Another Christmas Tradition

Every year, Kevin asks for the basketball Christmas package for Christmas...it's 4 Arizona home games held during Christmas break.  And it's now become a tradition to take the girls to one of those games for a daddy/daughter date.  The girls love doing this with their daddy...I think this may be the last year that Barrett will tolerate being left out though!

We may just have to buy more tickets next year! :-)

Nice List vs. Naughty List

Seriously...how could this kid EVER be on the Naughty List??? :-)

Winterhaven 2012

For Family Home Evening tonight, we went over to our good friends the Chesley's for pizza, then we headed to Winterhaven to see the lights.  It always amazes me how much the residents of Winterhaven do to make this festival of lights possible...huge shout out to them!!!  It wasn't as cold this year, which made it much more enjoyable for all.  We had a great time doing another of our Christmas traditions!

Christmas Date Night

 

I sure look forward to date night with my man!

So do our kiddos...it's quite often that I hear "mommy, when are you getting a babysitter?"  Apparently, they enjoy when we head out for the evening!!!  I'll try not to be too offended! ;)  Actually, I'm just glad my kiddos do so well with babysitters so it's not a fight to get a date night in every now and again!

Too funny not to share...

The facial expressions in these two pictures (particularly Payton's) were too funny not to share.  These silly kids...this is a rare moment when these two are actually getting along.  Each of them know JUST how to push the other's buttons.  It's a talent. :-)

 

Letters to Santa

Today we went to Santa's special mailbox at the mall to deliver the kids' letters to the big guy!

Here are the munchkins hoping they've made it onto the NICE list this year!!! :-)

 

Christmas Lights at the Zoo!

Tonight we ventured to the zoo to check out the Christmas lights and to see Santa.  It worked out perfectly that there was a very small line to see Santa, like maybe 3 people in front of us, when we got there...MUCH better than waiting forever at the mall!  Barrett was a little apprehensive and the girls would only go if Mommy was in the picture too...but at least we got a picture!! :-)

 

The rest of the time, the kiddos were happy as can be checking out the lights...although a bit disappointed that we couldn't see any of the animals because it was too dark!

 

Can't leave out my handsome Mister!

Kevin met us there on his way home from work for a fun family night!

..::Kickoff to CHRISTMAS::..

 

Kevin and I took the girls to The Gaslight Theatre last night.

This has become our family tradition to kickoff the Christmas season.

This year, the production was "Scrooge", their take on the the Charles Dickens' classic,

A Christmas Carol.

It was great and the girls loved it.

We had such a fun time with the girls and look forward to taking Barrett next year!

 

(A GIANT thank you to my dear friend Emily for watching Barrett

at the very last minute, due to unforeseen circumstances with our original babysitter!!)

JOY School

For the past several weeks of Payton's joy school, the kids have been learning Christmas songs and practicing to do a little skit of the Nativity at a senior citizens center (aka old folks' home) here in town.  They have been learning about the joy of giving, the joy of service etc. and THIS week, the week of the actual visit to the old folks' home and performance happened to be MY week of teaching joy school.  It's been a little stressful, I'll admit.  But we've still had fun.  On Tuesday, the kiddos helped make Christmas treats for our upcoming family Christmas party next week, as well as having a mini dress rehearsal for today.

Then, today, we ventured over to the old folks' home. And despite the kids' lack of attention or desire to sing on Tuesday, leaving me very anxious about today, and me leaving my manuscript (for lack of a better word) at home sitting on the counter in my kitchen, we managed to pull it off!

The kids did GREAT!

And a big thank you to all the other moms...couldn't have done it without ya! :-)

Even though I agonized and stressed over this week...it has really gotten me excited for the season and Spirit of Christmas!

Future Wildcat

 

And Future Heartbreaker.

I mean, really...look at those eyes!!!

 

(fabulous photo courtesy of my wonderful friend, Emily, who has THE cutest blog here)

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

from: Payton's Joy School Group!!

..::Happy Birthday Alexa::..

Alexa has had a very fun-filled few days of birthday fun.

On Sunday morning, I let her open her present from Gramma Jenny!

 

Then this morning, I let her open the gifts from Kevin's assistant and hygienist (Jona and Kim).

It was so very nice and thoughtful of them to think of Alexa!

 

Then I went and took Alexa lunch at school today.

She requested McDonald's.

It was a lot of fun to start this tradition, one I hope to keep up each year and for each child! 

 

And tonight, we had our own little family birthday dinner.

Since we'd already had cupcakes at Alexa's party, she requested trifle for her birthday dessert on her actual birthday!

Yum...it was devilishly good!!

 

Happy Birthday sweet girl!  You are now 6 years old!

 

A few facts about the birthday girl:

 

*She is currently 45 3/4" tall

*She weighs 44.5 lbs

*She LOVES school and is reading above grade level

*She loves all things girly

*She prefers dresses and skirts to any other clothing

*Her favorite foods are pizza, chocolate chip pancakes, waffles, french toast

*Her favorite color is purple

*Her best friend is Ally McGee

*Her favorite thing at school is spelling

*Her favorite movie is Beauty and the Beast

*Her favorite princess is Belle

*Her favorite cake is strawberry cake with marshmallow frosting

*Her favorite thing to do at home is "play babies"

 

Happy Happy Happiest of Birthdays Alexa!

We love you sooooo much!!

..::Fancy Nancy 6th Birthday::..

To start off Alexa's birthday celebrations, she got to go on a mommy/daughter date yesterday to Build-A-Bear Workshop.  That was the present she requested from mommy and daddy.  We had such a fun time, me and my big girl!  I actually LOVED the whole experience at Build-A-Bear and loved watching Alexa build her very own bear, whom she named Elizabeth.

 

 

Then, today, was her Fancy Nancy birthday party.  Here she is posing with Elizabeth.
Payton and Barrett wanted to get in on picture-taking too!

 

All ready for the party to start!

The best thing I did for Alexa's party (thanks Gretchen for the idea), was to hire two of our favorite babysitters to help me out during the party.  Maddy and Maggie were HUGE lifesavers and made the party run so smoothly!  They helped me get the girls all fancy...fancy nails, fancy face paint, fancy hats, fancy accessories, fancy lunch.  It was a FANCY party...perfect for these fancy little ladies! 

 Presents!

Once again, Alexa was spoiled by her very generous and giving friends!

We are so thankful for each and every one of them!

After presents, the girls sang Happy Birthday to sweet Alexa and then they each got to make a fancy cupcake of their own!

 

It was such a fun day!

I will definitely be hiring babysitters to help out with future birthday parties! :-)

I cannot believe my baby girl is 6 years old!

Happy Birthday Alexa!

He had me at Hello!

Kentucky Getaway

So for the majority of this year, I've been trying to get a girls' weekend planned.  We initially tried to match it up with Time Out for Women and that wasn't working with every one's schedules, so then we just tried a weekend getaway...well, that ended up being unsuccessful too.

 

A couple weeks ago, I was commenting to Kevin that I was bummed how it had all not worked out and he suggested I just go to Louisville to visit my good friends. And that was that...I booked my ticket the next day!!!

 

I arrived on Friday afternoon and had dinner at Cheesecake that night with my fabulous friends, Waveney and Rachael.  This was our typical girls' night out when I lived there, we'd try and do a Cheesecake night once a month, so it was wonderful to be able to do that again!

 

 

Saturday was a busy, fun-filled day of enjoying the beautiful Fall Kentucky colors, shopping, lunch with wonderful friends (Wave, Rach, Taffney and her mom and sis-in-law), ice cream with another friend (Christa), more shopping, and dinner with yet another fabulous friend (Amanda).

Fewf...tiring but sooooo fun!

 

Sunday, I headed to my old ward for church to see friends that are still there.

Then I stopped by to see my wonderful friend and old neighbor, Becky, before heading to Amanda's place for more visiting with her.

 

Then it was back to Wave's to just chill and hangout before heading home today.

I seriously love this lady...we just go together like peas and carrots, ya know?!!!

Thanks my friend for letting me crash at your house, hangin' out with me and letting me get away from the every day happenings of my life so I could recharge!  Love ya!

And special thanks and shout out to my awesome Mister for encouraging me to go

AND to my friends and babysitters for helping out with my kiddos while I was gone.

Couldn't have done it without y'all!!!