Christmas Chaos

Before

Our first Christmas in our house! It was magical. Sierra woke up at 7:11 (she has a watch) and quickly roused the others. Before long, the house was a disaster - exactly how I like it on Christmas morning. We all received so many nice gifts and it was so fun seeing the joy on the kids' faces upon opening the things they wanted most... Skyla opened her Santa present with the complete confidence that Santa had not failed her. Pure faith. It was awesome. Karsten got his train making him a believer. Even Sierra who was a bit skeptical this year felt Santa's magic. She got walkie talkies with a 12 mile span. Very cool. Does that mean the girls After

can walk to school by themselves now? We stayed in our pajamas all day which was fitting because on weekends when the girls are still in their pj's after a certain time, I say, "Go get dressed - it's not Christmas." We ended the perfect day eating dinner and watching "It's a Wonderful Life" with our favorite family, the Dullum's. Now I just need some of Santa's elves to come help clean up this mess...

San Francisco Ice Skating

That's right - freezing weather not required for ice skating in San Francisco! For Christmas Eve we met up with some friends (great friends - the kind that feel like family) and had dinner and went ice skating downtown. It was so much fun to be skating surrounded by skyscrapers and palm trees. And we even felt cold enough to really enjoy hot chocolate afterward.

Merry Christmas!

Santa's little helpers...

New earrings

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but I have on the most beautiful earrings. Skyla gave them to me. She snuck her money ($4) to school and bought them from the 3rd grade class that was selling them. Let me just tell you a little about Skyla and money. She spends what little money she gets as soon as she gets it. She got $6 from her Nana and Papa for her 6th birthday so the fact that we've convinced her to save her money this long has been a miracle. And then she spent most of it on me! Definitely something I want to remember (and keep) as long as I live...

Christmas is coming!

Nothing says Christmas like sugar cookies! Me and the kids had a great time making them (did you k now that the Betty Crocker mix makes a great sugar cookie?) and David was very helpful at eating them. It was a great way to start our December. After which we got our tree. David and the kids picked out the biggest, fattest tree they could and somehow we squeezed it through our door. We now have no room in our living room but I must admit it's a beautiful tree. Perfect for our first Christmas in our house! This will be the third Christmas we've lived here yet our first in our house. Sierra's not sure she believes in Santa this year ("Mom, reindeer really can't fly and even if they could, Santa could maybe do one or two cities in a night but the whole world??). (Notice the picture with Santa, Sierra's shirt also says "I heart Santa" but she won't unfold her arms even though I'm threatening her (on stage in front of our whole church mind you...) Skyla totally believes. So much so she said she doesn't need to tell me what she wants (it's secret) and she doesn't need to write a letter to Santa because all she has to do is think about it and Santa will know what to bring her. Karsten still doesn't like Santa but will tolerate him if he's handing out candy or will bring him a train.

Little Man Turns Three

My baby boy is three! He had an awesome garbage truck birthday with the garbage truck coming to our house and letting him sit in the truck! He even got to push the button that crushes the trash. Could anything be cooler when you're three? My fear is that next year he'll want a Nascar birthday complete with ride...

13.2 - It was all uphill!

Well, Saturday I put my running to the test and did a half marathon with two of my amazing girlfriends (both marathon runners.) We ran in the North Face Endurance Challenge. See, it turns out it wasn't really a half marathon, but a twisted version of a marathon with nothing but hills. (I guess I should have read the course description a little bit more before signing up... Note to self - do that next time.) It was amazingly hard but I did it! Two hours, fifty six minutes later I crossed the finish line. It made me feel better that Marianna and Jenny both said it was much harder than the marathon they recently ran. Thanks for the encouragement and the inspiration girls!