Our little Casa

Family room

Our house in California

Well here it is. We have been here about 2 weeks and we are finally getting settled...well as much as we can. Downsizing gives all new meaning to my life right now. I'm not sure I will make it 4 years in this house but for now it works and we are super close to the beach! YAY:) Chandler and Sophie made a friend the first day.

We took them to Sea World here in San Diego and they loved it. We try and go to the beach every other day. The weather is strange. It is sunny and about 80 at our house but by the time we're at the beach, it has dropped 10 degrees and it's over cast. That doesn't stop chandler from boogey boarding in the freezing Pacific. Sophie, however will not go in the water. I guess that's a good thing because I'm not brave enough to go past my ankles. Well, who am I kidding? I put my toe in and turned around and sat back in my chair.:)

We love it here and hope to have many visitors!!

update

Hello friends and family!! We don't really have anything new to share. We're getting excited for the move to Cali. We are going to miss it here in VA. We are excited to be near the beach again. We are hoping to move in to base housing. It will be so much easier then this big house. It's so hard to keep clean and have time for everything else. We are just ready to simplify for 4 years then we can get a bigger house. We want to spend our days on the beach and visiting all the west coast has to offer.

Chandler is doing awesome in school...all A's and B's. She's doing much better in soccer, she's so aggressive this year. Tristan is spending allot of time with his girlfriend and pulling his grades up. YAY!!! The custody battle is finally done as of last Wed. I have sole custody. I feel so much better. We turned Sophie's bed in to a day bed and she won't stay in it. Hopefully by the end of the week. Roland is in Boston this week and went to a Red sox game tonight. He's there for Marine week. Since arriving I have seen many pictures of the bar Cheers.:-)

Love to all!!

Richmond Race 2010

Roland and I went to our second race on Sat. We had a great time. Jr didn't do so good, so we just drank and people watched.:) You see some crazy stuff at nascar races. We went down to the pit but didn't get to see any of the drivers down there...:( Was hoping to see JR:).

Friendship

We finally got all the kids together except Chandler. Twenty years of friendship and our beautiful children. We are all so blessed.
Love you girls!!!

Spring Break 2010

We had a great week in Fl , as always it goes way to fast. Especially this time, splitting our trip up between Tampa, Punta Gorda, and Orlando. We had a nice visit with everyone and it was great seeing Sara who will be having baby Olivia soon. My camera broke so I don't have many pictures from the trip. :( The weather was perfect and we got in a couple of hours at the beach and Roland got in two rounds of golf. The kids stayed with Nanny & Poppa for a few days and had a blast.

Punta Gorda

We went down to Punta Gorda to spend Easter with Nathan, Becky and Bella. We loved the area and had so much fun visiting with them. The kids fished and went in the canoe on Sunday after Easter brunch.

Sophie became ill on Sunday but she still had a great time with her big cousin. The Easter bunny left them goodies at Uncle Nate's house. I am sure the highlight of the trip was Tristan and Chandler in the canoe working as a team.:)

Catching up...

So, I have completely been a slacker on here. We are all doing well. Sophie has learned to crawl out of her crib, open the gate on the deck and get out of our fence. She is keeping us BUSY!!! Tristan had a root canal today...what a trooper he is! He is doing much better in school and is happy he can skate in the warmer weather. Chandler made honor roll and spring soccer has begun. She is playing much better. We are getting excited to head south to FL for spring break. Warm weather , friends, and family....much needed!

Weekend in NC

Chandler and I enjoyed a weekend in Swansboro. The weather was great and it was so nice to meet my extended sister. Saturday we went to Golfin Dolphin and played all the games and had lunch. We went to the beach and Chandler dug around in the sand. Sun we went to mom and dad's church in Stella then got on the road. We stopped in Smithfield and had dinner with an old friend from Jacksonville, Paul. It was so great catching up with him.
Roland enjoyed some alone time with Sophie and Tristan.

Chandler's 9th Birthday party

Chandler had so much fun at her party. We have a new indoor go carting place, she decided to have it there. Her party was on Valentine's day. We celebrated her actual birthday by going bowling, she brought 2 friends. We had dinner and cake followed by lots of noise. She had Baylor spend the night. She had fun. My camera broke (again) but Roland's Iphone takes decent pictures. Here are a couple.

Roland

Thanks everyone for your prayers and messages. Roland arrived in Afghanistan last Wed and is doing fine. We get to email back and forth and thank goodness for Facebook. We are able to chat back and forth on there. Those of you with FB that is the easiest way to stay in touch with him. I'm so glad I bought him the Iphone for Christmas. He is able to connect to the Wi Fi there. Seems crazy doesn't it Wi fi in Afghanistan!! Not like the old days when we relied on our mail system.:) Even when he was in Iraq years ago it wasn't this easy to stay in touch.

The kids miss him but are doing good.... besides this cold we all have. Hope everyone is well. Take care.

Sophie's First haircut 1/6/2010

Daddy's number one fan

Christmas 2009

We had a white Christmas this year...our first one and probably last so we were thankful.

Chandler was in Fl, my first year without her. It was tough but she called in the morning and we talked. It was our year for Halie but she only stayed a couple of days. We woke up and went to Christmas Eve mass in the morning and I finished all my last minute things that ended up taking 5 hours... phew!! We went to Ally and Eric's for Christmas Eve dinner , came home and fed the reindeer and I wrapped presents and headed to bed. The kids woke up at 9:30...yes, that was a first!!! After presents and brunch we drove to DC to see the National tree. It was freezing and raining but again our last year to be able to do this. We came home I cooked dinner and we watched a movie. We celebrated Boxing Day with Bill, Robin, Teresa, and Bruce coming over for dinner and we had a lovely dinner and a great night.

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. Love from our family to yours!

Christmas Time

Blizzard 2009

Beginning of the storm

Sophie and I

Our neighbor and Roland shoveling the driveway for the second time


Chandler's school

After the storm

O Christmas Tree.... O christmas Tree

I couldn't flip any of these...sorry!!

Our main tree in family room.



Dallas Cowboys tree in theatre room

Sophie's tree

Chandler's tree

Dining room tree

First snow of the Holiday season

Roland's windshield when we stopped at the stop sign


Our church

our neighborhood

The house about an hour after it started

Tis the season to make memories

Sophie's handprint ornament ( I couldn't turn the picture on here)

My yummy lollipop

Chocolate lollipops the kids and I made

Tristan helping me make bows

Sophie's first year to see Santa

Waiting to see Santa. Sophie ended up being scared when we got up to him so I sat up there too.:-) Tried getting Tristan to but it wasn't happening. He was scared all his friends would see him. It was Fri night and that's where the kids hang out. He was funny!!


That is a panda bear in Sophie's mouth...we didn't notice until after the picture was taken.