Tea with Santa

We are the luckiest family!  For the last 10 years we have been invited to a very special "tea with Santa".  This is no ordinary mall Santa, this is the "Real Santa".  This yummy breakfast place called T.C. Eggington's invites some of their devoted customers to a special seating with the man in red.  The funny thing about it is we have not been too devoted over the last 10 years.  Blake was a long time customer from a long time ago.(before kids and Claudia)

The girls get to sit on Santa's lap, eat yummy sugar cookies, drink apple cider, and write and deliver Santa's letter to the big guy.  I can't believe Grace sat down at all.

Mrs. Claus and the elves are there too.

This is such a Christmas tradition for us we even canceled a camping trip to get caught up with the man in red. 

Love Letters

This girl is in love.  At the beginning of the school year she announced at dinner that she had "met the boy she was going to marry".  This of course got a few giggles when she said she did not know his name.  She quickly learned his name and has been in LOVE with Nyle for the past few months.  Every day she has a new story about Nyle.  Nyle said this, Nyle did this, Nyle is handsome.  I could go on and on.  So a few weeks ago I was not surprised when I checked the mail and there was her first love letter.  

It went something like this.

To: Charlotte

I love you.  (this boy does not beat around the bush)

From:  Max

Slacker Mom

Slacker Mom moved in a little over a week ago.  Slacker Mom hasn't done laundry in a week.  She hasn't gone to the grocery store and is letting her kids live off of cold cereal.  She let her kids watch Sponge Bob during dinner tonight.  She forgot to take her camera to Battle of the Books, Me and My Guy (Blake) Day at Grace's preschool, and a swim meet.  She "let" a good friend take her 5 year old on her class field trip.  Today Slacker Mom noticed tuffs of dog hair on her floor.  She did nothing about it.  Slacker Mom's blog has been throughly neglected over the last month.  All Slacker Mom really wants to do is read her book.  

So tomorrow Slacker Mom is moving out!  Enough, is enough!  Sponge Bob during dinner?!   

(the photo just goes to show what Slacker Mom's kids think about cold cereal for dinner again) 

Halloween Happenings

Just a few pictures of our fall/Halloween Happenings.   Halloween wouldn't be the same here with out a trip to the pumpkin patch.  Great fun except for the fact it was still really hot.  

Pumpkin carving ...

The girls worked in pairs to come up with their traditional designs.

This Halloween had to be one of my favorite.  I call it our Recycled Halloween.  The girl's dove into our dress up box and found a costume that had been worn by some other sister at one point or another.  Isabel borrowed a football uniform from a friend.  

Isabel and her good friend, T.  He was the cheerleader, she was the football player.

Caroline was a good old pirate, Charlotte a witch, and Grace was what ever was handy.  Grace was Sleeping Beauty for Halloween, a pumpkin for her preschool party, The Little Mermaid for the Fall Festival, and Tinkerbell for our neighborhood party.  

Some of our Favorites Part I

I have a secret.  I love children's literature.  I would have loved to have been a librarian.  I love bedtime stories as much as my girls do.

When Isabel and Caroline were younger, story time at the local library was one of our weekly events.  Things quickly changed when Charlotte and Grace were born.  Those two had no desire to sit and quietly listen to a "grouchy" librarian.   We have run into our fair share of grouchy ones in the past couple of years.  So over the years I have built a library of our own which is filled with hundreds of picture books and quite a few chapter books.  I know it's a little late for this year but I wanted to include a few of our favorite Halloween books.  

A little scary but so much fun!  Especially when read with a flash light in a dark, dark, room!

Cute story and not at all scary!

Always get lots of laughs from the little girls but it's the big girls that really get the jokes!

This has to be a favorite among all 3-6 year olds.  My little girls love it.  Grace always pretends to be scared when the pumpkin head appears.  But she is the first one to shout out "Boo".
   

This was the Isabel's first Halloween book.  She loved it so much as a one and two year old that we went through 2 copies of it before she turned 3!

Please share a few of your families favorites.  You can never have enough books!

Why Dentists Love Our Neighborhood!

Honestly, where else would you be able to trick or treat your way into a 5 pound Hershey's Chocolate Bar? 

Charlotte was the lucky recipient of this yummy treat.  

S'mores, anyone? 

time

Time.

How does it go by so quickly?

How does it fly by while sitting on the beach in Carlsbad?

When did Grace stop eating sand and start making sand castles? (note- below is a picture of Isabel.  She quit eating sand quite a few years ago)

When did these girls become brave boogie boarders?

How is it possible that Blake and I can carry on a conversation at the beach?  (something we have not been able to do for years)

Who are these girls with the long, lanky legs?

But the most important question of all...

Where has my bikini figure gone?  

The Grizzly of our House

In a house full of girls, you can never tell who will be adding much drama to our daily lives.  These two are on an upswing.  Life is good.

Even this little munchkin is having more happy moments than sad.  (Notice the decorated wall in the background.  No wonder we can't sell our house!)

Someone in our household has been having a few "grizzly" moments.  (don't think this is a grizzly bear but you get the idea)

Could it be this one?  No, not Charlotte!  Yes, this is the grizzly of our house.  Here are a few of her favorite quotes from the last week.

"You are the meanest mommy in the whole world."  (I surely can't be the meanest, can I?)

"You are breaking my feelings."

My personal favorite... "You are cracking my heart."

The best part about living in a house full of girls is tomorrow she will love me again, the worst part someone else will be feeling a little "grizzly".  

Getting Caught Up

Where did September go?  August and September are big birthday months in our household.  Here are a few pictures from most of them! 

"Pop's" birthday started the month off with Isabel making him her delicious Triple Chocolate Cake!

 

Isabel had a big birthday blast.  Our neighborhood is over run with 10-11 year old girls.  We invited most of them over for a "late nighter" (I don't do sleep overs!).  The girls ate pizza, played games, made up skits, and sang along to Hairspray.  We are all so thankful for such fun friends!

The next weekend was Charlotte's Fancy Nancy Party.  The girls and two boys who came decorated crowns or pirate hats, ate parfaits and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and played dress up games.  Again, I just love all of these little guys and gals.  

I could not have asked for a better birthday.  We all spent the day at the railroad park with the cutest 3 year old boy in town, my sweet nephew, Kellen.  Besides being blazen' hot we all had a wonderful day.  

Walk with the Dinosaurs but don't take any pictures!

Earlier this month we were given 4 tickets to see Walk with the Dinosaurs.  Isabel, Caroline, their adorable friend Jaida (the reason we had the tickets), and myself headed downtown to see this incredible show by the BBC.  Jaida's sweet grandmother had tickets and was not going to be able to use them.  She handed them off to us with only one stipulation, take Jaida.  That was easy since we all love that girl!  We could not pass up a wonderful opportunity to watch a stegosaurus swing its spiked tail, listen to a t-rex roar, or see two triceratops (I think those have been renamed to something else but I can't remember) fight it out for top dino.  

The only catch was they would not let me take in my camera!  Bummer!  If you get a chance check it out on youtube.  It's definitely worth a look!

Thanks again, Liz!  We all had a roaring time!

Something's Missing!

How did this happen?  She's only 5!  A couple of days after her 5th birthday Charlotte lost her first tooth.  Boy, was she pleased with herself.  I, on the other hand am a little sad.  I love those cute, adorable baby teeth.  The thumb sucking has really got to come to an end!

Five!

What more can I say but Happy Birthday to my big 5 year old girl!  Yesterday she informed all of us that now that she is a "big" girl she is going to stop sucking her thumb and she is going to go down the slides at the gym pool.  Yesterday she did go down the slides.  Today when I asked her if she was going to stop sucking her thumb she told me maybe when she is six.  One out of two accomplishments isn't too bad!  Love you, Charlotte!

I am not a photographer

No, I am not a photographer.  More like a wanna be one.  I don't know how to switch off of auto and I don't know a single thing about Photoshop.   Even after a $90 photography class I am still taking some pretty bad pictures.  But one day in Yellowstone I did take a photo that I think is worth mentioning.  I think the light was perfect, the backdrop gorgeous, and my subjects were the cutest dad/son duo.  So here she is.

Random Thoughts and Photos from Yellowstone

A smart thinking girlfriend of mine always takes these fun photos of her kids jumping.  Mine thought it looked like fun, too.

I really need to invest in a new lens with a little more zoom! There really is a wolf somewhere in this picture.

Charlotte performed many, many shows for our entertainment.

Good bye to Yellowstone.  Thanks for so many memories.