New Year's and a Word

It's New Years Eve!

Ty and I are headed out tonight for a little alone time and a little party time!

This morning I drove around in search of these:

Bananagrams

They are sold out everywhere. I guess I am going to have to order them online.

One of my goals for this coming year involves a lot of home pre-schooling for Zackary in order to get him ready for actual pre-school. I think bananagrams will be a lovely addition to my home school projects!

I was reading THIS post this morning about the new year. In particular about a word for 2013. Last year was the first time I had heard about the "word for the year" concept. I thought about other people's choices and what I thought would make a good fit for myself. In 2013 my word is : CHERISH

I want to cherish my days, my family, my life, and the moments.

What are your plans for New Year's? Do you have a word for the year or any exciting resolutions?

 

Just Another Day

 Yesterday we found some camo colored face paint left over from Max's birthday party in August. Max quickly put it to use.

Soon everyone needed to be painted and we had a nerf gun battle going on.

 Mia was hiding in a corner eating red vines.

 Zack was in his own corner eating red vines as well. I don't think they were taking the whole war thing very seriously.

Meanwhile I was baking bread.

 I noticed while I was taking pictures that my loaf pans are really hideously ugly.

I think I need some of THESE from William Sonoma. That way the next time we have an army battle going on at home the bread will have more aesthetic appeal.

 

Just a normal Friday afternoon right? :)

The Best of 2012

I was at the store yesterday and there was a big display full of poppers and hats for New Year's.

I can't believe the year is gone! 2012 was a great year. 

We kicked off 2012 on January 1st with Zoey's blessing at church. We were able to have a great group of family and friends in attendance.

In February it got cold enough for snow in southern California. Ty was nice enough to take the kids out so that I could stay inside with the baby and enjoy the warm!

About a week after the snow the kids were able to go swimming in February. That's the beauty of life here!

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day celebration with the kids. It is going to be a repeat tradition for sure.

Max lost his first, and second, and third tooth!

Mia started taking dance lessons at Dance Spectrum. She began by taking both ballet and tap, but soon discovered she only really loved ballet.

I finally bought an ice cream maker. There have been many ice cream nights since!

We took a spring break vacation to the beach. 

I discovered Downton Abbey and coconut oil

I learned how to make fabulous no knead bread that has made many dinners much more awesome than before!

Mia graduated from pre-k and started kindergarten

We got a front loader washing machine and dryer. Life is much better now :)

I celebrated my 29th birthday with a Michelle's cake and friends.

We took a summer vacation to Monterey.

We spent the end of July in Utah with Ty's family

Max turned 7 and we celebrated with a military themed birthday party

Max started 2nd grade and began reading chapter books

Zackary turned 3 and fell in love with all things Pixar

I learned how to make 3 ingredient tomato sauce

Ty and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary and I cannot for the life of me remember what we did.

Mia turned 5 

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house again

Zoey turned 1

Zackary went to Thomas' Day Out and fell in love with trains

Max learned to bake brownies

We had a wonderful Christmas

........

I am looking forward to 2013.

In the new year I would love to create and organize a home office like this one:

found HERE at a bowl full of lemons

I am making it a priority to eat more cookie dough

 

 I think it will make everyone happier :)

and I think I need to buy more shoes

specifically boots.

What are your highlights from the year? What are your goals/plans for 2013?

Merry Christmas!

 On Christmas Eve we took everyone out to Victoria Gardens for a last minute visit with Santa and a little shopping. We bought some last minute gifts and visited the fish at Bass Pro Shops.

 It was festively decorated for the holiday. Each of the kids took a turn at the shooting range...oh so holiday :)

Later we drove into the mountains to attend my parent's Christmas Eve party.

 Mia did a little performance of jingle bells. She wore her Christmas dress and looked beautiful.

 Zackary was sick! He only got sicker as the day went on and he spent most of the party asleep. We came home and got him some medicine...poor little guy!

 Max also put on a little show at the party. He performed a recitation from "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Yay Max!

 At home we opened pajamas, ate snacks and watched "Brave". (Brave was part of the Christmas Eve gift...the kids love it!)

 After the movie we tucked everyone in bed and got to work. I still had presents to wrap and Ty had a bike to assemble. I made cinnamon roll dough and we caught a bit of A Christmas Story on TBS before we crashed into bed.

 Christmas morning was great!

I must say I did really good this year :), I mean Santa.....good job Santa!

Everyone was pleased and happy! I love seeing them get excited about their gifts.

 Later in the morning my family came out to join us for brunch. We had cinnamon rolls and quiche. I used the recipe for the Pioneer Woman's cowgirl quiche. It calls for leeks and prosciutto. If you love quiche you must make some!

It was a wonderful Christmas and even though Ty was on call he was able to be with us through the whole morning of fun and food before he had to leave for work.

We had a wonderful time celebrating together and remembering the birth and life of our Savior. What an awesome time of year!

Merry Christmas!

Finishing Up

2 more days until Christmas!

1 church program

2 casseroles

several gifts

1 visit with Santa

1 reading of The Christmas Story

We can make it!

Also....I hope we can all rejoice in the spirit of the season, and the reason....our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ!

THIS year's Christmas Devotional from the First Presidency was a great kick-off to the Christmas season for me and I think it makes a wonderful end as well!

Merry Christmas and Good Luck!

O Come, Emmanuel - Christmas Version - ThePianoGuys

I think everyone has seen this video posted all over the place, but it has really helped me to remember my Savior, this Christmas season. It is beautiful!

The Coat: A Story of Charity

I watched this video with the kids.
I think they got it :)

Yay for Vacay!

 Christmas Break has arrived!

I was so excited to be done with school and homework for the year. I am sure my kids were glad too :)

 We kicked off the day with donuts from Foster's In Redlands. If you have never eaten a Foster's donut you must! After donuts and a little Christmas shopping we came home for some crafting......

I don't know if this counts as art or weaponry, maybe the art of weaponry.

I am so happy to have everyone home for a while!

I am using some of the free time to look at boots like THESE. 

and I am menu planning....I think Ty should be home for dinner tomorrow night and I think I should make this:

Spinach Artichoke Linguini from How Sweet it is

Doesn't that sound marvelous?

Happy Thursday!

Wednesday Things

1. Last night was a blast! We had my two younger brothers and my parents over for dinner before we headed over to Max's 2nd grade Christmas performance. It was great! After the show we came back to our house and ate cookies and fudge. I love Christmas!

2. Poor Mia woke up with a bad cough this morning. I decided it was bad enough that she was going to need to stay home. She was so disappointed! Today is the last day of school before Christmas break and this morning was supposed to be Mia's kindergarten performance. I feel so bad for her. I wish the sickness could have held off for one more day.....Instead she is cuddled on the couch with blankets and drinks. I do hope she gets better soon!

3. I was coaching Zack to say"Merry Christmas". I wanted him to deliver his Christmas gift to his speech therapist and then to say Merry Christmas. He ran in and said about 4 times, "Meeey Iiismaa". That's the best I can do at describing what he said.....We love him and are very glad that he is in speech therapy :)

4. Cookies! They are happening today, because it's Christmas and my brothers are around to eat them.

Brown Butter Brown Sugar Toasted Almond Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt from Ambitious Kitchen

Have I mentioned how much I adore brown butter in cookies? It's a good thing.

5.It's Wednesday, but the Friday feeling is taking over. I am so looking forward to the next few weeks!

How are you spending your holiday?

Mistletoe Kissing Prank

At BYU in the Wilk-y!

I would do it....if Ty was around :)