December Daily #5

The best Elwin the Elf locator around...

Lila is so fun at Christmas because she notices, appreciates and celebrates all the details. 

This girl has a thousand smiles.

And I love every one.

December Daily #4

This is December in SoCal.  

And it's every bit as awesome as it looks.  Chilly in the morning  + evenings, gorgeous during the day.  

The Swishers are soft these days though.  We are all freezing in the low 60's. 

 If it's 59...we probably have a fire in our fireplace.  😁  

December Daily #3

Cheers to the most hodge-podge tree of them all!

Each ornament represents a special memory of Christmas-pasts; a lovely reminder of some the memories we hold most dear. 

This is our family story; represented by a bunch of crazy + random ornaments all over a fake tree.

Tis the season!!!

December Daily#2

Colt loves Santa. (Kinda)

December Daily #1

It's all about simplification this year for us as we enter the Christmas season.  

And on this the 1st day of December, I decided that we won't be sending Christmas cards out. 

Ahhhhhhh.  (Sigh of relief!!!)

It feels so good!

I'll be back next year I'm sure, but this year: none.  

And I'm reallllly glad about.

Please send yours though; I do love them so.

And enjoy one of our favorites from last year. 

An Old Soul

Our eldest son is old soul.  

Wise beyond his 6 years.

Also patient.

Caring.

Brave.

Gentle.

Sometimes people think he is quiet.  

Oh, how wrong they are!

He can be quiet at times, but usually those are times of observing, thinking playing or learning for him.

Oh, he's a rascal too.

He enjoys driving his sister ca-razy for instance.

He's funny + silly + looooovvvveeeessss to dance.

Last night we went to a concert at church.  

At first he drew meticulous and awesome pictures.  

Then he sat ever-so-still on my lap enjoying the music.  

I asked him if he was tired.

Yes.

I asked him if he wanted a snuggle.

Yes.

He turned and nuzzled in to my chest and fell asleep in about, oh,15 seconds.

And I was able to hold my stud as he slept so peacefully on my chest.

My growing stud who just 6 years ago was my 5 1/2 pound Benjamin Button.

I kept thinking this may be the very last time my oldest son falls asleep on my lap.

I mean logistically it's getting pretty tight!!

I'll be honest, I shed a few tears.

I was just so happy.

And grateful.

I so love being Lincoln's mom.

Lately

Wanna know what living the dream looks like???

It looks like hanging out with your 3 kids at the IHOP on a Saturday night.

And loving every minute of it.

Fancy peeps, we are [proudly] not.  

These days...these dog-tired days of raising our children...these are the best days!

Lila's snaggle tooth was finally knocked out by an elbow to her mouth from her twin bro.  

The first tooth she didn't cry about when it fell out. 

 (Even though it was the bloodiest.)

Love these 2.  

Love that they are twins.

Colt rocks his mommy-and-me preschool class.  

He's the youngest in the class and is doing awesome.

After the first class I was a bit worried; he threw fits, hit me once, screamed a lot, etc.

But now, he just loves it!

And I'm loving doing an activity with him that I avoided like the plague with the twins.

(Because 2 against 1 = NO FAIR)

While Colt was taking a nap I snuck out front to chat with a neighbor.

When I came in, he was downstairs eating cookies.  Maybe like 8 in fact!

EIGHT!

This guy.

I did a mud run a couple of weeks ago.

And can I just day, I was so proud of myself?!

I also got to take a foam shower with 50 half-naked strangers whilst being sprayed/suffocated by pirates with organic foam spray guns.

Very Vegas-y.

Very memorable.

You have to be verrrrry patient in SoCal for the arrival of Autumn.  

I can feel some very subtle changes, and I'm getting excited to say goodbye to the tank tops, swimsuits and shorts for a bit.

Hopefully by November.  ;)