Cupcake time

For Christmas both Grandma Corinne and Grandma Beth got the girls baking stuff. They both know that the girls love to help me in the kitchen. Corinne put together little baking hats, and aprons, and baking tools for the girls. Each very different and unique. Grandma Beth got the girls a cupcake maker. So last night we had a baking activity and used both gifts. Here is some photos of the girls having fun!


Kylee and her cupcake. We are still trying to figure out the icing machine.


Chelsey trying to work the icing machine.


Issy was very proud of her cupcake!

Issy making her cupcake

All 3 girls in their hats and aprons, with the cupcake machine!

Look at this awesome cupcake!

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning we woke up to Chelsey by our bed at 6:30am. Telling us that she needed to use our bathroom, so that she didn't disturb santa if he was still here..ha ha. Then she asked if we could go out at 7am. I told her sure! But she continued to talk and loud at that. I rolled over and looked at Justin and asked if he was up. He said..Well yeah, she won't stop talking. So we got up and went out to the living room. Th girls were happy. Santa did a movie theme and brought them a DVD player and a bunch of movies for their playroom TV. The girls proceeded on with presents from everyone else and landed with a nice load of gifts. We made a simple breakfast, and then I got to work on my pies for the dinner we went too. The girls enjoyed playing with all their gifts and made my house a little messy..ha ha.

Later on we went up to some good friends that had invited us up for Christmas dinner. Kevin and Amy made such a scrumsous meal, that everyone was too full for dessert. We just enjoyed hanging out and watchin all the kids play with their toys. It was a relaxing night! Justin video taped the opening of the gifts this year..so not very many pictures to share. But I am sure we will have some of the girls using their gifts here shortly. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Justin took a lovely picture of me cutting up the apples for the apple pie! Don't you just love my hair do..ha ha!

Christmas Pajama's

The girls and their christmas pajama's! From Aunt Britty and Mom &Dad!



Showing off their stuff..such little models


Issy loved her Fairy themed pajama's.

Kylee was excited for her super girl pants.

Chelsey is like her mommy and loves camo print. Aunt Britty did an amazing job with the patterns for each girl!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve I spent the morning baking cookies. I made some sugar cookies, and some peanut butter ones. The girls each helped me by adding an ingrediant. Then our friend Angie came over and spent the afternoon with us. She had gifts for the girls, and Justin & me. The girls loved getting the chance to open some gifts early. We decided to take Angie out to dinner to show our appreciation of her friendship, and everything she has done for us. When Justin and I just need a night away, she is always willing to come and stay with the girls. She has been such a great friend. We can't wait for more memories to come with Angie!

After enjoying dinner, we came back to the house and Angie stayed long enough to watch the girls open our christmas eve tradition presents. Every year I get the girls christmas p.j.'s and they get to open them on christmas eve. My mom did that with my siblings and I when we were young and it was something I wanted to hold onto. Something that always makes me think of my mom and my christmas's as a child. This year we did it a little different. My sister has made pajama bottoms in the past for the girls, and they had grown out of them and requested some more. So for their present she made them each a pair. I thought what better way to make them more special, than to have them be the "christmas pajama's". So I bought a top that would match each of their bottoms and then put it with them. The girls loved them so much. They get sad when I actually have to take them away and wash them..ha ha.

After that Angie left and went home. We watched Ice Age with the girls and then got cookies and egg nogg set out for Santa. We put them to bed, although it was rather hard since they were excited for the next morning. But we finally got them to sleep. It was a great Christmas Eve shared with family and friends.





Kylee opening her gifts from Angie





Our Friendship ornament that Angie gave to us.






The girls opening their gifts from Angie.

Christmas Tag

1. Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags? I love to unwrap things, but gift bags can be so cute too!

2.Real or Artificial Tree? Hmm..Real trees are nice every once in a while just for that christmas tree smell. But I would rather have artificial on a normal basis

3. When do you put the tree up? The day after Thanksgiving. I like to give Thanksgiving a fighting chance..lol. But as soon as its done..Christmas is Here!

4.When do you take the tree down? New Years usually. Justin is pretty urgent to get things done and put away, as I am urgent to get them up..lol

5. Do you like Eggnogg? Yes but only in small amounts. One or two glasses is fine. I buy a half a gallon on thanksgiving and then for Christmas..and we are good!

6. Favorite Gift as a Child? Hmm..nothing stands out as major. But I loved my barbies while growing up. So anytime I got those I was happy.

7.Hardest person to buy for? That would of been my Step-mom. She can be very picky and only likes certain things.

8. Easiest person to shop for? My lil sis. I know exactly what she wants, and likes.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes its a small one that my mom passed down to me.

10. Mail or Email christmas cards? I mail them, although this year didn't get to it..stupid economy!

11. Favorite Christmas Song? Silent Night..all the way!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Grinch of course! Both versions!

13. When Do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually black friday is my major kick off.

14. Have you ever recycled a christmas gift?
Yes...Once!

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My hubby makes Chex Mix...mmmm

16. Lights on the tree? We have a white tree..with pretty blue lights!

17. Do you leave Cookies and Milk for Santa? Yes I always bake some cookies with the girls and then we leave some milk. Last year the girls decided to leave Santa Choc. Soy Milk..interesting! But Santa drank it all gone!

18. Travel at christmas or stay home? We mostly stay home. But because we live far from our family every once in a awhile we travel for it.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Yes, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen and of course Rudolph!

20. Angel or Star on the top of tree? An Angel. Justin puts it up every year with the help of one of our angels.

21. Open the presents on Christmas eve or day? We open one on christmas eve, and its usually the girls christmas p.j.'s

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? How mean people get about shopping. I think they should just remember the spirit!

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I just let the kids decorate..its much more fun watching them go crazy about it. Then i go around and kind of space things out..lol My favorite ornaments though are the birth years of my girls and Justin's first ornament. They have deep meaning to me!

24. Favorite thing for Christmas dinner? We usually do a roast or something special

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A new car..lol. But yeah..like that is going to happen..ha ha

26. Favorite Christmas Tradition? I have a couple. 1. Black friday shopping ( my own) 2. listening to Alvin and the chipmunks Christmas songs while putting up the tree (comes from Justin's family) and 3. my christmas p.j.'s that we get on christmas eve..that tradition came from my mommy.

Isabella's 3rd Birthday

Our Issy turned 3 on saturday the 13th. We had a party here at the house for her and invited some good friends and their kids to help celebrate with us. Issy wanted pizza, because that is her favorite food. So Justin made his yummy pizza for everyone. Then we opened her gifts. She got lots of pink..which she was excited for..Her favorite color! She got clothes, shoes, toys, and a movie. So she was pretty happy, and so was I. Then we had cake and ice cream. It took Issy a couple tries to get the candles blown out but she got it. Thanks everyone for making Issy's 3rd birthday a success! She is very thankful for eveything she got and everyone who came to see her.



Everyone singing Happy Birthday to Issy. She picked out the mix and frosting for her cake. She decided that since its christmas she was going to go with that theme. Her cake was mint green with Dark Green and Red frosting. She also had christmas sprinkles on top. We topped it off with Mint Choc. Chip Ice cream.


Issy has fallen in love with Mike and his puppy Cookie. So Mike thought he would be sweet and bring Cookie up for Issy's party. Issy was absolutely over joyed and loved having Cookie there to her party. The other kids loved Cookie as well. For Issy's Present from us, we got her, her own little "Cookie". So here she is letting her stuffed Cookie talk to Mike's Cookie!

Isabella loved her "Minnie Mouse" Shoes from Grandma Corinne. Thats what she calls them..lol.

She also got a pair of princess shoes from her Grandma Beth and Aunt Brittany that she hasn't stopped wearing either. She has gone back and forth between the two pairs. Obviously she is like me, and LOVES shoes!

Some of our guests. Bryan with his son Nicholas, Justin, Mike and Cookie, and Kris and his daughter Brittany..with our Kylee

Issy loved her Tinker Bell sticker set from Kris, A.J. and their girls.

Kris and A.J. along with our other friends Kevin and Amy. Issy sat up there like the rest of the adults. She wanted to be a grown-up..lol

Our friend Amy with the Birthday Girl.

Girls Pictures

My 3 precious Girls. They add so much joy to my life.


Isabella is 3yrs old. She just celebrated her birthday on the 13th.

Kylee turns 5 this Feb. She is so excited for her birthday to start Kindergarten next fall.

Chelsey is 8yrs old. She is in 3rd grade this year and finding it alittle more difficult this year. More responsability, and hard work is finding her this year.

Family Pics 2008

We decided to have our family pictures taken outside in the sun. One of the many reasons why we love California. We went out to a little park close by and got some wonderful photoes in. Our photographer did an awesome job! Of course with kids its always hard to get everyone in sync. But we also threw in a funny one for the kids, just to have fun with. Hope everyone enjoys.

So last Saturday Chelsey's school had breakfast with Santa. They had Santa there for the kids to talk to and take a picture with. We also enjoyed some really good muffins, fruit, and juice. This was the first year that Isabella didn't make me sit in the picture and hold her. She was already to go up and see Santa. Except for right before we went up she was playing with a decoration and a girl came and took it form her to put back. Well that sent Issy into tears. So when we got her calmed down to see him, she sat there on his lap. She wouldn't smile or anything. They even gave her an elves hat to maybe make her happy..but nothing! I told them to just take the picture, at least she wasn't crying...right! So as soon as they snapped the picture I could tell that she was just about to lose it. I told them to put her down and talk to the other two. As soon as Issy got down from Santa's lap she came running to me crying. But at least we got an okay picture...lol. We all enjoyed our little breakfast with Santa.

I have been very impressed with this school, they like to go all out with different holidays and drug free week. I love it and so does Chelsey!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

This last weekend we put the tree up. Its always a tradition to get the christmas decorations up the weekend of Thanksgiving. I love having our white tree with its blue lights, lighting up our living room. It just looks so peaceful and brings out the spirit. Here is Issy helping me with the lights.


I loved this picture that Justin took. It captures her bright blue eyes, and she loves the sparkley christmas balls.

The girls hard at work. They love decorating the tree.

Every year Justin has one of the girls get up on his shoulders to help put up the Angel. This is Justin's favorite part and loves to share it with one of the girls. This year Isabella got her first chance at putting the Angel on top. She was so happy!

I guess Kylee had to give me the ok sign that she liked the tree..lol

Our Christmas Tree...... There is a story behind this White tree. Justin got it on our second christmas of being together. He was so happy to have a white tree. Then the next tree, Chelsey was old enough to speak her mind. She told us that she didn't like the tree being white. That she wanted a GREEN tree. Since then every year that we put up the tree, she ouwld let us know. She wasn't happy with a White tree. Well folks, this year now that we haved lived in California for 4 years and have been away from snow that long. Chelsey has finally decided that its ok to have a white tree, because thats the only snow she sees now. So we now have Chelsey's approval after 6 years of disagreeing..lol

That Black Friday Shopping

Its that time of year again. Its been a tradition that my mom started with me back before I even had kids to go out real early on black friday and hit the sales. So I have continued on with the tradition and went out once again. I decided this year to try and hit two stores real early. So I got up at 3:30am and got ready. I left the house around 3:45 and got there at 4am. The line at walmart was already wrapped around to the backside of the building. Where I stood was directly middle part of the back half of building. Obviously the economy didn't effect everyone's shopping too bad. I love doing this every year. I know the lines are crazy, but it gets me in the spirit. I always find people in line to chat with. We talk about our hot items we're going after, the years before that we have went and our experiances. This year I had a 3 generation group. There was a grandma, her daughter, and the granddaughter. They were alot of fun to chat with. The grandma kept giving her daughter such a hard time about things. The daughter was trying very hard to be serious and have a plan for the shopping, but grandma and grand-daughter just poked fun. The doors opened at 5, and I went in. I was able to find some of the stuff I wanted but not all. I quickly decided that I would purchase these things and continue with my other shopping. So I got out of there and headed for Target. I was in line and ready once again at 5 to 6am. So spent a couple minutes chatting with a few other people in line and then the doors opened. I was able to get everything I wanted in there except one dvd. One of Chelsey's items for christmas I went to get at the start and there was no more. So I continued with my shopping and then remembered I had to get one more thing up in the toy area, as I went back...They had re-stocked the shelves! So I was able to get her gift afterall. I was so happy. I was out of there and back home by 7:20am. Justin had just gotten up and the kids were starting to wake up too. After I told him how well I did, I slipped back to bed and slept for a couple hours....another black friday come and gone!