Tonight, when I put Olivia to bed, I said, "Sleep well, Liv. Tomorrow you will wake up a six year old!" She then said, "Mama, this is the last time you are going to see my five-year-old face!" Sniff. Sniff. I know. I love you, Livy girl.

We went to go visit the snow in Temecula last night. It was Brennen's first time touching the stuff and he loved it! Actually, he was hesitant at first because he is above all else cautious and leary of unknown substances, but once he built up the courage, he thought it was great fun. Olivia, of course, was trying to make snow angels out of two inch deep packed down icy snow and she was throwing it in the air to make it snow on her head. Outside of Pennypickle's Children's Museum they had snow pumped in the parking lot and the museum was open for our viewing pleasure. The kids had lots of fun and we got our Christmas card pictures out of it, so it was worth it for all of us!

Have you met my niece, Avery Grace? She is 4 months old and so wonderfully adorable and fun. I love to kiss those chubby cheeks and I really work ever so hard to get these smiles. I love her so much and am so thankful that she lives just down the street from me. Right where she belongs.

5:33pm

Right now, I am sitting on my driveway in the dark. My kids are riding their Razor scooters up and down the sidewalk in front of our house in the dark. We are waiting for Daddy to come home so we can eat dinner and we are STARVING! It is a little nippy, but refreshing since most of the day was spent in the 80's. Just a glimpse into the fabulously exciting life of the Fretz family.

Oh, wait! This is funny...
Yesterday I put Brennen down for a nap and told him to go right to sleep.
I said, "Blankie is really tired, don't keep him awake. Go to sleep!"
He said, "What if Blankie talks to me?"
I said, (Sigh) "If he talks to you, then don't talk back."
I left the room and waited right outside to see if he would start to play or not. I waited for a minute. Then I heard:
"Blankie.... no talking!"
Pause."No talking, Blankie! I SAID no talking!"

Should I be concerned?

Sigh...

Nate and I decided that this particular picture will represent our daughter for this period of time in her life. It is real, not staged, not provoked. We did not doctor this photo in any way, and we did not pay her to be outrageous. This is just her. Pretty often. Yep.

Halloween Time!

This year, we had our family and friends over to celebrate the annual ritual of buying expensive bags of candy to give away to strangers, only to get back 1/8 of what we bought. Okay, that sounds too cynical. It was really fun and the kids had a blast. Olivia had a doozie of a time this year deciding what she wanted to dress up as. She wanted to be a pumpkin originally because Daddy calls her his "pumpkinhead," but we couldn't find a costume big enough. It seems that pumpkin costumes are only for babies. We racked our brains and scoured the stores to find something age appropriate and not too girly for Liv. We finally found a doctor costume at Target and she was sold. She started to call herself Dr. Oz, but it changed to Dr. Fretz eventually.

Brennen had a Buzz Lightyear costume that we purchased last year after Halloween and it still fit him. He really liked that the wings lit up.

We had little Avery and McKenna over for their first Halloween ever and the Nolan boy was a ferocious lion!

We had almost all of Liv and Brennen's friends there, except for Bryce, Ella, and Halle, of course. We played two games, a ring toss around the pumpkins on the lawn, and "make a mummy out of your daddy" with toilet paper. Noah-boy won that one! We then proceeded to trick-or-treat and the kids loved every minute of it. Brennen and Gavin giggled to one another after each house and Olivia flew as fast as she could to the next house. Overall, it was a happy Halloween experience and we have been eating one piece of candy a day ever since. (Well, maybe one of us is eating more than that, but who's counting?)

All Aboard!

This past Sunday, Nate and I put on a Polar Express birthday party for Brennen's 3rd birthday at our house. There were lots of people and we generally had a good time. I made a railroad crossing sign for the front of the house and put down duct tape on the floor to make railroad tracks to the backyard. There were train stamps to make an art project, our wonderful train table was moved outside, and we played "Stick the 1 on Thomas" and musical chairs. I had fun making a soundtrack of train songs for the games, with songs like "Choo-choo Soul" and "Down by the Station." Brennen received many fun gifts and Daddy was super excited to give Brennen his first set of real golf clubs. Unfortunately, B was ovewhelmed at that point with the whole ordeal, so he wasn't quite as enthusiastic as we hoped he would be. But overall, he had a really great time at his party with all of his friends. Thanks to all of you who came and made it so special!

Mckenna Maren

I went to hang out with my baby niece today. She is only 5 days old and she is adorable. Her name is Mckenna and I am a very proud auntie. Her big brother, Nolan, already stole my heart, but there is always room for more love. I just wanted to share her with you.

Brennen's 3rd Birthday

Today is Brennen's birthday. He is now a whopping three years old. I can remember the day he was born, but not like it was yesterday. There have been a lot of days in between then and now, some good and some not so good. Brennen has taught me that having a son is so very different from having a daughter. He has taught me that it is possible to be infuriated inside about certain behavior and at the same time wonder in your head, "How did he get so cute?" Having Brennen has made me appreciate adjustable waistbands, baseball caps that cover a bad curly hair day, and the fascinating process of getting the trash inside the garbage truck. He constantly amazes me as he flies around with one leg straight out on his Razor scooter.

Lately he has been impulsively declaring, "I wuv you, Mommy!" for no apparent reason and I wuv that. This year has been The Year of the Train and his obsession with his train table is impressive. Since Christmas Day of last year, he has played with his cars and trains on that table every single day. The Polar Express was also an obsession and he must have watched that movie one million times. We even had a Polar Express train birthday party this year to commemorate his devotion to this classic tale.

More than anything else, Brennen has made me laugh, smile, giggle, and beam more than ever before this year. He has also made me cry, yell, frown, and sigh many times as well, but I'll just focus on the positive. And one thing I am positive about: I love my Brennen boy.

The First Ever...

Well, I did it. I started a blog site. I sort of already do this on my Shutterfly site at fretzfamily.shutterfly.com, but I like the idea of documenting all the little moments of our lives. So, here I go. Watch me. Come laugh and cry at the little things with me.