A New Music Video!

My sibs and I have had a home video tradition ever since we first had a camera. Christmas 1996 Jen came home with a camcorder and we started out making commercials (MY idea, thank you-- I had discovered the joy of commercial making with my friends) and then we progressed to soap operas. The music video tradition started in 2007. Here is this year's installment, in all its glory. It features every sib and spouse (except Jason), and even our honorary sister Komu (the Japanese foreign exchange student who lived with Kimi and my parents from 2005-2006 and came to VISIT this Christmas!!). It also features the VERY impressive scripting and directing talents of Annette and the the editing talents of her hub Cameron.

Brave Happy Girl!

Amanda's preschool class had their Christmas program the other night. I was absolutely dumbfounded when I saw her performing! She has always been so shy. Last year when she went to daycare she never said a word while she was there, and even at home she gets nervous about doing anything in front of the family. Her preschool teacher is amazing though, and she has so much fun there. It's really brought her out of her shell! Here are a couple little clips of her program.

Alice theme Halloween!

A few months ago we were at my parents' house and my kids got out the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum costumes that my mom made for Kimi and her friend when they were 9. They fit Jess and Josh perfectly so my mom let them take the costumes home to save for Halloween. Then I got to thinking that the Alice costume I made for Jess 5 years ago would fit Mandie this year, and thus our theme Halloween was born! We decided that Nat would be the perfect Queen of Hearts, and Missy wanted to be the white rabbit.

I only had to make 2 costumes, so I was brave enough to go all-out with Natalie's. I used leftover fabric from Jason's old store, I was so amazed that there there was exactly the amount that I needed! The crown is borrowed, isn't it great??

Missy's costume was really easy. You may recognize the vest from a certain leprechaun costume, and Natalie made the cute watch!

And here are the fabulous tweedle costumes, aren't they cute!?

And of course my precious little Alice!

Ta-dah!

Reunion at the Beach

Jason's family reunion this year was at Newport Dunes in California.  It's a resort next to a lagoon in Newport Beach.  We got to stay in a cute little cottage really close to the lagoon.  We shared ours with Jason's parents, which was really nice because we got to see a lot of them.  When you went out our front door there was a little picket fence, then lots of sand, then the water!  They had live bands and movies and campfires out on the sand at night.  So fun!

Here we are playing by the lagoon

They sure weren't afraid of the seaweed

Mandie liked trying to get close to the birds.  We fed them some cheeze-its.

Grandpa was so excited to get a chance to play with the girls' collection of Whimzy Pets.

Mandie and Grandpa at the campfire

Playing in the sand in the morning (this is looking from out little yard toward the lagoon.)

This was one of the available rentals at the resort -- it's a bike! 

We got this little boat like 3 years ago for Christmas, and this is the first time we used it!  It was funny trying to teach the kids to row from the shore and watching them float farther and farther away!  Nat and Josh both got good at it.

Josh and Jess

Jason and Missy

Nat and Mandie

We also went to the REAL beach!  Our kids had never seen the ocean before, and taking them there was the main reason Jason dragged himself to this reunion in the first place!  We got there early in the morning before the crowds, and it was nice and cool and cloudy for a while, then pretty and sunny later on.  A perfect day.

This photo is my favorite

Building a sand castle!

Natalie spent the most time of anybody out in the waves, she is a big fan of the ocean!

Josh, Mandie, Missy

Family Photos!!!!!!!!!!!

In case you can't tell from the number of exclamation points in the title of this post, I am PSYCHED that we were finally able to do family pictures!  It was so fun to have Jana help us scavenge through the house for coordinating outfits and go shopping for a few final items.  And then after we did the family shots she managed to continue photographing my kids while dragging along her two babies and Emma while I took Jason home.  Jana is wonder woman!  And I love love love that I have gorgeous pics of me with each of my chilluns, I've been wanting that for a long time. 

I LOVE this one!  I'm getting a GIANT print of it!