Happy New Year!

Good bye 2013! 

 Hello 2014!

Cheers to an amazing year ahead!

Christmas!

Santa came!

Love this little note he left the kiddos!

We got the kids this cool fort making kit!

I wasn't good with the camera, but rest assured, it was a great day!

Santa brought Mia a Wii and Just Dance 2014! 

She danced her little booty off today!

Mom and dad even joined in on the fun!

Phew! It's a work out!

Marshall is enjoying his gifts too! 

We had fun with an Aquadoodle mat, Little People Bat Cave, and Eric Carl Smart Book. 

I made a yummy Christmas lunch because I had to start work at 4. 

I got super lucky and didn't get a call until 10:15pm! 

It was so nice to have a mellow Christmas with my family.

I love them so.

Elf on the Shelf antics

The silly little Elf sure brought us lots of smiles during his stay!

See you next December Jolly!

As I was driving home from work last night Caleb called me.

He just wanted to warn me that someone had crashed their car into our house.

He didn't want me to freak out when I drove up.

So I just freaked out all the way home!

And this is what I saw 

A young driver was speeding in the neighborhood and blew right through the stop sign and into our house!

Luckily all the girls in the car were ok. 

My house?

Not so much.

That is where my babies play.

So glad they were tucked safely in their beds. 

The police helped move some of the bricks to help prevent them from falling and doing more damage.

The next morning the Chandler fire department came back to inspect the damage in the day light and they removed more bricks and stacked them up! 

Then they let Mia sit in their truck,

And gave her a new bicycle helmet, 2 toy fireman helmets and some stickers!

What nice guys!

One of them recognized us from when we visited their station and dropped off a couple toys last week!

Things didn't look much better in the day light.

Now it's on to insurance claims and construction.

Oh joy.

Marathon day!

Today was Mia's last day of school before Christmas/Winter break!

And it was packed with tons of fun. 

The best part was Marshall and I got to join her!

First on the schedule was the Snowman Shuffle!

As Mia said, it was just a bunch of running around the track!

But the kids had fun.

Marshall felt like one of the big kids!

When we walked back into the school, Mia pointed out her picture on this bulletin board in the main hall.

So proud!

Mia had to go back to class and we had about an hour to spare before the family picnic, so Marshall and I went to the park!

He loves being outside and had tons of fun on the slides.

He is getting more and more brave and was cautiously climbing the tallest ladder there!

(Deep breaths mama!)

He was in heaven on the swings!

Then it was back to school for the family picnic! 

It was wild! All of the kindergarten classes and their families crammed into the kindie playground! Me and one of the other moms were joking that we should have brought a flask! Those kids are full of energy!!

Props to the teachers that handle them all day!

After that, I took Marshall home and put him down for a nap.

Great Grampa came over to hang out at the house while I went back to the school, for the third time today! 

This time for the holiday party in Mia's classroom!

There were 3 fun crafts! A wreath, reindeer bag filled with reindeer food, and a ice cream cone Christmas tree!

I didn't take any pics :-/

After the party school was out! Yippee! (We are all ready for a break!)

One of Mia's friends came home with us for a play date! 

After that we went out to dinner with Grandma Mimi and Grampa Vic,

And then we went to see Santa!!

(These two entertained those around us with dancing while we waited in line!)

I was so proud of Marshall!

He sat there calmly saying "All done." 

But didn't scream or throw a fit!

After that it was time to go home and go to bed!

Did I mention that I had worked the night before and didn't get home until 2:00am?!?!

I was one tired mama!

Holiday Elves

This year our family decided to participate in the adopt-a-family through my work.

Mia and I had fun shopping for the 2 young boys in our family!

I am really trying hard to instill a spirit of giving and helping others in her. 

She is getting it more and more each year. 

Today we delivered our gifts to the office so that they can take them to the family tomorrow. 

It feels good to have done something for a family in need, to know we touched their lives and hopefully made their holidays a little brighter. 

The ladies in the office took our picture. 

Me and my littles

Here is a rare picture of me with both my babies!

We were snuggled up to watch the Elf on the Shelf movie!

Little gems

Every now and then Caleb sends me pictures from his phone.

These ones made me smile.

"Put them in water"

Marshall has been particularly testy recently.

Terrible twos already?!?

I was having a very challenging morning and recalled a line from the Sark writing I published earlier.

"If they're crabby, put them in water."

Worked like a charm!

Words to live by

Jolly the Elf

This little guy joined our family for the holidays!

As Mia was reading the story about the Elf on the Shelf, she was so full of awe and wonder, she reached over and held my hand! 

Being her mom and seeing the world through her beautiful, innocent eyes is such an honor.

Fostering and encouraging the wonder and innocence brings me as much joy as it does her. 

Welcome to our home Jolly!

We look forward to sharing the holidays with you. 

Cheers to 40 years!

Tonight we celebrated Grandma and Grampa's 40th Anniversary with them!

It was a special treat for us all to be together.

We should all be so lucky to have a love like these two have!

Getting my craft on!

I've managed to get some crafting done recently!

I am especially proud of this nativity scene I made for my sister!

Mia and I made this gingerbread carousel!

We had fun doing it AND it turned out cute!