Some Notes About Pictures with Santa

Dear Mom,

I would like to apologize for not cooperating every year that you tried to get my picture taken with Santa.

Love, Kendra

Dear Chelsea,

Thank you for always trying to hold me on Santa's lap. I know I ruined your pictures too and, for that, I apologize.

Love, Kendra

PS - it looks like I'm getting my payback.

Christmas 2010

Two-Week Break! Wahoo!

Phew! Today was my last day of school before winter break! ...a much needed winter break!

The next two weeks promise to be busy but fun and full of things that I love; especially the face that you see below!

I used to look forward to break so I could sleep in. I know that won't happen, but I am looking forward to staying in my sweatpants a little longer than usual. I am also looking forward to being the one to put my baby down for her nap, and go for long walks with her, and cook healthy meals. And, of course, I'm looking forward to Christmas!

Being that I survived the day before break, I thought a celebration was in order!

After dropping some holiday cards that the kids made for overseas troops at Gabrielle Giffords office, Shyla and I celebrated in fashion.

At DQ!

She was happy to know that Mommy is on break and happy that I picked her up earlier than usual because it meant I got to sit and have snack with her and her friends.

I celebrated with a Dilly Bar. It was delicious. It was also quite a bit smaller than I remember.

Shyla got her first ice cream cone. The "kiddie cone" was larger than I had expected!

She dug right in and laughed every time that ice cream hit her face!

Then, with a messy face, she gave me her cone when she was done. I thought about finishing it, to make up for the poorly sized dilly bar, but I didn't and I threw it away instead.

To all of my teacher friends who are starting break, ENJOY EVERY MINUTE!

To all of my other friends, not starting break, HA!

Half-Marathon #6

This post has no pictures.

This past weekend Stevie and I went to Las Vegas! We were running in the 2nd annual Rock n' Roll Las Vegas Half-Marathon for the 2nd year!

This was the first weekend we were BOTH away from Shyla, at the same time. I had been away twice (Ragnar and CIMI) and Stevie had been away a few more times than that (Vegas, Vegas, work, Vegas, etc.) But this was the first time we were both away which meant Shyla needed to spend the weekend with my parents for the first time.

I was nervous about this for 2 reasons:

1) I knew I would miss her terribly

2) For the past 18 or so months Shyla has not slept through the night

Anyway, Vegas was fun. We went with our friend Cesar and his girlfriend. We stayed at Planet Hollywood. We ran in the race. We finished the race. Stevie finished in 1:58 and I in 2:44. We ate a lot of good food. I took a lot of naps. It was beautiful.

Shyla......Shyla, of course, slept all night. Like clockwork she fell asleep at 7, stayed asleep until 6, and napped without a fight.

Classic.

So my line-up of half-marathons:

2006 Tucson

2009 Tucson

2009 Vegas

2010 San Diego

2010 Mt Lemmon

2010 Vegas

Why I haven't posted...

It's been awhile since I've posted and here's why:

That lady ate me and stored me all in her face. How rude!

We've been too busy sliding down slides!

...with our cousins!

...who sometimes do things their own ways!

And we've been playing the piano. A lot!

A few other things we've been doing:

• waking up at all hours of the night
• driving Pancake to the ER with a swollen face and hives (don't worry, she's okay)
• making reindeer noses
• gearing up for the annual Forgacs Family Fight
• addressing, stamping, stuffing, and licking Christmas Cards
• hoping those Christmas cards will be in the mail before, you know, Christmas