2 of my favorite things

The University of Redlands, Breathtaking!

This is my most favorite time of year here. Can you see why? And this happens to be my favorite tree at the University (that is right next door to our house). Every day I drive or walk by it and see how magnificent this tree looks. And each day it has become more and more yellow. Can you see why it's my favorite?

Ok moving on... My next favorite thing (I sound like Oprah) is decorating for Christmas! So here is what our house looks like during the
most magical month of the year!

The girls and I did this gingerbread house. There is more candy in our bellies than on the house. Oh well we had fun, and didn't end up getting tummy aches. Woo hoo!

We got this manger set as a gift 2 years ago and we love it! We play with it all year! It is Little People (Fisher Price) Manger Scene, and it is not only precious but none breakable!
My girls love it.

I got this ornament for Jon this year. It is Max from Where the Wild Things Are. We grew up reading the book, and LOVE the movie, (Jon cried throughout the entire thing), and
Jon is Max. So I got this for him at Urban Outfitters. He was so happy.

Hope wins, Christmas Style.

Our Yummy Smelling Tree. I am a fan of Noble Firs.

Our "Glowing" Mantel

Fireplace and Stockings

Happy Christmas!

STUFF THIS WEEK

-We moved our church (all the stuff) out of the room we've been meeting in for the past two and a half years and into our garage. Funny thing is we just cleaned out the garage to "simplify" and now it is FULL again! We will be meeting in a new place starting in Jan.

-Jac had her Christmas program on tues. evening and she sang her heart out. She was waving to us about every minute and giving the thumbs up constantly. It was pretty cute. Plus, we got great seats. We felt bad looking at all the parents standing on the sidelines for 2 hours. Sad

-Worked in Jac's classroom, and was so proud of how much she has learned, and all that takes her interest. It's so fun to see her personality come out in her learning/work at school.

-Jon has been sick a FULL week, and has been on the couch for about that long too. His cough is out of control! I hate not having my bed buddy with me.

-Buggie is now healthy and recovered from croup, Jac has a cold/cough, and I now have a rip roaring cold! Argh! I love fall but, man our family gets sick so much! It just keeps cycling and cycling and cycling.

-Made a fun apron, and another purse to add to my collection that I am working on for ETSY. I was hoping to have everything up and running in Dec. ready for Christmas but, life is too busy.

-Did a little Christmas shopping, wrapped a few presents, watching some fun Christmas movies with the girls, and ate way too many dark chocolate covered peppermint Trader O's Cookies. Dang there so good!

-Packed up the house, and going to spend the weekend with my family in the South Bay. My sister and Jared (her husband) and having a House Welcoming/Christmas party this weekend. My Pops will be dressed up as Santa, and I will squeeze into something fancy, there will be lots of laughs, memories made, and happy hearts.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the rain!

A Family Moment at Costco

We were at Costco the other day browsing through all of the Christmas toys when I stopped and looked at this super cool baby toy that I wish I had when the girls were babies, it was made by the brand Parents.
Anyways, I was just looking at it when Jac said "Mom are you sad"? And I said "No. Why Peanut"? And she said "because I know you love babies, and baby Kiwi died, and you want to have another one". Ah, my heart melted with love for her and her amazing intuition. Man, that girl. I responded by saying "your right Jac I do love babies. But you know what I love more than that"? And she said quickly "What Mommy"? And I said "You and Buggie". You make my heart so happy and full". Well, she lit up and I gave her a huge smooshy kiss right in front of the sausage sampling. Uck, I hate sausage. We then did a family hug (us girls) and decided we must have a special treat, a churro! Yum!
My sweet girl Jac, has a very discerning heart that knows the needs and the thoughts of the people around her. It is such a gift to be her Mommy.

One of those...

You know the phrase "It's just one of those days". Well, it was.
Geez my girls were so difficult today. It was like they had no ears to hear me, and went about their day as if I wasn't here at all today. It sucks when you look at the clock and it says 11:42am, and you think to yourself "hmmm... how am I going to make it without going insane for another 5 hours until Jon get's home"? Except Jon was home sick as sick can be. Poor guy, he got the bug that I had while I was in Colorado.
Anyways, I feel like were entering in a new stage of parenting, and the discipline guns have got to get a little bit bigger! Sheeesh. Things were going so great this past month, and now have entered another month. It happens to be my favorite month because it's the Christmas season so I am going to do my best to still "bring my Christmas cheer" (as buddy the elf says) to even my girls. All is quiet now, and think it's time for me to fold my huge pile of laundry on my bed (or maybe just clear it off and throw it on the floor until tomm, or the next day, or the next... tee hee) and hit the sack. For who knows what tommorrow holds but, I am hoping it will be a good day! Praise God this day is over! ( I am fully aware that its sounds a little dramatic but whatever).
We did manage to get our Christmas tree this evening so that made my heart smile. Any Noble tree fans out there? What, what!

A Winter Wonderland in Colorado

A WINTER WONDERLAND IN COLORADO

We spent the last two weeks in Colorado spending quality time with my family. It was just what the doctor ordered. Our family hasn't had a "true" vacation in about a year and a half. Where you escape, and relax, and have no agenda. My mom (also known as Martha Stewart. Not really but, you know what I mean) made the most amazing food and "plumped" us up. We spent much of our time outside sledding, building snowmen, and throwing snow balls. We went to an incredible zoo where Jac and Buggie helped feed hippos, my dad and I took a painting class from an artist friend of theirs, we shopped, ate, played games, took tons of naps, saw a movie, and Santa came and visited the house (also known as my dad. My mom made this amazing Santa suit last year). But mostly we just enjoyed one another's company, filled with rich conversation and lots and lots of laughter. I got sick the second week with a gnarly bug, and had no appetite this past week. Which means that it was a great tragedy due to missing our amazing Thanksgiving dinner we had at the Broadmor Hotel! Argh. The good news is I am feeling much better. We got back on Saturday, and are back in full swing! Here are some pictures of our time in Colorado. Sorry it's been so long since my last blog. Like I said I am back in full swing. Tee hee. And tomm. is the first day of December, hurray! Let the countdown begin!

My mom made this cake. It also happened to be her birthday cake. It reminds me of Candy land or Willy Wonka. The girls were in heaven. It was a really yummy vanilla pound cake inside, with a buttercream frosting. AMAZING!

My painting from our painting class.

My Pops painting

I love this picture. This is a glimpse into my life. Just kidding most of the time they are besties, but man when it's ugly, it's ugly.

We made snow ice cream. A bowl of fresh snow, a can of condensed milk, some vanilla, and whatever topping you want. It was amazingly good!

Buggie having a tantrum at the zoo. I thought she looked so cute and funny I had to take a picture of it. And of course that made her more mad. Oh well, it was still worth it.

Nana, and the girls made a Christmas Castle cake. It was covered with candy.
Every kids dream cake (mine too).

Jac feeding deer outside my parents house.

I love this guy.

Jac getting ready to see her friend Joshua. She wanted curlers like her Nana.

Buggie is looking out the window waiting for Santa to come and visit.

The Girls with my Pops, they had no idea it was him. They were both in total awe.
It was precious.

Peace out!

So... I am the type of person if I see something somewhere that I love my first thought is not "where did you get that, I need to go buy it" it's "I wonder if I could make that"? Its fun for me. And when it's one of my own ideas it almost always comes to me in the middle of the night. I guess it's the only time I have some space in my brain to allow some new creative thoughts to come in. I am also working on starting an account on ETSY. It's my favorite website in the world and could maybe find a client base through it selling my paintings and purses/diaper bags.

My friend Becka is having a little girl Ellianna this month. I made these paintings for her.

This is a purse I made for myself. Thinking about selling them.

Both Jon and I have needed to be reminded of HOPE. The HOPE we have in Christ, and the HOPE we have to "restore" our community. So I made this for our family room.

Trick or Treat

Hi friends! It feels like we've been celebrating Halloween for over a week now. Between festivities at school, and our Annual Costume Murder Mystery Party last night we have gotten plenty of wear out of our costumes. During our party last night I kept finding myself singing Christmas songs. I am so ready for the Christmas season to begin! Goodbye Halloween, and Hello Thanksgiving which leads in to my favorite time of the whole year CHRISTMAS! Eeeeeeeeeeeee! Love it, love it, love it!

Buggie is Tinkerbell. Her favorite. I got the costume at a garage sale for $5, never worn! I scored!

Jac was Ariel. As you can tell she loves to give a good "pose".

The girls with Uncle.

Why is it so hard to get a great family picture, where everyone looks good? Argh. Whatever.

We love Auntie. She's the best.

I was "Mama Butterfly". It made the girls so happy. I wore the bridesmaid dress from my sister's wedding, and bought some wings.

Jon was a "bro". He went by "Jed" or "Earl".

Hope you guys had a great Halloween, and the Mac Fam is moving on to the next season! Hurray! Gobble, gobble, gobble!

The Never Ending Summer!

It is the never ending summer! I know many of you love the heat but, I am sooooooo ready to be done with it. Bring on the frost, and crisp air! Usually by Halloween it's cold so we've got a week or so to go (hopefully). This pic was taken the other day at the park.

I love our public library. It is a "weekly event" in our family. It an old historic building, filled with beautiful architecture and art, it has many, many places and "nooks" where you can read a great book, and offers many things throughout the week centered for kids. The girls love picking out their books, and some continue to get checked out over and over again. Buggie always wears her high heels (which makes so much noise in a really quiet place) and everytime I end up carrying her until we get to the carpeted area, and every time she says "Mommy, I won't wear my high heels next time". It hasn't happened yet, (partially my fault since I don't look to see what shoes she's wearing as we leave the house). They love watching the librarian beep the books, and then they put their books in their book bags, grab a free book mark and we are on our way. We can't spend less than an hour there. It is a lot of fun. One of the new things the girls play is "librarian", and it is pretty funny. They always tell the other one to "shhhhhhhhhhhh" and "be quiet".

They have a couple gardens throughout the library where you can read, and enjoy the outdoors. We spend much of our time here.



My sweet girl, I love her.

Apparently she was bored.

I love Buggies expression here, so confused or perplexed. She was reading a book called Mrs. Wishy Washy.

And I will confess that I always have a fine to pay. Sometimes it's higher than others but, it's still worth it. Memories are being made, their little brains are being stimulated, and I get a break! It's worth every penny (or sometimes dollars). Tee Hee.

Fall, Fall, Fall! I love Fall!

This past weekend we visted our local pumpkin patch. This place is amazing, and the variety of pumpkins is incredible. I thought it would be fun to take my mom (Nana) and my Aunt Jewels and knew they would appreiciate the beauty and variety. Here's a couple of pics of the pumpkins and some of the fam.

My Aunt Jewels and Mom

Buggie looking at some goats. I love this outfit of hers. She looks stinkin cute in it too! My little pumpkin head.

Nana with her girls

The Mac Fam

And here are some pics of my fall decorations. I will admit that I started decorating "early" Septmember while it was still a cool 100 + degrees outside. But, I was over the heat and over summer. Needless to say, I have welcomed Fall and am so happy. Redlands is beautiful this time of year.