This and That

I have a feeling that there's going to be a TON of randoms at the end of this month so instead of getting way behind, I'm adding a first quarter month of random pics blog post. lol Yes, that's truly a real thing! =) Let's see if I can remember what's going on in these:

This one is easy! Amber and Jade are clearly wrapping presents for their younger sisters! =) 

Looks like David is taking a break after an exhausting.....something. lol

Lexi, Paisley, and Shyla watching a show on David's ipod

Cutie girls coloring. Shyla learns nearly everything she knows from Paisley. These two girlies are bestest buds and are joined at the hip most days!

Amber being a weirdo before bedtime

Paisley showing me the nesting snowman

Family Fun Day at Amber and Jade's school. David had to work and I had other plans, so my friend, April took them along with her son. So nice!

Brylee and Paisley playing with the nesting snowman

What I was busy making on Family Fun Night and why I couldn't take the girls to the school myself. =)

Jingles the Elf

Amber was kidnapped by the YW for breakfast on Saturday. She was putting the kitchen chairs back around the table (she had moved them Friday afternoon to vacuum the kitchen) when I came up behind her with the blindfold. She was very vocal about not knowing what was going on and who was at the door and why was she being blindfolded and where was she going, etc. HILARIOUS!!!

Jingles likes to read. She's learning about the Other Wiseman.

I "made" the lights up on top today! They are strands of icicle lights and I twisted each icicle into loops then tied them with a piece of red tulle. They're so pretty!

Pecan Picking

Pecan Scooping may be more accurate.... Yesterday I sent Paisley and Lexi outside to gather the pecans. It was quite chilly out and they had a fun time digging under leaves to find the nuts.

Aren't the colors here just gorgeous??

Christmas House

I have all the stockings hung now - just haven't taken a new pic. lol

David went out yesterday and bought all new lights. I'm going to buy more after Christmas so we can decorate the trees next year. Maybe I can score a few deer to hang out under my oaks, too.

My nativity collection so far

My beautiful mistletoe

Deck The Halls!

It's Christmastime! It's Christmastime! Lalalalalaaaaa!!! I just adore this time of year! There's so many fun things to do and see. Here's what's happening this month so far: Decorated the house and tree, wrapped presents, frantically sewing Christmas projects, Christmas craft night, double date to see a Christmas play, Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, Ward Christmas Party - piano solo, frantically sewing Christmas projects, holiday baking, caroling, delivering treats/cards, Christmas choir performance, Christmas violin duet, frantically sewing Christmas projects, a whole month of sharing time.... Yeah, it's gonna be a busy month!

On the first day of December - Chris came over for dinner! I had to snap this pic so I have proof that Uncle Chris is a real person.

Also on December 1st, we decorated the tree!

My BFF Katie

November Randoms

Let's get this random pics out of my file so I can move on to December fun!

On November 7th, David and I did a painting class in the back of the Rock Bottom Café in Scottsdale. I was so much fun! I LOVE our paintings and they are currently hanging in the kids bathroom. I make everyone guess which is which. =)

I think she WAS doing ballet but then got silly? lol

Poor sick croupy Shyla! =(

Our first fire of the season

Time for our backyard movie night! I'm going to have to buy more comforters at Goodwill so there's enough to keep people warm !



Special Delivery

Santa wanted to make sure the girls had a very special Christmas this year and delivered an early present for them! Paisley found it sitting on the fireplace this morning and begged to open it. What is it??

 

Our very own Elf on the Shelf to help keep track of the girls behavior! They named her Jingles and have eagerly searched for her each morning.



Tucson

This weekend we had the good luck to go on a mini family vacation to Tucson. We stayed with Sharon and Lance. I love them and their family! Our kids all get along so well and had such a fun time together. We learned all about super-needy sugar gliders and nearly went home with one. lol On Saturday, we went to the zoo - for free! There was some family festival thingy going on so zoo admission was free. The zoo was quite a bit smaller than the Phoenix zoo, but the animals were more accessible and were actually awake and moving around. We watched the tiger pacing in front of the glass window for awhile. Just the glass pane separating us! And we found a hot dog place in the zoo selling $1 hotdogs, $1 chips, and $1 sodas. $20 for lunch for six? At the zoo?? We'll take it! After the zoo we went out to Colossal Caves. According to my scrapbook, I've been there before as a very small girl. But I have zero memory of it so it was neat to walk through the tour. It would have been fun to explore more of the cave, but our tour guide was pretty strict. haha

 

This is a witch. See her nose on the top left corner? With her open mouth right under it? And she even has her cat friend with her. lol

 

All the different cave formations make me realize what a strange and beautiful world we live in!

 

 



Home Improvement

Most progress on the house has come to a stop since we finished the guest room. There's still lots that needs to be done, and we even have supplies for some improvements - like retiling the kids bathroom and painting all the trim - we are just lacking in the motivation and time departments. So David and I try to get small things done every now and then. Today, I finally convinced David to move the chandelier in the living room into the kitchen and replace it with a fan. There's a fan over the pool table so it just made sense. Especially because the light over the table was a tiny, UGLY, white, flat square thing. Now it's much prettier! I also let Amber and Jade pick a knob for their bus passes to hang on cause I'm sick of them getting lost and being searched for every morning. Next year when Paisley starts kindergarten she'll be able to pick one for her own bus pass.



Fall Has Arrived!

November is officially my most favoritest month of the year. Even though Christmas is my favorite holiday, November is the best month. The weather is cooling down, boots and long sleeves are pulled out, chili and fresh homemade bread is a frequent meal, and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Since I decided to decorate seasonally, here's my new fall mantle:

October Randoms

Lots and lots of randoms this month. Guess that's what I get for playing catch-up! Here we goooooo!

Shyla and Kamden's favorite place to play is in this nearly empty kitchen cabinet. 

Finally had this framed! It's huge! And I LOVE it!

I taught Amber how to use the trimmers and she went to town chopping all the sucker branches off the citrus trees. 

While chopping down branches, she came across this cocoon. So cool!

Little girls enjoying giant pixi-stix. 

Treat bags Amber, Jade, and Paisley took to their classes for Halloween

Poor Shy Pie got hit in the ear with our two-seater swing. The metal corner hit it just perfectly and cut all the way through. She was so brave getting it cleaned up though. Sweet baby.