The Marshall Family Blog

Our Christmas day in So Cal

2012-01-24T20:24:00.000-08:00

We drove down to So Cal the night after Christmas. The trip was uneventful, car packed with presents and such! We woke up before the Leonards and hung out in our Christmas jammies! Once the Leonards arrived we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" Christmas morning!

Then it was present time. Jim got the funniest gift from Becky and Norm, a krump cup. It is all bling and has one of his nicknames on it "Vibes" in crystals and gold and red for the 49ers theme. We all got a good laugh.

There were lots of princess presents!

The boys loved playing with their new cars!

Gracie helped open Ben's presents!

Jim tried on Ben's new lightning mcqueen shades!

The girls rode around in their matching princess bicycles!

Gracie loved her gift of matching pj's for her and her baby doll from Aunt Debbie

Ben and I enjoying a snuggle on the couch!

Sammers the climber!

Ben, playing in the backyard!

The boys shared really well and loved all of the car toys!

THe girls loved painting their own finger nails

We baked some cookies

I love this picture of Gracie and I. She made the heart cookie for me, so sweet!

The Johnson Family came over too, Amy, Larrs, Ethan and Aiden, also Brian and Christy! We all played and ate some yummy pizza!

Ethan loves Pop's fish tank

All the kids loved playing with pops. I think that is sam behind pop's grabbin his mouth! Pops is undettered playing with the kids. I think Becky and Norm are a bit concered in the background!

Our yummy cookie collection! They didn't last for too long!

So Cal Disneyland Day

2012-01-24T19:50:00.000-08:00

The mom's took the kids to Disneyland one day while the guys were at the Holiday Bowl. At one point Becky was standing in line to renew her pass and it was my mom and me with 4 kids. It looked like I had two sets of twins. We had a lot of fun and went on all of Gracie's request's Dumbo, Storybook, Princess Party & It's a Small World. We even got in some face painting for the girls. I couldn't believe how crowded it was. We arrived around 8 am and had lunch there and then left at 1 we were all pooped. I held Ben most of the time so he wouldn't wander away in line and such, my arms were like jello the next day. Disneyland is so beautiful during the holiday's with all of the Christmas decorations.
Our first ride, Dumbo!

Ben and I. He wasn't too keen on the ride at first, and then really loved it.

Storybook ride, to see where all of the princess' live!

Dancing with the Princess'

The boys hung with Anya and watched the show.

Time for It's a Small World.

Ben's favorite ride of the day. Mine too!

The boys partied in the stroller...

and then crashed shortly after.

The girls got their faces painted

We all reunited that night, all a little tired

The girls attempted a slumber party for the first time

I think Gracie finally fell asleep at 10:45 and Charlee fell asleep in Anya and Pops bed around 11:15. We will attempt that sleepover again when they are a little older!

Beach Day over Christmas time in So Cal

2012-01-23T20:36:00.000-08:00

Our last day in So Cal we went to the beach, it was 70 degrees and so fun.

The beach day, started out with sweatshirts and then we ran around some with the kids, and the sun came out. Ben LOVED the ocean and we ended up taking off his pants, then sweatshirt, then soaking shirt, till he was in his diaper. Thank goodness we brought a change of clothes. Also Becky brought bathing suits for the girls, they loved playing in the sand!

Pure Joy! He couldn't get enough of the beach

Gracie loved it too!

Sandy Bottoms!

Becky and I squinting into the sunlight.

Jim and I always near Ben.

Cute Anya and Pops! In the background in the pic below you can see fearless Ben and Jim keeping him safe!

The end result, wet hair, soggy sandy bottoms and smiles!

Ben in the Kitchen

2012-01-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

Ben is now at TT's house and loves it. His daycare provider Bertha needed to have eye surgery and wasn't going to be able to work for 6 weeks starting in the New Year, so Ben is now going to are great friends home, Sheri & Eric to play with TT (Gracie's best friend) and their little one Lindsey. He has so much fun there and I am so happy it all worked out. When I was pregnant with Ben and he was newly born I had asked Sheri if she would be interested in watching him, she had watched Gracie for a long time. At the time it didn't work because she was planning to have another baby and thought she might have to go on bedrest like she had to do with TT. When Bertha gave her notice, I contacted Sheri and she said she would love to.

Well Ben is so happy there, we had some playdates over Christmas break to get him acquainted with everything. Now when I drop him off he immediately runs into the house and plays. Ben and Taylor and Lindsey all get along great. I think Gracie wishes she was there too, even though she loves preschool, but Taylor goes to preschool 3 days a week and Gracie gets to see her for drop off and pick up, which is great.

Ben is almost 22 months old, we can't believe it. He is trying to talk more, has opinions about what he wants to eat, watch on tv, toys to play with, books to read, and what to wear. Loves silly humor and loves the family, greets everyone with a huge smile and hug. We love our little/big guy. His feet are almost the same size as Gracie's. Yesterday morning I put him in one of Gracie's old polar bear jackets and he hated it, kept running away from me and didn't want to put it on. I asked him if he wanted another jacket, he followed me to his room, I picked out a fuzzy warm one, and he helped me put it on him. Smiled and said Yeah! So cute and what a ham. I can't believe he is starting to pick out his clothes, even this morning he picked out his shoes that he wanted to wear.

Jim and I also decided to have Ben evaluated for not having very many words. When Gracie was this age she was speaking sentences. He is able to tell us what he wants effectively without using many words, by pointing and making different sounds. His words include Yeah, Mama, UhHuh, NaNa, Anya, and basically he repeats the sounds of words we say with the same annunciation. Anyways, the Early Start program said that he can recieve speech therapy once a week for an hour for 1 year through Early Start and then he will be reevaluated in 6 months. We are so excited for all of us to have this extra help. I am sure he will turn into a big talker like the rest of us soon enough. Jim and I also took a class called "Help Me Communicate" to work better with him on using words and, it seems to really help. On a super positive note, upon his evaluation, he tested ahead of his age for large motor skills - hence his great throwing left arm, running, helping put on and take off clothes so well and such. Also, he can help whip up some great scrambled eggs in the kitchen - refer to the picture below with his trusty 11 month old assistant Lindsey!

Weekend Fun

2012-01-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had so much fun. We first had a date night Friday night, Jim's parents watched the kids - Yeah! We went to see, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, it was a good movie, but a bit slow, and it didn't help that the showing went into our normal bedtime. I think we got home at 11:30 pm, which is a late night for us! HaHa, getting old!

On Saturday we hit up Bill's cafe in downtown Willow Glen for a great breakfast. Later in the day the kids got their haircut. Ben is getting better each time and Gracie loves her new bob.

On Sunday we headed to Napa for Justin's 3rd birthday party. Linzi & Scott are old college friends and roommates, so it was fun to catch up with them, their families and friends. Below are some pics of Justin with his b-day icecream in a cone!

Afterwards we headed to see Stu and Julie (Stu is a childhood friend of Jim's) and their three boys. Miles & Lucas are 6 months older than Gracie and then they have Hugh that is about to turn 1. It was great to play in their backyard and catch up, last time we saw them was in March for Ben's b-day party. Afterwards we headed home. Needless to say we were a bit tired. Gracie and Ben promptly took naps in the car, and Jim and I talked (i only nodded off a few times!) Thanks again Jim for always driving!!

Filling our Bucket

2012-01-10T16:27:00.000-08:00

Gracie read a story at school last week about how when you are nice to someone and thoughtful it fills there bucket and makes them happy. Needless to say, she has been talking a lot about how we fill her bucket when we say nice things and we comment on how she fills our bucket when she is nice to Ben and shares with him ect. It is so sweet and makes us smile. Got to love our one of a kind Gracie Girl, who is always filling our bucket.

Below, is an outfit she picked out from head to toe as always! Red headband, from my 80's collection, Santa sweater, poodle girl outfit, hot pink pants, black mary janes and red socks! Hopefully she will help me take some fashion risks this New Year!

So Proud!

2012-01-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

Jim recieved "Teacher of the Month" yesterday! We are so proud of him!

Gracie made Daddy a suprise congrats drawing. I whispered to her how to spell some of the words (hence the Deacher instead of Teacher, she misunderstood the T for D). She wanted us to be so quiet and kept on telling Jim not to come in the office. So sweet. We also made him chocolate chip cookies to celebrate!

It says below... Mom, Gracie Ben

Best Dad and Best Teacher

and there is a picture of Jim!

Some recent drawings Gracie made

2012-01-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

This one above melted my heart. I love that she wrote to Mom!

Gracie in my Preschool Shirt

2012-01-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

For one of my Christmas gifts, my mom gave me my Preschool shirt with my picture on it. Gracie was excited to wear it and wore it to preschool yesterday, even sporting matching pigtails to my preschool pic. Her teachers got a kick out of it, and we had so much fun getting her dressed yesterday. She picked out her entire outfit as always, even picked the hairstyle!

More Christmas Photos

2012-01-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

I helped my mom upload the 200+ pictures she took of our Christmas week with them to Costco, but am unable to put them on the blog, Costco makes it difficult to copy and paste from their website. So here are some photos taken from my new camera! Jim got me a new camera for my purse - I am so happy, I lost my other one and have been using our super nice camera but often forget to take it with me when we go out.

Below, Gracie sporting her new helmet!

Grammy and Sir got the kits a jumpy house, it was a huge hit! We took it to Southern California and the kids loved playing and sharing it there!

Jim cooked an amazing Christmas Eve dinner, and Christmas Day dinner!

Uncle Wicky, Ben & Sir snuggling & reading the latest from Elmo!

The stroller brigade hits Disneyland. My mom, Becky and I attempted Disneyland with the 4 kids. We had a blast! Disneyland was beautiful and all decorated for the holidays, but was sooo busy. We were able to hit Gracie's top 4 things (Dumbo, Storybook (whale ride), It's a small world, and see the princess'. We also had lunch and got the girls faces painted, then headed home.

At one point standing in line to get in, I was with the kids with my mom. My sister was renewing her passes. It looked like I had two sets of twins. We were quite a site, but managed it all just fine, next year, we will definately bring the hubby's along for toddler care!

Sweet Gracie, tired but excited to be at disneyland

Charlee Marie, excited as well!

Below is a picture of our home from Dec. 1969. So cool. We bought our new house, and shortly discovered that I knew a family that lived there for close to 40 years. Pretty cool. The family, is going to come by sometime soon for a tour and we can't wait.
Sweet Ben on Christmas day!

Ben loving on Brody!

The cool Vibes cup from Becky and Norm.

Snuggling with the kids before bedtime!

Beach loving boy! We went to Laguna Beach and let Ben go, he just loved playing in the ocean, sand, seawead, & surf. Jim and I were right by his side, even after falling, he would get up and run more. With a summer vacation planned at Newport, we will have to watch this guy like a hawk.

Merry Christmas

2012-01-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing Christmas in our new home and visiting with family. The Marshall Fam came over on Christmas day and Jim made and amazing Christmas Dinner. We headed to So Cal for the Andrews Family Christmas the next night and had fun there. Took the kids to the beach (Ben loved it - pictures coming soon) and Disneyland. It was a fun week/vacation, but we feel exhausted. We worked on cleaning out our garage New Years Eve and have been unpacking more of the non essentials - like pictures and such. We are getting there. It was so great to spend time with everyone over the holidays!

Above sweet ben sleeping.

Below, Christmas eve. Jim and I look tired in the photos below and Mr. & Mrs. Claus hadn't even assembled the christmas bike and tricycle! The kids were so excited about Santa!

Reading, Twas the Night before Christmas with Anya and Pops voices from a book they made last year.

Christmas morning. Gracie LOVED her bicycle and rode it all day around the house

Ben loved his new books and cars to play with!

Below, Gracie in action!

Gracie was so sweet coloring, we did a little photo session while Ben napped!

Gracie's letter to santa!

2011-12-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

Translated:

Dear Santa,

I want a Sleeping Beauty Pillow.

Love,
Gracie Marshall

(note a picture of Sleeping Beauty on the letter) So sweet!

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

2011-12-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted. Since the last post, we had a great trip to so. cal for Thanksgiving. A night in SLO with Firestone and Woodstocks, movies in the hotel room and all. Trip to Santa Barbara with a visit with Ashleigh and Trevor and meeting Baby Holden. Then to the Thanksgiving party with my mom's side of the family. All 7 Harmon brothers and sisters were there with spouses, kids, their kids and all. Gracie and Ben had a blast playing with everyone, Jim and I were able to talk with the adults and play with the kids too! We spent a couple days at my parents home and had a quadruple date night out (such fun). We lastly visited my Grandma in the hospital after hip surgery. It had been a long time since I had seen her and it was nice to visit, update her with what the kids were up to and such. She is now relearning to walk and is feeling better.

The rest of the weekends since Thanksgiving have been busy and fun. Shopping with girlfriends for Christmas Gifts, two trips to Lodi one for the Herbert Family Christmas and another for boys fishing trips, birthday parties, and the Nutcraker. There has been some rest involved and shopping is mostly done. Now it's time to wrap up presents and make some more cookies and watch more Christmas movies. Gracie can't wait for Santa to visit. The kids are having fun being off this week with Jim. I can't wait till Friday till I will be off with them for 10 days! Lot's of fun planned then too!

Below is a hilarious picture taken during Thanksgiving weekend. Charlee and the adults are the only ones smiling. Ben isn't happy. Gracie is giving the camera the evil eye and Sam is crying with his boot coming off his foot. This picture makes me laugh, and I love the crying baby/toddler photos with Santa that are popping up on facebook and in our mailbox. Last year Gracie and Ben were so happy to be with Santa, hopefully next year things will change!

Our home before we bought it!

2011-11-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

Updated Pics

2011-11-22T09:20:00.000-08:00

Gracie just started gymnastics class and she loves ti. Here she is sporting some pigtails!

My little cutie!

We are really settling into our new home and enjoying it, without always having to unpack. We made some yummy pumpkin muffins. We plan to bring some to the Harmon Family Thanksgiving Party.The kids love to play on the couch, and sometimes don't want their picture taken!

Also both kids got little colds, you can see it in their sweet eyes, cuddling on the couch watching Sesame Street (Ben's FAVORITE show)!

Ben LOVES to cuddle, I went to get the camera and he started sitting up. He is great to cuddle with. Also recently if you ask him, "how are you doing?" He'll say Good! I heard him say it when he was playing with one of his Sesame Street toys and it asked him how he was doing. Pretty Cute!

Always Dancing Gracie!

This past weekend we made popcorn, it was a huge hit. We have one of those old time poppers with the heated tray and the metal stick that moves the kernals. The kids love it! Such a healthy snack, they eat it without any butter or salt!

Ben loves the bath, they have recently discovered the Pail Hat!

Updated House Shots! - Office

Ben's Room

Gracie's room below. We finally got through the last of the toy boxes and organized!

We have now made this little area next to the kitchen and dining room a little play/kids area. They have their little table and chairs and we put together the little cube storage, with books, coloring, toys and puzzles. It's working out great, and we can keep the kid clutter out of the living room (well most of it)

Boxes are out of the living room, and our first piece of artwork is up!

Cute Videos and Stories

2011-11-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

Gracie has been saying a lot of cute things lately. She told me the other day that she wanted to wear her all overs (meaning overalls). The video of her below singing "one little, two little, three native americans" she calls them (even americans). Last night we were driving in the car playing I spy. She said I spy a case of stairs instead of a staircase. Pretty cute! These two are just the best! They have both come down with some little colds and are just the best snuggle bugs!

A love song from Charlee to Gracie

2011-11-11T09:16:00.000-08:00

So sweet. Charlee came out with this ballad of love for her cousin Gracie. We can't wait to see the Leonard family in a couple of weeks and reunite these long lost cousins!

Words from Becky........ She sang about three songs before I could get it on film...in on version she said, "and in the morning I will come to your house...well maybe Anya and Pops house and see you if I get to see you again!" So sweet

Some cute Photos

2011-11-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

My sweet sleeping kids on the way to Lodi! Gracie is sporting her new Hello Kitty Cat headband for being a good sleeper.

Dance Show

2011-11-06T14:36:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Gracie had her last dance class and all the parents were invited to observe, and take photos for there informal dance recital. We went camera and video crazy (videos at the end). Jim, Ben and I cheered her on, it was so fun.

Afterwards we headed to Lodi for an early b-day celebration with Sir. We had lunch at the golf club. Read the menu to Gracie and asked her what she wanted. She said back to me that she wanted the "girl cheese" because she's a girl. Well her grilled cheese was delicious and we had fun. The guys played 9 holes afterwards and Grammy and I took the kids to the Annual Crane Festival. They had some fun activities for the kids, but mainly I chased Ben around trying to keep him from breaking/touching the bird statues and oil paintings and the like. He was so fast and would weave in and out of people with walkers and canes, and I am so happy he didn't trip anyone. We then went to the park nearby and they had a blast, the slides were the biggest hit. We ended the night with a delicious tri-tip dinner and drove home. It was so great to celebrate for Sirs b-day. We spent Sunday playing/unpacking around the house. We are loving it here.

Our More Completed Home!

2011-11-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

Our somewhat decorated entry!

Slightly down the hall next to the entry our guest bedroom. Still needing lots of decorating touches.

The amazing guest bed that will someday be in Gracie's room!
The living room looking out to part of the backyard From the Entry to the left, the living room!

Another view of the living room

View from the living room to the dining room.

Cutie pie Ben. His top two teeth are in and his bottom left just made a small appearance

Picture of his teeth!

From the dining room to the "piano & wine room" i guess?

View from the living room through the dining room to the backyard.

Kitchen

Gracie's Room - with some unpacking still to do...

We changed the knobs on her dresser. Old above and new below (pink flowers)

Gracie's closet

The other half of the closet, with more boxes to unpack

Her little reading, dolly corner

Ben's room

Ben's closet

Our computer room Other view of the computer room

Our master bedroom

My closet - it's the biggest closet I have had since we lived in San Jose. I am so excited all of my clothes fit in one place. Well almost all of my clothes.

Our bathroom - or the Dallas Cowboys bathroom grey and blue

The kid's bathroom - Greenbay packers - green and yellow

Our storage room - lots more unpacking there

Storage Room

Laundry Room

And that's the conclusion of the tour. We still need to hang pictures and replace the paper blinds with something more substantial like curtains or real blinds. In due time!!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

What a fun Halloween. I went to Gracie's Halloween parade at her preschool!

Gracie got to hang out with her friends!

She dressed as Rapunzel, but didn't wear the hair because it gets in her face.

The girls smiled for the camera!

Gracie, Sophia C., and Sophia Q.

Sophia Q and Gracie in a huge hug!

Gracie and Niko.

Gracie and India on the school playground

In the evening Gracie decided to be Ariel, because she didn't want to wear the tangled hair! Grammy helped make Ben's Vest, so we said he was prince Eric from The Little Mermaid or Flynn Rider from Rapunzel, but we forgot the satchel at the house. Some pictures were attempted by the front door!

Our spooky house from across the street!

Our neighbor's house Joe & Charlie, they are so sweet!

Gracie was so excited. She greeted every house with a Happy Halloween and Trick or Treat. Then told them her name and age and showed them on her fingers. Very cute and confident girl!

Charlie even snapped a photo of us all looking at the camera, I should have snagged Ben's pacifier.

We all went together to about 4 or 5 immediate neighbors houses and then came home for some candy, and to put Ben to bed. Ben LOVES candy, just like Miss Gracie (well lets face it, like Mommy and Daddy too!)

After this candy session, we put Ben to bed. I passed out candy and Jim and Gracie did some more trick or treating. I then went out trick or treating with Gracie and met the nicest neighbors. About a dozen of them said that if we ever need anything to let them know, and how great the street is and how nice everyone is. We agree!! We started planning a playdate for Ben, with one of the neighbors has a little boy the same age.

This neighborhood definately isn't as busy/crazy with trick or treaters like our last neighborhood, we would go through 6 costco bags of candy and still wouldn't have enough. We would just sit on the front porch and pass out candy. I think tonight we went through 1 1/2 bags, and bought 3. We will have to take the extra candy to work so we don't eat so much at home!!

Sleeping

2011-10-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

Some nights Gracie wakes up and wants to come in our bed. She did it last night, but I said she could come in when it's moring. Sure enough at 5 am she called for me and then snuggled into bed. Jim snapped this shot of us sleeping soundly Sunday Morning!

Updated House Photos!

2011-10-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

I took these photos earlier this week, and obviously didn't pick up beforehand. Since then we have made a ton of progress around the house. The dog in the photo below is Max, we were dog sitting!

Below, the guest bedroom!

Our laundry area, now the washer and dryer are in wash room, we had to do some wall, flooring and painting repairs!

The kids bathroom, in all of it's yellow and green glory!

The master bath!

Our computer room.

The master bedroom, it isn't messy now, we got a new area rug and organizers for under the bed and our closets! I love it!

Gracies room, looks like a toy bomb went off in there, but it is slowly getting all put away.

Ben's room, it is done now, and looks so cute!

Jim working hard on dinner in the kitchen.

View from the kitchen window to the backyard

I can't believe we have now been in the house for 2 weeks, we have done a ton of work and have a whole bunch more to do, but we all feel settled in and everything is finding its own place! This past weekend, Grammy & Sir, Majjy and Chan came by. I got to feel the baby move, Mary is 22 weeks along. So exciting. Also with all of the unpacking and organizing I found 1 maternity outfit, and 3 maternity shirts that I passed along to her, along with some baby hooded towels and recieving blankets. We got to see some pictures of the little one, so cute we can't wait to meet him or her!

Preschool Trip to the Pumpkin Patch/Jumpy House Bonanza

2011-10-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I went with Gracie's preschool to the pumpkin patch, it was so fun to see her run around and jump and bounce, she didn't want the fun to stop. It was fun to hang out with the other moms and kids.

Sophia Q and Gracie!

Bath Fun at Uncle Adams

2011-10-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

Ben brushing Gracie's teeth!

Our Pumpkin Patch Trip

2011-10-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in October we headed to the pumpkin patch in Morgan Hill, Uesugi Farms. We had a fun time running around and picking out pumpkins!

Gracie took the picture below

Helping Daddy push the wheel barrow

Ben on his 18 Month Birthday!

2011-10-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from Ben's 18th month birthday morning when we were staying at Uncle Adams, I had an impromtu photo session with the kiddos!

Happy!

2011-10-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to dinner with the girls to celebrate Allegra's birthday, Will joined us after a long nap. Happiest baby ever. We would say Hi and he would say hi back and just smile and smile and giggle. So cute and fun. Sorry that the picture is so dark and blurry, I took the pic with my blackberry and he was moving too!

On another note I have a video to upload of Ben laughing at me dancing in the car this morning. The kids had a good laugh listening to music and watching me dance. It was so fun!

Friends Blog Giveaway

2011-10-24T16:49:00.001-07:00

An old cheerleading friend from High School, Allison, has a great blog! She loves to refinish furniture and is always doing ton's of projects! Here is a link to her give away 2-3 nights away in a condo in So Cal or near Lake Tahoe! It would be so fun to win and have a vacation after all of the crazy moving and unpacking http://therusticalley.blogspot.com/2011/10/need-trip-win-ck-condos-giveaway.html! You can sign up to win too!

A Dance Fest

2011-10-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

Miss Gracie wanted a dance party last night, so after bathtime she got all dressed up to dance with special dance shoes. So cute. She put cowboy hats on Ben and I and we filmed the dancing.

We are all Moved IN!

2011-10-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

We moved in this past Friday and spent all weekend unpacking and organinzing. I can't believe all of the stuff we have, we already have 2 boxes for donations and some furniture to give away too. It is a pretty overwhelming process, but fortunately we had Jim's parents to help us this past weekend. They helped us make the house look like a home by arranging the furniture in the living room, and help us unpack our kitchen. They also broke down all of our boxes and helped put all of the tissue paper in the recycle bin, no easy task. They helped in numerous other ways, playing with the kids and it was incredible how much we all got done.

It is also incredible how much more we have to do and find. For example, I went to put on an outfit yesterday, but couldn't find my chocolate brown shoes, I think they are all still in a box in the garage somewhere. Eventually it will all come together. The kids love the house and we do too. We can watch them from the living room and kitchen and Gracie's room play in the backyard. It is great. We have also been reunited with Brody. He is so well behaved, thanks Linda & Dave for training him. He no longer gets up on the couch and doesn't steal food from Ben! His doggy door gets installed this week so soon he will be able to go outside anytime.

Also our new neighbors are AMAZING! On Friday our neighbor to the left brought over Halloween books for the kids, and wine and chocolates for Jim and I! Yesterday our neighbor to the right brought over a homeade cake and strawberry jam. So sweet. We also got a note to participate in Christmas Tree Lane, each house will put a tiny tree in their yard. Sign us up! We are so happy here in the new house, and are soo grateful to have amazing neighbors like we did in our old house. Also this past weekend on Saturday Gracies soon to be elementary school (next fall) had a jog-a thon and we toured around the playground, ate ice cream and pretzels and checked out the library (it's great). All of the families there were so nice too!

Below is a picture of Gracie reading the Torah with Cantor Meeka today at school! We all went to a fun puppett show last night and the kids played and played. Ben played with the other kids and loved throwing the balls and running around. Gracie played with Sophia Q and Helena. Can't wait till Ben starts there in the summer.

Preschool Photos!

2011-10-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

We are so excited over Gracie's preschool photos, SOO CUTE! Here they all are below. I have some wallets for those who want them.

House Update: Flooring done, paint done, garage done, landscaping trim done, and the plumbing for the washer and dryer is getting done today and tomorrow, and the cleaning crew comes tomorrow! Move in day scheduled for Friday. Jim and I will be there when they unload and to unpack the rest of the day. We are over the moon excited. Dave and Linda are going to come Sunday to help and reunite us with Brody! We have to still install a doggy door and make a trip to Lowes for storage racks for the garage.

I have more photos to upload but haven't had a change to upload them to the blog. I have some adorable kids shots and house shots! We can't wait to move in!

The Parrott Class

18 Month Check-UP

2011-10-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

Ben had his 18 Month check up yesterday. Jim and I went together which was good when the shots came, he HATED it, and is so strong, it took Jim, Me and the Nurse to hold him in place. Poor little guy got 4 shots, but he is doing great now. No fever, no reaction, tough little guy.

His stats are
75% for Height 2' 9.25" (he's catching up and taller than some of his older buddy friends at Bertha's
28% for head
15% for Weight 23lbs. 3.2 oz, I guess he's tall and skinny.

I have some adorable pictures to put on the blog, they are all stored on my camera, till I pull our laptop out of Adam's garage to upload them.

Yeah the house CLOSED TODAY!

2011-09-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are now official home owners again! Work is going on at the house, flooring, door installs, laundry room repairs/upgrades! Workers are all lined up. Move in date planned for 2 weeks from today! I am over the moon happy!

Ben is 18 Months

2011-09-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, we can't believe it. He turns 18 months tomorrow, and we have his check up on Monday afternoon. He continues to be a happy, busy, snuggling sweet boy. He loves to eat and help Jim cook. This morning he at my entire oatmeal and a banana. In the car I gave him a Clif Kids "Bar Bar", he handed it back to me and I asked if he wanted it and he just shook his head no. So cute. He is using more and more words, nana for Banana, mama, dada, loves to say the word MMMMM whenever food is nearby. He points, runs, toddles around and LOVES to snuggle. I couldn't be happier about that. He also loves to grab my hand and walk me to where he wants to go. Our favorite game to play right now is throwing the ball, Ben brings me about 3 balls, I throw them in various places, he throws them back to me and we do it all over again. He loves all animals and to be with the family. He is always bringing me my shoes to put on. I am so pleased to have my sweet Mr. Ben, and so blessed to be his mom!

House Update:
It closes this Friday yeah, flooring will be installed and we are scheduled to move in Oct. 14th Can't wait. We are having fun staying at Adams, and loving on Blue the cat.

Gracie's May Birthday Party Update:
A couple of Gracie's friends are having birthday parties soon, and Gracie has already decided what she wants to do for her party that's 8 months away. She wants to have Princess Belle come from Beauty and the Beast and have all the boys and girls from her classroom come to her party. Gracie told me that the boys asked if they could come to her birthday party and she said yes! Well we will have to get creative come the springtime for a boy & girl princess party! ha ha!

Labor Day - kids party!

2011-09-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

2011-09-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

Gracie's preschool had a birthday party. She's in the front row on the right, not looking at the camera. She had a blast with the face painting, pinata's with toys, she seemed most excited about her own water bottle with her name on it! Cute!

This past weekend was so fun. Pops and uncle Brian came to town, we went out to eat Friday night. Saturday the guys golfed in the GRC golf tournament, left at 7 am for Monterey. I took Gracie and Ben to the park, and then G had her dance lesson. Then we headed to Mary's house, got to catch up with the girls. Grammy and I watched the kiddos and took them to the after golf party at the park. Gracie and Maddy, played and played, and Jim snapped this cute picture of them. The next day, we had breakfast at Bill's Cafe - it was delicious with Pops and Brian. In the afternoon I snuck in a mini spa day and a nap, Jim napped too! Gracie is loving having Blue the cat around and hugs on him tons. We are so appreciate to stay with Adam, house should close this Friday and move in date is scheduled for Mid Oct. We can't wait!

Gracie at Preschool

2011-09-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Gracie's Preschool celebrated their 10th anniversary today, balloons, cupcakes, streamers, party hats and all. Gracie was so excited when we pulled up to see all of the ballons. The director of the program sent me this pic of her! She looks like a very serious model!

2 New Teeth and a Good Night of Sleep

2011-09-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

So Mr. Ben has sprouted his two upper eye teeth. Yeah, the first one came through last weekend and the second one yesterday! Also, we all slept great last night. Ben woke up only 10 minutes before the alarm, it was great to snuggle with him right after waking up! Gracie followed shortly after and everyone feels great today.

Also on the new house front, it is supposed to close toward the end of next week, the seller will credit us for some repairs and we will paint, tent and refinish the floors. The new move in date is closer to Oct. 14th. So we will be invading Adam's house a little longer. The kids LOVE Blue the cat and I think Blue loves them too! Gracie even made a flower picture for Blue last night. So sweet. We are so thankful and gratefull to have a free/homey & comfortable place to stay, the commute is less time for me too! THANKS ADAM!

Ben's Artwork

2011-09-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ben colored with a pencil, he loves to color like Gracie. Gracie added the colorful dots with lines and I wrote the words. This is one of Ben's first pieces of artwork, so proud!!

Adventures in Sleeping

2011-09-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well, we are all sleeping in the same room at Adam's house, two nights so far and two different stories, but I am sure tonight, the Third night will be the charm.

Night 1: Ben goes to bed. Gracie and I head to bed. I tell her she has to be quiet, no talking ect. We open the door, Ben pops up in his pack and play, party starts. Gracie turns on her flashlight, Ben and her play lets throw things in and out of his pack and play. I say parties over, Gracie let's let Ben go back to sleep and start all over later. 30 minutes later Gracie, Jim and I head to bed. Gracie wants to sleep in our bed because, "its to hot and I just can't sleep!" Fine she falls asleep quickly and some time in the night I put her in her bed, right next to ours. We sleep all night till the alarm at 6:00 am.

Night 2: Ben goes to sleep. Gracie, Jim and I head to bed, she sleeps in her bed, us in ours. All is great. 2:15 am Ben bonks his head on something, I think his pack and play was near the wall. He bolts up and calls for us. I pull him into bed thinking he would sleep....wrong. He snuggles, it's sweet but he moves all around kicking Jim. We give him some milk put him in is bed. I put my pillow by his bed, hoping this will help, wrong. He plays let's throw stuff on Mommy and she will put it back in my bed. I put my head the right was he throws his binky on my feet, back and forth a couple times and we ignore him and we all go to sleep, by this time it's 3:45. We all wake up again at 6 with the alarm.

Night 3: Tonight - I know it will be perfect, we will all sleep great! The great thing about being in the same room is holding Gracies hand while she falls asleep and Ben was sweet last night after I put him in his pack and play. He kept grabbing my hand and having it stroke his cheek and then he would giggle. It's an adventure and our reality for now but not forever. We are calling it our Vacation at Adam's! We are greatful to have a place to sleep, food to eat and loving family that takes us in!

House update, they relocked our loan, since it expired today, same rate with a huge credit towards closing, no points. We are asking our lender if we can close and then fix the floors in the kids room ourselves and fix the window. Hopefully we will be closing soon, and then we will line up the minor repairs and painting. We can't wait.

Yesterday was a BIG day in the Marshall Household!

2011-09-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

Gracie had picture day, here she is posing in front of our house! Can't wait to see how the pictures turn out!

It was also moving day. I stayed home with the movers, the kids went to school and Jim went to work. He came home at lunchtime to bring me some food and the guys some drinks. 4 guys were there from 8:30 till about 4:30. Long, dusty, dirty, and intense day. But it's all done. We are thankful to have a place to stay, thanks Adam. Our new house closes sometime this week, pending some repairs that the seller is going to do first, and then it needs to get ready for us to move in, tenting, painting and refinishing of the floors. We can't wait to move in, hopefully in about 2 or 3 weeks.

We are so thankful to Adam for letting us takeover his house and stay there! Last night we were all sleeping in the same room, Gracie LOVED it and the kids are having a blast with Blue the cat and being all together. Jim and I are settling in and organizing our stuff there at his house and trying not to take over. This morning we couldn't find our hairbrush, it was still in the car. THANK YOU ADAM!!

Exciting news in the Robbins Household!

2011-09-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

Below is the birthday gift Mary (Jim's sister) and Chris gave to Linda in July.

Hip Hip Hooray! We are so excited to meet baby Robbins, due March 3rd, two days before my birthday. Also MORE big news, they put an offer on a house yesterday, and it was accepted. YEAH!! It's a 2 story, 3 bedroom 2 bath home in monterey, right next to a baseball field, it a great school district, and it is pretty much move in ready. YEAH!!!!!

Ben's Boo Boo

2011-09-12T08:25:00.000-07:00

Ben bonked his forehead on our bathroom doorway Saturday night. We are so lucky it just two small scratches, it could have easily been as bad as Gracies, with stitches and all. Jim was a pro, I get freaked out, but we put paper towels on it and then applied a Dora and Scooby doo bandaid and all is well. Gracie at 21 months bonked her forehead in the same spot on a doorway. I guess they both had to get injuries at the house before we leave. We sign off on our house Wednesday, move out Monday. We have an adventure ahead of us. Adam, is letting us stay at his home for about 10 days while our new home gets ready - new interior paint, refinishing floors, tenting and some minor repairs. We will get to stay in his home with his cute cat Blue, Brody will stay with Dave and Linda. Everyone is being so helpful, we are soooo lucky!! We have boxes all over the house and can't wait to settle into our new home!

MAI Party

2011-09-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to a company party, it was so fun. The kids ran around and played, Jim chased after them so I could socialize. Ben was super cuddly with me, after missing his afternoon nap.

Picture below of the MAI ladies!

Ben and I!

Getting Ready for the Move

2011-09-11T08:08:00.000-07:00

Mr. Ben LOVES the kitchen, and kitchen utensils. He loves to help daddy cook scrambled eggs in the morning. He also loves to play with utensils, pots and pans and you will often find him walking around the house with a spatula in his hand! We either have a goumet chef on our hands or an ultimate eater!

An impromtu photo shoot with Miss Gracie!

First day of Preschool, Parrott Class. Gracie picked out her entire outfit the night before and completely dressed herself. Such a cutie pie.

She's 4

In front of her preschool

Pressing the call button!

Her picture is on the board, it's of her eating her sandwich!

Gracie in the Parrot Classroom with Miss Kira!

In front of Uri the class parrot!

This past week I took pictures of our house, kind of in disarray from packing and a complete photoshoot of the new home for eventual before and after shots!

Below is a pick of Jim changing happy, giggling Ben after a bath!

Gracie drew a family portrait of us, it's on display on the fridge! From left to right, Gracie, Mommy, Daddy and Ben.

Our fishtank is for sale! Let me know if your interested. It's on Craiglist and we have a week and 1 day till we move!

Family Fun

2011-09-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last we headed to Holdens Country Kitchen for a yummy breakfast. Chocolate Chip Pancakes for Gracie, yum yum. It was so fun to go out to eat as a family. It was early on a Sunday and the other people there were families with little kids and senior citizens. The elders loved interacting with the kids, and Ben loved grinning at them too!

Ben's Happy FaceBen's Grumpy Face

Gracie with a costco smoothy!

This past weekend we headed to the cabin for the annual Labor Day Party. My mom took some great pictures but I haven't downloaded them yet, but here is a quick video of Gracie falling asleep eating a chocolate kids clif bar, as we were driving home from the weekend festivities. We had a blast being with everyone and watching a ton of baby cousins play together. There was Gracie, Maddy, Isla, Ben, Dane & Graham!

Happy Ben playing on the floor at the cabin!

Baby Quinn

2011-08-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

Gracie wrote her name on a card for baby Quinn!

She drew 8 happy people on the envelope!

This Past weekend we went to visit Baby Quinn. She was 1 month old. Penny and Derek are loving parenthood and it was so fun to catch up with them.

Gracie and I snuggling with Quinn

Ben loved chasing around the 4 cats and playing around their home!

Derek refinished my great-great-grandparents bedframe, that would be Gracie & Ben's great-great-great grandparents. We can't wait to move the furniture into our new home. For a while it will go in the guest bedroom, and when Ben is ready for a big boy bed and Gracie is ready for a super big girl bed we will rotate the beds in our home!

Derek did such an amazing job, it is even more beautiful in person. The love and care he put into the piece of furniture is amazing.

Hi

2011-08-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

My mom had these adorable chairs made for Gracie and Ben, by one of my sister's friends. I need to photograph Ben's too. I LOVE THEM!

So this past week, Jim started back to school, he is loving his class' so far, the students are attentive, turn in their homework and listen! The only downers are because of budget cuts in two of his classes he has 39 plus students and his class room does not have A/C.

So with our normal morning routine when Jim is back to school I do the drop off at 8 (Ben's daycare doesn't open till 8) and Jim does the pick up at 4. On Mondays I have to be at work at 7:30 - bummer. So in the past I took G to school, Jim took Ben to our neighbors house who in turn took him to daycare (did I mention now that we are selling our house and moving away - we will miss our great/caring/thoughtful and helpful neighbors). But because of our upcoming move and all of the changes ahead not having the easy help from our neighbor, we decided to hire a nanny for Monday morning. We met Stacy (she is amazing), and she lives so close to our new house. She is Uncle Adam's girlfriends sister and comes to our house at 7:00 am and plays with the kids, gets them ready for their day and drops them off. We are so happy, I make it to work on time and it's no stress Mondays. So before the meeting/interview, Gracie was so excited she made her bed all by herself, and lined up all her dolls.
Ben ate some turkey and put on a smile!

Aren't they cute together!

Gracie had dress crazy costume day, Bunny Ears, her "Snow White" dress and Jasmine shoes!

Ben has been crazy about buckles, wanting to put them together and he finds them everywhere and just plays with them.

Gracie drew this beautiful flower and was so proud.

Gracie is learning so much lately, learning to write her name all by herself with no guidance and read. She can read the words, the, a, I, on, in, is, and...we are so happy, and she is too!

The other night when we finally went to sleep, Gracie put this bouquet of Jasime flowers on my nightstand in her princess cup. It made my night. With all of the stress of selling our house, finding a new house, figuring out and lining up all of the thing that we need to do, this sweet gesture from her hit me in the heart. What a sweetie. The flowers also made our bedroom smell so good. My sweet Gracie girl, we love you!

A walking tour of our new home!!

2011-08-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Bought!

2011-08-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

So we are scheduled to close on our new home Sept 14th along with closing on our sold house. It will be a pretty busy month ahead, Jim goes back to school, selling an buying a house, getting rid of things we don't need, scheduling the inspections, signings, construction, new babysitter for Monday mornings. Busy fun & excited times ahead. Our new home is in a great elementary school location, family oriented neighborhood, close to down town Willow Glen. We are so excited.

So Cal Trip! Pops 63rd B-day, Disneyland and fun!

2011-08-13T16:33:00.000-07:00

Ben had a blast with Sammers and Gracie with Charlee

We took some family photos of the 10 of us, hopefully there is one where we are all looking the same direction! During the pictures, either Ben was crying or Sam, never at the same time. Pacifier between shots. It was fun to watch the kids run around and play, at one point the girls had sticks that they were using as magic wands!

Family dinner at Johnny Rockets with Uncle Brian. Beach in the background, so fun!

Everyone loved It's a Small World!

Casey Junior in the Monkey Cart!

Cute pics of Gracie and Charlee. Poor Gracie tripped and fell the night before, skinned up the side of her face and mouth. She's fine now and luckily it is healing very quickly!

Me and the boys!

Ben and Sam loved petting the goats, and the girls loved to color!

In the line for tinkerbell we signed off on our new house!! Yipee. So Norm had this amazing app on his iphone that we could sign a pdf and sent it back to our realtor. Pictures of our new house will be posted soon!

Girls got their faces painted, Gracie and Sam took a nap afterwards on our way to Ariel's Grotto.

Meeting the Princess', Aurora was their favorite, I think because she was wearing pink like them.

Ben had a thing for Cinderella, followed her around the room and she was so sweet with him!

On Saturday we played at Anya and Pops, below the girls are showing off there new shoes from Turkey, "Jasime Shoes."

SOLD!!!

2011-08-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

Yes the house has been sold, sign went up Monday. We have been so busy looking for a new house, wrapping our head around all of the coming changes. Jim starts school next week, and I think we will hire a moving company to move all of our stuff. We have made an offer on a home in Willow Glen and hopefully we will hear back soon. The home is a bit bigger and we love the public elementary school in that area that Gracie and eventually Ben will go to!! So exciting.

Here is our possible new home!

Oh and Gracie and Taylor had a fun playdate last week, and had fun Princessifing

Camping, Artwork, & Happy Hollow

2011-08-01T16:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to Dorrington, up in the Stanislaus mountings for some semi-camping, fishing and family fun. We went up to Linda's Herbert Family's camping area. We spent time with Julie, Bob & Matthew, the entire Marshall/Robbins family and our friend "Big Ben," not to be confused with our baby Ben, Mr. Ben, or Benjamin (when he is running away from me). Eric took some great photos of the guys going out to fish, they caught a ton and we grilled up a rainbow trout, delish!

Ben and Uncle Ricky, having a chat!

Gracie & Jim in the raft. Gracie had so much fun she didn't want to leave. The kids loved playing by the river and tossing in the rocks.

One of Jim's favorite places!

Matthew Ben and Gracie ran around camp and they always tried to find eachother even when one was napping. They had a great time and Matthew wanted to come home with us!

The ride home, 3 hours, Gracie slept for about 1 1/2 hours, Ben for 20 minutes!

Gracie has been learning to write her name, we are so proud!

She has been taking swimming lessons at San Jose State, by one of the teachers, she absolutely loves it, isn't afraid and has been doing everything the teacher asks, blowing bubbles, jumping off the side, getting her hair wet. The teacher has little princess that Gracie gets to hold in the water too!

This past weekend we took the kids to Happy Hollow for a few hours, they had fun and we were all so tired by the end, the summer heat drained us. Also on Sunday evening we went to SJSU for a free Symphony in the Park, with free ice cream during their family friendly concert at 5:30 pm. It was great, they played lots of songs that Gracie knew, the kids ran around and danced and we ran into some friends. The symphony was amazing, we will have to go again next Sunday too!

Beach Day

2011-07-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

Jim took the kids to the beach yesterday, and they met up with Isla, Laurie & Adam at Carmel Beach. So fun, they came home with sand in their hair, shoes, ears and all and smelled like sunscreen and summer! Below is such a cute shot of Isla and Ben, Isla just turned 2!

Auntie Kristin gave Gracie the cutest sleeping bag, and Gracie decided to use it last night for her bedding, as her sheets and pillow had sand in it from her nap!
She loves that her name is on the bag and had to have th flower showing!

Pictures and Recipes

2011-07-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

Gracie drew this cute picture of Daddy, with new sunglasses, so cute!

This past weekend we went through our recipes and I thought I could share these, made by our family friend Jeane Clymer, baby food recipes, so cute and easy to make!

Weekend Fun!

2011-07-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

Cute picture of Jim, Gracie and Grammy at the 4th of July picnic at the beach!

Last week Jim took the kids to Happy Hollow for some fun, Ben loved the animals in the petting zoo, they all loved the rides!

Our new addition to our house, well not really! The kids have their own little house in the backyard, where they make made to order pretend food! It's been a hit.

This past weekend we headed to San Ramon to meet sweet baby Will, both kids fell fast asleep in the car!

Gracie's head band kept falling lower and lower on her face, it was so funny, and in her sleep she kept trying to put it back on the top of her head but then the headband would fall back down again!

Gracie and Ben looking at sweet baby Will, only 3 1/2 weeks old. Ben kept wanting to touch him and his blanket, Gracie was a quiet observer. But Ben did well and didn't bother him. It was so fun to see Kristin and Brennan, they are doing great, the baby is sleeping well and only cried once at the end because he was hungry. Can't wait to watch this little guy grow.

10 Year Anniversary Weekend!

2011-07-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

Jim and I headed out to SLO this past weekend and stayed at the San Luis Creek Lodge, recommended by my friend Linzi! It was a great bed and breakfast, short walk to downtown, nice amenities and made to order eggs for breakfast and tons of other breakfast goodies. We went to Grover Beach, sat and read our books! Took a long walk around Avila Beach, they did an amazing job fixing up the town after the oil spil many years ago. Tons of kids there, it would be fun to bring Gracie and Ben to Avila. Ate at our favorite restaurants, Firestones, Mondeo's Woodstocks, High Street Deli. We are still full! We wentout to the movies twice, saw Bridesmaids, hilarious, had me laughing so hard I was crying. And also saw Horrible Bosses, pretty funny too. We shopped, walked, slept in, ate great food, it was perfectly restful and fun. I also toured my old sorority house and saw all of the improvements to the building, looks great! It was great to tour around our old stomping grounds!

At the beginning of the trip it was so great to be footloose and fancy free, with no demands from kids, no schedules to worry about or nap times! But by the end of the trip we were was ready to see our precious Ben and Gracie, and couldn't wait to give them huge hugs and snuggle with them!

Gracie and Ben had a blast with Grammy and Sir. Baths in the sink, lots of walks, water play outside, singing, and dancing! Not to mention a trip to the mall where Ben charmed all the people walking by, and Gracie pushed her baby in the stroller around too! Whenever we called they said what a blast they were having. Below is a cute conversation between Grammy and Gracie!

Grammy: helping Gracie on with her underpants"look, size 4 and you're 4 years old"

Gracie, screwing up her face"how many (years) are you?"

Grammy: I am 61

Gracie: wow size 61. You have big underpants just like my daddy!

Anniversary Dinner

2011-07-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

We all headed out to Hand Pull Noodle, near our old San Jose stomping grounds for dinner last night. Gracie was so excited to be eating Chinese food! The kids were great, and we had fun. Funny part was our fortune cookies...

"Love is repaid with love." - sweet

"Don't worry be happy." - takes me back to Jr. High days

"Proud to be an American." - Happy belated 4th of July!

Jim and I head out this afternoon for SLO for our anniversary trip, to where we met! We can't wait. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Grammy and Sir for watching our kiddo's for us! Ben is teething, two new molars are breaking through, so I hope he is good for them, he has been a bit off, but loves the ice chips and the tylenol seems to help! We can't wait to sleep in 3 days in a row, what a treat!

Last week when my parents visited they watched Ben and we took Gracie to see Cars 2, she seemed to really like it and wasn't scared. She thought it was funny especially when Mater talked and was always trying to figure out who the bad guy was. It was 007 meet's Cars. We enjoyed the movie. This was her 3rd movie experience. Gracie's 4 year old review...Rapunzel - cried but liked it (and loves it now), Hop, loved the movie but only wanted to see the bunnies and Cars, seemed to like it but didn't like the bad guys.

10 Years Ago Today, Jim and I tied the knot!!

2011-07-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

Before the wedding!

About to walk down the aisle!

Anya & Pops!

Uncle Ricky and Aunt Becky

Grammy & Sir

Stu & Auntie MMAJY

Jim & I

What a fun 10 years it has been! Love you Jim!

Some weekend Video's!

2011-07-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous weekend with Anya and Pops! Birthday Party, Beach Party and 4th of July Parade. SO fun. We also got to see friends and family at the cabin and Garrapata Beach Party. I wish every weekend was like this filled with fun activities and 3 day weekends and family. We missed cousins Charlee and Sam, Becky and Norm. I guess when Norm and Charlee dropped off Anya and Pops at the airport she cried because she wanted to come too. We miss you too!

Here's Gracie in her new suit from Anya, then we headed to Milla's b-day Party.

Below, Gracie with Porsha and Mary!

Ben loved the jumpy house, he is getting very coordinated with his walking and is starting a very fast run/walk!

The squirt guns were very popular at the party, it was actually nice to be semi sprayed by the kids in the summer heat!

Gracie's favorite part of the party, the purple cupcake!

Gracie partied till she dropped in the stroller. We had the world famous burgers at our neighborhood restaurant "The Garage", featured one of those food network shows! Ben enjoyed some burgers while Gracie slept through the experience!

On the walk home Ben and I held hands, so sweet!

On Sunday we headed to the Cabin. The guys golfed and the girls (plus Ben) hung out and napped. It was sooo fun and restful! Gracie and I snuggled, Linda and my mom slept on the couches. Ben slept in the bedroom for over 3 hours, we had to wake him up to go to the beach party!

Then off to the beach we went! We had so much fun hanging out with all of the canyon families and the kids had a blast playing with everyone. Ben and Gracie played with MMAJY, Grammy, Sir and my parents by the water, which is FREEZING! The beach was amazing though. THere was a great staircase and path down to the water. In the past it's a bit of a hiking/balance test, but they redid it all and it was so easy to get to the beach with all of the stuff and kids!

Ben ate a bit of sand, it was everywhere, he also loved all of the food on the table, and amazed everyone with his eating skills!

Gracie did get her feet wet with help by Grammy, Pops, and MMAJY!

Family picture, shortly after I screamed because the water suprised me with it's 40 degree temerature!

The group!

Climbing Rocks!

On our way to the neighborhood 4th of July Parade! So Fun!

TT&Family!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-06-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Jim played in a 3-day golf tournament in Lodi, with his Dad. They had a blast. I had a living social coupon very close to expiring for Picture People. Well 2 hours later after 30 minutes of waiting after our scheduled time to get the kids photos taken 20 minutes to take the shots and 1 hour for them to process the pictures to show to me, we have the result below! A cute pic of the 2 kids. There were also some adorable individual shots of the kids, but the package I had got online called for about 50 pictures in various sizes of just 1 photo. So if you are interested I have about 16 wallets, 5-3x5, one 10x13 and one 8x10 and some other various sizes!

Ben didn't stay still the entire time we were there, he is Mr. Walker now, my trick was to give him one small piece of a snack at a time, it kept him close and coming back for more! He would wander within feet of me, playing with the other kids, and playing with the toys there. Gracie stayed by my side and was so great, and was also good at keeping Ben's attention too. She is definately a Mommy's helper!

Hope you have a great 4th of July. I am SOOO excited for the weekend planned ahead. My parents fly in Thursday afternoon, Saturday there is a 6th b-day party for our neighbor, Sunday, beach party & cabin fun in Carmel with all of the Marshalls, Monday, 4th of July Parade in our neighborhood and fireworks that night. Gracie say's she wants to be in the parade, and the rules are really loose, so we may just decorate her tricycle and participate in the parade too! Above, Gracie and Me in the neighborhood parade 2007. They have all the moms of the baby born that year ride in convertable cars. Such fun. Both years it was REALLY hot!

Ben and I in the parade 2010

Herbert/Nielsen Family Picnic

2011-06-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we headed to San Rafael to McNaers Beach for the annual Family picnic. Pictured is Ben, next to AJ (one month younger) and Drew, he's 7 months younger than Gracie. It was fun to have the kids play together and run around. The boys played with the softballs and baseballs, while the girls picked flowers!

Gracie Julia & Mikaela

Happy Birthday Becky!

2011-06-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

This past Monday, Becky flew up to San Jose for a work conference. We are so lucky to have been able to spend an evening with her to celebrate her b-day. The plan was to go to Santana Row, eat out and shop... but Gracie had swim lessons, and Jim wanted to make her a special dinner. So we had his famous and delicious chicken enchiladas, margaritas, and he made strawberry shortcakes! Amazing Jim! Also Becky got so spend some quality time with B&G. I missed her the moment I dropped her off at work the next day. Becky is my best friend and confidant and I love her with all my heart!! Thank you for all that you do for your friends and family and your amazing enthusiasm for life! We love you and can't wait till August to spend some more quality time with you!! Amazing Aunt Becky, the Beckster, Becky-Re, Roo-Jo, Mom, Wife, Daughter, & Sister to me!

Summer Fun!

2011-06-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

Ben has figured out how to call people, change the TV channel and open and close doors! Here he is chatting on the phone!

Gracie took some swim lessons, learned to slide along the wall and pull herself out of the water. She also learned to float better and swim with just the coach, not mommy or daddy!

Summer fun is very tiring!

Painting a picture with piggy's in her hair!

Gracie in her new Parrot classroom!!