Happy Thanksgiving!

This week the kids have off all week and we are enjoying some time just relaxing and doing playdates and sleepovers! AJ had two this week already! What fun! I remember having sleepovers all the time as a child with one particular friend and they hold many special memories for me! It is so nice for AJ to be able to get away and have girl time because she rarely gets an more than an hour or so to herself as I need to put one of the boys down for a nap in that same room. So...my mommy heart feels so good that she has had some nice time with friends this week. We will watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving tonight and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade tomorrow morning. Then Daddy will fry the turkey and we will cook a bunch of our favorite dishes and have a relaxing day of eating and being together. This is our first year not going somewhere or having anyone over, but with the busyness of the last few months, it's nice to not have to take food somewhere and just be in the comfort of our own home...at least for one year! It's not like us to not want to be with lots of people, but I know we can definitely use some just us 5 time! Darien has been walking now for a few weeks and he is almost ready to run and keep up with AJ and Keenan! He has 8 teeth already and is babbling lots. He'll probably have a few words by his first birthday which is quickly approaching! This year has just flown by but we have really enjoyed watching our babies grow and learn new things every day! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We truly have so much to be thankful for...miss all of you on the East Coast, but are so glad not to be in those frigid temperatures!

Family Photos

Okay so maybe I am a glutton for punishment but we keep being offered some kind of great deal for family photos, so here is another bunch of us! Dana Fineman took them and she is a great photographer here in Malibu who has taken lots of celebrity's portraits of the likes of Celine Dion. And while these may not be the absolute best of each of us, who can get 5 people looking perfect in one photo anyway?! Keenan has a crazy face in nearly every one of the 50 photos we have on a CD. These are some of the ones I felt were BLOG WORTHY! You can totally tell on my face that I have had enough of his boyish not-so-timely antics! He was so funny that day...he started sucking his thumb of all things...during some of the shoot. I would include those, but alas I did not look so BLOG WORTHY myself! LOL! I have to say that I do believe my oh so handsome hubby is truly the most photogenic of all of us. The tender look on his face in the photo on the very top is absolutely the reason he still gets to be married to me! No, seriously...that is a very special photo and I am very grateful to have had that particular look in his eye captured forever! Hmmm...I really do forget sometimes how very blessed I am to walk beside a man like him.

Harvest Season

We had a rocking good Harvest season this year! We carved pumpkins with Daddy which was so fun and the kids just loved seeing it all lit up! AJ was obsessed with wanting to plant the pumpkin seeds in a butter container filled with dirt! They had such fun being dressed as their favorite superheroes! Batgirl and Robin to the Rescue...and a cute little baby giraffe too! I borrowed this costume from a dear friend whom I had told that Darien was dressing up as his big brother since everyone comments that they look so much alike! Alas, she had something that fit him so perfectly, I couldn't argue! We attended a fun Halloween party given by the MOMS club of Calabasas, a Pepperdine Harvest event where the kids did lots of fun crafts, and a really great party thrown by a fellow MOPS mom who took us trick or treating in her totally hooked up neighborhood after some good food and fellowship! It was a night to remember for sure! Even Daddy dressed up ...he was Tiger Woods...and well...mom was Reese Witherspoon of course...only wish I had even a few of her dollars for every time someone said I looked like her. Wonder if I should be her stunt double! Anyway, we feel blessed to have watched the kids enjoy good, clean fun with some wonderful friends and well... maybe we had some fun too!

Keenan's 1st Day of Preschool

Keenan started preschool in Malibu by an amazing provision from God! His first day was just a few days after his third birthday! He already knew lots of the kids and even some of the teachers from Vacation Bible School. He was very excited and walked in with his friend Austin and then went to see Sugarfoot, the class bunny! Before we left we sat down with him by the toy cars and he was pretty much like "okay, see ya!" We are very proud of how well he is making friends there and feel very blessed to have such a wonderful opportunity for him. His new best friend there is Amanda, a little blond girl who told him the first week..."Keenan, I love you" to which Keenan said "thank you." The two of them had the teachers cracking up as they paraded around the playground holding hands like an old married couple. He can't wait to see her everyday and says he loves all the girls' "pretty flowered dresses!" He is going to make some lucky girl a very good husband! Yeah AJ and mommy! We are doing a good job preparing Keenan to be a sensitive young man!

Keenan's 3rd Birthday

Remembering September 19th, 2008!

Keenan's 3rd Birthday was sooooooo fun! We went to Fo Fo Figglies ( a glorified McDonald's playplace) where the kids had a total blast! There was even a room for Darien and he was climbing all over the place! He was so fast getting up the stairs to go down a slide...he is trying to keep up with the older kids. Anyway after that, Keenan was surprised with a Baskins Robbins Ice Cream cake that my mom and aunt brought home. We had a really special dinner and opened presents. He got a basketball hoop and a Robin costume from us. The real coveted items were his Dinoco Queen and Queen get New tires Cars cars...(these are his descriptions of the toy cars he wanted soooooooo badly he wouldn't quit talking about them until they came in the mail. ) Donnie's parents bought him those. My mom and some of the guests at his Cars themed pool party got him lots of other great gifts like a favorite talking McQueen shirt, a drill and more CARS!!! Pictured below is something else we did for his birthday which was go to an Open House at the Sherrifs Station. We went last year too but the line was too long for this zip line that the kids begged to do, so of course we got right in line first thing this year and the kids were so excited to fly through the air together! They weren't afraid at all! Next year we are all going to go up together...mom and dad too...but maybe not the baby yet! Keenan loved sitting in the helicopter and fire engines and thought it was fun to pretend he was a real hero! We had a truly wonderful time celebrating him and he enjoyed every moment of Fo Fo Figglies, his cake, his presents, his ROBIN costume, his cars, his really cool pool party and most of all...his family and friends! I can't believe he is THREE! My baby boy is growing up sooooo fast, but he still loves his cuddling time and always says...I want you momma...you are my special momma! I love this boy!

Dedicating Darien

On September 6th, we dedicated Darien at our church. We had invited several couples who at

last minute were not able to come, so our dear friends Thomas and Becca and my mom were the only ones to attend and we had tons of leftover cake from Costco...those of you who know me will remember my magnificent obsession with Buttercream frosting and cake! The leftovers weren't "left over" for long! Darien remains our sweetest little thumb sucker EVER! We know God has great plans for our little guy whose name Darien Elliott means "upholder of the good" and "the Lord is my God."

Travel Town Museum

In honor of the first day school, we took the kids to the Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park. It's a really neat place in the setting of an outdoor park where dozens of old steam engines and other vehicles are on display for kids and adults to explore and pretend they are conductors and passengers. It was the perfect place for our train fans! And like a playground too with all the ladders to climb! It's a great venue for kids to learn about history and we enjoyed seeing everything as much as the kids did! I wanted to share a few pics of the memories we made there. The boys were wearing their matching I am Speed Lightning McQueen shirts that Grammy Pat sent them! The last photo is a classic shot of Keenan twirling his hair...a signature move of his!

Back to myself again

Ok, so before I add these other posts to update everyone on what the kids have been up to the past several months, I have to say that I am back to myself again. I had my thyroid levels checked a few weeks ago and my numbers came back like 15 points higher than normal. For hypothyroid, that is a HUGE jump and so that is why I have been ridiculously dizzy, tired, emotional and severely irrational these past few months! I have lost 5 pounds in two weeks and feel like I have way more energy that I can't believe I didn't realize just how "not okay" that I was. It has been a really busy last few months with school for both older kids, Donnie's doctoral program and my business! So, for those of you who read "my rambings" and had your concerns that the Trina you knew had 'left the building'...I have returned and feel ready again to tackle motherhood with a refreshed perspective, eager to show the Lord that I will not try again to do anything in my own strength...clearly I had been coming up way too short!

Remembering AJ's First Day of School

Our sweet girl was so nervous about her first day of school because she found out the day before that the woman who would be her 2nd grade teacher was the same teacher who had corrected her in the school yard last year! She was like, "oh, no, she's not going to like me." Then she saw the class list did not include her closest buddies from last year...not a single one. There were two kids from last year's class, but not her nearest and dearest! Tears flowed the entire car ride home and she would not be consoled. However, a few short hours later, we were able to convince her that the very things we fear are usually not so bad and that her new teacher would probably end up to be her most favorite (which she is already) and that she might even make friends with some new girls that she would end up enjoying even more! Alas, she was quick to bounce back to her normal adventurous, optimistic self! The purple first day of school outfit she is pictured in here was a Walmart special that after one small thread was tugged on during that wonderful first day...came apart! LOL! (Needlesstosay, we took it back.) She was so bummed, but her Dad and I took her to get a replacement and she chose a pink cheetah print sweatsuit which seemed to asuage the pain of losing that really cool first day of school outfit! She is reading wonderfully now and is getting into the groove of her new classroom routine very well! She boasts of a wonderful new friend that we look forward to having over for a playdate soon! She begs to take gymnastics again and is dreaming of being an Olympic gymnast, swimmer and wants skating lessons too! She continues to love all things High School Musical and Hannah Montana and is a wonderful help with her brothers. She is teaching Keenan how to write his letters...that is another aspiration of hers...to be a teacher! We love to watch her dream about what plans the Lord has for her and encourage her to seek Him about His direction for her life!