dear santa

Dear Santa,
I'd just like to clarify, even though I was poking Tank in the store, you are the one who made him cry. So basically, I've been a pretty good girl this year. Mom and Dad tell me that you can't get me everything on my list, but please try.

From a good girl,
       
Little Bug


Dear Santa,
I've done a lot of growing up this year and Mom and Dad get pretty excited every time I go potty. Can I have candy? I'd also love some more cars to add to my ever growing collection.

From a good boy,

Tank

winter wonder

Today was the perfect day to wake up to the sight of falling snow. After a busy few days with lots of things on the agenda, I was excited for a day without much going on. We took advantage of our lazy day by playing in the snow and having a cup of hot chocolate while watching 'Frosty the snowman.' 

On a side note, Tank had to be told the snow was ok to touch (it only snows a few times a year around here) and he did not believe me when I told him he needed gloves and a hat. He quickly came running back in for gloves, but never did concede to wearing the hat. 

Sometimes winter can be wonderful.

one year

My dad loved Disneyland. One of our last fun family reunions was my dad surprising my mom on their 40th wedding anniversary by getting the whole family together at Disneyland. We all figured this would be a fun and fitting place to celebrate the one year anniversary of his passing. So those who could make the trek, spent a few days together at Disneyland laughing, enjoying and remembering.

We all miss you dad. I have thought about you every day for the past year; sometimes with a smile and laugh and sometimes with tears, but every time I do, it is your warm smile that comes to mind. Thanks again for all the beautiful memories. 

potty training

Well we are 90% there. Thank heavens because Tank is a pooper, literally.  

dasher and prancer

Dasher and Prancer always come to visit us during the Christmas season. Visiting and feeding them has become one of our favorite Christmas activities. Although, last year, Tank did do some crying. This year he was a bit concerned at first, they really are quite large, but was assured that they could not escape and get him. They must have been well fed because we also could not quite coax them into eating our oats.

Dasher thinking about coming our way.

five

Somehow our Little Bug has turned 5! According to Bug, she has been waiting "forever!" In her mind, everything good happens when you turn 5, like driving (yes a car) and starting school.  I clarified the driving thing pretty quickly. The fact she would not be starting kindergarten the day she turned 5 took a little more explaining/convincing. All week long I heard Bug singing happy birthday to herself which prompted Tank to sing happy birthday to himself. It was quite the showdown for who's birthday it actually was. 

For her big day she wanted to go out for breakfast. (If you know Bug, she is not huge into eating, but you would not know that if you saw her at a breakfast place). For dinner she requested pizza,"crunchy" (uncooked) carrots, and marshmallows, a nicely balanced meal.  

She has been eyeing this fairy cake from the grocery store for about 6 months. Every time she would ask to buy it, I would tell her, 'for her birthday.' I do not know what I was thinking because Bug has one of the best memories. Maybe all kids do? A week before her birthday she reminded me of our cake conversations and I ended up caving. I think I may have opened a bag of worms I did not want opened...buying cakes for birthdays. At least she like it. I kept catching her gaze at it. Fortunately, and quite to our surprise, this cake actually tasted good. 

Waiting for our family guests to arrive.

She blew out all the candles by herself this year. 

And sent everyone home with one of her favorite candies, ring pops, which I just have to add that Tank refers to as "pacifier pops." 

fall leaves

The kids had a blast playing in our fall leaves this year. They both were pretty sad when Andrew hauled out the lawn mower and sucked them all up.

halloween

We had a pretty fun Halloween this year. Both of the kids were really excited about trick or treating and passing out candy to fellow kids. Originally, we were thinking of doing a family themed costume, but neither of the kids would have it. Little Bug was insistent that she be a beautiful fairy and Tank always shouted out his plans of being a car when asked. It was pretty fun putting together their costumes this year, especially when is came to building and creating Tank's.

camping

Andrew has been wanting to take Little Bug camping for a couple years now. I am not opposed to camping, in fact I think it is a lot of fun, I just never end up sleeping well and then you throw kids into the mix...it was hard for me to be convinced, but Andrew finally manged to persuaded me. We ended up going with some good friends and it was pretty fun and quite beautiful. All the fall colors and nearby river made for a nice landscape. The kids had a lot of fun. I was worried about them sleeping and getting cold at night, but they slept soundly. Instead, it was Andrew and I who got pretty cold. We will stick to summer time camping next year.  

The surrounding area. So pretty.

The highlight was having a campfire and of course the s'mores later that night.

Tank is not too into hats, but when we arrived at the campsite he wanted his hat on and did not take it off until the drive home. He also just loved the tent and all the sleeping bags and blankets. The tent was his favorite part. He cried pretty hard when Andrew took it down the following morning. 

Hiking around the next day.

Andrew is already trying to convince me to go for two nights next year.

pumpkin patch

We loved going to a local pumpkin patch with Little Bug's preschool this year. The kids got to go on a hayride, pick a pumpkin, climb a hay mountain and run through a hay maze. It was a very fun morning.

Bug with her little friend. These two are pretty cute. 

And Tank and Bug with their pumpkins. We had fun carving them a couple weeks later for Halloween.

cereal

This is typical Tank behavior; carrying a bag of cereal around the house wherever he goes, pretty much all the time. He has been doing this since he could walk over to the cereal cupboard and help himself. I guess he loves having a snack on hand. I hate to admit, but him not wearing clothes around here is also typical.  

praying mantis

We find praying mantises all the time in our yard. Little Bug got the courage to hold one this time and give it a pet. She then invited me to do the same and I just couldn't quite do it.

family room wall

We always have several house projects going on over here. I always imagined I would post pics of our projects and developments, but it just seems like none of them are quite done yet. One day they will all be done though or at least I tell myself this! 

However, I did just finish one of these said projects. Our family room wall.  I started this project last fall! The chalk wall part of it went up fast, we did it in a weekend. But figuring out what to put above it took quite a bit a time. I tried art, small mirrors, big mirrors and finally settled on a family picture wall. A few weeks ago, I finally got the last picture framed and am happy to have a completed project. Here is a pic of me starting to put on the chalk paint, at the time I was wondering what on earth I was doing actually painting the bottom one third of a pretty large wall in the home black. 

We love it! The only problem we have now is teaching Tank to only draw on the black wall. It is proving to be difficult. As of late he has taken to drawing on furniture. So far nothing has been scarred, but I know one of these times it is going to end poorly for me.

fairy garden

At the beginning of the summer, my mom, Bug and I were at a gardening store, when we noticed they were selling miniature fairy gardens. Little Bug fell in love with the idea. So all summer long, my mom has been collecting fairy garden furniture and plants to make one for Bug! On her latest trip here, the two of them put it together...mostly my mom, but Bug was by her side the whole time. It is adorable. 

 There are lots of fun details; a fairy house, bridge, river, fence, bird bath, wheel barrel, beehive, bike, bench, porcelain animals and even some gnomes for Tank to play with too. But my favorite detail is the chandelier hanging from the tree.

We love it!

dust devils

We have a minor league baseball team here, the Dust Devils! Such a fitting name for our area. I think they feed into the Colorado Rockies? We finally got ourselves over to one of their games. I must admit, it just made me miss the excitement of the Oakland A's, but Andrew was in heaven. He never really enjoyed the mass crowds and yelling at the major league parks. He was all smiles and commented that we needed to go back to more games. We just snapped some phone pics while we were there of us. It was pretty fun and to top it off, we were right above the dugout and the players threw the kids a ball. 

leavenworth

Last year for my birthday, Andrew surprised me with arrangements for a fun get away for our upcoming anniversary to Leavenworth. It is a fun little German/Scandinavian themed town not too far from us. Unfortunately, we had to cancel those plans, but we were able to go this summer for Andrew's birthday. It was well worth the wait and so nice to spend some time alone with each other. 

And a phone pic of the two of us in front of a yummy bakery.