It is hard to get a non-blurry picture when you have a WALKER!
It only took 13 months, but she is finally official.
When I left to New York, she held her record at 8 consecutive steps. And every time I called home over the short 5 days away, they would tell me that Pippi was walking everywhere. I took it with a grain of salt because I was only gone a few days. But when I came back, it was completely legit! She was cruising everywhere.
When I got home from NYC, I saw a note on one of the kitchen chairs. Upon a closer look, I realized that our Elf on the Shelf, Krispy, was sitting there. And the note was from Navy who wrote, “Please be careful. Crispy is on this chair. I love you Crispy. Love Navy and Dash.” When I saw it, I was so excited to be home. Especially to my girl who writes me about six notes a day. Navy is always watching out for people and things, and making sure those people are happy and those things are safe. And if there is any reason to write a note to those people or about those things, she gladly takes that opportunity.
Brit needed a trip.
I needed a trip.
Bella needed a trip.
So we all figured out that we would head to NYC and stay with G Funk.
At the last minute, Bella couldn’t go, so I mentioned to Summer to get her ducks in a row…and less than 24 hours later, she was on the plane next to me.
When I got to the airport, I opened my backpack to a bunch of letters from Micah.
There were little treats and gifts for my trip.
Including a pair of tickets to an upcoming private screening to Unbroken — the movie adaptation of one of my favorite books — that will have family members and producers of the movie.
How awesome is my husband!!
This was my second favorite envelope!
When we got there — this was the gang.
G Funk was an awesome host, and the four of us had a blast together.
In Times Square, we made faces on the jumbo tron.
In the Broadway Theater, we saw “If and Then” — a mediocre musical at best.
The holiday lights were magical.
And the Selfie taking was at an all time high for this crowd — except Summer who was on a selfie diet…at only 10 a day!
I discovered my love of dogs once again with Wyatt, who is arguably the sweetest dog alive.
And we hit up a new favorite — Eataly.
I love all of the hotspots we hit, and all of the tried and trues we hit.
But Eataly is now on my list of must-gos, when I am in NYC from now on.
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G Funk — it was a much-needed and fantastic trip!
And a huge thanks to Mama Mia and the Shmickity Dickity for holding down the fort!
When we found the new cartoon “Star Wars Rebels” it was very bittersweet.
Sweet, because my two boys love it, and it seems like a decently appropriate show for them.
Bitter, because I have heard, “I am going to go Star Wars Rebel on you!” too many times!
Following that statement has come a lot of tears.
And then I go “furious mom” on them.
Just a little accessorizing in Old Navy, while I use Scummy’s discount to get a few things for my upcoming NYC trip.
We headed over to the St. Regis Tree Lighting for a little evening jaunt.
It was fun as I ran into an old coworker, Windy form the Mantage.
And then we met up with the Hemeons and Tackys.
Free Hot Chocolate and goodies, a warm fireplace, and fun friends…what more could you ask for?
I love that Scout is loving to learn Catan!
And Reese is a saint that he sits through these really slow games!
The cousins and I headed down to Encinitas Beach to meet up with the Brockbanks.
I am not a major lover of the beach, but this was really fun.
Mostly because there was a huge sand burm that we rented boogie boards to surf down.
Scout was a natural.
Meanwhile Navy was filling and emptying buckets like a meticulous master.
And Dash was Chip Clipping his nose.
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I don’t know why I don’t have any pictures of the cousins…but it was a really fun day with everyone!
There is no secret that the day the cousins and we take our Santa pictures, might be my second favorite night of the year — right behind Christmas Eve.
This year it was a mad rush to get to Santa, because we knew he left at 8:30, and we were still getting ready at home at 8:00. Good thing the people at the Santa station love us, and always are so nice to us. I have been told in years past that our group of hooligans are their favorite group each year.
That being said, I think the pics turned out cute.
Thank goodness for an early Christmas gift from Grandma of darling matching PJs!
Perfect for a Santa pic!
Brett went with the pastel theme which I also thought was darling.
You’ve got to love the baby and Santa pics!
And the Sissies and Santa.
And the cousin girls.
But the toddler boy whispering into Santa’s ear, just might be the winner.
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Then the chaos began.
Might I add….this started when all of the kids were younger, and it really was chaotic with all of them. But now it has evolved into, “it is a tradition for every rule to fly out the window, and we get to be crazy without our moms laying down the toughest of laws.”
We were running out the door so quickly, and I was driving my mom’s car, which meant I left a stroller behind.
THANK GOODNESS for these little cars that cruise the mall for forgetful moms like me!
Then it was off to do a little shoe shopping, where my kids found black nylons that transformed them into crazy faces.
After shoes, we headed over to the playground where four other cousins joined us.
Calin, Skilly, Trey and Doey left crank-calling at home to be with us on the famous” close-down-the-mall” night.
The kids played and played.
Pips loved her freedom.
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Our time at the playground wasn’t as long as usual, because we got to the mall so late. But about an hour after the playground, many anxious boys were begging to go on to our next adventure.
So off we all went.
You know the drill.
The humiliating drill.
After the two above pictures (which all occurred in less than five minutes) I called it a night.
Good thing — because about 30 seconds later, the Security Guard on the people mover showed up.
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We slowly walked out, as the kids retold stories from the night.
They thought they were all so cool!
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And 10:45pm, just as we were going to all pack in our cars, we passed by Cheesecake Factory.
I jokingly said, “Hey….we would be stupid to take all of these hungry kids home to just mess up the kitchen.”
Then Brett said, “I agree….table for 17 please!”
After an hour of eating, three kids asleep, Pippi eating like a trash disposal, and the cousins laughing an plotting for nest year….we really called it a night!
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Until next year!
We always have a good time with the cousins.
But our Pranksgiving this year might be one of our best times yet.
It involved a little crank calling about free turkeys.
A few crank calls to the cousin’s friends.
And the best crank call yet…to Bryan, the future father-in-law.
Micah was hilarious. We were dying at his abilities.
I am glad to report that Bryan stood up for his ginger son, and his abilities to be a great future husband to Dayna.
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Happy Pranksgiving!
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