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!