Christmas Chaos!!

We had a wonderful--yet CRAZY Christmas this year! We attended many fun, festive parties, a play and a nutcracker ballet, we paid a visit to Santa's Village and then Santa came to visit us!! We enjoyed all the holiday foods and treats, the joyous lights (even though we didn't get ours up this year!) and then we headed to Utah (the first White Christmas since Ellie was 10 months old!!) and we had a blast visiting everyone from both sides of our families.

Here's a sneak peek into all the holiday happenings.... (More to come...)

Our ward Christmas party

Santa's Village with friends

How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Old Globe Theatre

(We were so excited that Maddy is now three and could attend--Will had his first babysitter!)

Christmas Eve Santa came to town to check up on the little ones

We had such a great time! A little chaotic, but we wouldn't have it any other way!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

If you're happy and you know it....

Ellie~ still LOVING kindergarten, playing with friends and just finished her first season of soccer! She is super creative and imaginative. She is jumping up reading levels rapidly and according to her teacher is "ahead of her class" in other subjects! She is a HUGE help at home and having her gone full day this year makes me really miss my "little girlfriend"! She is an awesome big sister!

Maddy~ just turned 3 on the 6th!! She is becoming more "independent" and loves to do everything for herself. She is our little sweetheart and is such a thoughtful and caring little girl. She is enjoying going to preschool 2 days and having a big co-op play date once a week, and loves getting more one-on-one time with me when Will is napping. She is a wonderful helper with Will.

Will~ is seriously the most easy-going, well-natured baby ever! However, he is starting to "army crawl" and continues to get faster at the rolling--hence he never stays in one given place. He is doted on by his big sisters and is currently cutting his second tooth. His favorite food is carrots--I swear he is turning orange! and he LOVES to shake his head "no" which always makes us laugh. He is always found laughing or exploring.

**Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but please know that we are doing well and check back in soon!

Maddy's 3rd Birthday!!

Our sweet Maddy has now entered the wonderful world of a 3 year old!! She had a super fabulous birthday celebration. We left early on Friday and headed to Palm Springs and spent the entire weekend celebrating Maddy and all her wonderfulness.

Our BIG 3 year old

Opening presents bright and early birthday morning--some of her favorite birthday presents were her baby doll care kit (stroller, highchair, crib) and a ride-on plasma car

Maddy enjoying her birthday doughnuts

HOW old am I???

We arrived in Palm Springs and hung out at the pool/splash pad/beach area/water slides/lazy river at the Las Palmas Resort for the rest of the day (and the rest of the weekend)! The weather was totally perfect and it was so amazing to be together under a big bright blue sky with the five of us floating along side by side--(Well, Will was on laps) along the lazy river. Not a care in the world--and it seemed to feel like we were the only ones in the world.

That night we went to one of our favorite restaurants--Babe's

They have the most AMAZING sweet potato fries!

Hanging out at grandpa Ed's and Grandma Nancy's is always fun

We talked Gramps into going to the Living Desert Zoo with us

Dad and Nancy had a wonderful party all set up at their house--complete with a yummy feast and this little birthday hat

The cupcakes and ice cream were delicious

(Seconds after this picture was taken Maddy's hair lit on fire!!)

What a wonderful way to celebrate such a wonderful, sweetheart as Maddy! She is truly one of the most caring girls that you will ever meet. She is always there to watch out for Will and helps out with him without even having to be asked. But Maddy is also so amazingly thoughtful and loving towards everyone. She is a cheerful, easy going girl who is so selfless and creative. We are so blessed to have her in our family! Happy birthday Maddy!!

The next week, we got to bring cupcakes to share with Maddy's preschool where they sang and celebrated her some more!!

Our spooktacular festivities

Halloween this year was spectacular--or should I say "spooktacular"?! Ellie was a cute/good witch, Maddy was Marie the kitty from Aristocats, and Will was Squirt from Finding Nemo.

Our good little witch

(Her costume was revamped from a costume my mom made me when I was little! She had a cute black hat, but it was really hard for her to keep on)

Marie

Squirt

Ellie's kindergarten had a costume parade followed by a fun class party

On Halloween day, our ward held their annual trunk-or-treat party and the girls had a great time visiting with their church friends. And then it was straight home to our cul-de-sac's block party, which soon after, we took off with some neighbors and friends to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood!

We had such a great Halloween! I love the dressing up, the parties, the cookie decorating, the fun, but especially the CANDY!! YUM! YUM!! (And thankfully my girls are very good at sharing--even if they don't know it!)

Pumpkin Patch

Happy Halloween From our Family!!

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30, Flirty, and Thriving...

Ok, so I don't know about the "flirty" part, but I am now offically 30 and feel (on most days) to be thriving! For my big "3-oh!", I didn't want a big party, I just wanted to go to Disneyland with my little family and celebrate. Mark was able to take off Thursday as well as Friday (my actual b-day), so we ended up being able to spend 2 fabulous days at the "Happiest Place on Earth", including some time over at California Adventure. This was my first trip post-pardum, which meant I got to finally do one of my favorite things--ride the ROLLER COASTERS!!

This was also Will's first Disneyland trip and we had such a fun time introducing him to one of our family's favorite hang-out spots! (First trip out of the womb I should say--I mean I did "almost" go in to labor at 38 1/2 weeks with him there at the park! HAHA! We almost had to name him Walt instead...)

Meeting Minnie--Will was trying to grab her ear!

The park was all decked out for Halloween. They had even decorated the Haunted Mansion and Space Mt. all up.

The girls got to meet a bunch of princesses--Ariel was so darling with the girls and they all kept waving and blowing kisses to Will!

Ellie as Pluto

Having a tea party at Minnie's

Hanging out in Toontown

Mark actually hates the tea cups--so I always take the girls

Ellie plays us a tune at Mickey's

Will bangs the drum

Will meeting Mickey for his first time--can you tell he's impressed?

This picture is for Grandpa Roy--Ellie is making her "yucky tomato face" just for him

Just like his sisters, Will is mezmorized by "It's a small world"

They had a fun parade at the end that we stayed for on the first night. The girls got chosen to go out to the street and dance with the characters and even got to participate in the conga line! (I only got it on video, but it was cute!) This is them waving to the characters who kept coming by to give them high fives.

Our family's tradtion is to buy each kid their first pair of mickey ears on their first Disneyland trip

It was a great birthday! We spent the rest of the weekend in Orange County shopping, going to the beach and relaxing. Such great times!

Too cool for school...

Ellie had an "AWESOME" first day at kindergarten!! To get them used to going to school everyday, they only go until noon until September 10 and then they will go full day. But, so far she thought everything was a blast--from walking to school with the family, to eating out of her new Disney fairy lunch box. She even has a play date already next week with one of the girls from her class that we just met--who happens to live right down the street! I think she is really going to love kindergarten!

Ellie and Mrs. H--her new kindergarten teacher

We are excited for this new chapter in our life!!