The day after Andrew's birthday we had some of our favorite neighbors over for chili and cornbread. I am so grateful for my neighbors--they are my second family.

Nicole and Sean

Happy Birthday Andrew!

Monster Jam

For Andrew's birthday, Yannick took the boys to Monster Jam at Qualcom stadium. They looooved it!

AAAAAh Yeeeeea!

AWESOME!

Killer!

Max and Andrew

The cousins

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party

Carlsbad Theatre put on a wonderful fundraiser--an Alice in Wonderland tea party for mothers and daughters. The girls put on their fancy dresses and we enjoyed little sandwiches and cookies and listened to live theatre performances for an afternoon together.

Look at these beautiful hats that all the little girls made.

Ruby and Jordie with Alice.

My neighbor Nancy and Ruby. Nancy was the master mind behind the party and she gave us special reserved seating.

Best friends!

Friends from the neighborhood

Mitchel and Lily are best buddies.

Gabby decides for the third time that she is going to move in with us (only for three days this time). She came well equipped with all her gear. :) She did end up staying the night and so did Ruby's friend Jordan. They did great after they finally went to bed at 10:00.

Another rainy day

Workin' out to Denise Austin's "Total Body" DVD.

Ruby was reeaaally into it.

Andrew's 9th birthday

Every time one of the boys has a birthday they get to miss a day of school and spend a day with their Grandpa. The night before he treats us all to dinner and dessert. The kids look forward to this event almost as much as they do Christmas! The next day Maris takes the birthday boy to breakfast, the movies, the candy store, lunch, bowling, Toys R Us, and anything else their little heart desires. They usually come home with a grandparent hangover--last year Miles came home with enlarged pupils and way too much energy because he had eaten so much sugar and drunk so much caffeine--luckily they always recover. :) We love you Grandpa!

The world's greatest candy shop--what you see here is a TEN dollar jaw breaker weighing in at one full pound!

Me and my beautiful mom!

Grammy, Andrew (left) and Miles (right) at Peking Dragon.

Ruby's art work

Ruby enjoyed practicing writing her letters with a SHARPIE on my brand new furniture.

According to Ruby this is a picture of our family, the Fleming family and the Payumo family. I love the way she draws people. :)

It was pooring outside today, so we had a very fun time indoors making cookies and watching Harry Potter. So thankful for the rain!

Tonight for family home evening we played a game called "Water in the Face" taught to us by our friends the Proudfits. Miles did a great job conducting for the first time and we learned about being reverent in Heavenly Father's house. The kids knew the answers to every question regarding reverence, now I'd just like to see them put it into practice on Sundays!

Miles got payed 10 bucks for letting Yannick pull out his first tooth--Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

Yannick just pulled out Miles' first tooth. According to Miles it didn't hurt a bit. I think for Andrew it was a different story (look at Andrew in the background)!

A day in the life

Dinner with our neighbors the Livingstons before the adult session of Stake Conference. Stake conference was a spiritual feast. I walked away with a greater desire to give more freely of my TIME. Our time is the greatest gift we can give to our children and those we love.

Andrew and Miles have been earning lots of money recycling bottles and cans. Miles has even started his own neighborhood business vacuuming out cars. He charges two dollars plus a tip if he does an excellent job. After they give 10% to savings and 10% to tithing they are able to spend their money however they wish. 7-11 is their favorite place to shop these days. :)

Gabbi, Jordan, and Ruby.

Miles loves playing catch with his mom and dad. Through lots of hard work he has become very good at throwing and catching a baseball--huge improvement from last year.

We spent New Year's Eve with our great friends Mike and Mel. Miraculously we got sitters for all eight kids and then thoroughly enjoyed ourselves the rest of the night. Started the evening at our favorite restaurant Cafe de Thai and then partied like animals until 1:30 in the morning watching Avatar (fantastic movie)!

Delicious food and always beautifully presented.

I love you Mel! (Notice anything about my head? he-he).

Fun with our friends the Proudfits

During low tide we were able to climb down the rocks at Ponto beach and see all sorts of sea creatures. The highlight of our adventure was when Tara slipped on the rocks while holding Lily in her arms and Ruby's hand. All three of them face planted. A few scrapes and hollers later they were all O.K.

Andrew, Miles and Isaac

Ruby, Jaidyn, and Dagen making a witches brew in the backyard.

A rare picture of Lily with pig tails in her hair--she usually undoes her hair after five minutes.

Beautiful Ruby.

Jaidyn, Andrew and Thomas playing ?--all I know is Andrew is dead.

Our future bride and groom (I hope)!

The whole gang parading around the neighborhood.

True love!

Three beautiful rose princesses.

Hard core dance party with the Proudfits. Aaaaah-yeea.

Rockin' out in the car.

Good times at the beach!

Miles

Ruby

Dad and Lily

Mom and Lily

Andrew