New Year's Eve 2010

How can another year have come and gone so quickly? As kids we never really believed all the adults that told us to slow down and enjoy life because it passes at an unbelievable speed. But Oh how right they were!

There are days that I wish I could just stop the clock and freeze time. As I tuck Tyler and Emma in to bed each night I am always just a little sad that another day has come and gone and they are just that much closer to growing up.

As we get ready to go out and celebrate the New Year I wanted to take a moment and tell each and every one one of you how much I love you and how much I appreciate the role that you play in my life. Take a moment tonight and slow down. Enjoy the time you have with family and friends and always remember to try your best to slow down and enjoy life--it sure seems to be going by awfully fast!

May 2011 be a year blessed with good health, much happiness, and endless amounts of love.

HAPPY NEW YEAR from our family to yours!

Christmas 2010

Christmas was once again a fun filled blur. The time with family and friends went by way too fast but I have to tell you we sure did enjoy every second of the chaos!

Both kids got everything their little hearts desired. We were blessed to have mom and Carl and Katie and Randy come out here and share Christmas with us. There is nothing I love more than sharing the magic of a Christmas with little ones with others. Hopefully Marie and Bill and Matt, Nancy and the kids will come next year (hint hint!).

The kids of course LOVED everything that they were given but there is always a favorite toy. This year's favorites go to the Wii for Tyler and the life size Barbie, named Barbie Kim that Emma got from Nana.

Check out a few highlights of the magic of Christmas morning!

The Wii that Santa brought

The scene before the kids saw it.

Checking it all out.

Paper Jam guitar from Aunt Marie and Uncle Bill.

Life like baby doll from Grandpa and Grandma.

Wii games from Uncle Matt.

New best friends, Emma and Barbie Kim.

Emma and Aunt Katie.

Merry Christmas!

Santa brought us a family gift this year, a Wii. We have been having a blast with it. So much in fact that Tyler's arm muscles have been sore!=) Check out the kids and Aunt Katie having some Wii fun.

Here is a funny video of Tyler playing with the Duck Hunter game that Nana and Papa Carl got him.

Here he is again but this time he is riding the cool Radio Flyer Spin Trike that Grandma and Grandpa Brown got him.

Getting ready for the BIG day!

Here are a few highlights from the events leading up to Christmas.

We had Christmas parties at school. This year both Nana and Aunt Katie got to come and help out on party day.

Katie and I tried to make Reindeer cake-pops. Let's just say that ours were made with love and laughter but not a lot of talent=) Here's how they are supposed to look...

Here's ours...(remember they were made with LOVE)

We wrote letters to Santa---Tyler did his by himself this year!

Got our picture with Santa.

Decorated HUGE gingerbread men.

Arizona sunrise

One morning last week I was getting the kids ready when I noticed that the kitchen was an odd shade of orange. When I looked outside I saw this AMAZING sunrise--isn't it gorgeous!

Tyler 's tonsil surgery

Tyler had his tonsils out on the 13th and let me tell you it was not the easy breezy surgery that everyone told us it would be! He didn't eat for a week!!!! He didn't want popsicles, ice-cream, shakes, jello, pudding, or any of the other soft stuff that I bought him. He basically survived on ice water. It really took about ten days for him to feel like himself again. Thankfully by day 11 he had his appetite back and I am sure that after the holidays he we will have put back on the few pounds that he lost during the whole ordeal!

Dance

The place where Emma is taking dance class does not have the 3-4 year olds in a recital, that will come next year when she is in the 4-5 year old class. So to make sure the parents get so see what is going on they always have at least one observation class. This past week I got to watch Emma do her thing! This video is long but pretty cute! Marshall said that Emma always has just a touch of smart ass in everything she does---you might agree after watching!=)

Family Pictures

Once again Marshall did one of his least favorite things in the world just to make me happy....FAMILY PICTURES!

The very talented Susan Dukat took them and I am just so thrilled with them. Here are just a few of my favorites!

And a few silly ones!

Thanksgiving in Mexico

Yeah yeah yeah....I know...I have become a total slacker blogger. I could go on and on and tell you all about how crazy busy I have been, but if I had to relive the horrors of teaching Tyler's Kindergarten class again I think I just might not make it!;) Seriously though, it was a VERY crazy November and has continued in to December. I am hoping and praying that our boring old existence will return with the new year.

For those of you who didn't know-- we spent our Thanksgiving in Mexico this year. At the last minute we decided to get out of Dodge. We hadn't used our time share for the year and Marshall had enough airline miles for us all to fly free so we hoped on a plane and headed to Cancun. It was a bit unconventional but it sure was a blast!

The kids were awesome travelers which made the trip oh so much better.

Here are a few pictures from our much needed vacation.

Yes..the water is THAT blue!

Nap time in the shade.

She is just something else=)

The kid pool with the side in the background.

Petting a shark.

Fun at dinner.

Happy vacationers!

Emma's hair is her pride and joy. She loves having long hair and is pretty particular about how it looks. But even she was on board with the fact that we needed to do something to it. So today we went to visit my hairdresser, Toni, and she got about 4 to 5 inches taken off.

At first I didn't think it looked like we had cut off that much, but when we came home and looked at her before pictures we could really tell it was a much needed change.

Her only requirement was that it was going to stay long enough to put in a ponytail--which it is. She loves it and her daddy is happy that he doesn't have quite as much hair to comb every night after bath!

Halloween

I need a weekend of rest from our crazy weekend!

Friday day we had parties at school, Friday evening I had book club, Saturday we had a soccer game, birthday party, and football watching with neighbors; then Sunday we had a full day of Halloween festivities! I need a nap just remembering how busy it was.

Here are a few highlights from the past few days.....

We painted our pumpkins.

These are the treats that I made for the class party.

Tyler's kindergarten class.

She was so beautiful. The highlight for her was wearing lipstick.

Tyler LOVED his face paint.

The neighborhood kiddos--notice the only other girl is a small baby and she doesn't even live in our same neighborhood. I have a feeling Emma will never lack in the date department!

Tyler and his BFF Drew.

Even the moms dressed up-- I was supposed to be Esmeralda from "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"