Grand Babies

These are some cute kids, Grand Babies as my dad calls them!

a sunset means...

Growing up I remember one of my favorite times was getting dirty and having fun with my cousins at the Flake Family Ranch!  Now as an adult one of my favorite things is to watch my kids get dirty with their cousins at the ranch and basically just be kids and play all day and way into the night without a care in the world!  The only time they really stop playing is to listen to Grandpa Tom remind them what Grandma Flake always told us, “a beautiful sunset means Grandma and Grandpa Flake LOVES you!”  Good times and memories at the ranch!

Playing Catch up

Sometime life gets so busy I get behind on my blogging/journaling, okay maybe not sometimes maybe most of the times, but I’ve promised myself for my kids that I’d keep up with it so my kids know the important stuff that goes on in our lives and so they know how much they mean to us!  So yes I’m playing catch up, but I tell myself at least I’m doing it, right?

So I’m going to start with Oct. and do a few highlights from Oct, Nov. and Dec… I know three of the most important months of the year, I could never forget those months!

In October we had a few very special events that I don’t want to forgot, the first is that my favorite little guy turned the big “6”, yes I said “6” I can’t believe my once baby Cooper is now a big boy! And for his birthday this year he wanted to invite some friends to bounce u! There were about 10 kids and it was beautiful they could literally bounce off the walls and guess what it was okay.  That’s the beauty of bounce u the parents sit and chat while the kids jump, run, bounce, yell and just have a blast, then after spending a couple hours bouncing they get to go have cake and pizza and then the best part of the whole party according to Cooper~ OPEN PRESENTS!  He pretty much scored and had a blast all at the same time!  We love our friends and family they are so wonderful!

Then a few days after Coopers birthday was my mom’s day!  It was the mark of passing 1 year ago!  It was a very hard day for me I have to admit, but I’m so truly blessed I have my wonderful little family and my AmAzInG sister to help me get through these type of tough days!  It happened to fall on a Sunday which was blessing because we had family night that day so we were all going to be together as a family which made it nice!  That’s the way my mom would have wanted it, us being together celebrating her and her memories and just smiling and laughing together and telling mom stories!  She really loved seeing us together as a family and watching the cousins play together!  On her special day we meet together at her gravesite and brought her flowers and then came home to Erin’s house and had a mom meal, her favorite Sloppy Joes!  Finally we ended the night with sweet bliss, Caramel Apples, a family tradition that we ALWAYS did with mom!  It’s the one Halloween thing she LOVED to do with us!  I think she really liked to see the creations the kids would come up with! She sure is missed but NEVER forgotten!

Finally to end October is spooktacular Halloween!  Love it!  We did pumpkin carving like a few days before Halloween cause the pumpkins don’t last more then a day or two here cause of the heat, It’s annoying, but the kids LOVE it and I think us parents secretly do also.  We also took in a Fall Festival at a local farm like we do every year with some of our neighbor friends.  That was super fun!  The kids love doing that and we always come home super tired and super dirty, that’s how you know you’ve had a good old time!  Then come Oct. 31^st Halloween day and the kids got dressed up in their costumes, this year Brielle was an 80’s girl~so cute and Cooper was the Character from Scream the Movie…with me kicking and screaming the whole time!  Seriously Cooper can’t you be something cute like a dog or something, no you have to be something scary and ugly!  Uggg, but everyone said, “oh look at him he so cute!” WHAT!!!  Anyway, they had a blast and we always have fun going over to Colby’s sister’s house and seeing what everyone else is going to be!  It was a good night and the kids come home after trick or treating with lots of yummy loot, of course I took a few pieces here and there, it’s the benefit of being the parent! 

I must say October was a pretty good month, like I said I missed my mom terribly but I know she’d say enjoy this month and remember our good times and make more wonderful memories with your family for years to come

Christmas Letter 2011

a great day

One of my favorite times of Christmas 2011 was going to Casa Grande to see my Grandparents.  We are just so lucky and blessed to have them here and pretty healthy!  When we went there my kids said, Grandma and Grandpa are so young!  Isn't that awesome, I hope my Great Grandkids can say that about me one day! I often thank God for letting my kids have their Great Grandma and Grandpa around to hug and love! 

My family and Erin's family headed to Casa Grande together to spend a couple hours just chatting and hangin' and having fun!  Sometimes I wish I could just stay there all day cause they remind me so much of my mom and I see so much of her in them~her sweet face, qualities, heart, everything!  It really made my Christmas special and it's a day I'll never forget!  I sure love my Grandma and Grandpa and am proud to be their granddaughter!