Time to say goodbye ...

Two weeks ago we had to say goodbye to Pachi. Her request for a visa extension was denied and not wanting to stay here illegally, she chose to go back home and wait to see what God would have in store for her next. Before she left, she studied very hard to pass the California Nursing Board Examination (NCLEX) and today we learned that SHE PASSED!!!!! On her first try! Unheard of! We are so proud of her!

Here are some pics of our least meal together and Brianna playing at a Laguna Beach park after dropping Patricia off at LAX. Brianna had a blast at the beach and at the park. She's just a little mermaid!

What a fun, fun day!

Future soccer player?

Showing off our little fish...

Brianna has really excelled in her swimming skills this summer. We are in the pool almost every single day!

Here is a quick video of our little fish swimming. Notice the progression from swimming the width of the pool at the beginning to the whole length at the end. Enjoy and don't forget to post your comments.

Dedication to Tio Ken

Miss Brianna is becoming quite the little performer! Several times per week she will put on little concerts for us. More videos to come showing that.

Anyway, we were hanging in the pool the other day and she decided to dedicated this song to Uncle Ken. Listen closely at the beginning of the video... She says,

"Jambo Tio Ken!"

Snapshots of our life

Ampee & Amee came to visit a while back and Brianna played with them lots ...

Adrenaline junkie

Ticklish

Oh, so beautiful!!

Brianna's found her match in swimming!

New friend Mateo (3 years old) and Brianna swam freely all around the pool the other day.
They jumped from the edge at the same time and "competed" to get to the other side faster!

Trying to impress each other, already

Little swimmers in action

What a fun playdate the kids and Mommies had! We need to do it again soon!

BREAKING NEWS: BABY #2 ON THE WAY!!!

We are THRILLED to introduce Baby #2 to you all! He or she is due to meet us face to face around April 11th, 2009. We're almost 7 weeks along and looking forward to enjoying this adventure all over again!

Brianna is really excited about a little sibling and kisses him/her goodnight every night before bedtime. She's already a little Mommy, soothing crying babies and talking about babies any chance she gets. We're sure she'll make an awesome big sister!

Thank you for allowing us to take you along in this great journey of expanding our family yet again!

An Amazing Weekend ...

What an exciting time for our church!! New Pastor Chad and wife Christina Stuart made their stellar debut this past Sabbath. The church was so packed it was standing room only! We personally felt so great about having a leader back in our congregation, someone we can glean wisdom from in spite of his young age, set some goals and charge the hill for Christ together!!
The youth organized a very powerful program to wrap up their "Living from the Inside Out" Week of Prayer and we were immensely blessed overall.

Brianna enjoying her favorite lentil soup (she's just a Daddy's girl ALL around!)

Working it all out playing gymnastics with Daddy

Fun loving girl!

Christopher turned 2 on Sunday!

Christopher, Brianna's friend from Sabbath School, turned 2 with a big "Nemo" themed party (complete with LIVE fish inside fish bowl favors, beautiful detailed decorations, amazing food, great people and lots of fun things for kids to do)
Please click anywhere on the collage to zoom in

1. Brianna trying to break the pinata
2. Chris ready to blow the candles
3. The jumper was just too much fun!
4. Norma and Jay ready to say the blessing
5. Chris' turn to get all the candy
6. Group picture of all the kids
7. Chris blowing his 2 candles
8. Cheese!
9. It was over 105 degrees so Bri held that water bottle really tight all afternoon!

This past weekend ...

This collage function in Picasa is AWESOME. Such a time saver! Please click anywhere on the collage to zoom in.

1. Pachi, Brianna and Mommy making homemade gnocchi ... yes, from scratch!
2. The finished product ... so yummy!
3. Daddy and Bri taking a brake from pruning the backyard. It's starting to look much better now!
4. New giraffe fixture in Amee's backyard
5. Jer & Bri enjoying cool soy drinks poolside
6. Jer LOVES a good pasta dish
7. Mommy drinking a fresh peach tea
8. Bri, una paisana de corazon
9. Pachi enjoying fun live music at the Wildflower

Celebrating friendship

The Veiss family FINALLY came back from their month and a half long Croatian vacation ... so we celebrated!

Lea and Bri ... so happy to be together again

Mermaid and Daddy in underwater action

Brianna is now trying her luck at the front crawl (not shown). Maybe we have a future Olympic swimmer in our hands!