11-28-2009 Saturday - A Christmas Carol

Our family went to the Christmas Carol at the South Coast Reperatory Theatre. It has been a family tradition for about fifteen years since Drew was four years old. This was the 30th year anniversary running at SCR!

We like to get cookies and apple juice during the intermission and walk over to the huge Christmas tree by the Westin Hotel about fifty yards away.

This is a live Christmas tree covered in lights and beautiful poinsettias are planted around the base. We guess it's about a fifty foot tree.

Hal Landon Jr. plays Scrooge and has done so for the past 25 years at this same theater. This has become one our most beloved family traditions and we hope to continue coming as long as it is running there. Favorite quotes: "It's so red!" "I'm as giddy as a school boy!" "I'm a baby!" "Good afternoon!" "You whining ragamuffin!"

11-26-2009 Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving!

Shera was an Indian for her Thanksgiving feast at school.

Everyone participated in some way this year with dinner. Luke, Shera and Noel peeled the potatoes and helped make the mashed potatoes.

Jeff and Drew deep fried our lovely bird!

Drew poured the Martinelli's while Drago handled the water.

Ladies first always...

Our beautiful table...

Luke got his favorite - a turkey leg!
Happy Thanksgiving!

11-21-2009 Saturday - A Long Anticipated River Weekend!

It was so great to get back to the river this past weekend! Even Sasha and Heidi got excited when we started packing up to go. They knew exactly what was going on!

Noel practicing for her driver's permit (which is a year away) while Luke hangs on for dear life!

We all went fishing, but it was a little late in the morning so we didn't catch anything.

This is our awesome general store. Our favorite thing? The packaged ice creams!

Shera and Luke ride bikes on the gravel rodes.

Shera's cute from the back!

Getting unstuck in the sand dunes.

It's easy to get a little sand in your shoes when you're in the dunes!

Luke is a wild man on the ATV!

11-19-2009 Thursday - It's A New Moon!

Noel went with her friends to see the premier of New Moon at the Irvine Spectrum Thursday night for the 12:02am showing. They arrived at 4pm and took turns standing in line and walking around the shops. They had shirts made and wore pajama pants and brought blankets. Their shirts showed who Noel and Aubry were routing for!

Thanks to Andrea for supervising the event and bringing them home at 4am! While they were in line a newspaper reporter started taking the girls photos and they ended up in the OC Register Online News! Here's their little blip of fame!

November 19, 2009 9:51 PM

'Twilight' fans wait hours for 'New Moon'

By JACOB NELSON

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Story Highlights

Fans of the vampire saga spend the day in line for midnight screenings.

Twilight' fans in Irvine

Noel Starr, 13, Aubry Dickerson, 13, and Katie Hawkins, 14, showed up after school to wait for the first showing of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," at the Irvine Spectrum.

11-19-2009 Thursday - Cute Litttle Lukey!

I just wanted to remember this later on, so I am documenting it. It's so funny, I can always tell when Luke has used the restroom.

Our little Lukey loves his sisters so much, he never wants to be apart from them. We can hardly get him to sleep in his own room! I took this photo early in the morning.

11-17-2009 Tuesday - Dr. Gunson's in Santa Barbara

Jeff, Holly, and I stayed at The Biltmore in Santa Barbara last night. Holly had her doctor's appointment for her jaw in the morning so it's always easier to come up the night before.

Holly has Idiopathic Condular Resorption which is the deterioration of her condyles in the jawbone. Diagnosed three years ago, Dr. Gunson, just gave her the go ahead to start prepping for jaw surgery. Now we just have to decide when to get her braces back on. She will have them for 8-10 months before surgery and about 6 months afterward. And yes, she has been in constant pain with it for three years!

Every visit up to Santa Barbara Holly's gets to add another charm to her "Jaw Bracelet". Jeff drops us off at the Juicy Shop and circles while we pick it out.

We had Holly's favorite food for lunch - Japanese!

Drew watched his brother and sisters while we were gone. They surprised us with a colorful "snowflake blizzard" when we came come.

11-14-2009 Saturday - MVHS Homecoming Dance!

Holly and Robyn got dressed together for the Homecoming Dance.

All four of the kids wore black, white, and silver. Holly and Michael looked so cute together as they exchanged their flowers.

Robyn is a little taller than Dallan, so he got on the first step of the stairs for photos!

Here's their "artsy pic" by the piano.

Holly drove, but Michael still got her door. They had a lot of fun and danced all night and rode some rides too. Then they went to BJ's Pizzeria for dinner afterward and came back to play games. Thanks boys for a great night!

11-13-2009 Friday - MVHS Homecoming Game!

We had our homecoming game against Dana Point and we killed them 49 - 17.

Brad's family came for the weekend. The kids had fun on the field and waited at the end zone to catch the football for the PAT.

Shera got free rides by Uncle Brad!

Holly was in the top ten nominated for Homecoming Queen. Her good friend, Noelle Medina, won.

Holly's best friend, Robyn Cornish and Dallan (Holly's cousin) and Holly and Dallan's friend, Michael Shaw, all got together for the game and for the Homecoming Dance the next night.

11- 11-2009 Wednesday - Fun Catch Ups!

Time to catch up on some fun notable events that have happened!

Shera turned in her California Animal Project and got an A! She did it on the Garibaldi - did you know it is our state fish and is not allowed to be harmed in anyway?

We celebrated my great friend, Cheryl O'Bryant's birthday with lunch at CPK!
The Boston Ivy on our house is turning colors finally.
I love it!

Holly's ASB class took their Christmas card picture in our library. I think it turned out pretty cute! It's a great group of kids - very respectful and pleasant to work with!

10-31-2009 Saturday - The Biggest Fright on Halloween Night!

At the end of the night on Halloween, we were cleaning up and Holly put Sasha and Heidi outside to go potty. About five minutes later she called for them to come in but Heidi was nowhere at all to be found! She had been scared all day already with the loud noises, the costumes and so many people at the house. We even kept her in this carrier while trick or treating earlier this evening. She had been frightened by the compressor in the yard that we had on for the haunted house and had jumped through the backyard fence. Well, 2 1/2 years ago, Sasha had been attacked by a coyote in front of our house and we were so afraid that Heidi was done for. The kids took flashlights and hiked on the back hills of our house while Jeff and I took the cars around the neighborhood. We looked for 2 hours and there was no sign of her anywhere. We said a prayer and took the sobbing children up to bed at about 2am. But on my way up, I walked to the backyard one last time and called for Heidi. I heard some wrestling in the bushes on the bank. My heart skipped, but then I thought, oh, it's probably a bunny or a rat. I called her again, and there she was! She ran to the fence shaking with her tail between her legs. She probably had been hiding this whole time in the bushes but was too afraid to come out! She wouldn't come through the fence though. She was so scared of the compressor (even though it wasn't on) that I had to pull her through the fence posts. We all were so happy - crying and hugging our little Heidi! We said another prayer of thankfulness that Heidi had come home safely. And Monday we are putting up chicken wire on the fence so there will be no more escaping!!!

10-31-2009 Saturday - Happy Halloween!

Luke was a skeleton pirate, Shera was a witch, Noel was Little Bo Peep, Holly was a vampire slayer, and Drew was a ghoul. Holly's friend, Robin Cornish, joined us as Mother Earth, and Andrea and Lucus came too as a cowboy!

We went trick or treating down the street and stopped at our favorite house, the O'Bryants.

Noel's friends, Carissa and Aubry joined her later to go trick or treating too.

We had the haunted house all set up before we left at 6:30 and there was already a line forming out on the driveway!

Lots of friends and neighborhood kids came. We probably had close to four hundred people go through it! The line went down the driveway to the sidewalk and we finally closed it up at about 11pm. Jeff and Drew worked on putting it together for about two months of Saturdays and a few evenings too.

My mom and Jeff manned the video screen and animatronics while Shera, Luke and I kept the line under control and let people into the haunted house. Drew worked the inside - scaring people while they were in it! It went really smoothly. The only complaint was how long the line was. We heard the wait was an hour at one point. But, hey, it was free and the kids loved it. I only felt sorry for the parents that would wait with the kids and then chicken out! I have to say, it was a real scary and gory haunted house though - not for the young ones.
Happy Halloween!