Christmas

Evan with his new Wii games from Santa

Gracee with her LalaLoopsy doll from Santa

Carrots for the reindeer and cookies for Santa

Sleeping kids ready for Santa

My Dad and Mom with the kids Christmas Eve

Happy Birthday Jesus chocolate cream pie

Dody and David Christmas Eve

Dody, David, Gracee and Evan Christmas Eve

SeawWorld with my parents

Getting ready for the 4D Polar Express show

*Pictures are a bit out of order...sorry

What a wonderful Christmas week. It has been nice having the kids home and not having a routine every day. Today, I actually put my house back together. I am one of those types of people that like everything put away when Christmas is over, to ring in the New Year with a clean house and all the new stuff in its place.

My Parents made it to our house On Wednesday the 22nd. They were supposed to come in on the 21st, but were grounded in Tri-cities due to fog. They drove to Seattle that night and flew to Orange County the next day. We hung out and relaxed that day. On the 23rd we went to SeaWorld. It was not too crowded and the weather was significantly better....No rain. (we had about 14 inches of rain in 5 days the week before) On Christmas Eve we went to Toms farms and then we went to church. When we came home we had an appetizer dinner and opened up gifts with the kids. Before bedtime the kids got cookies and carrots ready for Santa and the reindeer and wrote letters to Santa. Christmas day was a nice day of eating and relaxing. The kids were happy to spend time with their grandparents...the first family members that have visited us since we moved here in March.

I am not sure if I will write again before the New Year, so if I don't, we wish you a happy, healthy and safe new year. ~Dody

1st Lost Tooth/Amazing Light Show

After a great church service last night, we went to Five Guys for dinner, followed by an amazing Christmas Light show that 12 families put to music in their neighborhood. At dinner, Gracee was eating some peanuts and she thought she had a peanut stuck in her teeth. It was not a peanut, but a tooth hanging on for dear life. I gave it a few little twists and out it came. How ironic that our little "Peanut" lost her first tooth on a peanut. Bittersweet moments :-)

Christmas Time

Gracee's Choir program

Gracee as pretty as can be

Our tree

The kids with Santa

Grace and Evan at his Preschool program

Christmas is in full swing at the Garcias. We have our tree up, decorations up, reading our advent passages each night, Christmas cards out, gingerbread house made, visited Santa last night, Evan's preschool program yesterday, Gracee's Christmas program tomorrow....now all we have left is a few last minute gifts to buy, baking and waiting for Grandpa and Grandma from Washington to come visit. We are enjoying a balmy 70+ degree week here in Lake Elsinore. Hopefully the weather will be lovely during Christmas week. We are taking the kids and the grandparents to SeaWorld.

The kids are doing well. Grace has become quite a reader and will be moving into advanced reading after Christmas. She is also enjoying ballet each week. Evan is doing well in preschool. I see maturity in him every day, although he is one of the most stubborn children I know. Part of his discipline now is writing sentences. Writing is hard for him, therefore he does not try. Now when he doesn't obey the first time, we make him write: I will listen the first time. This hopefully will do two things. (1) Get him to work on his writing more and (2) help him to obey the first time. I know writing missed spelling words helped me learn how to spell growing up, so hopefully this will work in all areas. Oh parenting....the trials and tribulations. Anyway, his speech is continuing to improve. I am hoping it will no longer be needed for kindergarten next year. I signed him up over the weekend for spring Little League, so that should be a lot of fun for him.

This Christmas season, I know how blessed I am. I am thankful for the health of my family. I am thankful that I have children who know and love God and I am thankful for my hard-working hubby. But most of all I am thankful for Jesus.

Halloween and November Events

Dinner with my dear friend Erin

Evan's Thanksgiving feast at Preschool

My buddy and me

A day at Knott's Berry Farm with the kids

Mario and Dorothy for Halloween.

Grace was also October student of the month.

Fall

Fall is here in Southern California. We have finally gotten a lot of rain for the week, but warm weather will be back by this time next week. The rain did some damage in some areas. The ground is so dry here that when we got hard rain, the soil and everything around it does not handle it well. Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch and got some pumpkins. Gracee will go on a field trip to a ranch next week and get a pumpkin there. Evan started T-ball a few weeks ago and is enjoying it. He is on the Yankee team.

Pumpkin patch

Tractor ride

Tractor ride

Evan's t-ball game

October

Kristen and Me celebrating our Birthdays

David and me celebrating my Birthday

This is our first fall here in Lake Elsinore. Today is the 1st cool day in a long time, with a little bit of rain. I had the windows open last night since the house was 78 degrees. It stays at that temperature most of the time and you do get used to it. The house was at 71 degrees this morning and the kids were complaining that they were cold. Have we gotten acclimated or what?

Gracee is enjoying 1st grade and is really doing well, especially with her spelling. She is also enjoying ballet. Evan likes preschool and we are seeing so much growth in his speech. There is a great possibility he may not have to have speech services after this school year. His hard work and determination has paid off, but with that strong will sometimes comes hard parenting times for Mommy and Daddy. Evan also started playing T-ball last weekend. Recently they have learned to ride their bikes with no training wheels. They need more practice, but are starting to get the hang of it.

Last Friday, I celebrated my 34th Birthday. David spoiled me rotten and let me tell you, it was awesome! Friday, I had the day to myself. I shopped for a few hours, got some coffee and had some me time. That evening I went on a date with David to the Yard House. We enjoyed way too many calories and time alone. On Saturday I went to the spa with a friend for the day. It was her Birthday on the 2nd. I had an amazing massage and a pedicure. My hubby even got up before I did on Sunday and made me breakfast and brought me coffee in bed. There are some wonderful things about getting older. (not the laugh lines and the age) I love the confidence that you feel with age. Less "stuff" bothers you and brings you down. I also realize what a wonderful life that I have and feel so blessed to have amazing children and a husband that I adore. God is good and I am thankful!

Family pictures/Evan's 1st day of preschool

Evan's 1st day of preschool

Evan's 1st day of preschool

McKenzie

Evan and Gracee

David and Dorothy

Evan age 5

Gracee age 6

Our family

Update

We have been getting used to our new school routine at the Garcia house. Gracee has now started ballet and is really enjoying it. David Moore and his family came to visit last week on their way to Arizona. David had surgery on his deviated septum last tuesday and is still recovering. Today is the 1st day without pain meds, and he is very tired today.

Legoland Day 2 and our new puppy

Today we brought home our new puppy McKenzie. She is a rescue lab mix and is about 3 months old. The kids are in love! We have to potty train her, but she is doing a good job so far. We also went to Legoland yesterday to finish the 2nd day of our tickets for Evan's Birthday.

Beach days/First Grade

Last week the kids and I had a fun day at the beach with my friend April. We also played at the park with our new neighbors Dylan who is Grace's age and Kevin who is a year older. Today Gracee started 1st grade. She had a great day!