It's a boy AND a girl!

For those of you who care to know, we are having a boy and a girl! Yes, this means they are definitely not identical twins! We are sooooo thrilled. And believe it or not, we think we even have our names picked out! But, I will not post them here. :-)

more Christmas 2009 at the beach

Eleanor and her cousin Kylee had such a blast together! We're so sad she lives all the way in Atlanta!

Lucas, Brandon and Jonothon are all very close in age and had a blast sand sledding down this hill on a boogie board

Sam and Alex....Aren't cousins the greatest? We love family get togethers and the kids can't wait for our next family reunion!

Coronado here we come!

After opening gifts we had a big Christmas breakfast, cleaned up the house and took off for our Rahm Reunion down in San Diego. We met at Mike and Sarah's house and 2 days later all the Rahm kids and grandkids were there. We rented a beach house too, so there was plenty of room for everyone. We had such a blast. The cousins all had the best time together as did us adults. Here are a few pictures from the trip!

Lucas racing fast on the track at Legoland

Is it just me or does Eleanor look bored?

Dad and the kids having a blast! Legoland is a must if you have little kids...it's great!

And of course, the beach. Even though it was cold, it didn't take long for Eleanor to go from rolling up her jeans to switching into her swim suit

Of course the cold is not enough to keep Lucas from the water!

Christmas 2009

Christmas was great this year. The kids got most of what they wanted, and for the first time, we didn't have to wake them up! Eleanor was first to wake and she hurried through the house to wake everyone else.

Christmas Eve, we read the Christmas story in Luke and Eleanor and Dave played Mary and Joseph.

Our tree before the fun and festivities of opening gifts began

Lucas...barely awake, but so excited!

Eleanor showing off her new Hannah Montana guitar and hair style streaker

Lucas....tired after opening all of his gifts fell asleep on his favorite one

Happy Birthday Lucas!

Sunday, our little Superhero turned 4 years old. I can't believe it! Lucas is such a funny little boy with a sweet termerament. He brings so much laughter into our home. We love you Lucas!

Am I ready for this???

Ok, yes, most of you know we're having twins! I've been waiting for my first trimester to be over to officially reveal the news. We couldn't be happier for this blessing...times 2!!

Happy Halloween!

As you can see, Eleanor was Cinderella this year for Halloween, and happily so. Lucas on the other hand, was not so happy with his first pick Venom costume (that he begged and begged me for when we were at Marshalls). He claimed "the muscles are way too big." So, he ended up changing into his last years costume, Spiderman. He was upset about that at first also and said "Mom, these muscles are bigger than last year." Dave and I had to explain to him that you need big muscles to be a superhero. Guess he finally bought it.

Pumpkin Patch

One of the kids' favorite things to do at Halloween is to visit the pumpkin patch. It really is lots of fun. The most fun thing for them was chasing each other through the hay maze with their flashlights.

Aren't kids amazing?

Lucas loves to play games on the computer while Eleanor is at school. I still get amazed at how many gadgets kids can work these days.

Would you care to dance?

Eleanor loooves setting up tea parties for us all. On this particular afternoon, she got dressed up (notice the make-up) and invited her Daddy on a date. They ate and danced...it was glorious!

Terrific Kid!

Eleanor got the Terrific Kid Award again last month for her first grade class. She was so excited for the assembly, she asked Sherry to come over and curl her hair that morning before school. I'm so proud of my daughter!!

Disneyland here we come!

We decided to take the kids on their first trip to Disneyland this year. It was such a blast! The kids did not want to leave and frankly, neither did I! We stayed at a great Marriott right across the street from the main Disneyland entrance so we walked everywhere. It was perfect. Here are some highlights from our trip...
Eleanor and Lucas meet Mickey Mouse
....and Tigger
we stood in line for 45 minutes to meet some of the princesses and get their autographs. Eleanor loved talking with Princess Aurora!
Mulan actually got Lucas to get in the picture with her and Eleanor. He wouldn't go near any of the others!
and of course if there's a firetruck in Toon Town, Lucas will find it!

a stop at Newport Beach

of course we couldn't go down south without going to the beach! My kids would have been seriously bummed had we not gone for a day. We went to Newport and enjoyed the cool weather while the kids collected sea shells and played in the water. After trip, while driving out of the Grapevine down into the desolate central valley Lucas said "Dad, where are you going? This is not California!! This does NOT look like California!!" I think he really loved the coastal California better than the central valley!

we got to see Mike and Sarah too!

Saturday night Mike, Sarah and the boys drove up from Coronado to meet us. We had such a great time visiting with them. We had this gormet buffet at a resturaunt right across from Disneyland (it was actually the WORST food we had all eaten in a long time!!) The kids had such a wonderful time playing and getting reacquainted with each other. We can't wait to see you guys again!!

and finally Downtown Disney

after we ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe...food was not the best, but the atmosphere was really cool!

the kids at the Lego Store at Downtown Disney

typical male

So while Eleanor was busy working away making a great meal for all of us, Lucas laid there reading his Batman coloring book....

First day of school

Today was Eleanor's first day back to school. She is in 1st grade this year! She was so excited this morning. She was up and dressed before I even woke up. I have been dreading this day. She now goes to school til 2:00! It's only 9:30 and I miss her so much! Lucas and I will be planning lots of fun things to keep us occupied for the days while she's at school. Am I pathetic or what? I thought parents were supposed to be excited when their kids went back to school! Eleanor is just such a sweet little girl and I absolutely love having her around me. I am excited to see how she does this year in her new class. She did so extremely well in Kintergarden (she was reading at a 2nd grade level by the end of the year) and she only missed 1 word on a spelling test for the entire year! Dave's Mom used to always tell me that the reason she cried so much when she was a baby was because she was so smart, and that she just got bored all of the time with baby things.. so she cried. As I watch her grow and see how smart she really is, I think she may have been right!