Ever since this girl’s daily prune juice cocktail, she has been one much-happier camper!
But one thing that hasn’t changed is her really good sleeping skills. She sleeps a ton of the day away, and all through the night.
No matter when I put her to bed at night — 9:00 or 11:00, she wakes up at 6:45.
And interestingly enough, 6:45 is Scout’s exact wake up time during the school week.
I’m not sure if this is a coincidence or just a gift.
But my little girl, who sleeps through the night, and is my own personal alarm clock at exactly the time I need to make sure Scout is up, is definitely amongst other things … a gift!
Scout has been taking an after-school chess class. I wasn’t sure if he was too young to get it all. But the times Micah and I have played against him have surprised us. For a little kid, he gets all of the pieces and how they move. He understands the game. He also understands offense. His defense is a little weak, and his strategy needs some work. But he is well on his way to becoming a good little chess player.
As for now, I still hold my title high as…
THE BEST CHESS PLAYER IN THIS HOUSE!
Trey and Doey stayed a few days after Christmas, and it was so fun for my kids.
To say that my kids are obsessed with all cousins is definitely accurate!
And so am I.
This day, I had to do a bunch of insurance and rental house stuff, and I was able to do it so easily because my kids were playing with the cousins all afternoon.
It started out with an afternoon in the pool.
Then they created a “Frozen Party”.
Afterwards, they showered up as I finished up.
And then in honor of their Frozen talk, we finished up the afternoon by heading over to the theater to see it again.
We welcome cousins anytime!
Especially these older ones who aren’t above playing with my young kids!
Navy is pretty determined to grow her bangs out. So while Chloe stayed for a few extra days after Christmas, and did Icka’s hair a few times, Navy insisted that her bangs be back. Because they are in that in between stage, Chloe decided to slick them over to one side and use a bobby pin to secure them in place. When Navy came out to show us her beautiful hairdo, my mom said and spelled, “Looks like H I T L E R.”
Navy said, “what did you spell?”
My mom respelled, “H I T L E R”.
Then Navy was trying to figure it out…..”H I T…hhhhiiiiittttt….Hideous!”
We were all laughing, and were a bit surprised that she came to a pretty close conclusion.
Doey got to stay for a few days after Christmas!
I was SO excited, because everyone needs a Doey around.
She is like Skilly was back in the day.
The ultimate little assistant.
This evening, she grabbed the camera and started snapping photos and created quite the photoshoot.
I am not a huge fan of cameras post babies (don’t worry, one day I will be back to camera hog!), but I like that I actually have some photos with my baby.
And she caught Pippi’s best smile to date!
And then Navy jumped in for some sister shots.
Doey…
This little girl and I thank you!
I was sleeping on the couch the morning after Christmas, and I heard in the distance the trash man!
I hurried down to wake up Micah, and he and I got going on our two trees. He was taking out the first one when the trash man got to our street. We weren’t sure which trash he was taking (the normal/recycle/other guy) and it was the other guy who takes the leaves and plants and CHRISTMAS TREES! I called down to Micah to hurry back, and he ran like a speeding bullet. Withing four minutes, he ran up, I held the tree as he unscrewed it, he picked it up and ran down the stairs with it. Our house was already passed, but the neighbor across the street was up next. Micah ran and put it down, and it was gone a minute later!
So by 8:30 am, our trees were down and gone!
Just the way I like it!
Now…let the cleaning begin!
This girl is the best cleaner we’ve got!
She vacuumed for at least an hour.
This boy hung out in his new bus, and faked sleep.
This boy helped himself to the donut stash downstairs.
And this girl hung out in everyone’s arms.
After vacuuming, these two played and played in the bus while Micah, the other adults and I tidied a bunch of the house up.
And then, it was off to Big Air and Baja Fish Taco for a day of fun.
Because it had been at least twelve hours since our last day of fun!
Christmas 2013 was a success!
Nothing beats a day of giving gifts, eating yummy food, watching my kids get excited, watching them give their stuff to others, and having everyone all in one room without having anything else to do, or any calls to make.
Again — it was a success!
The Pips was in a nap at this point, but this is first thing in the morning (9:00am).
After I snapped this pic, they opened up their stockings — beautifully assembled every year by Auggie! Then we all had a delish breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen. And finally it was time to do Christmas. I think we were ready around 10:30. How awesome is that lazy morning.
Check out what they got this year…
The slug bug for Dash.
The pink one for Navy.
And the 2 person Jeep for Scout and the Pips!
They rode those things until we made them come in!
They were all so excited, and came and gave me thank you hugs over and over.
Navy got a doll head with real hair, along with everything needed to go with it.
Including: make up, curlers, hairspray, a real hair dryer, bobby pins, clips, etc.
She came back an hour later with her twin….beauty mark in the hair line and all!
Every time Dash got something, he went from person to person to share it, or to show it by saying “Yook…Yook at what I got”!
Micah gave NayNay her Christmas Eve gift (She was at John’s house the night before) — a pass to the Sundance Film Festival!
Obviously that was a major hit!
The Pips was passed around from arms to arms and happy as a little clam wherever she went.
This ninja was in stealth mode while tossing Navy around.
Scout was stoked on his new running shoes that matched Micah and Dash!
Dash and Bella gave this CTR trio to NayNay!
Navy “needed a new umbrella”!
Filthy-faced Dash got into Navy’s make up with some help!
Then all of the cousins sat down for an awesome gift.
But first they had to put a puzzle together to find out what it was.
I finally had to jump in because it was quite the puzzle!
But it ended up saying that we were all going to go to Cancun for Spring Break!
Yippee!
A-MAZ-ING!
Navy started hugging everyone she was so excited!
And Scout just stood there in a daze as he figured it all out.
When he did, he was excited as Navy.
How sweet is that!
There were hugs all around!
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Throughout the day I made cheese plates for everyone, there were lots of dirty diet Cokes, some BLT’s and a delicious dinner by Nonnie.
Never did I realize that Christmas had so much behind the scenes until I was a mother.
Nonnie — you make our day SO fun, and we applaud you for everything!
Thanks for yet another amazing Christmas!
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And let’s not forget about my amazing gift from the Shmickity Dickity Dock!
Here are some of the many things I am getting from him throughout the year…
Eat your heart everyone seeing this!
And for him — a day of wakeboarding lessons alongside Bry and Cade!
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And yes, we DID talk to Jake, and he is doing great!
Merry Christmas ‘13!
Our Christmas with the Denisons took place all day today, and was really fun. There were tons of gifts, great Italian food and lots of family. My kind of day. And I actually gave a gift that someone liked during the gift exchange — or at least she led me to believe that she might have wanted it! Bree, did you really want those tweezers? Unfortunately, I forgot my good camera and only video taped during the whole day.
After our day of fun, we headed home to Christmas Eve festivites.
This is literally my favorite part of Christmas. We exchange gifts and get PJ’s, and then do the present thing while the boys head off to Harbor House. Although it is still my favorite part, it was a little modified this year. We had a late start. Then as soon as it was time to exchange gifts, Jake was trying to Skype. The connection was awful, so after quite a bit of time trying, we decided to make a phone call the next day, with hopes of hearing one another. Then we finally got to the gifts.
This year, we put all of the names in the hat, and Bella chose Dash.
(Yeah right — like that wasn’t rigged!)
She made him close his eyes.
She first gave him his very own Panda Bear — according to him lately, it is his favorite.
When she first gave it to him, he was totally scared, and it was hilarious. It wasn’t for about 5 minutes that he finally warmed up to his new pet.
And then she surprised him with this awesome dinosaur outfit!
He went around scaring everyone like this.
And she ended it with quite possibly — his favorite thing on earth!
His very own Thomas the Train.
So he grabbed his Thomas chair and sat in his Thomas train while wearing his new dino outfit.
Nice work Bella!
Scout and Navy got a group gift from the Brockbanks.
They got a bunch of animals as clues.
It took them a while, and a lot of clues, but they finally caught on that they were getting zoo passes!!!
The whole family was excited over this one — especially the cousins who get to skip school to use a few of the “guest passes” it comes with!
My poor mom had Micah this year. Remember his amazing gift to her last year? The robe? The best gift ever given on earth!?!
She had to top that.
Well, she didn’t.
But she came pretty close by giving him a hotel stay in San Diego with money for the Chef’s tasting menu for him and me!
Not bad!
And, to boot — B, who had my name gave me full babysitting at our house the whole time we are gone for part of my gift!
Best Gift Ever!
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Speaking of Micah — and him giving the best gifts — my gift this year was one simple blue book.
But let me tell you, that blue book had more than you can imagine in it!
I had the next 24 hours to open it slowly..a few pages at a time.
In it he told me things he loves about me, and then gave me a whole slew of amazing coupons.
This is for a “game night”.
And one of my favorite things about this book is that every single coupon has an amazing picture that goes with it.
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After gift time, we opened PJ’s.
Then put the kids down.
Then the girls went to organize the gifts (check out my masterpiece!) while the boys assembled gifts.
And then complained that they were too tired to go to Harbor House.
The girls were all so mad that they were trying to break tradition.
Not necessarily because they weren’t going, but more so because we like our alone time.
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It was a little different this year, but no less great!
Merry Christmas Eve.
After a lot of hard work, I was really pleased with how Pippi’s announcement/our Christmas Card turned out this year.
Here is the front and back of the card:
(They are switched in order because this is the final draft from the printer — so the front of the card is on the right and the back is on the left.)
And the middle:
It is quite possibly….my favorite card to date!
I’ll admit that Christmas Picture day is my most dreaded day of the year.
But this year has set my expectations for it to be one of the easiest and most relaxing days instead!
There was a confident and calm photographer.
I was completely prepared with everything.
Micah, Trilby and my mom were on hand for anything needed on the side such as holding blankets, reading books in the midst, or feeding the Pips to keep her alert and happy.
And Dash — my biggest worry — was completely covered by Bella.
Here is a little photo gallery of some of the behind the scenes:
Thanks to all!
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