Looking Back at 2009

January 09 Every once in a while everyone needs to enjoy some Starbuck's!

February 09

Happy Valentines Day!

March 29th 2009

Happy Anniversary!

April 09

Happy Easter!

May 2009

Me and my precious angel niece Abigail Marie...

I love and miss her every day

June 09

Popsicle Time!

July 09

Happy 4th of July!

I made the twins dresses...and I made cake balls!

August 09

1st day of school...4th grade, 2nd grade and 1st grade - OH MY!

September 09

Birthday Palooza!

Happy birthday to Wesley, Layla and Ysabelle!!!

October 09

Happy Halloween!

My Jedi Knight, Wolf boy, Black Cat, Ladybug Baby and Baby Bee

November 09

Everybody Chillin' at the park

December 09

Fun old fashioned family Christmas!

 I can't believe how much the kids have grown this past year!!!

I feel like time is just flying by and if I blink I will miss everything!

This year my New Year's resolution (if I must have one) is

to not let worry rob me of even one minute of the brief amount of time we have together and to treasure every single moment!

Happy New Year!

Who You Surround Yourself With......

It says a lot about who you are.

I am not really sure who I am ....

Especially now......

Here is a picture of my son....it is Halloween but still......

My brother and my sister in law....She is pregnant, he is not....

I took the girls out to run errands yesterday wearing these pajamas and brown Mary Janes....have you ever had that kind of a day????

My husband requested that the next time I take the twins out in their blue Elmo pajamas and brown shoes and their hair all a mess that I might at least put some earrings in their ears...
it will most likely NOT happen...
the earrings, not the going out in pajamas....
the pajama thing will probably happen often....

I surround myself with the ones I love. I love my motley crew... every single weird, messy, wild thing about them!

Twindamonium

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you let 2 toddlers play in a bedroom alone?

Well, wonder no more! Here is exactly happens........

Layla and Ysa go to the Pumpkin Patch!

This morning we accompanied my friends preschool to a local pumpkin patch and tried to pretend that "we" go to preschool. "We" so do NOT go to preschool! The girls did not want to follow along with the other children and were petrified when they looked at them or tried to be friendly in any way. The girls did have a great time but I think they might have a ways to go before they can go on another field trip.

The girls were given a pumpkin necklace. Layla likes her necklace but not enough to say "Thank you" or make any eye contact. She did look at me whcih was more than Ysa was willing to do...

Ysa just pointed out the various features of her pumpkin... eyes, nose, smile, eyes, smile ...hmmm how long can I stare at this pumpkin face and not look up......

Now they are supposed to listen to a story and make hand motions. Layla refuses to look at the book and Ysa only wants me to hold her.

Time to get in the wagon and get this show on the road! I think I see a smile in there...maybe.

Now it is getting exciting! Oh my goodness!!!! This adorable little baby was born last night! The girls are finally ready to get out of the wagon and enjoy themselves!

Chickens!


They had a big jumping pad.....there is nothing better than a bunch of mattresses under a tarp!


The corn box was a blast! They weren't too sure about it at first.....


Layla was messy......


and Ysa dug in!


My little pumpkins!


"It's too heavy Mama."



These look like they are a better size. "How do I get them out?"


"I do it myself Mama!"


"I DID it!"



Layla says "I can do it self too!"



and she did



This team work is both impressive and frightening! They figured out how to get as many pumpkins as they could in the wagon as quickly as possible!


And then it was snack time. They finally decided to be a part of the group. Well, if you consider sitting at another table and becoming suddenly mute "part of the group". They did say "Thank you." this time... baby steps....

Uncle Bob's Birthday!

First, let me clarify for my family members that follow my blog (there are some family members still following me right???) ..... This party was for Bryan's Uncle Bob. I also have an Uncle Bob on my side of the family but then again, who doesn't?

This was Uncle Bob's 60th birthday celebration and let me tell you, it was a first class event for a first class guy! I was not the best photographer but I did manage to get in a few great pictures. We had a great time!!! We had great conversations with cousins, second cousins, Aunts and Uncles. We fully celebrated and barely humiliated the birthday boy. There was a catered lunch at a great park, a fabulous dinner topped off with an even better cake, a fabulous brunch, (wow, sounds like a lot of eating!) and to top it all off there was a group photo that went exceptionally well! We had a great time and we owe it all to the party planner extraordinaire Jean! thank you for giving the family such a wonderful gift!

Some swingin' fun! I love this age, easy to please and easy to keep an eye on at the park!

My son the "tween"....he plays the part well!

Here are the twins dumping out the juice boxes I squeezed in to the stroller - excellent!

The birthday boy! Yes, he is wearing a sash and a top hat - I said barely humiliated...

Cheers!

This is how the twins do hotel stays....take a close look at Ysa's legs...see the marker? Yes, that is how we roll, I think the Holiday Inn was glad to see us go!

A Whole New Life For The Kytes

After a lot of soul searching, praying and debating we decided it was best for our family for Bryan to get a 9-5 job. The long hours were starting to take it's toll on all of us and we decided that in order to have a happier home life we needed Bryan to be a bigger part of our day. He started to apply for a few jobs but with the economy being what it is, it was hard to even get a call back let alone an interview. We prayed constantly, kept our hopes high, and he kept looking! I am happy to announce that he now has a new job! It is a 9-5 Monday - Friday job. He started last week and seems to really enjoy it! He is already coaching Tyler's soccer team and has big plans for football Sundays (perhaps I did not think this all the way through). We are loving our new life and look forward to all of the time we will now have together!

The Stanislaus County Fair

Growing up in small town Turlock was not all that exciting EXCEPT for 2 weeks in the summer when the fair was in town! I used to go every night of the week and spend the entire evening there. This year Bryan was off on the weekend and we were able to take the kids and our friends from LA!!!! It was not exactly what I remembered but the kids sure had fun! We saw fair animals - cows, pigs, sheep, goats and tons of farm fowl, all of which Layla called "chickens". We ate fair food - pizza, gyros, and a baked potato - all on a stick! Just kidding! We rode fair rides - the boys and Bryan rode the Scrambler and Olyvia did this amazing bungee trampoline thing - watch the video, AMAZING! We played fair games - popping balloons and hurling baseballs at a metal "batter". Olyvia won a green stuffed dog and the boys won inflatable bats - excellent! It was hotter than Hades so we decided to leave after only 2 hours but I do believe we had all of the fair fun we could handle!