Christmas Eve

 The man, the myth, the legend.  Always behind the camera, never the subject.  Someone nabbed him!!

Love you babe.

Auntie Jana getting in some love from the Finsters.

 With Great Grandma D.  What an amazing treat!    Noe-looney.

Pops with almost all the kids (Dalton headed out to Kaylyn's).

The annual father/daughter fireplace shot.

Cranky Finny getting handed off to anyone that could handle the pressure.  ;)

 Grammy Sue taking her turn.

Uncle Dan with Toby the dog.

Merry Crazy Christmas!!

Our newest tradition ~ cruising the lights in Pops woodie.  We had all 12 of us in there.  Craig included (taking the photo).  It plays music on the inside and outside, so we had everyone on the streets singing and dancing, or at least we were singing and dancing and everyone on the streets were really annoyed!  Ha ha ha!  But never the less it was an amazing night!

I think Finny bear had the best time of all.  She went from being completely unhappy and under the weather to standing up, dancing and waving to everyone.  I see a Rose Parade Queen run in her future.  ;)

Flashback Friday

Patrick found this one in among the 10 million pictures we have.  It was from a Jalama Beach camping trip in 2004.  Happy New Year my love!  May we always be this young (in our hearts) and in love.

Noe loves those Penguins

Our little hambone on Christmas Eve getting ready to go to Grandma D's for the nights festivities.  More pictures and stories to follow, but it will probably take me a year to get Patrick to download the photos and for me to find them once he does ;)  I still haven't posted any from Kauai in October.  Ha ha ha!  Maybe that will warm up our January.

Preschool Christmas Pagent

 Noe's preschool had their Christmas pagent on the last day of school and Noe was chosen as a "star" (at least that's what it said in the program by her name).  She was so cute and was picked to stay on stage with the other kids.  I made it through the whole program with no tears.  Can you believe it?

 Looks like she's belting out a tune, huh?  Nope, she was a tired, tired little monkey.



Yes, Christmas flew by this year, but it's moments like these that we'll remember forever.

Twinkle Toes

 

Noe using the floor to rehearse her moves.

 Having fun with the other ballerinas.

 I just love this shot.  There's just something so wonderful about a black ballet sweater and a tutu.

 Finny getting in on the action.

Our little tree

I can't believe how fast this Christmas came and went.  It was like I blinked and it was gone.  But there is something so magical about our Christmas tree.  I'm a bit sad to take it down.  So, I think I'll leave it up all year!  Just kidding Mom!  ;)

Prepping for the season

 Quite possibly the best part of the holiday season ~ baking and tasting with Noe.

  I can remember baking cookies with my Mom and always getting to taste the dough.  I know, I know.  It's not safe, but dang it's delicious!!

Noelani tasting the final product.

Ring-a-ding

We started a new Christmas tradition this year.  You've probably all heard of Elf on the Shelf by now, but if not it's a little elf that watches the kids all day and then at night flies back to Santa to report the goods and the bads.  Then she returns before the kids wake up to a new spot in the house, and Noelani just loves trying to find her.  Well, when your elf first arrives you have to name him/her.  Our little elf liked to accessorize, so Noe named her Ring-a-ding, and it was the perfect fit.  Here's some of Ring-a-ding's antics.

 Waiting for the baking to begin.

 Remember to drink your water.

Zip lining through the living room.

She brought the girls a pre-built gingerbread house to decorate.

 

 And here's what happens when you forget to take the house off the table and little Finsters gets ahold of it.  Fin-quake!!!

Noe was so calm about the whole thing.  "it's ok Mom.  Let's just decorate the walls."

 The little culprit.  All smiles of course.

Date nights are AWESOME!!!

 Patrick had his work party last Friday and it had a Mad Men theme.  Hellooooo...parties with themes are my favorite!  So we donned our best late 50's early 60's outfits, I teased my hair and we were off.  Well, if it were only that easy.  I booked my Mom (the best babysitter EVER!!) 4 months in advance, and she recruited her friend Judy that lives down in San Diego to come visit and help out a bit.  The prep was a little interesting.  My Mom gave me the green light to go get a mani/pedi.  Woo hoo!!!  Well, the manicurist was so sweet and completely took her time, which I loved, but then I had to scramble to get some make-up (mine hadn't been updated since my wedding in '06...yikes!) and then get dinner for my Mom and Judy.  Then I raced home, fed the girls, and headed to our room to get ready.  With two little girls hanging on you, it's amazing the multitasking you can achieve.  One was chewing on a eye shadow brush, check to make sure she's ok and move on.  The other was covering her face in powder.  Give her the "it's OK this time" and "yes bug you look beautiful" speeches.  Check.   Blah, blah, blah.  Try hair 5 times, almost shed a tear, then give up and throw it in a bun.  Check.  Put Finny to bed.  Check.  Run back throw on clothes and get ready to leave.  Quick living room photo shoot and we are off!   Pheeeew!

The hair hurt after awhile, so it came down, but we had the best time.  Everyone was Full Out!  Every single person dressed up.  They even had candy cigarettes to play like we were smoking.  Remember those.  I ate so many I started to feel sick.  Ha ha ha!  Not so cool for kids anymore, but I can totally remember playing with them as a kid.

Needless to say, I loved reconnecting with my best friend.  We forget when we are day in and day out...kids, work, clean, bills, etc why we picked this person.  Patrick is such a fun, wonderful, amazing man.  We laughed the night away and had a blast!  Huge thanks to my wonderful Mom and Judy!!  Cheers!

Bath time fun

Ha ha ha!  Gotta love the bath!  I know Finny does!

Best Friends

Today was my best friend's birthday.  She passed away 12 years ago.  Wow.  12 years already.  I didn't want today to pass by without recognizing her.  Leslie was one of those people that just instantly became family.  She fit right in.  We had so much fun growing up together and laughing pretty much the whole way.  I still feel like a little bit of me is missing, but I know that someone amazing is looking down and laughing with me (and sometimes at me).  Cheers!  Hug those you love, laugh with good friends and make every moment count.  They are all precious.

Man it's great to have friends

 My friend Stephanie came down to stay with us for a couple days this past weekend, and we had sooooo much fun!  The girls absolutely love her.  She went from being "Mommy's curly-haired friend" to "Auntie Stephanieeeeeeeeeeeee".  While she was here, Noe put her through the paces.  "Will you paint with me/read to me/play hide~n~seek/color with me/play playdoh with me?"  You name it, and Auntie Stephanie did it.  When she tried to have a little convo with me, we heard "Auntie Stephanie?  Why are you not following me?"  Ha ha ha!  :)  Anyway, the 4 days she was here was just so fun.  We went to Disneyland, stayed up until 1 am every night, ate some tasty vittles, she was able to see me in party crisis mode, and just laughed and laughed.  I think that was the best part.  We've always been friends and could pick up from wherever we left off, but it's so nice to spend good quality time with good peeps.

 Finlee with her new best friend riding It's a Small World.

So, Auntie Stephanie came down specifically to help with Noe's little 4th bday party.  We invited 5 little kids over for a stress free little party, because having your birthday on Christmas Eve is a hard one.  Anyway, like I said before, Auntie Stephanie was able to see me in party crisis mode.  I was decorating cupcakes and Noe's cake at 12:30 am and was stressing about weather the sprinkles matched.  She's such a good friend for staying up with me and laughing away at my craziness!  :)  And yes, that is a yellow submarine on a purple cake  per Noe's request.  I guess craziness runs in the jeans.

November Beach day

 The Sunday after Thanksgiving we had an amazingly warm day for November.  I think it was in the 80's (yes it is too far back for me to remember now.  Anything past 20 minutes ago is long gone.)  We had packed up the kiddos and were going to head out to Disneyland, but when I stepped outside...no go!  It was too beautiful to not go to the beach.  We left it up to Noelani though, because we had her all hyped to go to D~land.  She was so excited for the beach, she forgot all about D~land.  Finlee absolutely loves the beach too.  Everything about it.  The sand (in the mouth), the seaweed (in the mouth), the saltwater (in the mouth).  I'm sensing a theme with that little one.  It's definitely a workout taking her to the beach.  Lounging, diving, and rolling to keep her from eating the entire shoreline.

 Crazy kids.

 Me and my girls.

The Finsters.  Loving every minute of her time at the beach.

Cousins

 Patty, Fin and Tbone at the Killeen Thanksgiving.  I love this picture.  Tbone is the son that Patrick never had.  They have an inexplicable bond that's just awesome.  And look at my stylish little Fin mugging for the camera.  :)

Mandy and Noe.  Two wild and crazy girls.