A Christmas Scene Through The Years

Fa La La La La La La La La

The halls have been decked, gifts have been wrapped, parcels have been sent, Santa has been visited, and cookies have been baked.  Now it's time to sit back and enjoy the holidays.  Snuggling up with my hubby with a fire crackling away in the fireplace is the perfect night for me.  The kids are cuddled together watching a movie (The Empire Strikes Back since that's the "Christmas Star Wars" according to Drew.  Apparently Ton Tons and the frozen planet, Hoth is all it takes to be "Christmas-ie")

But don't worry, we will soon enjoy our traditional night with The Polar Express all wrapped up in our Christmas Quilt together too.

... And So They Were Named

This evening Emma got a bit of a sweet tooth.  We have Hershey Kisses in the house because we have been making these cute little snowmen to give as gifts with hot chocolate:

Source: thedailybalance.com via Mary on Pinterest

So she came to me and asked me for "some of those kissy lips chocolate."  I knew exactly what she was talking about....

...and so they've been renamed: Kissy Lips Chocolate

She Now Knows She's A Real, True Princess

The other day while we were out, a lady at the store overheard Emma talking about princesses.  She stopped and looked at Emma and said, "do you know how you know if you're a real princess?"
Emma just looked at her with those big hazel eyes and shook her head in wonderment.
The lady said to her, "if you have a blue line inside of your wrist, then you are a true princess."
Emma looked, and sure enough... there it was!  Her blue line!!!
She gasped in disbelief!  It couldn't have been any cuter.
She looked at the inside of her wrist for the rest of the day and told everyone we met that she was a real true princess.
After we got back into the car, I would look in the rearview mirror at her and she studied her princess wrist the whole way home!

To The Love Of My Life... Happy Ninth Anniversary!

We are no longer newlyweds.  We haven't been for 3 years now according to the traditional anniversary rules.  We are well into our "truly devoted years."
Truly and hopelessly devoted.
Now I'm picturing a very Olivia-Newton-John-moment.  You know, love letters and reflections of Danny Zuko in the kiddie pool.

Ha!
But really, I truly am hopelessly devoted.  I was the first day I met you and I am even more so now, after 9 years of marriage and two babies.
I'm the luckiest girl in world.  I've got it all....  a handsome, funny, smart, hot husband who loves me with all of his heart and shows me so every day.
Colin, I love you with all of my everything!
Happy anniversary!

Emma's First Day Of School

I can't describe the feeling of dropping off Emma in the mornings now.  I feel pretty lonely and empty at first.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice to have a little time to myself for the first time in 5 years, but it's hard to get used to.
Emma is loving her school and her teacher absolutely adores her.  It makes me so happy when I pick her up the afternoon and ask her teacher how Emma's day was and her reply is, "Great as always.  She's easy peasy!"
I know I know!!!  For those of you that know her... I said that her teacher says she's "easy peasy!"
I knew it was going to be like that though.  She's so full of spunk, but I've always thought it was in the best of ways.  She's that girl that NO ONE is ever going mess with, but everyone loves.  She's easy going, yet no nonsense.  I love it!
And now her teacher has confirmed that it's not just my bias opinion, she really is like that!
Anyways, here are a few pictures of her first day of school.
We dropped Drew off at school and took her to Starbucks to spend her last hour of pre-pre-school with her.
It was a lovely morning and we just soaked it up!
When it was time for us to go, we forwent the car line and walked her in (Mom had to bring her camera of course).
Notice that there is not one shot of her face.

She never looked back.

Getting ready to leave the house

snuggled up to Daddy in the cold coffee shop

hanging out with Mommy before school

Walking Daddy to the door  :)

The brave girl never looked back

Preparing For The Teddy Bear Picnic

Cannon's Jr. K is having a Teddy Bear Picnic later this month and the children are preparing their performance for the picnic (how cute is that!?!)
Drew's music teacher emailed us a recording of the class singing their Teddy Bear Song.

Drew did a little performance of his own that I filmed along with some pictures that I took of him in his room with his teddy bear.

Getting Organized For Back To School

We are in the midst of the back to school excitement and we are staying on top of things by staying very organized. I'll be posting some of the many ways that we are doing this over the next couple of weeks, but I thought I'd start here: school lunches. I now pack two lunches so it's important to keep things stocked up and easily accessible. I do this by portioning everything out as soon as we get home from the grocery. I get rid of all of the bulky boxes that clutter up the pantry (b/c I don't have loads of room in there) and I create a snack basket. 

 As you can tell, Drew was with me at Target and was allowed to pick out the color scheme that we would use in the pantry, hence the green.  I love the plastic baskets because they are so easy to clean if they get crummy.

The pantry is organized, food is portioned, and I make as much as I can ahead of time.

One of my favorite go-to's is this waffle recipe.  I can make a ton of them ahead of time and freeze them.  Then I have the convenience of frozen waffles without feeling guilty about buying frozen foods for my kids.  I really love 100 Days of Real Food.  I use a recipe from this site at least once a day!

Getting Back Into Routine

We are snapped right back into our routines now and we've come up with a system that really works for us.  First, we have a great bedtime routine and morning routine that I swiped right off of "I Heart Organization."
It works perfectly for us and the kids are getting pretty good at moving through the routine without me having to tell them what's next.
I love that they are now involved with getting their clothes ready for the next day.  This, I have found, is teaching a very valuable lesson on preparation and looking ahead to the next day.
We have a drawer in his bedside table that is dedicated to their "up on deck" clothing.  We keep tomorrow's clothes in it so that in the morning we are not scrambling in different drawers to get everything we need.  It is all together ready for even the sleepiest of eyes.  I also put clothes that are needed for tomorrow's activities in there.  So if we have his soccer practice or her ballet class, those clothes are in there as well.


The morning routine saves us a bundle of time as well.  The kids know what is expected and we are out the door with plenty of time to spare.

Emma and I continue our routine by going over to the Y after we drop Drew off.  I run for almost an hour and she visits her friends in the Playhouse.  It works great for us.
Then it is either time to drop her off at school, time for ballet, or time to go home and have some mommy/daughter time together.

It works like a charm!  I love being back in the routine of things!

Back To School Interview

Drew was "interviewed" at his back-to-school dinner and here is what the man in the spotlight had to say:

Drew’s Back-To-School Night

JR.  K 8.19.12

1. What is your favorite color? Green

2. What is your favorite toy? Legos

3. What is your favorite fruit? Necterines & Apples

4. What is your favorite tv show? The Upside Down Show

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Pepperoni Pizza

6. What is your favorite outfit? Ducati t-shirt with black shorts

7. What is your favorite game? Star Wars Lego Game

8. What is your favorite snack?  Candy and greens

9. What is your favorite animal? Bunny / Parrot / Dogs / Cats

10. What is your favorite song?  Itsy Bitsy Spider

11. What is your favorite book? 3 Little Pigs (with the puppets)

12. Who is your best friend? Quinton

13. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? playing or looking at cracks in the ground

15. What is your favorite drink? water

16. What is your favorite holiday? summer holidays

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Bunny Bashful

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cereal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Whatever Mom cooks

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  I want to be a motorcycle racer "so you can see me on TV"

Drew is 42 lbs. and 45 inches tall.

Back To School

Our little guy is off to school!  Today was his first day at "the big school."
I am so happy for him, but I am so nervous too!
We began the festivities last night by preparing a Back To School Dinner of grilled cheese and alphabet spaghettios, our new tradition.
We celebrated the beginning of a new year and all of the exciting things to come!
I found a lot of the back to school dinner table ideas on Pinterest and from my friend Sarah.

The table was set

Grilled cheese and alphabet spaghettios for our traditional back to school dinner

A special dessert for my little smartie too!

This little stow-away joined us for dinner.  He'll be tagging along with Drew on his backpack everyday.

Nom nom nom!!!

It's here.  Drew's first day

Ready to go in the building!

Mommy and Daddy aren't the only one's who are going to miss him!

This one is heartbreaking.  Our little princess is really missing her best buddy!

This is the song that came on the radio as we left the school.  How appropriate.

Emma's New Do

Emma's first hair cut was everything I hoped it would be.  We found a great place that specializes in kids hair in Birkdale Village.  It was great and they knew exactly how to handle everyone.  From feeling like a princess while looking in her mirror to blowing bubbles right there at the station, Emma never even had a chance to stress about getter her lovely locks lopped!

A little bit shabby

Things are getting serious as we approach the first clip

There it goes!!!!  While Emma looks at herself in the mirror

Drew is so proud of her and so encouraging!  He was using his LeapPad to document Emma's first haircut.  He recorded the first clipping.  How cute is that!?!  I did not prompt him in any way to do that which made it that much sweeter!

Let's take a break for some bubbles!

Finishing off the sides

Emma's enjoying a cartoon while having her hair cut

And now for the braids

Drew kept himself pretty busy after he was finished making his "documentary"

Daddy loved her braids

Looking at her new hair for the first time

She loves it!

So pretty

What a princess!!!

Miscellaneous From Arizona

Here are just random pictures from our trip that don't necessarily fit into any particular category, but are still the little things that made one great trip!

Strike a pose

Tlaquepaque Chapel

The kids were tuckered out after all of our fun

The girls

This was my view walking in the resort to the pool  <3 td="td">

Sleepy girl and Lizzie the Lizard

This was my view when I left the resort to run.  I had an 8 mile training run while I was there.  The view sure made 8 miles fly by.

Rushing water was a rare sight in the desert

My loves

Lunch with Ms. Emma while Drew was on his "date" with Nana and Papa  (Emma had her "date" earlier in the week)

Cuties

Tlaquepaque at night

Pool time!!!!

Pool time!!!!!!

Jumping down by the creek.  (you could see Johnny Depp's house from here!)

Little desert girl...

She's all smiles

That rushing water again... quite the attraction.  

Saying goodbye to Nana at the Phoenix airport...

And Papa too!

My babies

Love

The Fam!

Cuties

My loves

Nana and Papa time!