i've been tagged.....

i've been tagged by my friend dai, i'm supposed to tell you 7 random things about myself. here it goes...

1. i LOVE reading. i can usually finish off a book in a day or two. with three kids people always ask me how i have time to read. well, usually at night when the kids are in bed. in a hot bath is the best.

2. i love the show "Diner's, Drive-in's, and Dive's " on the food network. it makes me hungry every time i watch it, cause it shows good old comfort food which i love. and i love seeing people succeed that are great cooks but don't have a fancy restaurant or an expensive menu.

3. i am living my dream job. this may sound cliche but it is honestly the truth. when i was little all i ever wanted to be was a wife and a mom. i went to college and studied liberal studies to become a teacher cause I couldn't have 'home-maker' as a major. i know some mom's feel like they had to put their passions on the back burner during this time in their life but i can honestly say that THIS (being a mom and being a wife) is my passion. i love it and am thankful that i am living my dream job.

4. i love sleep. i am not really a night owl or a morning person. i just love to sleep. at night i am super tired and in the morning i hate waking up. it was super rough for me when i had babies up through the night. very hard times!!!

5. when i was little i used to tell my mom that i was NEVER going to have boys. "all boys do is play with cars and mud all day!" i would tell her....she would always say "jenni you are going to have three boys!" .. ha! how did she know??? well, now that i am the mom of three boys i could NEVER imagine it any different. and i feel like i am such a boy mom.

6. i am kind of embarassed of this one since i feel like i am letting out a deep dark secret that nobody else knows except my immediate family but here it goes....i am NOT as patient and mellow as most people think i am. i have a breaking point and it is sad to say that my immediate family are the only one's who have seen it. i can be patient to a point and then i can just blow. i have always been this way and it is something that i wish i could change about myself. it's hard now that i have a family cause when mom blows it usually causes much chaos in the house. why do us moms have so much control of the mood of the house? if mom is happy the house is happy. if mom is mad...the house is not so good.

7. i can burp REALLY loud. when i was little i won a contest at school for this amazing talent. in our house we all have super powers. mine is burping :)


now i am supposed to tag 7 more people........shannon. vern. jenny. katie. dawnielle. juliana. and erin.

gno...

last night i had a gno with my highschool girls. i love these girls so much. we all share a special bond that i don't think i could even explain in words. even if we haven't seen eachother for a long time we are always able to pick up right where we left off. we can laugh for hours and talk about everything. i cherish these women and all of their friendships. thanks girls for being a part of my life :)

star of the week AND student of the month...

that's right! not only is my son STAR OF THE WEEK he is also STUDENT OF THE MONTH! TJ we are so proud of you :)

this is tan with Bernie Bear. as part of 'star of the week' you get to bring home Bernie Bear. he spends the week with our family and tan will write in the class journal about their week together. so cute :)
another special part is the 'all about me poster'. we spent the weekend making this and it was put up in the class on monday and is up all week.
my favorite part of the poster is the I Wish.. tan wrote "I wish i had a giant monster in my backyard" umm okay??? when i asked him why he would want a giant monster in our back yard he said "it would be a nice one." okay, atleast he didn't wish for a mean one. of all the things he could have wished for. ha ha ha!

then to top off his great week ....today he came home with the "student of the month" award. his principal came in his class and presented it to him. he will have his picture taken and he will be on a bulletin board in the front of the school for the whole month. he was the first in his class to get this award. he was SUPER excited! and i got a sticker that says " my child is student of the month at vpe"....tan REALLY wants me to put it on my car. maybe i will put in on the fridge instead. :)

love you tan and we are so proud of you!!

happy 9th birthday isaiah!....

happy birthday isaiah. i can't believe you are 9 years old. i remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. you have grown up into such an amazing boy. you have one of the most amazing hearts i have ever seen. you care about people deeply and you love purely. it's funny cause you are almost an exact mix of your mom and dad. you are outgoing, extroverted, funny, and witty just like your dad. and then you are cautious, rule following, considerate, and you don't like to have your buttons pushed like your mom. it has been such a joy watching you grow. you love your brother's so much and you are such a great big brother. they look up and admire you so much and you are a great leader for them. you still love art, dressing up, acting, and soccer. you are a great reader and a very good student in school. isaiah i love you so much. happy birthday!

birthday weekend....

this weekend we celebrated isaiah's 9th birthday. i can't believe my boy is going to be 9 next week. it seems like just yesterday he was born. when i asked him what he wanted to do for his bday this year he said he wanted his two best friends (ben and jacob) to spend the night, and to go to wild river's with his family.
so saturday night they spent the night and we all along with my parent's went to in-n-out for dinner. this is the cutest thing ever...isaiah likes to go to in-n-out every year for dinner cause that is the first meal i ate after he was born. i love my son!
this is seth making the isaiah smile. lately he has been making the funniest smiles when ever i snap a pic of him. last year he even did this smile for his school and soccer pics. this is a running family joke around here. this is a total side note: but this year isaiah was so worried about doing the weird smile again that he kept practicing his smile in front of the mirror the night before his school pics. on the day of he even asked his room mom how his smile looked. oh isaiah you are so funny:). we love you and think you are the best no matter what smile is on your face!
isaiah and nana at in-n-out. nana even ate a double double! can you believe it ?!!
isaiah and ben. they have been friends since they were born. isaiah and i were even at the hospital when ben was born. i love it that they are such close friends. isaiah is super into legos and that was all he wanted for his bday, besides a wii game (star wars force unleashed) which we got him. so here are he and ben with the legos ben got him.
isaiah with jacob and more legos :) isaiah was a happy boy! isaiah and jacob have been friends since they were four years old. they love being together and love to dress up. i love it that they are 8 and 9 and still love to play make believe. jacob was the first friend that isaiah ever had a sleep over with by himself(he was only 4 years old). his mom dai said she caught isaiah in the shower singing "shake it like a poloraid picture" at the top of his lungs. ha ha ha. i love telling isaiah that story.
and yes more legos from his bros. these boys are going to have so much fun building all these legos.
nana and papa got him some wii light sabers that go with his new game. very cool! the boys are in heaven.
on sunday we all went to wild rivers where we met grandma cindy, craig, aunt caitlin, the griggs family (aunt, uncle, cousins),and the oliva family.
we then came back to our house for some pizza and brownies.
happy birthday isaiah!

good friends.....

last saturday night seth planned a date night out with justin and alissa. he asked his sister to watch all 6 kids at our house, and even convinced her to spend the night so we could stay out late (thanks danielle!). we enjoyed a loooong dinner at maggiano's with some great conversation. we actually got kicked out cause they had to close the restaurant so we headed over to starbucks to continue our conversation. we love justin and alissa and have been through so many stages of life with them. seth met alissa through mutual friends at biola. she was dating justin at the time so we got to know him as well. seth and justin then became room mates. we dated at the same time, got engaged the same year, married the same year, and had three boys that are all months apart. it is so fun having a couple that you have so much in common with and that you share a past with. we love justin and alissa and their family. our boys LOVE each other so much and we are so thankful for them. thanks for your friendship :)

calvary church comedy show...

the church was so dark that i couldn't get a good pic of him on stage :(
the fam after the show

last saturday and sunday night isaiah was in the 'calvary comedy show' at church. the show consisted of 8 comedy skits, kind of like a 'saturday night live' feel but with no vulgarity. isaiah was in two of the skits,he had lines to memorize in both of them and he did amazing. he practiced all summer about twice a week and for the past three weeks has been practicing three times a week. this on top of starting school and soccer isaiah was a very busy guy. he did amazing in the play. he said all his lines perfectly and was so comfortable on the stage. it was such a thrill watching my little man on stage, he was so in his element.

happy birthday to my hubby!....

sorry seth this is a day late, but yesterday i was sick and couldn't get to the computer. i just want to tell you how much i love you and i am so thankful that you are my husband and the father of our children. you are incredible at both. happy 33rd
birthday ! i love you and i am glad you were born :)

soccer!!.........

i love soccer. and i love it that my boys play. i love the feeling of getting up on a saturday morning knowing i have a day filled with soccer ahead of me. call me crazy, but that is how i spent 20 years of my life and my saturday's so it just feels natural and brings back so many great memories.. the boys love it too (which ofcourse is a good thing) and we are looking forward to a great season for both of them. isaiah is in b-u9 on the avalanche and tanner is playing b-u8 on the blue thunder. i am assistant coach for tanner's team which is also super fun. they both had games today and both did great!

first day of school...

the boys started school yesterday and of course i had to take a TON of pictures, especially since it was tanner's first day of kindergarten. i can't believe i am sending another one off to school. they are growing up way to fast! tanner did great but i cried the whole way home after i dropped him off. isaiah loved third grade and he said "his teacher makes him feel very comfortable" :) we are looking forward to a great year!



tanner the big kindergartner :)

isaiah the big 3rd grader!
tanner sitting at his first desk :)

camping in carpinteria 2008.......

last week we took our final vacation of the summer. we went beach camping at carpenteria state beach with 12 other families. i think there were a total of 32 kids. i can't think of a better ending to a great summer and we had a blast!! it was so much fun hanging out ALL day at the beach, taking long runs along the beach with my sis, bike riding with the fam, hanging out by the fire at night eating smores, and just enjoying some great company. while we were there we celebrated hayden's 4th bday. all he wanted was an inidana jone's cake. luckily there was a Von's nearby that could accomodate this request. i had so many great pics from the week. it was hard to even pick a few....enjoy :)

i just love getting sugar cereal while i am camping
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