The Aneca Family

Our Family 2009

2009-10-16T09:14:00.001-07:00

Here are the rest of our family pics for this year! I love how they all turned out and I can't wait to canvas all of these and plaster my walls with all of these!!

WHAT I AM MOSTEST THANKFUL FOR......................

2009-10-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend we spent time with family. As we sat down to eat we each had a chance to share what we are most thankful for.
Kato was most thankful for Church.
Kami was most thankful for her Grandma's & Grandpa's.
Mari was most thankful for her School so she can learn lots.
Mak was most thankful for Food.
Kobe was most thankful Daddy.
Awesome was most thankful for me and my mad photography skills. It reminded him of his Grandpa Mose who was the town photographer. Wish I could've met him.
I said I was most thankful that we are not having anymore babies. LOL........I've probably jinxed myself. Next post might be an announcement! I do love babies but I'm ready to move into the next crazy busy stage of life.

Sometimes I feel like I am watching my babies lives on fast forward and I cannot find the pause button. It's amazing how little time we actually get to spend with our kids before they leave home and are cast into the big scary world. I often wonder if I'll be able to teach them all of the necessary skills and knowledge they will need to know to survive out there. What precious gifts we are given from our Heavenly Father. I feel very inadequate to raise these 5 munchkins. I hope I don't mess them up too bad.

So far I think they have taught me way more than I could ever teach them. The thing I've learned most from my children is Forgiveness. On a daily I am asking them for forgiveness. I have many, what I like to call, "social services" moments. I've inherited my yelling voice from my mom. They are so quick to forgive and forget. I have many things to work on and they are a constant reminder.

I also have awesome who is my rock. Without him, I wouldn't have persued my photography. He is such a supportive husband. Why do you think I call him awesome?! Whenever I need a night out he's the one willing to stay home with the kiddies so I can have a girls night out. Very rarely does he ask for anything in return. Maybe a diet DP or some other stuff that I'm not going to mention!! Just kidding.

So, the thing I am mostest thankful for is My Family!

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON?

2009-09-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

A lot has been going on since my last post. I can't even remember everything. A couple of things that I wanted to share is our zoo trip and the "truck" incident. The kids and I headed to the zoo a couple of weeks ago. Awesome was working, as usual, it was a hot day and the kids were driving me CRAZY. Doesn't take much to make me crazy these days. The kids had a lot of fun. We packed a lunch and tried to see as much as we could before Kobester was just too tired to keep going. Their favorite thing to see was the tigers. That's all they really cared about. They also loved the fabulous prairie dogs. Seriously! Who puts giant gophers in a Zoo?!!! FYI.......they are not exciting to look at!

I feel bad that Awesome works so hard and never gets to join us on our adventures. He is the hardest working guy in the UNIVERSE!!! At least in my world. The kids and I wish that he could do everything with us but someone has to fund our little excursions. One day when things settle down at work we will all go on a fabulous vacation.

Now, this is what happens when mom is getting things done and sends the little boys outside to ride bikes. You know when you have that feeling to check on the kids but you're on a roll and don't want to break your momentum. Yeah.........this is what happens. Mak runs in the house, "MOM, I didn't do it!!"
Me: "Do what?"
Mak: "The truck just started moving!"
Me: "What truck?"
Mak: "Dads!"
Me: "Are you freakin kidding me?"
Mak: "Nope."
Me: "Show me!!"
We head outside, I grab my camera cause I know that this isn't going to be good.
Me: "WHAT THE HE** DID YOU DO?"
Mak: "I drove the truck!" with the hugest grin on his face
Me: "I am the worst mother ever!"
Mak: "We tried to push it back but it won't move!"
Me: "Get in so I can take some pictures."
I'm not gonna lie.......I was laughing the whole time. I couldn't contain myself. I know that I'm very fortunate that no one was hurt in the process but it is quite funny. I've locked all doors to the vehicles and will do that from now on.

Mak trying to push the truck and Kobe trying to steer it. Little shitsters!

Introducing my newest little niece!

2009-08-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Isn't she so precious?!!!! This is the day she was born. She was able to come home 8 hours after she was born. Must've been a busy day for babies. We only stopped by for a bit cause my kids are crazy and I know Meg just wanted to sleep. So hopefully in the next day or two I can get my hands on this little angel and take some newborn pics. I can't wait!!!

Congrats Meg, Mason and Miss "L".

UPDATE ON KAZ..............he is home.....Yippy! Still not certain what caused the seizures but for now he will remain on the anti-seizure meds.

UPDATES..........

2009-08-07T15:36:00.001-07:00

Look who's a new big sister! Meg had another baby girl this morning around 9:30am. She says she looks identical to her older sister. She is supposed to be home tonight sometime. We are dying to see her and I can hardly wait to get her into the studio. Nothing better than a newborn that is only a day old. Yeah!!!!
As for baby Kaz we still haven't heard much more. No test results yet. He has been waiting for his MRI since 11am. The poor little guy has been fasting since 8pm last night. I bet he's STARVING!! Since his favorite thing to do is eat. Beej said he's been walking around which is good. So..........Ry just called me and he just had his MRI and so far they can't see anything. He also had an x-ray done of his head and they are awaiting those test results. So far it looks like they may just keep him on seizure meds for a few months to see how things go. I will post more updates as I hear more from Ry & Beej.

We're finally home!

2009-08-06T10:49:00.001-07:00

I am so not excited to be home and back to reality. I wish I could stay at the lake for the entire summer with my kids. We had a blast! I still havent' downloaded all of my pictures from out vacation so I am posting some pictures from yesterday. Auntie Meg took the kids to Muir Lake to find frogs and they came home with 17 baby ones. Yeah! Thanks Meg. The girls decided to have races with them. It was pretty funny. Kobe opted out of the race. He wasn't patient enough to sit and watch them climb the side of the wheel barrow. He would put his from on the top lip of the wheel barrow and let it jump into his hand and then yell, "I WIN!". The three also decided to climb a dirt pile in the alley and slide down it. You can see how fun that was by looking at Kobes behind. He was practically swimming in it. At first I want to yell and scream about how not cool it is to get dirty but they were having so much fun. I hope they look back on these times one day and remember how fun it is to be a kid.

I will post more pictures from our holiday when I get more organized around here. I'm almost finished my household duties then I have to get my sessions edited and then I can post some updates. Good times.

Also, please keep baby Kaz in your prayers. He is in the hospital. We're not really certain what is going on but he was admitted on Tuesday due to multiple seizures. They have him on meds to keep him from seizing again and now they are running every test under the sun to see what's going on. It's a sad site to see him hooked up to tubes. Ry and Beej are amazing. They have been rocks through this whole thing. Bj is wonderwoman. I love her to death. She will be the first person I call when I have to go through something like this with my kids. Ry, well he's my baby brother but I mostly look up to him. Listening to him speak about Beej the other day and how awesome she is makes me think he has a huge heart that he needs to wear on his sleeve a little bit more. He comes across as a tough guy but I've seen otherwise.

I love you guys!

Happy Canada Day!

2009-07-04T08:20:00.001-07:00

WARNING........longest post ever!!!

I can't believe how many pictures I am posting. I thought I could narrow them down to just a few but I had a lot so here I go. We were'nt able to make it to Raymond for July 1st this year so this was the first year we actually spent it in the Grove. The one thing I did miss about Raymond is the parade. The kids kept asking where the parade was. We had a "kid" parade but it was pretty..... short. And NO candy!! Other than that we had a blast here with our friends.

We started out with french toast with vanilla sauce and sausages for brekky. Not really sure how to spell that. And of course no meal is complete without Diet DP. ;)
The kids got the bikes all ready to go and while they waited for us slow pokes the girlies decided to climb the basketball hoop pole. I'm pretty sure they're half monkey........look at them go!

Kobester and the neighbor boy went for cruise. They're a bit out of control when they get together but its fun to watch them.
A little plug for our "Grove Cruise" that we have every year. It's a pretty fun weekend. August 14-16th. We'll be there checking out the wicked cars.
Yummy snow cones! We were waiting for the gymnastics girls to do their demonstration.

All the kids brought their powerade so they wouldn't get dehydrated. CAUTION........do not give to babies in diapers!!! Yeah....leaking out the sides in no time!
And then there's the HUGGERS! Who doesn't love a hug from a total stranger?!!

The kids decided to try out the gymnastics equipment before they chased us off. We got a few pics before we had to get off. They thought that was pretty cool.

Every kids event has to have "jumpy things"!! The line ups for the bigger ones were insane. But they insisted on standing in line for them.
Mak's famous thumbs up pose!

When we got home the kids wanted a snack so we cut into our watermelon. I think I forgot how messy these suckers are! Awesome cut them into huge pieces for them.

Kobe was the only one who actually ate all the red. He then proceeded to finish everyone's scraps. He's our walking garberator! You can't really see the pool of watermelon juice in his diaper. Good thing these things aren't sticky or anything!
This is my favorite picture of the day................looking at this immediately makes me think of my childhood in the summers. Where nothing matters but having fun! I miss that.
We later went over to our good friends house for a BBQ. Here are the boys posing for me.
One of my other favorite pictures. What a goof!!
Yummy burgers!..........
hot dogs.......

chips..........

Our wonderful BBQ chef for the evening............
And of course, it just wouldn't be a July 1st without a sparkler b*mb! Good thing awesome had a few sparklers left over from last year.

It doesn't look like much but it was extremely loud!!
Then we decided to golf in the field across from our house. Good times!!
Mak showed off his long boarding skills....................

look at the form these guys have! Pretty wicked.
And to finish off the evening we headed to the fireworks...........

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! Love, the Aneca's

My boys......

2009-06-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

I just had to post these pictures of my boys. They just got out of the bathtub and it's their ritual to make "crazy bathtub hair"! So I had just finished up a photo shoot and had everything set up so I snapped a few pictures of them. I don't know what it is about these three monsters but I love them more and more every day. I crave their little boy smell. Sounds kind of creepy but I just do. When they've been playing outside all day and they get into the tub and smell like sweaty little boys.........it's not a nice smell but it's one of those smells that makes you remember. I instantly think of them growing up and the funny things they've done. I love these 3 crazies and for some reason can't get enough of them.

Kobe is my little model. Mom, this one. Mr. Mak lives in his own world. He cracks me up with his "randoms".
And this kid......growing up way too fast! He got his first zit the other day. Poor thing.......he thought it was pretty cool......if he only knew.
My baby monster again.......

It's been a while........

2009-06-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

since I've blogged on here. I can't believe how crazy life gets. So many people have told us to just cherish the time we have with our kids right now because it goes by so fast. I now believe them. We just get busy with life and all the extras we try to pack in. I can't believe my baby girl is old enough to get baptised. She was so excited to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She turned 8 back in March but our crazy schedules didn't allow it to happen until May. Grandma Harris made her dress for her. She wanted a Kimono and a princess dress. So mom and I came up with a modified version of both. Kimono on top and poofy princess dress on the bottom. She looked so beautiful. I am so proud of her and I know she will try her hardest to keep the promise she made to her Heavenly Father. We love her to death.......even when she's testing our patience. And for those of you who know her, she definitely tests it on a daily basis. I think she's teaching us more than we teach her.

Fortunately for Kami, her dad was able to baptize and confirm her a member of the church. Kami, I hope you know how much we all love you!

So, the girls have been bugging me to get their hair cut for about a year and I always tell them No because they have to have it long for baton. This year I told them they could get it cut as soon as baton was over. They definitely didn't let me forget. We went and got it chopped off the other day. :(
And I love it. I think they look so much more grown up. Hopefully it grows back fast so they can pull it back into a pony tail for baton season.

New York Part One

2009-04-20T21:26:00.001-07:00

Here is the story about this picture.......so we are headed to NYC and we run into a traffic jam that isn't moving. We turn on the radio to listen to the road report and just up the road is a really bad accident that isn't going to be cleared up for a while. So we follow the other traffic and turn around. On our way we see the OCC who Awesome absolutely LOVES!! We had to check out their new shop. It was very cool.

So the rest of the pictures are not really in any particular order. This one was probably one of my favorite stores. American Girl. I wish I could've spent more time in here. This store is every little girls idea of Heaven. I picked out a doll for each of my girls. This was a very hard decision people. Not one doll looks exactly like either of my girls so I went with what I thought was the closest. Of course they LOVED them but did point out the differences to me when I got home.
I had to have Awesome stand beside these beasts to show the kids just how big Hagrid was.
We had to see the "BIG" piano in FAO Schwarz. Very cool! I was a little disturbed by the little girl dancing on it without socks. That's just gross.
Hopefully my kids never get into lego building......................

When we go back to NYC one day we are going to take the kids to Toys r us. AMAZING!!!! We could spend the whole day in there. Our kids were freaking out when we told them that there was a ferris wheel in the store. That pretty much blew their minds.
The girls dream house!

The buildings here are ginormous! I love how much character they have to them.

The World Trade Center. We couldn't really see anything but this is where they stood.
I think I need a full day for shopping in Macy's. I think it has like 7 levels. Crazy eh?

Our awesome hosts took a to the best little deli on the planet. Carnegie Deli!

Check out our meat brick that we shared. It was soooooo good.

We had so much fun on our trip. We will be going back with the kiddies one day. What a neat place. I'll post more pictures later. I am pooped! Time for bed.

Aneca Family Movie Night

2009-03-29T21:44:00.001-07:00

So every once in a while we have a Friday family movie night. We rent a movie, eat treats, and just veg! This is my absolute favorite thing to do with my family. We have a queen size blow up mattress that we made up and then pushed the other 3 couches around it so it was one big BED! We had so much fun together. Steve and I ended up sleeping on it. Now I know how my parents feel when they stay over and have to sleep on that thing. You guys now get our bed and we'll take the back wrecker. Anyway, on with the night. We rented "Beverly Hills Chiuaua". I don't
really know how to spell it but whatever. The kids thought it was awesome! When it was over they started rockin out to some silly chiuaua song. It was pretty funny. The best part was that Kami was dead asleep while all the other little rugrats were dancing around her. I think she was in a part coma. I think her friends birthday party at the tri had a little something to do with her complete exhaustion. Swimming will do that to ya.

A crazy realization hit Steve and I that night. We are getting old!! So the phone rings and Steve answers. A GIRL'S voice on the other end!! What the heck, is our baby old enough to have GIRLS calling him?! Kato spoke to them the first 3 times they called and then he just stopped answering the phone. They called about 10 times and once left a message serenading him. Pretty funny!

So this is my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything! I love my family.

New York City

2009-03-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

Just letting you all know that we made it home safely and that we had such a wonderful time on our short trip. I have some pictures to post but our server is not working for me so I'll have to post them later. It was fun to drive through up-state New York and see the beautiful old buildings. I wish I could've brought them home with me. A little bit unrealistic. New york city has to be one of my favorite places to visit now. I wish we had more time to spend just looking around. Chad, Naomi and their two little munchkins were such great hosts. We appreciate all the time they took out of their busy schedules to show us around. I think we hit almost everywhere we could in a day and a half. Their poor kids had to walk soooo long. They were such troopers! We definately want to go back to visit with our kids. They would love it! I would'nt want to live there by any means but what a fun place to visit. I am sooooo thankful for the country that we live in. For the benefits we have. Just medical alone wouldn't allow us to have 5 kids. No way could we afford it. I don't know how people do it. What if something goes wrong and they have to spend time in the hospital? The cost would be unreal!

We have been fortunate enough to travel a bit this year and appreciate our families for helping us out. We couldn't have gone without you being willing to take time out of your busy lives. We absolutely love you for it. It makes us really appreciate home. We love that this is home to us. What makes it even better is that we have family around us. My life would have absolutely no meaning without my family. They mean everything to me. It breaks my heart to know that we have some family living far away from us because they are attending college. I hope when they are finished they live close by. Even southern alberta is a little too far away! ;)

I will post some pictures of our trip in the next few days. Oh yeah, the highlight of our trip.........B&H Photo!! I can't even discribe how amazing it was!!

My new eye candy!

2009-02-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

I finally got my canvas after 5 WEEKS!!!!!!! It looks awesome in the frame. It looks more like a painting! I absolutely love it! Now I just need one of my boys. This picture sure doesn't do it any justice but I thought I'd share it anyway.

Steve and I leave for Vegas on friday. My mom and dad are coming to watch the kiddies! The kids are counting down the sleeps til Grandpa and Grandma come. Apparently they're nicer than we are. I'm pretty sure it's because Grandma Harris has a serious sweet tooth! Mom, make sure the kids brush 3 times a day!! Dr. Aneca's orders! ;)

I have been waiting for this for a LOOOOONG time. It's going to be nice to get away with awesome and just chill. I'm also very excited to see all the cool stuff I've heard about at WPPI. It's a good thing awesome's with me so we can tackle more. I'm probably going to make my plan of attack tonight so I can cover as much ground as possible. I'm up for any suggestions!

Anyway, I'm off to go pick up the rugrats! Later.

I heart faces - SILLY!

2009-02-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

My Kids Entry for this week!
Here we go again. I like this picture and I think it is SILLY which is the theme this week. It's fun to look at the other entries. Makes me laugh! Here is a link.

I Heart Faces!

2009-02-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

I don't ususally do this but I came across a cool blog that has weekly photo contests. I thought I'd try it out this week and see what happens. It's just for fun! Everyone is welcome to enter, so try it out! The site is called, I heart faces.

2009 Baby!!!!

2009-01-06T19:04:00.001-08:00

Some pics from our New Years Slumber Party!! The one time of year we get to have sleepovers. Ry, BJ, and the kiddos came over and we ate and ate and ate some more and played some games. Thanks to Beej we had some wicked good eats! We got home that night from southern alberta or I would have cooked up a storm! Just kidding......

The kids really enjoy their cheetos! It's quite entertaining watching Takai eat those suckers. Impressive, I must say!

I don't know about anyone else but our New Years happend at 9:00pm! The kids didn't even notice. All they were concerned about was blowing those noise makers! What I didn't get was Kazballs freaking out from all of the noise. So cute!
The next morning we had french toast with grandma Gingers "famous" white sauce!! We can't even eat french toast with syrup anymore.........thanks Ging! I love that my girls also share the love of the diet beverage! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree! Look mom, Kami even has your beverage of choice! EWWWW!
P.S. You have to click on the picture to see the whole thing.
Do you not love his face?! This kid is so freakin cute!
Yeah, I know, it looks like I'm running an orphanage.....I don't comb hair on holidays!
I taught her everything she knows! Watch out vegas, here she comes! Kami has been practicing her shuffling skills. Not too bad for a 7 year old.
Here she is kickin Ry's trash!
This pretty much sums up New Years 2009! A lot of good food and a lot of games. Best part.....not one kid fought with another. Thanks guys for partying it up with us! Hope everyone else had a wonderful New Years also.

PREPARE YOURSELF.....

2009-01-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

for the longest post EVER! I've put together some of the events that have happened in our lives the last month or so. I've left out quite a few but here it goes. We started out the month with the kids school christmas concert. We were fortunate enough to have all 3 kids on one night. Kato was able to play one of the instruments and be a dancer. He definitely gets his skills from no other than captain awesome himself. We were two very proud parents. Mari was hiding in most of her pictures. She has this great talent of standing directly behind the microphone stand so we can't see her singing. We were able to catch her during the grand finale between two heads. Very, very sneaky Mar!

We were lucky to get Kami to look forward. For most of the performance she kept looking behind her. Must be something there that we couldn't see. She did a great job doing her actions to her salsa song. We were happy to have Mrs. Davies back this year to make the concert a hit! She is such a good music teacher and the kids absolutely adore her.

The kids and I made sugar cookies to give away but.....we ate them all! I think Mari and kobe ate half of the dough themselves.
"Kobe, who keeps eating the dough?"........................"I dunno?" Good thing he doesn't look guilty or anything!
We had to say goodbye to our elf, Fisbie, that Santa sent to our house to watch the kiddos. He reports to Santa every night to let him know if they've been naughty or nice. He'll be back next year for sure!
Grandma helped the kids make the gingerbread house. What a good grandma!
Christmas Eve......Captain Awesome starts a train, it got a little outta hand. Mak seemed to have lost his pants in the process. OOps! Kids thought that was pretty funny.
The end of the train!
Jammie time!! A tradition my grandma and grandpa harris started back in the day. We have carried it on.

I think Dad had a few too many egg nogs!

We also get an early gift from Santa for the family. It's always a game that we can play together as a family. This year Santa gave us "sing it". The girls had a blast singing HSM and Hanna Montana. Good Times! It's scary how well I knew the songs as well.
All ready for christmas day!What did Santa give the whole family this year? That's right......"Rockband 2"!!!
We gave Kato a longboard. That thing is so big! It can hold 5 kids on it. Wow!
We finally broke down and got the girls an easybake for christmas. 3 years of them asking for it. It kept them busy christmas day. I was one of the lucky recipients of the sugar cookies they baked. YUMMY! I'm sure I'm not the only parent out there who got to taste the yumminess of the baked goods! ;)

I especially love the bakers hat and apron. At least they looked the part!
Kobe had had enough excitement and was ready for a nap. I think grandpa was ready for one too! Of course what would christmas dinner be without "Poppers"! My favorite part is the crown. I get to be queen for a day!
Then there's my gorgeous sister-in-law........who looks this good christmas morning? Not Me!
Mom & Nat getting dinner ready for us all. Good kids eh?
Yeah, he's a real gangsta!
AWWWW.......my littlest bro and his beautiful wife!
Mom & Dad's present from all of us. We love you guys! My parents are so selfless all year so they deserve the bestest present ever!
Boxing Day.....Mimi's Birthday! She turned 3! What a doll. She got to use the special plate.
Off to Grandma & Grandpa Aneca's house......We can't get together and not have some sort of photoshoot! Ted & Zoe blessed their little girl at the house. Ka iwi, their first girl. This is a picture of all the grandkids......
This is Ka iwi! I'm not sure if I'm even spelling her name right. I'm for sure not going to attempt to spell her middle name. It's really pretty though. Zoe made this dress for her in high school. In hopes that she would have a daughter one day. After 3 boys, she didn't think a girl was in their future. But low and behold, they got their girl. Now she just needs a sister, right Zoe?
The boys and their babies!
Could Morris be any more proud! We're only missing Dave who is serving a mission! You can't see the whole picture unless you click on it. I don't know how to fix this on my blog template.
One of the many 31 games hosted by the Aneca's! Not just anyone can be a part of this game.....just kidding! We had some serious late nights. It was worth it. Awesome won 2 games. Paid for our gas home. Good times!
My girlies are starting early......little card sharks.
This is what goes on while we are all playing cards.........absolute pure CHAOS!
This is in the morning.....not noon!
The result of staying up late for 3 nights in a row! Happy camper!
These are just a few of our fun adventures over the holidays. We love our families very very much and are so blessed to have loving parents and siblings. As crazy as they all drive us, we couldn't imagine life without them. I'm sure they feel the same of us.

I'll be posting New years pictures in the next few days. Stay tuned!

Love
TJ

I'm a bit slow....

2009-01-03T23:07:00.000-08:00

at posting some.....I mean ALL of our pictures for the month of December. I've been going through all of them to pick out some of my favorites. I will work on posting them tomorrow. Steve "nuked" my computer today so I haven't been able to look at all of the pictures from our holidays. I did get the storage room partially cleaned and made a dent in our mile high pile of laundry. So I guess some good came from "nuking" my computer. That's what I get for having a computer geek for a husband.......just kidding honey! You know I love you and all your geekiness! Wow, I'm getting a little dilerious, I need to go to bed. Here's one of my favorite pictures of the holidays.....my cute nephew, Tak. Good night!

My Girls

2008-12-12T20:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, we kinda had a sick day and look what happened! The kids were up late coughing a couple of nights ago so I kept them home on Thursday. They felt fine but they sounded horrible. Kato said he had a cough but I think he just wanted to stay home too. Kami and Mari didn't sound so good. We might have gotten a little bored cause we ended up getting all dolled up and the girls WORKED the camera! We took pictures for about 20 minutes and had a blast. I'm pretty sure I have the most beautiful girls in the world. Lately Kami has been looking in the mirror a lot and telling me she thinks that she's not very pretty. It kills me to hear her say that. She saw these and absolutely loved them. I hope this will help her realize how beautiful she really is. Inside and out. These two are inseperable these days and I love it!

What's Happening at our house!

2008-12-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

I know it's been a while since my last entry. We have been busy around here as I'm sure most of you have been too. I thought I'd just share some funny stories about the kiddos. Kato had his first fight at school this last week and got detention!! Wow......I never knew I'd feel this proud of him. He was playing soccer and stopped a goal so one of the boys from the other team punched him in the stomach so he beat him up. I tried not to tear up with happiness when he told me. I'm so proud of him for standing up for himself. He reminds me of me when I was his age except I wouldn't have stood up for myself. I still struggle with that and I'm old! Kami, well, she has been learning about the resurrection in her primary class and so last Sunday we were eating and she says to me, "mom, sister S cried in class today", so I asked why, "she was telling us how Jesus was nailed to the cross and people laughed at him and threw stuff at him. Isn't that so sad?", I said yes Kami and then she got all quiet. She then looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "mom, I'm going to be a better kid". I realized at that moment she got it and I got it. My testimony grew that day and Kami and I have never gotten along so well. I love my baby girl. Then there's my sweet Mari, she is the mother when I can't be. I don't know what I'd do without her. She has so much more patience than I do with the two little monsters. She's always giving hugs and kisses . I love her to death too. Mak pretty much lives to play trains. Hopefully Santa brings him some trains!! That's all he's asked for. He's always telling me how much he loves me. I've been trying to grow his hair out and it's getting there. It's now in the creepy mullet stage. He thinks it's handsome though, and that's all that counts. Kobe is trying really hard to make words out of his jabbering. Pretty sure I'm the only one who can understand him. The other day he got in trouble and so he folded his arms, put his head down and walked really slowly to the stairs and sat down. I about peed my pants laughing. It was too funny. He was laying beside me the other day and I was tickling his face. After a few minutes I stopped and he started tickling my face. It was so cute to see that inside his chubby body there is a heart somewhere.

Anyways, that's about it. We have christmas concerts, baton performances, and basketball tournaments to get to this week and next. I will post pics of the kiddies when they are all finished.

I love her!

2008-11-04T20:49:00.001-08:00

Today I was able to babysit my lovely neice! Isn't she sooo cute. She was so mad at me for taking her pictures but I had to do it. She is just growing too fast. It was a quick reminder of what life would be with 6 kids! I kinda liked it. She's a good kid and my kids think she is pretty special too. Kobe loves it when babies come over to play. He calls them all "maymay". Mak gets excited for about 2 minutes and then he's done. The girls just can't wait for her to grow up so they can dress her up like a litte doll. Scary!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

I am pretty sure I hate halloween! I don't know about anyone else, but my kids get crazy! I like taking the kids trick-or-treating but the sugar is aweful! I guess it's good for business! This is the dentist's favorite holiday! The kids had a blast running from house to house. I think this is the first year in a LOOOONG time that we didn't have to take a stroller with us for the "baby". Wow, we are really moving up in the world. Finally getting out of the "baby" stage. It's definitely bitter sweet. Mom and Dad came up but got stuck in traffic so they didn't make it for the trick-or-treating but got see the kids all hyped up on sugar. Good times! It was mom's birthday......poor mom, what an aweful day to have a birthday. Oh well, we went shopping the next day and had fun.
Kato & Mak were indiana jones. Kami & Mari were Tess Tyler from Camp Rock. And Kobe was a clown that would absolutely not wear his clown wig.

YUMMY!!!!!

It's been way too long!

2008-10-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

I have totally neglected my family blog for sometime now. I figured I better update the fam on what's going on. Kato is playing basketball and doing awesome! He is such a natural and I am so proud of him. He is the best big brother to his siblings. He said to me the other day...."mom, it sucks being the oldest. I have to do everything." I just laughed and said, "Kato, you're not going to get any sympathy from me or your dad cause both of us are the oldest in our families. So suck it up princess!" He didn't think that was very cool. Kami is in baton and loving it. She is doing very well. She is loving being my practice model in my homemade getto studio. Her front teeth are finally coming in but not so nicely. What an awkward time for kids....when they finally get their adult teeth. They have the creepiest teeth ever! I'm sure she'll grow into them just like the rest of us. Mari is in baton also and doing great. She practices her splits all the time. She'll just randomly jump into the splits no matter where we are. Funny kid! She's quite the singer too. She'll bust into song randomly too. We just had parent teacher last week and the kids are doing great. Their reading is awesome which makes me smile. To me that is the most important thing anyone could learn. Mari's teacher says she is soooo quiet which blew my mind! She never shuts up at home. Oh well, at least she isn't disrupting the class.

As for Steve, he is loving his job. He is such a good dentist. At least that's what I hear. I still haven't had any major dental work done. Not that I don't need to.......I'm just terrified. I did get my teeth cleaned by his wonderful hygenist who did a fabulous job. Love her! Thanks Kat. It sure it a lot of work to own your own business but Steve handles the pressure quite well. He's a good kid!

I'm staying busy being a mom, taxi, maid, and wife. Hahaha I just got back from Michigan a week ago from a photography workshop. Her name is Brianna Graham. She is truly an amazing photographer and artist. I learned a lot from her and made a lot of new friends that I hope to keep in contact with. I'm very blessed to have people around me that support what I am doing. Good friends and family that help out when asked. I really appreciate them! I'm keeping super busy with Christmas coming up but I hope to be able to wrap everything up in the next few weeks so I can focus on Christmas. I'm just a sucker and can't say no. Oh well!

Mak and Kobe are very much the babies. I love them soooo much. We have good times during the day together. They will one day be the best of friends. They are growing way too fast. I want to keep them little forever but that's pretty much impossible.

I will hopefully keep this family blog updated better now that I am slowing down a bit with my photography. If I don't post anything on here, check out my photography blog and they'll be some updates on that one.

Toodles.....hahaha......the three older kids and I went to see HSM 3 and we keep quoting parts of the movie. Go see it and you'll see what I mean!

My babies

2008-09-06T22:43:00.001-07:00

I just took these ones today of the kids. I am sooooo in love with them. I have more posted on my photography blog if you want to see more. I'm not done editing all of them but soon. We went for a walk today and I brought my trusty camera with me. It's kinda fun having so many "models" with me all of the time. They're good sports too. They don't mind striking a pose for me every once in a while if they have bugs and birds to check out.

First Day of School

2008-09-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here are the kids freezing on the first day of school. I made them let me take their picture before they put on their coats and backpacks. I am happy to have them back in school. They love routine. Okay.......maybe I do. After the crazy summer we had it is nice to get back onto a schedule. That is how we roll at this point in our lives.

The kids are all in good classes with their friends. Kato got to move up with his same class as last year. Same teachers and all. He was happy about that. Kami has one of our favorite teachers and she loves it. Mari was a little quiet the first day when I told her I had to leave but no tears. She actually has a lot of girls in her class from last year. That will help her adjust to the full day every day.

And the boys and I are having an absolute blast just doing our thing. We read, we play, we sing, we dance, we go for walks, and we have cuddle time. They are loving it.......and so am I.

GROWING UP

2008-07-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

I had to post this picture of my kiddies. Kato learned how to drive the quads this summer. Captain Awesome and his Uncles taught him how and that's all he did the whole time he was there. I do have to admit that it was really nice that Kato was able to take all of the kids on the quad for a ride down the alley. My baby boy is growing up. It's definitely bitter sweet.

GREATFALLS, MONTANA

2008-07-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

July 3rd we headed down south to GreatFalls to catch the 4th of July celebration! We went a day early to have a fun family vacation. Captain Awesome told me to go shopping while him and the kids went swimming and watched movies.
Boys will be boys and find some time for a little wrestling with Captain Awesome.

They watched a pretty intense movie........"Speedracer"

And of course, we couldn't stay in a hotel and not order pizza.

These are a few of the fireworks that everyone lit. I can't even describe the absolute chaos in the K-Mart parking lot. People just park and light off fireworks wherever. Pure craziness!!!!The kids started out with the classic poppers. Can't really blow your hand off with those ones.

Kobe and I hung out in the crapstar and tried to stay dry.
Little Lily is a huge fan of fireworks. She didn't even jump when it came to hearing the fireworks. What a trooper!

Mak graduated to the tanks. He started to get real brave until he burned himself with the punk. Poor kid. Dad took him to the ambulance for a little TLC........the fabous ice pack did the trick. Anything to distract him from the burn.

And at the end of the night the kids were done! A stop at McD's for some fresh fries and off to bed so mom and dad could watch a movie without any little munchkins bothering us. We did shop a little the next day at Sam's club and bought a trampoline that the kids love! We set it up for F.H.E and that's all they want to do. Some of Steve's family came down for the 4th and blew stuff up too. I think this is almost an Aneca tradition now. I hope so cause it's a blast!

Canada Day

2008-07-08T16:00:00.001-07:00

So you're probably wondering why I took a picture of cars.......well, in Raymond everybody reserves their spot for the parade the night before. Crazy eh? Canada Day Eve is just like Christmas Eve to the people in Raymond. It's lots of fun cruising in cars and seeing old friends that you haven't seen since last July 1st.

July 1st is parade day! This is where everyone takes their spots and watches the parade. We like to dress all of the cousins in matching shirts as you can see. It's fun for all of us.

Mak actually sat here and ate candy the whole time. He wasn't even facing the parade. Kato just kept putting candy in his bag and Mak kept eating it just as fast.

Then we head over to Aneca's and have our Canada Day Bar-B-Que! This year was a little bit different with some good new from Denise.

"We're getting hitched!" The big announcement from Russ and Denise! We were all surprised but very happy with their decision.

We love Russ almost as much as Denise!

Then the party begins!! Bring on the HUGEST burgers ever!

Aunt Cathy supplies the kids with loads of fun! Games and prizes......she's always the life of the party! She's the best.

Then the annual Paint Ball game! This year they played in the pouring rain while getting eaten alive by mosquitos!! I think they're crazy but they said it was the best year yet!

And that's our July 1st! We do it every year and will probably continue for a long long time!

The Girls Dance Recital

2008-07-08T10:55:00.001-07:00

I am so behind with the family blog so bear with me while I post quite a bit. The girls had their dance recital on June 21st. They did so good! I am so proud of them. As you can see on our way there they were not thrilled to be going. But after they got there and had so much fun with their teacher and their friends they loved every minute of it.

Kami's happy face! Like I said, she was not thrilled to be there. They wanted to shop at the farmer's market in St. Albert. There was a lot of fun things that she wanted to buy but couldn't because we were on our way to the recital. On our way home we did stop at a couple of the booths and they each bought a change purse that they love.

Lessons Learned

2008-06-18T19:22:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of my oldest thinking about his wrong choices. This morning he came to me to let me know that he lied to Steve and I. So, I did the only thing I could think of at the moment. Something I swore I would never do when I was a mom. I GROUNDED him. It was so hard to do cause he just looks at me with his big brown puppy dog eyes. I feel so bad for him but I don't know what else to do. He was actually watching his friend play on our swingset with his two younger brothers. It was heartbreaking to watch! I feel like such an oger(I can't spell) somtimes. Lesson Learned!
Then there is my precious little girl who skinned her nose when she fell off of her bike. She came into the house crying and bleeding from the skids on her head, nose, elbow, and knee. After the 5 minutes of crying on my shoulder, I asked her if she was wearing her helmet? She replied "No" because it's tight on my head. I then explained to her that the helmet is to protect her head and that it has to be tight to actually do it's job. She then told me that she really just wants a new helmet. How do I say no to that face with big alligator tears streaming down her face as she's nursing her wounds with a towel. Lesson Learned!

Pay it forward

2008-06-13T00:14:00.001-07:00

I just had to post a really cool experience that I had in wal-mart the other day. It makes me believe that there still are kind strangers out there. So, I'm looking in the electronics for a few CD's that I need for my website. I have Mari(5), who is dancing around like a princess, Mak(3) who is crying just because and Kobe(almost 2) who is trying to escape out of the cart. You can imagine my frustration. An elderly man walks by and asks me why Mak is so upset. I reply that he is tired and feeling a little under the weather. He proceeds to ask Mak why he is so upset. Mak cries even louder. I give Mak a truck movie to keep him happy. He stops for all of 30 seconds. I'm still looking for the Cd's that are so neatly organized......not! There was no rhyme or reason for the order they were in. Mak continues to cry.......Kobe starts to cry because I am holding him down in the cart so he doesn't topple over and onto the floor. The elderly man comes back and asks me again why Mak is so upset. At this point I am feeling like a real inadequate mother. I reply again....he's just tired. The man asks what he can do to make Maki happy. I say.....nothing, he's just tired. The man then asks me to come with him. At first I was thinking to myself that this is a bad idea but he just didn't seem like a very scary old guy. So I decide to go with him. He asks Mak if a toy will make him happy and immediately he responds with a smile and a "YES". I tell the man that he doesn't have to get him a toy and he says, "I am a grandpa and I miss my grandkids. I like to make kids happy, that's what I do." So we follow him to the toy isle. I ask him about his grandkids and he lights up as he tells me about them. We get to the toy isle and I head for the hotwheels. I'm thinking "cheap". I show Mak the cars and he points to the racetrack under them. I tell him it's too much and the man says whatever you want. I am absolutely speechless. Kobe picks out a small hotwheels car and is very content with that. The man turns to Mari and says "What would you like" as he walks with her down the isle to find something girly. She finds a littlest petshop game. Of course, I say too much and the man replies with, "she can have whatever she wants". I keep telling the man that this is all too much. He adds it up and hands me cash. I tell him no but he won't take no for an answer. As I am thanking him over and over he turns and walks away. Not letting me get his name. He just turns to me and says..."you better pay for those toys they picked out". He then disappeared around the corner and I have no idea where he went or who he was. He was just a nice old man who made our experience one to remember.

I hope everyone reads this and feels inspired to Pay-it-forward. I definitely will!

Good Times

2008-06-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

We played some ball at the Redford ball diamonds in Cardston with some cousins. The kids sure had a good time. I'll post some more pictures tomorrow. I need to get to bed.

Kami's Party

2008-05-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

My baby girl is getting older and I don't like it. Isn't she precious?

So, I am a total slacker for updating the family blog. I've been so busy with my photography stuff that this one gets pushed to the end of the line. Kami had her b-day party a month after her actual party and here are the pics from that night. We had a "petend sleep-over" party with her friends. They came in their pj's and we decorated pillowcases..........which took way longer to dry than they were supposed to. Unfortunately T had gotten some of the puff paint in her hair and in the end had to cut her hair to get it out. Luckily she has very understanding parents! We then had pizza, opened presents and finally watched a movie on the wall with our projector. The girls thought that was awesome. What could be better.....the bratz movie on the whole wall! Just before they parents came to pick up the girls we had Kami's princess cupcake cake. I think they all had a good time. We sure had fun having them all here. I thought it was going to be way more chaotic than it was. The girls were all so well behaved and very generous to Kami. What a fun bunch of girls. Kami is lucky to have them as friends.

Even my little "Ladies Man" is enjoying himself! He just layed there all content while I took the picture. He's definitely like his dad!

Takaru Isaiah Harris

2008-04-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

Here is the little bit larger Harris family! We are very excited that we have a new nephew. He weighed 7lbs 9oz and of course has a ton of black hair. What is with my little bros having kids with black hair. My kids had hardly any hair and it was blonde. Not fair! Oh well, I guess I better have another one to see if I can get it right. Hahaha! Steve isn't laughing. Anyway, Nat is amazing and did a fantastic job. Mark, you were a good support. I love ya both!

Our Family

2008-04-05T22:44:00.000-07:00

We are finally working on getting some fun family pictures. My good friend Holly and her adorable family came for a visit and she took these for us. It was a lot of work to get our kiddies to cooperate. Kobe was pretty much having a meltdown the whole time. I guess taking pictures at 8:30pm was not the brightest idea but I needed someone else to do it. I think they turned out great. I just started editing tonight so here are a few of my favorites.

Kami's Birthday

2008-03-14T21:56:00.001-07:00

As you can see Kami got a camera from all of us. She hasn't put it down. Like mother, like daughter. I'm a little afraid of what she might capture in this house. She's already talking about taking pictures of the house to show her friends at school. No Pressure!! I guess the house will just always have to be clean...........hmmmm...........pretty much impossible with 5 little munchkins running around. I hope she had a fun birthday. I sure love her even though she definately tests my patience on a daily basis.

Aneca Photography

2008-03-04T12:21:00.001-08:00

Here are some of the pictures that I have taken. I thought I would post a few teasers on my family blog. You can check out the rest on my "Aneca Photography" blog.

Our Newest Niece!!

2008-02-26T20:38:00.000-08:00

Okay, do they get much cuter than this? Our newest niece! Isn't she the sweetest little thing you've ever seen!! I think her name is Lilly. Mason & Megan were'nt for sure but I think she definately looks like a Lilly. To see more pictures of this little doll check out my "Aneca Photography Blog".

Our New Nephew & Cousin

2008-02-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

This is Shigeo Kaz. He is named after my great grandpa Takahashi. Isn't that the coolest name. I love it. He was 7lbs 5 oz. He has soooo much straight black hair. We all think he is wonderful!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-13T07:51:00.000-08:00

This year I decided to make the kids valentine's instead of buying the princess or power ranger valentine's. Plus having to sit and watch my kids write out 65 names for the kids in their classes. So here is one of them. Check out my "Aneca Photography" blog to see the others.

Baton Twirling!

2008-02-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

The girls very first baton twirling competition!I am so proud of my baby girls. They did so good at their first baton competition. It definately brought back some good memories. I kinda miss it. I think I was more nervous for them they actually were. When the day was over they asked me......"So when do we get to do this again?" Then spent the rest of the day making up their own routines and trying new tricks. I love seeing them excited about something I love too. They are going to practice up for their next competition held here in Spruce Grove March 1st. It is a special competition for the little beginners. They then get to spend the afternoon learning from past gold medalists. Too Fun!

Hailey Brooke

2008-01-31T22:18:00.001-08:00

This is my newest neighbor, Hailey. Jenn brought her over so I could take some pictures of her. As you can see she slept through the whole thing. We did get some good pictures though. She is a little angel!

I love these little feet!

Jenn, the best little mom!

2007-09-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

WE DID IT!
It has been 9 long years of university but we are finally ready to take the next step. The practice is almost ready to open for business.