Rudolph Cookies

My little girl and our neighbor and Me made the cutest Rudolph cookies to end our Thanksgiving break and welcome in the holidays. The cookies were super easy and cute! Just one package of Nutter Butter cookies, m&m's, chocolate chips, pretzels and frosting. The only tricky part was breaking the pretzels. You have to break off the bottom loop. I loved sitting with the girls and crafting away and nibbling on the snacks. Mimi made some of the cutest comments as she assembled her Rudolphs. We are so excited for Christmas!

Some Family Pictures

We said CHEESE!

These are some pictures taken by Mimi's old preschool teacher starting a photography business. We asked her to do Josh's portraits (posted previously) and Jack's 2 year portraits and then our Christmas photos. We had so much fun and she is so creative. I added her website to my favorites list. Check her out!

Anoither day in the desert..

I think there will be quite a few of these postings this winter season. We are all having fun ripping it up in the desert. This last weekend we went with some friends that have a toy box (trailer) and the kids were excited to take a bath at the end of a very dirty day and I was excited to take them home dirt free. What a blast!

Even Mimi got on a quad a drove by herself for the first time!!!

What a sweet birthday...

Troy and the kids and family and friends gave me such a loved birthday full of sweet thoughts, gifts and wishes. THe kids made me t-shirts complete with coordinating jewelry which I had to wear. I wore Mimi's cute shirt on wednesday with matching pink bangle bracelet and Joshua's cute shirt on thursday with matching blue heart necklace. Troy took me to dinner on Coronado and gave me the day to just do whatever I wanted. Thank you Auntie Patti for watching the kiddos. There were many other wonderful birthday surprises for friends and family and I went to sleep that night feeling very loved and blessed by the wonderful people God has given me to live this life with.

I included photos of the shirts the kids made me and the royal crown Mimi made me at school. Oh and i can't leave out Troy's gift of a new and improved cell phone. I can even watch TV on it. What is that?

a FuN daY tO rIde aNd ReLax

We took out first trip for the year out to the desert (Ocotillo Wells). Troy had the buggy and my bike running awesome we could have stayed for days. J got to drive the buggy himself on a ride, m loved doing donuts and fishtails, and little J loved everything. He would cry every time we turned the buggy off. I finally got to ride my bike. Took me awhile to get used to it, but Troy was patient and it was fun to get out there again.

The sunset on the way home was magnificent! It was the prefect end to a perfect day!

Backyard Birthday Olympics!

This was the party Joshua wanted and planned with a little help from mom and dad. What a fun day. Check out the pictures and read below! It was a blast!

Backyard Birthday Olympics!

Backyard Birthday Olympics!

Joshua was so excited to have a big boys party this year. He invited 10 of his closest buddies and wanted to have it be a drop off party. Mommy and daddy decided we were up for the challenge and got to planning. Joshua wanted to do the olympics in the backyard and then a movie in the grass. So we started the party off at 3:30 and divided the boys into 2 teams. One team was headed by Coach Troy and they called themselves "The Predator Chargers". The other team was lead by Coach Terry and they were called the "The Animals". They loaded up backpacks with gatorade, water, birthday bucks, marker and pennant. Then each team went to work on their logo and signing each others backpacks and pennants. We even had a few boys get their faces painted.

Then it was Backyard Olympics time. There were 8 challenges. An Obstacle Course, an Egg Balance, a Clothes Relay, Football Throw, Pumpkin Roll, Fast Feet, Potato Sack Hop, and Pencil Drop. They went one by one, team by team. Coaches kept track of times and competitors. It was a blast!

Tired and worn out it was time to refuel with dinner. They got plates of chicken nuggets and fries, caramel and apples and headed out for the awards ceremony while they ate. Every boy got a medal and lei for particiapting.

With the sun quickly going down we got the concession stand ready and the boys came to spend their hard earned birthday bucks on movie treats and glow sticks. Then it was off to get comfy and watch the movie. We snuck in a quick cupcake and Happy Birthday to the birthday boy and then they watched (kind of) Journey to the Center of the Earth.

All of the boys were fantastic and we had such a great time. It was fun for Troy and I to get to spend some time with Josh's closest buddies and get to know them better.

It was the birthday party Joshua wanted and he was so happy at the end of the day. Thank you to all that helped! We couldn't have pulled it off without you!

What happened to my family? They have been replaced with Iron Man, Tinkerbell and Pooh Bear!

Happy Halloween! We started the evening off with the annual pre trick or treat photo shoot and chili at our house. It is so fun to get everyone in costume and then to start snapping the pictures. Check us out in our costumes!