Birthday time

Snowball is 8! She went ahead and grew up after all. She had her favorite breakfast of pancakes and strawberries

We brought her lunch at school and ate in the garden with Kaiden and her BFF…aka Piper

They ate a little but giggled a lot!

Then we went back into the classroom where everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and Kaiden passed out her favorite red velvet cupcakes to her class

Being that all Kaiden wants to be when she grows up is a chef, it's only appropriate that she starts practicing with a real knife and apron. Kyle is really into Japanese knifes so we found her an official Japanese children's knife. She is already planning what to cook

If that wasn't enough excitement for one birthday girl, this morning she set out with her sister and girl scout troop and about 50 other girl scouts and headed to SeaWorld! 

The girls troop saved their cookie money from last year and have been looking forward to this trip for a whole year! They get to ride on a chartered boat into the ocean and whale watch, sleep at SeaWorld and spend a whole day exploring the animals at SeaWorld. They were up before the sun..4:45 actually, and met up at 5:30. The bus pulled out by 6:15 and they should almost be there by now. They will roll back into town about 3am Monday morning. 

They are going to have such a great time but their brother is already missing them and can't wait for them to get back. 

Believing

(I found this on my cell phone and realized it never uploaded.)


The kids are getting older. That means Santa isn't always easy to believe in. In an effort to keep the magic alive a little longer, I had to get creative.

Our new house doesn't have a fireplace and the kids have been asking since we moved in how Santa would deliver gifts. 

I had seen a magic key in a magazine and decided that was the answer. I was on the hunt for an old fashion key that would pass for Santa's. 

As I was gathering ornaments, I stumbled across an "official" Santa key. I couldn't resist. 

A quick trip to the dollar store, a stop at the post office and a typed letter, I was ready. 

The package was ready for the kids to discover in the mailbox. 

Sure enough, when the mail was picked up today, their eyes lit up. Even Sophie had a sparkle in her eye. 

The kids are so excited for tomorrow nights visit from St. Nick. The key is waiting next to the door, ready to be hung tomorrow night. 

I hope this helps to keep the spirit alive for a few more years. 

It's the most wonderful time of the year

(I also found this one on my phone which never uploaded)

We couldn't wait any longer. We put up our Christmas decorations. We turned up the Christmas music, drank eggnog and decorated the house. We even watched Christmas Vacation when we finished. I think this is the earliest we have decorated....ever. We usually rush to find the stockings two nights before St. Nick arrives but this year we were in the mood and couldn't wait. 

This year has been one of the fastest years for us. We had a lot of changes for our family and I think we were looking for our "normal". Our traditions to come alive in our "new" home. I think of our house as sterile. The walls and floors are so white. There's no warmth or hominess here. Christmas brings that warmth to the house. Unfortunately, we have already begun to miss our fireplace. Bryson is very concerned about Santa getting in and doesn't think the front door is a good idea. 

We are looking forward to a wonderful holiday season with time to relax and reconnect and prepare for an exciting Spring. 

Getting back in the swing

The holidays are over, school is back in session and we have our schedule back

The kids were excited to get back to school. See friends that they hadn't seen in a whole 2 weeks!

Luckily for us, I had more than a day off so I was able to try out some new recipes, including this amazing pumpkin soup. The kids were fascinated with using a real pumpkin and actually eating it. 

Even though we were craving the schedules again, we just couldn't let go of Christmas this year. We packed up all the nutcrackers, ornament and stockings. We took all the Christmas lights down outside but we just couldn't pack the tree up. To be honest, we still have a plain tree with lights up. It's standing proudly in the corner. We still turn it on every night. I think part of the reason we haven't packed it up is because we feel like our house is sterile. All the whiteness is so cold. The Christmas tree brings some warmth to the house. Plus, we don't have any company coming over and you can't see the tree from the road, so no one really needs to know its still up, right? Also, with the weather here being in the 70's, it's kind of hard to tell it's only January. The tree reminds us of winter.

On one of my days off, we headed over to the McCormick-Stillman train park to check out their Christmas lights. They decorate along the train route and have music and snow along the way. We met a friend there and the kids had a great time.



The park also has a new amazing train display building. There are 4 different sizes of model trains and they have cities, villages, urban areas and parks all set up with the trains running thru them. One of the train displays is of Arizona and the railroad that runs thru it. It's not completed yet but the Phoenix portion is and it's amazing. Bryson was so mesmerized by all the trains and would follow them around each display. The girls loved the wooden doll houses and all the detail they contained.

Now we are back to school, homework and lunches. We have been spending as much time as possible out on our bikes and have taken countless bike rides thru our neighborhood. Bryson is finally able to keep up without those pesky training wheels holding him back. We are preparing for Kaiden's 8th birthday later this week and a fun trip she will be taking to Sea World.  Sophie has finally brought home an A on one of her tests and beyond proud. She started the year off with a new hair style and a fresh new attitude. She is ready to tackle the second half of 5th grade and make it a great year with better grades and better attitudes. She is looking forward to starting dance again this year. Kaiden and Bryson are looking forward to baseball and softball starting and can't believe they have to wait until March. They go out to the park and practice catching and batting a few times a week. Needless to say, Kyle and I can't wait either. It's so much fun watching them play.

Hopefully your new year is going as well as you all planned too!

Happy New Year

Happy new year!! I can't believe how quickly 2013 came and went. It was a great year for us and brought us a new home and new jobs. The kids learned new sports and enjoyed starting new schools and meeting new friends. I even conquered a few mud runs! We are looking forward to more races this year including the kids participating in their first mud run in February! The kids are going to work hard at their grades and look forward to playing baseball and dancing again. We are excited for anything else 2014 will bring our way. It's going to be a great year!