Dixon family blog-melissa

A Bit of Fun

2010-07-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

We went to One Mile pool for the first time (this summer) last week, which the kids loved...

Jonathan hamming with Jacob (post hair cut).

This is a "before" picture of Jacob's hair before his first hair cut. I put it off for a while, but finally had to do it--especially since he hated having his hair brushed!

My mom came out to visit for a week in May, which was a real treat. Here she is with just Lydia, Simon, and hamming Annie...

Of course I had to include at least one picture of Jonathan playing basketball :). He's the one in the middle, shooting. He had lots of fun playing for the Chico Blazin Heat (A.A.U. basketball team) this spring.

Simon and Jacob just goofing. It's so sweet how protective Simon is of Jacob; he takes his job as big brother very seriously :).

This picture was taken during the first part of our spring break! We had such a weird winter--a little bit of snow in March, and then this in April.

I thought this was a sweet picture of Elijah and Annie walking together at Table Mountain. We try to go every spring, when the wildflowers are blooming like crazy. It's so beautiful up there, and the kids really enjoy it. The next few pictures were taken there...

I managed to catch Aaron in a rare playful moment sitting in a tree...

Jonathan, however, is almost always playful, and specifically requested that I take this picture!

Annie just couldn't get over the wildflowers everywhere, and always lagged behind picking them for her bouquet :).

This year the kids got a trampoline for Christmas from their grandmother, and absolutely love it! I love it, too, as they really enjoy being outside and play in the backyard happily for long stretches.

Jonathan getting air; he loves to shoot hoops...

Here is Jonathan holding Annie up to the basketball hoop so she can "dunk". He's a pretty sweet big brother...

Here is Jacob, back in February (he was 8 1/2 months old here). He is our first baby who has had top teeth come in like this, and I wanted to make sure I had some pictures before the middle ones came in (which they did soon after this picture was taken).

Since I FINALLY installed the software for my new camera (that my sweet husband bought for me back in February!!), I thought it would be fun to post some pictures from the past 5 months. Although I did post some on Facebook, these are kind of an addendum, and for anyone not on FB. I thought I'd put more pictures up here, but blogger takes FOREVER to upload pictures, so I pooped out finally and just did these.

a late August day

2009-10-29T18:08:00.000-07:00

I know it's the end of October, but I was looking at these pictures of a fun Saturday our family spent together (well, mostly together--Adrienne was at camp) in late August, and decided to post them. Above Lydia is showing her new snaggle-tooth smile in front of the Chico farmer's market. And by the way, California farmer's markets are awesome!!

Simon and Annie are running around in the fountains in the downtown plaza. This was spontaneous, which is why they're wearing clothes instead of bathing suits.

Jacob hung out in the shade while Simon and Annie played in the fountains (he's 3 months old here).

Annie and Simon love to squeeze themselves into the bars around the trees, and I thought Annie hugging this tree was great--she is from California, after all :).

Jacob's birth

2009-07-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

For anyone who is my Facebook friend, this post will be redundant, but I did want to stick a few pictures from Jacob's homebirth up for the (few!) friends who aren't on FB! The above picture was taken a few minutes after Jacob was born. As you can see, he's already sucking on his fists (it was the first thing he did after he was born--seriously within 2 seconds!).

Aaron and Jonathan seeing Jacob for the first time...And BTW, the reason I'm not in any of these is that I was totally naked! Didn't want to show those pictures to the world ;).

Here is our wonderful midwife, Paula, and her assistant, Genesis, doing a newborn exam...

Look at all that vernix!

still sucking on his fists...

he weighed 8 lbs, 4 oz.

The proud daddy :).

Baby Jacob (and family)

2009-06-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

So I've finally gotten to my neglected blog :). We've had a very busy four weeks, but here are some pictures of what's been going on in that time. As you can see, my little Jacob is the sweetest baby ever (oh, well I mean since Annie, anyway!). This picture was taken when he was three weeks old, and I swear he has been smiling since birth. He's probably the "smiley-est" baby we've ever had. I wasn't able to catch his ear-to-ear grin with my camera, but of course his "open mouth" smile is adorable, too.

Here he is before the smile--I should add that this post is "backwards", it goes from Jacob at 3 1/2 weeks (above) to him two days old (it was just quicker and easier for me to upload the photos like this--I'm blaming my tiredness!).

Aaron has really enjoyed Jacob...

Annie, Jacob, and me hanging out in my bedroom. Annie is utterly fascinated by Jacob and doesn't want to miss a minute of his waking life!

And her favorite thing in the whole world to do is hold him...

Jacob just waking up. I think he was less than two weeks old in this picture. And yes, I do sometimes use Annie's pink blankets for him!

Here's Jacob looking a whole lot like Aaron and Simon when they were this age...

Jonathan loves his new brother...

Sweet sleeping boy...

Adrienne loves holding Jacob and has been a tremendous help to me with Annie since he was born...

Annie, Jacob, and me in my bedroom again! This is what I spend most of my time doing these days (Jacob was two days old in this picture). I really have enjoyed nursing all of my babies, and am so grateful for the time I've been able to spend with them. Oh, and yes, Annie is wearing a Christmas gown, because it still gets pretty cold at night here (plus it was clean--clean laundry is hit and miss around here these days!).

A little bit of what we've been up to...

2009-05-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy around here! I've barely kept up, but wanted to post a little bit (I actually haven't been taking that many pictures lately, due to a combination of exhaustion and busy-ness). But anyway, I couldn't resist including at least a couple of pictures of my boy on the court :). Jonathan has been playing basketball with an A.A.U. traveling basketball team this spring, and is thoroughly enjoying it...

Here are Jonathan and Annie on a field trip we took to a local farm--he was so sweet to let Annie ride on his shoulders because there was a lot of walking and it wasn't stroller terrain...

Our three youngest kids on Easter morning...

And me at 37 1/2 weeks along in my pregnancy! There has definitely been some growth since the last picture--only about 2 1/2 weeks till my official due date, but of course who knows when this baby will actually come! We are all really looking forward to meeting him or her and having a little baby in the house again.

A couple more pics

2009-03-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

OK, strangely this picture was taken about 1 1/2 weeks ago, and my belly looks larger than in the one taken yesterday--I'm thinking different shirt and different angle?? With most of my pregnancies, my belly hasn't gotten very big (relatively speaking), although everything else on me does!! The other picture is obviously of Annie and Elijah sleeping, I just thought it was sweet.

Around the house

2009-03-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here are a few random pictures of what we've been up to for the past couple of months...For some reason in the "posting" and "editing" sections of my blogger account, the photos are showing up as Html, which makes it a pain to insert text! Argh! It's terrible being so technology impaired. But anyway, most of the pictures are self explanatory, of course. The snow pictures are from the huge February snow storm--and the one of Aaron playing a video game was taken while the other kids were out sledding (that's how he preferred to weather the storm!). Oh, and the picture of me was taken taken today, at 30 weeks into my pregnancy!

The Perfect Snowflake

2009-02-13T18:46:00.000-08:00

OK, here is one last video (at least for now!!) of Adrienne & Annie in the snow. It was cute because Adrienne was sure that she'd spotted the perfect snowflake in Annie's hair, and was hoping I could capture it on film. Unfortunately it was too small to be seen clearly, but it's still a cute video!

Addendum

2009-02-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

OK, I am honestly shocked that I figured out (with some help from Elijah) how to upload our videos from our camera, to You Tube, and here! I admit it, I don't have much patience or capability when it comes to machines in general, but thankfully my new video camera (which was a Christmas present from my dear husband!) was designed with people like me in mind! I didn't add any text to the previous post, because I was afraid it wasn't going to work and I'd have to do it all over again. So, the first video is obviously of the very beginning of Jonathan's basketball game (he's #44, but of course easy to spot with his tall, dark, & "handsomeness"). His team had their last game on Tuesday, but he's had a great season (and only lost one tip!).

The next videos were taken today (Feb. 13th). We are having tons of snow here, which is fun, but I hope it lets up a little after this weekend, or we'll have some serious cabin fever!

My new flip n share!

2009-02-13T18:25:00.001-08:00

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Merry Christmas, everyone!

2008-12-26T17:45:00.000-08:00

First, I'd like to thank everyone who sent us wonderful Christmas cards--we loved them all, and any with pictures are on our fridge (all others are on display around our house!). I obviously didn't get a family card out this year, but hey, one of these years I may surprise myself and do it! I always want to, but it seems like from Thanksgiving to Christmas ends up being a blur. Anyway, the above picture is Annie helping to decorate the tree, which she really enjoyed (she also enjoyed removing the ornaments and trying to hang them in her hair, unfortunately!).

Here are the kids decorating. This beautiful tree was a gift from some dear friends of ours, who actually got a tree cutting permit and drove about 30 minutes north of us to cut it. We have really enjoyed it.

More decorating...

This picture isn't obviously "Christmas-y", but cute none the less. We got about 1 1/2 feet of snow about a week before Christmas, and Annie and Simon had been out with the older kids playing in it, but had to come in to warm up by the wood stove. We are SO enjoying our wood stove!

The kids are very serious about decorating their gingerbread houses--we always do one for the boys and one for the girls...

More concentration--this is serious cowboy stuff!!

OK, these next two pictures are a little out of whack, as they were taken after all the presents had been opened, but I'm too tired and lazy to rearrange them, so here they are! Here's Jonathan helping Simon put his Bionicle together; he's such a nice big brother, very kind and helpful.

Lydia is opening her and Adrienne's new dollhouse furniture and family; they've had lots of fun playing with it!

Here's Elijah on Christmas morning, unwrapping the guitar strap he'd asked for...

And here I am with one of the nice gifts Elijah gave me--I know it's not great, but none of the other pictures were any better (besides, it's early and I was tired!).

Here's Adrienne opening a Crayola activity tub, while Lydia waits to open one of her gifts...

Annie LOVED her stocking full of candy!! And we used an old dog stocking because it was smaller than the others and we didn't give her much candy. However, what we did give her was too much, because by noon she was crying non-stop and had to lie down for a nap. Next year I am definitely waiting to give them their stockings until at least after breakfast, maybe even lunch!!

Here's Simon opening the present he wanted most, a Lego pirate ship...

Jonathan was really excited to get the ipod Nano he's asked for, but didn't think he'd get...

Here's Aaron with a gift from Jonathan...

And here's Annie with her activity doll. She loves to try to button shirts and snap anything she can find with snaps, so we got her this doll so she could practice ;).

Here's Simon unwrapping a gift from Jonathan (a Nerf gun)...

And here are Simon and Annie, before the present unwrapping frenzy began, whew!! We had lots of fun this holiday season, but I a little relieved that it's all over! I think I've felt more overwhelmed this holiday season than I usually do, because I am almost five months pregnant! We are very excited about welcoming our seventh baby in May, but in the mean time, I'm a little more tired than usual :). Anyway, I hope everyone's holidays were nice, and I am going to enjoy the heck out of this little one and a half week lull we have left before school and sports start up again!!

One more picture from the dance

2008-11-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

Here is the group Aaron went with to the "Twirps" dance (the other picture I took is in an earlier post). Unfortunately Aaron's date was in the bathroom when this picture was taken, but it's all I've got!

Jonathan's football season in pictures

2008-11-16T16:37:00.000-08:00

I thought I was done posting pictures from Jonathan's football season this fall after my last post. However, we went to Jonathan's football banquet a few nights ago, and his coach's wife gave us a disc with over a hundred incredible pictures on it! Her camera takes wonderful pictures, and of course I didn't post all of them here, but they were so good that I had to post some of them ;). Warning--this may be a post that only grandparents will find interesting!! Oh, and Jonathan was very surprised and excited to win the "Lonnie Eagleson" (hope that's spelled correctly) award as well (they only award it to 3 players each year, so it's a big deal for him). Anyway, in the above picture, the team is walking onto the field before a game...

Here they're lined up before a game for the Star Spangled banner--Jonathan is #77.

OK, the above picture is Jonathan's *favorite* picture of the whole season (we also have it up on our refridgerator!). He is the one running in the middle in front of the ball carrier--notice that his feet are completely off the ground! He was "pulling" or running ahead of the ball carrier and blocking for him.

Pre-game huddle-I don't know where Jonathan is in this one, only that he's in there somewhere!

Here's #77 on the field during a game--look how wet and sweaty he is! I can't even imagine how hot they get running around in all that gear in August and September!

Here he is in the thick of it-he's sort of in the middle (you can spot him by the "77" on his shoulder).

Here he is again, well his back, anyway!

Here he is (on the right) possibly about to get pulled down...

And here is his back again....

He really likes this one as well--he is one of the players on the right blocking the player (#45) from the other team (if you look closely, you can spot his brown arms!!).

And here he is on the far right, blocking #54. We aren't proud of him because he plays football, but we are very proud of his determination and earnestness and how he puts 200% into everything he does. The coaches noticed this as well, and remarked that his enthusiasm was contagious. He had a great season this year, and we're hoping he'll have many more to come (although we're not sure if his plans to go straight to USC will materialize!!).

Our big boys

2008-11-09T21:21:00.001-08:00

Here is Aaron and his best friend, Nick, outside Hula's restaurant before going to the "Twerps" dance put on by Nick's high school. For this dance, the girls ask the boys and pay for everything, so Aaron and Nick were pretty lucky to be at Hula's restaurant (we heard that a lot of the girls took their dates to the In N Out!). I would've taken more pictures, but didn't want to go into Hula's and embarrass the girls by taking tons of pictures (and of course I didn't follow them to the dance). So this picture is the best I have!

Sports, on the other hand, of course are instant photo opportunities, except when the sun goes down. Anyway, even though you can't see much, Jonathan is in the photo above!

This is at the beginning of the game, where the team captains are meeting. Jonathan was one of them--he's #77.

The pre-game huddle...

And here's Jonathan at the water table--he's the only tall, dark, and handsome one there ;). We're really proud of how much effort he's put into this; last year he was a rookie, and this year he started and played a lot. He loves football and is looking forward to many more seasons to come!

Our pumpkin patch trip

2008-10-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

Here's what's left of the pumpkin bread I made with one of the pumpkins we brought home...

Here's Adrienne, Lydia, & Simon on the wooden train--this is Simon's favorite thing about the pumpkin patch!

Maybe Aaron isn't too old to be playful?!!

Here's Simon and Annie...

Jonathan, Elijah, & Annie on the train--oh, and the reason everyone (except for Jonathan) is in coats and long sleeves is that it was exceptionally cold and windy that day (other than that, we've had a nice Indian summer!).

Simon showing his perfect pumpkin...

Simon and Jonathan at the pig race...

And the petting zoo. Annie *loved* it, but I'm not sure the goats felt the same way!

Lydia was more "goat friendly"...

Fortunately, she wasn't able to pet the pig!

Lydia, Annie, Simon, & Jonathan goofing...we had a great day, as this pumpkin patch is really fun. It's the 4th year we've gone, and it's one of the high points of our fall!

our fall so far

2008-10-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

Simon loves all kinds of building toys, and here he is with his mega block creation, a "happy walking robot". He usually spends his days playing with various building toys while the older kids do their school work.

Here are the 5 younger kids at a local park--Aaron is too old to enjoy parks anymore! But we're thankful that at 13, Jonathan is still very playful.

Here is Simon getting buried--all the kids took turns burying each other, but I didn't want to fill this whole post with all the pictures!

Annie's birthday party

2008-10-14T19:20:00.001-07:00

Our little Annie turned two on September 17th, and even though I'm a month late, I wanted to post a few pictures from her little birthday party. Since the only part of cake she ever eats is the frosting, we just had an ice cream "party" after dinner. I don't know why she was so serious in this picture, as ice cream is one of her most favorite foods!

Here is Lydia giving Annie the homemade card she made for her--Annie loves purses, and took a little while to figure out that there was a present in the bag...

Here she's opening play dough, which everyone has had fun with!

last few summer pics

2008-09-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

Now that it's September, I guess summer is officially over (in spite of the lingering heat!). Here are pictures from one of our last swimming trips; it's our favorite swimming hole in Chico. We call it "the cliff", but I'm not sure what it's official name is. Anyway, it's along Butte creek, a beautiful creek that runs through Chico. Oh, and despite the way it looks, it's not snaky at all! Above you can see Jonathan and Adrienne jumping in...

Here's Yuya getting up the courage to jump--it may not look very high in these pictures, but when you're up there, it's pretty daunting!

Here's Yuya hitting the water...

swimming kids...

Thankfully there is a bank on the other side for the younger kids (and me!) to get in from!

fountains part 2

2008-08-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

I had to break up the pictures into two posts, as blogger won't let me upload more than five pictures per post--is it the size of my pictures, or am I just goofy and don't know how to over ride it???Anyway, here's Adrienne and Yuya hanging out--and don't worry, the fountain water is heavily chlorinated!

Simon was a little more tentative about the fountains than everyone else...

he preferred sun bathing and running around the city plaza.

Annie soaking up the sunshine...

We finished the afternoon with gelato from Powell's sweet shop!

our afternoon in Chico

2008-08-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

Like our trip to Waterworks, this happened several weeks ago, but I wanted to post it anyway--I'm almost all caught up with our summer pictures finally! The kids love playing in the fountains in downtown Chico; I guess it's become a summer tradition. Aaron is way too cool to actually get wet in the fountains, but he is with Annie (before he walked to the bookstore!).

Here's Adrienne before getting wet--isn't her bathing suit cute? And how convenient for us when she absolutely insisted on getting a long sleeve turtle neck top for it! I really did try to talk her into getting a tank top, but she wanted THIS top!

Lydia's bathing suit is more suited to 110 degree heat!

everyone (including Jonathan and Yuya in their clothes!) running around in the fountains...

Yuya spraying water up his shirt--it's quite funny to see all the things kids find to do in the fountains!

our trip to Waterworks park

2008-08-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

Jonathan asked to go to Waterworks for his birthday, so here we are (minus me--hey, someone had to take the pictures, and you're really not missing anything by not seeing me in my bathing suit!). Oh, and we went on this trip back in July; we just about can't get out of town for the next three months between school and football, but that's OK. Anyway, above is Austin (Aaron's good friend), Yuya (our Japanese student), and Aaron.

Here's Elijah & Annie, with Lydia in the background. I don't know why Annie looks so serious, because she really did have lots of fun. And besides, when she tired of playing in the water and going down the kiddie slides, there was plenty of trash for her to try to get into! Why do people go to these parks and leave their half eaten food on the tables, when there are trash cans 3 feet away??!!

Jonathan & Yuya goofing off. We were sad when Yuya left, he was so much fun.

And if our entire day at Waterworks wasn't enough, we stopped by our good friends' house on the way home, where the kids swam for another hour! Jonathan was really intent on me getting pictures of them jumping into the water.

And I did it!

more summer

2008-08-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

Ah, the days of lounging around in pajamas (probably at 1:00, I don't exactly remember, though!) with a book...No more of that, though, school starts tomorrow! I don't feel ready, but never do till the cold, short days of December, so we just have to get over it. Anyway, I thought this picture was cute of Aaron & Annie.

Here we are at one of Jonathan's football practices with the 4 younger kids and Yuya, the 13 year old Japanese boy who stayed with us for 3 weeks this summer.

Here's what Jonathan was doing while we were lounging around in the grass (he's the one in the gold shorts). He's starting left tackle this year, which he's very excited about.

The kids quickly tired of sitting in the grass, and fortunately there was an empty tennis court nearby for them to play in.

Jonathan & Yuya after practice (with coach Hays and Lydia in the background)

one more plug for CA fruit!

2008-08-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Like I mentioned before, California ROCKS if you love fresh food! One of Elijah's co-workers has five mature cherry trees, and was so generous as to let us pick them. This is part of the haul (the other 3 boxes were in the fridge). For the first time ever, we could all eat as many cherries as we wanted, plus have extra for freezing and cobblers--the cost (even here in CA) usually prohibits us from ever using fresh cherries for cooking, and we always ration them to the kids. But not this summer!

Massive diaper blow outs always followed Annie's cherry indulgences ;).

summer!

2008-08-12T19:21:00.001-07:00

So, we didn't spend the *entire* summer holed up in the house, running the a/c because it was too smoky to safely go outside :). Here are some of the things we did, with more posts to follow...

Here are Adrienne and Lydia after the annual Enloe family picnic. The kids all look forward to it, as there is a variety of bar-b-que food to eat, plus lots of fun kid stuff like face painting (obviously!), a jumping house, games, etc.

Here is Aaron, Jonathan, Annie, and my mom at our friends, Eric and Sarah Becker's house. They're standing in front of the Becker's apricot tree, which my mom and I were able to pick apricots from...

Here's what I've decided about California: it's a wonderful place to live, in spite of the high cost of housing, because there are so many perks, like farmer's markets and good friends with fruit trees who are generous :). Seriously, we love all the fresh fruits and vegetables that grow here all year round...

Here's Simon (with Adrienne in the background) swimming...

And here is Elijah doing his favorite thing, while hanging out with Eric and Eric's mother in law.

the annual father-son camping trip weekend

2008-06-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

Every year in May, Elijah & the boys go on a weekend camping trip to Rockport Beach with a group of men & their sons, and this is the first year Simon was old enough to go (at age 4, he thinks he's a pretty big kid). Here he is the morning they left, with one of his favorite books.

the older boys...

The girls and I weren't too sad when they left, as we had plans to watch movies, make donuts, and Saturday afternoon we got babysitting for Annie and went to the Cinderella ballet, which was neat. Unfortunately, the father-daughter trip was canceled due to the fires :(.

Lydia & Annie

Our Jon boy

2008-06-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

Look at all those straight, white teeth--no braces needed here!!

Here he is at a baseball game--strike one, I think...

Waiting for the next pitch...

Running to first base after a hit! Now that baseball season has ended, he is counting the days till football starts! But he doesn't have long to wait, since his grandmother is paying for him to go to a 4 day, 3 night football camp in early July (thanks, Dee Dee!!), and then football starts on July 23. This will be his second year playing full contact football, and we are sure he will have improved 200% (not that he was bad last year, just a rookie).

Starring Annie (with a little bit of Simon & Aaron)

2008-06-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Here is Annie trying to brush her hair--she's never this happy when I have to do it,
though...

Annie finishing a bowl of yogurt...

I found Annie having a rare, quiet waking moment, just resting in Simon's chair while Aaron plays a video game.

This is another sweet captured moment of Annie & Simon playing together without fighting (and we are aware that we need to replace the baseboards, but the wheels of progress move slowly around here).

Simon & Annie are watching the tractor work going on in our backyard; we recently had our backyard terraced, now all that's left is planting grass seed, which will hopefully happen soon.

Aaron and his prom date

2008-06-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

I finally uploaded the pictures off of our camera, so here is Aaron and the beautiful girl who invited him to the prom, Leah. More posts to follow soon....

Aaron & the prom, part 1

2008-05-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

Aaron got invited to the prom by a girl in his youth group at church, and here he is at his best friend, Nick's house, where we had to stop so he could borrow a bow tie (that's Nick's mom in the background). As soon as we get the pictures of him and his date uploaded, I'll post them!

our baseball player

2008-05-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here's Jonathan looking handsome in his uniform before his first game...

And here he is at practice. He had never played baseball before this year, and we are all amazed at what a good player he's become.

the guys (and Annie) watching the practice...

OK, this was just too funny not to post! For some reason Jonathan didn't get in his own bed to pass out one afternoon, so here he is in Adrienne's bed with Goatee.

spring break in cowboy country

2008-05-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

We spent one day of spring break at our dear friends', the Beckers, house, and Akihiro was amazed by all the wide open spaces (and horses living next door!).

the guys shooting at targets with BB guns...

meanwhile, the younger kids were smitten with the Beckers' new chihuahua...

Akihiro is petting one of the neighbors...

And even though it's not his house, Elijah is cooking (it's nigh unto impossible to separate him from a grill!).

boys just hanging out

hangin' out at Bille park

2008-05-15T09:05:00.001-07:00

Here everyone is rolling down the hill, then having serious inner ear problems when they get the bottom!

boys goofing around...

the girls love to play in these trees!

Here the boys are playing baseball, to try to help Jonathan get ready for little league, which has been interesting, to say the least!

Spring break and Easter, a little late

2008-05-15T08:50:00.001-07:00

OK, so I'm more than a little late posting our family's "goings on" for the past couple of months, but with the exception of a really fun spring break & Easter holiday, all we've done is school, baseball, and Aaron & Adrienne's extra curricular activities ;). But we did have the privilege of hosting another Japanese student for ten days over spring break & Easter, as you will see below...

This is Akihiro, a 15 year old boy from Japan, and Aaron & Jonathan sporting the super cool shirts he brought them as gifts.

Aaron & Akihiro on our back deck; we had a bar-b-que on Easter afternoon, which was fun.

Annie with muddy knees at Bille park...

Simon & Annie both love to swing!

I had to take a picture of someone in front of this daffodil patch, and the boys were available, so here they are!

Simon & Annie's new chairs

2008-03-16T19:51:00.001-07:00

They were so excited to get their very own miniature chairs!

Lydia is making the most of Annie constantly climbing into Simon's chair...

I caught this picture before they noticed me-I thought it was so cute how Annie was sitting with Simon while he watched "Zooboomafoo".

Annie hamming for the camera

Basketball!

2008-03-16T19:43:00.001-07:00

Of course Jonathan couldn't just sit around the house waiting for football season to start up again! Here are some pictures from his & Adrienne's basketball season, which they both thoroughly enjoyed.

Adrienne practicing with some of her team mates on the outside court before a game...

Going after the ball at the game

And here she is with her new glasses! We're already so used to her wearing them that she looks "bare" without them.

Valentine's Day

2008-03-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

Adrienne was excited to be able to take out her piercing studs and wear "real" ear rings. These are her Valentine's Day cupids :).

Simon and Annie were particularly happy with their candy!

the aftermath

2008-03-16T19:29:00.000-07:00

Look at all that snow! When it was finally all over, we had about 2 feet of snow.

Aaron spent hours digging a path so we could go to Costco and buy Superbowl food. So, this was Superbowl Sunday, as well as my 35th birthday. Adrienne, Simon, & Lydia had lots of fun playing in the "snow mountains" that Aaron made...

Adrienne being goofy and posing on a pile of snow

OK, this was just funny--Aaron, Jonathan, & I were standing in the kitchen talking to Elijah, when Annie came in, got a cup of water, and stood "in line" with us. I had to include it, in spite of the clutter in the background!

more snow

2008-03-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

OK, no sign of grass (or weeds) now! You can see how deep the snow was, as evidenced by Jonathan's sinking shoes...

kids in front of the house

They found a perfect sledding spot in the corner of the front yard.

Annie mostly weathered the snow storm inside (and apparently had been eating oranges when I took this picture!), but I liked this picture because you can see the snowy trees out the window.

Snow!

2008-03-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

So I am finally able to post all that's been going since Christmas ;). First, we obviously had two weeks of snow. The above picture was taken on the first day, when you could still see some grass (well, weeds!) showing through.

Here Jonathan is preparing for a snowball fight...

This is taken after several days--they kept plowing the roads, but they kept getting re-covered!

some of the kids out front...
Lydia pretending to snow board on the sled in the backyard!

winding down

2007-12-28T21:35:00.001-08:00

Jonathan and Simon spent most of the day putting their Lego sets together (well, Jonathan put them together while Simon waited).

diligently working...

Meanwhile, Adrienne gave Kana and Lydia lessons on how to "heel" in their new "Heely" shoes. Adrienne is an old pro, having had her pair of Heelys since October ;).

the girls again...

Even though she got some neat presents, Annie would rather play with my kitchen stuff. Maybe I should've gotten both of us some more Tupperware?!!

Christmas Day

2007-12-28T21:26:00.000-08:00

Shortly before the frenzy began...

Kana tried to keep the wrapping paper neat and all together, while our kids just shredded it!

Opening more gifts...

Simon and his Lincoln Logs

Aaron and Lydia opening the gifts Kana brought them from Japan...we all loved the delicious candies and crackers she brought us!

more still!

2007-12-28T21:14:00.001-08:00

Jonathan & Simon with the nutcracker at the Christmas display...

Annie at the Chico city plaza

the kids hanging out at the Chico city with their candy from Powell's Sweets Shop

Here they are making Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve

More Christmas pictures!

2007-12-28T21:00:00.001-08:00

Here they are making gingerbread houses

Adrienne & Kana are almost done with theirs

For the first time I took everyone to a locally famous Christmas display in Chico, which they enjoyed...

the girls & Simon

Simon was really impressed with the model trains at the display!

2007-12-28T20:38:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of our Christmas adventures!

Here are some of our kids at the tree farm (the rest of us were there, just not in the picture!).
Still at the tree farm...

Adrienne and Kana decorating the Christmas tree...

Annie with a Christmas tree ornament--we think she had good intentions, she just got a little carried away!

Adrienne and Kana decorating their gingerbread house....

to be continued...(sure wish I knew how to override the 5 photos per blog!)

Christmas highlights

2007-12-28T20:15:00.000-08:00

In lieu of sending out Christmas cards (which I always think I'm going to do and then never get around to), I'm posting a blog about our Christmas holiday :). Although this Christmas was more chaotic and last-minute than Elijah and I would've liked, it was still good, and we had the wonderful blessing of spending with a little ten year old girl from Japan. Kana got here on Dec. 19th, and stayed with us until this morning (the 28th). Despite her lack of English (and our lack of Japanese!), we were able to communicate to some degree, and all the kids (but especially Adrienne) really enjoyed playing with her. She shared Adrienne's room with her, and I heard them up giggling at night as they played with some of the neat toys Kana brought from Japan, and checked out the window for snow before finally going to sleep. Even though Kana was only here for ten days, we are all so sad that she's gone, and are also extremely thankful for the opportunity to have had her in our home.

Cats & kids

2007-11-17T20:54:00.000-08:00

Here is Gizmo the kitten, so named because he reminds of us of that little animal from the movie "Gremlins".

Simon petting the kittens--we're impressed with how well he's done with them...

Here is Tux (yes, we're corny; he's named that because he looks like he's wearing a tuxedo).

Adrienne reading with her bedfellows :).

Annie loves cats, although the feeling isn't always mutual ;).

starring Annie!

2007-11-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

Annie loves pancakes!

Picking a bite...

Bull's eye!

She also loves colanders...

And they're so versatile!

more pumpkin patch pics

2007-11-17T20:42:00.000-08:00

Here is Elijah helping Simon feed the goats at the pumpkin patch's petting zoo.

Elijah is watching Annie terrorize the goats with friend Micah and his daughter, Lydia.

Simon and Lydia on the hayride.

The Green Goblin and the Hobgoblin (with Annie sleeping in the Ergo!).

the pumpkin patch

2007-11-17T20:36:00.001-08:00

Here are Elijah, Annie, & Aaron on the train, with friends Randy & James in the next car :).

The kids goofing around...

Annie as "Mayor Goatree"

Adrienne, Simon, & Lydia with friends in the pumpkin patch...

Jonathan & Simon clucking their wings at the chicken show

football pics

2007-11-17T20:04:00.001-08:00

OK, I thought I'd post the pics here so you guys wouldn't have to get MySpace accounts if you didn't want to. So, above is a picture of Jonathan after a game...

In this one, Jonathan is the one walking on the sideline with his arms crossed (of you can also locate him by looking for #77!).

Look how fit he is now!!

This was taken after a game.

OK, here is Jonathan rumbling on the field, albeit from far away! He is the player on the end, pushing against the kid in the blue & black uniform (maybe only a parent cares that much, but I thought I'd post it anyway!).

2007-11-15T17:08:00.001-08:00