So long Spiderman.......

When we moved into this house almost 6 years ago, Caleb was only 5 years old and really into everything spiderman. I have these amazing, talented friends that also happen to adore my kids that were willing to come paint their rooms for us. I was also pregnant with Syd at the time but we didn't know what we were having. I used the voodoo necklace trick and it told me I was having a boy so being the trusting freak that I am I believed it and painted the much larger room for the "boys" Well 4 months later we got Syd but the kids rooms were too amazing to paint over and change so the girls are in the much smaller although fantastically hand painted with fairytails room and Caleb had spiderman. Well last Monday when the kids and Carl were home for Martin Luther King day we decided to paint Calebs room. I have to admit, as a mom that lives in denial 90% of the time, painting over something that my baby boy used to love and packing up the legos and bionicles for storage made me very sad. I felt like we were single handedly forcing him into his pre teens. I had a good little cry about it. He is growing so fast and is such a good boy that I keep waiting for the bratty jr. high stage to start. So far so good. We aren't done with his room yet. I am going to blow up some pictures of him snowboarding, wakeboarding and kneeboarding to put on the walls, but sadly we had to say see ya to spiderman.
BEFORE

We had to prime the city wall.

AFTER

Viva Las Vegas

Last weekend I got to go to Las Vegas to see my bestie Tina for her birthday. Her hubby Wayne called a couple of weeks ago and asked if I wanted to come as her present. Needless to say I was pretty excited to go and spend a couple of days with her. Sadly I didn't even take any pictures but I had a blast. We were pretty much inseparable while we lived in Vegas and leaving her was the hardest part about our move to Cali. So thanks Wayne for letting me come play for the weekend. I love your guts Tina. BTW I won 18$ from a slot machine on the way out of the movie theater. WAHOO!

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a a lot of fun because we had Uncle Ian here. The kids slept until 6... actually the girls slept till 7, Caleb was up going crazy till then because no one is allowed downstairs until we are all up.

Sweet Ash in her Christmas jammies.

carl, caleb and ian got these crazy monkeys that you shoot at each other and they scream as they fly through the air.(you have to look close to see calebs in the air)

"Santa" got all us girls these warm, cuddly socks.

I had to make dinner,,, carl fried the turkey for me.

Our crowns from the english Christmas crackers.

birthday and the zoo

My baby turned 5 on december 23. we opened presents and then took the family to the Oakland Zoo. She is so big and thinks that she is pretty awesome now that she is 5. Her favorite present was the DS that nanny gave her because now she is big like Caleb and Ashlee.

Ashlee reading syd her card from nana and papa.

Carl gave syd some fish crackers as a joke because he ate her crackers once and she really let him have it.

Christmas in San Francisco

On the Saturday before Christmas we took Uncle Ian to San Fran. First of all, someone had the idea to ride the BART instead of driving and the kids thought taking the train was a great idea. Syd was pretty sad that she couldn't see fish out her window when we went under the bay...it actually turned out to be an awesome idea because I have never seen San Fran so busy. It was crazy. We stayed all day until it was dark enough to see the tree lit up then took the train back home. Some pretty interesting characters ride the train at night. Good times.

This pic is my favorite because syd had to go to the bathroom and she refused to smile for the picture.

CIM

On December 6th I ran my first full marathon. 26.2 MILES!!! It was amazing and crazy and probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I didn't get the time I wanted but I finished and now I'm hooked. I can't wait to train and do another one. Thanks Heather for making me do this. Love ya girl. And thanks to Carl for coming and supporting me. Seriously towards the end, the only thing that kept me going was knowing carl would be at the next check point. Love you babe.


Checking in.... and getting free stuff!

Over 8000 runners. BTW it was FREEZING!!! don't be fooled by the sunlight.

Please take note of the awesome Ninja Runner seen here in black.

I thought about hanging with this group, but sadly their 5 minute miles were impossible :)

This guy ran with the flag the whole way to support his Army troop.

We bought these bright green, obnoxious shirts that say "Run like a girl" in hot pink on them so tony and carl could find us.

Little Wild Horse Canyon

Little Wild Horse Canyon is pretty awesome. It is so narrow in some places with high canyon walls that you have to turn sideways to get through. The kids had fun climbing the walls. We are so glad that nanny and grandpa came with us. Grandpa went off on his own little exploration and found himself on a cliff with no way down. We used it as an object lesson for the kids. :) Stay on the right path....
Grandpa is amazing and fun. My kids love that he water and snow ski's with them. He was a trooper on this trip because he was feeling tired and a little run down. A couple of weeks later we found out that he has cancer and he is now being treated and we expect that he will be better in about 6 months. But I wanted him to know that we love him and hope he feels better soon, at least by summer for waterskiing.