Happy New Year

It's been a couple of crazy weeks since Christmas - full of Grandmas, family time, undecorating, and a total lack of ambition (which might explain my lack of blogging).

Both Grandmas were here over Christmas, so it was pretty hectic around the house, but it was wonderful to visit with both of them and let them have their fill of the grandkids. While they were here we took them to see:

the Coronado Monument (the view from there is incredible),

The far mountain is in Mexico, the dark line midway through the picture is the US/Mexico border.

Bisbee (old strip mine and town built on the side of a mountain),

and the "pictographs" here on post.

Grace and Grandma eating snow.

As you can see, it was cold while they were here (guess they brought the KY and NE weather with them), which was nice-made it feel a bit more like Christmas. They both returned home on the 30th (and took the cold with them - it was 70 that day), so we spent the day in Tucson after dropping them at the airport, and did our "big city" shopping.

We got a light dusting of snow the 27th, but the kids thought it was great.

It's been relatively uneventful since the Grandmas left, we're just trying to get the house back in order and doing a bunch of reorganizing and cleaning (which I'd better get moving on) now that the holidays are over. We started back into our routine of work, school, and activities this week, so life should be back to normal soon...

We hope you all have a wonderful, safe, happy, and healthy New Year!

Christmas

We all had a wonderful day yesterday with (too many) presents, family, and great food. Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to the last several days...

Decorating a gingerbread tree:

We had fun, but I do think that a gingerbread house is a few years away. Surprisingly Tristan was very gentle when he was putting the decorations on the tree - he didn't knock one off!

Putting the gifts under the tree:

This is before Santa came!

Christmas morning:

Someone made the comment "And they said this is a recession!" I responded that Santa could've never been this good to us if we hadn't have moved... But David and I did agree that this was a bit excessive and will not be repeated (although we did have both Grandmas here and they tend to spoil us too).

They both got boots from Santa

Playing with our new toys:

This is Tristan's train set...















We hope you all had a wonderful day too and hope you have a safe and Happy New Year.

Our Second Santa visit

We stopped by the mall after church Sunday so the kids could tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas, since the first Santa they saw didn't ask them. So, the kids got pictures with Santa (again) and put in their requests.

Then David took the kids to play while Grandma and I made a few last minute purchases...

You gotta love malls that have play areas for kids!

Christmas Party

We all went to David's Christmas party on Wednesday, and had a special visit from Santa. Santa flew in on one of the Battalion's airplanes, and had gifts for all the kids. Here's a few pics of the kids with him.

They both loved the gifts they received, despite the fact that Grace keeps saying "But he didn't give me what I asked for." So, we have used that as a teaching opportunity to be thankful for what you do receive since many do not get anything. And she must like it because she has played with it pretty consistently since she opened it.

Grace's 1st Recital

Grace had her first recital on Tuesday evening. She did great! She was pretty much the only one who paid attention to the teacher and actually did the dance instead of just doing her own thing like many of the other little girls did. I am trying desperately to upload the video, but apparently I'm not technologically competent enough to hit a button and attatch a file... So, it looks like I'm going to have to settle for pictures.

She had such a good time, and had no "stage fright" - she just got up there and did her thing. It wasn't perfect, but she did her best - and that's all that matters.

Ha! Ha! I won!!! After 3 days of trying I've finally found a way to share the video! So, here it is...



Grace is the little blondie in the back - pretty much the only one doing the dance. Made her mommy and daddy proud...

(The first 2 minutes or so is her dance, the rest is the finale in which you can't see her, but I couldn't figure out how to delete it...)

What a mess!

A few weeks ago Grace said that she wanted to do some fingerpainting. I agreed as Tristan was taking a nap. All was well until Tristan woke up and decided he was going to join in on the fun...

This is the result:

Then, while trying to get a decent family picture for our Christmas card - this is what I had to deal with:

And finally, a few cute ones just for fun. After we get the tree up and decorated, David likes to lay under it with the kids and just look at all the lights and ornaments.

As I've said before, Tristan loves to help...

My little angels...

One Proud Mama

I was talking to Grace's ballet teacher on Tuesday when she told me that she wanted to move Grace to a different class. I told her, "Sure, that's not a problem. I was going to ask you about that after the recital anyway." I thought I'd like to get her in the class with the 4 and 5 year old girls now that she's 4, but didn't want her to have to learn a new dance before the recital. But Loren, her instructor, informed me that it wouldn't be the regular 4-5 class, she wanted Grace to be in the teacher placed group! Talk about a proud moment for this mama -I was walking on air the rest of the day. We are so proud of her! And, as long as she enjoys it, we'll continue with her lessons and encourage her to do her best.