In A Nutshell...

Well, it's a New Year! I have a lot to catch up on with my blogging. It seems like the entire month of December was filled with secret Disneyland planning. I'm glad to have things back to "normal" even though I could have used a few more days of Christmas break.Piano Recital. Here is my sparkling ornament! She had to have this dress and she had to have those earrings. You can click here if you need a reminder about the earrings! A budding fashionista.
Raychel with her piano teacher.
Raychel's teacher Mrs. McQuay and her husband. They were so kind to give up a Friday night and bring Raychel a beautiful pink rose.

"Raychie" and Brookie...friends forever.

Leah just looking cute watching TV.

Caramel popcorn makes me so happy! You can click here to see why.

My great little kernel shaker.

Raychel has a mouthful.

Digging in for more.

Three little princesses. This was supposed to be their "styling" for the princess breakfast. Well, with the rain, I wasn't going to spend all that time barrel curling their hair. We made up for it on Christmas Eve.

It's almost time for Santa! Love Raychel's excited smile!

May-May

Cute Christmas morning faces.

So James surprised us all this year with a new TV...a fancy one! He saved all his bonuses from the year and bought it without even me knowing. What a true family man. Anyway, when we walked out in the morning, there was this huge TV. (Santa only left stockings since he had delivered a Disneyland trip to us earlier.) I said to the girls, "Wow! Look! What did Santa bring us?" Leah goes, "A little Minnie Mouse!" (Left in her stocking) It just goes to show you it's the little things that count! However, they are so addicted to the TV now!

I love these pictures! Anna and Leah both made a comfy bed for their babies and Minnie Mouse. Hey, they need a place to lay their head too! These are the "Black Friday Babies".

So I'm thinking I need to always take a "backup" picture in full auto mode, so I can avoid pictures like this. It looks like I accented everything gold. That's not photoshop, folks. It's just my fine work behind the camera. Oh well.

I thought it might be fun to have a little New Year's Eve party for the girls with some of their friends.

Here we are waiting for our guests to arrive. Raychel kept putting that fake rose in her mouth like a tango dancer. She felt it would be a "nice decoration for the table".

LOTS of giggles. That is one of the best sounds in the world. Happy, laughing children. We all sat at the table and made English Muffin pizzas. I thought I would be all "fancy" and offer a variety of toppings. Well, cheese and pepperoni would have been plenty.

Happy New Year! What's a party without a little bubbly? Raychel says, "This is exactly how Aurora does it." Toasting like a real princess.

Anna and Carter

Brookie and Leah

Classic. Two first grade smiles.

Loved Jocelyn's face here!

Leah having a blast.

Pillow Pet pillow fight. Here we have Raychel going in for the whack.

Here we have Nate smothering Raychel telling her she "best not eva do that again!" haha! Kidding!

Well, Tam, I gotta tell the best story of the evening. This will go down in history as one of the greatest quotes of all time. After the kids had ran up and down the hall a million times, shot each other with dart guns, drank all the sparkling cider and smacked each other with Pillow Pets, they were getting a little tired. We got everyone all comfortable and cozy on the floor with blankets and pillows everywhere. As I was starting the movie (Scooby Doo Camp Scare), Raychel goes, "Hmmm...there's that smell again." Nate sits up and says, "Sorry guys, I might be farting a little bit right now." HAHAHA!!! Oh my gosh, I had to duck behind the wall and try to laugh quietly. None of the kids said anything. They just looked at him like, "Ok, thanks for telling us." So, next time you need to pass a little gas, just think of my homeboy Nate, and make a PSA. Make sure to let the crowd know you're only "farting a little bit right now." Love it!!! Makes me happy.

As I was thinking about resolutions for the year, I thought of a quote from Gordon B. Hinckley. "Try a little harder to be a little better."

I'm going to make that my mantra for the year. It's something we can all do.