2010: Year in Review.

This is not your usual, "Oh our family is so perfect, all of our children are beautiful, We are the most fantastic parents in the world" year in review letter.
No, because that's not the way I roll. I keep things real.
Here is a realistic view of 2010.

2010 started off with morning sickness in full effect and continued until about mid February.

My oldest son took a vow of silence and would only communicate with us in written form. That only lasted about 2 hours, but it was nice to have a break from him and his sister's arguing. It's kind of difficult to argue with your sister when you are only writing on a piece of paper and using a crayon!

My daughter lost her first tooth.

I decided to improve on my culinary skills and served a dinner which consisted of cheesy hot dogs, potato salad, peas and potato chips. It must have been a hit because my son exclaimed, "Now that's what I call a dinner!"

My friends threw a baby shower for me in Phoenix. I was able to spend some time with some of my family and also was able to reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in over 10 years! Thanks, Facebook!

My daughter turned 6!

Some more friends threw a baby shower for me here in Nevada.

My oldest son turned 8!


I counted down the days until our baby was going to make his/her entrance into the world.

My In Laws came to stay with us and help out around the house until the baby was born. During their visit, my Father in Law kept himself busy by installing a new shower head, buying some new rugs for the kitchen (because the old ones were old and ugly), installed a new toilet seat, organized our pantry, fixed our kitchen drawer and I'm sure there were some other things he did to help spruce up our house, but I can't recall.
My Mother in Law kept herself busy by helping out with the kiddos, cooking and being a totally awesome Grandma!

Finally, our little guy was born. Baby "J" was born on 6/24/10 weighing in at 7 lbs. 2 oz.

My daughter lost another tooth the 2nd day that our baby was home. She put the tooth in her pillow and the tooth fairy forgot to show up that night.
So she put her tooth in the pillow the following night and the tooth fairy showed up that night, left her some money but forgot to take her tooth! My daughter was confused as to why the tooth fairy left her money but left the tooth in her pillow.
At that point I explained to my daughter that the tooth fairy has lots of little boys and girls to take care of
 and sometimes she forgets to take the teeth. I also explained that maybe the tooth fairy had her own family to take care of and that maybe the tooth fairy still had to get dinner made every night and clean the house and drive her children to Karate practice and that maybe the tooth fairy also had a newborn baby at home and was busy breastfeeding and changing diapers and was probably sleep deprived and barely had time to take a shower! I told her she should just leave the tooth in the pillow yet again and maybe the tooth fairy would come back.
 Luckily for my daughter's sake the tooth fairy came that night and took the tooth and left a pillow for her mistake.
The following morning the world was a happier place, at least for a moment.


My Dad and his wife came to visit us and meet the new baby!

My Brother and his family came to visit and meet the new baby too.

My oldest son went to spend a week with his cousins in Arizona. He went swimming every day and my Sister in law reported to me that he didn't cry or whine one single time during his visit! I'll have to be sure to send him to Arizona more often.

I realized that my baby was a beautiful baby because total strangers would approach me and say, "Oh, your baby girl is so pretty!"

My oldest son attended summer camp for the first time. When I was packing his clothes he made sure to advise me as to not pack any pajamas that had animal prints or car prints. Just plain pajamas because he was a big boy now.
He learned a hip hop dance, did some rock climbing, made me a gorgeous flower pen and made lots of new friends!
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My Husband's sister and one of her daughter's came to visit us and meet baby "J"

My daughter decided to expand on her culinary skills and started making her own breakfast. Most mornings she would have a healthy serving of: Cocoa puffs, lucky charms and trix all mixed together in one bowl.
My older two children headed back to school.

My Uncle and Aunt came from New Mexico to meet the baby.

My Husband and I celebrated 10 years of wedded bliss by going on  a short trip to Portland.

I experienced changing a 3 month's old explosive diaper in an airplane bathroom. Let me just give you a tip: Have plenty of wipes on hand.

Made some new friends and tried some Thai food for the first time ever. I'm now addicted!

We had a small, private baby dedication at our house. Our Good looking Pastor and his lovely wife agreed to do the baby dedication for us.  My Dad and his wife came from Phoenix for the special occasion. Baby "J" pretty much slept through the whole event.

 My daughter continued her Taekwondo lessons and received her yellow belt!





 My older son dropped out of Taekwondo lessons because in his words it was "too boring".

My Hubby took the older two children on some camping trips and several bike rides.

My older two children had to discover how to keep themselves self entertained because their parents were busy with the new baby and  didn't have time to give them all the love and attention they needed. They mostly did this by building things with Lego's.

They also kept themselves entertained by taking pictures of themselves and anything else they came across.

Baby "J" celebrated his first Halloween.

We made a trip to Phoenix and more family members got to meet our newest addition, including my Grandma.

We attended the Arizona State Fair! I talked my children into going on the Giant slide, my son was scared to death when we reached the top, but there was no time to give into his whining, so me and my Daughter went down the slide together and I left my terrified, trembling son at the top of the slide to figure it out for himself. Hey, tough love. He's gotta learn to get through rough times in life sooner or later. He came down the slide about 3 minutes later. He had a look of terror on his face, but he decided that he liked it and actually went down a second time.

We visited my Mom's grave in Phoenix. I tried not to cry like a baby, but I couldn't hold the tears back.

Baby "J" celebrated his first Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 We celebrated Christmas and baby "J" did not enjoy opening presents.

2010 was full of it's usual joys, sorrows, laughter, tears ....but most importantly it was full of love!
Wishing all of you a joyous and realistic 2011!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving crafts and family stuff.

Here are a few simple Thanksgiving crafts I  made at the very last minute. I figured if we were staying home to celebrate, I might as well make it look a little festive in our house.

I made this banner with a little bit of help from my personal cricut.

These pumpkins were very easy to make. I simply cut 12 strips of 1 1/2" strips of paper.

It was our little guys very first Thanksgiving. He was able to eat a delicious meal of butternut squash (blended, of course). He seemed to enjoy it.

We feasted on honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, green beans, bleu cheese stuffed mushrooms and deviled eggs. A very satisfying yet simple meal.

A wholelotta Thankfulness!!

I had each of our family members write down on a piece of paper two things they were thankful for.
I put them in a bowl and then at the dinner table, we each picked out two pieces of paper and shared what was written down.
Here goes:
Hubby is thankful for our family and that everyone is healthy.
My Oldest son is thankful for God and the world and family.
Daughter is thankful for Good (God) and her baby brother.
I'm not sure what baby brother is thankful for but it probably has something to do with food. He loves to eat!
I am thankful for friends and family and that everyone is also healthy.
Isn't it interesting that we all are thankful for family? So happy to have our newest member of the family join us for this special day. I'm very thankful for each one of my children and I'm especially thankful for my wonderful, hard working, keeps me laughing, protector and provider Husband!

Mother's Day 2010

Well, I'm a couple of weeks late in posting this.
These are the beautiful gifts that I got from my children for Mother's Day.

Two gorgeous, hand painted coffee mugs.
Artful potter came out to the childrens' school about a week before Mother's day and all the children got to paint a mug for their Moms.

I couldn't have asked for a better gift.
My daughter wanted to know who's mug I was going to drink my coffee out of first.
I told her I would put half my coffee in her mug and half my coffee in my son's mug.
she was satisfied with that answer.

Our year in review 2009

2009 in a nut shell: (Not in chronological order).

-We spent New Year's in Phoenix with my family.
-We also attended the Fiesta Bowl Parade.
- visited my Mom's grave site. I was sad and cried. My children gave me lots of love that day.
-I lost a family member to suicide. That made me very, very sad.
-We spent Spring break in Colorado Springs visiting Greg's family.
-Our daughter turned 5.
-Our son turned 7.
-We planted a garden.
-We enjoyed fresh vegetables from our garden.
-I tried new recipes. Surprisingly, no one contracted salmonella or mad cow disease from my cooking.
-Our son learned to tie his shoes.
-I volunteered my time teaching homeless women how to make jewelry. This put a smile on their faces and I felt good.
You can read more about the homeless shelter herehttp://www.theshadetree.org/:.
-Our son learned to roller skate. He skated all night long, I had to practically drag him out of the roller rink.
-We said good bye to our beloved cat of 14 years, Domino. We all cried.
-Our daughter started Kindergarten. I cried.
-Our daughter learned to read.
-My Hubby led the school children on a Mountain hike. When asked, "What was your favorite part?" Most of them said, "When he taught us about deer poop and what it looks like." We laughed.
-Our son lost a tooth.
-We attended the annual "Gurule Family Reunion" in Quemado, NM.
-We visited the Grand Canyon. It was rainy.
-My brother, his wife and their 3 children came to visit us. We had a great time.
-My In Laws came to visit. My son got his first BB gun from Grandpa. It was a nice visit.
-We visited the Grand Canyon again. It was hot and sunny.
-Our children turned into "Tree huggers". Literally.
-Our son started Tae kwon do. He is currently a yellow belt.
-My son and I completed a 4 mile run in the mountains. My son made better time than I did.
-I tried a new hair do. Decided it wasn't for me.
-We attended the "Albuquerque balloon fiesta". It was cold and windy. -We ate some delicious New Mexican cuisine at the fiesta. I was very happy.
-My Hubby turned 37.
-My Hubby said farewell to a long time employee who decided to move to Utah.
-I turned 37. I didn't cry.
-Our son broke his arm. He and I both cried.
-I found out I was pregnant. I cried, again.
-Our son had 2 titanium rods inserted into his arm. He cried, I didn't.
-My morning sickness kicked in. I was mad.
-Our son had his rods removed. Neither of us cried. He felt crummy.
-Our son had cast and stitches removed. He screamed bloody murder.
-The very last day of 2009......I heard my baby's heartbeat. I was glad. I did a *happy* dance!

Watch out 2010, here come the Bernhardt bunch, with one more addition on the way.
Can't wait to see what adventures await us.

Happy New Year, everyone!