For his birthday he said he wanted a chocolate sprinkle doughnut so Daddy woke up extra early and went to Safeway to get fresh doughnuts.  Then for lunch we went to Chuck E Cheese  and let him play all the games he wanted!  I had a coupon for 150 free tokens with the purchase of a large pizza so he had plenty of  tokens to play with!!!  For dinner he wanted Chick-fil-A so we went there and had Cold Stone afterwards.

These are some of his favorite things:

-Color:  Red
-Food:  Bacon
-Sport:  Baseball
-Toy:  Hero Factory Legos
-Ice Cream:  Cookies and Cream
-Restaurant:  Fenton’s

He is also very excited to start t-ball again and loves his Kajukenbo class.  His 1st tournament is next Sat so I will update with that soon =)

Here’s the kids waiting for the doors to open so they could go inside =)

Once they opened the door they let us in to watch them finish up practice.  Nick loved watching them practice and every time he saw a player he knew he would get excited!!!

Some of the guys practicing

Riley, Laci, Nick and I watching them practice

Nick watching them practice

Laci said she was bored waiting for them to finish practice, but she was still watching them =)

My handsome boys in their Warriors gear

Technically we were only supposed to have a meet and greet with Curry, Ellis and Lee.  But as the guys finished practice and headed to the locker room some of them would come say hi to us and the kids.  The first person to come up to us was Andris Biedrins.  He was extremely nice and even took a picture with us!  He is also VERY tall!!

Another person who came over was Klay Thompson.  He was also very nice and let us get a picture with him as well

Monta Ellis!  He was very nice to the kids and he signed Nick and Connor’s basketball cards and a basketball we brought.

David Lee also signed the stuff the kids brought.  He is another very tall guy!  7ft I think

And finally Stephen Curry!  He is the kids favorite player!

Here he is with Riley and her shirt that she made when she did the Warriors dance clinic

And Nick with his favorite player.  And this was also his early birthday present

We had an awesome time meeting the guys and we are so happy that we got to meet them.  The kids can keep these memories with them forever and both boys have Ellis, Curry and Lee’s rookie cards signed by them!  Thank you Warriors for having these cool contests =D

I got an email saying that we were chosen as one of the top 12 contestants and that they were opening up voting to the public.  The top 3 finalists would get tickets to the next Warriors game and they would have the fans cheer for whomever’s photo they liked the best.  I emailed my family telling them to vote for the kids photos and Dustin posted a link his facebook.  I watched the votes and they started rolling it.  At one point I noticed one of the photos were getting a lot of votes!  And by a lot I mean she had almost 1,000 when everyone else only had 10-20 votes!  Then I noticed another photo was getting up in the 800′s!  And it had only been about 3 hours into the contest!  I was so upset and I knew these people had to be cheating and voting for themselves over and over again!   I emailed the Warriors, the person in charge of the contest and the people who sponsored the voting.  Since voting had already started there was nothing they could really do.  After awhile I figured out how they were doing it and  after talking to Dustin and him convincing me to just do it too, I decided if I can’t beat them then join them.  I seriously sat on my computer for the next 3 days constantly voting for our picture over and over again!  My family all helped out as well when they were home and we got our photo up to 16,316 votes!  THANK YOU AGAIN to my sisters Jacqueline & Katrina, my brother Jaime, my sister in law Ana and my brother in law David for constantly voting the whole weekend!

So Nick, Connor and I went to the Warriors game to try to get people to vote for us.   I had everyone post on their facebooks to have their friends cheer for us if they were attending the game that evening.  I dressed the boys in their Warriors gear, hats and Nick even brought his big foam finger =)  They had the three finalists come down onto the court after 1st quarter.  I told Nick to be as cute as possible and cheer as loud as he could.  We were 3rd in line for being announced and I thought that was a good thing for us!  They announced the 1st contestants and showed their photo and a couple cheered, next they showed the 2nd photo and contestants and more people cheered.  Then it was our turn and everyone cheered!!!!!  Nick was so excited and as we were walking off the court he kept asking me “Did we win?”, “Do I get to meet the Warriors?”

Here we are on the big screen at the game

So we won the contest and we get to meet them soon!!!!

I can’t believe it is already time for my baby boy to go to school!  Kindergarten registration snuck up on us fast and I was registering him before I knew it!  With him already registered for Kindergarten, I decided it was time for him to go to Pre-school.  I signed him up for a Kindergarten Readiness program, which is the same one that I signed up the two older girls for.  It’s only twice a week for 3 hours, but at least it gives him some time away from me.  The one thing I was worried about with him was separation anxiety because he won’t even let me leave him at his Kajukenbo class which is only a hour long!  But the 1st day of school came and when it was time to say good-bye he gave me a hug and started playing with the dinosaurs in the classroom.  When we picked him up he was so happy and excited to tell us about his 1st day and what they did in class and on the playground.

I’m glad that he is enjoying himself and making new friends.  I do miss him so much on those two days he’s at school and I’m thinking maybe this is actually more for me to get used to him being away then it it is for him LOL.  Either way it gets us both ready for when school starts in August =)  For now I look forward to him coming home with his school work and telling me all about the fun day he had at school.

My handsome little man!!!

Our baby boy Connor is already 6 months old!  I can’t believe how fast these six months have flown by!  He is already half a year old.  He surprises us everyday at how fast he is with getting around the house.  He’s been rolling over since he was 3 months old and now he’s on his way to crawling.  He can’t get up on all fours yet, but he does look like a little inchworm when he is on the floor.  He can also sit up fairly well now, although he still falls over from time to time.  He is by far one of our best kids!  Always happy and smiling, rarely complains and like to sleep!  He is always watching his older brother and sisters wanting to play with them and laughing at everything they do.  His hair is getting very long and I want to cut it, but everyone keeps telling me to wait till he is a year old.  He is now on solid foods and he LOVES his vegetables and dinners, but he isn’t too fond of his fruits.  He is getting a little better at drinking from a sippy cup, but still refuses a bottle =/

We are very thankful and blessed to have our baby Connor and we love watching him grow everyday.

Finding out that I had to stay

Dustin taking pictures of himself cause he’s so excited that we were going to finally find out if we were having a boy or girl

The kids in my hospital room watching TV while waiting for their baby brother or baby sister

My siblings waiting for their new niece or nephew

 We decided to call our family and friends to let them know what was going on.  They hooked up my IV and antibiotics and we waited………..waited…………and waited.  I told them that my water bag never broke with my previous four kids and that they would probably have to break it for me.  But they wanted to wait and see if my contractions got closer first and we had to wait for the OB who was at another hospital.  After 3 hours my contractions still were ranging from 5-10 minutes apart so they decided to give me pitocin to speed things up.  After 2 more hours still nothing  =(  That’s when they finally broke my water.  A couple hours later they upped my pitocin because my contractions were still all over the place.

Ari watching my contractions and telling me when one was going to be coming or ending

 After they checked me again I was finally 10 cm!!!  We had everyone leave the room so that Dustin and I could find out if it was a boy or girl first then tell the kids.  After 3 pushes our little baby BOY had arrived!!!

Falling in love with my new baby BOY!!!!!!!

So excited that we got our baby boy to complete our family

Nick didn’t really want a brother because he wanted to be the only boy, but all the girls wanted another brother.  We told Nick that if he got a brother that he would be able to be the first one to hold him so that he would feel special.  Of course as soon as he found out that it was a boy, he reminded us that he wanted to hold him first.

The first time holding his brother

Our first photo as a family of seven!

We LOVE our baby boy and we are so happy to have him to complete our family!!!

JANUARY
I can’t really remember much, but I do know that we celebrated my Grandfather’s 89th Birthday!

Here we are with my Grandfather after church on his birthday =)

FEBRUARY
The 1st thing we celebrated in Feb was Nick’s 4th Birthday and my parents 29th Anniversary.  The Super Bowl landed on the day of his birthday so I made him a football cake and we celebrated while we watched the game at my sister’s house.

Nick with his breakfast…….He requested that Daddy make him chocolate chip pancakes =)

Here’s Nick with his football cake!  It really was in the shape of a football, but the cake wasn’t completely cooled when I put the icing on so it kinda melted (mommy cake fail!)

And here he is with his favorite present from Mommy and Daddy

Next we celebrated Laci’s 2nd Birthday

Here she is with her birthday doughnut

We celebrated with family and friends for cake and ice cream that night and I made her a Monster’s Inc themed cake because she loves that movie.  My sister Jacqueline helped me decorate it.

Her favorite present was her new bike that she got from my Mom and sister Katrina

As another way to celebrate their birthdays we took them to The Aquarium By The Bay in San Francisco

Here they are in one of the tunnels

Laci and Daddy looking at some fish

Nick and Daddy inside an aquarium

Laci and Daddy looking at some Jellyfish

Nick and Daddy at the wave pool petting sting rays, fish and starfish

MARCH
I made the halfway mark with being pregnant with Connor!  Here I am at 20 weeks pregnant

Also, Dustin and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary of being together and 7 years of being MARRIED!!!!!  I can’t believe it’s been only 7 years, it seems like so much longer LOL.  Well my Aunt also retired from her job and since she worked there for so long they gave her a retirement party at Club 33 in Disneyland!!!  She got to bring along our entire family to her party.  It was also her birthday so not only did she celebrate her retirement, but she also got to celebrate her birthday =)  Here are a couple pictures of our trip.

Our family at Disneyland

WOO-HOO!!!!  Eating lunch at Club 33

Dustin and I on the balcony of Club 33 (Our Anniversary picture)

Our family inside Club 33

We spent a couple days in both Disneyland and California Adventures.  Of course we had to eat at one of our favorite restaurants Plaza Inn for breakfast inside Disneyland!  It’s a character breakfast so every time we eat there the girls always wear their princess dresses.

The girls with Daddy

My handsome little man

APRIL
Nick started T-ball in the same little league that my younger brother played in and that I grew up watching.  Their baseball fields are a lot nicer now though and it’s so exciting watching my little boy play.  This year he was on the Diamondbacks.  Here is his team on opening day.  He is all the way on the right, isn’t he the CUTEST

My cousin Jasmine came down to visit from Washington so we headed out to Tilden Park in Berkeley to ride the steam trains, carousel and to feed the animals at the Little Farm.  The steam trains are a lot of fun to ride and the kids love going there.  We also LOVE the Little Farm a lot because you get to bring your own celery and lettuce and feed the animals.

On the steam train

Riley riding on the carousel

Laci feeding a cow at Little Farm

Arianna and Nick feeding a black sheep

In April we also celebrated Easter!  Here are the kids with the Easter Bunny at the Jelly Belly Factory

My sister and I were due 3 weeks apart, here we are on Easter.  She’s having a baby boy and I didn’t know what I was having.

MAY
In May, Arianna received her 1st Holy Communion!  Here she is with her poster that her and I made at her sacrament retreat.

With our priest Father Downey.  He also performed her baptism and reconciliation.

Arianna with her Godmother, my sister Katrina

Ari with her other Godmother and Godfather.  Dustin’s best friend Irwin and Leslee.

Also in May I made 30 weeks pregnant!!!!

JUNE
June was a very busy month for us!  Nick’s baseball season ended, Arianna turned 8 years old,  we got our 1st Goddaughter,  had our baby shower and Dustin’s sister had her wedding reception here since they live in Vacaville.

Nick and some of his teammates on their closing ceremonies

His baseball team also had a end of the season party at Allan Witt Aquatic Center and he got a trophy!  He loved his trophy and now proudly displays it in his room!

Arianna turned 8 years old and the theme of her party was Spa themed.  Here’s the cake I made for her.

Her with her friends

We also had a baby shower for my sister and I.  It was an under the sea theme since the baby’s were due in the summer.

Here’s my sister and I

Our cake and cupcakes

My sister and I with our Mom

Another memorable moment was when Dustin and I became God parents to our 1st Goddaughter Dylan!!!

And at the end of the month we celebrated with Dustin’s family as his sister and brother in law renewed their vows and had a wedding reception with family and friends

JULY
We celebrated the 4th of July here at home and the kids missed being in WA for the 4th of July because over there you can do real fireworks!  But Irwin bought some cool ones anyway and we lit them at the house.

Carl, Dustin and Irwin playing with fireworks

They kids sat in the back of the van while it was in the garage to watch their “fireworks show”
Meanwhile Nick and Laci sat nearby in their stroller all nice and comfy =)

Some of the little fireworks the guys put on for the kids

And here I am at 38 weeks pregnant!  Awaiting the arrival of our 5th baby =)

Since the kids were on summer break and we were just waiting for the arrival of baby #5 we took the kids to the Exploratorium in San Francisco on their free day.

Ari making floating water drops

Playing with fog/smoke

Making big bubbles

Ari helping Laci make big bubbles

After having lots of fun at the Exploratorium we headed across the street to Chrissy Field and the beach so the kids could run around and play in the sand and water.  I think this was the 1st time that Laci has been to the beach and we weren’t sure how she would like it, but she LOVED it even though the water was FREEZING!!!!!

Dustin and the kids walking towards the water

 Laci loving the cold water

Nick and Ari running from the water

Daddy, Laci and Riley running from the cold water =)

And here we are at the beach in our last family picture with just the six of us

And finally the arrival of our 5th baby and our 2nd baby boy!!!  Connor Matthew Roses Siruno (I will have a special post about him and his arrival to our family.

AUGUST
This month was a laid back month since we had baby Connor.  And we were busy getting the girls ready for school.

Connor at 1 month old sleeping

Another 1 month old picture, but awake this time and smiling =D

The girls started school and it was nice only having the younger three kids at home, but I also missed having the extra hands around to help me.  Both Arianna and Riley are GREAT helpers with Laci and Connor.

Arianna on her 1st day of 3rd Grade at 8 years old

Riley on her 1st day of 2nd grade at 6 years old

SEPTEMBER
The kids had a day off from school for Labor Day so we spent the day with Dustin’s parents at a local farm in Vacaville where they volunteer to help feed and care for some of the animals.  While we were there we saw horses, a lot of different birds, pigs, sheep, dogs and a cat.  The kids got to feed some of the birds, the horses and the pigs.  They also got to ride a horse and Nick held a baby chick.

Nick feeding one of the many birds some crackers

Riley on the horse

Nick riding the horse

Ari on the horse

Laci on the horse

Arianna feeding the horse after they were all done getting rides from him

Here’s Nick holding a baby chick

Nick feeding the pigs some watermelon

And the whole time Connor was a perfect little baby and slept through it all

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for taking us to the farm and letting us spend time with you!

Also, in September, Connor turned 2 months old!  And mastered turning from his tummy to back as well!!!

So good at tummy time

Tired of Mommy taking pictures of him so he rolled onto his back =/

And there’s my smiling baby boy =)

OCTOBER
October was another VERY busy month for us!!!  We celebrated my 28th birthday, Dustin’s 29th birthday, I threw Dustin a Harry Potter party, Riley had her 1st field trip, we went to the pumpkin patch, went to Trunk-Or-Treat at the kids school, carved pumpkins and went Trick-Or-Treating.  It was a fun month, but it was none stop with activities every weekend.

Our family of 7 on my birthday!

With my family who came and celebrated with me!  Minus my Mom & sister who were taking pictures, my brother who was at work and my Dad, but we had him on ooVoo (can you see him?) since he was out of town on a business trip.

Arianna asked Auntie Jacquie to take her shopping at the mall.  She got all the money she had in her piggy bank and went to buy me a present and this is what she got me

I thought it was the sweetest thing ever, but I felt so bad that she used all the money that she saved up for a present for me =(

For Dustin’s birthday I threw him a Harry Potter themed party.  Here are some of the things I made

Some wands that I made

Another picture of the wands

For the favors I made chocolate frogs from the movie and put them inside little boxes.  I bought the chocolate frog molds from Amazon.com and I found a template for the boxes online.  I printed them, cut them and folded them before putting the frogs inside.

A close up of the box

Golden Snitch cake pops that I made (Excuse how horrible they look!  It was my 1st attempt at cake pops)

And here is Dustin’s cake that a friend of mine made!  Isn’t it awesome!!!

My favorite part of the cake was the sorting hat!

We also had another celebration!  Connor turned 3 months old =)

Next up was Riley’s very 1st field trip!  I was supposed to go as a chaperone, but since Connor was not interested in taking a bottle I had Dustin get fingerprinted so he could go with her.  I followed the bus with Nick, Laci and Connor to make sure that I got lots of pictures taken of her on her very 1st field trip.

On the bus with Daddy and Julianna

Daddy and Riley riding the tractors at the pumpkin for a tour of their farm

Every year the girls school has a Trunk-Or-Treat.  This year I didn’t help out since we had a baby and I didn’t have enough time to get away to volunteer.   But we still were able to make it for the event.  The kids love going because it gives them a reason to get dressed up more than once.

The day after Riley’s field trip Dustin had another day off so we took the kids to a local pumpkin patch so the kids could get pumpkins for carving!

Here’s our family at the pumpkin patch

I think Dustin and Joston had more fun playing than the kids……..LOL

Finally giving the kids a turn after they “tried it out”

Next we went on the kiddie maze.  Here are the kids coming out of the maze and celebrating =)

Next we went to the regular maze.  To make it fun we all split up to see who would finish first.  The teams were Nick, Connor and I,  Dustin and Laci,  Joston and Riley and Ari and Ana.  Ari and Ana were the first ones out of the maze, but we did run into everyone else while we were in the maze and it was a lot of fun!

 Look who we found!  It’s Joston and Riley

And we heard some noises and found Daddy and Laci

It took us a while to get out of there because I think the kids were leading us in circles, but it was still a lot of fun!  Here’s Daddy and Laci celebrating finding the way out!

And of course Nick had to play with all the little tractors and bikes that they had there for the kids

The kids in their costumes.  Nick was a Strom Trooper from Star Wars.  Riley was Cleo de Nile and Ari was Frankie Stien which are both characters from Monster High.  Laci wore Ari and Riley’s old costume and was Tinkerbell!!!

They met up with some friends to take pictures

They were all characters from Monster High minus Laci

The girls with more of their friends that they saw that night

That weekend we carved our pumpkins!!!  Since the kids are getting older, I told them that they have to carve their own pumpkins from now on.  They did a really good job this year and I only really helped out Nick and I did Laci’s for her.

Nick concentrating on his pumpkin

Riley concentrating on hers

And Ari working on hers

And since it was Connor’s 1st Halloween I couldn’t help putting him in here

These are the finished products:
Nick did Mario with a little help from Mommy

Riley did Tinkerbell, but she wasn’t very happy with hers because it kept breaking =(  I thought she did a pretty good job!

Arianna did a 101 Dalmation

And here’s Laci with her Princess Belle pumpkin that I carved for her

I didn’t feel like buying a costume for Connor since he would barley wear it so we came up with another plan.  Pay close attention to the picture

Do you see the difference?

Yes, we really took the Jedi costume off Nick’s Build A Bear and put it on Connor.  It was a little snug though and wouldn’t close in the back, but I thought he looked super cute!  We waited for Dustin to get home then went around the neighborhood trick or treating and even met up with a couple friends.

Riley ran into her friend Mia

Some friends that we went Trick or Treating with

NOVEMBER
This was another crazy busy month!!!  Arianna had lunch with the principal for getting Student of the Month for October, we celebrated our Goddaughter’s 1st birthday with her, Riley turned 7 years old, we had a Paris themed party for her,  Connor turned 4 months old, Nick had a bowl-a-thon to raise money for his expenses in Kajukenbo, he also had a belt promotion this month, Riley performed in the Nutcracker play with her ballet school, we threw our cousin Jasmine a baby shower and took our annual family pictures and stayed in Vacaville for the tree lighting ceremony.

Here’s Arianna with her principal for getting Student of the Month in October

We celebrated Dylan’s 1st Birthday with her at her Circus themed party.  We LOVE our Goddaughter!!!

 Her awesome cake and smash cake!

Riley turned 7 years old!  She loves frozen yogurt so we met at our local frozen yogurt shop with all our family and friends!

Here she is getting some yummy toppings

Here’s all the girls, aren’t they the cutest!!!

And here are all the kids that came to help celebrate Riley’s birthday with her =)  We are so blessed to have such great family and friends!

We also threw her a Paris themed birthday party for her school friends.  Her requests were  Paris, the color purple and the Marie the cat from Aristocats.  And with the help of my friend who designed her invitations and party decor we were able to pull it off and she was ecstatic!!!!

The cake

Here’s the dessert/favor table

The seating for all the girls

Paris themed food area

My beautiful Riley-Anne

We also had a contest to see who would decorate their Eiffel Tower cookie the best.  Riley got to choose the winner from each table and they won “Paris Amour” lotion from Bath and Body Works.  After Riley picked the winner they all got to eat their cookies!

Here’s some of the cookies from one table

Nick joined in on the fun too!

And here is all her friends that came.  They were about to watch the Monte Carlo movie with Selena Gomez =)

Connor at 4 months old

Nick goes to The Morales House of Kajukenbo and started in August.  They had a bowl-a-thon fundraiser for the kids so they could get money for sparring gear, tournament fees and whatever else they would need.   He did pretty good at bowling and raised enough for his sparring gear and still has money left over for upcoming tournaments.

Here he is bowling

I love how he would cheer for himself =)

And here he is with some of the other people in his Kajukenbo school

 The following day he had a promotion ceremony to move up to the yellow striped belt.

Parents helping with the promotion

Dustin is so proud of Nick!

 Nick and Daddy

Here he is with his new belt and certificate

His class

With Sifu Menwinn

I’m soooo very proud of my baby boy!!!!

His sisters were also very proud of him

 Another big event this month was Riley performing in her 1st Nutcracker play with Benicia Ballet School.  They performed at Solano Community College this year and ever had a live orchestra.   She had four parts; poor child, angel, cookie and guardian angel.  They had 4 shows and it was the weekend after Thanksgiving so it was very busy!

With some of her friends backstage waiting to get into costume

Here she is in costume for her poor child part

In costume for her angel part (she also wears this costume at the end of the play for her guardian angel part)

And this is her cookie outfit

Here are a couple of pictures of her from the stage

Poor child

Angel

And her cookie part

My cousin is expecting her 1st baby and our whole family is SUPER excited for her!!!!  We all decided on an owl theme and it turned out so cute!  Here are some details and pictures from the baby shower.

Banner

Sign for the candy buffet

The candy buffet

Bags to bring home the goodies!  These were SO cute!!!  My Aunt (Grandma to be) made them =)

Candy bars

The amazing cake!!!!

The parents to be with their gifts for baby Elena

Riley and I had to leave early because she had another performance that evening so she had to take a picture with her Godmother before she left

Last but not least we had our annual pictures taken by one of our favorite photographer’s Crystal Lynn.  After our photo session we headed to the Vacaville tree lighting.  It was VERY crowded so we couldn’t get a picture by the tree.  But here’s a picture of the kids while they were watching performances and singers singing Christmas songs

DECEMBER
I can’t believe how fast this year went by!  It’s the holiday season and there was lots of parties and fun things to do this month.  Connor had his baptism with cousin Zach, the kids started winter break, Connor turned 5 months old, we visited Santa, made gingerbread houses, celebrated Christmas and had our annual SF day with my family.

For Connor’s baptism one of the Godparents we picked was Dustin’s brother in law Brandon.  They flew out here from Hawaii to meet Connor for the 1st time and to be here for his special day.

Here is Dustin’s sister Kelsy and brother in law Brandon with all their nieces and nephews.

Connor’s Baptism was performed by Father Downey

The cousins Connor and Zach got baptized on the same day

Here is Connor with his Godparents!

Uncle Brandon (Dustin’s brother in law)

Uncle Jaime (my baby brother)

Auntie Chesca (my cousin)

Uncle Miggy (my cousin)  He also flew up here for Connor’s baptism from Ocean Beach, CA

The girls get 3 weeks off school for winter break!  They both had parties in their class before leaving.

Riley and her teacher.  They had a pajama day in their class, ate popcorn, drank hot cocoa and watched a movie

For the rest of the school they had hat day.  Here’s Arianna with some friends and her teacher

Another milestone, Connor made 5 months old!!!

And since I was taking his picture in his elf jammies, I had cousin Zach come over in his Santa outfit

Since the kids were off school we decided to visit Santa at the Jelly Belly Factory!

And we took some pictures next to their decorations

It was tough keeping the kids busy during winter break, but with all the holiday crafts we could do we didn’t have a problem.  Here they are making their Gingerbread houses

Nick and Riley did one together (they were having a little too much fun)

Ari and Laci were supposed to do one together but Laci said Ari was bossy and wouldn’t let her help.  So I made gingerbread cookie cakes for the kids to decorate.  Laci got to do her’s while the other kids did the houses

And here’s Ari working hard on her house

Here are the finished houses:

Nick and Riley’s

Arianna’s

Next up was celebrating Christmas!!!!  We sure had a lot of parties this year.  On the 21st we celebrated with our Goddaughter and her parents since they were going to be flying up to WA for Christmas.  Then on the 23rd we celebrated with my Mom’s side of the family because every year we have to split Christmas Eve with them and Dustin’s side.  On the 24th we celebrated at Dustin’s parents house.  Christmas morning we open presents with just us and the kids, then after that Dustin’s parents come over to open presents, then my parents and siblings all come over!  Christmas evening we spend with my Dad’s side of the family =)  So as you can see that is A LOT of present opening and the kids get so excited and they love spending all the time with the families

The kids on Christmas morning

Opening presents from Mommy and Daddy (I love Riley’s face here)

We got them a Kinect this year!!!

After Christmas was over we had our annual San Francisco day with my family.  We all go out to eat lunch and walk around the city looking at all the Christmas decorations.  It’s a tradition that my kids all LOVE and look forward to every year!  This year we headed out a little earlier to go on Ride the Duck tour of SF.  I had purchased tickets earlier in the year because we planned on going with Dustin’s family who was coming out from WA, but plans changed and we didn’t get to use them.  Since they were expiring at the end of the year we had to use them!

The kids excited to go on the bus/boat

Riley, Daddy and Connor on the boat

Laci and Ari

Nick and me

Laci loved going up and down the hilly roads of San Francisco!  She would always put her hands up if we were going downhill.

My handsome boy Connor

 Even though I’ve been to the city so many times before, it was nice driving around learning the history of everything!  The kids favorite part was going into the water!  Nick even got to drive the boat in McCovey Cove near AT&T stadium!

In McCovey Cove

After our tour we met up with the rest of my family for lunch!  They walked over to Union Square to see the Christmas decorations

Our family

And our entire family!

It was such a fun year and I can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store for us and our family.  I hope everyone enjoyed and will continue to follow our blog.  I promise to keep up  with it this upcoming year =)

Eating lunch with the Principal Mrs. Allen

Daddy and Ari

He took the day off just to have lunch with her for the Student of the Month luncheon.