Happy 5th Birthday Serenity!

My baby girl is 5! I can't believe it!!! She celebrated her birthday at Pump It Up with friends and family. It was so much fun and worth every penny!! Auntie Misty, Uncle Danny, Izzy, and Chase spent the night which made her birthday extra special. She is so happy and proud that she is 5. When she meets someone she says "I'm 5!"

Playing in the leaves

Serenity and Landen have been obsessed with making leaf piles and jumping in the leaves. Friends came over one day to join in the fun. They played outside for an hour just playing in the leaves. What fun it is to be a kid!

Happy New Year!

I have tons to post but having issues with getting the pictures off my cf card onto the MAC... I usually use the PC and it has gone to the crapper, so hopefully I will figure it out soon :)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2009 will be full of changes for our family. The biggest change will be the smallest... our baby boy will be arriving March 10th unless he decides to come before that, which as long as he is healthy, mommy does not object :) We will be starting off the new year with our last trip to Disneyland before our Season passes expire. We are very excited and will definitely be buying season passes again once the little guy is older.

So much happened in 2008... we have been blessed in countless ways and we are all very thankful to our Heavenly Father for all our blessings. I am proud of my accomplishments! Usually when I set goals I only achieve 1 or 2, but this year I tried to set goals that were attainable, but still allowed for some reaching.
Goals I accomplished:
1. Went on a family vacation with Doug and bonus points for Doug and I going on a cruise by ourselves
2. Read the scriptures daily - now I can't say 365 days, but I would say 90%. We read the scriptures each night as a family.
3. Start Heartfelt Blessings Club
4. Don't gain weight - this goal is just a void since I became pregnant mid year gaining weight was inevitable.
5. Read 4 books, Twilight again, Breaking Dawn, Eclipse again, and New Moon again, and I am halfway through Tori Spellings book.
6. Clear Teaching Credential

Goals that are still works in progress:
1. Golfing - I didn't get to go to an actual course, but we've got plenty of practice on the Wii and Landen and I would play at Papa and Rassie's house
2. FHE - we did not hold it every Monday, but I would say we did it at least once a month
3. Scrapbook twice a month - I did scrapbook once a month
4. Simplify - an ongoing goal
5. Be a better friend - I can always be better :)
6. Start Masters program - I have been researching, but haven't officially started anything.

Merry Christmas!

We have been blessed with a wonderful Christmas with family and friends! We wish everyone a very blessed Christmas, saying a special prayer tonight for our fellow Americans who are in the armed forces along with their families and for their endless sacrifice. May we all remember the reason we celebrate this joyous holiday season!

White Elephant Gifts

So we were invited to a party where we were to bring white elephant gifts. I always have a difficult time with these because sometimes people bring really nice things, but I found two ideas that I LOVE and will use again in the future. They were both a hit and one of them will continue being a white elephant re-gift for that same party years to come. I took a picture of Doug and blew it up to an 8x10 then he signed it "The Man, Doug Brandow" and we framed it. This was the hit of the party! The second one was we bought a tin filled with candy, we took a picture of the kids eating a piece of the candy and then they took a bite of each candy in the box and we put the picture on top. We did put a $5 gift card to Target in the bottom of the box :)

Happy Birthday Papa!

My Daddy celebrated his 60th birthday on the 10th! We went out to linner (lunch/dinner) at Angelini's YUM! Then we headed over to my Grandma's for cake and presents. Hope he had a fabulous day we loved celebrating with him!!!

Li'l Lancer Practice

Serenity had the opportunity to dance/cheer as a Li'l Lancer again this year! Complete opposite of last year, she was to the other extreme... super silly and would not stop talking. She had a great time!

Baby Dylan

We were lucky enough to spend some time with Auntie Cindy and Baby Dylan last week. The kids loved playing with them. Serenity wanted to hold him the entire time... she was such a big helper. He is the sweetest thing ever, we love Baby Dylan!

It's a BOY!

K, so I thought for sure I was going to be able to wait and not find out what we were having until the baby was here, but I couldn't. I am sooooo glad we found out!! This way we could prepare Miss Serenity. When we told her we were having a boy she cried! Like seriously cried and was so upset!! I told her that we would get to do girly things and leave the boys home with daddy... she liked that idea. We went to the Carter's outlet the next day and she loved picking out baby boy clothes for the baby... she wanted to get everything!! Now, we just have to figure out a name... we are having a really difficult time, but we have 4 months to think of one.

VOTE!

I know a lot of American's are negative and feel crappy about the position our nation is in, but we need to remember how BLESSED we truly are and today is proof of what a wonderful nation we live in... We are able to take a stand and VOTE for a better tomorrow! Having a father who fought for our country and having friends' little brothers over in Iraq right now, it is imperative that WE go out and VOTE today... that is one of the freedoms men and women have died for us to keep!

Happy Halloween

This year Serenity was Ariel aka: The Little Mermaid and Landen was Mickey Mouse once again. Ren got to wear her costume quite a few times so we definitely got our money's worth plus it will be great for dress up. There was a parade at her pre-school where she smiled and waved (a huge improvement from her sassy face and hiding behind the teacher last year). We went to the Ward Harvest Festival and then of course we got to tick-or-treat on Halloween night. We had fun going house to house with the Anderson Family! Oh and it was the cutest thing... before we left for trick-or-treating Ren was handing out candy at our house, and every time the doorbell rang she would get so excited and say, "More customers!"

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

So I think we had the bunk beds less than 3 weeks and Landen decided to jump off the ladder... and in turn, broke his right elbow. He had to have it in a cast for 4 weeks and now we are suppose to be "careful" for two more weeks... a 3 year old little boy and the word careful are rarely in the same sentence. He is happy to have it off especially during bath time.

Friendly Pumpkin Patch

Serenity's cute little friend Jackson put together a trip to the pumpkin patch! It was so much FUN! All the little friends were taught how pumpkins grow from seed to pumpkin, they got to go on a tractor ride, feed the farm animals, and pick out any pumpkin they wanted. Then we ate our sack lunches under the shady trees. Serenity and Landen had a wonderful time!

Pumpkin Patch

We continued the tradition for the 3rd annual Brandow Family trip to Historic Cobb Ranch to visit the pumpkin patch. The kids had a fun time bouncing in the bounce house which by the way cost $2 per kid for 5 minutes, hell-o!!! Anyway, we visited the animals, climbed the hay, did the rope maze where Ren totally ran into a rope it was flippin hilarious, and then of course Landen and Serenity picked out a pumpkin.

5 things

I actually have a lot of things to catch up on and pictures to post, but I'm being lazy and going to do a tagged post instead :)

Each question has to have 5 answers...

What I was doing 10 years ago?

1. Going to school at Modesto Junior College
2. Missing Doug he was playing football in Pennsylvania
3. Coaching cheerleading
4. Living at Grammie's house
5. Hanging out with friends.

What are 5 things on my to do list today?

1. Go to Family Reunion
2. Get Baby Dylan a baptism gift
3. Get lesson ready for church tomorrow
4. Go to Harvest Festival at church
5. Call Dougie

What are my favorite snacks?

(Since I'm prego my snacks have changed a little)
1. Cheese
2. Apples
3. Red VInes
4. Nuts
5. Lemon yogurt

5 Places I've lived

1. My parents house in Turlock, CA
2. My Grammie's house in Turlock, CA
3. Rented house in Ripon, CA
4. FIrst house in Ripon, CA
5. Fresno, CA

5 jobs I've had

1. Modesto A's usherette, dance team, and promotions (2 seasons)
2. Roger's Jewelers Credit Department
3. Pre-school/Day Care teacher
4. Substitute Teacher
5. MOM

The Beach

Finally, my children are no longer deprived of the beach thanks to Uncle Danny and Aunt DD! We went to Pismo to watch Jordan play football, which he totally ROCKED!! Then we were lucky enough that Dougie didn't get called into a trauma to stay until Saturday. We had such a fun time and happened to be in town the weekend of the Harvest Festival. Uncle Danny drove a fire truck in the parade and Serenity and Landen and Doug were lucky enough to ride with him. Landen is still talking about the fire truck and the beach! Thanks so much Danny, Deanna, Jordan, and Keanu for having us! We also got to go to the Avila Barn where Landen took some pictures... these are for you Uncle Danny. :)

Curly Q

We put curlers in Ren's hair a couple of weeks ago and curly doesn't even begin to explain what her hair looked like. At first she hated it, but then she got used to it!

Bunk Buddies

With the new baby coming in March we are doing some cleaning and rearranging. We are very blessed to have a four bedroom home. Thanks to Aunt Dawna we bought Tanner's "old" bunk beds from her and put them in Ren's room. We are now in the process of combining Landen and Ren's room and making Landen's room into the baby's room. The first night I think it took them 3 hours to finally stop talking and go to sleep. Each night is a challenge trying to get them to sleep, but I am hoping by the time baby comes home they will be adjusted. I know it is probably wishful thinking :) They are having fun that is for sure.

Happy 3rd Birthday Landen!

My little boy is now 3! I can't believe how the time has flown by. Instead of having a party this year we decided to go to Disneyland to celebrate his birthday. My mom and brother came with us, which made it even more fun. His birthday was on Saturday so we ate at Goofy's Kitchen for a late breakfast and then hit Disneyland. We took a late nap and then had pizza and Landen opened a couple presents... his favorite were a toss up between the cars suitcase and the golf clubs. Papa already has him golfing!! Then we went to Disneyland until 12am! After spending 3 days between Disneyland and California Adventure we were excited to come home! The kids did not sleep the entire way home, they talked, and talked, and talked some more, and then the last hour they sang "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" like a broken record!!

Ren's 1st day of School

Today was Serenity's first day of pre-kindergarten at Children's Activity Center. She was all decked out in hello kitty from head to toe. She was excited to play and see all her friends. Mommy was shocked at how easily she went to her class without a tear or a fight or anything... this is HUGE for Miss Serenity. I was sooooo proud of her. She had a fabulous day!

Dancing Machine

So, Serenity has decided to take a stab at dancing. She always gets really excited and then says she is too shy. Some days I have to throw her in the studio and then there was a day like today where she went with little struggle. It is all a control thing, because once she is in there she loves it and can't stop smiling. They first do tap... they have been doing a little routine to Where's my gal? It is adorable! Ballet is second and she loves when the stuffed kitty and dog watch them and then give them kisses after they are done. When she gets out she always asks,"Did I do such a good job?" And of course I say "Yes, you did wonderful!"

Oh Landen-poo

I had to take a picture of Doug today for a hospital requirement and of course Mr. Landen wanted some of the action. He was being so silly. When I woke Landen up from his nap today he was soooo hilarious. He was totally out of it and he kept saying, "Where's my tail, where's my tail?" while turning in circles trying to see his bum and feeling for "his tail". I asked if he was dreaming and he smiled. Later he told me he was dreaming that he was a kitty. WOW! I was seriously laughing forever.

I am so blessed...

I have such wonderful and thoughtful friends. You know when you have those friends that you can count on ALL the time. No matter what is going on in either of your lives you both are there for each other. I have been blessed with several such friends. Today my friend Angela, called me up and said I fixed chicken enchiladas and I am bringing some over :) She is always so thoughtful... always calling to see how I'm feeling and taking the kids for play dates... oh, what would I do without her (I don't want to imagine it :) And I even have a friend who is feeling just as crummy as I am and calls to check on me... I am so lucky. Thank you to all my friends... I am truly such a blessed girl.

A picture off my phone

I finally downloaded all my pictures off my phone... there were some funny ones... here is one of my favorites of Landen in an empty shelf at Target.

The Fair

I have gone to the Stanislaus County Fair every year since I was a little girl so we went once again this year. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a wonderful time. We ate YUMMY food!!! The kids painted a tile, discovered dinosaurs (Landen didn't like that experience too much), they rode some rides, and won 2 goldfish!