Christmas Morning

What a fun Christmas we had this year! Austin and Kylie were very excited to see that Santa enjoyed the cookies they left for him and that Rudolph ate all of the carrots!

Christmas Party

Sharing some smiles and tears with Santa.

Every year we go to Jenn's grandparents Christmas Party where the same Santa from when Jenn was Colton's age has come to the party every year. It is so special to see our kids share the very same memories I treasured when I was their age.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Our annual tradition is making Gingerbread houses. The only problem is the kids want to eat the house as quickly as it is made!

Thanksgiving Trip to Westlake and Arizona

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. First we went to Westlake and visited Great Grandpa Frank at Catalina Yachts. Austin really enjoyed this since he thinks Grandpa Frank is the coolest great grandpa because he knows how to build "real pirate ships". The kids really enjoyed seeing how sailboats are made and visiting with Grandpa Frank.

This is where all of the sails are made at Catalina Yachts.

We were also able to spend a couple of days at Papa and Grandma Debbi's house. Kylie loved baking with Grandma Debbi, Austin liked playing chess with Papa and Colton liked feeding the ducks (well - he didn't seem to understand that the stale bread was for the ducks, not for him to eat!).

Our next stop was Arizona to spend Thanksgiving with Jo Jo and Popsy's.

What a fun week we all had!

Halloween

The kids had a really fun Halloween....well what kid doesn't like getting a ton of candy! Austin went as Jack Sparrow, Kylie was Princess Genevieve (Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses) and Colton was Austin's sidekick - a baby pirate.

Austin had a special Halloween parade at his school and loved seeing all of the funny costumes some of the big kids wore.

Austin loved being able to bring home Terry Bear from his classroom at school.

Austin drew a model of a pirate ship that he wanted to build. Then he made a pirate ship to look just like his model. He was pretty proud to make a pirate ship just like Great Grandpa Frank!

A fun night with our neighbors. The girls watched a 3-D Barbie Princess movie and the boys camped out in the playroom and watched a "non-girl" movie.

Fun Times with Jo Jo and Pops!

We had a fun weekend with Jo Jo and Pops, especially playing miniature golf!

Kylie's First Day of Preschool

Kylie's first day of preschool at Shining Light! She couldn't wait to go to the same school that big brother Austin used to attend.