Making Memories

We made some AWESOME memories this Christmas. It was the twin's first Christmas. Even though they LOVE to shred paper, I was surprised with how NOT interested they were in opening gifts. Out of all the wonderful gifts they got, Hurley's squeaky dog toys are still favorites around the house! We should have saved some money and bought them squeaky toys instead. :) We spent Christmas eve with my parents. The favorite gift of the night for Mackenzi was the Life-size Barbie that Boppa and Nana got her. The next morning, Santa came and brought wonderful gifts for the kids. He filled every one's stocking to the brim too! We left cookies and milk for Santa and carrots (from Nana's house) for the reindeer. Mackenzi was SO excited when she woke up.Next, it was off to Grandpa and Grandmas house. We ended up putting the boys down for their 1st nap of the day because they were too fussy to make it through presents! We all got some wonderful gifts. I hope your Christmas was as great as ours. We truly enjoyed spending time with all of our family. Sadly, we didn't get to see Matt's mom, Kelli, this Christmas. Hopefully soon though. We hope you have a safe New Years! We're off to Big Bear for a few nights with Matt's family!!!

From My Family to Yours!

Gingerbread Disaster

I bought a gingerbread house kit at the beginning of December. Mackenzi has been dying to create our masterpiece. This morning, after the Bobo brothers went to sleep, we decided to give it a whirl. This is how it's supposed to look... Let me tell ya...it's not easy to make your house look beautiful. Actually, it's not easy to even put that darn house together. This is how it looked the first time we got it together...And, then it fell down! Here's Mackenzi decorating it after we put it together AGAIN.Here's the finished product...not so pretty. Actually, pretty sorry! But Miss Frosting face doesn't mind. And here it is 2 seconds after I took the picture of the finished product. Poor Girl!

Holy crap! Seriously, it shouldn't be that hard to put a gingerbread house together. Maybe there is a trick to doing this, who knows!! I think this is the last year we'll be doing that!!

Startin' Early

We had a weekend FULL of Christmas dinners. We go to my mom and dad's house on Christmas Eve every year. It's hard for my brother to get there because of mixed families that he has to go see. A couple of years ago, we started doing Christmas early with my brother and his family. So, that's how our weekend started. We went to my parents for a yummy dinner and presents. It was so good to see my brother Ryan, his girlfriend Terri, and all the kids. Mackenzi, Kelsea, and Braeden LOVE seeing Allie. Jonah and Andrew never fail to entertain either. Mackenzi was THRILLED to get a barbie and puppy set. The boys...well, once again they slept through the whole thing.

Two of my three favorite girls...Allie and Mackenzi (and Braeden peeking in the back)

Allie & Jonah...cheese ballmost of the kidsMackenzi (cheese ball #2) and Auntie DanaKelsea...priceless face
one of our presents to Allie...Kenzi picked it out.
On Saturday, we went to Matt's parents for a Christmas dinner with his extended family. It seems so hard to get everyone together without feeling rushed to make it to the next place on Christmas day. Last year we started doing it a bit early with his Uncle and Aunt and their kids. Once again we had a yummy dinner, lots of wine, and a gift exchange. It's so good to see Matt's cousins, Justin and Sarah, we don't get to see them much. We got to meet Justin's lovely girlfriend as well! She's a looker and a sweetheart!
That's what I call a present!Jeff (matt's brother) and his fiance KaraHandsome MattyGma & Gpa and the boys (their great grandparents) Yes, you are seeing double!Quinnny-QuinnJace ManKenzi, with her present from Uncle Jeff & Auntie Kara
I'm so sad...I'm not meeting my reputation of paparazzi...I've been slacking with the picture taking...I have too many kids to take care of!!

OOPS!

I forgot to mention that these two little elves are 10 months old today! HOLY MOLY! Look at how big they are!!!

Flashback Friday

This Friday, I'm taking you back...way back to 1992 (I think). This is me and my best friend Shannon. It was at her parent's Christmas Pajama party. We were 8th grade hotties (could have been 7th grade...not too sure). What I do know is that we THOUGHT that matching troll earrings were cool...humm?!? What did we know? You can't hold it against us. We were little girls! Right? By the way...Snoopy is my favorite and Garfield is her favorite...but I probably didn't need to tell you that!

Who Knew?

Seriously, who knew mac and cheese could be so fun to eat??!?! Obviously it is when it's your first time eating it all by yourself! (Quinn's bib says "munch" and Jace's says "crunch")

2 1/2 Years Ago

Two and a half years ago, I was awaiting the arrival of my baby girl.
I knew that I loved children, especially babies, but I didn't know how much I'd love my very own baby. I didn't know that I would feel overwhelmed with emotion as I held her in my arms. I didn't know that two and a half years later, it would feel like yesterday that I saw her precious face for the first time. I didn't know that I would want to kiss her and hug her in such a smothering way...that I wouldn't be able to get enough of her. I didn't know that even when she's being sassy, I would laugh inside because it just so darn cute. I didn't know what motherhood was all about. I knew I always wanted to be a mommy, but I didn't know it would be like this! Mackenzi is such a special girl. She's so loving and caring (although not always the case towards Jace & Quinn). She is my favorite girl in the whole wide world. She is my baby girl...and she is 2 1/2 years old today! I'm off to go smother-love her some more!

I love Disneyland at Christmas Time!!

We were able to take a trip to Disneyland last week so that the kids could see it at Christmastime. It's so breath-taking. Beautiful lights, festive music, decorations that are the best you've ever seen! Oh how I love it! We had an awesome day! Unfortunately, I didn't check before we left home and it just so happened that it closed early on the day we went. We didn't get to all the rides that Mackenzi wanted to go on. As soon as we got there, we ran on over to It's a Small World (her favorite). The boys LOVED IT! Jace was mesmerized by all there is to look at. Quinn was clapping, smiling, and giving my leg lots of kisses (do you think that's a sign that he loved it?). Next, we headed over to toon town. Mackenzi was just tall enough to go on the G0-Coaster. It was her first big ride. Daddy took her on it while I stayed with the boys...pacing with a nervous stomach the whole time. I was worried it would FREAK her out. She had the "I'M GONNA DIE" look on her face the whole ride, but as soon as it was over, she LOVED it!

(She's the 2nd one back with the red shirt)We went on the Carousel and Tea Cups before Fantasy Land closed for the fireworks show. Mackenzi was happy that we saw Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy. She REALLY wanted to see Ariel, Pluto, and Nemo but we just didn't get around to seeing them before it was time to go. The boys FINALLY fell asleep in their stroller right when we were going to leave. So, we decided to walk over to Downtown Disney and have dinner. We made a GREAT choice, because we sat outside at a Mexican restaurant and watched the firework show while we ate! I can't wait to go back again!!!

Oh yeah, did I mention that she suckered me into buying her this hat?!?