Christmas Lights!!

I was going through our pictures to post some really cool pictures of Christmas lights that we took on our most favorite street, then I realized I completely skipped over Thanksgiving! Oops. So here are a few from our Thanksgiving we had at Mike's parents house in Lompoc. My parents came up also, so it was a lot of fun having the whole family together! The food was great and the kids had a BLAST playing with their cousins. Thanks Chuck and Hildie for a great Thanksgiving dinner!! We drove home that night (2 1/2 hrs!) so I could shop with my Mom the next morning. It has become a tradition for my Mom and I to wake up early and join all the other crazy, lunatic shoppers. It's actually fun for us, although this year I did something I never before attempted. The Disney store in our mall actually opened at midnight the night of Thanksgiving and yes, I went. My friend Jessie and I braved the crowd and survived. We got some good stuff too! Then I met my Mom at Toys R' Us at 6. I was exhausted, but it was so fun. Then on Saturday, we had another Thanksgiving dinner, this time at my parents house, which was also great. Thanks Mom for our yummy dinner! Here are the Thanksgiving pics....

"Gi-gi" and the kids


I thought this was a cute picture of Conner and Preston playing in the yard


Aaden loves his Uncle Trent!


The cousins building sand castles


Mike eating ham (he-he!)


Swinging on Grandma and Grandpa's swing


Aunt Jenny being smooshed by children

Here are a few pictures of dinner at my parents house...


"Bumpa" and Aaden


My brother is so weird =)

So now for the original reason for the post...Christmas lights!!! Mike and I absolutely love going to look at Christmas lights with the kids (although I think we enjoy it more!). We go out at least every other night to look and of course we bring our mugs of hot chocolate and blast Christmas music in the car...it's so much fun!! There are a handful of streets in our city that go bonkers with lights, but there is one street in particular that is our absolute favorite. We take the kids there all the time! Just about every house is covered in lights and they even string the lights from house to house across the street. I have been going to this street for years and it is so fun for Mike and I to now take our kids there!!


We usually park the car and walk the street because it is so amazing. It has actually been pretty cold here, so the last few times we went the kids really had to be bundled!


My favorite is this beautiful Nativity


Mike's favorite is the shooting star


Ella's favorite is the huge Mickey Mouse behind her


This is our favorite tree...look how many lights are on the tree alone....

So pretty!


From the look on his face, I'm pretty sure Aaden loves his santa hat =)


Of course Rod and Ren had to come!!

Here are just a few fun Christmas pictures....

Picking out our tree in our super cool santa hats!


Me and my babies!!!


The kids decorating our tree...so precious!

Any Suggestions?

OK, so Aaden is going to be 7 months old on the 22nd and he still wakes up every two to three hours through the night! Is this normal? Preston definitely inherited my sleep gene because he was sleeping through the night at 5 weeks old. That was it. He figured it out and never looked back. Ella, on the other hand, didn't figure out how to sleep through the night until after I was already pregnant with Aaden. She started sleeping through at about 17 months old, but at least she would only wake up once, maybe twice through the night, would want to be rocked and would fall back to sleep without a struggle. By the time she figured out how to put herself back to sleep, I was prego again and awake on and off through the night being sick and uncomfortable. So now I have my precious Aaden who still wakes up ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! I FEEL LIKE I HAVEN'T SLEPT IN YEARS!!! Fortunately for us Mommies, God was gracious to make these babies so darn cute, you forget in the morning (a little) how hard the night was. When I wake up in the morning to my three babies, even in my sleep deprived blur, I can't help but smile at them. I love my little angels so much, but this Mommy needs to figure out how to get more sleep! So if there is anyone out there in this blog world that is reading this and has any suggestions on how to get an adorable little 7 month old to sleep more than three hours at a stretch, please share!! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

Oops...forgot the Birthday pics!!!

I forgot to post pictures of Preston's Birthday party! The morning of his party there was a huge fire (fires in California?? Shocking) that shut down the main freeway to get to our house, so a lot of our family couldn't make it to his party =(. Other than that, his party was great considering it was a little last minute! Preston had so much fun with his friends as did Mike and I! We started a tradition that we put our Christmas lights up every year on his actual Birthday(since his Birthday is so close to Thanksgiving, his party is sometimes a week or two before his real Birthday), so about a week after his party we celebrated with another cake and Christmas lights!! Christmas is my absolute most favorite Holiday so it's fun to kick off the Christmas season with the celebration of my baby's birthday!! It's so fun to watch the kids get so excited!! I love it! Enjoy the pics!!


The Birthday Boy!!



Meghan and Caitlin


Sweet Sophie


Little Leo


A LaRoe party is not complete without Rod and Ren!


Our friends Dave and Michele were in town from Buffalo, so they were able to stop by for a bit!


The Dynamic Duo


Mike started a silly string war with the kids...the kids clearly won.


So sweet...Preston loves his friends!

I love these two pictures...I'm so in love with my babies!




Preston's party pals


Cousins!!


On Preston's actual Birthday with Daddy and his Birthday pizookie! (a huge cookie with ice cream. All dairy and egg free, of course)


He was really excited about his spider-man toy!


Time to put up lights!!


Grandma celebrated with us too!


Daddy working hard


Of course Mommy helped too



Since I'm kind of camera crazy, I figured I'd share some random pics....

One weekend we had a thunderstorm which is almost unheard of here, so the kids were baffled by the water falling from the sky. They wanted to sit in the car and watch it fall on the windshield. They are in the van....see, we do these sort of things in California.

One day, I went upstairs to wake the kids up from their naps. When I walked in, I couldn't find Ella! She wasn't in her bed! I looked all through the upstairs and about a second before pure and utter panic set in, I found her......

Can you see her? Silly girl!


Cute Baby


Cute Baby with cup on his head

My Baby is 5!!!!

Today is Preston's Birthday!!! I can't believe it has been 5 years since he was born, time really does go by fast. I will always have the best memories of Preston as a baby because he was my first baby. I didn't have anyone else to chase around, it was just the three of us. When Mike and I found out that I was pregnant,we were so excited. I had gone through a miscarriage the month before so this pregnancy was an extra special blessing. The beginning of the pregnancy was tough because I was so sick,but by the fourth month I was much better. Around the fifth month we found out that we were going to have a little boy. We were so thrilled!! Mike had a smile glued to his face for a month. =) His first boy. We decided on the name Preston (actually I let Mike decide on the name since it was his first son) and then started shopping!! About the seventh month of my pregnancy I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, so that was tough making sure my blood sugar didn't get too high, no fun following that diet either. Then on Nov. 18, about a week early, I went into labor! After a LONG 46 hrs. (yes, 46 hrs) of labor, Preston was here!! He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. He weighed 8 lbs. and was 20 inches long. He was such a good baby! He never cried much, although it was probably because he ALWAYS had his pacifier (we call it a nuk) in his mouth. He was attached to that thing from day one. =) I could write a book remembering all the great things about Preston as a baby. I am so blessed to be his Mommy.

Now at 5, Preston is such a love. His smile lights up any room and when he laughs it is contagious and soon we are all laughing! I have watched him grow to be the best big brother Ella and Aaden could ever ask for, he loves them so much. And they love him! Aaden always gets a huge smile on his face when he sees Preston and Ella won't go anywhere without her big brother. Even though Preston has been through some pretty scary moments dealing with his food allergies, he is still the happiest boy I know. He loves playing with his spider-man toys, his legos and he really loves wearing his costumes. He runs around in his spiderman outfit shooting "webs" and has worn his Halloween costume everyday since his Halloween party. Again, I could write a book. I love him so much and am so thankful God entrusted ME with the blessing of being his Mommy! Preston is 5 today, but he will always be my baby. WE LOVE YOU PRESTON MICHAEL!!!!!

Food Allergy Walk!!!!

I'm so excited to write about this!!! Today we participated in a walk for an organization called FAAN...Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. I have been a member for a few years now and am very passionate about the work they do. They hold fund raisers for food allergy research, publish newsletters for their members, and are advocates for educating people about food allergies. Today they held a walk in Santa Monica and it was so much fun!!!! I put a team together and named it Preston Friendly. In just a short amount of time we were able to raise about 200 dollars for FAAN!! I am so grateful to all our friends that supported us...thanks to The Socha's,The Thomas', The Bedrinana's, The Johansson's, Aunt Susan and her co-workers, The Sutton's, Carole Anderson and everyone else who donated anonymously!!!! We love all of you and are so thankful!! I managed to hold myself together today, but I definitely had to hold back the tears. The walk was a 2 mile walk and a lot of people came out!! Our good friends the Bedrinana's and The Johansson's came and walked with us. This was our first year participating so it was kind of a learning experience for me. Next year I'll try to get more people to come out with us because it was so much fun!! My heart JUMPED with joy watching Preston meet other kids with food allergies. He also ate his first chocolate bar!!! A company called Enjoy Life Foods (an allergy free company, I LOVE them) had a booth there and and they now make chocolate bars completely dairy, egg and gluten free!! And they were GOOD!! I was jumping up and down watching my kids eat chocolate...silly, huh?? When you live with food allergies, little things like that just mean so much. Preston met the sweetest girl named Kendall. Kendall also has EXTREMELY severe food allergies and she was so nice. She talked with Preston about what each of them can and can't eat and Preston was in awe of the fact that she too was allergic to many things. He's never met anyone with quite the same allergies (or someone that is as severely allergic as he is). I could go on and on, but in short it was one of the most special days of my life. There are no words to express how much I love my Preston and seeing him "fit in" with other kids was priceless. I will remember it forever and am looking forward to next year!! Thank you Jessie, Christiam, Jamie and Daniel!! To have you guys there today meant more to me than you will ever know!

Us with Kendall. I really hope we get to see her again soon!


My big boy!! He's the reason we walked!!


Preston and I with the Johansson's, Jamie, Daniel and little Jonah!


Yes, that's Preston eating a CHOCOLATE BAR!!!!




Our team Preston Friendly!!


Me and my boys


They had these signs along the walk route. Every time I read one, I had to choke back tears....


Wait....am I seeing double?? =)


Maybe one day....


Me, Jessie and Mike (in the background)




Hey, even Gary Busey came out to join the fun!!




Some of the walkers




Christiam and cute baby Leo


There's Sophie!!


Jessie dancing with the girls after the walk




Jessie and I being silly with the kids after the walk


Holding his little Bro..


I love my silly boy!!!