Early Christmas

This year with our friends we decided to draw names for the kids and no gifts for the adults. It made it a ton easier and was a lot of fun. Since we celebrated 3 days before Christmas the kids tore into their gifts. I believe it was a huge success. We got together at the Halloway's for food, gifts and a friendly, festive game of blackjack. Not sure how but the 3 girls all showed up in the same outfit. Thats never happened but you can't go wrong with a sweater dress and boots....even if it looks like we're headed to a funeral.

Visiting Santa

The day we got our tree was also the day we decorated the house, tried to take a Christmas photo and took the kids to the mall to see Santa. It's rough with Mark only having one day off a week right now but we got a lot done. Peyton kept pumping his fist in the air. He was excited but I think nervous. Since he knows the mall Santa's are the actual Santa's helpers, he wanted to tell as many as he could that he wants a rip stick for Christmas. He wanted to make sure the message got to the North Pole. Drew on the other hand just sits and smiles. She knows that Santa brings presents but there isn't anything she's asking for. She just gets excited anytime she sees the man.

Brunch with Santa

The country club hosts a Christmas brunch where the kids get to come and see Santa. Drew could not contain herself. She hopped right onto his lap and just smiled. Never asked for anything but just smiled then told Peyton it was his turn. The brunch was complete with good food courtesy of the cute Chef.

He Did It!!!!

After 4 months of recycling not only our own glass, aluminum & plastic but also plenty of friends and neighbors, Peyton made enough to pay for 1/2 of a Wii. We headed over to Costco, got it, hooked it up and now.......we can't get him away from it. He doesn't have any games besides the sports pack it came with and still he's in love with it. I feel that the whole lesson of making him earn 1/2 was worth it when that night as I was tucking him in he gave me a hug and told me, "wow mom, that took a really long time. I will take good care of it but I want to keep recycling just our stuff so I can pay for 1/2 my games." Such a cute boy.

Student of the Month

Peyton got the Student of the Month for November. We were able to go and see him receive his award. Zach Posa received the Math award as well. Proud parents we all were! I just wish my pictures didn't come out so dark.

Soccer Mom's

Soccer is quickly coming to an end. I'm happy to have a break before baseball but I will for sure miss it. I love watching him play. I lose my voice cheering him on. Jen and I were at the field at the same time quite often so the kids liked to watch each other play. It's amazing to me how tall Peyton is getting. We'll be looking eye to eye in no time.

Brunch

After working 2 weeks straight Mark finally had a day off. When I asked him how he wanted to spend it, his choice was inviting his friends over for brunch. The weather is now pretty perfect and it was a fun day. After brunch we relaxed on the patio. The boys played on the rip stick which takes a heck of a lot more coordination than we thought. Mark and Al sadly realized that they aren't as young as they feel and weren't able to quite get it. Drew and Olivier searched the back yard for bugs and found a lady bug and preying mantis. A perfect Sunday Funday.

Halloween

Halloween was a success. It started out with me going to Drew's school for the annual Halloween parade. All the classes sing several songs, they have a parade to show off their costumes then they go inside for a huge party with so much sugar. In the evening we had several families come over and it gets better each year. The kids couldn't wait to hit the streets and now that they are a little older they weren't afraid. We had great costumes except I'm mad at myself for not getting the kids together to take a big group shot. The only one is them eating before we went trick or treat. We had a rapper, a boxer, a witch, 2 Snake Eyes from GI Joe, White Shadow from GI Joe, little bo peep and Transformer Bumblebee. As for the adults...they did excellent in the costume area this year. We were happy they got into the spirit of things.

Pumpkin Carving

Basketball Game

A few weeks back the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors played an outside game at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. We were in an awesome suite with plenty of food and drinks. The weather was great to sit outside and we got to hang out with great friends. A fun way to spend the night.