warren is four months old today. He is a happy kid and loves his bath time. He was out in the living room with Brock last night and heard me running the water in the bathroom and started kicking and smiling. He has just about out grown his little tub. He is very ticklish everywhere, has a cute little dimple on his right cheek and loves "talking" to people. I wish my fat rolls looked as cute as his fat rolls look.

Life is Good!

Life is good! It has its ups and downs. In the last 10 days, we have been to the doctor 6 times for earaches, bronchitis, strep throat and weaksauce disease, which seems to have become an epidemic. However it is through life's ups and downs that we learn life's greatest lessons.


In 2010, the ups significantly outnumbered the downs. Here are but of few:

• Walking into my graduation ceremony and seeing two of my daughters yelling "Congrats Daddy!" Lesson Learned: Academic achievement was only a minor focus of a broader education. I love being able to come home after work and playing with my children.

• Getting to see Ashlyn's artwork blossom. The multi-colored cat was designed in January and Jumpy the Hip-Hop Clown was drawn free hand in Dec. Lesson Learned: Encouragement, rather than explanation, is one of the best motivating influences towards developing a skill.

• Flying a gigantic Finding Nemo kite on the weekends either at the park or beach. Lesson Learned: "Life moves pretty fast, if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." -Ferris Bueller

• Watching Ashyln play her first season of Soccer. I don't think my BYU football fanaticism translated well to 5-yr-old soccor games where the score is not kept and no one fills the goalie position. I was excited when Ashlyn displayed natural talent and competitiveness on the field. During one of my half-time pep-talks, Ashlyn had to remind me that she "was out there to have fun". Lesson Learned: Perfectionism can be the enemy to progress.
• Road Trip to Northern CA and Central Utah. Lesson Learned: After driving a for a total of 30 hours in 4 days (with three toddlers) to reminisce with dear family and friends, I learned that friendships and road trips are like fine wine: they all get better with age.
  
• Trip to Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm with Grandparents. Lesson Learned: Nostaligia has the power to strenghten family bonds. There is some thing about reliving childhood memories with your parents and children that brings everyone closer. My daughters would laugh when my mother would tell them which rides I wimped out on at Disneyland. My kids enjoyed hearing my parents tell them storeis and I enjoyed remember such fond childhood memories. In case you're wondering, I did not wimp of any rides this time.

• Claire starting Joy School. Lesson Learned: Kids need to be held accountable for learning something new everyday, otherwise, they will only remember what character was on their friend's shirt and forget what they were doing five minutes prior.

• Ashlyn starting Kindergarten. Lesson Learned: Growing up is scary for both kids and parents. As your child enters into a stage of development where indentity formation and peer-relationships take center stage, it is comforting to know that Ashyln still enjoys the bon voyage she often receives from her sisters as she leaves for school.

• Explaining the process of making a snowball when halfway through my tutorial Lara pelts me in the head with the hardest snowball I have ever felt. Lesson Learned: When it comes to having fun, no explanation is required.

• The arrival of Warren! Lesson Learned: The joy of parenthood comes from the unique bond you form with each of your children. Each of my children have distinct personalities. Their diverse opinions and interests keep Emily and me on our toes and we love it.

Life is Good!

Warren Peace

Here is a shot of Warren the day we blessed him. He looked pretty sharp with his vest and tie. Someone said he looked like a little banker. He's making a funny face here, but I thought it was fun with the little peace sign.