Happy Early Thanksgiving everybody…

It’s that season again where Kelly and I look at each other and try and figure out how we are going to make the holidays special for the kids and different from every other Sunday dinner.  We have a very small family and 90% of the time we have dinner on Sunday’s at my Dad’s house so when the holidays come it feels like every other Sunday dinner.  So this year we decided to change it up a little. Kelly invited some of her coworkers that would also be working on Thanksgiving and we invited our good friends Gary, Sandy and Shanna and decided to had a Thanksgiving party the Sunday before.  It was a great day! I hope it becomes an annual thing.  It was potluck style.  The guys all enjoyed watching football while the ladies finished up the food and played with all of the kids.  We had a ton of food and fabulous desserts. With the help of Katie, Kelly made her first pie crust which made delicious pumpkin and apple pies. 

                                                Katie and Baby Brooklyn       Sandy, Gary and Shanna

                                   Dave and his Mom, Coba                   Brian and Denishia

The Mertz Gang—(Noelle didn’t want her picture taken at the moment)

I wish I would have gotten more pictures of everyone else.  Hopefully next year.  It was a great dinner and a great time with family and friends.  Maybe next year we will be able to expand and include more people.  Kelly and I are not quite the party throwers so starting off small was still a little overwhelming for us but definitely worth it!!! 

Happy Birthday Aunt Paula

My Mom, Noelle, Karly and I had a great opportunity to go to Cotati for my Aunt Paula’s surprise birthday party.  My cousin Arianne and her girls were able to make the journey all the way from Alaska and my cousin Josh and his wife Lindsey and their two kids were able to come up from Southern California.  It’s a very rare occasion that we were all able to be together at the same time.  This was the first time that I was able to meet Josh and Lindsey’s kids Jackson and Katelynn.  They just moved to Southern California a few months ago so hopefully it we will see more often.  All of the kids had a fantastic time playing at the pumpkin patch.

                                   Lindsey, Katelynn and Jackson          Kyla and McKenna

                                                     Wyatt and Noelle are just a couple of days apart in age and loved playing together at the pumpkin patch.

All the kids having fun in the “cornbox” and Noelle has found herself a new best friend, cousin Kyla.

My favorite cousin Josh being his crazy self with the kids.  He was a champ taking all the kids on the train ride.

The look on Ella’s face is priceless.  She loved the train!!! 

Jackson is as cute as bug in a rug!  Aunt Paula and Karly.

Two sets of sisters. 

Two sets of cousins.

I love this guy because he’s just NUTS.  He can always put a smile on my face. 

Happy Birthday Aunt Paula!

Housewarming Party

My friend Wanda started talking about having a housewarming party for me since the day I told her I was looking to buy a house.  So, when I finally got my keys and moved in the planning was started. As many of you know I don’t like crowds or all the attention on me.  My friends have just accepted that although I would love to go to whatever function they are having if it includes a crowd I wont be there.  So, I wasn’t quite sure about having a housewarming party.  It made me nervous.  But Wanda is a great friend and she knows me well and she made it perfect.  It was a small gathering with just my Mom, Kelly, my Aunt Paula and two other friends.  She did a cupcake theme so I can change my kitchen décor from flags to cupcakes. 

It was a great afternoon.  I had a lot of fun and I know the others did to.  I’m so lucky to have a such a great friend that cares enough to have a party for me and that knows me well enough to make it PERFECT!!!

And how cute are these little girls?!?!

Best Friends already!!! 

I think I spend to much time with my camera....

We were pretty busy last weekend which meant that I was able to get a lot of cute pictures. Saturday morning Thomas and I made breakfast for Kelly and Noelle. I had bought Thomas what I thought was a totally cute apron and hat. Everyone made fun of it but Thomas loved it and I thought he was cute in it. Kelly was worried that if Julie hated the chicken costume she was really going to hate the apron and hat!

That afternoon we went to Gary and Sandy's 25th Wedding Anniversary party. It was a Hawaiian Luau and everyone came dressed in their Hawaiian gear.

Grandpa and Noelle

We had a great time at the party. Noelle did what she does best... ate everything in sight. She loved everything on Kelly and Grandpa's plates. She always makes us laugh because she will eat as long as you let her but you would never know it because she is so tiny. She has a great metabolism. She can thank her dad for that!!

Neither Kelly or I felt like cooking dinner that night and it was getting late so we decided to go to Carl's Jr. and pick something up. We got there and went to order and we couldn't think of anything we wanted to eat. We thought about leaving before ordering but we didn't. We should have! We decided to have a picnic on the front yard except no one wanted to eat. I think we threw away almost everything we bought!!! What a waste. After our failed dinner we decided to play a game of croquet. That was a lot of fun. Noelle didn't participate instead she entertained herself with the Carl's Jr. cup (all it had was ice in it). Noelle doesn't appreciate it when you take her food or drink away from her. She will throw a huge fit and even though she can't walk she can "run" on her knees!! It really is about the cutest thing ever. Her knees have huge calluses on them. She doesn't like the grass so she "runs" on the cement.

So when we decided to clean up and get the kids in the bath. Thomas helped us clean up and I think that is when the camera got lost. Tuesday evening I was going to post these pictures but I couldn't find the camera. The rest of the week I turned the house upside down trying to find the camera. I can't tell you the emptiness I felt not having it. As you can tell with all of my pictures, I have my camera with me all the time. My Mom came over on Thursday evening and had dinner with me and helped me go through the entire house and garage looking for it but no such luck. By Friday I was in panic mode because I'm leaving for San Diego in a few days and I can't go without a camera!!!! I knew if I went and bought a new one I would find the old one and then I'd be mad. But something told me to look in a bin where I keep my gift wrapping stuff in the garage and at the bottom of the bin was my camera!!! Thomas must of helped put things away, just in the wrong spot. The relief I felt was amazing! As I write this I'm thinking that I may need to spend less time with the camera....