Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday!

How strange for it to be a non-working Monday tomorrow, Callie's birthday on Tuesday, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day later in the week.

I'll be honest in that I'm not doing the greatest job of holding it together.  But I am able to when it counts the most, so that is all that matters.  I am thankful that I have the girls to focus on and memories to make for them, but also exhausted by the effort it takes sometimes to keep up with the holiday cheer.

I anticipate this week will be the same, except crazier.  So wish me luck! :)

This was a LOVELY weekend.  Yesterday I met friends for a delicious brunch, while my mom hung out with the girls.  And I took in some sunrays in the morning.

Today our big outing was a Gosselin family get-together at Karen and Gus' place.  It was so fun to see cousins and their kids who we haven't seen for awhile.  There was lots of tickling and wrestling and craziness with lots of little ones around.

There were 5 out of Nana and Papa's 13 (I think it is 13...?) great-grand kids there, so of course we got a couch picture.

Callie (almost 6), Carter (almost 1), Piperlee (2), Maya (2), Eliana (almost 3)

And, as usual with little kids, they started out great for all the picture taking, and then it got...hilarious. A harmonica even made an appearance.  And Callie got tackled by Carter.

Gus' daughter, Violeta, brought up all of her old stuffed animals and let the kids choose one to bring home.  Callie and Maya both chose to bring home a tiger.  They were so excited!  Later on in the evening, a cigar roller came to do a demonstration of how to roll cigars. So cool!

Thanks to Karen and Gus for a wonderful evening!

I'll leave you with Coo-Koo and Loony and their crazy antics from this week:

My favorite one from this week was Coo-Koo and Loony getting my coffee cup ready to go on Saturday morning with a mug that says "What is a WEEKEND?"  Because that is often how I feel with two young crazy children ordering me around for 48 hours straight every week.

A Picture Update

Happy Friday! There is so much to report today.

First up: it is finally winter break! We made it through the 3-week slog between Thanksgiving and Christmas break. The next two weeks will be busy, and crazy, and very hard, and also joyful.

Next up: I'm so proud of Chris. He will be starting a new and exciting professional adventure on December 28th. After 12+ years in cell phone sales, he will leave to join a great tech-y kind of company. Our morning schedule will change (i.e. Be more hectic as we all will have to get out the door earlier) once I go back to work in January, but it will be amazing to have him back on Saturdays. And have him not have to answer his phone in the evenings. He worked hard to find a job right for himself (and our family), and I'm so excited for him to start this new adventure.

Then: Callie had her first little dance recital yesterday evening. It was a quick 20-minute holiday show, and it was adorable. Her class performed the tap number "Good Ship Lollipop", and she rocked it out. We were all sooooooo proud of her. Ms. Connie was proud of her too.

Thanks to Boom, Uncle Dan, G-ma, Pa and Auntie Cat for coming to see her!

And of course, there is video (she's on the end):

IMG_0068 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

So adorable, right?!?!?!?!

Other pics from the week:

I love picking this girl up on Mondays and Fridays:

We tried out a new restaurant near us on Monday. It was a success, complete with Sangria and mustache straws.

This crazy girl loves to play, dance read, and jump!

I got some tiny goodies from a student:

And, as usual, Maya had fun playing at Boom's house. 

Have a great weekend.

Timehop Tuesday

Timehop Tuesday has a better ring to it than Timehop Thursday, right?!?

I have some Christmas activity related Timehops today, but the first one is toddlers and babies, because toddlers LOVE babies. 

And Christmas program "singing."

And my favorite- from adult-only Ugly Sweater parties, to kids' church Christmas programs.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday.  As usual, the weekend went by pretty quickly.

Yesterday we spent the morning with Boom.  She put up some Christmas decorations- one of them being a "painting" my dad did during the Christmas season of 1983 (when he was 28).  It has always been one of the Christmas decoration staples, so I was happy to see it out again.

The weather has been unseasonably warm, so we decided to take advantage of it for a few minutes in the afternoon.

The rest of the day was low-key...Auntie Cat came over for a bit to help deal with Callie's disaster of a room.  They made some chore charts, so we'll see how that goes! :)  Maya wore the kitty hat, as usual.

This morning was the Christmas Program at church!  The girls were little angels (as in, played the parts of, not acted like), but they both did a great job standing with the group.  Callie even sang the songs.  We got a picture of our family with the Held family, which may be one of my new favorite pictures.  We met as young, married, childless 20-somethings, and now look at us!

It is hard to believe that this was our 4th Christmas program.  It doesn't seem like that long ago when Callie and Charlie were in the 2-year-old class.  She has always looked thrilled while performing.

2012-2015

She did really like having her sister with her up there today, so that was fun.

This afternoon I went over to the condo to plan Christmas and make some Christmas cookies with my mom and sisters.  Laura made wreaths and we made my Grandma's "strawberries."

The day ended at G-ma and Pa's house to visit with Nana and Papa.  Papa even tried to teach Callie a cool trick with her hands.

Last, but not least, our crazy elves participated in some more shennanigans this week.

A Picture Update

It's Friday, y'all. And we are one week away from winter break. That is all.

First up, typical sister shenanigans:

Maya's spunk and personality are shining these days. My mom told me that while she was coloring today, she stopped and looked at Boom and said, "My butt is a W!" Huh?!?!

As you may have noticed, her love for her kitty hat is also on point:

Other things from this week:

Callie's teacher occasionally posts pictures to the class Facebook page. I love when she does it, because I see pictures like this:

We did some Christmassy things:

And celebrated Mari's birthday:

And I got my dose of sunrays this week because usually about the time I leave work, the sun is starting to set over the golf course across the street. It is a nice way to end the work day.

Have a great weekend.

Timehop Thursday- Happy Birthday Auntie Mari!!

Auntie Mari turns 27 today, so my Timehops today are about her.

Happy Birthday! We love you!

Santa Visit 2015

I always choose a night when I am exhausted to go see Santa. And then, due to a toddler, I inevitably have to be in the picture, while looking exhausted.

Remember the Santa visits of years past?

And last year?

Now...here we go! Santa 2015!