The wait is over.....

I know it's been forever and I appreciate those of you who follow the blog and have asked what the heck happened. During the holidays I fell behind and kept saying I'll do it next week. Well apparently next week turned into February.

During the blog hiatus we've been to several birthday parties where we've had kinder reunions and several Fire Fixes reunions. It's so nice to see that the girls missed each other and were happy to see each other. We even spent New Year's with most of the Fire Foxes families. Very special soccer season with very special families, indeed.

First Fire Foxes reunion after the soccer season ended

Kinders

Another Fire Foxes pic

Granny and Papa Walt invited us to their friends Christmas party where Santa makes an appearance. Santa called the kids and gave them each a present. The kids had a great time.

Jakey was in his very first school Christmas performance. Very emotional for mom to watch her baby boy perform. He was amazing! He sang and everything. He was fascinated by the large screens and couldn't stop looking at them once he realized they were showing pictures of the kids. Too cute!

Jakey's performing Watching himself on the big screen

Walking on stage next to Ytalia (Jakey says she's the prettiest girl in school)

There he is...on the big screen!

Sebastian and I celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary on 2/2/02! Can't believe it's been 9 years! I can honestly say I love my husband even more than the day we married! We headed to Napa for a weekend getaway. We spent an entire day wine tasting. So beautiful and fun! Can't wait to head back to Sonoma for another round of tasting, hopefully this time with our wine connoisseur friends!

Mustard in full bloom

Second winery we visited

Alyssa is playing softball. Season starts this weekend. So far so good. She's having fun and making new friends. That's all we can ask for.

Jakey continues to be such a hoot. His world is so black and white. He's so literal! The other day I asked him to stop kicking the back of my seat in the car and he said, "I'm not kicking, my shoes are dancing." Love him!

He was "watching" tv in his playroom chair

Jakey went to his very first theatre movie! He was awesome. Poor little guy has to say the first movie he saw in a theatre was..... Tangled. Ha ha! He seemed to enjoy himself. We were going to make it an all girl trip until he heard us discussing our plans. He chimed in and said he wanted to go to the show with us so we decided to let him join in. Only little boy with 5 girls! :)

We enjoyed tailgating at Aztec football games and the kids went to an Aztec basketball game. Occasionally you'll hear Jakey walking around saying, "Aztecas, Aztecas, rah rah rah."

Aztecs basketball

Aztecs football

Whew....not too bad. I'm sure I left a lot out, but a quick summary to catch everyone up. Back soon with more!

more edited pictures

I will spare you and won't share the 562 pictures Mike took. No joke, over 500 pictures of my happy little family. I'm so in love with most of them....but here are a few more.

Honestly, who knew Jake could smile?

Love love love him! He's so adorable!

Crazy kiddos!

They look so old! Growing up way too fast!

Fresh haircuts and matching polo shirts....love my men!

Jakey having a little bit of fun.

Christmas Card Pictures

We've had the privilege of having Mike Simpson visit us for a little fun and family photography session. He's amazing! Lucky for us he traveled all the way from Colorado to take our pictures. If you are ever in Colorado you MUST have your pictures taken by Mike. Or, maybe if you are lucky, the next time he's in town you can schedule a sitting. Check out his website at www.mjsimpsonphotography.com. I wish I could share all of the pictures, but I don't want to give away our Christmas card. Here's a sneak peak of pictures that won't be on our Christmas card..... (pictures haven't been edited by Mike just yet, but of course I couldn't wait)

A little stop by the train museum and Jake was in heaven!

The funny thing is this wasn't even a pose. Just a random shot he got, but I like it!

Quite the little poser. She couldn't wait until the camera was turned on her

He's so adorable and such a big boy. No pictures of him screaming! Not one....not even kidding!

Seriously?!?!?!? I'm behind again!

Geez! I can't seem to keep up these days. We've been busy, but nothing out of the ordinary. So no valid excuse for missing another week.

Fire Foxes season has come to an end. Last season I remember the end couldn't come soon enough. It almost felt painful. Now I realize we experienced that for a reason. Without it, Secorra and I wouldn't have talked our fabulous husbands into coaching this year. It was all meant to be. I can't say enough positive things about the coaches. Aron and Sebastian outdid themselves. The girls all learned so much and had so much fun along the way. The enthusiasm at each and every game and each and every practice was evident. The girls dominated the season. The other teams only averaged less than one goal a game against the Fire Foxes all season. The girls ended the season with 4 shut-out games in a row and averaged over 10 goals a game. Just a side bragging note, my daughter scored the most goals on her team all season! Go baby! (I have also just been informed by my husband that yelling go baby is embarrassing and I possibly need to stop doing so....LAME) I'm so proud of Alyssa for overcoming what must have been some sort of mental "thing" at the beginning of the season and making her big comeback. Her love for the game is back!

Fire Foxes

After every goal the Fire Foxes scored they all hustled right back for another kick off. Always ready to go!

Season number 4 with the Getty's. Best season yet! Way to go Coach Aron and Sebastian!

We celebrated the end of the season on Sunday with their team party. It was so fun to see the girls get their trophies and end of year surprises. I even said a few sappy words about my husband and soccer husband. Why can't I ever get through saying anything nice without crying?The girls sang happy birthday fire foxes to themselves with their cake. What a funny group of girls, and better yet, what an overall great group of girls! I think all the kids, parents included, all made friends along the way. What more can you ask for?!?!? Well to be together again next season of course!

Girls singing happy birthday Fire Foxes, so silly!

Alyssa receiving her trophy from Coach Aron

Alyssa's Auntie K and Cathy came for a nice visit. I can't believe I don't have a single picture to post of their trip. I'm really slacking these days. Cathy hasn't seen Alyssa since she was 3! My how times have changed. Looking forward to heading their way in April for spring break. Last time we were there we celebrated Alyssa's 3rd birthday, this time we will celebrate her 8th! Yikes, how can that be?!?!!? Sniff sniff...

While Auntie K was visiting, Sebastian took Jakey to the desert. Went for a night, came back for soccer and headed back for another night. Jakey could hardly wait to go back. He apparently loves the desert. So obvious he didn't get that from me. He loved playing in the dirt and loves telling the story how the dune buggy got stuck in the sand and he had to call Papa Walt to save them. While they were away, Alyssa spent the night at her Nana's and mom was home all alone! That has never happened. My house was so completely quiet I actually sat in the dark allby myself enjoying the piece and quiet. I was even so kind to share my quiet house with Secorra for an evening of adult conversation and wine. It was like a vacation in my own home! If that is what a desert weekend entails I'm so IN!

Jakey's "buggy", same color as dad's

Apparently throwing dirt in the desert is hours of fun

Alyssa, Jake and I headed to Build-a-Bear Saturday night to meet some friends for some mom-kid time while the dads headed to the football game. Before we left Sebastian gave the kids the same speech he always does, "no sound, no clothes. Repeat after me, no sound, no clothes." Needless to say Alyssa talked her way into a FULLY clothed bear and Jakey couldn't have a Star Wars bear without the music. Jake only has one other Build-a-Bear, Camo. How is it with so many animals in that store to choose from he heads straight to the bear he already has. Luckily I talked him out of it, but couldn't talk him out of naming his new bear the same exact name as his other bear...CAMO. He's going to be the kid that names all his pets the same thing regardless of its species.