Some quick Christmas pictures!

Christmas Rambo handing out the gifts
Uncle Paul and Aunt Kirsten made the trip up from New Haven to spend Christmas Day. Paul needs to baby holding practice, me thinks!


Lolo with his favorite gift - tools!

Jada knee deep in the big snow storm!

El Santa Claus Puerto Rico

Jada's favorite phrase: "Um, can I please explain this bad word without getting in trouble?" She'll say that before saying something like, "kids say the word 'stupid'" or whenever she needs to use a sentence with a "bad word."

Joli is now telling time! We just bought her a first watch, and we ask her what time it is every few minutes!

Evan truly is a different kid when his sisters aren't around. He gets very cryish and sad. But, the minute his sisters come home, he's a different and happy little boy. He's standing more these days on his own, and you can't take your eyes off of him when he's crawling around!

Just enjoying some time off these few weeks! I'm sure we'll have more photos later!

We had a lovely Christmas here in our house! This year (and last year, as well), we made a commitment not to over spend and over indulge this holiday. I spent much of this past year fundraising for different friends who are going through tough times right now due to cancer, and it just seems and feels socially injust to then splurge on material things like gifts. Since we've been more aware of the amount of money we spend on gifts, I can honestly say that our family really embraces the true meaning of the season. We are thankful and blessed to have our health, and that's all I really want for Christmas. It made me sad to see the amount of people (on Facebook) who wrote things like, "I have so many gifts in the house!" or "I'm up to my waist in wrapping paper!". I wonder, how many more toys can kids have? What are we teaching our children, our selves, and those who are struggling financially, about what's important.

The past few years, we've bought 1 shared toy for the girls, and then 1 individual toy for them. Even this year, the grandparents (who notoriously over spend!) were so good about buying just a few items - and, most of those items are shared toys.

The best gift I had was to be home as a family, spending time playing with kids, and just relaxing. Because there weren't lots of gifts, I didn't have to spend time cleaning up wrapping paper. That was more time we could spend together.

This past week, Jada and Joli had their holiday concert! The film is about an hour long, so here is the 6 minute condensed version. Be warned: half way through, there is a classic toddler "booger picking" moment. Unfortunately, it was done by OUR toddler..... Fortunately, we caught it on tape! :)

Joli at 65 months old with Tigger
Jada at 44 months with Grover


Evan at 9 months with Big Bird
Lolo and Lola with the grandgirls at the recital

Enjoy the Christmas recital highlights!

The Triple Baptism!

It's baptism day for 3 of the Talusan side babies! Evan, Kainoa and Norhanna all received the sacrament of baptism today in a private ceremony (ooh, that sounds so exclusive!). The babies did a great job, and it was nice to have the huge family all back together again.

The chaos in my parents' house falls into a comfortable pattern. With over 26 people in our family (including Andy and Marie's family), it's hard to imagine that this type of energy is actually a fun thing! Kids running, adults talking, babies crying, men playing cards -- it's all part of the frenzy!

Here is a beautiful picture of my parents with all the grandkids! Next year, we add one more with Paul and Kirsten's baby!


A family photo after Evan's baptism

Our Godparents: Marie, Andy and Kirsten

The "Big Kids!" - hard to believe we actually have a "big kids" group and a "babies" group

The boys in their adorable outfits! Congratulations Kainoa and Evan!

Evan is saying "Shhh! Don't tell anyone that we wore BONNETS!!"


Grrrr! This is Evan's best "angry face"!

Happy Anniversary and Winter Beginnings

It's our 9th anniversary this year! And, how did we celebrate it? Well, Jorge surprised me with 9 roses on my car seat this morning - 3 of them were pink roses to represent the 3 kiddies. Of course, I totally missed that romantic detail. What did I get Jorge? It tops all romance -- two words -- Swedish Fish. Yes, swedish fish. The chewy red candy. A 5lb bag, people. Who said romance is dead??

Jorge then went to one of our favorite restaurants and bought sushi for the whole family, and he even set a nice table for all of us. Then, Evan went into our room, Jada snuck into our bed, Jorge got swept up playing on his XBOX and I had 50 pages of work to do. Oh, romance. Happy Anniversary!

Evan during his toilet escapade!



The girls have worn these cute candy-cane pajamas as babies, and for some reason, I can only find 1/2 of the outfit. So, we went ahead and bought Evan his own.

This is his sideways pose... aw cute!


It's been a wintery few days, but we managed to get our tree. It's a MUCH smaller tree, to Joli's dismay (okay, outright anger!), but we had to for reasons named "Evan." The kids did have a great time decorating the tree, though!

I love this picture .. our dog, Ko'D made it into this one
Daddy and his big girl... with the little tree. Joli was NOT excited.


Winter has finally arrived, and Jada has been obsessed with her boots.
Joli's new boots. This girl has outgrown her clothes and shoes each season so far. And, as the oldest girl, we have to keep replacing them!


Evan is on the move. He's a super fast crawler and has managed to find his "favorite spot", underneath the dining room table.

Celebrating the baptism of the "Cousin Triplets" -- Evan, Kainoa and Norhanna tomorrow, so I'm sure we'll have lots of great photos!

Take 2..

So, about a week ago, I gave Evan a bath in his baby tub. It was warm. He had just eaten a big dinner, and he felt very relaxed. Very. Very. Very. Relaxed.

I had given Evan a rare treat during that bath time. I put a good deal of bubble bath in there and really filled up his baby tub. It was so full of bubbles that I couldn't see the bottom of the tub. Evan was finished with his bath, and I began to let his bathtub drain. The tub water looked pretty dirty. Brown, in fact. Then, it happened... I began to see chunks. Yes, chucks. Of poop.

By the time the bubbles and water had drained, I realized there was a good amount of poop in the bottom of the tub.

Oh, what to do??? I screamed (of course), then grabbed Evan and put him into the sink to finish washing him up. I dried him, dressed him and put him in his crib. I then had to tackle the pooped up bathtub(s) -- both the baby tub and the big tub. Oh, goodness.

So, fast forward to tonight....

You guessed it. #2. In more ways than one.

Big dinner. Warms tub. Tired baby. Bubble bath. But, this time I was hip to that boy's game! He began to push, and I grabbed him and flung him on the toilet. Just in time, because along with the flinging baby came a flinging poop -- thankfully into the toilet!

So, Jorge came to the rescue, grabbed Evan boy, sat on the toilet, while I attempted to regain my sanity.

Enjoy!

December 6, 2009 - Evan chillin' on the potty at 8 months old (no, he is not being potty trained!)

A great start to December!

We had a wonderful holiday at Grammy and Pop's place for Thanksgiving! Much to Grammy's dismay, it seems Evan Boy enjoyed Pops right away (sorry, Grammy!), but he certainly warmed up to Grammy before we left! The girls got to spend an extra few days in NY, and Joli got a wonderful treat at the hair salon. She has super short hair and had it blown dry while she was there. Jo kept saying she looked like a "teenager!"

Here is Week 29. I know... I know... where were all the weeks in between??? Yes, I slacked. But, hopefully I'll be more consistent during the holidays!




A-ha! I caught Joli almost getting ready to hit Jada .. and I got Jada's face to prove it! Oh, sisters...

Evan is our little biter. He likes to bite the fleshy part of your arm. If he's crawling on the ground, you have to protect your toes. Because, if you're not looking, EVAN WILL BITE YOUR TOES! Jorge had enough of the biting and figured he'd get to Evan before Evan got to him!
Miss Straight Hair! It goes nice with all the missing teeth!

Evan is starting to climb up, crawl like a speed racer, and beginning to walk. Elma held him up with a blanket under his arms and Evan was walking! 8-months, y'all! Both Joli and Jada walked after their 1-year birthday.


Future Blogger...


Happy Holidays to everyone!