I know, I'm lame. But I have a reason

Sorry, I've been quite a slacker. I figured I would keep up on facebook or something. However, I really want to keep this blog going so I need to be better at keeping it up to date. What haven't I done the past 6 months or so? I was just certified as a personal trainer so that took up a lot of my time. Kiki learned how to swim this summer and likes to pretend she is a mermaid. Kiki and Kali go to dance class and love it. Kiki started pre-school and is learning so much. Kali also learns from her sister repeating everything. Kali is potty trained, knows how to spell her name, her sister's name, and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. We have traveled a ton this year and need to slow it down next year. Brian is doing well in his job and traveling a lot, still HOA President and just got a calling at church to be on the activities committee. I am busy every week going back and forth to appts., play dates, class, dance, and fun time for me. But the most important news is that we are expecting our third and final child in February. And we made a boy! Yeah! His big sisters are so excited for his arrival. I feel great and am still able to run 2 miles a day. I will post more details and photos soon...I hope. But that is our life in a nutshell. We are very blessed and thankful for our lives and the people we share them with.

Virginia- here we come

Our good friends, the Burns family, moved to Virginia a few years ago so we decided to go visit them. We had a blast. We took the kids to see a movie, saw the Easter Bunny, went to a children's museum in Baltimore, and went dancing in D.C. The girls did pretty well on the 5 hour airplane ride. However, Kali started to throw up an hour before we landed and then continued the rest of the night. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep. Poor Kali, she caught something and didn't eat much the whole time. She was in her usual spirits and enjoyed playing with Ainslee and Nolan. It was great seeing places we haven't been and introducing our children to new things. Before our kids turn 2 they have been to 7 different states. I'm glad they are easy to travel with and friends in fun places to visit.

They loved seeing the airplanes
Kiki serving us at the museum

Who loves the Easter Bunny!

Passing time at the movies with Ring Around the Roses

Hot Moms

Getty Up

The Burns' hairless rat- freaky!

Brian and Jeff at a D.C. club

Gena and I at the same club

Rachel came to town, yeah!

I was so excited my younger sister came to visit me. She came during the week so she got to live my "stay at home Mom" life. We went to the gym, store, played with the kids, made meals, baths, the fun stuff. However, we did get to go out and have some fun. We went to Target and got candy! I know, we are rebels. We did go to a show- Tony and Tina's Wedding. You go to a mock Italian wedding where you are the guest and the actors are the wedding party. There was even a celebrity guest...wait for it...Kato Kalyn! Who? Well lets just say he was OJ Simpson's roommate when he allegedly killed his wife. I guess that makes you a celebrity. We had so much fun and everyone there referred to us as "the sisters." We danced and had lots of fun. I did get some slack from a groomsman who couldn't believe I would take my sister to the gym when she came to visit me in Las Vegas. I said it was my normal daytime routine and the kids love to go. Then he couldn't believe I had two young kids with "my waistline." He also thought I was 24. And that is why I go to the gym. Ahhh, he made my day. Anyway, I must say I am proud of Rachel keeping up with my friend and I running that week. Rachel plays soccer but doesn't run long distances. She ran 2 1/2 miles one day and about 3 miles the next. She did a great job, go Rachel. We also got to have lunch with our cousin Stephanie who Rachel hasn't seen in years. We had a great at lunch and it was nice to all be together. I always love it when Auntie Rachie visits.

Sista Love
Stephanie, Rachel and us at Claim Jumper

Rach and I with the band lead singer at the wedding

Kato Kalyn and the sisters

I have one red eye

Easter

This was the first year both girls were excited about Easter eggs and baskets. It was fun dying the eggs and decorating them. They also loved hunting for the eggs and getting Easter baskets. Of course we did have to let them know the true meaning of Easter and why we celebrate it. They don't quite understand now, but one day they will. I was able to dress the girls in the Easter dresses from last year since it seems my kids don't grow very fast. It's the Filipino in them.

Dying eggs

Finished product

Easter Morning

Egg Hunt

Before church, my girls are so pretty!

Mommy & girls

Daddy & girls

Easter Sunday 2009
Easter Sunday 2008- Same Dresses

My baby turned 2!

I can't believe that Kallissa turned two. We went to Sacramento for my cousin, Suzanne's, wedding so we had a little party for her at my parents home. We also sang "Happy Birthday" to my younger bro, Mickey, who shares a bday with Kali. In town we had a few of Kali's "lunch group" friends over for her birthday. She had fun and loved eating her cake. Her are a few photos from that.

Kali & Uncle Mickey

Uncle Mickey had lots of candles

Coach Purse lineup

Cheese!

Who Done it? Oh, it was me!

Brian and I went to a How-to-Host-a-Murder party Saturday night. It was a 1920's Chicago theme and Brian was a golfer/gambler and I was a club owner/Madam. It was fun to dress the part and pretend you are a character. No one knows who the killer is until the very end. It ended up being me. This is a great way to throw a costume dinner party with your friends. We all had so much fun.

"Scoop" & "Billy" Fish
"Eddie" & "Torchy" Carson

"Harrow" & "Molly" Duffin

The Goils

"Silky M. Adam"

The Fellas

"Socks" & "Silky"

Future Olympic Gymnasts

I enrolled my girls at Vitaly Sherbo's (Olympic Gold Medalist) Gymnastics Studio. Kiki takes a class for her age group and Kali and I take a Mommy & Me class at the same time. Both girls have a lot of fun and they can walk the balance beam without any help. I am so proud.

Craft Time, just don't get messy

I'm not one of those mom's who doesn't care if the kids get dirty or stain their clothes. Call it what you want but I think it happened when I became a Drennan. Those of you who know the Drennans will understand. I try really hard, but I'm always wiping the girls hands every few minutes and I keep a tide pen in my purse at all times. I did try and relax a bit when I decided to give the girls a craft to do. They always want to help me in the kitchen while I cook so I figured we would make aprons. I don't sew so I bought the aprons and we just decorated them. It wasn't that bad and the girls had fun. Kiki was excited to use her apron so we make cookies with the Easy Bake.

Hooray for Easy Bake Ovens
The finished product

Kali decorating

My silly girl

Hard at work with an old over shirt and towels laid out

I'm going, going, back, back, to Cali, Cali- LL Cool J

Some say I am crazy, others strong, but I just can't stand being at home by myself for more than 3 days in a row. I think I turn into psycho mom on day 4. That is why I decided to drive 9 plus hours to Elk Grove by myself with the girls. Brian had to go to Phoenix for business for a week and I said good-bye Las Vegas, Hello California! The drive was fine, just very long. I stopped for lunch and dinner and one potty break. Thank goodness for DVD players. Without it I would be lost, but I do have one so life is great on long road trips. The girls were good and entertained. I had so much fun hanging out with my family and friends. I got to see my friend Brandy who I have not seen since high school. Spent time with my sisters, brothers, and parents. They helped me celebrate my birthday and we played Dance Dance Revolution. My girls rocked at that game doing floor spins, somersaults, and shaken their tails. Poor Jacob had broken his leg pretty bad so he had to stay in the room most of the time I was there. He did try to play with his crutches but that didn't work very well. My Dad, Danny, the kids and I drove to John's Incredible Pizza and had a fun play day. I got to have a relaxing day getting a mani pedi with Kim and then went to her house and our kids played. (I forgot to get a photo of them) Saw my girl Joy and her kids. Had a great dinner with the Flewellyns, Howards and Mark. We ate pizza and enjoyed root beer floats (especially Mark) and all of the kids played. I also had dinner with the In-laws and spent time with them. Went shopping with my sisters and Mom and went to a movie with my brother. But I do have to say the highlight was dancing with my Mom, Mickey, Rachie, and Sara to the songs of Mamma Mia. I did get it on video and I plan on putting a clip up so soon as I figure out how to do it. My quiet mom was getting down with the robot. It was very funny. However, I did promise her I would leave that clip out. But I didn't say I wouldn't talk about it. -he he- I don't know too many families who have spontaneous dance sessions.

I had a lot of fun and I might drive out again in March with my friend Adrianne who is from Wilton. As long as I have a DVD player, we will be fine.

Poor little Bro
Gma & Gpa Drennan w/grandkids


Cousins

Mark and Kristy

Brandy, Paige and I

Dave, Christa, Samantha, Chris, Mark and I

Chris is Crazy!

All of our kids, kind of

Kiki and Tati

Joy, Jordan, and I

Uncle Danny and the girls

I can dance holding kids

Petersen Family minus Danny and Brian

My girls ROCK!

Dance like no one is watching

Can't believe I'm 31

So my birthday came and went. Nothing exciting this year since 31 is not a very exciting age. I did get to eat my weight in steak so that was fun. Now I'm in my 30's and not just 30. I reflected on the past 31 years and thought about life. I can honestly say I couldn't be happier. I have an amazing husband who is still fun to be around after 13 years. He cooks, cleans, changes diapers, plays with the girls, can do their hair when I'm out of town, takes care of me and the girls, and gives me "me" time. He is also still pretty hot for being 30. I have two beautiful daughters who love me and I have a blast with. I have a fun circle of friends who I can act myself around, great parents and siblings, loyal dog, and enough Coach purses for everyday of the week. Okay, so my vice are purses, but other than that I have a wonderful life. Not that I'm bragging, but I am just grateful for everything I have been blessed with. So it's not so bad being 31 when I see all of the blessings I have in my life. So here is to 31- let's just hope it takes me a long time to turn 32.

Brian and the BIG 3-0

Brian turned 30 on New Years Eve. We celebrated his birthday for four days and it was great. We were so fortunate to have our wonderful friends come from Sacramento and San Diego to help celebrate with us. On Brian's actual birthday we went to dinner with some friends and played The Office board game laughing the entire time. Until Kali woke up and decided to regurgitate her dinner on me. So right before ringing in 2009, I was washing out puke in my hair. That was fun. Poor Kali.
Our friends came in the next day and we had 7 house guests. Fortunately, our neighbor's let us use their empty house to sleep some of them. We hung out at the house on Friday night and reminisced the good ole days while watching Spaceballs and Three Amigos. Saturday we went to dinner, hung out in VIP at Cherry Nightclub at Red Rock Casino. We danced till our legs fell off and watched America's Best Dance Crew winners put on a show. The night ended at VIP in Voo Doo Lounge at the Rio. It has an amazing view of the strip from the balcony, but it was very cold so we took pics and went back inside where we did more dancing. Around 3am we decided to call it a night, or morning. Let me tell you, staying up till 4 am is a lot different now then it was in our 20's. It took us a few days to recover from our lack of sleep.
We are very blessed to have our circle of friends who will put their life on hold to come out for major events. Thanks to Mark, Mike, Dave, the Howards, Flewellyns, Virgil & Elise, and Erin & Mike for making the long journey out here to celebrate with us. Also, thanks to the Brownings, Mundts, Smiths, and Harber's for hanging out with us too. We love you all! Enjoy all the photos, there are a lot.

Dinner at Capos

Dave & Christa Flewellyn

Happy Birthday Babe!

MMMMM, cupcakes

Chris & Samantha Howard
Dave & Carol Browning

Virgil & Elise

Hanging out in VIP

The whole gang at dinner

Dancing with my bro and Mike
Erin & Mike

Get down everyone

Brian & Dave (there were lots of Dave's)

Mark, Mike & Karl

Silly people
why so serious fellas?

The Bro's

Outside of Voo Doo Lounge

Hot sessy ladies

Christmas, came and went

We had a very busy Christmas this year. Not only did we go on the Polar Express, we had a Breakfast with Santa at church, spent Christmas Eve with Friends for a wonderful meal, had friends over for Christmas dinner, and then cleaned the mess. The girls had so much fun this year and it was so nice not traveling. Even though we do not have family in Las Vegas, we have made some wonderful friends to spend the holiday's with. The girls were showered with gifts and Brian and I made out pretty good too. We did take time out to explain to the girls that Christmas is not all about the gifts, but service and giving as well. We did our fair share to give and serve when we could to instill the true meaning of Christmas to our children.

Fun in the snow

Since we got more snow a few days after the first dump, we took the kids to the park and went sledding. The park has a grass bowl that slopes down and we all had a blast. Our friends, Brax, Krew & Ryan met us there to try out our new sleds. All Kali wanted to do was eat snow and Kiki just wanted to go down the hill. You can tell we are warm weather people because the girls were ready to go after only an hour of play. We all had fun and like to 1 to 2 day snow a year.

Polar Express Train Ride

We traveled to Williams AZ, where we got to take a train to the North Pole. We all got dressed in our jammies and snow boots and were ready for the fun. It was snowing a lot and it was very cold. We had a blast. The girls loved playing in the snow and seeing Santa while he gave them a bell. We sang Christmas songs, had hot coco and cookies, and enjoyed family time. At the end of the day, we were all very tired, but the girls were very hiper from all of the sugar. It took them awhile to calm down and go to sleep. It was a great trip and we look forward to doing it again next year.