My Twin or Long Lost Daughter

Loreena was in her school musical, The Wedding Singer. It has been the 80’s in our home for the past week! Lots of hair product and late nights of rag curls =) Oh, and don’t forget the blue eye shadow! I thought I should win the award for best hair and make-up artist… but then I saw Boy George at the play. His costume and make-up was out of this world! Anyway, she had so much fun and is so sad to be finished =(

As a reminder….

…baby wipes do NOT go in the toilet!

It’s Here!

Our first blossom! This one is on our plum tree. We can’t wait to see which one pops out next: snow peach, nectarine, apricot, boysenberry, almond, cherry, apple, strawberry, grape, or blueberry. What is your vote?

Expensive

So, I thought Christmas was expensive….. how about 3 birthdays within 1 month? The month after Christmas? What was I thinking?

So, January 21……

Isaac turned 10!

Okay, a better picture =)

February 21….

Loreena turned 17!

We took her to see Sound of Music.

It was a dinner show at the Candle Light Pavilion.

3 days later on February 24…

 

Benjamin turned 4!

Loreena made a fun treasure map so he could find all the presents!

 

Two of his favorites!

  

Celebrating with the Lehdnorfers

   

Celebrating with the Rodriguezs

Chinese

You would think we were pros at chop sticks by now, but we are not. Although, we now have 2 real sets of chop sticks brought to us from China last October! We used them this January when Celine and Laura came to visit us!

In-n-Out a must!

What I call a Chinese Tamale.

Talent! This is Celine. She isn’t really Chinese! Her grandparents, or was it great-grandparents, left China and settled in Mauritius. There are a lot of Indians (real ones from India) there, so Mauritius food is delicious =) Celine got a scholarship to study in China for college! Her first year she spent in an immersion program learning Chinese. That’s right, she learned Chinese at the age of 19. She doesn’t really fit in with the real Chinese, but she is trucking along. Her and Loreena are now BFF!

Ketchup

I do not like ketchup! I think it is awful. In fact I think having to ‘ketchup’ on this blog is awful too =) But… here goes!

7 year Itch

So, around 6½ years into our marriage, I started hearing about the 7 year itch. Which I probably actually learned about in my psychology and sociology classes. Point is, things can get a little rough around 7 years of marriage, but if you hold until 12 years and pass, the statistically, you should be good forever =)

Does that apply to things you buy? We bought a computer just before Bekah was born (2005) It started getting rocky after 5 ½ years. By 7 years, It had to go! We purchased our house 7 years ago this March. Well, on New Year’s Eve, Warren spent the day, unclogging a drain (hair form exchange students), patching a hole on the side of the bathtub, replacing light switches in Isaac’s room, replacing 2 seals on 2 toilets, and a handle on one of the toilets that I really broke when I was trying to fix it after I broke it. Was that it???? Oh yea.. he had to replace the leaking garbage disposal the Saturday before that!

At least Isaac is learning how to be handy man =) He is already so good at mowing the lawn and changing my brake pads =)

Why Christmas Day was Merry

Please let me see what Santa brought?

Just because they are cute and mine =)

Waiting patiently for the real fun to begin =)

Too cute! I wish we would have gotten more with all the grandparents!

The boys getting the real fun ready!

Just Dance on the Wii!

Yes, we stayed in our pajamas ALL day! I think some of us stayed in our jammies the next day too =) Hope everyone’s Christmas was great!

Hansel and Gretel

Last night we decorated a Gingerbread House. The children had fun decorating their own cookie with lots of frosting and candies! Loreena took over the house, well the first part. The pre-assembled house was broken, so she tried really hard to get it back together. I think next year we will upgrade to individual houses. I just don’t want to buy all that candy!

 

2012 Christmas Letter

Once upon a time, in a little city named Victorville, there lived a small family of 5: a papa bear, a mama bear, an older brother who was 9, a middle sister who was 7, and a baby brother who was 3. Now this family had been very busy during the year 2012.

The mama bear had been busy teaching the children bears about becoming knights and all the little bears were so excited, especially when they learned about Joan of Arc. After a break, from school that is, during the summer, the children bear got busy seeking for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in Art and Music. They started with the renaissance and reformation time periods and currently await the beginning of their search through the baroque and classical periods. At church, mama bear had been busy serving in the Relief Society as a Visiting Teacher Coordinator and as a Gospel Doctrine Teacher (every other Sunday), but that all changed when she was asked to serve as the Stake Primary Secretary. That happened right when all the Ward Primary Programs began, so papa bear had to take care of the little bears almost every Sunday by himself! What a trooper!

Papa bear, himself, had too been very busy. After teaching Seminary last school year and working at a less than desirable job, he made some big changes! He started a new job, which works normal, 8-5, hours and made some calling changes! He was asked to serve as the Scout Master and advisor to the Young Men and the Seminary Supervisor. He was very busy and very happy!

Outside of school, the children enjoyed piano and their Martial Arts classes. Isaac was able to play the piano in Sacrament meeting 2 times! Isaac also loved to read books, especially the Eragon series. He even tried to be a vegan for a month in hopes his ears would become pointy and he would turn into an elf! Rebekah fell in love with the American Girls Series and started paying attention to the 18” doll she had owned for 2 years. =) She loved to spend her time playing with her dolls and being the most sympathetic bear on this planet! Benjamin spent the year proving to mama bear that not all bears are the same! He had a love for guns and destruction mama bear didn’t know existed! However, at the end of the day, he always wanted to snuggle and give lots of kisses!

During the year they went to Sea World with their annual passes, went camping in Wrightwood, and filled their void for more children with LOTS of exchange bears (all girls)! First in January, they invited Frederike bear, from Germany, to live with them until June. They enjoyed taking her to Joshua Tree to go camping, the Grand Canyon, and LA to see the Hollywood sign. While Frederike was staying with them, they also hosted 2 two-week exchange bears from China! These bears came to visit right in the middle of their Spring Festival, so the entire family got to have a Spring Festival Dinner! To keep this bear family’s summer alive, they hosted 2 more Chinese bears for 2 weeks! These 2 were especially fun because they were from Southern China! Such a difference in food and culture! While these 2 bears were there, the entire family, minus papa bear, got to go to Disneyland! That was a treat!!! In the fall, the bear family had just settled into a quiet, predictable routine, when they got a phone call. There was a Loreena bear, from Germany, who needed a new home for the rest of the school year. The bear family met with her and one week later, a new exchange bear had moved into their home.

Now this bear family continued to stay very busy and looked on the New Year with excitement, for they knew that they had no idea what new blessings were going to come their way!