Oh Christmas Tree!

When Kyle and I got married one of the traditions we wanted to start for our own family was going out to a tree farm to pick out and cut down our own Christmas tree. It's a tradition we now enjoy even more with the kids!

Kyle and Ashlyn on the hayride out to the trees

Mac and Mommy on the hayride. Too bad we got to our tree section and realized that we forgot the saw--oops! Good thing it was a slow day (we went on a weekday) and we were the only ones there, so the tractor driver just brought us back to get a saw :)

Silly girl throwing snow at me!

Maguire was having a blast tackling Daddy

Maguire wanted this tree...one that was just his size

The best out of all the shots we took. Ya can't win 'em all!

Our decorated tree

Elf Yourself!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards
I just love doing these videos every year! They crack me up! And this year my kids have LOVED watching them over...and over...and over... Make your own--it's so fun!

Pray for Baby Kaiya

I would be so grateful if you would join me in praying fervently for baby Kaiya. She's the 2-month-old beautiful baby girl of Heidi and Mark, friends of mine from college. This morning she was admitted to DeVos Children's Hospital with bacterial meningitis. Please pray that God will heal her! For details, updates and to leave a comment for the family, check out her carepage.

Baby, it's cold outside!

Nate and Brittany were delayed in flying back to San Diego after Thanksgiving. Their misfortune was our great fortune! We all went over to Britt's parents' house to make dinner and play in the snow. So fun!

Me and Britt

Aunt Brittany, Uncle Nate and Ashlyn trying to make a snowman. The snow was not ideal for snowman-making :(

Apparently it was really fun and funny to throw snowballs into the slushy-no-yet-frozen-over pond

Ash was cold and only wanted Uncle Nate to carry her back to the house :)

Our goofy bug-eyed snowman

Mac and Daddy

Nate and Brittany

Fun in the snow!

A yummy thrown together feast!

Jumping Bean

I get weekly email "updates" from babycenter.com about my kids' development, or at least what *should* be happening at this age/stage. The one I just got for Maguire's age/stage (22 months) cracked me up! If any of you know and have spent any time with Mac recently, this will make you chuckle too :)

"Your toddler can probably hop off the bottom step of a staircase by throwing one foot forward and letting the other follow. But true jumping, where both feet leave the ground at the same time and then land squarely, is a skill that requires excellent balance and may take a few more months to master."

Maguire has been "true jumping" for at least 4 months now and probably more. I know this because at his 18-month check-up the dr. asked me if he could jump and then was surprised when I said he did it all the time. Maguire is seriously a jumping fool! We've often joked that he'd rather jump, run, or gallop from point A to point B than walk. So maybe I'm bragging about how "advanced" Maguire is, but hey--it's my blog! LOL! :)

Time to Give Thanks

This year my "Granny D" came from AZ for Thanksgiving. She's my mom's mom and she is one spunky gal! I remember talking to her on the phone when I was in high school and college and having her want to know all about my boyfriends. Not exactly your typical grandmother :) We all had great fun spending time with her and are THANKful that she could join us!

Grateful for my husband!

Ashlyn loves her Uncle Nate!

Doing the splits!

Maguire's obsession with "tars" (guitars) continues...

We always work on a puzzle over the holidays - this year was no exception!

Four generations!

Wedding weekend

***Warning: Lots of pictures to follow!***

This weekend was the wedding of two people we love--Nathan and Megan! Nathan and Kyle have been friends since freshman year in high school, back in 1987 (man, they're old--I was only 8 years old then!). Megan is a true answer to prayer--she's the perfect woman for Nathan and such an amazing mother-figure for Nathan's son, Elliott, who has autism. She's awesome and we're so thrilled for both her and Nathan!

Nathan and Megan at McFadden's after the rehearsal dinner

Kristi (aka Elizabeth's mom ;) ) was my date for the weekend since both Kyle and her husband, Brian, were in the wedding.

Kristi and I with some of Megan's fabulous friends...and now our friends too!

The beautiful bride-to-be!

Long-time friends--Kyle, Brian, Nathan

A rare picture of the two of us

K-Dub and Nahtay

Kyle and I with the newlyweds

"eQWPt"
Kyle and Nathan, along with Jonathan and Brad were in a singing group (think a capella boy band) together years back. They resurrected a crowd favorite and sang Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye" at the reception!

Me and Johana, another eQWPt wife (Jonathan)

Back in the 90s, there was an eQWPt picture in a very similar pose where the guys are all wearing bib overalls. It's really quite hilarious now, so they recreated the pose. I was laughing so hard that I accidentally cut Jonathan's head off in the pic!

Oh look! Another "rare" picture of just the two of us! Maybe they're not so rare after all :)

Brian and Kristi--our friends and neighbors
We all had so much fun together this weekend. We never get to hang out all together without our kids!

Halloween Week...part 5

**Think we had enough Halloween fun this week?!?!**

Halloween Night

Finally! The culmination of a whole week of anticipation. The afternoon started off with a visit to my long-time friend, Dave. We've been friends since kindergarten and he took me on my first "official date" when I turned 16 :) He and his wife live just a few miles away from us (neither of us grew up here) and every Halloween we bring the kids trick-or-treating at their house. They go all out with decorations in their yard, so it's fun for the kids and it's fun for us to catch up a bit as well.

This year Ashlyn surprised me by being very outgoing right from the start. She's usually a bit slow to warm up. Maguire's a whole other story--he's quite a social little guy!

Trick or Treat!

Maguire supervising the final touches on the yard decorations

My Cowboy and Cowgirl

Checking out the tombstones

Old friends! 25 years and counting :)

Before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's for trick-or-treating, we stopped by some other friends' house. We've ended Halloween night at their house the last two years. Unfortunately we just missed them this year, but we took a picture on their front porch for them anyway!

Ashlyn did a great job trick-or-treating this year. She was so good at going right up to the door, knocking or ringing the bell and yelling "Trick or Treat!" I had to remind her at every house, but she always said "thank you" when they gave her the candy. She and I kept getting ahead of Kyle and Maguire, so eventually we just went on ahead without them. It was fun for me to go with her--just the two of us. We hit a lot of houses and just about the time I was getting tired, she yawned and said, "Mommy, I'm SO tired! Let's go back to Grandma and Grandpa's." Good girl :) Maguire was funny--whenever someone would tell him he could have two pieces of candy, he'd look at both of them, pick one and put it in his pumpkin then hand the other one back to the people or put it back in their bowl! At one house, the people wouldn't take the second piece back and tried to reassured him that it was ok to take 2. Instead of taking it, he set it right on their doorstep and walked away. Such odd behavior for a candy freak like Mac! All in all, it was a fun Halloween with the kids. I can't wait to start thinking about their costumes for next year! :)

This she was having fun?! Unfortunately the stick horse and cowgirl hat got ditched after the first house. Oh well, everyone knew what she was anyway. At the end of the night she seemed amazed that so many people could "guess" that she was a cowgirl :)

One of our last houses before heading in for the night. Ashlyn did such a great job!

Halloween Week...take 4

Children's Museum

Thursday night the Children's Museum had a Halloween Family Night and we met up with our friends Jason and Christian. Ashlyn and Christian (as well as Christian's parents and Kyle and me) are friends from Keystone, so we haven't seen them in a while. Heidi (Christian's mom) had parent teacher conferences so she couldn't join us (bummer!), but Ash and Christian had fun playing together! Here's a picture of them together on Halloween last year.

This huge bubble maker lets you stand in the middle of the bubble

Ashlyn and Christian playing at the sand table

Christian and Ashlyn grocery shopping together...and arguing over what to buy ;)

Ashlyn got her tattoo first and then showed it off while Christian got his

Maguire was crazy and all over the place! He loves the Children's Museum! Here's one of the few shots I was able to get of him. Picking produce!

I think that this Halloween Family Night was fun, but it might be the first and last time we go. It was SO crowded! I think we'll just stick to going during the day when it's much less crazy :)