Night in Tempe...

Last night we took the girls to the Free Splash Park in Tempe at Tempe Town Lake. They really enjoyed themselves - and I am sure we will be back. While there I grabbed some pictures of the Mill Ave. bridge while the sun was setting behind me. Here is one that I thought turned out nice. It was shot using a 30 sec exposure while the camera was mounted on a tripod.

I really like the colors in the picture. I will also post some shots of the girls playing in the water this evening, including Elin's constant desire to put her face down in the water to drink it.

Trip to Mexico...

So we made it back from Mexico - had another blast while there. Here are some pictures of our adventure. I will add some stories here over the next few days as well. Remember you can click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Last night...

Well last night we had the neighbors over to have our very own little American Idol party - actually it was just an excuse to order pizza and make ice cream sundaes. None the less we had a good time together. The highlight of the night was watching Anabelle's face when Sanjaya came on. Although I have not discussed it in awhile she continues to mention him in our family prayers occassionally - asking to help him so he can come back to American Idol. When she saw him last night it was like her prayer was answered. I don't know why she is so fascinated with him - but it is so cute to watch her...

Tomorrow we leave for Mexico. We decided we would drive down to Rocky Point to take the girls to the beach - just to get away from it all for a couple of days. We plan on sleeping on the beach under a tent (just $5 a night) and our friend is allowing us to enjoy the pool during the day time over at the Las Palomas resort. We also have our other friends Carlos/Marci and their kids. So we should all have a good time together. For sure I will post pics when we get back... Adios!

I live in a dungeon....

Katelyn comes home from school today and says, "I live in a dungeon!" "All the other kids have snacks at their house - cookies, fruit snacks, drinks, soda, candy.... but we don't have any of that."

Too funny!

Funny story this morning...

So this morning Shirley was saying how tired she was since the Elin hardly slept last night and how grateful she was that she was finally sleeping. It was about 8am. She had plans that she would sleep in for awhile so that she could do some work around the house. Well Anabelle asked if she could watch Barney on TV so as Shirley put the video in to play - what she didn't realize is that the speakers upstairs were turned to LOUD, and as Barney came on - it filled the whole house with his music. By the time she was able to turn it down, both Elin and Katelyn were awake. What I thought was really quite funny was when Katelyn came downstairs she was all grumpy and when I asked what's wrong her response was, "Someone woke me up to Barney music!"

Now that has got to be worse then getting up on the wrong side of the bed....

Elin in the bath...

The girls are all taking a bath the other day and Elin climbs over to turn on the water. She actually knows how to do it, and in fact enjoys turning it on and off. Well she turns it on and to our amazement decides to start drinking from the bath faucet. I quickly grabbed my camera and leaning over the water shot this picture without looking through the viewfinder. Thought it turned out really cute - and her little reaction is adorable.

Daddy's Favorite Place

Alright so every Dad marks his favorite place in life - mine happens to be laid down on our leather sofa - feet propped up with either my laptop or remote control in hand. What's even more perfect is when Elin comes over and lays down with me to fall asleep. Love it!

Catching up...

Sorry it has taken a week or so to post - life was busy... First off, thanks Shawn for leaving some comments - the girls loved to hear from you.

So Elin has officially started taking her first steps walking. Her record so far is 4 steps. It is so cute when she walks because she puts her arms out (I suppose for balance) and moves her foot ever so gently. We are guessing that within the next week she will be taking more steps with even more confidence.

Katelyn has "graduated" from Kindergarten. Although she has a few classes left her school held a graduation and musical - which was super cute. Katelyn actually had a speaking role in the production (they chose 3 from her class).

Elin wanting to play....

Here is what I believe is a super cute picture that depicts Elin's personality perfectly. Hmm... you think... why a picture from the rear would depict her personality - the reason is because she is always wanting to play with her older sisters. Whatever it is they are doing - she wants to be right in the middle of the action. In this photo the girls were outside playing in the tent which you see in the background. As soon as Elin spotted them playing there she started her crawl from the back door down the patio walkway. I jumped down on my stomach and got this picture which to me was a perfect moment... Remember you can click on any picture in order to see a larger view of it.

Pics outside of Church

Here are a couple of cute pictures we took while outside the church... Just thought you would enjoy.

Mother's Day B-Fast in Bed

For Mother's Day Katelyn, Anabelle and I decided to make Shirley breakfast in bed. They both were so adorable when I went in their room to wake them up - they jumped out of bed with the same enthusiasm as if it was Christmas morning. While preparing the food Katelyn spilled a bowl of 16 eggs - which of course was delightful to clean up but otherwise it was lots of fun cooking with them. They were both so excited to help.

When we walked into the room to give Mommy the food both girls were smiles ear to ear. If you look close in the picture of all four you will see the typical Elin morning face. Every morning she wakes up with this beautiful morning smile...

Memorable morning for sure...

Day at the Pool

Today we went to a Grand Opening celebration at the new Anthem Community. The place was absolutely incredible. They had an enormous pool - worthy of an admission fee - with a great water park for little ones to play in. The girls had a blast.

It was kind of fun for me because I did all the signage for the event - and so I got to see a little bit of my finished work put to use.

Photo of Katelyn

Here is a cute picture of Katelyn I shot at night.

Beautiful Picture of Anabelle

Here is a super cute picture of Anabelle. In order to get this lighting I bounced my flash light off the wall to the left. She looks so cute and tender in this picture. In order to see a larger version - click on the picture.

Leave Comments...

I just made it easier to leave comments for our family on any pictures or stories you see. There is a little comments link below each story. Click on it and you can leave comments about the posting. If you tried it before and they asked you to log in - no worries about that anymore - you can now post comments to our blog without having to sign in anywhere. Thank you so much for sharing this site with us.

Anabelle breaking out of her shell

Well for the last 3 years we have witnessed Anabelle grow up in her little shell - very timid and quiet when others are around. Lately however she is starting to climb out. Some examples include - while at Barnes and Noble the other night Shirley asked her if she knew her ABC's. First off I did not know she already knows her whole ABC's (that was the first surprise) - second rather then singing them, she shouted them so everyone could her. It was very cute - but when we asked her to quiet down - she decided to sing them all over again very loud again - who knew she had it in her. While at Office Max she did something similiar but this time to the song BINGO.
Last night at a wedding reception Anabelle decided to start dancing all by herself when the song, "Celebration" came on. As she was dancing the bride went over to her and began dancing with her, which Anabelle thought was so neat. Even when people gathered to watch the two, Anabelle stayed dancing. It was absolutely adorable.
So here she comes world - breaking out of her shell!

Katelyn - Dad's Mini Me....

So the other day, Katelyn tells me she is like a little Mini Me (referring to her love of computers and graphic design). Well last night while out talking with the neighbors I heard two stories that made me laugh. One neighbor told me she was on the computer making a sign for her daughters upcoming birthday party, and Katelyn - when she noticed what she was doing - came up and said - "Hey graphic design - I love graphic design - do you want me to do it for you." A second neighbor chimed in and said when Katelyn was over at her house doing some homework (usually the neighborhood kids gather together after school at someones house and do homework together) Katelyn wrote her 7's with a line going through it. It is the same way I write 7's and is used commonly in Europe and Brazil. Well Katelyn, only knows that I write my 7's like that, and I suppose learned it from me. However when the neighbor asked about it she said, "Oh, that is how graphic designers write their 7's."

That little girl is too funn!

Where's Sanjaya?

Ok I hope this will be my last mention of Sanjaya, but I just got to mention what Anabelle asked while watching American Idol tonight.

"Where is Sanjaya? When is he going to sing? I want to see Sanjaya"

We had to break it to her that he is no longer on the show. It is too funny how she really like him! The guy was quite the entertainer!

Katelyn learning to Type...

Katelyn has a new hobby that she enjoys doing on the computer - using Microsoft Word. She has discovered how to use the program to change fonts, colors and tonight make shapes. So now instead of playing games on the internet she enjoys typing new words and playing with the program. Tonight while I was working on some customers projects, she came in and sat down next to me and said - referring to her using the computer to design pages - "Daddy, I am a mini you!" I thought that was so cute. She then grabbed one of the fliers I had created for a customer in the past and asked how I did certain parts of it. It sure will be fun to see her grow up because she truly has a keen sense of design and many artistic talents. Soon I am going to start teaching her how to use Photoshop so that she can really expand her creative mind!

Elin is now standing up...

Elin, Elin, Elin... This little girl is incredible. First she was sitting and crawling before any one ever imagined (end of 4 months) and now she is standing up on her own (just 8 months old!) But here is the even more incredible part, as of Sunday (April 29th) she can go from a sitting position, to the standing position all by herself without the aid of anyone or anything. We have some cute pictures which I post up here as soon as I get another minute. It won't be long before she is walking!

Incredible!