Happy Birthday Esther Ann

Happy Birthday to my sweet niece! We had so much fun celebrating her big day with lots of fun nursery rhyme foods and games. My favorite part of the party was just watching the cousins run and around and play with each other. Such sweet memories! 

Stud muffins

As if one little  wrestler isn't cute enough - check out two! These two are just the cutest which I'm pretty sure isn't what their coaches or dad's would want me to say. Next year I need to remember to get a buddy picture on picture day! 

Introducing....

Grace Santopadre! Emmeline's first American Girl Doll. She received her for Christmas and her reaction was priceless. It has been so much fun watching her with her special doll. I think her doll has nicer out together outfits then I do. Em loves dressing her up and playing school with her. She can't wait to take her to the big American Girl Doll store to get her hair done and ears pierced. And her favorite thing is putting her doll in matching Jammie's and tucking Grace into her bed. Oh stay young, sweet, and innocent Emmeline. 

Palm Desert

We had a blast exploring Palm Desert. The kids had a blast a super cool children's museum. Another day we wondered around the Living Desert Zoo. They had amazing animals and plants to see along with the coolest model train set up I have ever seen. The kids loved ending the day by the pool. They were little fish. The residents thought we must be from Alaska since we were swimming in December and it was only 75 degrees out. It was hard to leave but we were all excited to get home and get ready for Christmas! 

Checking it off

Today we worked hard on finishing our Christmas activity traditions. We made our gingerbread houses which I have this love/hate relationship with. They are such a pain to get the walls to hold. This year I busted out the hit glue gun. We never eat the house anyways so instead of tears and several gray hairs the glue gun was a win. 

Next, we went in search for the best Christmas lights. How we have missed the house on Marbella all these years is beyond me. It's stunning!!!! This sweet woman painted all the lights and created these amazing flowers that age added lights to. Sadly, it's her last year as she is moving. I'm so glad we got to go see it before she moves. Tomorrow we tackle the prep for cinnamon rolls where we spread and smoother so much butter that it's unreal. Just when you think you can't add more calories we make a big batch of cream cheese frosting. Awwww... I'm already drooling thinking about them and sadly hearing in my head what my trainer says to me - moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. 

Fireside chats

I have been staying up and going to bed and insane hours trying to get ready for Christmas. Months ago the thought of getting away to Palm Desert sounded great and now.... It feels insane. With all the craziness it was nice to get away for a late night chat with my bestie. Fireside chats and late night Pizzookies were just what I needed. It was so nice to take a break and just hang out. We even had a special little guy that wanted in on the action and didn't want to fall asleep despite his Daddy's best attempts. I can't wait for our next fireside chat! 

All Aboard

Friday night we had our annual Polar Express Movie Night. Some of our friends were home sick and couldn't make it, but we had fun drinking hot coco and eating cookies all snugged up watching the movie on the big screen.