Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas to everyone, and we hope you all have a prosperous new year! We enjoyed another wonderful Christmas together watching holiday movies, reading stories of why we celebrate Christmas, and spending time together. The Carrera kids must have been very well behaved this year, because Santa brought them many of the things they hoped for. We love having times like this to just sit back and watch our kids being themselves. Happy holidays to everyone we know and love.

Dakota's Christmas

So here are the last of our holiday pictures of the kids. They turned out so amazing! School is almost out and this year I am not driving myself nuts with baking and crafting. Instead I have been playing with Rebecca, and playing Christmas music and watching movies with the kids. We are going to try to keep things a little more low key this year so we do not have anymore accidents. (like with Rory last year after Christmas, or after thanksgiving, etc.) Lucky for us my parents will be back so we will have lots of fun enjoying time together and celebrating the holidays. Dakota and Rory are both working hard to be on the nice list so they can get a new imaginext batcave.... and they insist they want to share it together! I love our kids. We have a fun bunch! So that is it for now. I will probably not do too much blogging since The kids will all be home. So I will see you again around Christmas Day. Love to all of our friends and family, and Happy Holidays!

Some Christmas kids

Once again It is that wonderful time of year when I am in a perpetual good mood because of the joys of the Christmas season. I love decorating the house, doing special holiday crafts with the kids, and playing christmas music while we all dance around like fools! I am always grateful for all the blessings we have, but somehow it all just seems magnified in my mind more. I mean there was a time when we did not know how we would be as parents, then how we would do with 2. Then later Rory having some setbacks, and Rebecca coming along. Fuad and I are a strong team,and we are just so happy everyday to see all of our silly kids goofing about and giggling. We are blessed. Plain and simple!
Onto the bit most of you pop onto the blog for....Pictures! A friend of mine down the street has been taking pictures of our babes since we moved here. And every time I am amazed at how wonderful they are! She has a way with my kids that I cannot manage. But none the less, they are gorgeous! We took the younger 2 on a Friday while Dakota was in school. So his will be coming along shortly. But in the meantime here are a few of Rory and Becca in all the holiday goodness!

A quick silly christmas picture

Ok, well I am not going to actually post a "silly" picture,since it involves Christmas lights and Rebecca putting them in her nose. So instead you all get the only two nice-ish pictures taken. Bring on the holiday fun!!! Love you and enjoy!

Pictures from our Thanksgiving weekend

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend full of fun and good times with family. I wish My parents were able to have been here. But we have been spoiled with spending time with them as well lately! :) Fuad's parents came up and stayed for a few days and enjoyed playing games and reading with the grandkids.



Lucky for us one of our neighbors was out taking family pictures,so we asked them to take a few for us as well.



The kids all had a blast and even though I had to miss the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade we did watch movies together,and enjoyed the traditional cinnamon roll breakfast.



And now we are decking our home for the holidays and playing with the kids. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Colds and Christmas cards

For the last week and a half Fuad and I have been feeling less then good. It is that magical time of year when we pass "the sick" between us. Thankfully the kids are spared and it is just us this year. So I thought before I mess up lets take our Christmas pictures before someone gets ill. I will admit I was only about 40% into picture taking on this day. my goal was to simply get 1 picture where all 3 kids are looking. Ta-da! Now I am feeling a little better and good thing because tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Which means cinnamon rolls and the Macy's parade for breakfast and fun and cooking all day! So I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and We would like to say we are so grateful for everything,and everyone we have in our lives.Lots of love and thanks to all our friends and family.

Birthday boy

Ok, maybe not Birthday "boy" exactly... Fuad turned another year older on Friday. We had my parents, and his brother Paul and his wife Jacque over. It was great to get together with family and celebrate! I love my wonderful husband, I was just laughing with him that we celebrated his 36th birthday together at work, and he is 45 now! Time flies when your enjoying life. He is my best friend and a great Daddy to our kiddos. Happy Birthday Fuad. We love you!

Halloween 2011

Another fun halloween for the kids. Rory helped Rebecca to say "trick or treat", and to get candy from the "spooky" houses for her. And Dakota went around with his friends.They all had a blast! It was a little too cold to be out once the sun set, but we had lots of fun and cannot wait for the holiday season!

Happy Birthday Mema

We got the chance to celebrate Mema's Birthday with her and Grandpa Jack this year. It was so nice to have my parents over and for the kids to sing Happy Birthday. We love you both so much and are so glad we can spend these wonderful times together!

Riverbend Farm

We went down to Riverbend Farm to take the kids to the pumpkin patch for the first time. They all had a great time! There were playgrounds and tractors, and farm animals...I was surprised at how much there was to do. We all came home exausted, but it was well worth it. Rebecca was not on top form, but once we stopped at the country store and grabbed some snacks she was her happy self again! It was an amazing day outside, the are was so cool and crisp. We are glad we can take the kids to see these fun places on occasion,and they get to see the seasons change!

Sharing a moment

Today I went with Rory and Rebecca to Mema's house to get things ready. The kids are all looking forward to the visit! As usual that also meant trekking through the woods. I love that they enjoy it and the 2 of them get along so well nowadays! We looked around at the different kinds of trees, and mushrooms,and the kids made jokes to each other. They both find booger talk the most hilarious thing!(Grooss,right?) I don't really mind,so long as they are getting along and having fun. The weather has been in the 40's-50's in the mornings,it is beautiful! It was a nice way to spend our morning.

Just how I roll

Rory has finally learned to ride a bike! He has been way to scared to try. For years we have asked him to give it a shot, but he would not budge! Now Rory is hooked! He loves the feeling of going fast and we are so proud of him for trying it out! On another note, I have a touch of a cold. I feel yucky! So with that I am going to grab some medicine and go for a nap. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

On the mend

Rebecca has been feeling pretty lousy the last few days. it started in the middle of our trip to the mountains, poor baby. So we have just been sanitizing and lounging around the house. Today she came with her princess camera and said "cheese mommy" and then told me it was my turn to tell her to say cheese. but she would not hand over her camera. so I grabbed mine and asked if she wanted to take a picture out back. Of course she did! So we grabbed some apples from the bag and took a couple quick pictures! I am happy Rebecca is almost back to her cheery self. I don't like it at all when our kiddos get sick>

Chimney Rock

Here are some shots of us at Chimney rock. Alot changed since we were there a couple years back. They finally put in decent stairs! It used to be that you had to go down rocks that were sort of carved into steps, and nothing to hold on to. ON A MOUNTAIN SIDE! And they do not have the lounge open at the top anymore. Which means no restroom for the kids at the top. Lucky that was not a problem on this trip. We all had alot of fun and the kids looked down at all the little towns below. We are all so happy here,and happy we can let our children see these simple pleasures we have nearby.

Apple pickin' 2011

We had another wonderful time in the mountains picking apples and having adventures. It was a little worrying because it was SO foggy and we weren't sure if it would rain or what. By the time we got to the orchards it was beautiful! We all went and picked apples,and then went to Chimney Rock again so the kids could see the top of a mountain. The boys loved going up and down about 7,049 stairs! (not sure that is an accurate guess, it felt like more.) None the less we had a great time and had a nice fall day together as a family. We are currently tallying the votes on what to make first. Here is a peek of our apple orchard adventure!