The Amberly Angels are a group of women in our neighborhood and we all get together twice a month for event nights and Bunco nights. This is a shot of some of the ladies in the group at the bowling alley!
And of course some of the guys!
Here's the whole group! We all forgot how much fun good old bowling can be! :)This video was taken in late January when Gabriel discovered his first expression, "Uh Oh!" in this video, I had to catch the beginning of saying the phrase, so he doesn't say the whole expression, just "Uh." He is now pro at it and often drops things on the floor or pulls something down from a shelf just to say it! It is so cute to watch that connection they make with a certain action=certain response!
Last month on January 20th, this is what our house looked like in the storm that dumped about 6-8 inches of snow onto the streets all around our neighborhood and the surrounding area! It was great!
Needless to say, we had some eager kids anticipating play time out in the snow!
From the previous night until about noon or 1 pm that same day, the snow was coming down quite hard, so we all played inside at our neighbors house for a couple of hours and enjoyed some hot cocoa!
After lunch, the snow fall finally stopped and so the kids went back out after having braved it for a little while that morning. They collected enough snow to make a snow man (with the parents help of course!) We had a mini carrot and some raisins for the facial features. :)
Later that afternoon, we all found a great hill to sled down that was just a few blocks away and had a great time with a bunch of other neighbors who had the same idea! The snow lasted or rather didn't melt away for about two more days, so we enjoyed a little bit more play time in it and a bit more sledding too. This was on January 19th, the evening before the "big snow storm" of 2009! The kids must have sensed it was coming since they were wild! I just thought I would include them wrestling around the empty diningroom (now filled with my new table! ) since they were pretty cute together. :)
It was Janurary 11th. We managed to actually capture Gabriel's first real set of steps (aside from the 2 or 3 other times he took a couple little ones) This video was actually 6 steps I think and he had never taken that many in a row before! It was very exciting as you can tell from my shrieking! :)
All lined up and ready to play at My Gym!
The Gym was nice enough to focus the activities around our party theme, Robots!
Ayden, the boy of the day flying around the circle!
The robot cake that we spent all evening and into the night making. Julio thought I was crazy...I made the cake from scratch and the chocolate ganache filling. Julio came up with the candy control panel, etc. We had quite a bit left over...the robot was huge!
A family shot at the party! Of course Ayden is busy shoving cake into his mouth! It was a great time!
I think we celebrated Ayden's birthday about 5 times during December and January! On his real birthday, we hung out with the neighbors, played in the empty lots in our development and had some dinner and cake with them. Here are Lucy and Ayden having fun playing outside!
Gabriel was cold, but he had some fun in the mud too!
Here they are at cake time. This little boy is Lucy's little brother Quentin. They look oh so thrilled because Lucy didn't like something and is down on the floor throwing a little fit. :)
A fun present from Granny and Papi! Cardboard building blocks! Oh the things you can make with those things!
On one of our outings with the Lukacs', we went to this great park near by their house. Julio put Gabriel in the swing and he loved it!! I think he may have sat in a swing before, but didn't really notice. He noticed this time. :)
Whao!!!
Yahhh!!!
I'm having fun!!!
Ayden was "so swong" (as Ayden like to say 'so strong') to climb to the top of this rope structure with Daddy.
Before leaving to go back home, we were able to go out to breakfast with Granny, Papi, Frank and Brandon to celebrate Papi's birthday on December 29th!
Cute cousins!
I love this shot of Uncle Frankie and Brandon!
The yummy ice cream cake!
The pinata...this of course went over well with Ayden. "I get to smack something with a stick?" Really, I won't get in trouble?"
My sister invited their friends over. The same family as the earlier post of all of us bowling. Lots of boys and one more too...Brandon. Oh and I forgot to mention Benjamin. He was only days old. :)
Yahhhhh!!!!!!!!! Candy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even Gabriel got to take a slide down the bouncy house slide!
Julius got carried away as usual with the party planning and rented this gigantic jumpy house! It was loads of fun though!
This is Brandon and Julio jumping together!
Jake and Ayden posing with their new matching batman costumes. Jake's birthday is on Jan. 23 and Ayden's is the 1st of January, so for about two years now, we have celebrated them together before we leave CA after Christmas.
Ayden as Batman!
Happy Dads!
Ayden was so excited to try bowling for the first time, which of course doesn't surprise anyone! He loves anything active...such a love for life this child!
The lucky "10" balls! It had been years since I went last, it was a lot of fun!
Marcie in action!
Here I am trying to give Ayden some tips on how to roll the ball down the alley. It was one of my thoughts for giving the ball enough ummmff to get it all the way down there!
We had fun out with The Lukacs' friends, the Slay's. They have four boys under the age of 9! People must have been thinking, "Do you all think you have enough boys?" We had a 8 month old, a 2 year old, a 3 year old, two 4 year olds, a 5 year old, a 6 year old and a 9 year old...enough! :)
If you've been following this blog or know Ayden, he has been into all things robot! So, I asked my dad if he could find Ayden a real robot for Christmas. So, here is Ayden's "coolest" toy from Christmas...The Robosapien! It is amazing what this thing can do! 
Gabriel's favorite Christmas toy was this peg set from Grandma Gayle!
Checking out what Robosapien can do!
Thanks Grandma Gayle!
And thanks Grandad! 
Gabriel discovering Christmas gifts for the first time!
He was certainly interested in opening one!
The older boys scoping it all out before the "dig in!"
"Look what I got!"
All the kids checking out their loot!
