The Dulles girls...and me!

My friend Melissa is a die-hard University of Alabama football fan. She went to college there and loved the south so much that she now lives in Georgia! She was fortunate enough to get tickets to the BCS Championship game, so she came out for her second visit in eleven months. This prompted a get-together with some high school friends. Actually, all of the girls went to Dulles Elementary except for me. :)

Me, Jenny, Karen, Melissa, and Paige (and baby Parker under the blanket)


Sara, Milo, and Drew were all born within about six weeks of each other


Here we all are in February 2009. What a difference a year makes!


Trying to capture eight kids in one frame can best be described as CHALLENGING!

Knott's Berry Farm

Tanja and I made a relatively last-minute decision to get annual passes to Knott's when we found out they were only $60. Tuesday was our first trip there with the kids, and they both had a ball!

Ryan laughed hysterically on this!


Sara LOVED the planes. She wanted to ride them over and over and over!


I took the kids on the balloon ride. I think they look like they could be siblings.


Thankfully the kids were big enough to ride this unattended. I'm pretty sure Tanja and I would have gotten sick on it!


One fun thing about Camp Snoopy at Knott's is that the kids can ride so many of the attractions by themselves! Sara is about an inch too short for many of them, but I'm sure she'll grow into those soon enough!

Sara loves Barney

This video is from Christmas night. Sara was watching her beloved Barney and dancing along, all the while pausing to give Daddy occasional cuddles.

G8 road trip (October 2009)

This fall it started to become very clear that Larry was going to need a new (or newer) car. He was driving our two-door Accord, and the transmission was failing. Plus, it had only two doors! It was not exactly a family-friendly car. For a variety of reasons (price, appearance, roominess, sportiness, etc.), Larry got his heart set on a black Pontiac G8. Since Pontiac is a discontinued brand, inventory was limited to existing vehicles. Larry found a new one and negotiated a price--but the car was in Denver.

So, with a lot of babysitting help from my parents, off to Denver Larry and I went. We flew in and over the course of a few days drove home: Denver to Moab, UT; Moab to Las Vegas; Las Vegas to home. It was a wonderful trip and, especially from Denver to Moab, incredibly beautiful. We had a great time.

Pumpkin patch (Irvine Park railroad)

Going back to October... Sara and I were signed up for MOPS this fall but, through a series of scheduling issues, never made it to a single session. The only event we attended was a visit to the pumpkin patch at Irvine Park. It was impressive! The weather was very gloomy that day, but the rain stayed away long enough for us to enjoy our morning there. I definitely hope to go again next fall.

Sara and Fernando


Pumpkins galore!


Posing in front of the backdrop


The cutest sherriff in town

Christmas with the Rosas

The Rosas came over on the 27th for our annual Christmas get-together. We enjoyed a free lunch from Corner Bakery (thanks to their order screwup), and the girls had a blast tearing the house apart.

Zoey and Sara on Sara's new trampoline



Melissa and baby Leo


More playtime!

Christmas Day 2009

On Christmas morning Larry and I enjoyed helping Sara open gifts and opening a few of our own. But that was just the beginning of the fun!

For the second time in as many weeks Larry's side of the family all came together, this time for a Christmas Day brunch at our place. It was a nice time with family and was very mellow. As far as I was concerned, it could not have been much more pleasant.



As far as presents go, my favorites are my Blendtec blender (which I bought for myself a few weeks before Christmas, and with which I have been making smoothies like crazy), my new slippers, and a couple of cookbooks I received. Larry's favorite is probably his new compressor for the garage, plus he got some nice clothes. Sara's seems to like everything and has been flitting about between her indoor and outdoor tables, trampoline, books, puzzles, and Fisher-Price piggy bank. The house is quickly coming to resemble a Toys R Us!