Hello, World! 2020 is here.

Old Red House

OK, so I laugh when I read that I was behind on my blog for “6 months” when I last posted,… um… 3 YEARS AGO. Hahahahah!

So definitely the world has changed in 3 years. Couple big things, we sold our “red” house and moved to a new house, and well, the coronavirus pandemic hit in March.

OH and I spent a chunk of change trying to un-bug my website which had spammy links in it and other weird-ness going on. Happens when you ignore a website for so long. Yes, I code and design website for a living, but can’t manage to make my own. 🙂 Similar saga on my teeth… but that’s another story, for another blog which i won’t have time to write.

Anyway, I might be hopping on here to write stuff, but it seems like Facebook and Instagram are the ways to do this nowadays. Blogs are so 2000’s. Amirite?

If you are reading this then, WELCOME because I just password protected this thing. I don’t want just *anyone* reading this, only family and friends!

Halloween Night 2017 – Trick-or-Treating

Halloween 2017

Happy Halloween! HEY! I have totally lagged on this blog! My last post was from MARCH and before then i was behind by about another 6 months as well! So i basically update this like twice a year! I decided right now, i am just going to try my best to keep it current, and if i have time i will back-log the blog (LOL).

We just threw an AWESOME Halloween Party this past weekend. Dedicated blog post to that will be added soon, so check back Mom (is anyone else reading this thing anymore?!)

On to the subject at hand! My little (growing) pumpkins! Sometimes it can be a little difficult to keep up with them, they are always so active! Thankfully

Halloween 2017

Melanie wanted to be Princess Sofia from the Disney cartoon “Sofia the First”. The dress was a little long on her but she did an excellent job holding up the entire night. In fact, she didn’t even trip once… well until the very end of the night as we are walking up our very own stoop to get candy from our own house, which was being manned by Uncle Pat!

Halloween 2017

Vincent dressed up as Harry Potter. Jeff had just finished reading the first book to him. He is pretty convincing, isn’t he? Or maybe he just cast a spell on me…

Halloween 2017

Agh, a half-way decent picture of them both smiling — too bad i can’t get it in focus. Good enough i guess.

Halloween 2017

As i mentioned earlier, Uncle Pat was visiting from out of town and we asked him to man our house and give away candy while Jeff and I were out with he kiddos trick-or-treating. I had made 18 candy bags, and they were gone by the time we got back, which is a pretty decent number for our house. We live on a block where not a lot of people turn on their light, so we get excited to have trick-or-treaters come by.

Halloween 2017

A blurry photo of the front of our house. We had lots decorations to use because of our Halloween Party.

Halloween 2017

Pumpkins carved by Vinny and Jeff.

Halloween 2017

Melanie and Vinny love ringing the doorbell. So much so that the recurring issue was Vincent pressing the doorbell repeatedly since he couldn’t hear it go off.

Halloween 2017

First stop is our neighbors with the boat and a young boy who i recently learned Vincent met at the gym, and they go to school together. Funny story.

Halloween 2017

“Say trick-or-treat, thank you, Happy Halloween!”

Halloween 2017

And here they are with their loot. I asked them each which is their favorite candy. Melanie said “all of them!” but i think her favorite is Nerds. And well I asked Vinny but he never answered me (typical) — but the first candy he ate was a lollipop.

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Snow Trip 2017

We wanted to plan a fun snow trip this year, especially since we got a lot of snow in the sierras this year. We decided to go to Leland Snow Park which is about a 3 hour drive from our place. We rented a cute cabin that was literally steps away from the park. It was really a perfect location and a perfect vacation! We drove up on Friday morning , and left on Sunday afternoon. The weather had been warming up the week before, so it was not very cold, and in fact didn’t really even need jackets! But there was still plenty of snow.

Leland Snow
The kids liked all the stairs that led up the condo, and we even had two flights inside, one from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor, and one from the 2nd floor to loft that was a spiral staircase. I didn’t think to take pictures of the inside when i was there, but it was part of the highlight of our trip as well.

Leland Snow
Melanie making a snow ball.

Leland Snow
Walking in the snow.

Leland Snow
Vinny was disappointed after getting up from this picture because it didn’t work so well…

Leland Snow
There is Dad!

Leland Snow
Beautiful snow and trees.

Leland Snow
I think i took these from the balcony of the condo. Look at the sunset!

Leland Snow
Clear blue skies. Leland has lifts you take you innertube up and go sliding down the hill. Vinny was way into it, and could go on the big runs. Melanie could only go on the little run that you had to walk/tow up.

Video of Vinny going down the big hill – view from the top:

Video of me doing down the hill – view from the bottom (yep i’m screaming its pretty fast!):

Video of Melanie and me going down the baby hill:

Happy Girl’s Day 2017

My mom sent a little package for Melanie and she was happy to have puff rice for her morning snack (in the car on the way to daycare). Also enjoy a few more recent photos of my girl! She is always happy to pose for a smiley photo.

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Super cute outfit fromy my coworker Tina – i never usually buy her any “sets” but this one had a track jacket, shirt, and workout pants!

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And her hair is finally long enough to put in a pony tail!

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She is also my shopping buddy. Here she is being silly at Costco.

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She came to the mall with me one weekend and i treated her to Coldstone ice cream.

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A photo that Pop-pop took of her. She is getting too big for those Frozen shoes (and the jacket!) Look at her crazy hair.

We got a new fence!

The gate on the side of our property was kind of a pain to open, so we finally got a new one!

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Ironically between the time we talked to the contractor and the time that he did the work, we had this horrible wind-storm that shut down power, blew over fences, made trees go down everywhere, hitting cars, and blocking freeways! It was me who was stuck on on the 101 for five hours on my commute into work in the morning. A whole bunch of eucalyptus tress went down blocking BOTH northbound and southbound traffic. It was nuts. Won’t ever forget that day or the spot i was stuck in.

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Melanie’s 3rd Birthday Party

We held Melanie’s 3rd birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. We had a Frozen theme since she was talking about it for months. It’s pretty easy to do a party there, just reserve the time, pick out what kind of food you want (we had pizzas, appetizers like chicken nuggets and wings, and some sub sandwiches). We could bring out own cake, and the kids all got tokens to play with and for the big kids and adults we got some virtual games of every type.

Melanie's 3rd Birthday
My camera was on the wrong setting so all my pictures were blurry! Thankfully Bonnie took some great photos for me!

Melanie's 3rd Birthday

Melanie's 3rd Birthday

Melanie's 3rd Birthday

Melanie's 3rd Birthday

Melanie's 3rd Birthday

Melanie's 3rd Birthday

The funniest part was when she went in the ticket blaster to get tickets. She caught a few in her hand, but not very much! Vinny had a blast (get it) in there, and caught more than here. At the very end, there was one that landed on his head. Haha! Here is the video of it:

Melanie's 3rd Birthday

Analyzing a scary pic of Charlotte.

Melanie’s First Dentist Appointment

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I took the kids to the dentist today, and it was Melanie’s first time.

Vincent went to get checked first. He was a very good patient. The hygienist flipped the light on, and it shined in his face. He said whoa, that’s bright! I’m going to close my eyes!

When it was Melanie’s turn, he helped her up on to the exam table, and then offered some brotherly advice – “now be brave, and close your eyes so the light doesn’t shine in it”.

And apparent he “loves that thing” (spin brush) haha! Kids.

Christmas 2016

Christmas season 2016

My parents and sister came up to visit us for Christmas.

Christmas season 2016

We made some cookies for Santa on christmas eve.

Christmas season 2016

Vinny couldn’t wait to open presents in the morning.

Christmas season 2016

Vinny got his hot wheels.

Christmas season 2016

Melanie wanted everything Frozen!

After the opening of gifts at our house we went to Pop-pop and Oma’s for lunch and more presents.
Christmas season 2016

Christmas season 2016

Melanie entertained us with her signing using her new Frozen microphone.

Christmas season 2016

She also was able to play doctor with her new doctor set (She says she wants to be one when she grows up)

Christmas season 2016

More Hot Wheels from Pop-pop and Oma.

Christmas season 2016

Jeff wanted to burn a fire, and Mochi was so amazed – she just loved it.

Christmas season 2016

Christmas Portraits 2016

We had Pop-pop come over and take a photo for our Christmas card, and i also tried to take some of the kiddos. Vinny was acting up and started crying after not paying attention/listening, so we only got a few shots to choose from.

Christmas Portrait 2016-FINAL

Christmas Portraits 2016

I took a few more later in the week, and were able to get some good individual shots of the kids.

Christmas Portraits 2016

Christmas Portraits 2016

Christmas Portraits 2016

Christmas Portraits 2016

Christmas Portraits 2016

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Christmas Portraits 2016

Meeting Santa 2016

Christmas season 2016

Vinny had Santa visit his school on a Saturday, so we went to pay him a visit.

He asked for Hot Wheels she asked for Elsa.


© Copyright 2014 Diane & Jeffrey