Roberts' Life

Retirement Center Performance

2010-12-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

Sydney's guitar teacher - Joe Maninno - regularly does performances in the area. He invited 6 of his students to accompany him at the Christmas performance for the Retirement Center. Sydney was thrilled when he asked her to perfomr the song she had written - "Right Beside of Me". Here is the song - I recorded with a flip video.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

"Right Beside of Me"

2010-12-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

Sydney wrote this song "Right Beside of Me" for a school project. Enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Santa 2010

2010-11-28T04:55:00.000-08:00

Prepping to see Santa

2010-09-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I posted pictures. Here are a few from some various times.

These were taken at Lake Norman in NC. The girls love the boat rides!

These pictures were taken in Georgia at the grandparents house in some July and August visits. Sydney and Carly love the wide open spaces and being "farm girls".

These pictures are from June and taken on a family outing to the downtown Huntington Beach area.

Spring Pictures

2010-04-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

These are pictures we had made at a studio that took Sydney's 3 year old pictures. Carly did great and just thought she was a princess.

Happy Anniversary : 18 years

2010-03-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Carly

2010-02-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Carly!!

Carly's birthday is 2/15 Monday so we took her to Disneyland on Sunday. Happy Valentine's Day and birthday! It was a beautiful day at about 78 degrees. After a little nap, we had Dora birthday cake. Today she will be celebrating with her neighborhood friends.

2010-02-01T19:32:00.001-08:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Holiday Season

2009-12-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for the Christmas season. Sydney has turned over the pink barbie tree to Carly.

Sydney had her first piano recital in November. She did a fantastic job.

Sydney with her piano teacher, Olga.

Sydney was excited that Rosie came to the recital as well.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T16:17:00.000-08:00

We had a very successful Halloween night. It was nice being on a Saturday night so we got to sleep in this morning. We went to the downtown area where the streets are blocked off. Then the kids went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Carly was totally into it this year. She held out her bucket and would say trick-treat. Sydney did a great job of watching her and helping her up and down steps.

Tomorrow there will be lots of candy that goes to work for giving away! We don't need it around the house!

October Pictures

2009-10-25T20:54:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from October. I hope you enjoy!

Carly's New Toddler Bed

2009-10-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

We got Carly a toddler bed yesterday. She was so excited and helped put it together. She got all her animals on the bed but once it was time for her to go to bed she wanted to be in the crib. Maybe she thinks it is just a big doll bed. We will continue to talk to her about it and maybe eventually she will give up the crib.

This is a few shots of Sydney's soccer team. It is hard for me to get action shots because I am so into the games I forget to take pictures. And my camera does not take very good action shots.
Anyway, I will try to get a few here and there. Sydney is #8.

A rest after a hard day of school and soccer practice.

This is Rosie - Carly's biggest buddy.

Pics from N Myrtle Beach

2009-08-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful 2 weeks in North Myrtle Beach. I did not take nearly as many pictures as I should have however here are a few treasures.

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-05T11:00:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We celebrated here in Huntington Beach. Tony took the girls to the parade while I went to pick up Mema at the airport. We are so glad to have my mom here for the month of July. We grilled out, enjoyed the day and watched the fireworks from the rooftop deck.

Here are just a few pictures of the festivities.

Talent runs in the Family

2009-06-12T12:45:00.001-07:00

It has started to be a busy June with all of the kids activities. Sydney gets out of school on the 18th. She will be going through a Junior lifeguard program this summer everyday from 1-4:30. In addition she was invited to join a club soccer team called Gold Coast Xtreme. There are practices several nights a week and several tournaments they will be entering. She also has piano lessons one day a week.

Following are some pictures of Carly playing in a tub of water and then Sydney's talent show. She and two of her friends, Kelly and Ollie, sang 'Complicated' by Avril L plus choreographed a routine. They were quite good!!

The Girl's Concert

2009-05-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

Here are a few videos of the girls playing the piano. Sydney and 2 of her friends are singing an Avril Lavigne song 'Complicated' in the school talent show. She downloaded the music and is learning to play it. Of course, Carly tries to copy everything she does so she is playing her version.
Enjoy....

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2009-05-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

Here is Carly's new haircut. It had gotten long and was hanging in her eyes so I trimmed it a little. Rosie thought it was still a little long and irritating her eyes so she took her and had it cut when Tony and I were in Vegas. It is a little shorter than we expected but I've gotten kinda use to it.

For Mother's Day we went to a restaurant called Breakfast in the Park. It is a very popular place because it is pet friendly. They even have doggy treats on the menu. Afterwards we went to a street fair in Sunset Beach. It was a very enjoyable day with the family!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter day. We got up early this morning to see what the Easter Bunny left at the house. The girls got baskets loaded with candy, flipflops, t-shirts and stuffed animals. The EB also left eggs hidden in the front yard with surprises in them.

Then we went to an early service this morning at the church. Our pastor is from West Virginia and gives a fantastic sermon. After a quick stop at the house we went for brunch at the country club.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Go Heels!!

2009-04-05T16:37:00.001-07:00

Here are the California girls pulling for UNC on Final Four weekend.

Here's the Bulldawg fan....the girls are still working on converting him....

Sydney had a soccer game Saturday morning. Carly is just taking a little snack break.

Here is Sydney and her friends Kelly and Ollie. I am not sure what the dress attire is about...just being 11 I guess.

What is the capital of Honduras?

2009-03-01T17:25:00.000-08:00

Hanging out with 5th graders you learn this kind of thing....do you know the answer?

Sydney had a sleepover on Saturday with 3 girlfriends. Tony was definitely out numbered with all the girls in the house. They had a great time. They all dressed up, played music and danced. Sydney, Kelly and Ollie are 5th graders and Molly is in 3rd. We all walked down to the donut store this morning. This is a picture of all of them in a tree outside the donut store.

Here is Carly on the swing in our side yard. She is a little dare devil. She leans back in the swing and just laughs.

Daisy is a constant companion to Carly.

The answer is Tegucigalpa.....you knew that right?

Happy Birthday! Carly is 2!

2009-02-16T14:45:00.000-08:00

Carly turned 2 on Feb 15. We had a little family party at home. The next day the neighborhood kids came over for a party that the nannies put on. I think Carly enjoyed all of the attention. She got a lot of fun things - adorable clothes, books, a laptop, a keyboard and games.

Last week, Sydney had Colonial Day at school. They dressed up and had events all day. They cooked, made butter, made patchwork pillows and had lots of games. Here she is in her outfit we threw together.

Holiday Pictures

2009-01-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
I have gently been reminded by a number of people that the blog is so last year. Well, there is probably a number of reasons for that - you can pick any of the following:
1) The computer crashed over the holidays and the HB Geek squad moves at their own pace.
2) Dancer and Vixon thought it would be funny to take the chargers while visiting our house last month.
3) The kids have obtained out of work Hollywood agents on retainer and attempted to negotiate special rights in licensing their pictures.

Anyway, excuses aside, here are some holiday pictures. We had a great great time visiting family in both NC and GA.

Andrew, Sydney and Carly LOVED climbing trees at MeMa's house.

Carly's cousin and my little curly head buddy Gabrielle was a tremendous help in taking care of Carly. Just check her out washing Carly's hair.

Carly in Uncle Van's lap. She just crawled up and went to sleep against him.

Cousin Andrew just hanging out way up in the tree.

Look at all of these adorables little girls on Tony's side of the family. Along with Carly is Laney and Kaylan. All within about 6 months old of each other.

November Pictures

2008-12-07T15:52:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a few weeks since I have posted any pictures. November was a busy month with soccer - regular season games and in the tournament, and then the holidays. Here are a few pictures from November. The first few are when we went over to Fashion Island in Newport Beach to see Santa. The rest are from Sydney's soccer games.

My oh my - Sydney is growing so much!

This is Carly in the Apple Store. Just trying out an ipod before heading over to see Santa with her list....

And here is Sydney trying on a hat and scarf trying to look way too mature.....

Here is the 'Galaxy Girls' soccer team (minus one) in a vehicle of their sponsors.

The Galaxy Girls came in second in the championship game. They did a great job considering they ended the season with 2 girls with broken arms (not from soccer). They played the championship game with no subs so when one girl got hit in the face they had to play down a player. The girls did great and will be playing together again in the spring.

Meet Miss Daisy

2008-11-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

There is a new addition to our family now...meet Daisy. Rosy got the girls an early Christmas present this 3 lb little pup. It is a long haired Chi. She is golden with a little black mixed in. She is really cute. She gets lots of attention on her visits to Walmart, PetSmart, and other outings. She is so small Sydney just carries her. Enjoy the pictures...

Happy Halloween

2008-11-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Halloween followed by a few pics from the soccer pizza party today after the game.

Sydney was the good witch Incantasia and Carly was Sleeping Beauty. A group of friends circled the neighborhood collecting candy. Carly caught on quickly and after a few houses would push her way to the front.

October

2008-10-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

This is such a cute stage that Carly is going through. She copies everything that Sydney does. If Sydney sneezes then she does too.

Here she is giving her baby a little juice...

A little for you...

a lot for me......

Check out those chompers!

It is naptime for Pooh.

Pooh wants his picture taken too....

What a twosome!

Carly is so content with her big sis!

Who me?

Disneyland

2008-10-18T07:42:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from a recent trip to Disneyland.

Model in the Making

2008-10-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

Carly loves wearing my shoes. She actually does pretty good walking in them. Maybe a model in the making?!?!?

Wearing heels and helping Sydney with her homework!

Sydney's soccer team this year is called Galaxy Girls. They are doing a great job so far and playing very well together. It is fun to watch the interaction of 10 year old girls. They are getting to be such little adults.

Carly is practicing her soccer. Put me in coach!!

Waiting on the sideline....

The little tarheel.....

2008-09-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

It has been a few weeks since I have posted pictures. We went to Myrtle Beach for 2 weeks then once we got back school started. And catching up at work after being gone for 2 weeks has been a little taxing. Following are some of the beach pictures. We had a wonderful time!

Happy Birthday Sydney!

2008-08-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

Sydney's birthday was on Aug 5. We had a girl's day out with 2 of her friends on the Saturday before. They had a great time and an eventful day of pedicures, build-a-bear workshop, movie and then pizza and cake. Here are some of the pictures from the day.

Busy working......

HB Surfing US Open

2008-07-27T19:49:00.001-07:00

When you hear US Open - what sport do you think of? Well, if you live in Southern California it is definitely surfing. The US Open for Surfing has been going on for the past week in HB. The downown and beach area has been swamped with tourist. Here are a few pictures when we went to see some of the events.

And the womens winner was this almost 15 yr old - Malia:

We also went boating with some friends. What a great day on the ocean and in the harbor!

July days

2008-07-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

It has been a couple of weeks since I posted pictures...as I have been reminded by a few.. Since school has been out it just seems the time is flying by. Sydney just finished Surf Camp last week and she is in Soccer Camp next week. We like to keep her busy! Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.....

Swimming with the Ducks

2008-06-29T20:18:00.000-07:00

Carly has on a little yellow jumper that was Sydney's. It reminded us so much of Sydney that we went digging for pictures. It was from Hawaii so we knew we had vacation pictures of Sydney wearing it. It was some good memories! The other pictures are of the girls at the pool. Also a picture of the kids and neighborhood kids sitting outside making smores.

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T19:58:00.001-07:00

We had a great week this week. We had family from Georgia, my step sister Tracey and her hubby Gil, stay with us while out here for the Golf US Open in Torrey Pines. We so enjoyed having family here! They experienced the usual Roberts' Saturday - Sydney's riding lesson, walks to the beach and downtown HB.
I hope all of you fathers out there had a great day!

Carly has the fence sitting down pat. We think she will be ready to ride a horse soon!

Carly took to Gil right away!

Sydney and her friend Kelly were in the school talent show. They sang and danced and they were awaesome!

June Days

2008-06-07T08:42:00.000-07:00

Hi All,
Here are a few pictures and a video of our typical June days. Enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sunny days

2008-05-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the last week. We have had beautiful weather!

Checking for birds......

Humm...let me try this watermelon...

Boy is this yummy!....

Just a little dip after gardening.

Watching Sydney rollerblade....

In and Out

2008-05-09T20:26:00.001-07:00

Carly has figured out how to open the front door. Fortunately our yard is gated so we just let her go. She likes going around the yard touching and discovering every thing. She picks up and studies everything..the dirt, flowers. leaves, grass, rocks....and it no longer goes straight to the mouth like it did a few months back. She walks around with a little hum like uh,uh,uh. It is so fun just to sit back and watch her.

Garden Helper

2008-04-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video of Carly. Carly was my little helper in watering flowers and trimming up various things. In the video, she is finished and ready to go inside.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

49er Day at Smith School

2008-04-23T21:33:00.001-07:00

Today was 49er day at Sydney's school. 49er day is about the California goldrush of 1849. The 4th grade has this all day event every year so the teachers have it down to an art. They have mining for gold, square dancing, making lanterns, 1 legged races, decorating horseshoes, watermelon spitting contest and a few other things. Then there is all the food and rootbeer floats. It is the favorite day of 4th grade.

Sunny Days in HB

2008-04-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

As soon as the front door opens. Carly is outside and down the sidewalk. She investigates everything and rarely looks back to make sure Mom or Dad is close by. Here she found two smooth rocks and would not let go of them.

The weather was so beautiful this weekend that we went to the pool on Saturday and Sunday. Carly loves the water and heads to the steps as soon as I let her down.

Isn't she a cutie in her bikini!!

Check out the curls on the back of Carly's head. Pictures don't do it justice - the curls are just adorable.

Sydney and Kelly are out rollerblading. They have a great time hanging out.

DC Trip

2008-03-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

Sydney, Kim and I had a great time in DC. The weather was perfect. We covered a lot of ground in three days and mastered the Metro system to a fine art. Here are just a few pictures. I still have others I need to upload.

Carly did just fine with me and Sydney being gone although I am sure she missed us. Here is a video of her perfecting her walking.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Easter

2008-03-25T06:36:00.000-07:00

We started out with a pretty good Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful day - about 80 and sunny. We went to an early service at 8 am then to the Country Club for brunch. After brunch Sydney got sick. She helped Carly collect the eggs the bunny left in the front yard then she was in the bed the rest of the day with a 101 fever. Needless to say I did not get as many pictures as I would have liked.
Sydney and I are headed to Washington DC today for her Spring Break. We are staying at the best place in town called Uncle Bill and Aunt Becky's Place. We are very excited about the trip and hope to have lots of great pictures for next week.

Lil Tarheel

2008-03-21T17:49:00.000-07:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carly is walking

2008-03-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

Carly has the walking down pat now. Needless to say she is on the go. She likes to make a bee line down to Sydney's room. Sydney thinks it is sweet right now but I am looking forward to the day Carly starts taking things back to her room.

Walking

2008-03-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

We have had some beautiful weather. Here are some pictures of Carly outside checking on the flowers. She was studying them very intently and would not look up for nothing.

Carly is now walking..at least a few steps at a time. This is a short clip of her kissing the mirror and taking a short walk.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carly's 12 month montage

2008-02-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

Here is a slideshow of Carly's first 12 months. Hope you enjoy. It was a fun thing to put together.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

49er Day at Smith School

2008-02-24T20:11:00.000-08:00

Sydney had 49er day at school last week. They are starting to study the gold rush period in CA history. They got to dress up and do a show. Sydney has a really cute pink cowgirl hat that she let her friend borrow. In exchange she got to wear a Crocodile Dundee hat that I bought years ago in Australia. She was thrilled to wear it.

Also included at the end is a cute video of Carly. She loves music and will go stand by the stereo and bounce. Hope you enjoy.

1st Birthday Party Continues

2008-02-17T17:36:00.000-08:00

It was the weekend of celebrating the BIG ONE for Carly. After Rosy gave her a party with her neighborhood playmates we had just a family celebration on Saturday. Afterall, the 1st birthday is really a celebration for the parents, isn't it! Sydney and her friend Kelly dressed up. I am not sure what's going on with the hair but they said it was cool. Enjoy.......

Happy 1st Birthday Carly!!

2008-02-15T07:30:00.001-08:00

Rosy, our nanny gave Carly a pre party yesterday with some of the kids in the neighborhood. I left cupcakes and goodie bags and Rosy ordered pizza. I think all of the kids enjoyed - they all call her their baby Carly. I will post more pictures as we continue to celebrate the BIG ONE over the weekend.

11 1/2 Months

2008-02-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

Rub a dub dub, baby in the tub....
Carly will be 1 in 2 more weeks - hard to believe! You can see from the video she is walking with the walker but not alone yet. We are thinking it will be any day now! We have just one cabinet in the kitchen without a lock. The tupperware cabinet is all hers and her favorite pasttime in the kitchen is pulling everything out of it. She gets quite mad when she comes back into the kitchen and it is all put away. Poor thing she has to pull it all out again!

Happy February to all!

Rainy Week

2008-01-28T21:27:00.000-08:00

The past week we have had a lot of rain. After a nice rain the sky is so clear and you can stand on the beach and see the snowcapped mountains. It is one of the beautiful sights in Southern California.

Here is a few pictures from this week.

San Juan Capistrano Mission

2008-01-21T17:43:00.000-08:00

Happy Martin Luther King Day to all!

Both Sydney and I were off work and out of school so we spent the day just the two of us 'loafering around' (is that a southern term?). Sydney is studying the California missions at school. Her report and project are on the Santa Cruz Mission. Since that one is about 7 hours north of us, we decided to visit a closer one - San Juan Capistrano Mission. She gets extra credit for visiting and writing a report about the visit. My friends at work laugh at me because I have Sydney do all extra credit or optional activities. Can't hurt, right? Don't feel too sorry for her, after the educational visit we went shopping and to a movie.

Here are a few pictures of the mission. I am sure you history buffs will be mesmerized. The rest of you can scroll on down to see pictures of the girls.

A visit from friends

2008-01-14T19:58:00.001-08:00

At the first of the year, we had our good friends Dennis and Lui visit. Sydney, Kelly and Jolie had a great time playing games, swimming and just hanging out. Here are a few pictures of the kids.

This is a cute video of Carly with her new walker wagon. There are two words she says all the time - mama and bye bye. The video shows her practicing bye bye with the hand wave.

Happy New Year 2008!

2008-01-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
The holiday break has been great. It is back to school and work tomorrow! Here are a few pictures from our visit in GA and NC. We enjoyed seeing all of the family and wish you all a very Happy New year!!

A lot of the Roberts' babies have played with this little blue car Now it is Carly's turn.

No, Santa did not bring Sydney a puppy.... this is Sydney's cousin Anna's new little puppy.

Sydney and Mema are looking sharp!

The grandkids - Sydney, Andrew, Nathan, Carly and Gabrielle.

Curly top is such a cutie! Gabrielle is a tremendous help with Carly. She helped me keep up with her, feed her and even change diapers. She has a few "baby Carlys" herself at home.

Carly is looking good in her Tarheel shirt from Papa.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas morning. Santa was good in HB! We are headed out on the redeye tonight to Atlanta. We will spend a few days in North Georgia then in NC. We are looking forward to visting with the kinfolk! Here are a few pictures from this morning.

Here is a great video of Sydney and her friend Kelly singing a song from HSM! They are stars in the making!

Santa

2007-12-17T20:06:00.001-08:00

We went to see Santa at Fashion Island on Sunday. Carly sat in his lap for just a minute before she got the cry face. She will not smile at the camera for nothing. Sydney was glad to see Santa. She wrote him a letter the day before and sealed it up and had me mail it. She would not tell me or Tony what was in the letter. She said we would just have to wait and see. I can't wait - hope its something good!

This is a video of Carly playing the piano. Sorry it is a little dark.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Santa Lunch

2007-12-13T20:46:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we went to a Santa Lunch. This was Carly's first experience with Santa. As you can see from the picture she didn't know what to think. We will being going to Fashion Island (an outdoor mall) this weekend to see THE best Santa. I am looking forward to getting some good pictures.

Happy December

2007-12-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

December is here, can you believe it? Just 22 more shopping days! There are a lot of activities for us in December so it should be a whirlwind month. We have to go see Santa, then there is the decorating and the Christmas tree. We have planned Christmas parties, our annual Disneyland trip and don't forget the shopping. What a fun month!
Here are a few pictures from last week.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey Day

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving day. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. We will be thinking of all of you tomorrow as we reflect on everything we have to be thankful for. Enjoy the day and know we are thinking of you!

Just a few bath time pictures. Carly absolutely loves taking a bath in the sink. And what a time saver, I can wash her and the dishes at the same time!

Just searching for something to wear!

Carly's favorite pasttime is climbing the stairs. We can't let her out of our sight because she heads right for the stairs.

Tournament Champions

2007-11-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

Sydney's soccer team The Shooting Stars went undefeated this year so we had 2 weekends of playoffs. Saturday was the finals and we played 3 games. We won the first two so we made it to the 3rd game for the championship. Every girl played unbelievably well. For the final game every parent was standing on both sides. It was such a good game. We won 2-0. I did not get action shots but here are a few before and after the game.

Family pictures

2007-11-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

It is that time of year - to get family pictures made for the holiday season. Most of the time we just get Sydney's picture made but with this being Carly's first Christmas we needed the family shot. As you can imagine, an almost 9 month old is not interested in smiling at a stranger so the pictures of Carly show her more serious side. Enjoy the preview, some will be headed your way.

The Roberts' family

I hear what you're sayin'

2007-11-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

We have some old pictures of Papa Baber and the more we look at them the more we are thinking Carly has his ears. We hope she has the smarts between his ears too:)
Take a look and let us know if you agree.

Isn't he a handsome young fellow.

Halloween

2007-11-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

For Halloween Carly was Minnie Mouse and Sydney was Elizabeth Swann the girl pirate from Pirates of the Carribean. We went through the neighborhood with 2 other moms and their girls. We raked up on candy. For Sydney, I think she enjoys the thrill of getting it more than eating it. It typically sits in the pantry for me and Tony to eat. Rah, like neither one of us really needs it.

Halloween is huge at my work so even I dressed up. I was Cinderella. I even had the ugly stepsisters. I am talking U-G-L-Y. Take care as you scroll down to the last picture - it could give you nightmares for a while.

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

Since we got a little rain last night today turned out to be 85 degrees and blue sky. Sydney and Carly dressed up in their Halloween costumes and we went to the pumpkin patch. Sydney's costume is the Jasmine outfit from previous years. She wants to keep her Wednesday night costume a secret. So I'll just have to keep you in suspense until Thursday morning. Here is a few pictures from the event. You'll notice Carly sticks out her tongue in several pictures. It is her big thing this week...doing the Michael Jordon.

CA Wildfires

2007-10-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

Hi All!
We have gotten a lot of emails or phone calls wanting to know if the wildfires are affecting us. Thanks to everyone that us thought of us! We are fortunate that we are only affected indirectly. There is a smell of smoke in the air so all school outdoor activities are cancelled this week. Also all of the soccer practices and games were cancelled this week. It seems that the tragic stories are mostly from San Diego. It is so sad to hear of the number of people that have lost their homes. San Diego is about 90-100 miles south of us.

The Google map website show where all of the fires are and the status of containment. Here is a snapshot from earlier today. Click on the picture to enlarge or for a more up to date picture try this link. From this map you can see that the closest fire to Huntington Beach is the Santiago fire. which is about 34 miles from us.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?uid=109103557032275200740&hl=en&gl=us&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=117631292961056724014.00043d21dedd02f5ae1f7&num=1000&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-mapshpp-na-us-mm&utm_medium=mapshpp&utm_term=lafires

Shooting Stars are on a Roll

2007-10-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome soccer weekend. Sydney's team is undefeatd so far. Every game they just get better and better. The last two games our defense never let the ball get near our goalie. We have two more regular season games then the playoffs start. I rarely get action shots because I am up and standing on the sidelines.

Go Shooting Stars!!

All this action makes you thirsty.......

Carly is all dressed up from going to church this morning.

Carly likes to stand up which is keeping my arms in good shape. She is not pulling herself up yet but she will stand if you help her. She still likes to stand on her tiptoes...what a little princess!

Sunny SoCal

2007-10-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

We have had beautiful weather in Southern California. Today was yet another beautiful day so I decided to go for a ride in a convertible. I went to the garage to pick one of the sport's cars. Hummm....which should it be a shiny silver 911 Porsche or the shiny red Ferrari?

Yes, I went with the Ferrari.......

Ok, so before you pick up the phone thinking that we won the big one, let me fess up and tell you this is my neighbor's garage. The Porsche 911 is his, but the Ferrari was a weekend rental for his birthday. I got a ride around the block and whee...all I can tell you is you feel like someone famous in this car!

So enough of me. I know the real reason you are here is for the girls. Halloween is the big thing this month. Carly and Sydney have costumes as well as me. Tony dresses up like a candy giver outer. You have to wait for pictures to see our costumes - I'm not telling! I do have a picture of a Halloween house that Sydney put together. Thank you Kim and Mark for sending this. It has been the hit of the weekend.

Sydney got her shot by the car too. She is dressed like a true Southern California girl in October with a sundress and fur lined clogs.

Forward Crawl

2007-10-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

Carly has now mastered the forward crawl. As you can imagine she is all over the place. My next day off I will be making a trip to get gates! Check out the video - she is sooo serious. She is in Sydney's room and scanning the room for what she can get into. The big find was the beads that she has in these pictures.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sydney is teaching Carly how to kick the soccer ball!.....

How to ride a horse......

Just chill-laxing........

Humm...Sydney's phone....

It is mine now, any questions.........

Happy October!

2007-10-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

I am a little late updating the blog this week. We had a busy weekend. We got new carpet in the upstairs on Friday. Three bedrooms, a long hallway and two flights of stairs took from 8:30 AM until 9PM. What a job - it's like moving. I packed up all the closets, under the beds (yes we keep stuff there too) and all the dodads, books and pictures on the shelves. It was all piled ceiling high in the bathrooms. My job now has been going through it and organizing or throwing out instead of just putting it back. Any volunteers to help?

Here are a few pictures of Carly in her going to church dress. She was such a cutie pie!

This is Carly with her dinosaur from Papa.....

This is our usual evening activity - homework!! Boy, 4th grade sure is going to be different than 3rd. Kids at this age start learning to give powerpoint presentations. (I work with people that struggle with that!)

Journey to the toys

2007-09-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A Princess and an Angel

2007-09-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

Shooting Stars first game

2007-09-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Sydney's soccer team had a great game this week. They really played together well...and they won. Carly made an excellent mascot. Even the other team doted over her.

Is this Sydney or Carly? Some of you may remember the picture of Sydney in this same hat and necklace. The resemblance is amazing. It is like twins with an eight year age difference.

The Kickoff to Soccer Season

2007-09-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

All the soccer teams got together on Saturday to do the team pictures. Sydney's team this year is the 'HB Shooting Stars'. They have been practicing since early August and are really playing together well. We are looking forward to a fun season. The first game is next Saturday.

Some of these pictures and the video show Carly's determination to be mobile. She can quickly go across the room with scooting and rolling. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks so it won't be long before she is crawling. We have warned Sydney to look out - she will be headed to her room to get all the good stuff while Sydney is at school!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Myrtle Beach

2007-09-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a wonderful week in North Myrtle Beach. This was the last week for vacation before school starts on Wed 9/05. We had a very relaxing time. Sydney met up with a friend from Virginia that she met last year. They caught hermit crabs and made them their own little village in a bucket with sand and water. We had a ceremony on the last night to send them back out to sea. We also went to a dinner show at the Medieval Times. I like the Dixie Stampede better but Tony and Sydney enjoyed the horses and the jousting.

View from the balcony....

Discovering the sand......

A dip in the ocean to wash off the sand........

Helping Sydney hunt hermit crabs.......

A handful of hermit crabs......

This is the hermit crab village. All of the spiral shells contain live hermit crabs.

Just a little nap on the beach after a hard day.....

Medieval Times dinner theater........

Fun with Kim and Mark........

Fun in Turks & Caicos

2007-08-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Turks & Caicos - an island in the Caribbean. We left on Saturday morning for the long flight home and got home Saturday night. I read that T&C got a little rain Sunday and Monday from the Hurricane Dean but it was not in the path. It is a beautiful place! The beaches are white and the sand feels like talcom powder. The water is a clear turquoise blue and the coral reefs, fish, conch and sealife are just awesome. No wonder this is a divers paradise. We had a great time - I hope you can tell from the pictures!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Snuba Diving in the Turks Caicos

2007-08-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

This week Sydney and I joined Tony on a business trip to the Turks Caicos Island in the Caribbean. What a beautiful place for a business trip! It is white sandy beaches and turquoise water. I will post pictures once we get back home. One of the first days we went snuba diving. We went all around the coral reef in 10 to 20 feet deep water. Sydney was a natural. The guide took a few pictures. Here is one with a sea turtle.

9th Birthday at Disneyland

2007-08-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

For Sydney's 9th birthday we spent the whole weekend at Disneyland. A few weeks ago I won a raffle for a 2 night stay at the Disney Marriott. Perfect timing! We used it for celebrating Sydney's birthday. My mom kept Carly so we packed up and headed just 20 miles away to the happiest place on earth. Friday night there were the fireworks and then rides until midnight. We were back to the park by 9 am Saturday morning. Our neighbors and Sydney's friend Molly came and spent all day with us. On Sunday, which was Sydney's actual birthday she got a pin as soon as we entered the park. The pin had her name and age on it so any Disney cast member that we saw told Sydney Happy Birthday (by name). She was feeling pretty special! We ate lunch at Ariel's Grotto and all of the princesses came over to the table to tell Sydney Happy Birthday, sign her book and take a picture.

I think this was one of her best birthdays!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mema's girls

2007-08-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

Sydney and Carly sure are enjoying Mema's visit. Not to mention me too. I get to come home from work and actually get a few things done. However, no one is volunteering for the middle of the night shift. I just take it as Carly wants to spend some quality time with me.

Sydney is attending tennis camp this week. So far she is really liking it. Maybe she is the next Maria Sharapova! Soccer practice also starts this week. We are really looking forward to the season this year. The 9 year old division plays on a bigger field and with 9 girls instead of 7. This year they really start perfecting their game. Once the games start I will make lots of pictures to share.

Have a good week!

Welcome Home Sydney

2007-07-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

On 7/21, we were very excited for Sydney to come home after being away for a total of 4 weeks. Still on east coast time, both she and Mema were up early on Sunday morning. So we went to the Park Bench Cafe for breakfast. It is a neat little place that is outside at the park. Dogs are allowed and the menu actually has a doggie section to order from. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and then went to feed the ducks.

Sydney had a great time visiting on the east coast but I think she is glad to be back at her home. We have been going full steam since she got home....Pool on Sunday, American Idol tour concert on Monday. I'll try to get more pictures to post for this weekend.
Have a good week!

Food at last

2007-07-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

Carly is now enjoying some solid food in addition to the rice cereal......if you can call puréed fruit and carrots solid food. So far she eats it up. I am thinking she is finally glad to get something besides milk! She is also very active. She is constantly wanting to stand and wanting to grab things. We can no longer hold her while eating dinner because her hands immediately go to the plate. Everyday brings new and exciting discoveries.

Sydney is on her last week of her 4 week trip to the south. We are very anxious for her to come home. Once she gets home she has a few camps to attend. She is going to try out tennis and also attend a soccer camp for the 2nd year. Soccer is always a big, big thing in Southern Ca. Now that David Beckham is moving to CA to play for the Galaxy, soccer is getting major soundbites. Have you seen all the reports of the minute by minute move of David and Posh Beckham to their new LA mansion? Beckham will probably make over 200M from salary and endorsements. We hope Sydney enjoys soccer camp.

East Coast Visit

2007-07-02T19:28:00.001-07:00

Carly, Sydney and I went to North Carolina and Georgia once school was out. We were visting family from 6/22 to 7/01. We had a great time with my family in NC and Tony's family in GA. Carly and I had to return on the 1st because it was back to work for me today - 7/02! Sydney is staying a few extra weeks. This will be the 3rd year she has spent a few weeks in NC and GA during the summer. Even though it is hard for us for her to be gone for such a long time, she and the family enjoy the time together.

I got a lot of great pictures - hope you enjoy!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

School's Out for the Summer!!

2007-06-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

School was officially out today. Sydney is now a 4th grader!! This last week has basically been a week of parties. Everyday had a theme - there was red,white and blue day, mismatched clothes day, crazy hat day, and twin (dress alike) day. Sydney's class also had a field trip to the beach and today they had an ice cream party. Following are some pictures from the beach and of the school.

This is Sydney's classroom. The school is set up a little different from what I was used to. There are no hallways. All of the classrooms open to the outside. The kids keep their backpacks outside on a rack. Of course, the 2 days that it does rain they bring them in.

Carly's Room

I finally got Carly's room painted and the crib put together. This room used to have built in office furniture. We removed most of it but left the Murphy bed and a small bookshelf. Wheww...This has been alot of work. After removing the furniture the walls had to be repaired and baseboard put in. The paint color was the next delima. Initially I had picked out a butter yellow but our nanny, Rosey, and Sydney said it had to be girly.... so either pink or purple. We settled in on 'Disney Princess Enchanted Evening' aka purple. Tony says it looks like Hubba Bubba bubblegum to him so he calls it the Hubba Bubba Room. I took Tony's old brown dresser and painted it white and put new knobs on it. The knobs are really cute, they are ceramic and have pictures of flowers and butterflies.

By the way, we left the murphy bed for company. Hint, hint - all you east coasters need to come check out the nice Cali weather. We have a place for you in the Hubba Bubba suite.

Carly is 4 Months/5 days old

2007-06-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hi All! Sorry for the delay in getting pictures posted this week. This is the last week of school which is busy by itself, but in addition I am getting ready for a trip to the east coast and going back to work the first of July.

Here are a few pictures of Carly. I will get some of Sydney at her end of school party. Enjoy!

Adventure of the Bus

2007-06-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

Tony's sister LaQuita and her hubby Paul flew out to California to drive back to Georgia a bus that was given to her son Matt. Matt has a Christian band and travels all around with his band so the bus is a welcome donation to him. We were very excited to spend just a day with Paul and Laquita and we were very entertained by the 1980's bus. No one really had an idea what it looks like so I took a few pictures so the Georgia folks will know what is headed their way.

The bus was probably top of the line in its time. I am sure LaQuita and Paul will have lots of stories by the time they get back. They were looking for a consignment store on their way out of town to pick up some 8 tracks tapes to listen to on the way back. I won't keep you in suspense......here are some pictures of this fine ride.......

Here is video of the departure. The tape doesn't quite capture the sound but let me just say you will hear the bus before you see it.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Yo Ho Yo Ho, a pirate's life for me...
There has been a lot of pirate-mania from the movie - Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest and our house has not been excluded from all the hoopla. Sydney has managed to see the movie twice - not bad for an 8 year old.

Carly's Command Center

2007-06-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

Carly is wanting to sit up a lot now so we got her this entertainment center so she can be upright on her own. She is a little small for it. Her feet don't touch the ground so we put a pillow under her feet. The seat turns which she can't do yet, but this should be an item we can use for many months as she grows into all of the features.

We are definitely into a new stage. She is so attentive and all the time making sounds (...talking). We think she is going to be a talker...probably inherited the Roberts' leaky lips.

Carly at 3 1/2 months old

2007-05-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

For the Memorial Day Weekend we stayed home and went to the pool on Sunday and Monday. Saturday night we went to Saddleback Church and saw Tony's nephew Matt Papa sing and lead the musical part of the service. We also got to meet Matt's fiance Lauren. The Saddleback church is a huge campus and it is beautiful. Here are links to Saddleback and to Matt Papa's website:

http://www.saddleback.com/flash/default.htm

http://www.mattpapa.com/

I didn't get a lot of pictures of all of the activities this weekend but following are a few of Carly.

Here is a short clip of Carly. She looks and sounds like she is trying to tell me something serious. Probably that it is time for lunch!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carly's Room

2007-05-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

For the past week, we have been working on converting our middle bedroom back from an office to a bedroom for Carly. It currently has built in office furniture with a lot of shelving. We are removing the built-ins except for the Murphy bed to make room for the crib, dresser, toys, etc. Boy, have we accumulated stuff over the past 10 years! Tony and I both have worked from home at one point or another so we have lots of work stuff in there. Invest in Rubbermaid - I have bought a lot to store the stuff in. Once we get it done, I'll post a picture. In the meantime, here are some other pictures.

Sydney and Carly supervising the office clean-up

In Sydney's room....looks like Carly has her eyes on some of Sydney's stuffed animals....

A few folks couldn't view all of the pictures in the Palm Springs clip so here are a few of the pictures:

Palm Springs Weekend

2007-05-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

I had a great Mother's Day weekend in Palm Springs. Tony's company had a weekend seminar and invited the family to come as well. It was at a place called the La Quinta Resort. Great Place! There are quads of bungalows with a pool in the middle. The property has about 50 pools in this set up. It is very spread out and lots of greenery. Very nice. Here is a montage of a few pictures.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

See Loping Live

2007-05-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is a picture and a video of Sydney's riding lesson last Saturday. Hope you enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It is hard to get a picture that shows all the adorable expressions and mannerisms but following are a few attempts. To watch the video you will have to tilt your head sideways. Evidently a video can't be rotated like a picture.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sister's videos

2007-05-03T12:50:00.001-07:00

I figured out how to upload video so here are some samples, one of Sydney and one of Carly. Sydney came up with an idea to draw coloring pages and sell them on eBay. The video is her commercial for its advertisement. For Carly's video I was trying to figure out the camera so I will get some smiley video at a later time for you. At Carly's 10 week appointment she was up to 12 lbs 7 oz and 22 1/2 inches long.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Birdwatcher and a cowgirl

2007-04-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

The Birdwatcher

Sydney is working on making our garden a 'star' as she says. She loves all of 'God's creatures' and wants a special bird family to come live in our yard. She picked out a bird house and lined it with soft grass so a mama and daddy bird can lay their eggs and raise their young. Sydney climbs on the foot stool and checks everyday to see if a bird family has moved in yet.

The Smiling Cowgirl baby

Carly is 2 1/2 months and the laughs and smiles are such a joy now. She loves her little cowgirl. It want be long before she wants her own pink cowgirl boots and pink hat like her big sis.

Guess Who?

2007-04-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

Can you identify which is Carly and which is Sydney???
Try your best guess!

1.

2.

Country Dance and Angels' game

2007-04-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend we did a couple a fun things besides our usual weekend activities. We went to a Country dance at the equestrian center. That's a hoe-down for you real cowboys and cowgirls. We also went to an Angels baseball game (Angels 6, Mariners 1). Here are a few pictures from the events. The first ones are of Sydney and Carly getting ready for the dance. Carly has on her bathrobe after her bath and is patiently waiting. Check out Sydney's pink cowgirl boots and hat!

Carly's Montage

2007-04-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sydney and Molly had a sleepover and made a pryamid with all of the stuffed animals. They had so much fun. They tried to sleep with all the animals on the bed but finally gave up about midnight when the pryamid fell off the bed for the 3rd time and Tony told them it is time to sleep!

Carly at 8 Weeks old

2007-04-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been 8 weeks. Carly has grown so much from the little infant we brought home. This week we introduced her to the highchair and the bumbo set. The highchair is great. She did want me to hold her everynight about dinner time but now she seems content in the highchair and I can cook dinner (or order dinner!)

This snapshot shows Sydney in the act of staging for the pictures. She wanted Carly surrounded by the lions and tigers (oh my!) The bumbo seat is really recommended starting at 3 months but I think she is seating in it pretty good.

Happy Easter

2007-04-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter Sunday. After attending a nice church service with friends, we went to the Seacliff Country Club for an Easter brunch. The food was great...salads, fruits, omelets to order, carving bar, seafood bar and oohh the desserts...yum!

The Easter Bunny made a special visit to the club! Sydney and her friend Molly had their picture made while Carly was sleeping.

This has become a ritual Easter picture. We take an Easter family snapshot every year on the same rock!

........I think I ate too much......

7 Weeks old

2007-04-05T07:07:00.000-07:00

Carly is 7 weeks old today. She is trying to hold her head up as you can see in these pictures.

Sydney is on Spring break this week. We had a picnic in the park. Sydney brought along some stuffed animals for Carly to play with.