Anna Sue Carberry

Here's a few photos of our 7-pound, 10-ounce bundle of love. Anna's super-sweet, calm and easy to soothe. She fits right in....The photos pretty much tell it.....

Family Portrait

Special, So Special

Jenelle's girlfriend's put on a blessing way for her this last week, in anticipation of Anna's arrival....They made her feel pretty special.....She has a cool network of mommy friends in South Orange County. Funny how women can always get a good network going, wherever they live.

The brothers wanted to go to the shower but they hung with dad for the day. The sun hat was left over from the blessing. Fits Evan well....

Mommy and Her Warriors

This is Jenelle's, "get that camera away from me," look. Had a bit of bomb scare last week. Jenelle had several contractions right before the old Outdoor Retailer slog to Salt Lake.  Anna wasn't ready. Just shifting a bit. As you can see, Jenelle's carrying her well....

Jenelle has been using the job chart with the boys. Clean room, talk nice, help out, earn stickers. It always works. For at least a week.

Sam and Evan labored pretty hard to earn their costumes. Sam started with Iron Man. But ended up being a ninja like Evan.

Pretty stealth.....

To Time, With Love

Dear Time,

If we may, we'd like to ask if you could possibly slow down? You're here, then you're gone. And the extra special moments come and go so fast with you. Who knows if we'll ever get all the cousins in one spot like this again? With grandpa sitting at that exact spot, with the grandkids in that exact same pose, having that much fun?

We're glad you allowed us to be there to grab a quick still. These moments in you, Time, make us appreciate being parents.

Thanks again. And please, try to slow up, just a little.

All the best as you move forward,

The Carberry's

Nesting

Jenelle is nesting. Hanging pictures. Getting our spare bedroom ready for the little lady. Cleaning up after us. Trying to sit as much as possible.

And to give her time to do this, we go do stuff. Like ride the public trolley with our buddies to different beaches.

Adventuring....Treasure hunting.....stuff boys do.

Yoga With Mom

Two posts in a week. We're on it.

Here's mom, 8.5-months pregnant and still teaching yoga. She had a woman cry the other night at her last Wednesday night class before--and for a while after--Anna comes. I think the woman was going to miss her spiritual healer.

This is mom helping the boys focus. They thought it was pretty fun....

Freestyling: Star Wars on the Mind

The "Real Santa"

Santa made a visit to the Dana Point Harbor and we were lucky enough to get him all to ourselves. We are anxiously awaiting the big day and can't wait to see our families and friends in Idaho!

Evan's 3!

Snowboarder Cake

Halloweenie!!

Try not to get too scared by this spooky ghost!!!!

Don't worry there's a strong fireman around to help protect you.

Sam's ghost costume only lasted for pictures (turned out that wearing a sheet around is rather uncomfortable). He was over it and put on his knight costume for trick or treating.

Grandma and Grandpa Carberry joined us this year for Halloween and also to celebrate both of their birthdays. The boys were so excited to design their cake. We made "Lego Guy Golfer Cake".

Love and miss you all soooo much!

Hard Cider

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away."  Many of us have heard of this saying.  I think that most of us just don't know that "the apple" is referring to a tall glass of hard cider.  Hard cider or fermented apple juice was the most popular drink during colonial times.  It was more common than water because the fermentation process killed all of the bad bacteria often found in well water.  Also, apple trees were originally planted for the purpose of making cider not for eating apples.  Surprising I know.  I learned all of this on our drive with our friends up to Julian, a small town east of San Diego famous for its apple orchards.  Vila, our friend from Finland gave me this little history on apples in the US.  His plan was to juice 10 gallons of cider.

Cider making production line:  apples ground up, then pressed and poured into five gallon glass jars.  By the end there were happy bees everywhere.  Took two hours to press 10 gallons of cider and will only take 3 wks. minimum to make hard cider.

This is the owner of the apple farm showing us how to run the juicer.  The boys thought that he was a pirate.  While Vila worked, the boys and I went on mission to find the hidden tepee where this "pirate" sleeps.

We picked apples for eating.  The boys loved the simplicity of food growing on trees.  Imagine that!

Apple Orchard Ninja Gang....watch out!



Sam I Am

Sam likes to talk right before he goes to sleep at night.  That is when he wants to tell you about all the the rich ideas and feelings that move through his mind.  Last night he told me, "I have two brains. My second brain is my heart.  It remembers everything.  I think that I can hear a little thinker in there."
Sam carries with him a longing for deep understanding of the world and the way things work. A few days ago he said, "What is God made of?"
I said, "Everything."
Then he asked, "Who made God?"

 Here Sam is ready to go out and learn in the world at his first day of Kindergarten at Journey School.  (Happy here, but the tears came later and for the first week.  Now, thank goodness he loves his school.)

Evan is my helper in the kitchen.  On this particular day we were making Joe's birthday cake and yes Evan is wearing a batter beard.  Yum!

The boys love to celebrate a birthday!

Grandpa Doug

We love you....thanks for the belly laughs!

p.s.  I will post more from our fun summer soon and can't wait for some girlies to get back on the blogwagon.  I thought this would be a nice way to start it off.

School's Out!

Sam finished his last day of Serra Preschool this past Monday. He says he is ready to have more time with his Legos this summer and with his mama (ah what a sweetie). For me, I get all weepy picturing the first day that I dropped him off, such a little guy and now he has grown so much just as all of his friends there have. I realize that we will probably see very little of these Serra friends because most will be going to different schools next year. It is during these big transitions that make me stop and appreciate how lucky I am to share most of my days with our beautiful boys. Many experienced parents have told me, "It really is such a short time." For me, a very special time.

Sam and his teacher, the lovely Mrs. Donaldson. She's a lover for sure.

All the kids got a special treat with their certificates and of course Evan needed one too.





Preparing ourselves for summer break, we went camping up to Lake Arrowhead this past weekend. It is located in the San Bernardino Mountains east of here, less than two hours away if it weren't for the millions of people between here and there. Once we were settled at our campsite we had a wonderful time. Sam and Evan loved their freedom to roam.

The boys showing me their battle stance.

Too cold for swimming...but Sam got convinced to take a dip.

Get me out of here!

We're are looking forward to our time in Idaho this August. xoxo