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It's a wrap

Most of the gifts are wrapped and ready to go. I like to make the presents fun and a bit silly...so pom poms it is this year.

Jake decided not to go the pom pom route but instead got creative with staples! ha! I about peed my pants (pretty much doing that all the time now) when I saw this. It's quite the mystery gift...he had to do some very interesting scheduling to "pick it up" and I'm a bit tempted to take a peek. He told me not to judge a gift by it's packaging...ha! Still laughing about it! We got the girls a really fun gift that we had "to make sure it works" and spent a night playing with it...can't wait to open it, I mean, let the girls open it!

A little gingerbread house making with after school friends.

A little bit of Beaumont

Jake travels to a neighboring city fairly often and since Maria is out on Christmas break, we decided to go check out Beaumont with him. I had to include this picture of Layla because it so perfectly captures her...cute and funny.

We went to a very interesting art museum and the girls made their renditions of some of the art work.

We also went to the fire museum. I wish I could have taken my dad. It was really well done and interesting for all of us.

An unforgetable Christmas Comment via Layla

After having sat on each knee and explained their Christmas wishes to Jolly Ole Saint Nick, I heard Layla whisper to Maria as they walked away, "I hope you didn't fart on Santa's lap Maria." I hope likewise.

We are thankful for the BEACH!

We were able to make a wonderful Thanksgiving trip this year. We met up with the Swanson clan down in Galveston and stayed at the beach for a whole week. It was a lot of fun to enjoy the things we normally don't get a chance to. Of course there was lots of beach time, but we also got to go to a water park, Moody Gardens, The Strand, and lots of other local sites. I did think it funny when Layla asked if she could make a Sand Angel, knowing that the rest of my family up in Idaho were probably making Snow Angels at the same time.

It's always good to spend time with cousins. The kiddos were all a lot of fun and we are thankful for them!

After the trip to the beach, we made a quick run out to Blanco, TX to visit with my Aunt and Uncle. My cousins are their kids were there and it was really wonderful to enjoy some time together.

We are extra thankful this year for all of the blessings that make life so great! At the top of the list is the Gospel and knowing the Savior and His teachings. These things brings a lot of peace to my life. I love my family and am always happy to spend time with them. They make life happy and much more interesting. Also on the list are great friends, a lovely home, cars that run (for the time being), a body that works. All good things!

The Anti Climatic Halloween

As you can see, everyone is really stoked about their costumes this year! whoot! Party! Oh Yeah! I completely chickened out of making Kong Fu Panda costumes for everyone and opted for the paper-doll-you-can-choose-what-ever-you-want costume. I thought it was pretty clever...but by the end of the night I felt a like I'd cheaped out a bit, dressing my kids up in paper and all. Layla kept saying, "Happy Paper Doll!" to everyone at their door and got some mighty strange looks...what? Next year I'll have to step it up a bit.

We've been doing a fair share of roller skating these days. At first, I think the girls just loved the loud music and cool lights, but now they're getting pretty good and owning their own roller skates is high on their Christmas list.

I've been so happy to whip out the Fall Clothing Line here at our house. It's always nice to have a little change and Layla is about the cutest thing in anything she wears :)

Happy Fall

Things are slowly beginning to cool off down here so, to celebrate, why not eat a whole bunch of Macarons? Or maybe just look at them. I love these cookies, they're just perfect.

I've got a scary stash of coffee filters left over from a halloween project...so I'll be using them to wrap up lots of gifts.

Jake, however, informed me that 'you can't be a man and eat these cookies'. Hum, more for me.

Little Sailor Girl

Layla is too hard to resist in this little sailor dress that we found while yard selling in Idaho (for 25 cents!). I kind of want to make her wear this dress every day.

Maria is wrapping up Red Ribbon Week...yes, already talking all about drugs. I gave them a little crack cocaine/marihuana lesson...why does it feel so weird telling a 5 and 3 year old about these things, but I guess nows the time to start. One day the kids got to dress up as a story book character. Maria chose Fancy Nancy....I thought she was adorable!