Photoshop

I received Photoshop Elements 8 from David and Sandra for Christmas! I have been waiting to get this so I can have some fun with my photos. This was my first project. This is a pic of Tabby and Kel on Christmas Eve. Here is the fun I had: Tab had a scratch on her left cheek that I removed!; made the pic black and white; added a grunge border to it. I can't wait to play some more!

Blood Work

Jake went back to Children's in San Diego today for blood work. I had missed this on the original order for his MRI, which we did 2 weeks ago. They took 5 vials of blood! Now we will head back to the neurologist's office to find out the results of all the testing. On the up side, his arm twitching isn't as frequent as it was and he has grown an inch and a half since August!

Driving Test?

This is what Kel walked away with from the DMV. Not quite what we went there for. She went to take her Driving Permit Test. We made the appointment a couple of weeks ago. When we arrived the line was wrapped around the building! (happy for our appt.) The inside of the building was wall to wall people, no joke. When we checked in we were told the Sacramento computers were down for the last 2 hours and there was no word when they would be up again. This meant that they couldn't process anything. We were given a number and found a small spot of wall to stand against. After waiting for over an hour the DMV staff decided to reschedule everyone for another day (we could have waited to see if the computers came up but who has all day to waste there?). Now we're headed back tomorrow...oh, almost forgot. While we were packed into the building we had an earthquake! Just a small one (5.9 in Baja). No one seemed the least bit worried about it. Just shrugged and went on with rescheduling. That's Cali!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 09 was our first Christmas in years where we didn't have Renita or Mark's families with us. How are we to spend our 2 week break without them? We'll find a way to manage... I drove up to my mom's at the beginning of break to exchange gifts with her. Next year she'll be in Temecula!

Christmas Eve we went to church with Steve's mom and dad. After dinner, David read the story of Christ's birth from Luke.

Jenny and Matt were with us!

Tabby and Kel waiting for gifts. Let the games begin!

Tabby was shocked and thrilled to get a Kindle!

Jacob was stunned and speechless when he opened his iTouch.

Amanda was excited to get a U of M sweatshirt, Coach gift card, and dvd's of her as a baby.

Kel thought that the most fun was her new iPod. She could hardly contain herself when she opened her autographed football from Sidney Rice (thanks Janel!) and her Rice jersey.

Scandinavian Night

Steve's Uncle Bruce was in town and hosted "Scandinavian Night" with his cousin Missy.

Appetizer of herring, cheese, and flat bread.

The infamous Lutefisk was the main dish. Missy also made chicken and dumplings for us "normal" people (her words :) )

Sandra fixing her plate of white food, except for the nicely colored green peas.

For dessert we had cloud berry sauce over vanilla ice cream. The berries are from the very north of Sweden. Delicious!

Thanks so much for Miss and Bruce!

Happy Birthday Renita

My dear sister-in-law turned the big 50 this December. We made our way to Scottsdale for her surprise party last weekend.

While the guests were arriving for a well planned surprise party we headed to a local wine bar. Don't Renita and Terry look great?

Mr. Fabulous and I

Daughter and Mother

Me, Sandra, Jenny, Jessica

Back at the house the surprise was a success. Renita had an idea that something was up. Even with that she fell on her rump (literally) when everyone yelled "SURPRISE!!!"

Our Last Christmas Program

Tabitha had her final elementary school Christmas Program. She is part of the "Pawformers", the chorus group at school.

She had the important role of bell ringing. See her way back in the middle of the photo? Yep, that's her. The guy in front of me kept leaning back to video. The worst part is his daughter was on the opposite side! Let me see my Tabby!

There she is again...

This trip is trouble (not really) Megan, Cristin and Tabby BFFs.

New Dog, well, kind of...

Meet Parker. He is the newest temporary addition to the Molstre house. My brother and his family moved to San Diego to an apartment that doesn't allow pets. He called and asked if we could keep him for a couple of months while they found a house. (My mom took the cats, lucky her). He is just great, very well behaved and doesn't shed! Molly was a fan at first but is slowly coming around. She has stopped trying to take his head off and is resigned to the fact that he may be here for a while. Of course, the kids just love him.

Halloween

This halloween the girls headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house. (We were at our friend's for a birthday dinner and Jake was at his first halloween party). Carter and Savannah joined in the fun.

Tabby dressed up as a witch. She had to choose a costume from what she had because I wasn't buying costumes this year. We are just about out of that phase! Maddie came over to join as well.

Soccer Finale

Tabby's team got together tonight for the end of the season party at Pizza Factory. While we finished in 11th place, she had a great season. Her coach was great with the girls and was always positive. Though this was his first year coaching soccer, Tabby learned a lot more about the game and her position of goalie.

Tabby received an Outstanding Player award from her coach. He said "I looked to her to be a leader on the team as she was one of the oldest girls. I learned a lot from her about the game of soccer as well as how to speak". Apparently Tab would correct his grammar at practice. I guess that's what you get when your parents are teachers!

The girls and Coach Casey. We were missing a few due to illness.

Super Saturday

Our Super Saturday began with Kel and me up at 4:30am. She had to be at school by 5:00am. Sorry, no pictures at that hour. She was accompanying her team to Mt. Sac for the big Invitational. She was not running this weekend. (Congrats to our awesome Girls' Cross Country Team - they finished 1st in Div 1).

That was followed by Tabby's 8:00 soccer game across town. She had to be there at 7:30.

She had a stellar game at goalie and even had the mud on her uniform to prove it! She blocked a PK in the 3rd quarter which was AWESOME!

After Tabby's game it was time to go back across town near our house for Jake's flag football game. The Chargers won!

It was then off to the Paloma Fall Carnival, the last one for the Molstre family. We haven't missed one in the last 11 years! My little man became unrecognizable, really. He walked right past me and I didn't know it was him!

The new black-haired, mustache bearing Jacob!

Our friends, Brooke and Dave, absolutely love Halloween. They host a Halloween party every year for families. The one requirement is that we dress up (not my favorite, but for Brooke...)

Steve especially LOVES to dress up...NOT! I picked up a $5 headband and tail at Walmart for my cat costume (or mouse as the kids kept calling me). MR. Halloween decided to be a construction worker and wore his best construction company t-shirt and hammer.

Jake kept his colored hair and dressed in his "best" hobo outfit. Tabby was a witch and Kel a football player.

Brooke has so many Halloween decorations in her home. It was definitely fall in there, even with the 85 degrees outside!

The little munchkins getting ready for a game (Brooke is in the red and white)

Kelsey and neighbor friend Cheyenne helped out with the little guys' crafts.

Now we are home, relaxing, watching "King Kong". At least tomorrow we have football to relax to!

Just when we thought the fun would end...

Jake had his second visit to a neurologist today. The first was about his headaches, which they think are juvenile migraines. Today was a follow up to see about the involuntary arm twitches he has. Steve took him last week for an EEG, which we found out came back normal.

He was patient and listened to all the questions the Dr. had for him. She was very thorough, had an hour long exam! The diagnosis? Probably a tic, but not positive. He has to go back for an MRI and blood work (just waiting for insurance approval). The fun never ends!

Tabby's Birthday

My little girl turned 10! I remember my mom saying I could never get any older than 10 and now I realize why. Tab wanted a sewing machine for the big day, what every girl wants!

She had a few friends over to swim and paint.

Tabby made this creation with some balloons she picked up.

For our activity the girls painted wood letters for their first initial

.

North Island San Diego

We headed to North Island Naval Station with Tim, Steve's cousin's husband, for Fleet Week. He is in the Navy and stationed in San Diego. We brought Jake along and knew he would have a ball. This is the ship that we toured. It is the newest one in the fleet. It hasn't even been commissioned yet.

The Marine Amphibious stuff was there since that is what this ship carries. Jake was very intrigued, as was Steve.

They got to climb in and test the vehicles. Steve even started this truck.

Jake learned how to work the guns and was able to shoot them, bullet free of course.

He tried on the bullet proof vest and helmet, minus the lead.

A beautiful view of downtown San Diego from the ship.