laughing...

today is the day my precious little charlie laughed for the first time! awww, it was way too cute for words so I am going to attempt to get it on my camera the next time it happens. she was on her changing table smiling, as always (that's our special place...) and all of a sudden she must have just been overwhelmed with emotions and belted a giggle!!

these are pictures we just had done of little char. she did such a great job for the photographer and she got a lot of great shots, but these were the BEST! Thank you auntie jojo for finding that place. next will be the girls.

original photo

some photoshopping fun...

more photoshop... hehe

we finally got it!!

I told myself this year I would force the girls to get a picture with Santa and I kept my word, but it wasn't as bad of an experience as I thought it would be. I made sure to continuously talk about Santa and reassure them that Santa was "nice" and he is the one who brings them presents for Christmas, so maybe that worked or not...

There were a few kids in line in front of us so they kept a close eye on Santa and how the other kids reacted. I also thought it might make a difference if Santa just held Charlotte and they stood on each side of him... (I think that helped...a lot...) Once it was the girls' turn Alyssa walked right up to him and said Hi, but I had to force Hannah to stand next to him. By the 4th picture, she had stopped crying, but was definitely NOT happy and wanted to make sure I knew.

Am I a crazy Mom if I think the picture looks better with one happy girl, one very sad girl and a perfect little baby???

a whole lotta catching up to do

Friday was hannah and Alyssa's first Christmas Program at their school and I have to say that I am so proud of my little girls. For all of you who know them, you know that they typically are very shy but is the last month or so everything has changed! The girls had learned the song their class was singing and they would perform it perfectly at home, but they're always outgoing at home so I was very nervous about the performance in front of a church filled with people... Little to my surprise, the girls were PERFECT! First off, they wore the santa hat Miss Kendall bought for them (in any other circumstance they wouldn't have), then they marched down the aisle with their class and waved to us ( I thought they would start to cry at that point) and finally they got up in front of all the people and sang the song, "In the Back of Santa's Sleigh" just like they did it at home...

I tried to get some video on my camera so I could share it all with you, but we didn't.

Hannah & Alyssa's 1st Disneyland trip

What an eventful day...

first off, I am so glad we waited until now to take the girls. I think they really appreciated it and understood it all and could take it all in because there was soo much to take in. I have never seen D-land through the eyes of a little child and let me tell you that there is absolutely no way we could see it all in one day....so we bought yearly passes!

okay, so about our day! As a Mom, I should have probably paid more attention to the name of the ride, Snow White's SCARY adventure..hence the word scary... well. I didn't and that was our 1st ride! First mistake...... the girls HATED the ride and were too scared to go on any other ride all day. After we had to force them ended up enjoying themselves. I would have loved to go on more rides, but we had to show them the park and then the big Christmas parade with all the beautiful princesses and finally the firework show. The girls absolutely loved Small World and Dumbo, but the princesses took all the fame! They just sat in amazement as each princess walked past them in the parade. They were screaming and waving and at one moment, Cinderella waved to Hannah and Snow White waved to Alyssa. They even made me want to be a princess... only in my dreams! By the end of the day, the girls were pooped but had the time of their lives. I can't wait to take them again!!

taking the tram to the "happiest place on earth"

first stop.... sleeping beauty's castle


alyssa usually LOVES the carousel.... well, not after Snow White's Scary Adventure

alyssa's DRIVING!!!

she really got into it!

hannah wasn't far behind

boy, we're in trouble in about 13 years!!!

mama and hannah bear

daddy and lyssa

here it is again..... real or fake??

Charlotte's 1st family photo

The Yadrick's

2007

We had our family picture taken recently and I now really am proud that we have continuously had our picture taken yearly since we had the girls. It's amazing to see the growth in the girls over the past year and especially the new addition... I've always wanted to have a "beach" family picture, but I never even thought about having our famous pier in the background. Personally, I think our pictures turned out FABULOUS! ;)

Thank you to Dennis Masuda for taking our picture once again! He's just the best and I couldn't imagine having any other person photograph our family!

the girls.

..the flower hat..

THEN: She was just a few days old here and the hat is ENORMOUS...way too big

NOW: 11 weeks and the hat fits a lot better, but is still too big. The actual hat fits, but I just think the flower is a little obnoxious.

another smile I love seeing every day.

I'm beginning to think EVERY dad has this picture taken at least once, but now the question I'm always wondering is.... are they really sleeping????

since when did they get so BIG!!!

these are the first dresses I've ever made from scratch and they love wearing them..best compliment ever!

tummy time (she loves is for about 5 min and then she gets over real quick)

my three beauties