My January Catch Up

My goal for this weekend is to get through my January pictures on this blog.  The only way, no, the best way, to do that is to lump everything together in one giant post.  I did take out two sort of special events and posted those already, so there are slightly less than 50 pictures in here now.  😁 You're welcome.

 Wanna know what we did last month?! Let's do this!

➸➸  After a present-filled Christmas, I knew Olivia would need a little humbling, so I signed her and some of her friends up for a couple hours of volunteering at Feed My Starving Children.  This is an amazing program and I highly recommend it if you have one in your area.  After watching a short video about who the food actually helps, we went in to the room to pack the MannaPack Rice food.  The girls did such a great job scooping out either the veggies, the rice, or the soy and pouring them into the bags.  If I remember correctly, our team did about 30 bags in under two hours.  One of the neatest things was at the end where we all went over and put our hands on the boxes and prayed over them before they were sent away.  It was an amazing experience for all of us, and Livi and I just talked about doing it again with Nana over spring break.  

➸➸  Sydney had a "snow day" at her preschool one morning and it was so warm, that a lot of the snow that had been delivered had melted away.  The kids had a blast getting all suited up and playing in it anyway. 

➹ Definitely did not need this coat! ➹

➹ Recognize this gingerbread house? It's the one from the cart parade.  The couple donated it to Sydney's preschool for them to enjoy!  She was so excited to see it again. ➹

➸➸  For Christmas, I got the girls Disney on Ice tickets.  We took my mom and had a great Saturday afternoon at the show.  We had fantastic seats and the girls were so happy to see all of their favorite characters.  Our favorite was the Hawaiian themed one, of course!

➸➸  Olivia celebrated her 100th day of Kindergarten.  I can't believe she is almost ready for first grade.  Where does the time go??!!  

➹ We wrapped Smartie's in these cute stickers for her to give to her class. ➹

➸➸  Olivia also studied bears at school the same week her whole school was participating in Kindness Week.  We combined the two and gave out little bears with a special note to each student in her class.  I love how she decorated each bear.  We celebrated that Friday with an after school trip to see the Paddington Bear movie with friends.   

➸➸ Pretty sure this happened in February {Superbowl Sunday to be exact}, but I took Olivia to the mall for a mommy/daughter date.  We had a blast spending a few hours with just the two of us.

➸➸ The girls spent lots of time with their friends burning off energy and just being nuts.  Isn't that what childhood is all about?!

➸➸ And what do you say we close out this party with some pictures of Sydney being Sydney?!  

➹ Somebody got into Mama's mascara! ➹

➹ Every snowflake is unique.  Ain't that the truth! ➹

➹ Thanks for the half birthday cupcake, Riley! ➹

HELLLOOOOOO, February! 

This New Thing Called Geocaching

We are nothing, if not on trend all the time.  Eh hem.  After our hike with the Hayes' family, we decided to take the girls on another hike for Martin Luther King day.  {Yes, I'm aware that I'm a month behind here. Workin' on it, folks.}  We thought it might be fun to do a little geocaching with them to get them excited about all the walking.  They LOVED it, and we are excited to make our own sometime!

I packed some snacks because I know how they are, and fortunately we had a handful of apples that we offered up to some of the horses we saw along the way.  It was a gorgeous day outside, and this was a fabulous way to spend the day together.

➹ One of the treasures we got. ➹

➹ This is why I don't hike with them by myself. ➹

Back Together With The Hayes' Ladies {and their Gentlemen}

Four and a half years ago, we had the good fortune of having my very dear friend, Jill, come out to California with her two girls for a nice week-long visit.  Shortly after that visit, she and her family moved to Guam for three years.  They recently came back stateside for her husband's work and were staying with family in Indiana.  Lucky for us, they are doing a temporary stay in San Diego until March and made a cross-country road trip in January with a pit-stop in Arizona!  We got to have them stay with us for two nights and I think it was the highlight of Olivia's year!  All four girls got along fabulously, and I'm pretty sure my abs got the most workout they'd had since I last spent time with my funny friend.

We hung out at the house, went for a hike on SanTan mountain, and then let the girls take a polar dip in our 50 degree pool {they begged us to} before jumping in the hot tub.

➹ David's face!!! ➹

➹ I had to take this picture because I knew I had one of Ellie with Magnum from their last visit! ➹ 

➹ These two had a slumber party in Sydney's bed! ➹

Here's hoping they stop back by on their way to their next adventure.  Love them so much!

Family Pictures in Portland

As I mentioned previously, we were fortunate enough to have my amazzzzingly talented sister-in-law take some pictures of us when we were up in Portland.  I mostly wanted some pictures of the girls, but she even managed to snag a couple of the whole family and then just me and David.  She makes it so fun and easy to work with.  We are so lucky to be able to use her talents.  Here are a few {or a gazillion} of my favorites!

Isn't she amazing?!  Thank you so much, Marissa!

The Tooth That Wouldn't

Let's put this in the books:  Tuesday, December 30, 2014 marks the day that Olivia lost her first tooth!

It was a long and painful {for us} process to get that thing out.  Back in August, the dentist told me that her bottom two teeth were slightly loose.  I didn't want her to know because I didn't want her to constantly be sticking her fingers in her mouth wiggling them.  Well, sometime in November, I noticed that the tooth behind one of her bottom teeth was starting to come in.  Like, really coming in. I urged her to wiggle and wiggle and wiggle that tooth to get it out, but she wouldn't.

David tried every night for weeks with flossing around it, wiggling it, brushing it aggressively, and nothing worked.  She wanted the tooth out, but at the same time, she was scared to death for it to come out.

When we got to Portland, we could tell that it was only going to be a few days before it came out, and by the time we returned from our date night, it was obvious it needed to come out right then.  The tooth was hanging straight down.  She was so scared, bless her heart, and as David was trying to even get his fingers in there to pull it out, she was fighting him off with her lips tightly closed.  Next thing we knew, she had spit the dang tooth out!  She, naturally, cried her head off, but then said it didn't even hurt.

The tooth fairy came and left her a two dollar bill and she was so excited to tell everyone it was a "Toofer Tuesday special!"

If you care to see some pictures of that dangling tooth, keep on scrolling!

➹ It's out! ➹

Of course, just a couple days ago, I discovered that the same thing is happening on the tooth next to it.  New tooth coming in behind the slightly loose one.  Here's hoping she puts that $2 bill towards some orthodontics.  😁