This could've been our card

For those of you who didn't get our Christmas card... it may still be on the way. They were sent out in the hopes of making it before Christmas, but December has been just as busy as November was. The girls went through another round of colds & the stomach flu made it's way through our house. After finally getting caught up on the laundry & getting the Christmas shopping done, I decided we needed to send out Christmas cards. We missed last year & this year we almost passed again. I have grand visions of having them done & mailed out the first week of December next year.
I had planned to take the girls' picture the week before, however things didn't go as planned. While taking a bath, Claire managed to bump her chin. The crying sounded worse than usual & the blood was a bad sign. My friends Shannon & Laura had both talked about butterflying cuts & avoiding Urgent Care. I called Shannon to make sure I had done it right. The blood stop & miraculously (yet again) Claire avoided the ER, urgent care or even stitches.
So... filling my Clark Griswold holiday expectations, the cards had to go out. At eight o'clock I told Mark we were going to try something crazy. We got the girls all dressed up & took as many pictures as they would allow. Reese was begging to go to bed & Claire was not far from it either. All in all, we got it done in record time with no stress or anxiety build up. Not a bad last minute plan.
Here is the card that went out....


(and to show you it was the best option, the pictures that could've gone out)







Merry Christmas!

Anything can be fun.....

Including the dishwasher-Reese was helping me with the dishes& being so cute!

A classic rendition of "Tomorrow"

I love this video! This was a few days after we saw Annie. Clairey knows the song only from Paige singing it. Paige was singing it over & over.... I'm holding Reese & you can hear her laughing at the end if you listen closely. The girls are watching themselves sing in the mirror.

Totally Random

Paige is forever making us laugh & these pictures prove no exception to that! She was using a leftover piece of material from her Halloween costume as a veil. She put a TON of barrettes around it & this is what she came up with. She looks like a little old lady playing the organ at church... haha. We love our little Paige :0)

Thanksgiving

My parents came up for Thanksgiving & were here for an entire week! It was so fun to have them here & for us to be able to visit with them. They appropriately spoiled everyone & we greatly appreciated it. We were having so much fun, that we hardly took any pictures at all. So, lack of pictures on this post too (These are all the pictures I took over the entire week my parents were here. I tried to post the ones that my Mom & Mark's Mom emailed me, but the sizing if off. I'll try to figure it out)
My little brother Josh came up from Provo with his girlfriend & my cousin came from Rexburg- BYU Idaho. We had a FULL house on Thanksgiving and it was really fun! I loved it & was glad we could all be together. Mark's Mom & her husband were here, my other little brother Nick & his wife Renee & our friends the Guerreros from work/church (that moved from Cali too) were here for the feast. Total count- 13 adults & 4 kiddos.
It was so nice to have my Mom's help in the kitchen. She was awesome & let me do everything, unless I asked for her help. She makes the best rolls & I was stressed about pulling them off. So thankful she was here to make them. It was nice to have extra help for crowd control with the girls. They were loving have so much attention! Thanks again to everyone who came & helped bring food. Everything was delicious!



My Mom working her "magic"


Love those teeth & her little ears that stick out!

Claire put her pants on inside out because everything with her is... " I can do it... No let me do it". So I had to take a picture to show her independence :0)




More Thanksgiving Pics....

A Decade of LOVE

Hahaha... had to title this post with that! Mark & I celebrated our 10 year anniversary back in November. I don't have a single picture to post... we didn't take any. I had grand plans to post our engagement pictures or some from our wedding. Maybe next year. We had planned a weekend get away, then a night away & then just time together. The girls ended up getting sick the week before, and then both Mark & I got sick too. Mark's Mom still graciously offered to keep the girls for the weekend for us, except for Reese who WON'T take a bottle yet. We had planned to spend the week getting ready for Thanksgiving & my parents visit. We spent the weekend cleaning & getting all the to-do list items finished up. We did get to go out to dinner without any kids & it was so enjoyable (& quiet). It's so nice to eat a meal together without being interrupted :0)
Mark is amazing & we are still happily married after 10 years. I have to give him kudos for working so hard & then coming home to chaos. Our girls go crazy when he walks through the door.... they're so glad when Daddy comes home! Proof that he's a great Dad. There's so much more I could say... but with my sweet sleeping children I'm on the clock to get this done (It's been 6 weeks since my last post)
So.... Happy Anniversary to us!

Our first snow

What a surprise to see snow! The girls were so excited & wanted to go outside. Paige said "Is it Christmas already?" It was cold, but not cold enough to stick. The girls had fun playing outside & running around. Paige's coat is too small & they are both wearing my gloves.

I have a friend who always says "ghetto fabulous". I'm thinking these pictures prove we are fabulously ghetto? We weren't prepared for snow, but in my defense I was planning to go to the store the next day to get cold weather gear (a coat for Paige, hats & gloves for both). I made sure to buy those things the following day. We are now prepared for REAL snow.

Too much candy?

The day after Halloween... perhaps too much candy altered there judgement.

I know most of you read our blog to get my girls' take on the latest fashion trends... hope these pictures don't disappoint :0)

Happy Halloween

We tried something new this year.... and it will be a new tradition in our house. We did a pre-Halloween photo session. The girls were super excited to try on their costumes & had fun being dressed up. There wasn't any pressure to be ready to go anywhere at a certain time. They just had to look cute & have fun. If we didn't have the pre-pictures of the girls in their costumes, there would be NO pictures of Halloween. That's right.... I didn't take ONE picture on Halloween night. Trying to get the kids ready, but not too early before trick or treating started was a challenge. They were excited. Paige knew what to expect & Claire was just excited because she knew that candy was involved. My did some "practice" trick or treating to make sure the girls remembered their manners (just in case). My sister in-law came over with her little boy who's Claire's age. RIght before it was time to finish up the last minute adjustments & head out the door our sweet Reese joined the party & wanted to eat... right at that moment. That caused frustration on the part of the girls because they were soooo excited, they honestly couldn't wait. Every time someone knocked on the door, Claire would run to the door & cry "I want candy" or "I want to trick or treat". She just didn't quite get it.

I took the girls trick or treating while Mark stayed home with Reese & passed out candy (it was too cold to have her out & we didn't even bother to dress her up). We went across the street and back up our street before we decided to take a break. We went to a whopping 10 houses, maybe? We walked in the door to find a crying Reese, who cried the entire 15 minutes we were gone and who was fine as soon as I held her..... such a Mama's girl!
Mark took Paige back out because she was a blast & totally got it. Claire peed her pants as soon as a trick treater knocked on the door. She just stood there (cute black kitty costume and all) & said "I have to go potty". It was great fun & so you can see why there wasn't really a great opportunity for picture taking =)

We did start our day off by carving pumpkins. Reese was a good sport & slept through it all. It was nice to have 2 free hands & not worry about what she was doing. Mark carved his annual pumpkin masterpiece.... this year it was Minnie Mouse. Paige had more fun sticking toothpicks in the pumpkins.. aka porcupine King. She was hilarious and so much fun this year.

Kudos & a HUGE thank you goes to Mark's Mom for making our little witch & black cat costume. Maybe next year I'll have learned to sew enough to make the myself? She did a great job without a pattern & brought my creative ramblings to fruition. Thank you Carey!

Reese was asleep during the initial photo shoot (for most of it anyway) so we "reinacted". Unfortunately she had more bumps & bruises, but she was being so fun. Paige wanted in on the action too & loves to hold her baby sister. I'm thanful for hand-me-downs. I posted pictures of Claire in the same fairy costume 2 years ago... (you'll have to look at the older posts). I ordered a pumpkin costume to coincide with our costume theme this year, but it didn't come in time. It showed up on Nov 5th so I'll be sending it back.



Can you get more festive than a jack-o-lantern pizza?





You can't really tell how big these pumpkins are from the picture, but had to get a before shot & give kudos to myself. Walmart had these BIG pumpkins for $1.98 the week of Halloween. Earlier in the month they were $4.50 (which is still SO cheap). It pays to procrastinate sometimes...haha





I love this picture! Grammy asked the kids how old they were. Jacob held up his two fingers & Claire was trying to figure out how you do that? So serious =)






I was trying to be "festive". These are my pumpkin biscuits. Paige had fun helping me cut them out out. Eat your heart out Martha Stewart!






Trick or treating was hard work... Paige NEVER falls asleep on the couch. She put her jammies on & was out in 5 minutes. Couldn't resist....

Six months!

Reese is six months old already! She is crawling all over the place, standing & trying to move along the furniture. She occasionally does the "timber" move & falls completely backwards if she lets go. She got her 1st tooth and then a week later the 2nd one came up. Now that they've broke through & her cold is mostly gone she is finally sleeping in again. She is such a sweetie & we love her to pieces!
I dressed her up in her Halloween outfits for fun the other day & couldn't help taking pictures. I don't do that enough.....










She was loving Aunt Renee- Reese loves to grab anyhing & that includes hair =)

This is when Reese was first standing in her crib. As soon as she wakes up, she stands up.