Naughty or Nice?!

Got all three to not be crying at once. it's a miracle. Maybe Santa will come this year ...

Pumpkin Patch 2009

So last weekend we had our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. First big outing (outside of preschool drop-off/pick-ups) with all three kids. While in the end, the heat and exhaustion got the best of everybody, the kids had a blast getting to that point!

Helloooooooooooo ...

from atop hay bale mountain!

Feeding the goats ... apparently, Alli thinks the goats need to learn about portion control, slow eating habits and savoring one's food, as she fed them ... one .... pellet ... of .... food ... at ... a .... time .... gee, I wonder why the goat moved on to the kid passing out handfuls?!

Tractor rides are time for cheesy family shots!

Family portrait ... Gabi is in the front pack ...well ... you'll just have to trust me ...

Okay, so Charlie won't ride a merry-go-round to save his life without screaming bloody murder (what, Mr. Happy Charlie?!) but he thought the pony rides were the cat's meow at the pumpkin patch. Who wouldda thought?! Alli of course loved it the same as always ...

The Thinker

Many of my friends have blogs that are thoughtful, creative, funny, and entertaining. All I have the energy/creativity/time for is to post a few pictures now and again to keep the distant relatives up to date, though I wish I had a thoughtful contemplation to share every once in a while. Gabriella seems to be deep in thought here ... maybe a little of that will rub off on me. Until then, on with the boring posts ...

No more sleeping on the floor!

While Alli and Mommy were at Disney on Ice Princess Classics on Sunday, Daddy worked very hard to get the canopy bed completed. Even though there was some damage from the poor packing/shipping job by the Movers Who Care (see previous post) it was all on non-visible portions of the bed, so we decided to move forward with it. Alli loves that she can hide behind her curtains!

"Movers Who Care"

Well, I'm proud to announce after 12, yes TWELVE weeks of waiting, Alli's new bed finally arrived on Friday. Company's quote was 4-6 weeks. Grrrr.... Anyway, it arrived in several boxes with much assembly required. I love the fact that all the boxes arrived severely damaged, with a bragging logo that says "Movers Who Care".... boy, can we tell!!

Pictures of completed assembled bed to follow ... whenever that happens!!

Charlie Turns 2!

Cowboy Up! Charlie's official 2-Year old photos

It's Party Time!

Welcome Baby Gabriella

Karen was 12 days late when finally induced so that the latest addition to the Trujillo family tree would join us in September instead of October, because the October birthday schedule was already much too full!! So on September 30, at 7:32pm, Gabriella Grace Trujillo joined the world, lungs wide open! 8 pounds 1 ounce (just think of what a nice size she would have been if she had come on time!) and 20 inches long. For now, she has dark hair and blue eyes, but that's all likely to change over the next few months as it always tends to do!

Here are a few early pictures of our new bundle:

The Calm Before the Storm

Comfy on mommy's lap

Big Sister Love!

Trip to Hawaii

For my parents' 50th anniversary this summer, we gathered the whole family and all the grandchildren (to date) for a fun party trip to Hawaii, where the folks used to take us for summer vacations as children. We spent some time on the Big Island, exploring the lava, checking out the volcano, and visiting white, black and green sand beaches. Dan joined a 29-week pregnant Karen on a 5K race before we all moved on to Kauai to explore more familiar territory. Here are some highlight pics from our trip. I won't inundate you with all 382 photos from the 2 weeks. :)

Dan and Alli chillin' on the beach

Dan and Karen get away for a romantic evening...

Race-Ready!

Goodbye Hawaii! :(

Time for catch up!!!

Okay Trujillo blog fans (all two of you!), time for me to do some major catch-up on updating you on things since June! My apologies for being so behind! You know, selling 2 houses, buying a new one, and having a baby and all ... kept us kindof busy, but no excuses! So, here we go...

First, to the move:

Goodbye Old House!!

Hello New House!

Back Yard with a pool! Whoot whoot!

Charlie helping us unpack!

Everyone enjoying the pool!

Alli's turning 4!

Well ... not for another week, but she got her annual portraits taken today ...

This was my favorite shot of the set -- it shows her absolute joy of life --

Classic Movie-Star pose ... or so I was told by the photographer ...

I wanted to capture Alli's love for the baby inside of Mommy's tummy ...

Dress Rehersal

Today was Dress Rehersal for Saturday's big recital. The theme of their dance is "Blue Hawaii" (Elvis, baby!) and the girls do a beautiful little modified hula thing. It was the first time I got to see it and it made me giggle.

Alli's "Pre-Ballet" dance class of 3 year olds.

The class is 15 strong!
Being the shortest (surprise!) she is the one on the bottom right.

Hard to take photos in the dark theatre,

but had to capture Alli's joy of being in the dance/performance environment.

She is so excited!

Our hula-girl outisde in better light

Daddy's biggest fans

Occasionally if the games are early enough, we'll go check out one of Daddy's softball and/or volleyball games and cheer him on. The kids love the atmosphere, learn that exercise is fun, and love to cheer with their Packer pom-poms! Here they are at this week's softball game:

ALLI COACHING DADDY

CHARLIE CRUISING THE BLEACHERS FOR CHICKS

Kids just being cute...

We are Daddy's good luck charms ... he scored every time he was at-bat this week!

Go Daddy!

ALLI ESCORTING HER MVP OFF THE FIELD

Cobb, Corn on the

Memorial Day and the official welcome of summer 2009 introduced Charlie to everyone's favorite, Corn on the Cobb.

Like Brother, Like Sister:

... here is Alli at the same age, way-back-when in 2007,

finding her love for Corn on the Cobb too!

Alli's First Race!

Alli ran her first race this morning, a fundraiser for the Oakland Children's Hospital. She loves to run, because "Running is good exercise, right Mommy?" so we thought this was the perfect opportunity for her to get some practice. The day dawned foggy and misty and by racetime it was an absolute monsoon! Alli was a trooper and did the race anyway, though much of her running was distracted while she rubbed the water out of her eyes, poor thing! She has motivation now, though, she was thrilled with the Finisher's Ribbon, the free t-shirt, the free Nike Dri-Fit shirt (she hasn't taken this off since the race!), and goodie bag filled with sports bottle and other goodies. She can't wait for her next race (hopefully it'll be drier!).

Mommy pinning on Alli's first race bib!

Alli peeking at the rain from under her umbrella

Daddy doing a little pre-race coaching!

Walking back to the car with her racer's goodie bag - she doesn't mind the rain now!

Sale at Target!

Half-Price Charlies!

Sleeps well, and almost always smiles!