Hello Horios!

Music to my ears

2012-01-31T22:07:00.000-08:00

First of all, I am so sad to say that our camera is broken. I have been thinking about the few of you who check in here and what I could post in lieu of pictures. It is hard because I usually just post pictures. Well here is something I have been thinking of. These following lines have been said recently and they were "music to my ears."

Me, "Emma, we can skip History today."
Emma, "I don't want to skip History!"

Chloe, "I want some bell peppers."

Lucy, "I have to go potty."

Emma, "I want to go to Israel."

Lucy, "I want to snuggle!"

Chloe or Emma, "I want to help!"

Doctor, "That is a good strong heartbeat!"

And that heartbeat he was talking about wasn't mine (although I am sure mine is strong too :).) Yes, we are expecting a new baby in July and are so excited. The girls are excited, grandparents are excited and everyone else is shocked and think we are crazy :). It is all good! Children are a blessing from the Lord :). It is so fun having them around and being with them etc.
And Emma wanted me to tell you that she lost another tooth!

CHF Toy Wrap 2011

2012-01-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

In early December we went to wrap toys for Children's Hunger Fund. They distribute several hundred thousand toys during the Christmas season to needy children (as well as food to families and the Gospel message.) This is our second year going and definitely a tradition now! My mom also went with us and we had fun wrapping and wrapping and wrapping!

This is not related to the toy wrap at all :).

Family Photo Shot

2011-12-25T21:20:00.000-08:00

In October, (yes I know I am way behind!) we had our little family shoot with our beautiful friend Amanda Rodriguez as our photographer. Here are some of the shots and you may recognize some from our Christmas card this year :).
Hopefully more updates to come but our camera died and so it wont be easy ...

My girls as 2 year olds

2011-10-31T21:06:00.000-07:00

2011-10-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Emma! She turned 7 this year :). Here is one of her favorite gifts she got. She has made some beautiful paper doll clothes with it.

My little Lucy turned 2 this year! She is discovering her independence and is quite the chatterbox.
She is ready for this hand-me-down trike from Chloe (who got it handed down from Emma.) First Emma needs a new bike and then Chloe can have Emma's and then Lucy can have this trike :).

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

Of course I chose the hottest day to go to the pumpkin patch but we had fun anyway!

Lucy loved the animals.
Emma led us around the corn maze.
Fun picture props.

Fall is so fun! I think each season is fun when you get to it.

Today

2011-10-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

2011-10-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

Every breakfast time I have this cutie pie helping me! She is a great egg stirrer!

"A" for effort but...

2011-10-10T21:50:00.000-07:00

not "A" for taste! So sad. So I made these Asian Spring rolls with a sauce and even got the special rice wrappers. I even bought a few ingredients that I have never purchased before: radishes and sprouted mung beans. Let's just say, the mint leaves were too overpowering and well, I only ate one. Rick was a good sport and tried one too.
I do like to experiment in the kitchen but this one was not a good one. I think I will try egg rolls next time :). Some other experiments going on in my kitchen are a lot of gluten free items. I tried my own sourdough gluten free crackers, a sourdough gluten free pancake recipe and I will be doing sourdough gluten free pizza crust on Wednesday. And I just learned how to make my own water kefir soda so we have some of those we have been experimenting on, my favorite is water kefir lemonade and water kefir grape soda.

L.A. County Fair

2011-10-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks ago Rick took the day off and we all went to the Fair! We had a nice time :).
I think our favorite part is the California History section. Here is Chloe making an old fashioned rag doll.

The girls learning to make a rug with fabric scraps.

Emma is trying gem panning. She has been dreaming about this for a long time!

We also visited the famous pig races and other animals. Rick debated over getting chocolate covered bacon and decided not to. We saw the traveling circus, some shopping booths and a shark tank. It was worth the trip especially since we got in for free and parked for free!

The Cutest Jack-O-Lantern Ever!

2011-10-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

This was almost two weeks ago.
This was today!

Family Zoo Trip

2011-09-25T21:36:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely trip to the zoo with my mom and brother. And it was a beautiful day! I love seeing all the fabulous animals that God has created.

2011-09-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

Some recent happenings:

Visiting the Aquatic Center

Water wars with Papa and Grandma. Papa also brought over this huge box and turned it into a house for the girls. The took an afternoon to paint it. They are now convinced they can paint our house for us...

A Whole New World for Lucy

2011-09-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Redemption Church Camping Trip 2011

2011-08-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

This was the fantastic tent we borrowed. Rick dubbed it the "Taj Ma-Horio." It had 3 rooms! Lucy and her pack n play got a room, Emma and Chloe got one and us adults got one. Very cool! We actually borrowed everything from tent, to air mattress, to cooking stove and coolers. What a blessing!

Dinner the first night.
Roasting marshmallows with everyone.
Enjoying a sunset which is hard to tell in the picture but it was better in person.
We had devotional times and singing.
A lot of play time!

We also went to the park and the beach and hung around our camp fire. About 40 people (including kids) from our church came to the camping trip. So fun!
And when we were taking down our tent, a little mole scurried out. I guess we had him trapped!
Lucy loved camping. She was like goldilocks, trying out everyone's camping chairs.
All in all a wonderful time! A lot of prep work and cleaning up at the end but totally worth it!

Chloe reading

2011-08-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

Now Lucy, my little spoiled princess has the whole family reading to her. Chloe is really starting to read well, very exciting!

Magical Paper Garden

2011-08-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

A gift from their Papa.
Add the magic liquid, give it a few hours and VOILA!

Swim Lessons

2011-08-09T14:32:00.000-07:00

This summer we decided that our girls should learn how to swim. Swimming is an important life long safety skill! We put it off this long because of different reasons, if you know Emma than you understand :).
Anyways, once we came to the conclusion to have swim lessons the challenge was finding where to have them. Here where we live, the parks and rec have a rule that until the age of 7 the parent needs to be in the pool with the kid for swim lessons. That doesn't work for me :). Next I checked Burbank and their program looked good but the only openings were at 8:30am which also doesn't work for me! Next I checked Valencia and BINGO! We found a great pool with shade for Lucy and I while we wait, Emma and Chloe were able to be in the same class, the class was small and their teacher was GREAT! Great in that he put Emma and Chloe at ease and made it fun. They made great improvements by the time the 2 weeks was over. I am very proud of them and thankful for swim lessons :).

Pontoon Adventure with Meme

2011-07-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Another beach day

2011-07-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

Beach with Daddy

2011-06-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

Summer has arrived and this means it is time to go to the beach! Here is our new beach tent which worked great! It zips up on both sides for privacy and it just pops open and folds back down into a backpack. Love it.

Emma and Chloe said that this beach was a dream come true because there were so many shells! They love collecting shells.
Lucy liked the sand but she was scared of the water.

Emma with all her shells!
A little sculpture that Emma and Chloe made of feet. The shells are the nails. They did this during their shade break :).
The fun part of the beach was seeing the girls have so much fun. Rick was such a good sport by going in the water with them over and over and digging big holes in the sand. I hung out with Lucy most of the time. Lucy and I even walked on the pier and checked out the aquarium.

Lucy ~ 20 months old

2011-06-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Huntington Gardens

2011-06-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

My sister and I took my dad to the Huntington Gardens for Father's day last weekend. It was also the girls' first time there. They enjoyed the childrens' garden a lot.

We also went into one of the museums there where they had some very famous paintings and old furniture on display. A museum worker practically followed the girls and I the whole time making sure they didn't touch anything! It was funny. Emma reached out to touch a window (that wasn't part of the exhibit) and a worker yelled, "Don't touch!" and nearly scared Emma out of her skin! I understand that they want to protect their investments, I just thought it was funny :).

Lucy names body parts

2011-06-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

I am a little slow getting this video on here, it is a month old! A month in the life of a toddler is a lifetime meaning she already sounds so different than this video. She is talking so well and so much! She is hungry for information! And food too for that matter. This girl can eat. Oh wait, isn't she a Horio? Of course she likes to eat! This age has always been my favorite in all the girls. There is nothing like hearing the babies learn to talk. Every morning Lucy calls me and then when I get her asks, "Emma? Chloe? Daddy?" and then we go through our usual routine of changing her diaper and her saying she is hungry and would like her milk and breakfast. "hunry! Mil! Befa!" Other common words for her are when we are going to go on a walk are walk, jacket, shoes, outside, bird. Very fun :).

Chloe's Calvary Kids Graduation

2011-06-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Chloe! We finished Calvary Kids a few weeks ago and Chloe did so well at her graduation. :)

Each mom presented her child with a memory book or Bible. I gave Chloe an ESV Children's Bible which is just a regular ESV Bible with lots of pictures in it. I like reading it too :). I will also make her a memory book...later.
The kids recited the monthly memory verses in pairs and they also sang all the monthly songs as a group. It was a long evening but nice to see Chloe up there!
Each kid had a poster made for them to hang up at the graduation reception.

Chloe and I had a wonderful time this year doing lots of very cool crafts, singing songs and going on some cool outings. I enjoyed the class time where she got to sit on my lap! It was fun watching Chloe grow this year. She is so smart and attentive. She is a good memorizer (is that a word?)

We are thankful for the special time we had together each Friday :).

Vacation part 2

2011-05-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Wild Animal Park in San Diego- so fun!!! We loved seeing the animals more in their element. Baby elephants playing and chasing each other. So cute!
We loved the tram ride!

The girls were totally posing- I totally don't know where they got that. So funny!
We got to hear from some trainers about various animals, one of them being a kangaroo. Very interesting!

And what better way to end our fun day than with smores at the Rohlands :).

Vacation part 1

2011-05-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful opportunity to go on a short vacation recently. We spent our first day with our long time friends the Rohlands. Here are Aidan and Lucy hanging out :). We are very thankful for their friendship and hospitality.

On our second day we went to Legoland with our home school discount. So very fun!!! The girls said they like it better than Disneyland. :)

A family picture on our way out. Lucy was asleep somewhere in that stroller :). Also, do you like my old lady hat? Hey, it does the job!

2011-05-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Us girls go on a walk around the block almost everyday. It is nice to get out. It is fun to see what is going on in the neighborhood like: what houses are selling or renting, new landscape or flowers, saying "hi" to other people walking or working in their yard. We have made several neighborhood friends including a tortoise named Speedy by our consistent walks :).
This tree that the girls are sitting on had pushed up the sidewalk and we used to call that portion of the sidewalk "the bumpies." For some reason, Emma as a toddler loves walking to the "bumpies." And then Chloe as a toddler got to experience the "bumpies." Before Lucy was born, the city workers came and chopped the tree roots and repaved the sidewalk flat. Emma renamed this section of our walk, "the flatties." And so here we are, resting by "the flatties." And of course I have to mention the adorable dresses from their Grandma Janie :).

Easter 2011

2011-05-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

After a lovely Easter church service celebrating our risen King we went to my aunt's house for an extended family get together. It was a nice time and a good chance to take pictures :).

Here are the bunny cupcakes my aunt asked me to bring. They were very cute but I can't say they tasted that great... oh well.

My sweet baby!
Lucy enjoying her first egg hunt.

My brother Clark getting creative with our camera.

Overwhelmed

2011-05-05T20:27:00.000-07:00

About 2 months ago I noticed Chloe was getting some eczema on the inside of where her elbow bends on her right arm. The eczema patch got bigger and bigger and then spread! It spread to her other arm, her hand, her face and belly. I was really overwhelmed. I had never dealth with the eczema beast before. I had only heard of the struggle some of our friends have had with it for YEARS. Wow, oh no...
I wish I took a better picture of Chloe with her eczema at its worse but this was all I could find.

So the past 2 months for me has been a roller coaster. I have been consistently staying up late researching and reading about eczema and allergies. Oh yeah, Chloe has allergies. I think she is allergic to Spring. Last Spring her allergies got so bad that her doctor put her on 3 different meds and she still snored like a bear and was a walking zombie. Just for a few months and then she got back to normal :). I had forgotten how bad it was until 2 months ago. Chloe is snoring like a bear again and wheezing and now rashing. My poor baby. So what did I do?

Pray, pray and research and worry (I know, for shame). I don't need to worry because I trust that God is taking care of us and will never give us more than we can handle. And He didn't! So after a few weeks of Chloe's rash gradually spreading I decided to take her to the doctor to verify that it was indeed eczema and indeed it was. Her doctor then proceeded to make a list of 5 medicines to go pick up at Target for Chloe to take. One being a steroid cream for her eczema. The others were various allergy meds and a steroid nose spray and an inhaler. I wont get into my thoughts on all that right now but I will say that I resolved to heal her naturally and she has not taken any of that poison, I mean medicine. Oooops.

We have been keeping the rashes moisturized all day with all kinds of things :). We use coconut oil, oregano oil and a very natural coconut lotion and even have used Emu oil. We are also using Lingon berry stuff. We have done sea salt baths too. She doesn't eat sugar right now and is on a very organic healthy diet that includes lots of healthy fats and probiotics (which she is learning to enjoy :). We realized that we had to wrap Chloe's arms and hand up every night to prevent her from scratching her rashes while she was sleeping. She would wake up in the morning with blood on her shirt and sheets and a very irritated rash. I was wondering how it was going to heal if she kept scratching. So every night we lather her up and wrap her up. She is a real trooper!

A few days ago I was a little discouraged because I would see great improvement but then it would start to worsen over and over, get better and worsen. Overall though it was getting better. I still felt like something else needed to be done. Also, Chloe (and I) were getting tired of people asking what happened to Chloe's arm or hand. Asking me if I was doing anything to help it. Asking me if I have tried steroid cream. I have lost most faith in regular doctors and so we decided to check out a chiropractor. On Monday, Chloe went to see Dr. Josh Mitchell, a chiropractor that Rick knows. He did his thing and the next day, I am not kidding, I saw the biggest improvement in her rash so far. In one day! Today is Thursday and it will probably be the last day of wrapping her up like a mummy. The rash is almost gone. Absolutely amazing! I am so thankful that God saw fit to steer us this direction and Chloe did not have to take all those drugs after all. I am so thankful for how God provided all the money for taking care of Chloe's rash. I am so thankful for my supportive husband who let me do this for her naturally when the steroid cream was tempting us in the cabinet. Thank you God for healing my baby!!!

Catching up a little

2011-04-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Berry picking at Underwood farms! Lucy loves strawberries and so she was in heaven.

Our friends the Levis' have chickens that the girls got to see and feed. Chloe and Emma held live worms for them to eat, eeewww!
Calvary Kids went ice skating!

Aren't these the cutest girls you ever have seen? I love these cuties!
Besides playing with her buttons Lucy likes to try on shoes...
Calvary kids had a ballerina day. Chloe's snack (or sugary treat) was three cross cookies. The decorated one for the cross that Jesus died on for our sins. It is decorated because He rose from the dead and in that conquered sin and death.
Cute ballerinas!

Recent Happenings

2011-04-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

I feel like we have been busy this month! We have spent a good chunk of time outside planting, watering plants, playing in the sandbox, finding and taking care of rollie pollies, walking and riding bikes.

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and baking. My recent baking experiments include whole wheat sourdough bread and whole wheat sourdough crackers. Yum :).

We went on a nature hike last weekend. The girls carried bags with them to collect rocks etc.
The girls got some clothes from Great Grandma Noriko in Japan. Here are some of them. And thankfully Noriko is okay. She lives in southern Japan which wasn't affected directly by the Tsunami.
Church, Calvary Kids, Community Group, play dates, errands, homeschool, chores, cooking, and outings. I am thankful for all that God has allowed us to be a part of. We love our church and serving there. We do enjoy homeschooling and am thankful for all the neat things we have learned. Emma's favorite is History. It is mine too :). I have been reading a lot and I love to read history stuff like biographies etc. Okay, now I am rambling. Have a good day!

2011-03-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

Climbing trees :)

We took a day to visit the La Brea Tar Pits. This will be the one and only time I take the girls there. It was a one hit wonder. :) It was not that it wasn't interesting but there just wasn't much to it.

Hanging out at the mall.

Night time creativity

2011-03-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we put the girls to bed and Emma doesn't go to sleep right away. She reads in her bed or sometimes writes songs or notes. A few nights ago she wrote these for Rick and I (the first one is Daddy vertically and the second is Mama vertically):

Double daring
Able to love
Dazzling
Darling
Yay Daddy!

Mama is manners
A lovable thing
Mist cheerer
And a good cook

So cute! The only one I didn't really understand is the mist cheerer. Emma says that when you are down you are like in a mist and so a mist cheerer cheers you up. :) I am thankful for her creativity.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

2011-03-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

Rick and I went to our favorite restaurant to celebrate our 1oth anniversary. The Melting Pot for fondue. You must try it. It is not cheap but since we rarely go out together these days we didn't mind. We had some cheese fondue for chips, bread, veggies and apple pieces then a salad then a broth fondue to cook our meat and veggies (main course) and last, chocolate fondue to dip fruit and other treats in. So yummy. I think my favorite part is the cheese. Overall, Rick and I had a lovely time talking, reminiscing and eating :). I am so thankful for him. He is my perfect complement. Lately, I have been especially thankful for how smart he is and how loving he is to all us girls.

Calvary Kids- Week 18

2011-02-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

February 18, 2011

Letter Q

Chloe leading the flag salute.
Cut out kids craft.
Making a badge for our police visit in a few weeks.
Chloe is an expert crafter :). She also does great in the classroom. I am proud of her for raising her hand to answer questions and being such a good student.

Presents from Grandma Cheryl

2011-02-18T21:19:00.000-08:00

Here are the girls enjoying a crayon maker, rock painting and a baby doll. :) There was more too. We are thankful for Grandma thinking of us all the way up in Idaho. I hope we can go up there again some time. I love it there!

Calvary Kids- Week 17

2011-02-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

February 11, 2011
Valentine's Day Edition

This month's verse and theme.

Pet Rock Craft
Playground time
Line leader
Heart Cookie snack
All the Calvary Kids holding their mail boxes for the Valentines hand out.
Handing out Valentines.
A fun day :).

Static Electricity

2011-02-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

Calvary Kids- Week 16

2011-02-18T20:53:00.000-08:00

February 5, 2011
Dad's Day!

What a unique opportunity! We have Calvary kids on Fridays normally but this one time we do it on a Saturday with Dads instead of Moms. A few moms do come to help things run smoothly :). This is the group picture of all the kids and dads ready for their paper airplane throwing contest.

One of the crafts was to make a heart pin for mom. LOVE IT!
Rick and Chloe had a great time and then Rick took her to lunch. Rick likes to take the girls out individually now and then for some one on one time. I think it is great!

Homemade English Muffins

2011-02-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

We love english muffins for breakfast and so I decided to try and make them! I used a recipe from my favorite blog: passionate homemaking
(search 'sourdough' on her site if you want to see the recipe- I couldn't link it right there for some reason- I am not as techie as some...)
Everyone loves them, hooray!

Calvary Kids - Week 15

2011-02-10T19:18:00.000-08:00

January 28, 2011
California Science Center Outing

Lifting a truck!
We went to this museum 2 years ago and I didn't enjoy it. It was so crowded! I don't enjoy crowds. So this time we went straight to the third floor and it was empty! Later we headed down to the lower floors and found the crowd but it wasn't bad. I enjoyed the Ecosystems exhibit.

Walking!

2011-01-30T21:39:00.000-08:00

And loving it! So finally at 14.5 months Lucy decided to start walking :). I shouldn't say finally as if I was waiting forever for her to start. With Emma walking at 19.5 months old and Chloe at 13.5 months, I knew it could be awhile. I really was in no hurry because I know what walking means. It means more independence and growing up etc. No thanks :). Just kidding. Kind of. I love this age so much. She is starting to talk more and she is so so sweet.

Happy Birthday Papa!

2011-01-30T21:26:00.000-08:00

We went to a surprise party for my dad a few weeks ago. The big 55! My girls, my neighbors and myself made this lovely 55 decoration for the party. :)

The Portos cake.
My dad has everything he needs and so we all got him gift cards. Since opening a bunch of gift cards is not that exciting we made it into a contest. Whoever wrapped their gift card the most creatively got a prize. It was very fun! My sister got the grand prize for a 3 story house box decorated very carefully and cute! The plant on the right had a tin box buried in it with a gift card in it from my aunt's family. We froze his gift card in a container of water and then put it in a glass with water, lime (what he likes), and a straw. We gave him the drink and it was fun to see him realize what it was. There were some other great wrapped gifts too :). It was fun.
We played some fun games. The banner in the background was made by Emma and Chloe.
We are thankful for our Papa! He is a huge blessing to us. He is very caring and generous. He loves my babies so much and tries to spend quality time with them and me too! We are loving seeing God work in his life too.

Calvary Kids - Week 13

2011-01-30T21:18:00.000-08:00

January 14, 2011
Letter L

Chloe with her friend Leia.

Missionary Path craft.

Our guests this week were a blind and deaf lady with her dog and her translators. It was so cool to see how these ladies communicate with this lady. They do what they do every week to tell the deaf/blind about Jesus. What a neat ministry! This was something really neat for Chloe to see, just to open her eyes to another way to help people.

Calvary Kids - Week 12

2011-01-24T14:37:00.000-08:00

January 7, 2011

America Day

Letter K

Getting ready for their America parade. Chloe liked doing the parade and said her favorite part was seeing Emma (Emma's homeschool room came out to watch.)

Park Day

2011-01-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

Cake Sisters

2011-01-24T14:22:00.000-08:00

Emma and Chloe got a Cake making and decorating kit for Christmas from a nice lady named Jackie. Here is Chloe mixing the batter.

Here they are with their baked two layer cakes all ready to decorate!
Rolling the fondant.
Using the fondant to put on stripes.
Icing and sprinkles.
Ta-da!
And it so happened to be their Build-a-Bears' birthdays and so they used the cakes to celebrate :). It took the whole afternoon but it was fun.

Our snuggler

2011-01-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

Every day when Rick gets home from work Lucy walks over to him, he picks her up and she lays her head on his shoulder. It is the cutest thing ever, to watch her snuggle with him. And of course, he loves it!

Zoo

2011-01-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

We went to the zoo with our dear friend Karen during Emma's Christmas break. It was a beautiful day! This is the prairie dog exhibit- so cute! The kids can go up in these bubble things and it looks like they are in the exhibit.

Never seen one of these. Armadillo!
Lucy is loving her free elephant stuffed animal.
Friends :) Karen was fun to go with because she appreciates the big and small details of all these amazing animals!

Tree Hugger?

2011-01-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

Emma did not want us to get rid of the tree. We liked having it up but it was time to let it go...
We talked about what makes something special and if you have something all the time then it wont be special anymore. At any rate, it was actually very emotional for her.

Christmas Day 2010

2011-01-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Jesus' birthday this day. We read the Christmas story, had a special breakfast, showed each other love with gifts, and spent time together! It was a lovely day.

Christmas Eve

2011-01-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve began with Emma making us all a breakfast picnic. It was all her idea too.

We celebrated in the evening with my mom, Rick's mom, my brother and sister.
Aunt Rachel got the girls these bracelet maker kits and she was very patiently showing them how it all worked. Thanks Aunt Rachel!
Meme got Emma a book which she began reading right away. She loves to read!
After dinner and dessert we played Scattegories too. One reason why I love family get togethers is that we play games. Thank you to everyone for the lovely gifts and food you brought.

Snow!

2011-01-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

Wow, we are true Valley people. We heard it had snowed close by the night before and so yesterday (on our first day back to school), we played hookie and went to see the snow! The girls LOVED it and can't wait to go back. We do not have snow clothes and so it took my feet a long time to thaw out. We will have to go see the snow again soon. I am thankful for a variety of weather and a flexible school schedule :).

Lucy is 14 months old!

2010-12-30T16:36:00.000-08:00

New hair-do!
Her favorite indoor activity...I wonder why. :)
Holding a baby, so sweet!

Matching Pajamas

2010-12-30T16:33:00.000-08:00

Calvary Kids - Week 11

2010-12-30T16:22:00.000-08:00

Christmas Play Edition
December 17, 2010

Chloe was an angel in the Christmas play at Calvary Kids this year. She enjoyed practicing her lines for the play and then all the songs the kids sang as a group. I could hear her singing loud and clear! She also got to recite John 3:17 after someone else did vs 16. She did great! We are so proud of her! I also love that the play proclaimed the true meaning of Christmas.

Calvary Kids - Week 10

2010-12-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

December 10
For Snack the kids got to decorate gingerbread men. These are not any ordinary gingerbread men, no. They are wheat, gluten, egg, and dairy free gingerbread men! One of our sweet Calvary kids is allergic to all that (can you imagine?) and so we made them this way so that she could participate in snack time. Us moms sign up to bring snacks each week and sometimes we can bring whatever we want but most of the time there is a required snack. It usually goes with the theme of the month or the holiday coming up.

Chloe is so good at crafts.
I love this craft. Now we have two of these hand print wreaths hanging in our house!

The kids also spent some more class time practicing for the Christmas play. Chloe will be an angel. That will be in the next post probably. It is the cutest play you have ever seen! Really what could be cuter than a bunch of 4 year olds in costumes singing?

Holiday Baking

2010-12-15T21:07:00.000-08:00

I decided to do some Christmas baking this week since I have to bring 2 dozen cookies to Chloe's school on Friday and also Rick asked, "Are you baking for my work this year, because people are asking..."
And so here is round one. Easy but I have always wanted to try to make it. Peppermint bark and chocolate covered pretzels rolled in candy cane bits. I still have to break up the bark and stuff. The pretzels are so yummy, something about salty and sweet together. It is dangerous for me to bake because I HAVE to sample the goods!!!
Round two tomorrow.

For Fun

2010-12-15T21:01:00.000-08:00

This is half of the Redemption Church kid's Sunday School right here :). The Horios and the Pickards. I realized a few months ago that after Chloe turned 4 that between the two of us families that we would have ages 1 to 7.
Lucy-1, Kaylee-2, Carson-3, Chloe-4, Grace-5, Emma-6, and Caitlin-7
Just a funny fun thing :)

We love this family and have a lot of fun with them. They love the Lord and encourage us and are good examples to us.

Children's Hunger Fund Toy Wrap

2010-12-12T21:50:00.000-08:00

This season we joined our church to go to Children's Hunger Fund to wrap toys. The company TY donated LOTS of beanie baby toys for us to wrap for underprivileged kids in the area. We had a great time doing this for others.

Tree Time

2010-12-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

This is the earliest we have ever got our Christmas tree. Rick took the girls to go pick it out on his day off.

Our ornaments are by no means coordinated and sophisticated. Our tree is filled with memories instead. We have a hibiscus ornament from our trip to Hawaii in 2002. We have some ornaments that Rick made when he was little. And I love the personalized ornaments that we have received as gifts from different family members each year. I bought our star to remind us of the star that led the shepherds to Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. It also reminds us that Jesus is the light of the World.
This year I got Emma a personalized ornament that says, "Lost First Tooth 2010" I wanted to get Chloe and Lucy special ornaments too but I just didn't find the right one! There is still time though.

Reagan Library

2010-12-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

Rick surprised the girls a few weeks ago and took a day off! We took them to the Reagan library to see the Christmas tree exhibit and the model of the White House. We also got a quick tour of the Oval Office decorated Reagan style complete with jelly beans. We also walked through Air Force One (the airplane that flies the President places) and that too had jelly beans. We found out that Reagan's favorite Jelly Bellies were coconut and black licorice. Yuck :).
The library is more like a museum of course and it is situated on a hill with a beautiful view.

This White House model is amazing! It is built one inch per one foot of the White House.

After our fun morning we had lunch at Chipotle and then later got our Christmas tree!

Thankful Tree

2010-12-04T22:10:00.001-08:00

This was a very fun project! A few evenings of the week we would sit as a family and fill out what we are thankful for on a leaf. We then put the leaves on our Thankful Tree. We even had some of our guests put one on. Some samples of what the kids wrote:
Mom and Dad
Emma, Chloe, and Lucy
Grandparent's generosity
Salted caramel hot chocolate
cookies and milk
people to be with
Bible
God
Friends
Flowers

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving this year landed on Chloe's birthday :). Our family tradition is that the birthday person gets to choose what we are having for dinner and dessert for that day. Since we already had plans for turkey, Chloe chose a birthday breakfast of egg strata and cinnamon rolls. Yum!
We gave Chloe a gift of stickers and some other little things.
Later in the afternoon we headed off to Great Great Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. Here are Kim and Dax working on their place cards.
Here is my dad making a brave appearance after having a bad motorcycle accident the day before. We surely are THANKFUL that he is okay!
Our Thanksgiving crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to Chloe. We sure are THANKFUL for her!
Lucy had the whole room cheering and clapping with her.

My girls with their Great Great Grandma.
Emma with her Great Grandma and Bruce.

Boxes

2010-12-04T21:52:00.000-08:00

As part of our Thanksgiving festivities the girls and I put together two boxes for Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse. We have been saving items for a few months such as new crayon boxes, toothbrushes, stickers, toys, toothpaste, homemade bracelets and the girls spent some of their birthday money to buy each box a toy. I forgot to take a picture of the boxes, oh well. So these boxes get delivered to other countries with gospel tracts in them to kids who don't usually get presents. We are so blessed, we want to give!

We also had our friends, the Pickards, over for dinner one night. Here is Lucy and her friend, Makaylee. Makaylee is basically one year older than Lucy (her birthday is in October too.) When I see Makaylee I always think, wow, that is Lucy next year! Crazy!

Calvary Kids - week 9

2010-12-04T21:43:00.000-08:00

November 19, 2010

Thanksgiving Edition

This was the week Chloe had the counting jar. She had to put seven items in the jar from our house. She chose to put 7 Bob books in the jar.

The Calvary Kids each brought pictures of people they were thankful for to put on this tree.
At one point during our Thanksgiving luncheon us moms were chatting and the kids ran off to play. Here are the girls in a cute huddle.
Chloe's dessert after our luncheon.
Playground time! Isn't she so cute?
We also got to sing Happy Birthday to Chloe since her birthday was coming up.

Just for fun!

2010-11-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

When Emma was a baby I got us matching pumpkin shirts at Old Navy. We took our picture together and since my other babies came at similar times it became a tradition to take pictures with our matching shirts around Halloween time.

My sweet firstborn, Emma.

My adorable second, Chloe.
My cuddly third, Lucy.

Calvary Kids - Week 8

2010-11-13T22:07:00.001-08:00

November 12, 2010

ABC craft.

Painting a prayer box which she has chosen to put her silly bands in...
A guest speaker came today. It was a lady who came from Hope Again. She did a great job telling the kids a little bit about Hope Again and thanked the kids for the food donation they brought.
Here is Chloe in front of one of the donation boxes.

Lucy's new outfit

2010-11-13T22:01:00.000-08:00

This one is for you Grandma Janie! Janie got this comfy, cute outfit from a craft fair festival thing. Lucy loves how comfy it it. It even came with a matching headband. Lucy's smile in the picture is right after I put the headband on. She smiled as if to say, "HA, this wont last very long!" because right after this smile she took it off. At least I got a picture :).

Birthday Party

2010-11-13T21:51:00.000-08:00

Emma, Chloe and Lucy all have birthdays close together. Since Lucy turned ONE this year, we decided to celebrate big :). We had a big farm party at Underwood Farms to celebrate Emma turning 6, Chloe turning 4 and Lucy turning 1. It was a lot of fun!

Our party area.

At the beginning of the party the farm people take our whole group on a wagon ride around the farm.

After lunch the kids got to go on other rides as part of the party.
Lunch time.

Cake time!

Lucy's first treat! A low sugar, whole wheat banana muffin with a low sugar cream cheese frosting :). To her it was yummy! She went to town on that thing.
Oh my...
Another ride.
I highly recommend Underwood farms, if you haven't been there, check it out. I am glad we could have such a fun time for the girls to make good memories. We are so thankful for them and glad to show them that by celebrating. Thanks to everyone for making it a special day.

Calvary Kids - week 7

2010-11-13T21:44:00.000-08:00

November 5, 2010

ABC craft
Chloe's turn to open in prayer.
More crafts! We sure do a lot of fun crafts at Calvary Kids :).

2010-11-07T21:14:00.000-08:00

Emma's new hair bow...no, not really :). Emma found a praying mantiss and let it climb up her arm and into her hair. She wanted to keep it as a pet.

2010-11-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

I caught some of Lucy's first steps on video today. Enjoy!

Water color by Emma

2010-11-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

Calvary Kids- week 7

2010-10-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

October 29, 2010
Outing week to Underwood Farms

We had fun :)

Some Firsts

2010-10-27T22:09:00.001-07:00

Lucy took her first step today!!! AND, she said her first word besides mama and dada, she said, "Baby."
So cool!

Happy Birthday Lucy!

2010-10-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

Lucy's first year in review:

2 days old
3 months old
6 months old
9 months old
12 months old
This is officially the quickest year to pass! I am sure everyone says this but I cannot believe Lucy is already 1 year old!!!!! So with that said, let us get to the interesting stuff...Lucy stats.
Height: 25 3/4 in. (can that be right?)
Weight: 17 lbs. 12 oz.
Head: 18 1/4 in.
Lucy's doctor says she is a petite baby with a big head :). Sounds familiar. Lucy has been a very healthy baby which we are very thankful for, especially after Chloe had such a rough first year health wise. Lucy shares a room with her sisters and loves it! She takes two naps a day and eats breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner with us. She was very happy to have strawberries for the first time on her birthday. Lucy enjoys eating like the rest of us Horios. Of course I strive to feed her only healthy foods and dreaded her turning one for the reason that others feel like they can give her anything now. NO! :)
Lucy loves to be outside crawling around and climbing the slide. She plays by herself well if I am busy cooking or doing chores but her sisters love to play with her too. Lucy is a mama's girl but I have to say she is smitten on Dad too.
I love my sweet dimpled baby and have a lot of fun with her. I am thankful for her in our family and am already praying for her and her future. Ultimately I hope that she loves and serves God with her life.
I love Lucy!

Calvary Kids - Week 6

2010-10-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today at Calvary Kids all the kids dressed up as farm animals or cowboys/girls. We took them over to the nursing home across the parking lot and sang songs to the tenants there. Chloe met a lady named Rose and Rose gave Chloe her bead necklace. Very sweet. Here is Chloe as a kitty cat. She is decorating her fun snack.

The letter of the weeks was "E."

Here are all the Calvary kids- too cute!

2010-10-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a BUSY October for us Horios. Rick and I went to a wedding on the 9th, then a concert on the 16th (loved Toby Mac), and then birthday after birthday after birthday! It has been fun :).

Here we are celebrating Grandma Eiko's birthday at Black Angus. Yummy! Emma enjoyed sharing Grandma's lobster :).
I get to be with this cutie all day, love it!

2010-10-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Hollywood!!!

Love this, so sweet.
Nature walk. Chloe was collecting "treasures" in an egg carton and Emma was collecting hers in a bag. The girls and I have been talking about treasure a lot lately. They memorized that verse in Luke 12:34, "For where your treasure is there will your heart also be." We have also been talking about what makes something a treasure and what things are treasures. We talked about how if everyone had a lot of gold and jewels (something that fascinates them right now) then it wouldn't necessarily be a treasure. We talked about how you are more thankful for something (usually) if you don't have a lot of it. We talked about how babies are treasures because they are only that way for a short time. These girls are my treasures!

Posing on the bridge over dry ground (no water.)

Emma's Jack o' Lantern smile

2010-10-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

Calvary Kids - week 5

2010-10-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

October 15, 2010

Marble painting. Chloe being such a ham. But really I love that she is smiling for the camera. And I love this special time with just her :).

Above or below snack. The two themes this month is Joy and Harvest. For this day's snack they had to choose different snack items and put them on their plate in the "above" section or the "below" section. Their teacher also brought a bunch of veggies and fruits and talked about which ones grow above or below the ground. The teacher always brings a lot of visuals.

Calvary Kids - week 4

2010-10-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

October 8, 2010

Chloe was called on to try a lemon during opening circle time. Our fruit of the Spirit this month is joy. The teacher chose a lemon to show joy because when you add sugar (trust in God) to lemon juice (sour circumstances) and water, you get lemonade! And who doesn't smile when they drink lemonade. It was a cute illustration.

Fall Themed snack
"C" craft
Leaf rubbing for fall placemat.

Footprints for the class banner.

2010-10-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

Emma's school picture for Fall 2010.
Lucy showing her pearly whites.
I hired my daughters to snail hunt in my front yard for me. I paid them each .05 for each snail they found together. I ended up giving them .25 each. Love that!
The girls got some lovely clothes from Great Grandma Noriko in Japan. Here is Emma in one of the pretty shirts.
Sad news: Lucy will not keep a headband in her hair for very long anymore! I still try :). We are moving to clips but that isn't always successful either.
Fall is flying by!

Strange but cute sightings :

2010-10-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

Calvary Kids - week 3

2010-10-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

Outing week! The Peterson Automotive Museum.

This was interesting, right outside the building we parked at there was this wall. Obviously brought in for display. I did not think anything of it and walked right by...

And then my friend said, "That is the Berlin wall!"

What? Really? How do you know?

She was right. And so we took a minute to get a picture and then while walking to the museum Emma asked about the significance of the wall. Ummm.....how do you explain that to a 5 year old? I tried my best :).

Lucy stayed home with dad while he worked at home today. Hooray for daddy! Here is us girls in our outing shirts.
I took this same picture when we did this outing two years ago of Emma and Chloe. See the next picture to compare.
2010
2008
We all walked into a huge room with display cars and all the girls in our little group ran over to the pink car- very funny!

2010-10-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

This is P.E. for Emma on most days :). Taking a walk around the neighborhood.

More kitchen mess by Lucy, my little orange slice.
Lucy loves climbing up the slide and then sliding down. She will do it over and over again! I should post the video but I probably wont, sorry!

Calvary Kids- week 2

2010-10-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

September 24, 2010
Today was share day for the red team. Chloe is on the red team and so she got to share! This week they were supposed to share something that had to do with transportation. Since we live in a house with all girl kiddos we don't have the usual cars, trucks and plane toys. So Emma offered to draw Chloe a picture of our van. Hee hee. Chloe shared that, so cute!

Chloe is a natural crafter! Here is her stoplight craft.
And painting her very own wooden car - now we have a toy car in the house!

Emma's latest drawing

2010-09-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Calvary Kids- The Chloe Edition

2010-09-17T15:05:00.001-07:00

September 17, 2010 Week 1
Letter A

Our Calendar craft.
Time to line-up!
Chloe with her teacher, Mrs. VanSomeran.
The kids learned about patience and transportation. The teacher demonstrated opening a coconut.
Chloe's favorite part of Calvary Kids was play time, snack and lunch time. Chloe was quiet today but I could tell she new the answers and she would mouth it quietly or raise her hand like 3 inches. She didn't really call out like the other kids but that is okay. She tried hard to sing the songs, she loves to sing. We enjoy making crafts, however it is super loud with 19 kids and 19 adults around us. :) Emma is enjoying the homeschool room and Lucy did great in the nursery. I am extremely grateful for that!

2010-09-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that Rick went to Scotland on a missions trip in August. While he was gone we kept busy (mentioned in previous posts) and this was our ice cream outing.
The girls made these welcome home signs for Rick but it turned out we didn't get to meet him at the bus station. In fact, he got home much later than we expected and so we were all sleeping! I did set his signs out so he would see him right when he walked in the door. I also woke up when he came to welcome him.
Here are the girls with all their "Scotland gifts."
This is a picture of Rick leading worship at Redemption Church the week he came back from Scotland.
And here is my little helper/mess maker. Sometimes letting her make a mess is helpful to me at the moment. Is that weird?

So Lucy is getting her 4th tooth now. She has the bottom middle two and now her top fangs. Lovely! Just in time for Halloween right? Hee hee.

Noah's Ark

2010-09-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

I took the girls to the Noah's Ark Exhibit at the museum last week while Rick was gone. We pretty much tried to stay busy to distract ourselves from him being gone. We go every year I think, to this exhibit. It is fun :). Before you go into the exhibit, some museum worker says a bunch of bologna about animals hearing a storm coming and thought to themselves, "I better go find cover" and then finding the ark. And then they all had to learn to live together, tigers and flamingos etc. just like we all need to learn to live together...
The only reason I call it bologna is because if you read in the Bible about the flood you see that God orchestrated it all and sent the animals to the ark. Only a supernatural feat could get two of every single kind of animal on a boat and have them live there for almost a year. I mean, it did rain for 40 days and nights but then they had to wait for the land to dry and plants grow etc. And of course the museum would not dare mention the real reason for the flood in the first place. That would be outlandish!!!! :)

Picking up the poop :)

Putting the animals on the ark two by two.

Playing with Photo Booth

2010-09-02T21:07:00.000-07:00

This is a fun feature of having a Mac. The best part is hearing the girls crack up when they are taking pictures of themselves. They love all the funny effects.

Rick is home! We are having fun just hanging out since he is taking the rest of this week off. He took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese today and we went to the farm yesterday. Tomorrow they go swimming :).
Having Rick gone was pretty exhausting! In the evenings I basically did a lot of chores and then went to sleep. I feel like I have more down time when he is home. It was also kind of lonely while he was gone! We are had to have him back! He had a great trip by the way but he is glad to be back too.
If you are curious about his trip go to: www.rockthescots.blogspot.com

2010-08-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

Eewwww! I think every kids has a moment like this: playing with the toilet paper. Clean t.p., don't worry.

Sweet Chloe doing her favorite thing.
Lucy playing peek a boo with Papa.
Well, Rick is almost home and we survived. Thank you to all of you who helped me out, watching the kids, entertaining the kids, calling me, having us over etc. I appreciate it so much! We had a busy, fun week but we look forward to this week since Rick has the week off :). Oh and school starts tomorrow!

The Latest

2010-08-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

This is Chloe's latest work of art. Well, actually she did it a few weeks ago but I love it! I love the hats and swirls on the dresses. And the little mouse in the background. :) She is really a great little artist. These girls just love to draw. That part of my dining room is usually messy but it sure sparks a lot of creativity.
So our new church, Redemption Church of Northridge, has officially found a facility and so we are starting to meet there instead of at the Pastor's house. I loved meeting in the backyard, it was lovely but there is only so many people a backyard can hold :). I love seeing Rick lead worship and have enjoyed watching God grow him in a lot ways as a result of this church plant. I never thought I would be a part of a church plant but I am glad I am. We have made some neat friends and our kids have too. I love that we have lunch together after church, it seems to enable relationships to build quicker. In September we will start community groups and it looks like we will host one at our house. I am looking forward to being more hospitable that way and to getting to know some of the people even better. I will be doing a bit of shopping to get ready for hosting the group. Some new floor lamps, a coffee maker and folding chairs. I also painted the posts on our back porch because they were an eye sore! I am thankful for the opportunities to serve in the children's ministry there too. I have been praying that God would help me to love all the kids (not just my own :) and He is answering that prayer!!

A Busy August

2010-08-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

First I am sorry because these pictures are all out of order. We went to a lovely birthday party last weekend. This is Lucy and I looking in the mirror. She was the smart one and still looked into the camera...

She looked adorable of course :).
Lucy loves to look out windows and loves being outside even more than that.
We had a nice visit from Rick's best friend Jon and his wife and son. Aiden met Lucy for the first time. They are 2 weeks apart and their moms have the same name and birthday :).
The girls ready for the birthday party I already mentioned.
Ooooh, we got some large carrots in our garden this year. I credit the containers. Last year our carrots were stunted due to our sad clay soil.
This was fun! We went to a splash pad with my friend Linnea and her daughter Kirsten. Kirsten helped the girls enjoy the water. They weren't too sure about it first. I guess telling them we couldn't have lunch until they enjoyed themselves in the water helped :).
We are at a fun stage with Emma. She really enjoys playing games. I do too. Not that building with legos or playing with Little People is not fun for me....I think you understand :). Here is the fam playing Monopoly Jr.
Silly Chloe.
Oooh la la Chloe!

We also have been busy painting the girls new room PINK and getting the former room ready to be a school room. We have decided to home school for now or maybe forever, we will see. Making school decisions was a lot harder than I thought it would be :).
And Rick is working crazy hard helping with all the above and writing songs etc. to get ready for his Scotland trip!

Vacation Part 2

2010-08-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

On the 3rd day of our vacation we went to this really cool children's museum in San Luis Obispo. It reminds me a little of Kidspace in Pasadena.

They had just had an ice cream making demo and so we got some of the ice cream.

This was a neat feature. Emma pulls on that rope and it lifts a hoop up that brings a bubble around them.
And this is what Lucy enjoyed most about vacation. Crawling around our hotel room and into the closets etc.

My babies at 9 months.

2010-08-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

I think you can guess who is who pretty easily. I remember thinking Chloe looked pretty different from Emma as a baby but as she gets older they look more and more alike to me. In some pictures they look like twins. Of course their hair will always be a distinguishing factor. And then there is Lucy. Our fair Horio :).

In other news, Emma lost her first tooth!

Out with the old and in with the new

2010-07-30T21:20:00.000-07:00

Teeth that is.
Emma has 2 loose teeth. The same two teeth that she is losing, Lucy is getting!
Emma, "I like having a loose tooth, it is entertaining."
Lucy, "Waaaa!"