championships and a broken fridge

 CAVS win again!  It was so exciting to see them win the championship in the Arroyo Tournament.  They have been in this tournament many times, but never won the whole thing!  I was so glad that Dylan and Gracie were with me to share this time with their dad!

 Matt, Sarah and Evee are big supporters of Montclair basketball too!  I couldn't resist taking a picture of her with her Michael Jordan beanie on!

 A random picture thrown in for fun: here is Caleb napping on the same blanket that Molly crocheted for me when Dylan was born.  It has been a constant source of coziness and comfort for the past 12 years!  I regret not having a picture of each kiddo wrapped up in it!

 One more of Evee in her North Carolina jersey at the Montclair/Chaffey game the other night. This was a strange night for me to watch Bill play against his former assistant coach, Danny, who is now coaching at Chaffey. 

 I know you can't see in this picture but Chris is in the middle of the scorer's table.  I tried to get a picture of Danny on one side and Bill on the other.  Danny was always such a big help to Bill, it's hard for me to see him coaching somewhere else.  I can't think of a better place for him to be though, at Chaffey with Chris as his AD.

This picture represents my life for the past four days.  My fridge broke down over the weekend, and has been the source of much frustration this week.  I am thankful that Richard was willing and able to come try to fix it, but as of now, we are waiting for a part to come in, and hoping that this part is exactly what it needs!  The kids haven't minded eating random things for breakfast, and love all of the eating out we have been doing lately.  I am just hoping to have it fixed by xmas!

The most wonderful time of the year....

 It's time for Montclair basketball once again!  All the kids came to watch Bill has he won in the final game of the Jurupa Valley Tournament. At this moment, he is now 9-0 and has also won the Arroyo Tournament and the first league game against Chaffey.  After they play Alta Loma Thursday night, the next stop will be the Atascadero Tournament.  We are really looking forward to going back to the surf shack and spending time in our home away from home, Cayucos.

 I also started a facebook page for his basketball team called Cav Crazy.  I am trying to decide whether I need to put all of his team pictures on my blog also....

 Baby Evee's first basketball game.  She has already been to a couple more, but this was her first official one.  She did great!

 Caleb hasn't had to come to all of the games thanks to Grammy.  He loves staying home and playing games with her.  This particular night the whole family was all together.  Caleb loves to play with cars during the game.  I had to stop him several times from sending a car off the edge of the bleachers!

 On Saturday, December 3rd a whole bunch of us got together to go see Phantom at Chaffey.  We had dinner first at Olive Garden.  Gracie couldn't remember ever going to Olive Garden before so she really enjoyed it!  Olive Garden has always been a place that Bill and I save for date night.

 Lori and girls weren't able to come to dinner with us but here they are with Aunt Gail as we wait for the show to begin.  I love Chaffey's plays, not just because it is my old school, but because they are always done so well!

 We got to babysit Evee, and Gracie had a great time taking care of her.  It would have been hilarious for anyone to see the two of us trying to figure out how to give her a bottle.  Me, a mom of four, didn't ever give my kids bottles, and it has been a long time since I babysat!  Thankfully, we figured it out!

It was Jen's birthday, so we celebrated by having dinner at Mimi's and going to see Phantom again!  What a treat it was to do that.  We both realized that it had been way too long since we were able to visit without being interrupted over and over again by the kiddos!

Happy Dollidays!

 Gracie's birthday always comes around Thanksgiving, and for the last three years, we have headed down to the American Girl Store in Los Angeles during the holiday break to celebrate her birthday! We have such a fun time looking at all of the new outfits, and the store is always decorated so perfectly!

 People warned me when Dylan and Gracie were little that the years would fly by so fast.  I guess there is no way of really understanding that until you see it happen before your eyes.  My baby girl is now 10 and I thank God every day that he gave her to me.  I love my boys just as much, but I would have never been able to enjoy this store with them!

 The store is located in such a nice mall, that Madison and Delaney were able to do a little xmas shopping of their own too.  We have made it a tradition to eat lunch at Cheesecake factory after spending an hour or so in the store (yes, it does take an hour, trying to decide what to get!)

 Before Gracie bit into her caramel apple, she wanted me to take a picture of it so she could remember how wonderful it looked!

 A few days later we celebrated Thanksgiving with Grammy, Len and Shirley Brown, the Dows, the Graces, and Lori, Chris, Madison, Delaney and Emi.

 Couldn't resist snapping a picture of Everlee sleeping so sweetly in Shirley's arms.

 Caleb with "his Madison" as he calls her.

 Later in the evening, we usually put out the craft bags so that the kids can make ornaments and xmas decorations.  Caleb enjoyed the old fashioned spinners that Grammy found for us last year.  You push on the button, and Santa spins around showing a bear underneath.

 The next morning while Eric was fixing us all a wonderful breakfast, the kids and I started decorating the tree.  It's always fun to watch as they talk about each ornament and then start pretending with them.  This afternoon I found a pile of the ornaments on the floor with Caleb's Mario and Luigi toys.  Dylan told me that Luke and Caleb had been pretending that they were all working together.

 I also wait until the day after Thanksgiving to bring out the Rudolph house.  It comes with all the characters from the movie.  Luke looks forward to this every year. 

 Caleb had already taken down the Care Bear ornament and started playing with it!

I love how all four of them still come up with funny stories that they act out with the ornaments.  I can remember doing the same thing when I was little.  I do miss having the smell of a "real" tree,  but I love that I can have this tree up for over a month, and it looks great the whole time!

Harvest Party 2011

 When Mrs. Grow told us a few months ago that she was going to do a harvest party again we were so excited!  We have great memories of the last one and couldn't wait for Luke and Caleb to get to experience such a fun time.  Gracie was excited to see Everlee wearing the Indian headband she had made for her a few weeks earlier, before she had even met her!

The Grow family used their trailer to make a covered wagon and created the perfect welcoming atmosphere in their front yard.

        So thankful that Grammy and Grandma Delena were able to help with everything!

I can't even begin to know or express how much work I imagine the Grow family did to put this harvest party together.  Everything was decorated so perfectly, and there were plenty of cute picture opportunities....

She had SO many activities for the kids!  Caleb enjoyed making a pine cone turkey, Luke loved looking for geodes in a big pile of dirt....and the best part was getting to smash them to see the beauty inside!

We love Mrs. Grow!  Here she is showing them how to smash the geode. There were also fun games of making scarecrows, bobbing for apples, making cowboy pictures, decorating pumpkins, shooting cans, and cornhole.  Caleb enjoyed it all! 

Although, this is what Caleb said he liked the best...throwing the ping pong ball into the bowl and winning a fish!

As it began to get dark, we stayed through the evening listening to John, JD and Vanessa play their guitars and sing by the campfire.  Vanessa made beautiful lights that hung from the trees out of mason jars, and was kind enough to let us bring one home.  Gracie has it in her room as a special reminder of a very special evening.

Luke absolutely LOVED being a cowboy.  He has worn his boots as much as possible since then, although I drew the line at basketball shorts with boots!  The evening was full of so many sweet moments of watching my kiddos have fun with their friends of all ages, running around in the moonlight.