Sarcastic Family Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas Everyone:
This year Garrett got so much smarter.  He figured out how to unlock the safety latch at the top of the door, and he totally figured out how to walk to McDonalds by himself with bare feet and how to go swimming by himself in the neighborhood pool in boxers and a T-shirt.  He made some new friends with the nice policemen by McDonalds.  He was such a good boy, getting us to install the security beep that goes off anytime a door or window to outside opens.  He also figured out potty training and did pretty great on that...He hasn't quite figured out the wiping part yet, but he is very resourceful and uses my bedspread instead.
Caiti's so comfortable in her own skin.   She loves it so much, she rarely feels the need for clothes.  Why bother with clothes when you have such pretty skin.  She figured out that if you fall limp to the floor and scream, people might not bother you as much.  She also figured out that if you pee outside, you can make your own mud.  This year, Caiti discovered the joy of getting her toys wet in the sink or trying to flush them down the toilet.  We luckily know the maintenance guys on a first name basis, so I guess I can thank her for that...don't know if the maintenance guys do since they have to unclog the toilet so often.
Jason figured out that it is so much fun to dump any sort of liquid left anywhere out on the floor.  He likes to leave pretty designs, like the one he just left me from pouring out a bottle of Sour Cherry syrup.  He loves his siblings...so cute.  In fact, he's trying to be like them...like the day he snuck outside in bare feet, and ran down the road, where Garrett and Caiti's bus driver picked him up and brought him back home.
All in all, we're all progressing in our own little ways.  Merry Christmas to all!
Love the Roaches.

Our Halloween Pumpkins :)

This year we got cute little baby pumpkins and used the fun Happy Meal Mr. Potato Head stickers to decorate them.  We loved them.  I let my kids choose which stickers to use, and then they were so good and put them pretty much in the right place.  I love them!

Happy 6th Birthday Caiti!

This year we decided to have a party for Caiti and combine it with the ward trunk or treat.  We invited her aunt Michelle and her tutors, Whitney and Kim.  We had yummy pies instead of cake.  Of course, it was fun to watch Caiti open her presents.  She loved all of her fun new friends and pretty things.

 We were grateful Whitney brought her camera to capture everything, especially us singing her her Birthday song:

 The ward Halloween party actually went pretty well.  We split up, and Kevin had the duty of passing out candy.  Caiti went with Whitney and Aunt Michelle and basically did her own thing (she was in a very contrary mood...so fun), Garrett got to hang out with his buddy Kim, and I got to carry Jason around trunk or treating because in the craziness I forgot to put his shoes on.  Sigh...  I was proud of us because we actually decorated our trunk this year. 

When we got home, we thought it would be fun to get a pic of everyone in their costumes (I was a ladybug because Caiti didn't want to wear the wings and I didn't want to waste them, Garrett was Officer Muscles, Caiti was Elmo...or Tinkerbell without wings...depending when you caught her, Jason was Thomas the Train, and Michelle was a flapper.  As always, Kevin was a Canadian).  I was so not surprised by the results.  :)

Garrett Swimming (courtesy of Aunt Michelle)

and

Date with Caiti

Since Kevin is on leave from work because he just got home from deployment, we decided to take advantage of the Hero Salute at Sea World (free for active duty military and their family once a year).  We figured she would be in heaven because she loves water, animals and especially Sesame Street, and Sea World has the funnest little place for cute kids called Sesame Place.  Right when we got in the park, I took Caiti to see the Orca Whales.  She was really excited for a second...until she decided she wanted to go swimming with them.  I had to use all of my strength to hold her back and then spend way too much on a cookie to distract her.  Kevin and I decided she would probably want to go swimming in all the exhibits, so we skipped the actual Sea World part of the park and went straight to Sesame Place.

 
I took Caiti on the Abby Cadabby Spinning Jellyfish Ride.  She couldn't decide what she thought of it.  She took turns screaming angrily and trying to get out and laughing.  It was funny...

Kevin got to take her on the next ride.  I was very proud of her for how good she was while they waited in line.  :)

For someone who loves when we give her rides, and spinning and all that...she HATED the Elmo Flying Fish ride.  Kevin did too.  He was freaked out cause Caiti kept screaming and trying to get out of her seatbelt.  Needless to say, he didn't end up flying the fish very high.

The Sesame Street Characters put on a Halloween show.  So Caiti got to see the Count, Telly and Abby Cadabby in person.  She loved it.  However, they started singing a song where everyone clapped to the numbers.  That was a bit too much sensory input for her.  So we decided we'd been there long enough.

On the way out of Sea World, we walked by someone famous' house.  It was the cutest thing ever.  Caiti got to go up and knock on Oscars trash can.  Then she said,"Hi Oscar!"  :)  He let her pet him.  That made the rest of the day worth it to see her so happy and excited. 

Date with Jason

Kevin and I had respite today, so we decided to go on a date, and take Jason with us so he could spend some time with his daddy.  I had originally planned a date to a seafood restaurant and then a trip to the aquarium...that didn't happen.  :)  When we got to what I thought was the seafood restaurant, they had gone out of business and it was some ritzy brunch place.  Sigh.  We ate there anyway.  However, brunch ended up costing $50 (all we had was an omelet and a personal breakfast pizza...never going there again).  Gulp.  So I decided spending another $33 at the aquarium wasn't the best idea. We were just down the road from La Jolla Cove, though.  So went on a nice walk with a SUPER ORNERY Jason to the cove and took a look at the seals.  We didn't stay long though cause a certain cute little boy wasn't being so cute.  We did get to drive by the temple though.  It is so beautiful.

 

Kevin's Homecoming

Kevin's homecoming was today.  Needless to say we had a busy couple of days beforehand.  For Jason's therapy we went on an outing to Target...so that I could get some new clothes for the homecoming.  I thought Whitney was a great stylist.  I think Jason liked not being stuck in the therapy room too.  :)

Kevin had told me he would call me when he wanted me to come get him...but I was impatient, so I went to the base and waited at the ship.  So boring.  He took forever.  He called me up and told me to go home because he'd be a couple of hours.  I told him No!!!!  Then he said, "Dang it Christine!  I tried to surprise you!"  It turns out he had found a ride home and wanted to surprise me at home.  We both thought we were going to surprise each other.  It was so nice to see my handsome hubby.

Michelle was so nice and made the sign for the garage because I was sooo busy with everything else.  :)

Here is our attempt at a self portrait.  I kind of love it. 

Kevin was able to meet the kids' bus.  I don't think they knew what to think at first....

But that didn't last too long.  :)

Garrett was even back to his old favorite sitting position...on daddy's shoulders.  But he's much bigger now, so I don't think daddy's going to let him do that as much.  

Michelle watched the kids overnight so Kevin and I could go stay at a hotel and catch up and have some alone time.  That was great.  I love my honey, and I'm so glad he's home.

Jason's Vocab

We don't normally do his vocab outside, but my camera isn't the best when I film inside.  We wanted to post this so Kevin could see how excited Jason is and how well he knows his daddy's name.  :)

A Visit from Mom, Dad and Nicole!!!!! - Part 2

Wednesday was supposed to be Michelle's day with mom, but she let me spend some time with her while she and Nicole went wave boarding.  Mom and I decided to take the kids to Balboa park and ride the train there.  Little did we know, the train only runs on weekends and holidays...kind of the opposite of everywhere else.  So we have proof we went there cause we took a couple pics.  It was a nice little walk, after all.

We met up with Michelle and Nicole at Michelle's apartment for some Little Ceasar's, and then Nicole and I were able to go back to my house and spend some time together and let our kids mingle with each other.  I loved seeing Caiti "wearing" Aunt Nicole's swimming suit.  :)

Thursday was their last day here before driving home.  I got to spend it with my daddy.  :)  We decided to go to the Mormon Battallion first.  Daddy entertained me by calling the wall with the talking photos the Brady Bunch wall.  We both have the same attention span, so we weren't too sad to leave in the middle of the tour cause mom was calling us to tell us she had the memory card for daddy's camera.  We were able to eat lunch in the Oldest Restaurant in Old Town.

We decided to walk off our enormous lunch by touring Old Town.  We went in the back way to see the Mexican part first.  It was absolutely beautiful and so fun to walk around in.  Daddy and I met another artist, of whom I liked a bunch of his work.  We also took a bunch of pictures to get some inspiration for daddy's paintings. 

After seeing the Mexican part of Old Town, we weren't that impressed with the other part, so we decided to go ahead and drive over to Balboa Park.  It was very nice because we were able to see so many beautiful buildings and spend some quality time together.  I even got a tour of the San Diego Museum of Art by my expert father.  :)  We were excited to see a sculpture by Niki De Saint Phalle out in front of the museum.  She is the awesome sculptor who created Queen Califia's Magical Circle where my children LOVE to go.

After an enjoyable day with my daddy, we headed back to Coronado Island, and Nicole, her kids, Michelle, Mom, Dad and I were able to have an absolutely delicious Mexican dinner together.  After dinner, we went to the condo they were staying in and were able to watch "The Masonic Map," the movie Nicole was in, and the reason mom and dad were out West (for her premier).  I thought she did a good job and it made me smile to see me wonderful, nice sister pointing a gun.  :) 

I LOVED this visit and of course I was sad when they left...but I'm so glad they came!

A Visit from Mom, Dad and Nicole!!!!! - Part 1

Thanks to my sister Nicole, I was able to see my parents who I miss so much, and have a great time with Nicole and her cutie pie kids, Camden and Noelle.  It was wonderful!

My kids were so happy to see Grandma and Grandpa.  I will always remember the way Garrett looked when he saw Grandpa in the room.  :)  We didn't do much the first day, just visited.  Everyone was tired from their long drive.

The second day was my day to spend with mom and Nicole.  :)  Of course we had fun, because hello, we are fun girls!  We first drove to the San Diego Temple and walked around the beautiful grounds.  I especially enjoyed Camden's pose for me.  He said, "Aunt Christine, take my picture!"

We were able to have brunch at the beach, and then Nicole took me on an awesome kayaking tour of La Jolla Caves.  We had expected to kayak inside the caves, but instead we kayaked to the caves and then back.  On our kayaking expedition we were able to see all kinds of fun sea birds, a tiger shark, a seal...some athlete being brave and swimming in the waves...  I was very proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone.  That was a lot of fun and very nice of Nicole to do for me.  :) 

I got to spend the rest of my day visiting with my wonderful mommy.  That is about perfect.  :)

My Favorite Day of the Year!

Today was the first day of school.  I was a happy mommy.  Garrett and Caiti got to go back to their same class with their same friends.  Jason had a mix up with transportation, so he will be going to his old class for the first couple of weeks...until they get that straightened out, then he will be in a class at Miller.  So all my kids will be in walking distance.  Yay!
I thought they all looked adorable for the first day...and I loved that when they were gone, I could have a nap without calling a babysitter.  That is the secret to being a happy mom.  ;)

Hats

Garrett thinks it is fun to wear daddy's hat. I think he's handsome like his daddy...just wish the pic wasn't so blurry.

Jason loves hats too. He thinks the soccer cone makes a great hat!

I like the background best.

Jason's ABA tutor asked me to take a picture of myself for his vocabulary flash cards.  I'm glad he's learning "Mommy!"  Anyway, these are my attempts.  :)

...and finally got one.