Father Daughter Dance 2016

It was pretty fun getting the girls ready for the dance this year. Julie wanted her hair curled. Which means Sadie wanted her hair curled. 

 These sisters looked beautiful! And were so excited to go out with Daddy.

 Tyson was great enough to bring his good camera to the dance. He shared some awesome shots of my hunk and the girls. And yes, Sadie had a last minute wardrobe change. She decided the purple was more fancy.

 I love the green in the back ground. and how grown up is Julie all of a sudden?

 I think John got his workout carrying and dancing with this little one. Julie was with her friends a lot of the time, Sadie had friends there too but she took a little longer to warm up.

While they were at the dance, Andy and I enjoyed Kung Fu Panda and some awesome video games. When we got home, we watched nature shows, Andy's choice of course. It is always fun to have some one on one time with this handsome boy.

Injuries

Whelp, it happened, we had our first broken bone. Julie won the award by fracturing her wrist on December 15th. She was such a trouper and was mostly upset she was late for school! Since it was her right wrist, we were lucky she only had a few days of school before break. Writing was a little difficult with her bright orange cast!

 Not to be outdone, right after Christmas Andy fell off the top bunk and broke his collar bone! I know! These two. Andy had a slightly harder time getting used to the sling. He had to sleep sitting up and since it wasn't protected like Julie's cast, he had to be really careful about bumping it. And about getting hugs.

But, being the amazing healthy kids that they are, they both healed wonderfully. Julie got her cast off 6 weeks after injury. Andy was able to stop wearing his sling after 5 weeks then could be back to his silly, wild self after another 2. Both were very happy to have both arms back!

Julie Turns 9

It is so cool that as the kids get older, they can not only tell you what they want for their birthday parties, but they can also arrange them themselves! This year Julie told us exactly what she wanted. Friends for pedicures, dinner and a slumber party. She picked the friends, made the invitations and arranged everything.

And, as an added bonus, she has some pretty sweet friends. I had a blast chaperoning these girls to the pedi's. They were nothing but manners and giggles the whole time.

Dinner was just as great. A table for them, a table for us. These girls are the cutest.

 And you really can't beat the Madonna Inn cakes! Sadie had a hard time letting the big girls do their thing. But Julie let her help blow out the birthday candle, so all was well.

 Every day we are so proud of our big girl. She makes us laugh, makes us question and makes us better people. She has a heart of gold mixed with a little sass. We love you Julie Bess!

15 Years

This month John and I celebrated 15 years together! The view across the table has changed a little since our first date 15 years ago. 3 more smiling, goofy faces! And a man more handsome than the day we met. I love this view. 

The view on my desk of the 15 orange roses he sent was pretty swell as well. What a sweet surprise. 

Christmas Time

Holy moly was this Christmas a whirlwind!! With the kids getting older, each event is more fun.  We are able to just hop in the car and do things on a whim. But, a lot of times, when we get places, they find friends and off they go. Its amazingly cool, and a little sad. But mostly great. 

We did get to see Santa at my work one night. Sadie insisted she wasn't going to cry. When we got up there, she did so good. She spoke to him and told him exactly what she wanted. She didn't get much choice on sitting on is lap because he just scooped her on up!

 We did the Margarita tree lighting as always with the Hammers. It is one of my favorite events, even though this year there was no soup. But we ended up with sushi, so we really can't complain.

 There was a lot of sitting around, enjoying our new home. It really does well with a tree in the living room. John also outdid himself on the outside, but of course, pictures can not do it justice.

 Christmas morning the kids were up early, happy, excited and sweet. They loved all their gifts.

 Especially the bunnies Santa brought them. Sadie named hers "Charlie Brown Snowball."  Julie's is "Colors" and Andy's is "Snoopy."  They are great fun and have a nice little home in the living room. They might be a bit spoiled.

After a bit we had some nice time with Memere and Grandpy before all the rest of the family showed up. Sadie loved her umbrella!

 Grandpy got the kids tool boxes. They loved them. Sadie made sure to wear her protective eye gear while working with her tools.

 This year we had some extra visitors! Cousins Lauren and Jemma were here for Christmas! Of course with Justin and Audrey too. They came in on Christmas night. We had all the family over for dinner. But I was cooking, talking, eating, so I didn't get any pictures. Darn! But it was wonderful having our home filled with family for the holidays.

 We spent the rest of the time just hanging out enjoying each other. It was a busy Christmas season, but many great memories were made.

Sadie Turns 4!

For Sadie's 4th birthday, we had a big party at our house. It was the first big bash we have thrown in the new place. I have to admit, I was more than a little bummed when it rained most of the day. But, we are fortunate our house can handle a bunch of people!

And, the birthday girl was happy to lend a hand helping out.

 I didn't get too many pictures because we were all having too much fun. There were kids everywhere!!!

But we all got to sing happy birthday to our sweet princess. She loved her party and her friends and her cupcakes.

 And, of course, her presents!!!

 She couldn't wait for the rain to stop. As soon as her friends left, she was begging me to go outside and try out her new big girl skooter!

 On her actual birthday, we took her and the big kids out of donuts before school. The loved the treat and Sadie thought the milk was "so cute and tiny!" Of course she looked pretty cute in her princess dress and crown (yes, these pictures were 2 days apart, but her dress was washed in between, at night when she was asleep).

 It worked out that night too to take them all to see the new Peanuts movie. She kept telling people she was going to the movies for her birthday, and it just happened to work out, spur of the moment. Good call, Sadie!

 So happy birthday to our littlest big girl. We love you and your 4 braids and your princess dress and silly self.

Halloween!

Our Halloween was pretty quiet this year. It started out how it does every year, with the annual Cut 'n Gut with Chris and Kayla. Every year gets a little more fun as the kids can actually carve pumpkins, come up with designs and do it themselves.  This year was super fun and messy!

We dressed up for the big kids Halloween Dance. It is my favorite school function and this year we closed the joint down! And not just because we were on the clean up crew.

We had one cute little owl. She looked at a ton of costumes, but decided all she wanted was to wear this one Memere had gotten her a few years before.

 I had made Julie a different costume, but at the last minute she decided she wanted to be a rock star. She put the costume together mostly on her own and I think it came out awesome!

 Andy was a Pokemon character that none of us really knew, but he loved, and all of his friends got it immediately. So that's cool. He was a happy guy.

 Our work theme this year was 80's. So with just a couple thrift store finds, I was set!

On Halloween, the kids did a little trick or treating, but ultimately decided that handing out candy was way more fun. So we sat on the porch while they handed out candy to all their neighborhood friends. It was a great night. After we ran out of candy, we snuggled into our bed and watched Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin. Couldn't ask for a better end to the night!