What We’ve Been Up To

We had a wonderful vacation to California. The past two weeks have been full of celebrating (both Abigail’s birthday and Christmas), fun (a couple of theme parks), and family. It was so great! So…get ready for a TON of pictures…oh, and I threw in a couple pictures from today since it was Abigail’s first day in Primary as a Sunbeam (the youngest class in the children’s Sunday School organization at church). 😀

Getting a picture of this one is tough.
I asked her to smile and got this as a result, haha.
I asked for a happy face and got this. 🙂
Grandma’s house has a lot of good napping places.
Abigail’s cake.
Her brother makes a good chair.
This is Abigail’s cousin who is almost a full year older than her.
They have a fun relationship, for sure!
Sometimes it was rough getting them (mainly Abigail) to share toys, but they made it work.
Uncle Jason, Luna, and Abigail.
Lighting the candles.
She loved getting sung to!
Blowing out the candles.
She got some board games from my brother Aaron and his family.
Opening up a present from Uncle Jason, Aunt Saira, and Luna.
A book and a Mickey Mouse clubhouse!
She got a Fisher Price Little People school house from us.
Joseph loved cousin time!
Even though Abigail had a bed made up on the floor (with a cushy foam pad to sleep on), she still insisted on sleeping in Joseph’s bed a couple of times.
Knott’s Berry Farm.
They both loved this plane.
This is probably Joseph’s favorite ride.
Going for a balloon ride.
Girl selfie!
Swings!
Sitting next to Sally.
This was a fun ride, too.
Contrary to the look on his face, he really likes this ride, haha.
Roller coaster!
Up in the Ferris wheel.
Riding the carousel.
I love this silly boy!
Giving her doll a ride on her shoulders like she’s getting a ride on Daddy’s shoulders.
Santa filled our stockings!
Seeing the stockings.
Checking out the goods.
She was excited to see that Santa brought her more water coloring books.
The tree!
Christmas fun.
Checking out a new book.
Unwrapping her big present (a Minnie Mouse toy box).
I think he was just a little excited to get this Nintendo Switch, haha.
Rocking his festive shirt.
Checking out the new toy box once Daddy put it together.
Sporting her holiday shirt and her new unicorn slippers.
Playing with her new pots, pans, and play food.
Figuring out that the toy box can double as a seat.
My new boots!
Paul surprised me with a set of leather earrings. I love them!
Christmas fun is exhausting!
One thing I love about visiting my mom: snow-capped (or in this case, snow-drenched, since the snow came down really low this time) mountains in the distance.
Playing cars with Uncle Dave.
Uncle Dave is also a great person to build things with.
At Castle Park (a small amusement park/mini golf).
Funnel cake!
He loved the rides there.
Another swing ride.
In this ride that has a sort of a sail.
Paul said Joseph had a ton of fun making this thing tilt way over, haha.
More cousin fun!
Abigail had a great time with her “girl cousin” who very patiently played games with her.
Some dear friends met up with us for lunch and brought gifts for the kids. Joseph got a cool LEGO set.
Abigail got some Frozen characters (she is currently obsessed with the first movie…it will be fun when she can see the second one).
Paul’s brother drove up to the mountains and brought some snow back down with him. Many snowballs were thrown, haha.
Playing in Grandma’s back yard.
I love the peak of snow back there.
Helping Uncle Dave with some yard work.
There was an old stump left over from the apple tree my dad cut down a couple years before he died, so Dave took out the stump and let Joseph help him.
Paul pulling Abigail in the wagon.
She was delighted to see a “just her size” wheelbarrow.
Joseph pulling Abigail and her doll.
She was insistent that Marcie got to ride, too.
Paul pulling both the kids (and Marcie, of course).
She’s found another good napping spot.
Wrapping paper tubes make good communication devices.
Yet another nap…
Another trip to Castle Park.
The winter passes made sense to get since they could go just twice to make it cheaper than buying two separate days worth of tickets. I think they ended up going three times.
Pretty sunset!
Out to lunch with some more awesome friends.
Hey look, we’re all looking at the camera!
At the park near my mom’s house.
I loved this turtle when I was little!
That’s my elementary school in the background.
Swings!
She wanted her puppy backpack on and then she was pretending to be a puppy.
Joseph would toss the “stick” and she’d retrieve it.
Then he’d give her a treat (a goldfish cracker).
One last Castle Park outing.
This is a fun thing for Paul and Joseph to do together to get some extra dad and son time.
Her first day as a Sunbeam! I think she did fine (at least there were no reports otherwise, haha).
A nativity from our dear friends. It was made in Bethlehem and if you twist the star, it plays Silent Night. 🙂

Looking at It Through Their Eyes

Weekly Happenings: I have discovered that holidays as a parent is completely different than holidays as a child. Of course, there is the aspect of planning out everything, but if I take a moment to slow down and view it through my children’s eyes, I can really see the magic. Abigail insists on turning on all the Christmas lights as soon as we’re downstairs (I can’t fault her, I love them, too)…Joseph helps me keep track of the countdown…it’s just so fun.

The Weekly Weather: It’s been downright cold. We’re talking below freezing temperatures at night. I joke and say that I didn’t sign up for this when I moved to Texas. 😉 It’s okay, though. I much prefer it to the sweltering heat that will be back all too soon.

What Paul’s Been Up To: Mainly just work and church stuff. He did go see the newest Star Wars with a friend and said that he really enjoyed it.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: I got to sub for Joseph’s Primary class (children’s Sunday School at church) which was a lot of fun. The kids were a bit squirrely, but nothing that I couldn’t handle. It’s always a blessing to watch them and see just when the Spirit hits their hearts. I also got to go to my monthly book club meeting where instead of discussing a book, we read the radio script from Miracle on 34th Street. It was so fun!

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s mostly been busy doing some fun things at school and then looking forward to the magic that next week will unleash.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been living the best toddler life, haha. She has been soaking up everything Christmas. She does still have a love of all things “spooky” though. The other day, she wanted to watch Coco (a Disney film about Dia de los Muertos). The plot is a little above her understanding, but she loves the music and the fact that there are a TON of skeletons in it. Silly goose.

This Week in Pictures:

Abigail discovered the control on our Christmas tree that makes the lights change. She settled on white as opposed to the multi-colored that it had been before (it also does flashing multi-colored, flashing white, and then flashing between the two).
She decided that breakfast under the tree was a must.
Who was I to deny her that bit of magic?
She legitimately thought she was successfully hiding from me (I had mentioned the word “bedtime”). 😉
She was excited when I put her Minnie Mouse shirt on. She even went so far as to call it awesome. 😀
Google Photos will do “then-and-now” photo mash-ups. I can’t get over how much mischief is in that almost-1YO’s face.
Nor can I get over the look of triumph she had on her face (also at almost 1 year old) for getting the sheet (we use it as a tree-skirt of sorts) down. It’s crazy to think that the picture on the right holds a little girl who’s going to be three in two days!
I put on new nail strips for Christmas.
I love the sparkly blue and the snowflakes.
She had to empty out the books so that she could get in her rocket ship.

We’re Getting Closer!

Weekly Happenings: It’s hard to believe that Christmas is less than two weeks away. We’ve mostly been just chilling around the house and relaxing. Today we decided to hop over to the zoo since the weather was great for it.

The Weekly Weather: It started off warm, but we had a cold front move in that dropped the temperature thirty degrees overnight. It warmed up progressively from there and this weekend has been beautiful.

What Paul’s Been Up To: He was busy with his calling for church this week as well as at work. I’m glad he brought up going to the zoo today because I was thinking we’d have a lazy day at home…going to the zoo was a much better idea because we got out in the fresh air.

What Sarah’s Been Up To: Not too much on my end. Just ferrying kids around and teaching piano as usual.

What Joseph’s Been Up To: He’s been busy at school. It’s hard to believe that six months from now he’ll be done with second grade.

What Abigail’s Been Up To: She’s been talking up a storm. Some of it I really have to pay attention to in order to understand, but a lot of it is really clear. The other day she referred to Fruit Loops as “color-Os” and I’m not sure I can ever call them Fruit Loops again. Yesterday I asked her what she wanted for breakfast and she said, “I have choc-o-laaaaaate?????” in this really sweet voice. I told her breakfast first and THEN chocolate (she likes my dark chocolate Hershey’s kisses). She conceded. 🙂

This Week in Pictures:

All dressed up for church in their Christmas outfits (I like to get as much use out of them as possible, haha).
Of course she needed a picture with her snowflake wand.
All layered up for a chilly walk to school. She loves her zebra jacket and sparkly pink leopard-spotted boots.
Apparently the less than a mile ride to school was just long enough for her to zonk out.
I love when he reads to her.
They really do have a sweet relationship.
After a while he wanted one of his books.
She loves to sit on top of the dryer and drop clothes into the washer.
The last full moon of the decade!
Cold mornings mean cuddle-time with a cozy blanket.
One of my favorite sights.
Saying hello to the bear at the zoo.
She was really into it.
Climbing on the hippos.
Munching on popcorn.
She was trying to get up to where Joseph was, but it was too slippery.
This was such a peaceful spot!
Getting a good look at the giraffe.
It kept making these funny faces which she loved.
Joseph and the giraffe.
Checking out the elephants.
Snugglin’ with Momma and checking out ornaments.
I lovingly call this her rock star outfit.
Abigail’s nursery leaders made her an ornament with her picture on it. She loved it so much that she had to put it on her tree right away.
Joseph got a block with a nativity scene on it from his Primary leaders. I love how much thought went into the gifts they got from their leaders.