Happy Day! We did get to see Santa this year! I hope I never forget Jared's face when Santa walked into view. He just lit up! Jack, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with him! I love the picture with Jared reaching for the candy canes. He's actually trying to get one for Jack so he'll stop crying. Sweet big brother.

We saw Santa at Fry's, they also had some free games and coloring for the kids. Jared won these glasses:

I was hoping for Judge Judy, oh well...

So yesterday we took the very final step in our adoption process. We had to appear in front of a judge for the re-adoption process. He's always been a United States citizen, only now he'll have a United States birth certificate. His name is now, legally, "Jared Magno McBride" instead of "Magno McBride." And we can apply now for a Social Security card. Yippee! No more paperwork, no more hoops to jump through, and hopefully, no more money due!

We love you Jared! Our family would not be complete without you.

Phoenix Zoo

A few weeks ago a group of Moms from my ward went to the zoo together. My good friend is an aspiring photagrapher and she took pics of our kids. Here are my favorites:
Jared and his friend Joc:

Jack loved petting the goats. He couldn't believe his eyes. Whenever he gets excited he looks like he's going to explode! Too bad he wasn't equally excited to have his picture taken.

Here are the "big" kids of our group. The "even bigger" kids were in school.

Love that smile!

Our new bathroom

Thanksgiving weekend Scott re-tiled our bathroom. I'm really happy with how great a job he did. He really is multi-talented! Now I just need to go shopping for new accessories!

Birthday present

For my birthday, Bradley gave me this 500 piece puzzle. It was really hard! Took me about a week, but I got her done.

In their Sunday best

Thanksgiving

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We spent the day at Scott's Grandparent's house in Gold Canyon. I only say Jared and Bradley a couple of times all day! The rest of their time was outside playing with their cousins. They went on a hike, played football and tag. It was a great day with lots of yummy food! It might be because my birthday is always near Thanksgiving, but I love turkey and pumpkin pie!

Here are some pics I took of the boys outside Grandmother's house. Will someone please teach Jared how to smile?

T-Ball

Laveen had a Fall T-Ball league this year. Not the right season for baseball, but I'm not going to complain. Bradley loves playing T-ball and it was great to have him involved in something. The age group is 4-6, so he and his friend Josh are the biggest and better players on the team. He's having a lot of fun and has made some new friends. We've enjoyed having an excuse to get out in the fresh air each Saturday morning. Jared didn't play, we thought he was too young. But we'll put him in this Spring. Both boys are going to play on a soccer league starting in January. It will be the first organized sport Jared will play. He'll be so excited to have the world revolve around him for a change! Here are some pics from T-Ball:


Jack had to have a go at it!

Birthday

Scott and I had our birthdays this past weekend. Mine is the 27th and his is the 28th of November. I really like having our birthdays 1 day apart. In the past we've boughten combined gifts, like a camera and other things. This year we didn't do that and it was fun too! My birthday was Thanksgiving day, which was fine. I love it when it falls on a day that Scott doesn't have to work. So he can help me with the kids. Otherwise, it's more like any other day. So for our birthdays, we decided on a little compromise. He'd go with me to see the movie "Twilight" and I'd go with him to see the new James Bond movie, "Quantom of Solace." Both movies were great! and we had a lot of fun!

Carving Pumpkins

McBride Family Halloween Party

The McBride family really knows how to throw a party! This was the 4th annual "McBride Family Halloween Party!" Complete with 2 skeletons, Snow White, Frankenstein, a cowboy, and other scary gowls! Sadly, no chickens ripping their feathers off, that was missed. We played the always favorite, toilet paper mummy game, the donut on a string game, and spooky story from Uncle Eric. Here are some picturs.

I've been tagged! (Thanks Amie!)

8 TV Shows I love to watch:

- Prison Break
- Lost
- The Office
- America's Next Top
- 90210
- Wheel of Fortune
- Friends
- King of Queens
- The Haunting

8 Favorite Restaurants:

- Garcia's
- Black Angus
- Cheesecake Factory
- The Largo
- Streets of New York
- IHOP
- Panda Express
- Taco Bell


8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

- Watched Nim's Island with my boys
- Did 30 minute step-aarobics tape
- Washed 4 loads of laundry
- Cleaned the boy's bathroom
- Took a 15 minute power nap
- Watered my bushes
- Bought a few groceries from Walmart
- Started a letter to my Mom

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

- Seeing the boys in their Halloween costumes
- The Primary Program
- Scott coming home from work
- The Presidential Election to be over already!
- A new episode of 90210, they've been on re-runs for 2 weeks!
- The new season of Lost to start
(my life's pretty boring, I know)
- Jack's runny nose to go away
- Winning a million dollars on Wheel of Fortune!


8 Things On My WishList:

- a little girl
- Diamond bracelet and matching diamond earings
- Chevy Tahoe
- House on 5 acres
- Lose a few pounds
- Bosch mixer
- my husband to graduate college
- to never have to worry about money again

Grandpa and Grandma McBride

I am so blessed to have such wonderful in-laws. I have to say that I love them almost as much as I love my own Mom and Dad. They set such a wonderful example to Scott and I of 2 people who have been married for 35 years, raised 5 children and are still very much in love. I love going to visit them and watch them interact with my children. They have been there for me when I've needed them too many times to count. I know that I can always count on them and for that I am truly thankful. They are a blessing in my life and I love them so very much!

Honor Roll

Bradley came home from school today with this. My little boy made the Honor Roll!

Meet the teacher

Jared's preschool teacher hosted a "Meet the Teacher" night. Of course we already new the teacher pretty well, she's our Relief Society President, but it gave us an opportunity to see his classroom, his desk and have the kids perform a little.


Jared sitting at his desk


The class sings a song every day and someone is assigned to point to the words in this book. This week was Jared's turn, so he got to do it for all us parents. He did such a great job! He'd speed up his finger on the quicker parts of the song. After each verse, he'd lower his arm, thinking he was done and then when the next verse started he'd, "Oops, it's not over" put his finger back up to point. He took his responsibility very seriously.



The teacher sang a song about Elephants dancing, so the kids wore these elephant ears and danced. Well, some of the danced and some of them stood there like a deer in headlights!

Weekend with the McBride's

Our favorite vacation spot is the McBride Ranch. The boys and I picked Scott up from work Friday and drove to his parent's house. We spent Saturday playing games, watching movies, visiting and just layin' around while it rained and rained and rained some more. The boys were bummed they didn't get to play outside, but we didn't mind the layin'around too much. Sunday and Monday were beautiful sunny days with a high of around 60 (I think). They boys played outside as much as they could. They sword-fought with sticks, hunted for caterpillars and played football with Dad and Grandpa. It was a great weekend! We always enjoy visiting the Pie Town Branch. The attendance was 25 in a chapel the size of our Relief Society room. Bradley and Jared were the only Primary children, but they didn't mind. Jack's a lot noisier without a large chapel and other children's noise to drown out his chaos, but the branch members said they love having us. We drove home Monday afternoon with no one throwing up! The past 3 times we've made a rode trip, 1 of the 2 younger boys threw up on themselves, but not this time!!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great weekend!
Riding on the tractor with Grandpa!


It took bribery with candy to get these boys to hold a caterpillar. Jack actually did it first to show them it's no big deal. After they did it the first time, it was no problem. Bradley even got peed on by one!


Ha Ha! He's so cute!

Grandpa's pumpkin