Never too late to share this.....

Christmas in California

What usually would take 12 hours to drive to California, took more like 14 or 15 hours with 3 little kids. But it was well worth the trip! We had such a good time in Sunny California for Christmas. It had been 2 years since we had been back for a visit. Hannah and Nathan were SO excited to visit their Grandma in Visalia. We were welcomed by Grandma Lombardo, her boyfriend Randy, Uncle Mike and girlfriend Kelly, and 6 dogs! You read right, SIX dogs!!! Five of which belong to Grandma Lombardo. The kids were in HEAVEN! The weather was so nice, not warm, but not cold either. We spent our time relaxing, watching movies, playing the wii, eating LOTS of yummy food, and shopping. So fun! We were sad to leave and multiple times on the drive home Nathan said he wanted to go to Grandma's house. Thanks mom for such a wonderful visit.

Christmas Eve trying to make a ginger bread house
this is last years house...it turned out so cute!

This years house looks more like a carport and a pitiful one at that!




Christmas Morning. Santa had come!


Uncle Mike and Kelly




Loving on Grandma


Saying Goodbye


One of the many stops on our way home.

Make a Smilebox greeting

I feel that I need to recap our happenings this past year. 2009 has been a great year for the Lombardo family. We moved into our house last year, but spent a good part of this year putting in both the front and back yard. Who knew that doing this work is so-dang-hard! We are pleased with the outcome and happy that we did it ourselves. (Actually, with the help of a lot of great neighbors).

We spent this year taking long walks, playing in the pool, hiking in the mountains, camping with cousins, visiting friends in Idaho, re-potty training Hannah, reading books, competing in a triathlon, swimming an open water 5k, starting a new business, visiting Oregon after 10 years!, making new friends, and finding old ones.

We have been richly blessed this year and love this time to reflect on our Savior who has made all of these blessings possible.

Merry Christmas!

All I want for Christmas is.....

.....MY MOM!

Abigail is 1 years old

This day came way too fast! We've been so busy lately that I didn't even plan a real party for her. Guess I can get away with that when she's little since she won't remember. Aaron and I were out of town for the weekend and when we got back I think she grew and learned a few new things. Makes me sad that children grow so quickly. Abby is close to walking, she loves to play peak-a-boo, she loves that she can follow her brother and sister around and play with them. Hannah will chase her around the floor and Abigail LOVES this game. She is a happy little thing and becoming more and more secure with her environment. We love her to pieces and as most biased parents feel, she is just perfect!

Abigail's 12mo. stats:
Length: 28" 10%
Weight: 18lbs. 12oz. 10%
Head Circ.: 44cm 10%

Thanksgiving

This was the first year that we weren't able to have Thanksgiving in my parents home. We have just grown too big! Plus, their new house is twice as small as their last house. So, they reserved the church for us to feast! It was soooo much fun! More fun than I think any of us thought it would be, since we weren't in a cozy home with mom and dad's fun decorations up. After our yummy dinner, we cleared the tables, swept the floor, and played lots of games. There was plenty of room for the kids to run wild, the adults to chit chat, and the guys to play ball. I had fun playing hide and seek with the little kids. It was down right hilarious! Aaron played a mean game of basketball. Thankfully and quite unbelieveably noone got hurt. We ended the day back at mom and dad's for pie.

I'm so thankful for family. For my own and my extended family. We don't see Aaron's family very often, but we think of them often and look forward to seeing them for Christmas.

Playing Dodge Ball



Basketball


Goofy Girls

This is for you Amy

1.Where is your cell phone? Whoever knows. Someone please call me so I can find it.
2. Your Hair? In a desperate need of a change
3. Your Mother? Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.
4. Your Father? Incredible, hard working, and knowlegable.
5. Your Favorite Food? hmm...chicken and rice, lasagna, tacos...I don't really know.
6. Your Dream Last Night? I didn't get enough sleep to have a dream dang it!
7. Your Favorite Drink? Orange Juice! I LURVE that stuff.
8. Your Dream? To watch my kids grow up and do great things.
9. What Room Are You In? Family Room
10. Your Hobby? Cooking, reading, my kiddos
11. Your Fear? Not to see my kids grow up.
12. Where Do You Want To Be In 6 Years? I hope to be right where I am now with all the people I love still right beside me.
13. Where Were You Last Night? Working in the basement with my hubby and having a grand time.
14. Something You Are Not? Super patient. Wish I were better.
15. Muffins? Pumpkin
16. Wish List Item? To have my house paid off. Would LOVE that!
17. Where did you grow up? Sandy, Utah
18. Last thing you did? Put homemade bread in the oven. Yum!
19. What are you wearing? jeans and white shirt
20. Your TV? Off
21. Your pets? None, thankfully.
22. Friends? The best in the world. Wish we all lived closer.
23. Your life? Very full and very happy.
24. Your mood? mellow, thankful.
25. Missing someone? My sister Carlee and my dear friend Jennie
26. Vehicle? Honda Oddysey
27. Something you're not wearing? socks
28. Your favorite store? Eddie Bauer, wish it wasn't so dang expensive!
29. Your favorite color? Red, green, blue.
30. When was the last time you laughed? This morning. Hannah asked Heavenly Father in her prayer if He would make Daddy a duck, and mommy a kitty cat.
31. Last time you cried? This morning, listening to a beautiful Christmas song.
32. Your best friend? Lombardo! He is the Greatest!!!
33. One place that I go to over and over? Kid to Kid
34. One person who emails me regularly? Aaron
35. Favorite place to eat? Cafe Rio

A BIG DAY

Yesterday was Grandma Eyre's traditional Christmas cookie party. The kids love this so much. How my mom has the patience for it though is beyond me. She has learned a few tricks over the years of doing this however. The kids got to scoop up chocolate chip cookies and cover them with sprinkles and also decorate sugar cookies. They LOVED it! What kid wouldn't? Nathan was hilarious to watch. My mom would give him some dough to put on the cookie sheet and when she wasn't looking he would put it in his mouth instead. So dang funny that kid! While the cookies were baking, grandma made lunch of hotdogs and cheetos. Yum! Super fun, super big mess, and another great year of memories of this fun tradition.



Abby enjoyed her cookie dough just as much as the other kids.






The other big part of this day was, Hannah got a haircut. After the daily tears, screams, the begging of me to stop brushing her hair, I decided it was time to say goodbye to the long, beautiful hair. We went to a cute place called, "Cookie Cutter" haircuts for kids. It's so fun inside. Each child sits in a cute little car, picks out a movie to watch, and then gets a balloon with a cookie cutter and a sucker to take home. How adorable is that! I really wasn't planning on cutting so much off, but when they asked if we wanted to do locks of love, I decided to go for it. In order to donate your hair, you have to give 10 inches. Yikes! I want you know, I had the full on anxiety! It was ridiculous! It's hair people!! I couldn't help myself though. This was SUCH a big step, right? lol Hannah really could have cared less. She was thrilled with her little car and movie. She does seem to be happy with her new dew and Aaron and I like it too. I really thought Aaron would have a heart attack since I didn't even warn him I was doing this. I knew he'd try to talk me out of it and I just couldn't deal with the tears one-more-day! He's happy though and hair does grow. She's bound to have long hair again.

Why I love my kids

First and foremost, the obvious, because what mother doesn't love her children? There is much to love about these three. Thinking of Hannah's birthday and reflecting on how much she has grown and changed in this past year has been somewhat emotional for me. She has such a desire to please me and help me. I love her for that. She is sensitive to not only me, but to others as well. Lately she has really been into saying I love you, but the way she says it is, "I love you SO much Mom". Precious. I love her SO much too.

Nathan is such the typical 2 year old. I had imagined him being this sweet little boy, even a mama's boy. He is sweet from time to time, but he LOVES the word no and sweet and no just don't often go together. He is still my little bud though. Always good for a laugh. I, fortunately, am not without my children very often, but on those rare times when I am away from them for a period of time, Nathan always runs to me with a great big hug, so happy that I'm home. I LIVE for those moments. For 2 years old, the kid can really talk well and I love when he says he loves me without me saying it first. His giggle is super contagious and I love to hear him laugh.

Abigail is finding her place in our family. Last night Aaron was reading the kids a story and I had Nathan and Hannah both sitting on my lap. Abby crawled over to me, yelled for me to pick her up, and sat right in the middle of them, perfectly content to be amongst her siblings. I have no doubt that she has a strong little spirit like Hannah and Nathan. She is determined, strong willed, and sometimes I really think she thinks she's bigger than she is. She loves her mama and I love her! One thing I look forward to each day is when she wakes up and I go into get her. The squeels, and jabber from her are to die for! She is SOOOO happy to see me and when I pick her up she'll either clap her hands or give me a pat on my back. A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!

I really love being a mom. I have my daily challenges and I feel the great responsibility to teach and rear them to be good, responsible, happy, loving, caring adults. There is NOTHING I'd rather be doing than this right now. There are days that I think to myself it sure would be nice if I had a nicer wardrobe, or if I could get my hair done regularly, or go shopping NOT on a budget, but then that would require me to find a job and there is no amount of money that could drag me away from these 3 little ones. I adore them and as cliche as it may sound, am so very thankful to be their mama. And I am especially thankful to their daddy, who is a wonderful provider and sees the importance of me being home with our kids as much as I do. I love him so much!

Abigail is 11 months old

This past month this little one gave us a little bit of a scare. She was running a high fever of 103 for 3 days. We took her in to be tested for everything imaginable! Found our that she doesn't have the swine flu, or regular flu. No respiratory infection. She had to have a blood sample and urine sample (that was fun let me tell ya) and after all was said and done, her tests all came back great! So why was my baby having these high fevers? Noone knows. It's a mystery. I hate that almost as much as her possibly having something. (okay not really. I am very thankful that she's healthy). I just don't like when something is clearly wrong, but we can't discover it. Ugh. Anywho, she is a doll and so much fun these days. Little munchkin is climbing all over things and walking around anything she can pull herself up to. I'm not overly anxious for her to start walking though. She has such a cute little giggle and loves to laugh. She's mischievious already, getting into all kinds of trouble. She has a thing for garbage cans, loves tipping them over and then going through it. Gross! Hmmm...maybe that's why she was sick. Anyway, she's just as precious as they come.

Hannah's Birthday

Hannah had a great 4th birthday. We had cake and ice cream at the house with Grace, Rylynn, Chadley, and Dallin. She got lots of fun gifts from her friends and family. The girl could not have been happier with all the barbies she got. :o) After cake and ice cream we went to the Legacy Center for swimming. So fun!

We can't believe that it's been four years since Hannah has been with us. She has been such a joy in our family. She regularly makes us laugh and she is such a big helper for me. I'm so grateful that she is our first because she is loving, and caring to her younger brother and sister. We love you so much Hannah Bobanna!

Typical Hannah picture








Swimming at the Legacy Center