Our Date

Jonah and I went on our first official date the first week of January (I know it happened 2 months ago, but I've been having some camera uploading issues, which my sweet husband took care of for me...Thanks Sweetheart!)

It was the first time that I pretty much just let Jonah lead the evening. There weren't other kids or people we had to worry about, and it was SOOO fun! We went to ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo. (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE our season pass to the zoo? It just might be my favorite thing.) The plan was, burgers, ice cream, and zoolights....cuz I aim to please my 3 year old.

As we headed out Jonah said, "Let's have ice cream first." I thought, "Sure, why not?" and we headed to Scooptacular (our favorite ice cream shop). After eating our ice cream we walked out the door and Jonah said, "Do you want to run around?" to which I said, "Ummmm.....don't you want to just go to the zoo?" Jonah said, "Let's just run around for a few minutes first." And I thought, "Sure, why not?" Jonah just ran up and down the sidewalk and literally ran around in a 6 foot circle a few times before giggling and announcing....."OK, I'm ready to go!"

We grabbed burgers on the way and hit the Zoo. We walked hand in hand and talked....and I fell in love with my little boy again. He had my full attention and he took advantage of it. "WOW!! Look at that Spider!" " Let's go this way Mom!"  "Grrrr! Now you pretend you're a lion"

But his FAVORITE thing was with the interactive talking giraffe......we went back several times and stayed waaayy longer than my usual "in charge" self would have normally stayed. Jonah just ate it up.

It was THE BEST time I've had with Jonah EVER!!! Sometimes I forget how cool my kids are. I get so wrapped up in parenting, training, correcting, teaching, and coaching that I miss the chance to just enjoy who they are at each stage. Even as I write this I have a few tears in my eyes......Jonah and I did this 2 months ago now and today....well, today was full of parenting, training, correcting, etc. I'm ready for another date. :o)

Polar Express

I HAVE to share with you how much we LOVED the Polar Express this year. If you haven't been it's super fun (especially if you have a train loving 3 year old!) The train leaves from Williams, Arizona (about 30 min. outside of Flagstaff) and magically goes to the North Pole and back in just 1.5 hours!

 We drove up to Flagstaff one morning with big plans to frolic in the snow since the kids had never experienced it before. So we all go in our "snow" gear and headed down to the white stuff.

 Jonah was VERY excited about the snow. Unfortunately it was a couple weeks old and pretty darn hard and crunchy...oh well, we made the most of it for at least 30 min...before we headed inside for popcorn happy hour at the hotel (I'm a big fan of the Drury Inn, by the way.)

That night we all settled in and managed to sleep pretty well. The next morning we went swimming at the hotel before hitting the rode in anticipation of the great train ride. Can you guess what Jonah is saying?

 "ALL ABOARD!" Allie was less impressed with all the train excitement.

 And then the "Polar Express" rolled in with bakers smiling and waving.

 We all lined up in front of our assigned car and waited to be invited in.

 Being inside the train was so fun!

They served us cookies and hot chocolate soon after departure and we all read "The Polar Express" book together. After arriving at the North Pole, Santa boarded our train. Jonah was not excited about Santa at all....until he saw him. Then Allie and Jonah both started yelling, "Santa, Santa!"

 I love that you can see Jonah's face beaming even from the back.

We got into the car at 7:30pm that evening and the kids were out in 5 minutes. They slept the entire trip home (almost 3 hrs.) so it was a great night for all of us!

Sleepover

Remember when you were a kid and got all kinds of presents while all the grown ups each opened 1 gift? Me too....but now I'm the grown up. And I make these pacts with family members, the "Let's only buy things for the kids" pacts....do you know what I'm talking about?

So every year birthdays and Christmas come and go and I never get to buy anything for my AMAZING Sister-In-Law Sheena. The one who NEVER forgets a birthday or anniversary, always calls to see how everyone is doing, and sends the sweetest texts. So I decided this year I'd (we'd) give her the best birthday present for any mom....a whole day and night off...whoo-hoo! :o) So Brooke and Lauren came to our house for a sleepover....and it was super fun!

Here are the "Big" kids watching a show before bed.

And here are the girls the next morning....Lauren's hair CRACKED me up....I just HAD to take her picture before I fixed it. :o)

We took the kids to the zoo (that Annual pass to the zoo is THE BEST!) And Jonah insisted on pulling Lauren around....not Allie...not Brooke....JUST Lauren!

He was quite the trooper and pulled her up hills, around corners, over bridges.

We didn't get a picture of Lauren, but she fell asleep in the wagon on the way out to the car. Everyone fell asleep in the car on the way home.

But Allie was the only one that took a nap when we got home. The "Big" kids started decorating our annual Gingerbread house.

Look at that concentration!

ALL DONE!! Beautiful!

On to decorating sugar cookies.

And eating sugar cookies...of course!

Happy Birthday Sheena! Can't wait to do it again!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas to All! Click on the link below for a Christmas treat! :o)

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/kWGqe8xRbTsoeIXi

Christmas Fun

This year the kids "helped" put up our Christmas decorations. They were excited to be involved and dying to touch everything. Thank the Lord for the Little People Nativity we got last year....that offered at least 25 minutes of distraction. 

 I'm also thankful for all of our "singing" decorations and their ability to occupy the kids, but not so thankful for the racket that is created by all of them singing at the same time.(I'm a little worried that Jonah may not have an ear for music...ha, ha!)

 Here Allie is dancing to the music and you can see Jonah on the toy box in the background. They crack me up.

All in all it took me 2 full days to decorate the house (and by "full" days I mean decorating and changing a diaper, decorating and cleaning up the ornament that broke, decorating and making lunch.....start, stop, start, stop....you know how it is).

 

We also went to my FAVORITE Christmas Event....the Electric Light Parade. It rained again this year (it rained the first year Chris and I went together while we were dating, but he seemed a little less annoyed by it back then...I guess 2 kids, a wagon full of chairs, snacks, blankets, etc. can't compare to holding hands with a new love...) Anyway, he was a trooper....actually everyone was and I had a WONDERFUL time (wet bum and all). However, I took about 4 pictures....so here they are.

My nieces were warm and dry in their covered wagon...so cute!

I love this picture of Allie with her little "trashy" poncho (literally a white garbage bag). Under the poncho she had on a fleece sweatshirt and jeans with long sleeved pajamas under that. Her stocking hat under the hood of her jacket and mittens too seemed to keep her toasty warm in the rain.

But my favorite part was that as each parade float would go by she would say, "A bus! A bus!" Priceless.

Thanksgiving

We went to San Diego for Thanksgiving this year. The kids were AWESOME on the 6 hour car ride over. (I was quite nervous it might not go well....what did our parents do without portable DVD players?!?)

Anyway, there was one minor incident. While running off some steam in Gila Bend, Allie took a face plant. She literally forgot to catch herself with her hands. Notice the contusion on her nose AND the large imprint on her forehead...poor baby! However, in classic Allie style, she shook it off and carried on.

 Ryan cooked an awesome dinner (with final supervision from Chris, of course). However, I HAD to bring my Aunt Mary's corn bread dressing, since Thanksgiving just isn't the same with any other stuffing.

On Friday morning, the kids were up before 5 am local time (Sorry Uncle Ryan!). So, we had some breakfast, played, got dressed and I still was able to get to Kohl's by 6:30am for some Black Friday shopping!

Around 9 or so we went to La Jolla. I remember going there in high school and it's still gorgeous.

 Jonah and Allie spent most of the day riding around on Daddy and Uncle Ryan's shoulders (worked out pretty well for me..considering I can only carry either of them for about 5 minutes before my arms scream...put the child down!)

And then on Saturday, we went to the much anticipated beach. Jonah LOVED it (as I knew he would). He loves to play in the sand and he could have played there all day.

Allie, on the other hand....not such a big fan. I took her shoes off and she was concerned about all the sand in her toes. And then the water came up and touched her feet.....that's when she started screaming. She spent the remainder of the "Beach trip" eating snacks on the picnic table (or picnic blanket) with Daddy. She had no interest in the sand OR the water.....maybe next year.

 However, during our trip we hit 3 different play grounds (a new one each day) and Allie always loves a good playground. :o)