Wednesday pics:

Nana box...

**Thanks, mom!**



udraw studio for the wii, Ella created this, it's her name:

Kate likes the coloring pages:

I do really like this game, but of course I would prefer for the kids to paint on real canvas or paper. This game will come in handy when it's time to travel this summer. :)

The girls love the LED reading lights I found at Costco.


Tuesday morning, Gracie and I feel yucky. It's a good day to rest, pay bills, and hopefully I'll get out to the grocery store later, although I just feel like having soup all day. Yesterday I got the Christmas tree down while the big girls were at a friend's house most of the day. Making progress, just still have to find space for new toys, and de-clutter!!

Pics from yesterday:

Gracie LOVES her uncle Toby. This time she did not call him 'daddy'--Toby kept his hat on- that helped. *Thank you, Toby- for setting up Scott's new T.V.*






Scott's dad turned a year old yesterday too. We had a little party for him. The party was bigger than I thought it would be! It's okay, party crashers are welcome too. :)


Yesterday and last night the girls and I played Just Dance 2--It's our new favorite Wii game. We truly had a wonderful Christmas, considering Scott isn't here...& we are missing him like crazy. This should be our LAST Christmas apart. HOORAY!! I'm so ready for him to be in a NON-DEPLOYING position.

My sweet Kate helped me put all of Gracie's new toys together while I took a much needed nap yesterday afternoon, I didn't even ask her too. :) Today, it's raining really hard and I have a super sore throat. I feel like I could fight it off if I could rest all day, but I'm really itching to get the Christmas stuff cleaned up. I guess I should just be thankful that I didn't feel like this yesterday.

Merry Christmas!

Before 4:58 a.m.:




Pics from last night:






This morning:


More pics to come. :) Merry Christmas, my blog followers.

hair salon & sushi

I'm sure I'll have more posts today and tomorrow with pictures from our Christmas events, but for now I just want to post these pics of our trip to the hair salon today. Our favorite hairdresser, Sienna, always does such a great job on the girls.









Love her face while the hairdryer in on:

Sushi afterwards:

Christmas Eve Eve

The kids are so excited, and I'm starting to get there. It has taken me a little while to unwind. Kate's last swim practice for the year was tonight, so now we truly are on a break from ALL activities. :) I'm getting ready to put the baby down for bed, but first I'm going to enjoy a glass of Pinot Gris while I upload a couple of pictures.

"Ella! There's a monkey on your back!"



Another use for Costco toilet paper:


Oh, and speaking of monkeys, I made monkey bread. A friend of mine recently told me about this, and I stumbled onto the recipe on the the pillsbury website...there is even a quick video on their website on how to make it. I used the croissant rolls instead of biscuits. It's impossible to mess up---how can anything go wrong with butter, brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon?


Gracie get annoyed when I pull out the camera catching her doing something she should not be doing- like taking all the Christmas ornaments off the tree.

Wednesday pics:

Kind of a blah day. Just feel like I should post something for Scott everyday.


Up and down the stairs--all by herself! All the time. It kind of drives me crazy.

Kate pics:

It is so hard to take pictures of Kate. She's growing up so fast. It takes me a LONG time to get a natural smile from her. She strongly dislikes getting her picture taken. I like these pics a lot!!

Ella pics: