Christmas 2008

I love the holidays! I start listening to Christmas music in October - I know I am weird! We got our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. We always get our tree at the Rite Aid in OB. John and I started getting our trees there when we lived on Sunset Cliffs Blvd and now it is a tradition. John and Lilly went this year and came back with a very cute tree! This was the first year Lilly decorated the tree with us and she was so excited!

Christmas Eve - The day started with both girls not feeling very good. Anna started feeling better, but by 4pm Lilly had a 103 fever. I have her motrin and it brought it right down, but we decided to skip Church. We went to my MIL's for Dinner and our Christmas Celebration with John's family. The cousin's played and we all had a very nice time.

Christmas Day - We all woke up and opened gifts from Santa. Lilly was not as excited as I expected, but she was not feeling great. We had a quiet morning at home before heading over to my parents house.

We had fun opening more gifts and eating a yummy meal!

This is the only picture of the 4 of us. Lilly decided that she didn't like her dress! It was so beautiful and my mom took so much time to find her ans Anna coordinating dresses!

Lilly's First Christmas Pagent - December 2008

Lilly was in her first Christmas pagent for preschool. It was so cute. She sang all of the songs and was such a big girl. Lilly is growing up and changing so much. She loves school and takes pride in the things she can do, like remembering the words and motions to the Christmas songs. Lilly helped her teacher Mrs. Moser carry baby Jesus to the stage. Lilly has had a baby Jesus obcession this holiday season. It is soo cute!

Anna's 1st Birthday - December 9, 2008

I can't believe my baby is 1! I am writing this 1 month later and I still can't believe she is 1! Where did the year go. She is running all over the place and is such a big girl. We started her celebration with a play group party at Chuck E Cheese. The big kids love it and Anna likes to explore. She had her 1st birthday cupcake and it was so cute watch her eat it!




Her second celebration was a family (and a few close friends) at my parents house. We all had a wonderful time!






The 3rd and final celebration of Anna turning 1 was a trip to Disneyland! It was Anna's first Disneyland Adventure and we all had a blast!

Thanksgiving 08

Well, it's been a while and I definitely need to catch up. The girls got sick - again and we basically missed Thanksgiving! I got sick the night before and Anna did also so we sent John and Lilly to Cindy's for a few hours and Anna and I slept on the couch. The next day we were all feeling a lot better so Sophie, Jessie (Sophie's friend), Justin, and Janay (a college roomate and dear friend) came for a Thanksgiving take 2. We had a nice night and the girls went to sleep early. John, Justin, Jessie, and Sophie went out to get a drink and left Janay and I to catch up. We had a great time and she ended up staying over and driving back to AZ the next day. The rest of the weekend was quiet. We had a good visit with Sophie including a trip to the Zoo. The only sad thing is that we have no pictures of Anna's 1st Thanksgiving - she did not feel well enough to wear her cute dress. We will have to make up for it next year!

No Where Else I Would Rather Be!

My job is not glamerous and in the last 24 hours I have been covered in and cleaned up more vomit then I care to remember. But, as I look at my sleeping babies (you know Lilly is sick when she naps) I know that this is where I need to be. With them - taking care of them. I was up most of the night with Lilly - it breaks my heart to see her sick. She asked for a bath at 2:30am - so there I sat rubbing her back and washing her hair at 2:30 in the morning. The thing that is most important to me is that my girls know that I am here for them and I believe that they know that. Like I said my job is not glamorous - I have done 8 loads of laundry in the last 48 hours and I am OK with that. I am fine with the fact that I have given up having the material luxuries that I once had. We still have more then what we need. Right now I am the best gift that I can give them.

I am grateful...
To be home with my girls - even thought I have moments that are very tough (and make me want to go back to work)
That my mom brought me everything I need to take care of my sick babies (so that I did not have to leave the house)
To John for sleeping with Anna and taking care of her last night so that I could care for Lilly

Grateful

I almost forgot..

I am grateful for...
1. The quite hour I just got!
2.John cleaning the carpet - I am strange - that dirty carpet makes me crazy!
3. That we have family so close and that we see them often!

A Quiet Week

I have not written for a week and definitely need to catch up! Last Sunday Uncle Justin watched the girls so that John and I could go to dinner ALONE!!! We have definitely not been doing this enough. It was a wonderful dinner at The Ritual a pub/restaurant right near our house. We walked over and had a yummy dinner and some drinks! We definitely need to get out just the 2 of us more often. Monday was a teacher in service day so no school for Lilly - she was still as she puts it "a little sick" and no speech on Tuesday because of Veterans day. On Tuesday we did have out family pictures taken by a great photographer and mom www.sarahjayne photography.com - she has a few previews up. After pictures it was off to Chuck E Cheese with Jess, Les, and the kids - they had a blast. I love CEC because the big kids are now old enough to play without us having to watch them every second! Wednesday was back to school and Thursday was gymnastics and playgroup (we hosted). Lilly has moved to the "big girls" gymnastics class - no more mom in class! It is good for her to be with the big kids and her friend Lily is in the class. After gymnastics we headed home and some of our friends came over. It was a small group but the kids had a blast! We went to Soup Plantation with my parents for dinner and the girls went through 3 bowls of Mac and Cheese - you would have thought I hadn't fed them in days! Friday was school and play time at Jess and the boys house after. We had a restful afternoon and then Uncle Justin came over for dinner. I made Passoli and it was so Yummy! Saturday I had a craft fair (not very successful, but fun) and Saturday night Uncle Justin took all of us to a great new Mexican Restaurant in South Mark - El Camino. It was his thank you for all of the home cooked meals that I make him. The girls were both amazing at dinner! They both ate and had A+ behavior - I actually got to enjoy my meal. Today is Sunday and the girls and I went to church - actually we went to music class and play time at church - I had every intention of going to the service after music, but my little ladies had their own ideas. I had a nice time talking to Courtney and the girls had fun. Then we were off to Grandma and Grandpa's for breakfast. My mom made pancakes, but Lilly decided that she wanted left over Venetian "noodles". She is a funny girl. We hung out with my parents for a while and Lilly stayed with my mom while I went to the grocery store with Anna. From there it was off to the Heffington's to meet up with Daddy and play with the cousins. Anna and I left early because she needed a nap BADLY and John and Lilly stayed and went swimming. Now I am having a few minutes of quiet. My grocery shopping is done for the week, my menu is planned, my house is clean (good enough), John cleaned the carpets - the man knows how to make my happy, and I only have 2 loads of laundry to do! I am ready for the week. I have a craft show tomorrow night and I am hoping it goes better then Saturday! Anna should wake any minute so I better get load 1 of laundry in.