Busy Indoors

With the cold air outside......we have been having fun inside!

 Abby has been practicing with her tracing unit that Grandma Donna got for her.

She already loves to draw and doodle, so this was perfect for her creative mind.

 I used all our leftover turkey to make delicious Turkey Rice Veggie soup last week

 Maddy helped me bake sugar cookies for my Bunco event last week

 Abby took an art class this past weekend, and drew this clown fish

 We used our Vitamix blender and make smoothies Sunday morning (Pineapple, Banana, Orange--Kid friendly)

 We baked treats for Maddy's gymnastics holiday show--Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls and White Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Bites

 I had excellent batter lickers!!!!

Oh....CHILDREN......

So we ventured out on Saturday to take our own family photos this year.

Camera tripod in tow......and two not so cooperative kids who were freezing....

It just happened to be a VERY crisp and breezy day! Oops! But we had to get it done!! That's what memories are made of right? Whining, freezing kids who are ready to go home before you've taken the first photo??!!!

Anyhow we had luckily already snagged "THE" picture from a previous shot, but these were hilarious and had Mike and I bent over laughing when we were reviewing them. Because we were taking pictures one by one using the camera timer and tripod, we would get setup, take the photo, then check it after each one to see the quality. Clearly quality was lacking in Abby's decision to use our family portrait session as goof-off time. For how cute she really is, she can make some ugly faces when she tries!!

Its COLD Outside!!!!

Since our return from Thanksgiving, the weather has chilled off significantly here in Monterey.

We have been waking up to 30+ degree temps......which makes for some COLD walks to school.

All bundled up!!

 They have been getting a lot of use out of their new scarves!!

And Maddy just loves a good self-portrait opportunity to make faces!!

 Just this morning, Maddy was dressed to walk (across the street.....) to school.

She had her track suit on, winter hat and glasses (because she HATES the sun!!!)

Then she is screaming down our street to her friends she can see walking to school as well at that hour......"hey guys!!!". She is such a social butterfly it kills us sometimes!!

Thanksgiving 2013

We drove to LA for Thanksgiving this year to spend it with my family!!

 We started out the day right, by waking up at 5am for a 7am Turkey Trot in Long Beach.

Mike and Amy ran the 10K (6.2 miles) and the rest of us turkey lovers did the 5K (3.1 miles)

It was a fun morning out without the kids and exercise to boot!

Then I had 3 full days to spend with my sisters!

We all stayed at my mom's house and had fun relaxing.

Maddy got some extreme relaxing done as Aunt Sarah tickled her back a few times

This was the "KIDS" table at Thanksgiving--they even got to decorate it themselves that day!

And Abby got some solo time with Aunt Amy & Adam on a walk Saturday night by the water and got to see the sunset!

 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!

We were THANKFUL to be with so much family

Cousins Visit

Last week BEFORE Thanksgiving......my cousin Erin and her boys Andrew & Michael came down two days early to spend time here in Monterey, before our planned drive down to Southern California together.

The kids (ages 2-1/2 to 6) had a blast together. And wore us out!!!

We went to the kids museum here in Monterey, visited the Wharf sea life, and had lunch!

 Andrew practicing his golf game

 Michael the golf cart driver

 Kids lunch

Watching for seals (Michael, Maddy, Andrew & Abby--reverse age order....)

These two seals were hooked arm in arm almost doing a show for us

Erin and I enjoying the gorgeous day

The kids had so much fun and got along GREAT

Back at my house they balanced playing with toys with some bike riding!!

Ears Pierced

Maddy had her ears pierced last week while we were out dong some shopping.

We did Abby's ears for her 4th birthday, and offered the same to Maddy recently. She jumped at the chance.......although she doesn't have the same tolerance for pain as her big sister. No surprise.

Abby's one tough cookie!!

She screamed bloody murder for 5+ minutes during and after!! Then hasn't looked back!! 

Here is the YouTube link if you want to watch her cry.....Luckily the store clerk was great and did the 2nd piercing while she was still crying in shock :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_PQBbp2DsU

Rain, Rain.......

The girls finally got their own rain gear for their birthdays......and FINALLY had a rainy day here in Monterey last week to test it all out! SUCCESS!!! They love it all and keep wishing for more rain!!

Photo BLAST

This is what happens when your 4 year old has your phone and unknowingly to you.......takes 80 photos of herself while you are busy talking to friends!! Here are 10 of the 80.....