Christmas Day

Merry Christmas! Some pictures of my beautiful girls at GiGi's house. We had a great day with our family. We wke up and the kids opened presents from us and then we went and ate breakfast at my mom's and opened gifts there. It was really nice to have christmas on a sunday this year. We went to church and enjoyed the great christmas program that was put on. Then we went to my Grandma's for a really yummy dinner. It was a great holiday for us! We are so very blessed.

Christmas Magic

Tonight I found myself alone in the living room enjoying the 

view of this little angel...

 Carly was simply fascinated by the snow coming down. She could see our nativity out front and the lights on the house shining beautifully across the window.  The best moment of my day today. Maybe even the best moments I have had in awhile. It was so peaceful, just her and I listening to the soft christmas music coming from the kitchen and her beautiful face, glowing with christmas magic that only children possess.

Our nativity scene in the front yard

Aubrie Piano Recital Dec 2011

Aubrie had her "Cookie" Recital this past week and thought I would share. Her teacher calls it a cookie recital because each student has to bring their favorites cookies to share and the students and parents get to have some treats while listening to the talent of the kids.

Elvis Sighting

This week has been full of so much for the kids and for us as a family, that I cannot tell you how happy I was for friday night to make its apprearance. Caleb had a school play and in it he played a small time thief named  Shorty who played an Elvis impersonator to try and win some money. It was so funny and he did such a great job as Elvis! Such a great actor this kid is.

Aubrie had a little play at school this week too. Her teacher had them do this to help them practice the fluency of their reading and use of words. So everyone read parts and it was really cute. Aubrie played a sister who believed in Santa but her big brother didnt. Another cute play and Aubrie was so adorable. They each made Elf hats with ears and it was just nice to see and hear of the kids. I love this girl sooo much!

 Aubrie has two of her best friends in her class, MaKenzie and Divenna. These girls are each so sweet and they are all good each other which I love even more. Good friends are hard to find, so I am happy Aubrie has found these two.

 Brynley and Aubrie each had class Christmas parties yesterday. Brynley got to wear her pajama's to school because it was a Polar Express PJ party. Mitch and I went to Aubrie's class to help out during the party.  I helped with a craft and Mitch helped with the snack table. Of course I know he was thrilled to be in charge of that one:)

I also have been working on this project for Aubrie. I saw it on Pinterest and thought to myself," I can do that, it looks easy enough for me." Yeah, right. I could not have been so wrong. It turned into that project from H-E-Double hockey sticks. Monique even made the pretty bow for me.Thanks Mimi! I was going to make each of my girls one but only got one done. I am not as crafty as I thought. I will just stick to what I know, food and exercise. Ironic combination right?

The other morning, I found this...

Bryn was all curled up in Carly's crib with her. Such sweet sisters these two are!

I am so happy that its Christmas break! The kids need a  break and so do I. I am excited because we have some fun things planned in the next few weeks. Happy Weekend!

The Nutcracker 2011

 Mann Dance Academy puts on The Nutcracker, this is the third year they have done it. Aubrie tried out for a party child lead role part and got it. And her ballet class also had a part in it. So she had costume changes and several dances to learn. Aubrie has to switch between a girl and a boy for each performance for her party child part. One night she plays the girl part and the next performance she plays the boy part. Last night she played the girl part and did so awesome! I was so proud of her! She was always smiling and knew her parts perfectly. I never knew she could be such a great actress. Seriously Aubs you have some major talent and I couldnt be more proud of you. You sweet, beautiful spirit shines through in your dancing.

Her playing the boy part during dress rehearsal. 

Aubrie the Angel

Family Pictures Fall 2011

Working Man

Yesterday, Caleb went to work with Mitch for the first time. At Mitch's work you have to be at least 12 years old to be able to go out and be on the power plant work area. Caleb got up at 4am and spent all 12 hours out there with his Dad. Mitch said he was really interested in everything but also was bored for some of the day when Mitch had to attend to his Waste Water board. When Caleb came home I asked him how it was and he definately came home with a greater appreciation for his Dad and realized how hard he works for us. I am glad that they were able to have this experience together. I thought the picture above was so cute how Caleb was reading the newspaper:) He fits right in!

Giving Thanks

What a week it has been! First off, we all got sick. Except Mitch. It all started last thursday for Aubrie and just made its way through our family, one person at a time. It hit me and Caleb the worst. I thought there for a moment that I was dying. But I didnt die and I have been feeling much better today. Finally. The sickness however, did take such a toll on me that prevented me from being  able to cook Thanksgiving and host it at our house this year. But my Mama came through and cooked a wonderful meal and we all had a great time at their house. Thanks Mom and Phil! Thanks Grandma for making delicious pies and yams.

But through this whole week of being sick and feeling depressed because I was sick- It made me realize, all that I have and all that I need, is provided for me. The sweetest, most patient husband a gal could have took care of us all and is just the best thing to ever happen to me. Our kids that have blessed our world beyond measure, are by far the most wonderful people to grace my presence. I feel so grateful and feel such awe at times for what beautiful human beings they are and still have the capacity to be. I have great family and friends that I feel privilaged to be a part of their lives and feel such love for each of them. I have been given the knowledge of a Heavenly Father who I know loves me and roots for me on a daily basis to do good. I feel tremendoulsy grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. Without its solid foundation, I would be lost and would not know who I am and where I am going. Changed my life forever. After I thought of all of these things that are near and dear to my heart, I couldnt help but feel complete. Thankful. Blessed. Two of my favorite words.  

Friday Favorite's

I took these few pictures this morning for fun and I thought they would be nice to share for my Friday Favorite's because these two people are a few of my favorite people! Carly is just oh so adorable and snuggly.
Another Friday Favorite is mine and Mitch's date night fridays which happen every other friday. Tonight we are going to dinner and to see Breaking Dawn with some of our favorite friends Monique and Jason. Yay! Happy Friday Everyone:)

I have FUNNY kids...

Just had to write these few things down so I dont forget. Last night, we were all talking and the topic was head lice. Yes, I know we have interesting conversations in our house. But head lice seems to be going around alot in the schools lately and Aubrie has been really paranoid about it and wanted to know more about it and to see pictures. So we googled it and started looking through pictures. Unfortunately, we came across some pretty nasty pictures and I had said to Mitch that I didnt realize that head lice was the same as "krabs". I forgot that the kids were present and Brynley said right away "Thats is so gross, I am never eating at Red Lobster ever again!" I died laughing.
And Aubrie keeps referring to head lice as head litis. Funny.

Caleb made me laugh on the way home from our trip yesterday. We were coming out of Bernallilio and there are a ton of houses that all look the same. He asked me if that was a suburb. He said "Thats so boring. Hi, I like your house. Oh, Thanks I like your house too." Which to me was hilarious. Since all the houses look the same and  his voice made it funny too.

Carly sat in church with the hymn book open on her lap as we were singing and Mitch said she was trying to sing, only it was all just gibberish coming out of her in a nice little tune.
Love my kids.

ABQ

This past weekend, I took Caleb down to his baseball tournament in Albuquerque. Just me and him. It was alot of fun for the both of us. The baseball games were pretty rough, we lost all three games. But despite that Caleb had an awesome catch in right field. He "reeled" it in like he was fishing. It was pretty cute. We did some shopping and ate at some yummy places. I found it hard to stick to my diet perfectly but I did pretty darn good considering. I got to go and see my friend Steph and her sweet little family. She was very pregnant, expecting her next baby this week sometime. I want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to my mom for keeping all three girls for us while I was away and Mitch worked. They all had a really fun time! Another THANK YOU to my Dad for getting us a room at the Marriot.
I was grateful for the opportunity to be with Caleb. We talked and laughed alot together. He is such a good kid, I cant help but smile when he is around. A kid on his team who is a little younger than Caleb, his mom, was telling me how much her son looks up to Caleb. She said "you can just tell that he has a good heart." That means more to me than any hit or catch this kid can do in baseball.  Lucky me.

Made my day better...

I came across this HILARIOUS video of Caleb that I took a few months back when him and his friends made a "car" out of a box and his skateboard. I have had a rough morning and seem to be pretty grumpy today but this STILL made me laugh and smile:) I am off to the gym, which is my morning ritual for the last 12 weeks but I am grateful I can go to thr gym and that I have the ability to workout. Yeah, I have to look at it this way or I just might sit on my couch and snuggle Carly all day-which I will still do AFTER  the gym. Happy Thursday! I hope everyone has a great day and smiles:)

Meet Rosie

 A few days ago a good friend of mine came by with a dog they found a few days before. The dog was super cute and seemed like such a good, well trained dog and Roxanna wanted us to adopt him since they werent able to find his real owners. She knew our kids had been wanting a dog and thought that we would make a good match with this cute little guy. Well, after much discussion, Mitch and I decided against taking the dog. We have four kids which kind of equals having four dogs. Ha. We like animals we just arent pet people yet. We have gone down that road and each time we have had to give the dog away because we just cant handle it. Mitch cringes at the fact of having dog poo all over our yard. Even after you clean it up, it will find its way onto someone's shoe and will be tracked in the house. More expense that we dont need with already having four kiddos. Needless to say, our Bini was quite disappointed. She loves animals and really wanted a dog. I felt so bad that yesterday I took her to Walmart and I let her pick out a fish. I think its a pretty good compromise for now. She was thrilled and is still so in love with her Beta fish. He is a male and I told her that but she said "He looks like a girl fish, so I will name him a girl name and we wont tell him K" She named him Rosie. Since he is red. At first his name was Bella for about an hour and then she settled on Rosie. Cute.
Bryn is very caring of him and so maybe someday we will cave  and get a pup but Rosie will have to do for now.