Breakfast with Santa + Samantha's Performance

We had a super jam packed weekend last weekend. On Saturday we had breakfast with Santa and then Samantha's dance recital. Both were awesome and the kids were super excited. So much so that Samantha was up at 5:00a.m. on Saturday drawing a map of where we were going that day. Then they sat in front of the Christmas tree and wrote their lists for Santa. It was such a sweet moment. One I will never forget.

    

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The preschool does a breakfast with Santa every year and this year I am on the parent council. It is so eye opening to see how things work from the inside out. The director of the preschool puts so much into the kids. She is so caring and generous and I am just so fortunate to have my kids at this preschool.
The kids got to have some breakfast, do some crafts and of course tell the big guy what's on thier lists. They did great., No nerves, no tears. It was remarkable. And I forgot to get a picture with both of them which I'm bummed about, but I did get one of each of them:)

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Samantha has been in a ballet/jazz dance class since August and is loving it. We absolutely love her teacher Miss. Megan. She is so sweet. Saturday they had the Holly Day show and it was super cute. I was wondering how Samanhta would do since this was her first time on a big stage with lights and tons of people watching but she loved it. She told me next time she wants to do more than one dance! And we were happy to have Grandma and Grandpa and Grammie and Grandpa come to watch. Grammie and Grandpa drove three hours from Rio Rico and Grandpa drove down from Prescott just to show their support. we're so clessed to have such loving and supportive grandparents! We love you all!!!

  



Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We went down to Rio Rico to spend Thanksgiving with Grammie, Grandpa, Auntie Helen, Tracy and Greg.  It was fun to all be together. It's been a while!

The kids loved being with their family. There were crafts, games, walks and let's not forget all of the delicious food! We felt kind of bad getting there at noon and everything was ready. Everything was scrumptious. A highlight of the meal was Samantha eating 5 servings of turkey with gracy. She takes after her daddy with the love of gracy I guess!!!

The day after Thanksgiving we decorated the tree and got the house all "Christmas-y". Samantha and Cole were SO into decorating the tree! Every ornament Cole pulled out he said, "This is pretty" and  "Oooh, look at this one!" It was adorable.

After a long day of relaxing (and online shopping!) we decided to head outside. Samatha was all about chalk, hopscotch and hula-hooping. Cole just wanted to race Grandpa up and down the driveway five hundred times! We wondered who was more worn out by the end of the night:)

It was such a great weekend with lots of lasting memories. Thanks Grammie and Grandpa for being such wonderful grandparents and loving us so much!!!



Cole's Preschool Pictures

This year Cole's preschool hired a professional photographer (who actually went to the preschool 20 years ago!!!) to take the school pictures. They are so stunning I have a date set to get Samantha's done too.
He looks so **big** all of the sudden!

Halloween 2011

This Halloween was so much fun. Cole decided to be a cowboy, complete with horse and all. Samantha was a bride, complete with vail, ring and boquet (which I had to carry!). It was so sweet, Samantha asked who we were going to trick or treat with this year and I said I wasn't sure. She said, "It would be really fun if we went with Grandma and Grandpa again. We have gone with them in years past, and let me tell you-they hand out full sized candy bars on his street!!! So I called my dad and he drove down from Prescott the night before just to be there with the kids. Thanks Grandpa! And of course I didn't get a picture with him-gotta remember to do that next year.
As we were driving to my dad's house Samantha said, "Mommy, this is going to be a fun Halloween. Last year I liked it, but I was kind of scared of those weird costumes. This year I'm not going to be scared because I know they are just costumes." She's growing up so fast!
Trick or treating was great. They yelled Trick or Treat to each house and Thank yous, which made me proud. And I will never forget, as we were walking Cole turned around and said to me, "I like trick or treating!" It was a cute moment.
Another year on the books, can't believe it.

Cole's Halloween Parade

Today was Cole's Halloween Parade at preschool. The kids got to wear their costumes and march around the courtyard. It was adorable. The morning started off a little rocky when Cole decided yet again, as he did last year, that he didn't want to wear a costume. Sigh. He tried on his cowboy outfit, didn't want to wear it. Tried on his blue, three-eyed monster costume. Loved it, then hated it. Then had a complete meltdown. This was all twenty minutes before school started. Well, he finally decided that he wanted to be a cowboy. But he wouldn't wear jeans, or jean shorts so he has on gym shorts. And he put his boots on the wrong feet. It was comical. But hey, he's only 3 right? He'd be cute no matter what he wore. Here he is loving life.