Lydia turns 4!

Lydia was originally due January 4, 2006. As most people know, I'm on the short side and my babies are big and long. So we kept having the date moved up and were scheduled for the 28, but on Christmas day of 2005 the old Cottonwood Hospital called and asked if we would mind coming in on the 26th, ever so ready I said yes!!! I hear so many people say how sad it is to have a birthday so close to Christmas. I always reply, she is the luckiest kid around, if anything people try to overcompensate to make sure her "day " is special. I'm also of the theory that my kids will have milestone birthdays, 1 ,5, 8, 12, and 16 where I will do the themes, balloons, friends, party favors, all the other birthdays will just be limited to family. Cecil said, if this is small, I can't wait to see next year. We have lots of family which includes close friends that are our family. Lydia's big present, a Vespa. It will help her keep up with her brother on his ATV.

Christmas Brunch with the Aerakis Family

As the day progressed we went to my sister-in-law Wendy's house for brunch with Jim's side of the family as well. They do everything on a grand scale. WOW, Jim is the best chef. Breakfast and company were awesome! The tree they have is incredible. We then stopped by Cecil's mom's house in Riverton. And finished up the night with fun friends in the neighborhood. I'm exhausted, but still not done celebrating. Lydia's birthday is on the 26th!

Christmas Morning

As I was downstairs getting the kitchen organized, I heard a gasp from Lydia, (which actually scared me), followed by: Santa brought me a doll house!!! I just barely missed the initial reaction, but I was pretty quick to capture the lingering expression. David of course enjoyed more tools, and a new bike. He has a thing about goggles. Michael could have cared less. Cecil and I both have been enjoying a gym membership which we recieved a month early.

Christmas Eve

The beginning of Christmas Traditions from my side of the family is to do everything on Christmas Eve. My parents started the tradition while living in Europe and then out of convenience once we lived back in the states. This Christmas Eve was extra fun with my sister-in-law's parents visiting from Switzerland. Cecil enjoyed the new camcorder my parents gave us. Lydia was delighted with a fancy dress. David enjoyed a new truck. Michael slept through most of it. We even took Kaiser with us! What a blast!

Memories of our first Christmas Married

Oh, the life of being a D*I*N*K (Duel Income, No Kids). I wouldn't go back, but the memories of our first Christmas in Jamaica were wonderful. We were with Jeff and Melody as well. The new goal is in a few years take the families together back to Jamaica. Until then, we will play in the snow, I don't really like the heat anyway. Merry Christmas to all my friends and family!!

New Look

Again, many thanks to Melissa for making my blog cute. I love it!!

Who's Who?

So which one is David Thomas and which one is Michael Joseph??? I guess when people tell me we have one mold of cookie cutters, they're right.

Best Friends Forever!

Everyone has a best friend, some of us are lucky to have a few. But then there's the one person who has known you since you were 3. Although Amy and I only lived across the street from each other until we were 5, we've been the best of buds ever since. I'm guessing we have at least 20 moves including foreign countries between us. Our dad's were both in the military and our lovely mothers took great care of us kids until we were all in school. So congrats to my B.F.F on her recent engagement to the lovely Robert. I'm so happy for you both and can't wait till the wedding in October!! Love your guts Am!!! Marc

Randy and Kelsie Rock

It's awesome to have a friend who's the best professional photographer in the world. It's also great that his lovely assistant is his cute wife and great friend. So here's a plug, Dezember Photography is #1!!! Thanks you guys for the wonderful pictures. We love them and we love you.

Disney Princess on Ice

The best part of being a parent is doing stuff you might not have been able to do. Growing up in the military, I experienced so many wonderful real world events, but tended to miss out on the whole circus, rodeo, ice show thing. My girlfriend scored us VIP tickets and Lydia had her first Girls Night Out with Moms' and Daughters'. It was so much fun, but I don't think I could ever go to another show and not be on the front row. It was amazing! Lydia and her friends had so much fun. I also enjoyed the music and skating. Can't wait to make this a Shern Tradition.
Next show will need to be daddy and David at a monster truck event!!

The Fish

At last, Cecil's fish from the Northwest Territory is now on display in our home. There's not much else to say. Way to go honey, I can't wait for you to bring another one home next summer.

Happy Halloween Part 3

What would we do without Uncle Frank and Aunt Judy. Leading up to Halloween I was struck with food poisoning and it knocked me out for a good week. Thanks to the Gonzalez Family for taking our munchkins trick or treating in the neighborhood. We love you guys so much. Frank, I really appreciate the fact you could keep up with Lydia and her sugar high. The pic of Lydia and Frank is one of my favorites, I love it. This time Lydia actually looks like a true princess, not quite so scary.

Happy Halloween Part 2

Carving Pumpkins, not something I grew up doing. My family just painted faces on the pumpkins. Cecil did a wonderful job. He did the mummy and Dora was freehand. I attempted the alien, which ended up looking like the monster from Monsters Inc... Fun experience, more for Cecil then the kids, but we got lots of compliments.

Happy Halloween Part 1

Another holiday we can check off for 2009. The kids had multiple times to wear their costumes. Uncle Larry took them to the Trunk or Treat in his neighborhood. Lydia was adament about the makeup. Instead of a Sleeping Beauty, she looks like, well she just is. David was Spiderman and Michael was a Fireman, just like grandpa Joe. Thanks Uncle for the fun!!!

The reason I love my Dyson

Kaiser is the reason I love my Dyson Vac!!! The dog believes he is a human and Cecil and I have let him believe that he is. What a great life!

Sleeping Babies

I didn't know if I should be offended when Cecil showed up with this book "The Survival Guide for Working Moms (and Other Stressed-Out Adults)." He assusred me that it was for him, I'm not sure where he learned about it, but in the few mini breaks I get I've read a little of it and feel like it's got some good ideas. I'm obviously in need of help if I'm reading a self-help book over the new Dan Brown book. Oy!!! After reading the chapter on making my child behave, I realized how quiet the house was and all three of my babies are asleep. So I'm going to post their pics and print them for me, because in those moments of frustration, I can look at what angels and gifts from heaven they really are.

Typical Sunday Eve

What better way to spend a Sunday evening then with grandpa and the 4wheeler.