Moving

Sean and I just bought the house of our dreams...

With the kitchen of my dreams...

No dog pee here.

Moving date Monday!

The Thaw

The snow is melting. I am crying a river...

Gone will be the days of stocking caps.
Gone will be the days of "I can't put my arms down"!
Gone will be the days of 4 foot high snow drifts.

Gone will be the days of eating snow from the doormat.

"What"?? No more snow?

Gone will be the days of bitter, bitter cold.
And gone will be the days of snowball fights.
Do you hear me crying?

Being a Boy

Being a Boy means always hamming for the camera.

Being a Boy means making bubble whiskers to look like Dad.
Being a Boy means that while you are supposed to be resting quietly in your room,

you are instead in the bathroom setting up a pig led army for an attack on who knows what.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Well.... usually.

I LOVE Disneyland at Christmas time. It is creative, artistic, festive.

If I could have a dream job, I would be a decorator at Disneyland at Christmas. Three days after Christmas, we knew Disneyland would be crowded. Crowded?

It was INSANE!!

It was sold out! It was over sold!

If we had not purchased our tickets online, we would not have gotten in.

This was not a crowd gathered for a show.

This was the crowd that was everywhere.

Getting the stroller around was virtually impossible. We ended up parking it and started walking... or shuffling, or pushing...

We did manage to make it on 4 rides and walk through Mickey's house.

Braeden and Miles were both troopers.

Miles reluctantly crashed so it was just Sean and Braeden left to help Buzz Lightyear defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg. And I took Braeden on the Mad Hatters Tea Cups.

I love the teacups at night.

One of many childhood Disneyland memories that I have.

And...

a trip to Disneyland is not complete without a set of personalized ears!

Despite the madness, at the end of the day, most of us were still smiling.

We had asked Braeden what his favorite part was.

He said "All of it"!

Priceless.

A Major Award

"It's a major award"

"Fragile"

Just two of the many quotes that come up every Christmas.

I don't even know how many times I have seen the movie "A Christmas Story"
I even watched it in the hospital when I was in labor with Braeden.

Not only is it my favorite movie, it is my Dad's favorite movie too.

I knew what I needed to get him this Christmas. I think the Ralphie wrapping paper gave too much of a hint,

but as soon as my Dad saw "Fragile" he flew off the hook.

I have never in my lifetime seen him so excited over a Christmas gift.

In the past, he quietly opened his gifts, pushed them under a chair and went on with the day.

This Christmas he was beaming about his "major award" and "all it's glory".

Then he opened an iPad.

Brotherly Love

Christmas morning.

Tooth Fairy and Such

Guesstures. Have you ever played that game?

Sean and I played years ago with my sister and her husband. The card we all remember is "Tooth Fairy". We all rolled in laughter when Sean fluttered and pranced around the room pointing to his teeth.

This Christmas, Sean's folks made the trip from Northern California down to my parents in the Antelope Valley. They were able to spend a few days with us and hang out with the boys. While doing some Christmas shopping, we picked up the game.

Braeden was not sure what was going on but he came up with every excuse not to go to bed.

The cards are labeled "easy" or "hard". We started out with easy but it was not enough of a challenge. Most of the game was played with the hard cards which made it a lot more interesting.

Karen scratching her head??

George wanting more coffee??

Sean is saying he ate way too much holiday food??

George acting apish??

Karen on the hunt for her dinner??


Is Dad is trying to tell us something??

Braeden was not sure what to think of Grandpa when he threw himself on the floor and tried to inch himself along like a caterpillar.
Snorts, tears and screams of laughter. I have not laughed that hard in a long time.
It felt good.