Cookie Dough Bandit

The kids and I were making cookies and left a stone of cookies sitting on the counter while the oven pre-heated. This is what happens when you leave an almost two year old alone for just a second...
At least he has good taste!! :)

Catch Up...

Lots of posts below...I had to play catch up!! :) Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Demolition

This morning after breakfast the kids decided it was time to eat the gingerbread train...so demolition began!! Honestly, I think they thought it would taste better than it did! :) When they started getting crazy with it, I began a countdown and they had to eat everything they wanted by the time I was done, then it went in the trash!!

Fun with Family!

The day after Christmas my brother and his family drove here from Texas! My kids were so excited and anxious for them to get here!! We got up first this Saturday morning and got ready and went to Grandma's house where they were staying! We exchanged presents with them and spent a fun few days together...we will see them in a few days again for some more fun!! :)

Playing Wii!

Christmas time SNOW

So, the weather was calling for snow on Christmas night for days, so we were super excited that we might actually have a white Christmas night. It was SUPER cold, but we didn't see any snow until the evening after Christmas. And the one time we decide to go out as a family that day it decides to snow in town! It was freezing!! But the kiddos enjoyed actually getting to walk in the snow instead of watching it from afar. Nothing actually stuck on the ground here in town but the mountains got quite a bit! I went outside early the next morning and took a picture to prove to the kids that there was snow rather than them going out in the freezing cold!! :)

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas morning was as exciting as always at our house!! :) "Steve" and I got up early and got ready for the day and waited for the kiddos to wake up. GA was the first one up so we let him wake up the girls! Grandma came over and the festivities began. We read the Christmas story and opened our stockings, then on to the presents!! I don't think there were any complaints and everyone was super happy with what they got! :)

(I got a new laptop, which explains why I have been so slow in getting this blog updated...I have been playing with my new toy too much!! LOL)

It was fun morning...we had a yummy dinner later in the day...and then drove around to look at Christmas lights once it got dark!

Christmas Eve

We had a nice Christmas Eve this year...we went to Christmas Eve service a little earlier in the day than we usually do and it was nice to have time to do things before the kids had to go to bed. We were able to come home and eat a nice dinner and watch the Grinch! And of course, open one present...although I think "Steve" would like to veto that tradition!! We also put out the reindeer food on our front lawn! :)
We actually had a family picture taken before church (multiple takes actually!!)...which is a big deal, because family pictures are a rarity with us these days!

We also made cookies for Santa during the afternoon before going to church! So fun!!

You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread....

...TRAIN!

This morning after breakfast we made our Gingerbread train! We looked and looked for a train last year and were never able to find one, but this year we got our hands on one! :)

GA helped, also! :)

This is a gingerbread house MG made at school and our completed train!

And...

...the new word of the day is....BALL! My little man is becoming a talking machine...not really, but he has one more word under his belt today. And he actually said "please" with the "pl"...only once today, but still! I am pretty impressed! :) He is also more adventurous in trying to say things all of a sudden. He may not get it out, but he is trying!

The boy speaks!

GA starting speaking in full sentences today!! Not really, but he does have what "Steve" calls his first word down pretty well. He now says "please"...well, it's more like you and I would say "please" with our teeth together without opening them...if that makes any sense?!? I guess it is kind of like "please" with no "pl". But, regardless of how he says it, he says it every time you tell him to when he wants something! So, YEAH!! for GA! :)

SNOW!!!

As I write this, it is beginning to snow outside! Yes, it does snow in Arizona! And it certainly makes it feel like it is almost Christmas with weather like this. We are expected to get snow later in the day and hopefully some of it will actually stick and accumulate. That will thrill my kiddos!! :) I am not expecting too much just because I know what snow in AZ is like, but we can always hope! Hopefully I will have some pictures later today....fingers crossed.

It's beginning to look a lot like....

CHRISTMAS!!

I started to help "Steve" put the lights on the house last night before taking the girls to dance rehearsal, and when the girls and I came home, this is what we saw!!!

He (with GA's help) finished them all! The girls were so excited to see them done and I was proud of him for finishing and for doing such a good job!! :) Yeah, daddy!!

Parade...

This year our town had the Christmas Parade at night! It was a fun change...freezing, and really long, but fun! GA absolutely loved every part of it. He spent the whole evening waving at everyone and pointing at all the things going by. All the floats and participants had to be covered in lights, so it was fun for the kids. JF was so excited to see Santa at the end !

Waiting for the parade to begin...

Finally, SANTA!!

From our family to yours...

Our favorite Christmas decoration...enjoy!! :) Make sure your volume is on!

HO! HO! HO!

It is finished...

Our Christmas tree is now complete. "Steve" got the rest of the Christmas stuff out of the attic and we all decorated it tonight! It is still the only bit of Christmas around our house, but it is nice to have it done. The kids had a great time helping with all the ornaments, and I am happy to report that the only broken ornaments were broken by me...despite the fact that GA threw every "ball" he got his hands on!! Luckily none of them were glass. We'll see how he does with the tree this year...

Flashlight Hide & Seek

My kiddos love to play flashlight hide & seek and lucky for them their daddy does too!! Last night they had a go at it and I tried to get some pictures. With the house pitch black, and only flashlights and glow sticks everywhere, taking pictures can be a challenge...but I think I got some pretty cool ones!
Do you see the hidden ninja? :)