Thanksgiving was fun. we spent it out in Murietta with Casey's sister Katie and her husband Dave. The food was fabulous as usual and the company was great! It was great having my brother in law Jeff home from his mission too!

Happy 31st Zwabes!!!

Yesterday was Casey's 31st birthday. Instead of just celebrating for the day we spent the whole weekend celebrating... much more fun than just 1 day, why not 3?
Saturday afternoon I packed an overnight bag and Casey and I took off for the weekend. First we went to see The Dark Night, which we have been dying to see and is now, finally, at the dollar theater. Loved it! Heath Ledger did an amazing job!
Next we went off to Anehiem to check in to our condo to chill for a little bit. Then it was off to Cheese Cake Factory for dinner... uh, avacado egg rolls anyone! Yummm! After dinner we had to walk off the 5000 calories we had just consumed, so we walked over to the Garden shops to do some window shopping. Knowing that it was opening weekend for the new James Bond action we had to check out movie times and since we almost never go to the movies anymore, we figured, why not... tomorrow we get to sleep in, so it was off to the 10:20 show.
The next day we slept in, ate in peace enjoyed a little football and slept some more. Around 5pm we went back to pick up the children who were being lovingly cared for by their favorite aunt Autumn, who always is so willing to help out. We appreciate her so much, thanks Autumn for making our weekend get away possible.
The 3 musketeers spent the night with us Sunday night at the condo. The next morning around 8am we were pleasantly awoken to the sound of 3 giggly little munchkins singing "Happy Birthday" from the living room. So, so cute!
After a yummy pancake breakfast it was off to Disneyland. It was a perfect day. The park was empty. We got to do every ride we wanted to including the new toy story mania, which was really cute, and the finding nemo submarine ride. We haven't been to disneyland yet on a day less crowded, it was perfect.

Hope you had a great birthday weekend babes, I know I did. I love you!!!

Maxwell absolutely adores his Daddy!

I love this pic, Eva is completely "star struck"!

HALLOWEEN!!!

Aunt Autumn saves the day.... the girls were getting tired by the end of the night and wanted to be carried. I carried Eva for awhile but started have lots of Braxton hicks, so Autumn took a turn with princess Eva. Thanks Autumn for all your help with the children (all the time) they love you so much!

The 3 little princess' (Tessa, Eva and Mia)
Red power ranger and batman (Kaden and Maxwell)


Sleeping beauty/Aurora/Rose (Mia)

Batman, Sleeping Beaty, and Cinderella

Checking out their "loot" at the end of the night.

Cinderella (Eva)

Batman (Maxwell)

Holidays are so much fun at this age. The children had a blast trick or treating, running from house to house. I love halloween, it's my favorite time of the year. I am missing Utah like crazy right now. It was probably 70 degrees last night, not my idea of halloween weather. Last night the channel 7 news said that this has been the hotest October on record in So Cal, I say "Boo" on the warm weather.

Casey planned a wonderful evening out for my birthday last weekend. He had a yummy breakfast for me that morning and then took charge of the children for the day and then that evening he took me to the fabulously delicious melting pot! Fondue, yummmm! Our great friends Shelley and Jason joined us for the evening and it was fun to be out as couples with no children. Thanks so much Casey for a much needed date, you always know how to spoil me. I love you... and thanks Jase and Shell for hangin' with us, LOL!

Casey put this card together for me from the children.

Out of the mouth of babes part II.....

Yesterday Mia sneezed into her hand and left a nice string of green snot. She turned to me and said "Mom I'm all sticky from the bless you". :)

Out of the mouth of babes....

Earlier today Maxwell and I were out on the front patio on the porch swing and he turned to me and said "Mom, I haven't seen any snails for a long time....I think they all went to Mexico."

This evening while babysitting my nephew Hudson, Mia and Eva kept asking why he wasn't talking to them. I told them that he was to little to talk. Mia looked at me and said "he needs a whole junk of teeth so that he can talk to us." What? "Junk" must be slang for "a lot" (at least according to Maxwell, I think that's what it means, because he uses that word all the time to describe things)and why Hudson needs teeth to talk? Well, I'm not sure.

HA,HA,HA!!! Hope this made you laugh or at least smile!

Maxwell playing soccer

Mawell has improved so much and has really built up his confindence on the soccer field. This game he scored 3 goals and looked like he was really loving it. I like that AYSO has them play 3 on 3. I think it makes it way less chaotic and all the children get a chance to touch the ball. His team as a whole is really getting good and they are really enjoying playing together.

Maxwell just started playing soccer 3 weeks ago. He's so dang cute. At his first practice he wanted to play so bad that he couldn't wait to be introduced to the other 3 players on his team he just kept saying "Dad, let's play soccer... Dad, can we play soccer now?" He had such a blast. At his first game he started out a little shy and I thought he wasn't going to want to play, but as soon as the game was ready to start he was right there in the middle of everything. He designated himself all time goal keeper (even they don't have keepers, they play 3 on 3) and he took charge like he was team captian. Everytime they had a time out he would put his hand on the other boys shoulders and tell them what the next play would be and when they just stared at him with a blank look he would turn to Casey and say "Dad they're not listening."

It has been so much fun to watch him and to watch Casey coach. Here are a few pics....

Coach Casey, no he's not yelling at the kids.

SO helpful....

So as many of you know we are in the process of potty training. The girls have pretty much mastered the pee pee part but we are still working on the pooping thing...
Well, yesterday afternoon the girls were upstairs playing with their babies and looking at the clock I realized it was time for naps, so, when I got upstairs I realized they were in the bathroom. At first I thought they were getting into the drawers as they sometimes like to do but when I pushed the door open there was Eva sitting on the potty, when she saw me she said "Mommy, I did a BIG poo poo" and then Mia quickly followed with " I wiped Eva Mommy." And sure enough she had gone poop and there was a huge pile of t.p. as well. Casey and I had a good laugh about it.
Those girls just love being independent!

Maxwell's 1st day of Pre-school

Maxwell had his first day of pre-school today. 7:30am came pretty early this morning considering Maxwell's rarely up before 8:30am. It was a slow start but once he was dressed and had his backpack on he was stoked. He said he didn't even have time to eat breakfast because he didn't want to be late, so cute. I was worried that he might be a little less enthusiastic once we got there, but his excitement didn't change.
He is going to be in an integration program at a local elementary school that incorporates autistic children, getting them ready to go to public school. It's a small class. There are 4 autistic children and 3 "neighborhood friends", which includes Maxwell. He was so excited when I came to pick him up he said "Mom, I love school. can I come everyday?" It was so cute seeing him so excited about it. The teachers there were wonderful. They were very encouraging about having Maxwell there to participate and be friends with the other children.
The school also has a really great after school sports program that includes soccer, track and field and t-ball that will be fun to have him involved with also.
I can't believe that Maxwell is getting so big. He is such a big boy now, no more toddler stage. He is my sweet, sweet boy. We love you bubs!

Maxwell and his buddy Kaden after school.

Labor day weekend

Over Labor day weekend we had a really fun family reunion with my brothers, sisters and parents. We rented a beautiful cabin east of Heber up at Timberlakes estates. My parents used to own a cabin up there so it was fun to re live old memories. It's been a long time since we were all together like that and it felt so good. All the grandchildren had a great time running around playing and laughing together and the adults had a great time playing games and catching up on life. Lots of love to all my family... we miss you guys so much and were glad that we could spend time with all of you... it was just too short!

Grammy and Poppa reading stories.

All the grandchildren... we will add grandbaby #10

Chimpmunk or Child?

I think that Eva and Mia are part chipmunk... They have been known to store food in their cheeks for hours on end. They have stored nuts, apple peals, pieces of hot dog, carrots, tomato skins, cheese and our most recent episode - popcorn kernels.

Autumn and Jackie (my sister in laws) were babysitting last Saturday. They made popcorn and let the children watch a movie around 7:30p.m. When we finally got home 3 hours later and were getting them ready for bed Casey went to brush Eva's teeth and this was the outcome...


Lucky for us Casey is good about making sure the children have good hygiene, thanks babe!

EARTHSHAKE!!

So as I was sitting here putting together that last post I experienced my first earthquake here in Cali. Eva was playing upstairs and Maxwell and Mia were playing here by the table while I typed. At first I thought that Mia was shaking the table then it got stronger and Maxwell came close to me and asked "what's that Mom?". My heart started pounding super hard as everthing in the house shook and the dishes in the kitchen rattled, it lasted probably only 15 or 20 seconds but felt a lot longer than that. Casey called right away to make sure everything was ok. He was driving and said all the traffic lights were swinging and everything was shaking. Nothing was damaged, but it was strong enough that it gave us all a good scare. I don't like feeling like I'm not in control and for a few seconds the thoughts of my family getting hurt scared me to death!

HATE IT!

Potty training is the worst! And even though I really shouldn't complain because the girls are doing so well.... I will!
All the accidents on the floor and washing every pair of unders we own everyday and the pooping in the unders... by day 3 I gave in and bought pullups. I never did pullups with Maxwell, but this time around I have had it, Skids on cinderella unders isn't so cute.

Eva.. beginning of day 1

Mia... End of day 1

Day 2... I bought the girls these skirts and slippers in the dollar bin at Target because they were doing so well, and because they are so cute!!

Day 3... princess pullups save the day!

LOVE IT!

All the cousins went to Hero camp last week together. There they talked about remembering the Lords power, wisdom, love and work. They had visitors from Joseph of Egypt, Ammon, the good samaritan, and some of the pioneers. They learned how to be strong and have "CTR power" like David when he faught Goliath. They did service projects and learned stories from the scriptures and sang songs about them.

I have a heart, like God's own Son

To feel great love for everone.

These hands are mine, they help me do

the things that Jesus showed me to.

He (Jesus) is our hero, He shows us the way. He teaches what we can be. He is our hero, we won't lose our way, And I know that Jesus love me. I know that Jesus love me!

Thanks to all those that made it possible for our children to have a wonderful week and thanks Amber for inviting us. We look forward to another great camp next summer!

Our little man turns 4...

I can't believe it's been 4 years already. My memories of having Maxwell are so vivid. Probably because he was my 1st. We had so much time together that first year and a half to just be together. He was such my little buddy. He is so big now and it is so amazing the things he says and even more the things he remembers.
He is such a little sports fanatic and so coordinated when it comes to playing. Which shouldn't be a surprise knowing that Casey is the same way.... good at every sport even if he hasn't played much. He absolutely loves baseball, soccer and basketball. He's such a Waldron, a true athlete.
He makes me laugh so much and is such a good helper to his little sister's even though often the helping ends up with someone crying. He also loves the disney movie CARS and he has most of the cars from the movie as well as some of the shops from "Radiator Springs".
He is such a lovebug and is always saying he loves us. He often repeats things he hears us say. He'll tell me I'm the best mom, kiss my hand and call me "little sweetest" (which he hears me say).
Time goes by so fast... it makes me sad to think only one more year and he'll be in kindergarten and scared to death that I won't be able to keep him safe from every little thing anymore.
My one true stress about my children is that I won't be able to keep them protected from the evils of the world, can't they just stay little forever.... the one thing most parents probably feel.
Thanks to all of our family and friends that celebrated with us and helped make his special day the best it could be.
We love you Maxwell Mckay and all the joy and love you bring to our family, Happy 4h Birthday!

If you thought we were crazy before.....

It's official.... baby #4 is on it's way. We will welcome the new bundle of joy into our family the end of January 2009. Boy or Girl? We'll find out on his/her birth day. I had an ultrasound this afternoon and all is well, baby is growing right on target and everything looks perfect. We really are excited, especially Maxwell who keeps saying we are having a boy and a girl... hate to break it to you bud... this Mama only has the energy for 1 this time around, maybe next time:)

The girls get their hair cut....

After the reunion in Vegas we went to Utah for the 4th of July. While we were there I had my really good friend Adrie cut the girls hair. Eva had a huge chunk of hair missing from pulling her pony tail out a year ago and it has finally grown long enough to cut the rest to match. Mia also needed a little evening out, her hair was so much longer in the back. Eva went first and she did a pretty good job holding still, we didn't get a picture until after she was done.

Mia on the other hand was not even kind of happy about it. She cried the whole time (as you can see). I'm not sure if it was the hair cut or the fact that we took her from playing with tinkerbell, Adrie's cat, either way she did not enjoy it!

This is Eva's after picture, Mia wouldn't allow an after picture because she was so mad about getting her hair cut in the first place. They both look darling!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

We went to Las Vegas the last weekend of June for a Waldron family reunion. We stayed at the stratosphere hotel and casino, this is a picture of the kids right after we checked into our hotel.

Ya gotta love walking down the strip at 10:30p.m. dripping with sweat in the 100 degree weather.

Our poor kiddos kept asking for something cold to drink, it was so insanely hot still.

The girls were so excited about their tickets to the top of the stratosphere!

Cool view, huh?

The children loved watching the people riding the rides at the top, although when we asked if they wanted to go there was a immediate "NO" by all 3 of them.