The company Christmas party....

Every year SMUD (Dave's company) puts on a wonderful children's Christmas party. They have so many fun activites and games for the kids. The kids all have a blast and really look forward to it.
They got to see Santa and tell him what they'd like for Christmas and take pictures with him. They were so excited!
There was this funny game where you go into this "Cash Booth" with fake dollars blowing around like crazy. You have a set time and you have to grab as much "cash" as you can and who ever grabs the most gets a prize. It was so funny watching them do this! Noah mostly just stood there throwing the money up in the air. At first, when Logan went in he started nicely stuffing the cash in his pockets. Once he saw the other kid just grabbing armfuls he quickly changed his game plan. We laughed, it really was hilarious! We walked away with a pretty good prize....a little rubber ducky that Logan gave to Roman! How sweet!
There was a huge Spongebob bounce house that they jumped in. Here's Noah having a great ol' time jumping around in there. This was a long but fun day. We had the company party until 2:30pm then we had our ward Christmas party at 5pm. The boys had a blast there too. We got to socialize with our friends while the boys ran around the halls of the church with all the other kids for 2 hours. They had so much fun!

The Christmas Season

My favorite time of year is when it's time to put up all the Christmas decorations. Exactly when is the right time is up for debate in our house. I wanted to put up the tree before Thanksgiving but Dave thought that was a little weird. I understand his point but when it takes so many hours to get the house decorated, you don't want to take it all down 3 weeks later! I want to enjoy it for a while. So we put up the tree the weekend before Thanksgiving!
I love my Christmas tree, it makes our house feel so magical and festive! It also reminds me of why we celebrate Christmas. We have a set of three beautiful glass angel ornaments that are my favorite. Once angel is blowing a horn to shout glad tidings of great joy to the world that our Savior was born.

One angel is holding a star which was the sign used to announce his birth to the world. The last angel is holding a candle to remind us that He is the light of the world. I hope we can all remember why we celebrate this wonderful season.

A Day at the Park with the boys!

We went to a park in Rocklin yesterday so I could take my neighbors family pictures. We got there a little early so I decided to take more pictures of my boys. They are such good sports about me always taking pictures of them. They are really photogenic though, it makes it really easy. I will say, it is so much easier taking their pictures one on one then in a group. In the group pictures there is always one who is not smiling or is looking the wrong way or something. These are a few of my favorite!

Uncle Mike (Dave's bro) has been here to visit with us for a week. It has been so much fun. The boys adore him, they think he's "the bee's knees" as Mike would say. He really has a way with kids, they just fall for him. He sits and watches the Backyardigans with the boys and then sings the songs all day. He teaches the boys weird phrases to say like, "Chadle homie", (something his Mexican co-workers have taught him). Friday night Dave and I went on a date and Mike babysat all four boys for us for 3 hours! When we got home, the 3 youngest were asleep in bed and Logan was getting in bed. The house was straightened up and he didn't sneak them candy or even chocolate milk while we were gone! How responsible! We were so impressed! The only thing he doesn't do is change diapers, understandable though.

A funny thing about Noah I must share: he's become quite a good little talker now, but he does say things funny sometimes and we all get a kick out of it. He loves the show "The Backyardigans", its a group of animated animals that use their imagination in their backyard to go on big adventures and they sing and dance all the time. Noah refers to them as "the Baggins". We also realized one day that he calls the shower the "shire". So I thought it would be funny to tell him the Backyardigans live in the shower one day and kept trying to get him to say it because it would sound like "the Baggin's live in the shire." For all you Lord of the Rings fans, that might be amusing because the hobbit Frotto and his uncle Bilbo Baggins live in what they referred to as The Shire. We love it!

The Longoria Family

On November 6th we had some family in town to visit and they all came over to our house for dinner. My aunt Viola and uncle Vern were in town visiting from South Dakota and they picked up my Grandmother and aunt Gina from Fresno and brought them over to our house. My mom, my dad, my sister Stephanie and her husband Richard and their kids, Sophia and Kian all came over. Needless to say it was a full house but only 6 kids so that was easy. We made a very simple dinner and just chatted. We only see aunt Gina and our grandmother, or Abuela as we have our kids call her, about every two years or so. I hadn't seen my aunt Viola and uncle Vern since my grandfather's funeral, about 15 years ago. My grandmother is getting old and I'm not sure much longer she'll be with us, so it was a treat to spend some time with her. She turned 87 years old this June. She is pretty healthy for her age. As long as I've known her she's been in good shape and had good energy. She has always dressed stylish and loves to look nice. She had her nails painted red and cute hot pink pants. She still wears skinny, high heeled shoes!! She says she's worn high heels for so many years that her feet hurt if she wears flats. My dad once showed me a picture of her from many years ago when she had been working outside and was wearing high heels.(...so that's wear I get that from....)

It was so fun for my aunts and Grandmother to see all my kids. Last time I saw my grandmother I had two kids and was pregnant with Noah. Last time I saw aunt Gina I had Logan and was pregnant with Mason. Crazy! This was really fun, I really loved having them all over at my house and hope we can visit again soon!

It's a good thing I don't drink....

Today was a really crazy day.... I just thought I'd let you all into my world of craziness. My sister Stephanie had to go in for an out-patient surgical procedure today so I watched her kids, Sophia (5) and Kian (almost 3). Logan was at school, so I had my three and her two. Ok, I can handle that. But my mom thinks otherwise and decides to come over to help, "just in case". (She know I'm a nut job..) Then just before Logan gets picked up, my neighbor Cherie brings over her three kids for me to watch while she picks up Logan at school. So Natalie (3), Nick (2), and baby Kate (5 mos.) came over. It started to get a bit loud in the house and I just had to laugh.... I said to Uncle Mike (Dave's bro) while he hides from the chaos in Dave's game room, " Do you realize there are eight kids in the house?" We weren't even having a party!! What's up with that! I just laughed... what else can you do...cry I suppose. Luckily Roman was asleep at that moment. I decided to round the kids up for a picture, just to prove it. Kids are great, I can handle it....just not for too long. I needed a serious wind down tonight. I'm what Oprah calls "an emotional eater" so I made a batch of Chex "puppy chow" and we ordered pizza for dinner. That hit the spot.....ok, I'm sane again! It's a good thing I don't drink...

Backtracking.... to Halloween!

I'm working backwards here. Since I just started the blog, I didn't post the pictures from Halloween. The kids were all Star Wars characters....Logan was a Clone Trooper, Mason was Yoda, Noah was Darth Vader, and the cutest of all was our little Wookie, Roman who was Chewbacca! He was such a furry little doll. All the neighbors oohed and ahhed over him! At least he was warm, that's what I said! A couple of weeks before Halloween Dave and I went to a friend's Halloween party all dressed up. Dave was a member of the Blue Man Group and I was a Geisha. Dave had been working on his costume (his instrament) for months before Halloween. Dave wanted to shave (bic) his head but I had to put my foot down there. So he wore a "skin wig" and painted it with blue makeup. I actually won 1st prize for best girl's costume at the party, but Dave got 2nd. The prize was a $15 gift certificate, which I can always use. Dave dressed up again on Halloween at work and won the costume contest there and won $100 gift certificate to the mall, sweet! He put a lot into it so it made it all worth it! The instrament he made was called a "backpack tubulum" which is what the BlueMan Group really plays. It was quite interesting walking around the neighborhood with him and his large instrament. We got lots of stares and "who ARE you?"s. That's Dave though. He's always original and wants to do everything all the way, not just a half job. The kids loved it!

We also have a big pumpkin carving night every year. Dave is quite the carving artist! Everyone seems to have pretty elaborate pumpkins these days with all the stencils and books and whatnot. But I have to say, Dave does his freehand, he just gets a picture of a character and turns it into a pumpkin! This year he did Pablo from the Backyardigans (a kids show), Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars, Stink-o man from Homestar Runner, a Loco Roco guy from the video game of the same name, a pumpkin face throwing up, and some symbol from his show Naruto. Logan did an "Evil man" face on his pumpkin. That's a lot of pumpkins, but the kids sure had fun with Dad. I'm not much a pumpkin carver, too gooey and messy for me.

All in all, it was a really fun Halloween! The kids had a blast trick or treating and we had fun dressing up too! Now we're just planning Thanksgiving!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas......

Well, here's another posting for the ol' blog... This is a very fun and busy time of year for us. Lots of stuff going on with school, church, family and the holidays! I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week already. I've gotta get my Christmas tree up this weekend. Some may think that's early, but I love Christmas decorations and it is hard work to do all that for just 3 weeks!! I've got to make it worth the hassle. I'm trying to plan ahead this year....shopping, Christmas cards, treats for neighbors,...I don't want to procrastinate this year. I get so stressed out when I wait until the last minute! I'm also trying to be realistic this year.....so no more handmade Christmas cards. As much as I love that creative outlet, I just don't have the time anymore. I'll still send pictures though(after I lose a few pounds! HA), that's all people care about anyway. This is my favorite time of year, I just love it! Although I've been avoiding the mall traffic and weekend craziness, I love the mall this time of year. It helps me get in the Christmas mood. I guess that's kind of weird but I think it's because my dad took my sister and I to the mall alot during Christmas time. I spent many Christmas Eve's in the mall. I will post some more pictures soon.

Welcome to the Bitter Family Blog!

Here we are with our own blog, as a legitimate member of the internet blogging community. What will they come up with next! Well, this is really a treat... it gives me a chance to journal the goings on of our family, I can let off a little steam now and then, and you all can keep up on the goings on of the Bitter household! I used to be so great at keeping in touch with all my friends, old and new. Now, with four little ones, I can barely get to the phone, let alone have a real conversation. Since I do check my email every day or so, I can just hop on the blog and catch y'all up on the craziness that is The Bitter Family!! How fun!!