Sleeping Beauty

During the holidays our schedule gets a little off...and Elise is entering a phase when some days she needs a nap and some days she just refuses.  She has decided the upstairs hallway is as good a place as any to get in a good nap.  One minute we may hear her playing,  the next moment we realize the upstairs has grown quiet. 

And we may find her on the floor in her sleeping bag surrounded by her dolls.

On days when I have errands to run, she informs Keith she will wait for me by the front door. 

This is how I might find her when I return.

Then there are the days we find her by the tree.  Is this kid neglected or what?!

Yesterday, she took her nap in the car.

She fights me every step of the way on days that I try to give her a proper nap either in her bed or on the sofa.  The days I simply give up and decide she will just have an early bedtime, she finds comfort and rest on a hardwood floor. 

Three year olds always keep me guessing!

Merry Christmas

It was awfully quiet the other day.  And...when it is quiet in a house with kids it usually equals trouble.  I went looking for Elise and couldn't find her until I noticed her feet by the coffee table.  She had been in here playing with buttons.  I kicked myself for letting her play alone and had a short moment of panic when I saw these feet laying still.

But she was just passed out in front of the Christmas Tree and all was well.

Hope you all had a great holiday.  We are having a wonderful time with our three year old and five year old.  This may be the peak Christmas in this house with our two little believers.

Hopefully next year will still be filled with as much excitement and anticipation

as was felt around here last night.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cards

I spent way too much time designing my simple Christmas Card this year.  I am too cheap to pay for nice ones so I like to come up with my own and then order them as 5X7 prints from Costco.  You'll laugh when you get mine because it is so simple that it is ridiculous how long it took me to come up with the layout.  Anyway, I liked a few of the other layouts too so I am going to post them here so that my efforts are not a total waste.  Happy Holidays!

Confession

I have to admit the real reason I haven't been blogging lately.  It is the same reason I had a HUGE pile of laundry to deal with this past weekend.  It is why I have not mailed out my Christmas cards yet.  It is why I have not been on Facebook or returning phone calls.  It is the reason I now know a little about what addicts must go through.  I had a serious addiction.  Thankfully it is over.  But I loved every minute of it.  I am totally late on this bandwagon and I never imagined that I would want to get on the bandwagon.  I made fun of people who were on it.  But I am on it now and I totally get all the hype and I can't wait until June.  June will be when the next movie comes out in the Twilight series.

Yes, you heard me.  I got sucked in to the Twilight books.  They were so fun to read.  I am sad that I am done with them.  I might actually need to start over again but I am forcing myself to wait until after the holidays.  My kids need clean clothes and love and attention.  Keith needs clean clothes and love and attention too.

If you have rolled your eyes at the Vampire frenzy that has been going around.  Don't knock it until you try it.  But make sure you have time to commit to it...it is hard to stop once you start.  And, then dive in and enjoy your vampire dreams and thinking of Edward...or Jacob...I like 'em both but lean more towards Edward. :-)

 

More about the kids and the kindergarten drama that has been resolved after I get my laundry done and the Christmas cards mailed!

Still here!

We are still here!  Just busy! And older. 

We had a great time visiting family in Utah for Thanksgiving.  I turned thirty something.  

Now we are trying to get our Christmas lights up along with the other decorations.  And...I have kindergarten drama to write about as well.  I hope to get caught up this weekend. 

I hope my blogging friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Cold and Lovely

This woman was hanging on the wall across from my bed.  I love cabin decorations.  I wonder what the story behind this one is?  Don't you love the feathers?!

I love Tahoe.  Tahoe with good friends is even better.  Tahoe in between seasons is the best!  It felt like our own private lake.  I have never seen it so empty.  It snowed 10 inches just before we arrived.  The roads were already clear of snow when we drove in but the ground and the trees were still dusted in white.  If you have never been to Lake Tahoe...add it to your list of must see places.

We had no schedule.  We slept in a little.  We talked a lot.  And we went on a very long and strenuous hike.  And we posed for pictures along the way.

Only Yamile can pull off a fanny pack and still look good.  I think it's because she has an accent.  People with accents can get away with more.

We walked along the Truckee River frozen with a thin layer of ice.

Then we couldn't resist the urge to hurl rocks at the ice to break it.

It was so fun but the river did not look as peaceful and perfect when we left.

 Oops.  Sorry.

On our way towards the lake we found a cabin and used it for a little photo shoot.

These last two pictures look much better on my computer.  I still have so much to learn.

Thank you to Keith for letting me go. 

The kids had so much fun bonding with Daddy.

Elise cried on Monday morning when he had to leave her to go to work.

I Made It!

I know I was very dramatic in my last post...but I am seriously afraid of flying.  I am so happy I made it there and back and had a wonderful few days with friends.  I hope to post pics from the weekend tomorrow.  I am just glad to be back on the ground. :-)

Tahoe

I am so lucky. 

I get to go out of town for a few days with a couple of girlfriends. 

Becca

And Yamile

Hopefully my sister will come along too.

If not, I will at least see her Thursday night. 

Along with my Gramma Moon.

And my Mom.

My Brother

My Nieces

(Ayla is pictured above with Kerry)

And my brother in law.

(Here is he with Kerry at their wedding 5 years ago.)

I am really excited for this getaway weekend. 

But like most Moms, I suffer terribly from Mommy guilt.  I dream, fantasize, and hope for weekends like this.  Then when the opportunity presents itself, I stress, worry and panic about leaving my family. 
I fill my head with irrational thoughts. 
I am not a fan of flying. 
I worry about Keith becoming a single parent.  He's a great dad but he is not mom and kids need their mom's.  I think of how awful it would be for something to happen to me during a selfish weekend away.  Then I start worrying about Keith and the kids...what if something happened to them while I was on my selfish weekend away? 

Odds are nothing will happen, right?  I will go away, hike through the amazing Sierra's with some beautiful girlfriends.  Enjoy dinners out without cooking or doing dishes.  Celebrate not going grocery shopping or doing laundry.  And have a lovely dinner with my family up North.

I am jealous of my friends who seem to be able to go away for weekends like this and appear to not have a  worry or doubt about it.  My best weekend away was when I drove a mile down the road and stayed at a lovely resort with my girlfriend Danielle.  I was so close...but so far.  It was perfect.

I know I am being overly dramatic here about a 1 hour flight.  But that's just how I roll.

I hope to be back on Sunday, refreshed and posting pictures from my fabulous getaway weekend in Tahoe.

But I will miss these three with all my heart.

Busy Not Working

Wow.  I feel busier now that I am not "working."  I guess with work I had time to be on the computer.  Now...not so much.   I need a laptop.  I could post while sitting outside watching the kids play.  Hmmm...or maybe I wouldn't be watching the kids.  Maybe this desktop is best.  Anyway, we went to the tide pools last weekend. 

But there were not any tide pools to be found.  The low tide was not so low this day.

But there were surfers.  Lots of them.  And big waves.

This surfer knew what he was doing. Someone was filming him.

 Let's pretend this is a famous surfer...just for fun. 

So we watched the surfers and enjoyed the waves.

(Elise styled her own hair)

We tried to catch the sunset but we only saw it for a moment. 

It snuck out from the fog and immediately hid below the horizon. (Or would it be beneath the horizon?)  Oh, man...where did my braincells go? And why did blogger get rid of spellcheck?!

Then we headed home.  I hope we always get to call San Diego home.

When we got home we saw this.  I think that is snot hanging from his nose. 

Nothing cuter than a possum with H1N1.