Jonathan's First Haircut!

We all love Jonathan's blond, curly hair but it did finally get a bit too wild and crazy! On December 28, 2009, Jonathan had his first haircut. It was not the best experience ever, but not the worst either! (Worst for me would have to be David's first haircut!) I told the girl that I wanted him to still have a bit of curl left so to just trim it a bit but leave it a little longer. She did a great job considering he was squirming excessively, biting, hitting, crying and screaming! I sat in the chair and held him on my lap while he got his hair cut and therefore I was the recipient of most of his bites and hits and NOT the girl who was cutting his hair! Enjoy the pictures!

BEFORE (about 8 days before)

DURING

AFTER

THE REWARD

Christmas

  Decorating our Christmas Tree!

 

Christmas was a little different this year because we've had a lot of changes in our family. I got to have the kids with me for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and then they went to Doug's house at noon on Christmas day for more Christmas gifts and a weekend with Dad.

We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa's house, eating dinner, playing, reading Christmas stories and opening presents (pajamas for everyone). We had a great time. Then we went home to bed to wait for Santa to come!

Christmas morning was lots of fun. Everyone got lots of fun new toys and gadgets to play with. All the kids got some ZhuZhu Pets hamsters to share with each other, books, and clothes.

David got a camera of his very own, a Nintendo DS and The Force (a cool Star Wars Jedi mind game that he was incredibly good at!).

Nathan got a new bike and helmet, and a Nintendo DS.

Jonathan got a play kitchen and pretend cleaning tools (broom, dustpan, iron, mini vacuum), and some dinosaurs that really roar!

 We had a great time and everyone loved their gifts. After the kids left, I went to lunch at Dave & Kim's and then spent the rest of the day and weekend relaxing with my family, spending the night at Mom & Dad's (AKA Grandma & Grandpa's) and enjoying my family. 

Thanksgiving in Hawaii

For Thanksgiving this year, we got to go to Hawaii with the Pace family! What a great time we had! Jonathan's first visit to a beach was at Huntington Beach, CA near Amanda's house and he loved it! He and Grandma got soaked by a wave which was a bit of a shock but amusing.

In Hawaii, the humidity made Jonathan's hair curl up so cutely and he loved playing with the sand on the beach. I was really worried he would be running toward the water all the time but instead, he ran after all the dogs that people had on the beach. So funny!

David spent his first day on the beach carrying a boogie board around under his arm but never actually getting in the water. After that, he got braver and did start playing in the water on other days.

Nathan boogie boarded, played in the sand, ran around and had a great time too!

We visited Pearl Harbor and the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We also celebrated Grandpa's birthday AND Thanksgiving! What a great trip!

Our newest family member

So most of you already know this but we were adopted by a kitten when we moved to this house a little over a year ago. We named her Gabby because she is very "vocal". Nathan wanted to name her "Meow" because she "meows a lot" but I talked him into something that could mean the same thing but was a little more "normal". Anyway, due to our very hectic life, I neglected to get Gabby spayed and this spring I realized she was pregnant.

She had 3 kittens on June 10, the same day we were out of town for our Pace Family Reunion in Utah. The runt of the litter didn't make it but I named her anyway. In the second picture, you can see how tiny little Penelope was compared to her brother and sister.

Then we were left with a boy and a girl, who we named Tony and Cleo. Tony is the black and white one and Cleo is the orange one. They were inseparable for the first 10 weeks of their life. They slept curled up together one way or another all the time and they played with each other constantly.

Cleo was not meant to be a member of our family forever. She was just a bit too skittish and afraid of her own shadow to be comfortable in the house full of rambunctious boys so we gave her to a family who was more suited to her personality and she has been very happy there. (In these pictures she is running away from a ribbon that was laying on the ground!)

Nathan became very attached to Tony though and I just didn't have the heart to make him give him up. He insists on taking Tony to bed with him every night although in this pictures they fell asleep together watching tv on our giant ottoman! Tony has made himself completely at home, even sleeping in Jonathan toys and high chair! So Tony is our newest member of the family. He's a cute little guy and just as "vocal" as his momma! Tony is also very fond of curling up with and playing with Aden which is quite a site to see this little kitten playing and sleeping with a 100lb golden retriever!