CAN WE SAY CHEEZY GRIN?

The joy of the cheesy grin has come on strong lately. Acacia usually gets pretty excited if you bring out the camera. She has such a beautiful natural smile. However, she has learned that she can now smile on demand. These pictures depict her way of smiling when you tell her to "say cheese".

Bubble Mania

Acacia had her first bubble bath the other day. At first she really didn't know what to think about it and she was a bit unsure, but once she realized she could play with the bubbles it became really fun.

" Holy Smokes! This bubbly stuff gets all over. I just can't shake it off."

Luca loves bubble baths. Poor boy has been deprived for a while, but there were a lot of happy times playing in the tub.

My little Bubbly Boo trying to escape.

GIMME A RIDE

We had a nice family outing to the AMA Superbike races. What a treat it was to return to the thrills of motorcycle racing. Luca and Acacia were intrigued by the bikes and all the noise! I think both of their favorite parts was when they got to climb on the motorcycles and pretend they were takin' a ride. The racing "wheelies" were a very close second.

We took several families with us to the races and here all the children lined up at the fence to watch the start of the "super moto" race. Pure Fascination!

Luca got to be right next to the action. He begged and begged both days we were there for us to buy him a motorcycle. He insists that Daddy needs to teach him to ride "right now". His young cousins ride motorcycles in Montana and he thinks he should be doing it too. Luca was born to follow in Daddy's footsteps. What in the world are we doing living in California? (hint hint Tony)

"Just my size Dad! Buy me this one!" Apparently they don't make these little bikes anymore because of the child protection laws. They can only sell bikes designed for ages 12 and up.

Now really, can you tell Luca takes after his Dad? They have the same body shape (poor boy), the same head, the same whine, and they even walk the same way. Like Father, Like Son.

VROOM! VROOM! Such happy days and feeling right at home. It's been a while since Luca's been on a bike, but you would have never known that by watching him.

I think he was born to ride--Uh-Oh

Future AMA racer? (Not if his mama has anything to say about it!)

Let me on! Let me on! Acacia was the first one to climb on a bike. I think we have a future motorcycle mama.

It was tough getting Acacia off the bike. She threw her little fit when it was time to move on.

Happy girl = Happy parents. I guess it's time to invest in some new motorcycles!

Pure Bliss

Well, this definitely isn't my bliss, but it's bliss for Tony. He was invited by good friends to play in Glamis a couple times this year and it was pretty incredible for him. He hasn't ridden a motorcycle since his accident about 2.5 years ago, so it was a treat for him to be out in the open air on a moving vehicle. He had so much fun. Actually, I would have to say it's the most excited I've seen him in the entire time we've been married. He not only had a blast riding the sand dunes, but he really enjoys the company of the friends he goes with. I'm certain this could turn into an expensive habit.

Tony got some air. . .and a HIGH on life!

CRAZY HAT???

Okay, so it was Crazy Hat Day and I kind of forgot until the last minute. So, I grabbed what I could find and this is what I came up with about 5 minutes before we were supposed to leave for school. Luca thought it was great. It was definitely one of a kind. It's more like "crazy mom" than "crazy hat".

Everyone Wants To Be A Golfer

Luca is always begging Tony to take him golfing. Luca got really blessed a few months ago when a good friend of ours gave him his very own clubs. The place Tony used to take Luca golfing is being turned into a huge swimming arena, so Tony has improvised by taking him to the park across the street and just having Luca aim for the tree. It works--for now--and they have a lot of fun.

There is no way Acacia was going to be left out of the golfing fun. She begged and whined until Tony helped her have a turn.

Luca was even really excited to help his sister learn to golf. I think it makes him feel like a pro--and a great big brother. Acacia is a very blessed little girl to have such a wonderful big brother.

What do you think of his form? Ha! I'm not a golfer so I have no idea. Who cares about the form when you're 5? I don't. He just has a great time and loves spending time with his Dad.

Tony took a break to take a picture of his girls. I love taking pictures with Acacia. She's so beautiful. I just can't quite figure out where she came from. She looks absolutely nothing like us.
Baby #3 is there with us too. I'm about 19-20 weeks in this picture.

T-BALL Practice

This is what I've been waiting for since Luca was first born. I have always been so excited for the day when he would begin playing sports. He's been in soccer, but I don't know anything about soccer. Now it's baseball season and we're all really excited. We get to be involved in helping him learn and watching him have a good time. Tony is helping out with assistant coaching and is having a great time with the boys.

Down and Ready. It's always kind of hilarious watching young children learn the rules of any sport. It's kind of confusing for them at first and they do a lot of silly things, but it's great entertainment and eventually they'll get the hang of it.

Luca loves to play on the pitcher's mound. Even though there technically isn't a pitcher, he enjoys playing the position. Who knows, maybe he'll have some future hidden talent in pitching.

Luca insisted he didn't need the tee to hit of off, but since he just turned 5 he has to be in t-ball, which requires a tee. He was a little disappointed because he's always been pitched to, but he took to it quickly and loves to smash the ball.

Cutest Little Stinker Bee

Our little Stinker Bee can be so cute I can't stand it. She's at the stage where she's exploring her personality and having a lot of fun doing it. She really brightens my day and makes me laugh a lot. What a blessing she is to her Mommy. And to think, I didn't really care if I ever had any girls. I love this one!

Acacia loves to feed herself and she's really good at it. However, sometimes she just best at making a great big mess. By the way, she insists on drinking from a real cup now when we are at home. She won't use a sippy cup much if we're sitting down to eat. She'll throw a fit until she gets the big kids cup. Even if we are at a restaurant, she has to have her own cup and straw. No more sippies for this little girl unless there is no other option.

She is obsessed with kleenex, tissue, burp cloths, etc. She always wants one so that she can wipe her nose (which is constantly runny) or wipe the table, or the counter or. . .you get the picture.

Luca's first soccer game came on a day that was going to be really cold. Not wanting Acacia to freeze (if she's anything like her mother, she'll spend most of her life cold), I bundled her up in preparation for the winter air. HOLY SMOKES, now I know I'm biased, but have you ever seen anything cuter???

My sweet little Stinker Bee in Style!

The Party Goes On!

We had planned on having a big birthday party for Luca on his 5th birthday, but plans never worked out. I guess it just wasn't one of momma's priorities. (does this make me a bad mom?) Even though we had already taken Luca and a few of his friends to the Pirate Dinner Show and to Disneyland, we hadn't done the cake and singing thing. Kirk was supposed to come out early Friday night, so we figured we would celebrate with the cake and ice cream 2 days late. No biggie. The only thing Luca asked for his birthday was a Pinata. We decided, pretty much last minute, to have a few of Luca's friends over to help destroy the pinata and eat cake with us. And that's just what we did. Thank you to the few friends that helped celebrate last minute. Luca loved it and I'm pretty sure it was his favorite part of his birthday.

Tony became "father of the year" for picking out the transformer pinata. All the children got a few turns, but in the end it was our little beast who broke it open.

Scroungin' for candy. I think this is their favorite part.

These are our fun and generous friends who where there for us at the last minute. Thanks guys for helping create such a fun time for Luca. (Families: Walters, Coons, Moores & Hallen's, including Andrew)

Luca asked for chocolate cake, so I made my favorite German Chocolate. I made it for him last year and he absolutely loved it. However, this year he wasn't such a fan. I felt bad that he didn't care for his cake, but I sure enjoyed eating it.

Luca and Kyla have been buddies since he was about 6 months old. Aren't they cute?

We thought this was hilarious. After the pinata, cake, ice cream and presents we found all the children, minus one, huddled up in Acacia's room playing sequence. I don't think you could fit too many more people in that teeny tiny bedroom. They had fun too. Even though there were 13 children in our home that night, they were all really good. They were wired, excited and having a blast, but all in all it was pretty fun. However, it does make me realize more and more how much it would be nice to have a bigger home. Maybe SOMEDAY!

THE BIG 5

Luca's 5th birthday was February 4th. We made the day special by going to Disneyland to celebrate. It was the last day of our Season Passes, so it worked out really well. When Luca woke up on his big day, I asked him what he wanted me to make for his big birthday breakfast. His answer, "honey nut cheerios". What??? Who wants cheerios for their birthday? I convinced him to pick something a bit more fun and he decided on homemade waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Yummy!! That's my favorite too. That was what my mom always made for me for my birthday breakfast. He pigged out--so did I!

Yup, he ate all that!

We were just about

to get swallowed up

in the story book

adventure ride by

the whale that

swallowed Pinocchio.

The big wet sliding

ball. Acacia didn't

really care to touch

it, but she had

fun watching the

other kids get

it going.

The merry-go-round

is one of Acacia's

favorite rides. She

grins from ear to ear

every time she takes

a spin.

He thought if he

pulled hard enough

the sword would

come out. I guess

Luca is absent

of any magical powers

Oh what to say

about Aunt Laura.

Luca is totally in

love with his Aunt.

He thinks that Kirk

and Laura should visit

every day. He has so

much fun when they

are around. We were

really glad they could

join us at Disneyland

to celebrate Luca's Day.

ARGHHHH!!

We took Luca and some of his friends to the Pirate Dinner Adventure in Buena Park for his birthday. We didn't really want to spend money on toys, so we figured he would enjoy getting together with some of his buddies for a night of fun pirate style. What an incredible joy it was to watch these little tykes get so excited and have so much fun cheering on their pirate. Luca and Jayden actually got to participate in the show. They were junior pirates who fired muskets at the bad pirates at the end of the show. They were all dressed up in pirate garb and were the handsomest little devils!Rikki, Luca, Hayden, Andrew and Jayden before the dinner show. They were all really anxious to get inside and see what this thing was all about.

We were all just minding our own business, enjoying our h'orderves when this wacky pirate came to visit and give us a hard time. The boys really had fun hanging out with him.

This was the captain pirate and he really got the boys quite stirred up. He is a really good actor and made us all laugh a lot.

We were rooting for the purple pirate--who actually ended up being quite the entertainer. He was definitely an acrobat; a very talented one at that. He was the "ridiculous" pirate, but it was fun cheering him on throughout the show.

AHHHHH. . . . .Wipe-Out!!

I guess they just couldn't hang any longer. It only took about 10 minutes in the truck before they all checked out. Thank goodness for the flexibility of little children. Could you imagine falling asleep like this?? Yikes.

Scandia Madness

Thank heaven for good friends because good friends = good time!

We went to Scandia (an amusement park) with some friends of ours (Marc & Rachelle Larson) who treated us to an awesome afternoon of games, rides, food and a lot of fun. Luca had a blast running around with his friend Ellie. They ran and ran and ran and went on ride after ride after ride. We half expected Luca to get sick from all the spinning rides he went on, but instead he loved it and thoroughly enjoyed his adventure.

Luca and Ellie on the Big Truck ride. Can you see the excitement on their faces?

YIPPEE!! Although it may be a small merry-go-round it doesn't matter Acacia loves it!

Little girls with big guns??? I don't think so, but she seems to love this arcade game.


Okay, Seriously? These two grown men actually outdid the girls on the dance revolution game. How hilarious is that?

This was the first time I have ever attempted this. How did I do? Not so great until I learned how the game worked. We weren't nearly as good as the pro men, but we sure had a lot of laughs.

Can I play too?

THANK
YOU LARSON FAMILY!!