Christmas

This year was a very relaxing Christmas for the Vergaras. No packing, no figuring out which gifts we are taking to Arizona, no trying to cram all of our gifts for family plus kids plus clothes into suitcases (we aren't cramming the kids into suitcases, just their gifts), all while trying not to let the kids see. No shipping toys home from Arizona. No 80 degree weather on Christmas day. Not that I dont love going home and being with family on Christmas, it has it own sense of magic to it also. But this year it was just myself, Steve, Cailin and Avrie.

Cailin and Avrie made a gift for Santa this year. They thought since he flys around passing out lots of gifts only getting cookies in return he would like something more, something he could keep. So, here is the "Santa's Workshop" they built and the card they spent hours making. They even set up a Santa cam in the tree to try and capture the big guy. It was all very tricky since we live in a 1 bedroom condo. But little did they know, Santa is magic and is never caught on tape. But boy was that nerve racking setting out gifts and stockings. But Operation Santa was very successful...whew! Here are the girls with all of their bounty behind them. We kept thinking it looked like a TON of presents under the tree, but then we realized we had a small tree and it made it look like a lot. Maybe we will keep the small tree tradition.

Cailin and Avrie tracking Santa on NORAD. Avrie was obsessed with it, and did the countdown from every city and country. Did you know the Santa tracking for NORAD started out as a mistake, there was a misprint in a local newspaper and the phone number for NORAD was actually published. Kids were calling to find out about the whereabouts of Santa. The employees of NORAD played along and it just grew from there. Its completely run by volunteers.

Look who is peeking out of Avrie's stocking...BERT!!! Her only Sesame Street friend she was missing. I love that she loves Sesame Street!!

It was a Playmobile Christmas!!

The Moon Dough from Grandma was a big hit. That is the craziest feeling substance, and it stinks!

Avrie's absolute favorite princess is Tiana. So she was elated that she got the dress she has been begging for.

Over all Christmas was a very big success. After gift opening we went to Mass. Steve found a really nice church, St. Rafael's. Very traditional, no drumsets, or electric guitars. It was a beautiful service that was the perfect addition to our Christmas day.

I will post pics later of our dining room table which has been transformed into a playmobile, remote control car center. I love seeing my kids play with the toys we bought them, it makes me happy.

Images from the Jon Stewart's "Restore Sanity" rally in D.C.

The packed Metro on the way to Downtown D.C.

Everyone was so nice which is not what you generally expect on a super crowded Metro train. Someone made the comment, "I wonder what the atmosphere was like on the train to the Glenn Beck rally, especially since they are 'every man for themselves' kind of people" Too funny! Someone also said "It probably wasnt as crowded, they all had to stay home and guard their food storage" Funny funny funny!!!












Avrie hitching a ride on Tim's shoulder through the crowd.

Some images I was able to capture during the rally.

HALLELUJAH!!!

STEVE GOT A JOB!!

Oh, you couldn't read my "web dings" fonted text? Oh darn, then you wont hear my good news, what a pity. Why do they have web dings font? There must be a reason that I am not aware of. Like if someone wanted to send a secret message, but then you would have to send the secret key along with it and that would just be a pain in the ass. Maybe its a little collection of free clip art that you can only use effectively if you have the entire web ding alphabet memorized. That's probably not the reason. Oh, now I'm just babbling. Telling you random unimportant things like the fact that I drove all over the city of Tempe tonight trying to return 2 Red Box DVDs which Ive had in my purse for 7 days. Ive walked by numerous Red Boxes this week completely forgetting the 2 little gems I held. Tonight I finally remembered. Walgreens, power outage so their Red Box was down. Drove right past Walmart not remembering they have one until about an hour after my adventure. Safeway only has a Blockbuster, no Red Box. First Circle K, scary homeless guys hanging around. Next Walgreens, their touchscreen would not respond to my touch, nor anyone elses. So they pulled the plug and plugged it back in, blank screen...I don't thing they should have done that. Final Destination, the 2nd Circle K...yay, a Red Box!! Did I mention the fees for those 2 movies are $14 and only 1 of them was watched. Its the Vergara way.

Oh yeah, the good news......

..................................................................................................

STEVE GOT A JOB!

Details: Training in Frederick MD for 3 months and then he could be relocated anywhere. Lets all cross our fingers and toes for Seattle!!

London is NOT a country!!

I apologize in advance for anyone reading this who in fact sends their children to and likes the Arizona public schools. I would just jump off this boat right now.

So, in Primary on Sunday (I am the music chorister) I thought it would be fun to teach the kids the song "Children All Over the World" All you Mormons out there know it.

"All over the world at the end of day

Heav'nly Fathers children kneel down to pray

Each saying thank you in his own special way

Saying thank you, thank you in his own special way"

"Gracias, Malo, Wir danken dir

All over the world tender voices hear.

Some say Tak, others Merci,

kansha shimasu, we thank thee"

I thought it would be a fun game to have pictures of the countries flags and have the kids guess which country the flag belonged to, with some additional hints to help of course.

One flaw to this game. It had completely escaped my mind that my Primary is filled with stupid Arizona public schooled kids. 9-12 year olds, what grade is that? 4-6 grade!

(oh did I mention the word for Thank you in the countries language was written on top of the flag) Another mention, I know these kids well, I know when they are being smart asses, these guesses were solid.

First flag

SPAIN

HOLA

...these were the guesses

1. Georgia

2. California

3. Africa

4. Australia

5. Colorado

6.Hawaii

7. Washington DC

At this point I had to stop them. I had already hinted to them that Spanish is spoken in this country, this country is famous for Bullfighting, and this country is in Europe.

I also informed them they had yet to this point actually named a.......

COUNTRY!!!!!

Then my primary kids, of which 5 out of 7 are Mexican (spanish spoken in the home), proceed to ask me what "HOLA" (they pronounced it Holla) meant. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For the second, third, and fourth countries they might have accidentally guessed an actual country for one of those, not the correct one, but at least a country and not a city, state or Continent.

Okay the 5th country

MERCI

Your guess didn't happen to be Utah did it?

Because their guess was! Oh, and "The Middle East, they speak the "Mercy" language there don't they?"

Maybe you guessed Alaska? They did!

The best guess was Germany, since it was actually a country, that's a lot to say considering we had already seen, talked about and learned the word for Thank you in German about 5 minutes prior.

This primary makes me insane. Ive actually walked out on them before. 5 minutes into Singing time, I grabbed my bag, collected my children from their junior primary classrooms and went home. No one has had the courage to ask or confront me about that. Too bad.

What are our Arizona public school doing for 7 hours a day??? Apparently not Geography. I'm not saying these kids need to memorize all the countries names and locations (although why not?) but at least know the difference between a state, a city and a continent!

What gets me is these kids are actually smart kids, smart kids who have never been challenged a day in their lives. They are given mediocre work to complete with mediocre standards placed in front of them just to be sure that one kid who is on the lower end of the scale makes it into their sadly lowered box of standards. We are not doing these kids any favors by giving them work below their ability. Wake up, our school system has hardly changed in almost 200 years. It was established to teach the bare minimum to produce blue collar workers and its doing that same thing today.

I will get off my soapbox now, reluctantly!

Almost done...parents are the only vehicle strong enough to change this flawed school system but if you are blindly following and not questioning then change will never happen.

And one more thing...

LONDON IS NOT A COUNTRY!!!

Arriving in Kirkland, WA

If given the opportunity, this is how Avrie would sleep every single night. This is at a hotel in Redding, CA. We arrived at bedtime but because we have to swim in every hotel swimming pool we encounter...swim we must. So, at 8:30 at night, my girls went swimming. But then, of course they were starving because we hadnt eaten anything since 2pm, so at 10pm, off we go to a local cafe. I felt like the worst mother walking into a restaurant with an 8 and 5 year old at 10pm, but to my relief, they were not the only kids there. Whew! I guess thats what you get in a stopover town. Oh, speaking of being a stopover town (the only place around), they can charge as much as they want for whatever they want. The Motel 6 would have been $80, so we opted for La Quinta Inn for $99, free pool, internet and breakfast. It was a no brainer.

Mt. Shasta. Cailin took about 2,353 pictures of this one mountain. I saved one of those pictures.

Of course Avrie falls asleep near the SeaTac airport, 30 minutes from our final destination.

Cailin and Avrie while we are sitting at the red light getting off the 405 onto 124th St. I LOVE Cailins raw excitement. She can hardly contain herself. Adorable!

I estimated we would get to Kirkland at 8pm...we did, exactly 8pm. I am amazing. Cailin was so excited to see Luke, the reunion was cute to watch. A funny story, when Cailin saw Luke, he said "Hey, dont I know you?" When she saw Jonah for the first time he said "Hi Cailin" as if he had just seem her the day before but when she saw Elie they saw eachother and ran towards one another and hugged and hugged and they were sooooo excited. When recounting her reunions to someone, Cailin says "Boys are so wierd!" Yep Cailin they are. They are uncomfortable with how their feelings make them feel and they dont know what to do with it so they say something awkward and dumb. And they continue to do it into adulthood. Get used to it.

California continued at the Santa Ana zoo

We decided one day to head to the Santa Ana zoo. Even though we heard that the only animals there were basically monkeys. We figured it was just down the street and didnt cost very much and what else were we going to do, so we went. We ended up having a lot of fun, but they were right. Basically only monkeys. Thats my Aunt Judie above with the girls. She is married to the guy below in the last picture, who happens to be brothers with my Uncle Dennis who was teaching my kids archery who happens to be married to my Aunt Judies sister, Nancy and both those Uncles are my dad's half brothers. Whew!

Here is my sleeping Uncle Marv. We checked his back, there was no arrow in it. He just works on roofs all day in the CA heat. He co-owns an AC business with my other Uncle, Dennis. They inherited the business from my Grandpa Sauer who nobody is related to by blood (although there is some question as to who my Uncle Dale belongs to) but my dad and Uncle Marv were adopted by him and my Uncle Dennis refused, so his last name is Hamilton. Look how much energy Dennis has while Marv is falling asleep. Dennis also comes home very clean while Marv that particular day was covered in insulation. Different work ethics.

You guys can ignore the family history part if you want, I just need to write this down somewhere.

On our way to Seattle...continued at my Uncle's in Tustin, CA

When I was little, one of my most favorite memories of visiting my Uncle Dennis in California was Archery and Tomahawk throwing. We would spend hours in the backyard getting lessons from my Uncle. So, naturally when we brought the girls, my Uncle was giddy like a school boy waiting for them so he could teach them archery. Its been a long long time since there were little kids running around. He snatched them up the second we got there and they had soooo much fun! Cailin was a natural, he very specifically told her everything to do, and her first shot, bullseye!

Isnt she the cutest thing youve ever seen?

Do you see his arrows, he has them all custom made. He's an archery snob.Pretty good form for a first timer.

On our way to Seattle

The first leg of our trip was to my Aunt Judie and Uncle Marv's house in Orange, CA. My kids adore her because she lets them eat strawberries with sugar every single morning for breakfast and she has a pool. She is officially their favorite Great Aunt. Plus, she equips the house with toys, movies and ice cream.

We stuck around her house for about 6 days, swimming and hanging out with my Aunt.

Im going to put everything on multiple posts because I hate adding pics to posts, everything gets all jumbled up.

My Aunt was having the outside of her house painted while we were there and the girls, no matter how hard they tried, could not understand why mommy didnt want to put on her swimsuit and swim with 5 strange men in the backyard. Cailin said I could show them how well I could swim. Ummmmm....no thanks.

Cailin and Avrie's 8th & 5th Birthday Party

My girls are taking a Barbie break from school. At this rate we are going to be doing school until dinnertime...geesh! Anyways, I thought I would post some random pics from the last 3 months for your enjoyment.
Cailin and Avrie had a joint birthday party with all of their cousins + 2 friends. We went to a park, ate pizza and cake, played games and had fun.
This is my brother, Ryan, with Cailin and her cousins, Emily, Tyler and Camila and her friend Lizzy. They are getting ready to play kickball and Ryan is their team captain. (That's my brother Nathan in the background with his enormous dog, Copper)

From left in a clockwise circle: Justin, Cailin, Joshua, Lizzy, Avrie, Emily, Riley, Christopher and Tyler. Eating pizza

Steve explaining the rules and concept of kickball to Avrie

Steve and his kickball team. Christopher (he did not understand nor like the game. Whenever the ball was kicked he would chase after it, catch it and then run in the opposite direction of the game, ridiculously crying the entire time. He was eventually kicked off the team), Ashley, Avrie, Nicolas, Joshua and Riley.

They thought this was the most fun part, trying to bounce off Avrie's stuffed animal friends.

Okay, my children are harrassing me for lunch now. Gotta run!

Fake Post

This isn't a real blog post. I'm just putting something in quickly for Alisa. I don't want her to feel sad anymore when she checks my blog and is confronted with "PS Tax Clients", with no new posts.
I'm sorry, my life is just not very exciting right now.
I know, I know. I need to post about our girls weekend in Dallas and I'm the only one (excluding Alisa, but she doesn't count, we all forgive her for her lack of bloggicity) who hasn't posted anything yet. I'm a slacker.
Wait for it...wait for it...
it will come soon.
Love y'all!!
Jenny

PS tax clients

If you don't owe money to the government, the April 15th deadline is not for you. If you are going to be getting a refund you have 36 months from April 15th to file and still get your money back.
So, if don't owe, take your time, don't panic. Don't call your accountant at the last minute bribing him to put you ahead of other clients who DO owe money.
Relax, that due date is not for you!!

However, if you do owe money to the government, that deadline IS for you. If you are unable to get it done in time. File an extension and send them a check estimating how much you think you are going to owe.

It's not meant to be complicated, it's not meant to be intimidating or scary. It's just taxes...geesh!

Just thought I would pass on that info for ya.

Dear Tax Client:

I do not want ...
-every medical co pay receipt from the past year, add them up, give me 1 number
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-your Walgreens receipts from your purchases of Advil, Tylenol, Mucinex and Vagisil
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-receipts and detailed descriptions of every home improvement made over the past year...here is an interesting piece of information...HOME IMPROVEMENTS ARE NOT DEDUCTIBLE!!
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-Target reciepts from makeup purchases, with a little handwritten note on top that says "medical" - Makeup is not "medical" under any circumstances
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-school uniform receipts, your kids clothes...seriously, NOT deductible
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-a box of any kind (shoe box, big box, small box, medium box, cereal box, gift box) filled with receipts, I dont want your damn box!
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-a plastic Safeway bag filled with receipts
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-a large manila envelope filled with receipts
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-a 3 ring binder filled with receipts, even if its organized...I dont want it!
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-bits of food in any of your paperwork
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-used tissues wadded up in the middle of your W-2s
-a disconnected or wrong phone number
-to smell like an ashtray after doing your taxes

I do want...
-1 number for medical
-a working phone number
-1 number for prescriptions
-a working phone number
-all your w-2s, please do not try to guess at this
-a working phone number
-the name of all of your children you claim...and their birthdays and SSNs
-a working phone number
-information about your name changing!
-a working phone number
-if its not too much to ask...an email address
-at least a working phone number

Ugh, I need to go to bed!! Happy Tax Season

Avrie's first day of Preschool at Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Cailin's 8th Birthday

My sweet Cailin, the morning of her 8th birthday, off to start her fun filled day of celebrations... Isn't she cute?!
Breakfast of her choice at I Hop of Nutella Crepes with strawberries, Bananas and Whip Cream...
Wii playing and grilled hamburgers for lunch at Uncle Nathan's house

Lobster dipped in butter for her birthday dinner...
She chose Cheese Cake Factory cheesecake for her birthday cake...Raspberry White chocolate swirl

She received a much desired Snuggie from Grandma & Papa

That was her day! She also received from mom and dad, a long 12 ft jumprope, a new outfit for her American Girl doll and a new cardgame.

I cant believe she is 8 yrs old. Insane!! It feels just a little while ago that she was staring up at me with her squinty eyes right after being born. She didnt cry at all. She was born in the water, and when I reached down and pulled her up, the only tears were mine. I thought she was the most beautiful baby in the world (as we always think of our own). Now, looking back she was quite impish looking. Dark brown, almost dark hair and beautiful olive skin. She was born after a 24 hour labor and immediately nursed for almost 2 hours straight. She was a very intense baby and toddler, but my goodness has she grown. She is so amazing. Extremely thoughtful and caring of others. She is an amazing older sister. I love how well she plays with Avrie, and how much they love one another. I love to watch her when her mind is spinning with a great idea. She can hardly contain herself. Its so adorable. She is extremely creative and if she is the older one in a group of kids she will always have them organized in a game of sorts. Happy birthday my beautiful girl!