New Year Started

Happy New Year friends and family,

Guess who is the secretary of our HOA?  This guy.  I know... It's not glamorous or even desirable for most, but I decided to join the HOA advisory board.  My neighbor asked me to and I want to keep our greenbelt green so why not?  If nothing else, the experience will be good for my own business if/when I ever start one.

Easton and Layla finally transitioned from greeting people with a "Merry Christmas!" to using an ecstatic "Happy New Year!"  We went for a hike and they greeted each group of hikers in stereo.  Each time, the hikers would light up with smiles and respond with an equally cheerful Happy New Year in return.  Then, like clockwork, they would look at me with an approving look and sometime verbal compliments about their friendly demeanor.  I just smiled and said, "They're awesome and friendly!"

The home front is going well, especially since we installed the new convection oven / microwave.  The one that came with the house died.  You never know how much life revolves around the microwave until you don't have one.  Kendra was  perfectly fine with heating things up on the stove, but it got old quickly for me and my lack of cooking skills.

The trees are blossoming with fruit including our lemon tree and the neighbors grapefruit and pomegranate trees.  We took a couple of the ripe pomegranates and showed the twins what fresh fruit tastes like.

Easton did not like the taste of the pomegranate seeds so I gave him the DSLR to try his hand at camera man instead.  He took this picture of Layla and I digging into the seeds.  Pretty good shot!

Of course Miss "How 'bout me" had to get in on the action so I let her take a few pictures with the camera as I gave Big Time a big hug.  Now I see where he gets his cheesy camera grin from...  I gotta fix that.

The other thing we were excited to get home for is the Christmas package from my family in Missouri.  It was so big it didn't fit in our Pilot for the trip so the twins (unknowingly) waited until we returned to open their gifts.  I got a Lowe's and BestBuy gift card, which are the best gifts anyone could give me.  The twins unwrapped their scooters and haven't stopped riding them around the house except to sleep.

Easton is wearing only one sock because he recognized how little traction he gets on the tile when wearing a sock on the foot he uses to scoot with.  Smart boy, but I told him to put a sock on and he disobeyed.  The result was a cut on the top of his foot as he sat on the tile because he caught a sharp edge.  Doctor Layla jumped into action and applied the medical treatment like a war veteran while Easton cried at the sight of the blood drop forming on the top of his foot.  Such different personalities makes parenting them such a fun challenge.

We went for a hike with Jacob prior to our Sacramento trip and I saved this picture for a time like this.  He's been a good friend for many months now and as you can tell Easton and Layla like him too.  

There's a chance Kendra may take on a side-job to build the college and auto savings funds.  We're still in the consideration stages, but if it happens then Kendra can work a flexible schedule how ever many hours per week she chooses.

I'm excited about the next 4 months of stability and routine as I do my normal work and kids do school.  All of our travels and adventures are wonderful, but it's nice to have some consistency of life for a change.

See you soon!