Whittaker Woman

Who needs toys?

I found these pictures on Carlos' computer. They were from
our trip to Franklin. We stayed with George and Kathy and
our kids demolished there house. But who needs toys when you
have a newspaper?

Do you think wants one?

    

   

What did you eat?

This is what we ate..
Homemade pizza, every kind you could think of. So good.
   
It was during this process that my family managed to do this. All before 7pm
mind you the party started around 6 .

Then we had homemade Tamales and champurrado.
   
      

Then this was for breakfast. I have gained some LB's being here.

There is nothing like grandma

I love my grandma's grilled cheese.

What is your favorite thing of your grandma's?

Only one more to go...

10 down and tomorrow we will finish our Christmas rounds!

Number 2: My step dads side in West Covina,
thats my 85 year old grandma and her twin
drinking shots. with my dads help of coarse. Ha

Number 3: Carlos' mom's side in Whittier.
There is nothing better than  Tamales and Champurrado!
 
Number 4: my moms side in Pasadena.

Number 5: Brunch at the Mc Faddens in Altadena.

Number 6:  My Uncle Rick and Uncle Davids house
in Pasadena round one with just our immediate fam.

Number 7: Carlos' dads side, in Highlands.

Number 8: Back at my Uncle Ricks for the big party.

Number 9: Nannans in Oxnard, thats my dads side.

Number 10: My step mom's side in Camarillo.

Ahh so much family time. I love it!

Kids

How do they do it.

Sohaila got her head stuck in between these bars on a lazy boy.
It was a challenge to get her out.  But we finally did.

One Christmas down 10 more to go

And I am not joking, but I love every moment of it.
(Can you tell I'm a quality timer)

We picked Carlos up and headed straight to my sister's in
West Hollywood,  where we had our first  Christmas.

Our first holiday melt down.

It would have been helpful to know that it was a silly face picture.

On the road again

   

The girls trimmed my grandma's tree, then I re-trimmed
and took the one blob of ornaments and tried to disperse them
a little more evenly.

I can't belive Ruth's a mom!

One of my best friends who I went to High School with
just had a baby. I can't believe it. She has always been
my career friend who was not ever that interested in
having babies, butit finally happened and Ava is so cute!

Sohaila looks like such a big girl! Kinda looks like we
should have another one. Yeah right!

Audrey swears by this yoga ball. She said that when the
baby is crying all she does is bounce on it while holding
her and she stops. I tried with my babies but it only
seemed to make the chaos worse!

Our makeup artists

There are just somethings that are truly to cute to correct.

Nana and Papa have a Farm

The lights when out in Georgia

And they were not joking...
Hardly any houses in Atlanta had lights on or decorations up.  For some reason in California almost EVERY house has lights and decorations up. We had fun going in a neighborhood that was all decked out. I think there were two houses in about 100 that were not decorated.

Where are you from. Do you do lights?

The Boganwrights stay up late!

I am at the Hales tonight, and the Boganwrights came over to say "hi"  and boy they are late nighters. I am still on East Coast time and it's 3:24. I am tired. But I love friends! H

That's what a hamburger's all about!

Animal style cheeseburger with a whole grill, protein style!

C is for Cookie

My mom is a great cook as well as a baker. Some how I
missed the baking gene so I asked her to give me a little help.
We baked my favorite cookies today.

And it was great because she burnt them! Ha it happens
to the best of them!

My dad wanted in on the action so he began his
traditional Christmas candy that he makes each year.

It was a family affair. I am full! My tummy and heart!

It's about time to have a little Papa time!

They started the day with a walk down to feed the horses.

And had story time on the porch. Plus each night he has
told them stories until they were fast asleep. Its been great!

Once in a blue moon

We all sat down for dinner and then realized that this rarely happens, my parents and all their kiddos at one table!

We had Sohaila take the picture and it looked like she
was taking a picture of our toes so, we had her take another one.

We also got to see our best friends the Hales. 
Could I really have a better day?

Nani time

The girls asked if Nani if she had any dress up things and her response was " I have been waiting 20 years to hear those words!"

Losiah walked out holding a extra skirt and so Nani
made him a outfit. He is just growing up with sisters.

Our flight home!

It was a fairly easy flight... only one break down, one
great movie, lots of treats and toys!

Happy girls to be back in LA!

Saying Good-bye to Grandma Sherry

Finally a quiet baby!

Grandma time

They were making a wish in the fountain. It took Seanna
a few times to actually get her quarter in the water.

I'm going back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali!

I know I wont sleep much tonight! I am so excited!

I did however want to let all my peeps in Riverside know that we are going to have a open house over at a friends house on the night of the 27th. If you would like to come over and visit we would love to see you. I can give you the info if you call or email me. H

Christmas is here!

We had Christmas with the Phenix clan!

Well the gift of a place for our family and the love they
have given us is more than enough, but then again we
aren't going to pass up some more presents. Especially the kids,
they loved it.

I actually like Christmas like this. They get a toy and actually
get to play with it. It's not crazy race to unwrap them all
and then overload.
They magic hit toy of the night was a remote control car for Losiah.
The girls keep fighting over it!

Date Night

We had a great night out last night, well besides the two hours of traffic we sat in. But once that was over we had a great IE time in the ATL!

I really would love to have the Cullin's here in Atlanta!

Just the 10 of us

All we wanted to do was take a night off in the kitchen and go out to eat. Just our household. NO more. But then  it became a party. A party of 10. That's a shin-dig and yet it's just those of us who reside in the Phenix home.
 

      

    

Cookies with Grandma Sherry

I don't bake so the grandma's have to come to do it with the kids.

 

Korean people bring me Korean food!

James and Alyssa are here from Riverside!
And even better they found a Korean market and brought Tteokbokki!

It was such a great day of catching up and spending time with them. I miss them a ton. Can you say Visitors! Wow its been great!

Growing up with a mom and a camera

We were walking out of Target and Sohaila asks
" Mom will you take a picture of me inside the circle"
What does she think, I have a camera attached to my hip? H

One grandma out one grandma in

I really do not have any idea what I am going to do in January when there is no more family around. Carlos' parents left today and my step mom came in (she was married to my dad when he died 14 years ago). She and her husband are wonderful grandparents to our kids and I am so glad she is in our life.  We went on a hike this afternoon down at the creek. I am so excited about this month!

My first attempt

So here is my first attempt of making an imovie. I did it all by myself, thank you very much. I hope you enjoy! It needs a little help but with my man not here I think it is good enough.

So which do you know?

Sa-hay-la

" Mommy why does every one at school call me SA-hay-la? "  That was the question Sohaila asked. All I could do was laugh.

Nothing like Lita and Starbucks before school!

Portable me

For the past six months my MacBook (my computer) has been broken. Well not the computer just the battery. It had to be plugged in for it to work which was fine, but not the purpose for a laptop. We finally got it fixed this weekend and now I am mobile my friends. I checked my email in bed this morning. I am upstairs typing now, this whole laptop idea is fabulous!

What's going on in the inside?

I feel fine for a little while and then it hits, my stomach gurgles and cramps and then its gone. No vomit, no poop, only a stomach that hurts. So here I am on the couch wondering whats going on inside?

Lita and Papa are here

Which means, free dinners out, a free babysitter and lots of fun family time!

We are not alone anymore!

Today starts our visiting time for the month. Carlos' parents come today and leave next Tuesday which is the day my step mom comes to visit until we all fly home together on the 17th. Which of coarse will start the chaos of trying to see everyone. I am excited to have a piece of Cali with me these next few days. No more lonely days for me! H

Oh NO!

So Carlos informed me that I need to have Sohaila at his office today because she was singing on a CD. So here my little girl is. Carlos kept saying "I don't want to be the stage dad" You can tell in the pictures Right? Ha