Shyla's First Reconciliation

Shyla has been studying for her First Reconciliation and we celebrated it last week.  She, although a bit nervous, was super excited and did a great job.  It was a fairly quick evening but very important and we are so proud of our girl!

Quick Weekend to Scottsdale

We just got back from a quick weekend in Scottsdale.  We had one night left with our timeshare that we didn't want to waste, and I decided to do the Hot Chocolate 5k.  All-in-all it was a nice weekend.  We crammed a lot into a few short days!

We left Saturday morning at about 9am and made it as far as Marana!  There we decided to stop at the new outlet mall because we hadn't been yet.  We did some shopping and the girls played a little bit.

Our next stop was the expo to pick up my race bib and sweatshirt.  This was a fun one because there was lots of chocolate available, the girls ran around a lot, and we even played imaginary baseball on a miniature field.


























































Since we weren't sure if our room would be ready yet, we decided to grab a late lunch at 5 & Diner.  The girls got to hula hoop outside!















There were no vacancies at my favorite, Kierland, so we stayed at the Desert Oasis.  It was nice, but Kierland is still my favorite.














We spent the evening at Christmas at the Princess, which was located just down the street from our hotel.  I had planned for my friend DeAnn and her family to meet us there, which delighted Harper because she and Delaney were good friends in preschool.

This was a fun event!  There were lots of Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and activities such as a carousel, ferris wheel (which we didn't do), tubing, and a train ride.  The girls wrote postcards to Santa and put them in the mailbox.

The girls got to meet Princess Noel and Selfie the Elfie!

Unfortunately, Shyla was tired or hungry or cold or overwhelmed or all-of-the-above, and she was acting out because of it.  We had to cut the evening short, drive through Chick-fil-A for dinner and go to sleep.

But it was fun while it lasted!

Then Sunday morning rolled around and it was time for the race.  DeAnn, Kennedy, and I did it.  My time was just over 35 minutes which wasn't bad for not training much at all, and I was proud that I ran just about all of it.  At the finish line, we got these mugs with chocolate, yummy things to dip in the chocolate, and delicious hot cocoa!







When it was time to head back to T-Town, we made a stop at the nearby playground to let the monkeys play for a bit and then grabbed lunch at a delicious japanese restaurant!  It was fast, furious, and fun!
(Now we're getting ready for the week ahead and I'm nursing a cold.  It's going to be a long one!)

Gilmore Girls!

The day after Thanksgiving was the release of Netflix's 4 revival episodes of The Gilmore Girls.  So, of course, we had a viewing party!  We had fun watching, the food was delicious, and we stayed up way too late.
You'll notice there was only one boy who stayed for the party.  Ha! Ha! Mike!

Happy Thanksgiving 2016!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and it was a lovely day!  We started the morning by watching a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, then we met the Ratcliff Family at Saguaro National Monument for a nice walk.  We celebrated with our family at Grandma and Grandpa's and then over at Steve and Viv's.

We have much to be thankful for.

It was a different Thanksgiving holiday without Grandma Barbara around.  But we were glad that Grandpa Pop came and ate.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Catch-Up Post: Homework

There have recently been many news articles about how this (our!) generation of parents think their children should not be assigned homework (or, worse yet, just refuse to do what is assigned!).  Well, as an educator and as a parent, I'm here to tell you that homework is important, meaningful, something we will continue to do.

I wanted to share that our kindergartener, at the age of 5, completed this book report.  We did it together and it was amazing!  We read Elmer, she answered the questions about it with me assisting with spelling, and she made this cute elephant pumpkin!

She was proud and we enjoyed doing it together.

Catch-Up Post: Halloween

We had a blast on Halloween this year!  Shyla was Little Red Riding Hood, Harper was a Ladybug, and I was a cup of coffee!

The girls had a parade at their school that both Stevie and I were able to attend, followed by snacks and goodies.

We spent the evening by visiting our amazing neighbors' house (Karen & Brian), then enjoyed the cul-de-sac potluck at Grandma and Grandpa's, and then trick-or-treating at 49ers Country Club.

Wine Tasting Excursion

Yesterday was a fun day!  Stevie and I spent the day with our friends Becky and Andy, along with Becky's parents, down in Elgin, AZ for wine tasting.  It was fun and tasty and a great start to the holidays!
Becky and I have been friends since high school, we lived together in college, and we were both in each other's weddings.  It was a great opportunity to relax and laugh together.
Meanwhile, the girls spent the afternoon (after school) with Grandma, preparing for Thanksgiving tomorrow!