Los Aldama

One of my frequent blog stops is my Aunt's painting blog. She did a beautiful one of my cousin Amanda and me when I was 9 months pregnant. We had spent the evening over at their house for dinner and were just talking in the kitchen. I had commented just recently that this was the only picture that I have of myself towards the end of my pregnancy. She did a fantastic job. Check it out at serenasdailypainting.blogspot.com

PICTURES to come tomorrow- too late to do it tonight!

As previously posted, we spent the holidays in Sacramento visiting with family. Dan's mom Debbie came out to help me fly the kids back a week before Christmas. Dan stayed behind to work. We spent the beginning of our trip at my mom and dad's house. We spent the weekend tending my nieces and nephew as Nikki and Julio worked hard to get all moved in to their new house. It's beautiful!!! A house definitely worth the long wait. Though a bit crazy with 6 kids running around, Noelle and Corom enjoyed every minute of cousin time. Noelle simply idolizes her older cousin, wanting to do whatever Lucia tells her to do, wanting to sit beside her and playing endlessly. Our slumber party night was a dream come true for her. We had Lucia, Marco and Noelle all in the guest room and they giggled and played into the late hours of the night. On Saturday, Callie and Eden flew in and Brian drove. What a treat it was to spend time with them as our visits are so few and far between now that they are in Arizona. That little Eden (just 4 weeks younger than Elijah) is such a sweet baby. We had a nice visit filled with lots of catching up, goodies and laughing. So fun to fill up my parent's house again. Brandon was gracious enough to lend out his bedroom to make room for all of us. It was crazy, but I kept telling my mom that crazy times are just memory-makers! Thank you to Mom, Dad and B for all of the help with my children. As said before, I think it was eye-opening to see what it is like to parent 3 children so close in age! They were so helpful!

On Monday night we packed all of our bags and headed over to the Aldama's for the remainder of the trip. We arrived a little early to spend some time with Nana and Papa before Dan's arrival. We spent our week relaxing and playing with the kids. We hadn't put up a tree back in Utah, so Corom and Noelle were both intrigued by the tree and train set and festive decor of the house. Corom developed a fascination for Papa's truck and all of the cars and race track. How nice it is to spend times like this just letting the kids get to know their grandparents. Dan arrived on Wednesday and the festivities began. We did a big birthday/Christmas party that night with grandparents, great-grandparents, Gina, Josh, Nancy and our little gang. It was a night of tamales and birthday cake. YUM! Nana did a great job hosting us all and making Noelle feel special. On Thursday, Noelle officially turned 4! We took all of the kids and some of the adults to see the new Disney movie "The Princess and the Frog," which was a hit! Noelle couldn't have been more excited about the popcorn and was a little wiggly for the movie. (Maybe she will grow into movies this year) That night we celebrated Christmas Eve and Noelle's birthday at my parent's house. Again, we had a fantastic dinner and dessert. Noelle opened presents, we White Elephanted and searched for Santa. The kids were eager to go home and fall asleep in anticipation of Santa.

On Christmas Day, Santa came to Nana and Papa's house. Noelle received from Santa a BARBIE GUITAR and a pink Barbie laptop. Corom got a Matchbox car garage and a leapfrog tag set. We were so overwhelmed and grateful for all of the gifts that proceeded. Everyone truly pitched in to give us a wonderful Christmas and many, many presents. Being in a student situation this year, we couldn't be more grateful to have been given so many nice things. Our children received toys and clothes, blankets and more. All of the gifts were thoughtful. After opening gifts at Nana and Papa's, we had another session of gifts over at my parent's. This is the part of my Christmas where I felt nostalgic. I get so homesick for my family and we were all together this year- many gifts were exchanged and the kids played. We felt so spoiled. That night we concluded our day with dessert at Grammy's house. I always feel so at home there and appreciative of all that she and Nancy do for us.

We did family Shirley pictures and went out to eat with the Aldama clan on Saturday and flew home Sunday. Our total luggage count on the way home was 3-50 pound suitcases, 5 small carry-ons, 3 babies and 2 tired adults. We did make it home and have spent the last 2 days trying to get settled here at home and finding places for all of our new toys. Another thank-you to everyone who helped us make this trip possible and to all who helped us make this Christmas such a special one! I had a good cry when I got home last night. I am such a family girl and have such a difficult time being away from everyone. It was a wonderful Christmas season!

It's now Tuesday, the week of Christmas and the kids and I are in Sacramento visiting with family. It has been an adventure as the family out here is finding out what it like to spend time with a lone mother and 3 children. We have had grandparents (and Uncle Brandon) changing diapers, helping put babies to sleep, feeding kids, etc. I think all have had their eyes opened to how crazy life can be!!! I can't thank my family enough for helping me and filling in where Dan normally is. I think we really wore my parents out and are now at the Aldamas with Nana and Papa. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Dan tomorrow and have really, really missed him this week. Among the highlights of our trip so far have been moving my sister Nikki and her family into their house, eating a whole pan of english toffee at my mom's (All of us contributed), eating goodies galore, hanging out and spending late nights with my parents and B, spending time with Callie and Brian and their sweet baby Eden and dining at the Aldamas with Nana, Papa, Gina and Josh. I love being here! There is no place like home. I hope you are all enjoying the holidays and have a Merry Christmas! I will update more with pictures when I have a chance. I am trying to figure out where all of the traffic on our blog is coming from- the map just shows general locations. I am also trying to decide if I should go private to have more control over our readers. There are some crazy locations and countries coming up on our map. Please leave a comment to let me know if you are reading this to give me an idea!!! Thanks!

What a week this has been. It has been snowing and we just have been avoiding outings at all costs. We went 4 days with out leaving the house. (Go Me!) It is much more fun watching the snow from the window than actually being in it. (I think, though Dan would disagree with me- he loves the snow!) I still am scared to drive in it and try not to when possible. Today I was driving to church and turning right out of our complex when my brakes locked up and I started sliding. I saw a snow plow coming my way and I just couldn't stop! I thought that it was going to crash right into me. Luckily my car stopped just a few feet before the plow crossed in front of me. It was so scary. I wasn't even going fast! I keep wondering if I will ever get used to living in it. Everyone acts like it is no big deal.

On Saturday we had a double birthday party with Noelle and another little boy in our ward, Cameron. (Both Christmas Eve babies) We hosted pizza and cake at the church for all of the ward kids and had a pretty good turn out! I wish I had pictures to post! We actually forgot camera batteries.It was so much fun! We decorated cookies and played music games. This is only the start of the birthday festivities as we are looking forward to celebrating in Sacramento too!

We have company this weekend as Debi (Nana to my kids!) came to stay with us. She flew out to help me fly back with the kids to California for Christmas. She is the best! I would never be able to fly 3 babies by myself. Dan is out of school for the semester but will be working and will meet up with us a few days before Christmas. My younger sister Callie and her sweet baby Eden are also here from Phoenix for a wedding. Callie's baby is just 1 month younger than Elijah. Nothing like having a cousin your age. We have all been visiting, playing with babies, and had dinner tonight with the Utah Shirleys. April hosted us all to a yummy turkey dinner. I wish I had pictures to post. I haven't taken any this weekend- I will try harder this week to take pictures. Happy Holiday Season to you all! I hope you are all loving the lights, music and spirit of the season!

Sorry it has been awhile. Life has gotten really, really busy lately. We have a baby who has started sleeping more at night and less during the day. This is wonderful for I feel so much better now that I am sleeping longer stretches. It just means that my hands are more full during the day. Add to that the fact that Corom is starting to act more like a 2 year old than a 1 year old. He is super busy. We are on high speed all day, only slowing down when the boys nap. Well, since the last post we decided to take a trip home to Thanksgiving. It was a really last minute decision and a quick trip. We had purchased a little volkswagon about a month ago. We all fit snuggly in it and decided that we could afford to drive our zippy new car home. (So much cheaper in gas than the Land Rover) The travels went well with minimal stops, one being a lunch stop at the McDonald's play place. The trip was worth the long drive. We enjoyed time with all of the family and 2 turkey dinners. Noelle was thrilled to pieces to spend time with her cousins. They always seem to pick up right where they left off. This time they had Corom and Sylvia tagging along. We enjoyed our time visiting with all the family on a quieter weekend than Christmas. It was a great trip and we look forward to coming home in a few weeks and being able to fly this time.

Since we've been home winter has really begun. It is super cold and snowy. We try to stay home as much as possible. We are trying to bring the festivities of the holidays into our home and to teach Noelle and Corom about our family traditions. We decorated our house, have been playing Christmas music, made sugar cookies and have been reading "The Night Before Christmas." I'll post more as the month progresses. Hope you are all doing well.
Noelle asks to hold Elijah every morning

Our sweet little Sylvia Rose (my niece)

Noelle and Lucia playing dressups

Happy Thanksgiving!

Warning- my grammar is terrible at 11:00 at night, but I feel my day is worth documenting! It's now 10:45 and I am sitting down literally for the first time today other than the time I have taken to feed a baby. I cannot believe how often I think to myself, "Is this how superman feels?" It has been cold and we spent the whole day inside the house. I was pretty proud of myself for how busy I was keeping the kids. We really did have a fun day, for an inside day. We painted, danced, did music and rhythm sticks time, read, etc. I had decided that the only thing that I really needed to accomplish was to go grocery shopping. We had an appointment this morning, ate lunch and then Corom took a good nap. By the time he woke up it was about 3:30. Off to the grocery store we go... It took about 15 minutes to bundle all of the kids up. This winter thing is so much harder than the kids being able to just go outside in a pair of flip flops. I got one child dressed. "GO stand by the door," I say. I get the other child's shoes on. "GO stand by the door... I just have to buckle the baby in the carrier. Then, Elijah decided he was hungry. So, I unbundled him and fed him. In the mean time the jackets come off and the kids are off and playing again. Going to the grocery store- Take 2. (20 minutes later) I then re-shoed the kids and put jackets back on. Being on the 3rd floor, it takes a lot of patience and time to make it to ground level. I either carry both babies down or take the long road of holding Corom's hand while he climbs down himself. (The latter is much better for development, but at times really inconvenient) I decided that because the kids were already with me and we had made it this far that we would do a quick laundry room trip to change the loads. Fast forward a few minutes, Noelle and Corom decided to play tug-of-war with a tricycle in the laundry room. Corom fell head first and the tooth went through the lip. Ouch! Good bye grocery trip. So, we go upstairs and unbundle, ice the lip and by then it was time to make dinner. The kids were so wound up by this point that Noelle put a toy in the middle of the living room and they ran around in a circle about a hundred times to preschool music. A few hours later dinner had been served and dishes were done. Sleeping Elijah and I snuck away after Dan and the kids fell asleep and I just finished putting the groceries away. So, you are probably asking yourselves "Why are you telling this story?" It is really just to answer the questions that I hear so often, "I try to call you during the day...Why didn't you pick of the phone?" or "How is it being a mother of 3 kids?" At the end of most days, I think to myself, "Wow! what a day!"

I did a triple appointment with the kids yesterday at the doctor's office. We did end up doing the H1N1 vaccination for the older kids at our doctor's suggestion. Elijah also got his 2 month vaccinations. As of yesterday our little Elijah who was 6 pounds 10 ounces at birth, weighed in at...

12 pounds 12 ounces!!!!!

We were floored. He is in the 75% for weight and the 50% for height. I wouldn't have been so surprised but Corom always lingered (and still does) around the 3-5%. He is tiny and apparently Elijah is going to be BIG! I thought this would give you all a laugh. I can't wait to take him home at Christmas for everyone to see!

Happy November! I always want to fast forward through this time in the year to get to the holidays quicker. Today we were able to slip in a little of play time outside, but boy is it getting cold! I just wanted to take a moment to give an updating post. Life is so full these days, full of moments that I want to write down, moments that I wish I could photograph. My kids are growing so fast. These pictures of Corom below are ones that I took today. We have a family photo from last fall that hangs above our couch. This time last year he was a squishy little baby, just learning to eat baby food and not yet crawling. Now, one year later, I can't believe the little boy that he has become. He is right in the mix with all the neighborhood kids. He is playing, talking, climbing and exploring. He loves life and loves new accomplishments. This reflection comes as I just went out today to buy Elijah a new diaper size. He has outgrown his newborn diapers and outgrown his size 1. He is now a size 2! (What a sweet baby he is) As much as the boys are growing, Noelle is also. I was just telling my mom this morning about how her imagination has taken off. I have been praying for strength as a mother and am finding that the more I stop to think about my blessing and how lucky I am to be a mother, the more I take moments to reflect on how beautiful my children are. My favorite part of this week was watching Noelle take part in her first primary program. She has been learning songs all year long in primary and performed them in Sacrament meeting. The topic of the year is "My Eternal Family". All of the songs were about the importance of the family. Noelle got to write her own part. She wrote, "My mom gets me dressed. She makes me a snack at 7:00". Apparently this is what she is grateful that I do for her. (No, we don't typically eat snacks at 7:00, but my 3 year old thinks we do. She did stand at the pulpit, but froze. Her teacher read her part for her. The spirit was so strong in that meeting. I was so proud of Noelle for getting up in front of so many people and sharing her simple convictions in the way she understands- through beautiful music. I look forward to many more opportunities for Noelle to participate church programs and to build her own testimony of the family and our Savior. I hope you all have a great week. Enjoy the pictures!

Happy belated Halloween to all! It has been so fun looking at all of your blogs filled with cute costumes and funny stories of parties, candy and trick-or-treating. Such was our Halloween. When you have kids the holidays seem to spread out over the duration of the week and not just the day. We felt lucky to get a lot of use out of our costumes this year. It was a week of treats and friends!!!! Our big Saturday events consisted of our church party in the morning, a huge trick-or-treating event at a local shopping center in the afternoon and trick-or-treating in the evening around our complex. Noelle was Ariel from the Little Mermaid. (A really cute costume, but not very fitting for Utah weather) She won the costume contest award for "best princess costume" at the ward Halloween party. Her favorite festivities were the parties with her friends where they all pranced around in their costumes. Corom was a white tiger. I just wanted to eat him up. He was so squishy and lovable in that fury tiger costume. Add the "growl" to the mix and he was simply adorable. His chubby cheeks added the perfect finishing touch to the costume. We had practiced saying "Trick-or-Treat" all week and it was Corom who executed the words. As excited as Noelle was, she froze at the doors and let Corom do the talking. (Yes, Corom is talking up a storm these days) Elijah followed the tradition of the Aldama babies dressing up as pumpkins their first Halloween. I just love celebrating holidays with these kids! We have a huge bag of candy on our fridge and oddly enough, the kids aren't interested in it at all- they haven't even asked for any. (Mom and Dad are sure enjoying it!)

On Sunday we blessed Elijah at our ward building. Almost all of the Shirley family joined us for the occasion. Dan offered a beautiful blessing and we enjoyed having the family at our ward for our testimony meeting and Dan's Sunday school lesson. Elijah is a sweet little baby. We are so grateful that he is a part of our family. Aunt April hosted us to dinner that night. What a special day for our family. Thank you to all who came. As for this week, the weather has cleared once again, and we have been spending our days outside!!! I have spent the last 2 days at the zoo. (Loving our season pass) We take our time watching the animals and picnic lunch. It makes for the perfect day. The last 2 days Corom has fallen asleep on the way home and taken fantastic naps! These days are in such contrast to the ones spent inside on snowy days. We are all so much happier outside.I hope you all have a wonderful week!

We got hit pretty hard today with a winter-like storm. We sat beside our window for the better part of the day watching as large, gorgeous snowflakes fell to the ground, covering up our autumn leaves, sand box, play ground, toys, etc. We have had such a fun summer spending endless days playing outside with friends, BBQing and enjoying the sunshine. I thought there would be more of a transition. Goodbye short-lived autumn! While I was grocery shopping, Dan bundled up the kids and took them sledding. Its new to them again since they don't really remember last winter. I also wanted to post a few smiling shots of Elijah. He will look at you until you look back and then will flash a brilliant smile. He has the dark, intense eyes that his siblings have. Every day they seem to open up a little more and to sparkle a little more. He is such a good baby- we are enjoying him so much! Happy real Birthday Nik! (the 28th of October) Wish we were there to celebrate with you! If you haven't checked this in awhile scroll back a page. I just posted some fun pictures a few days ago. They were pushed back when I posted today.

Wow-how time is flying by. I can't believe how much my kids are growing. I don't seem to notice it until I look back on pictures! What a fun weekend we have had. Dan is doing an internship down in Utah County at a pediatric clinic- doing early intervention house calls and working with the school district. He is loving the opportunity of being able to shadow therapists. That is where the real learning happens.. being able to actually observe! This weekend we took a day trip down to a little town called Genola south of Provo to ride horses with friends from Dan's program. Both Noelle and Corom were thrilled to see such beautiful creatures up-close and both were brave enough to go for a ride. What a great time! After church today, we took some pictures in the leaves outside. Autumn is here- as is evident with the turning of the leaves, but for a California girl, it sure feels a lot more like winter to me. It is supposed to snow on Tuesday. How is that for Halloween weather? Yuck! Nonetheless, we are looking forward to lots of festivities, costumes and treat this week. I can't wait to post pictures of the kids in their costumes. Corom's is especially hilarious. Have a great week and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister Nikki!