the night before christine

christine each time i type/ write christmas, it ends up christine... out of habit.  

christmas eve we spent at my aunt kerry and uncle brians house in descanso. we ate the traditional pate family  tamale dinner, celebrated my sweet grandfather clydes 80th birthday, yep thats right, 80! and he is amazing! i love him to smithereens and i even got to see my cousin sky! whoop whoop! all in all it was a grand occasion.

also, we love our sweet tracy and are so blessed that she gets to be with us in spirit. such an amazing lady that one is.

i was diggin on her rockin chandelier "decorates" as polster would call them.

if you ever wonder why some photogs are b&w and some are color, its cause the white balance in the b&w ones were waaaaaay off and i didnt want to spend the time to try and correct. also, its convenient that they are good ones for b&w.

convos with the grandparents are wonderful.

my theodore was loving playing w the micro cars on kitty-boys she is a girl tower.

SKY! i love him. he is my cousin and i dont get to see him very often. so when i do, i get REALLY excited about it.

my heart really enjoys this.

a few pre christmas going ons

lots of happenings, lots of busy-ness, lots of love and happiness.

pink one and i went on a gift shopping date complete with hot chocolate and pumpkin cake from the nordeies cafe. when we finished and as we were getting up to leave, a nice gentleman who was sitting at a close-ish table approached to say "i can tell you are doing a great job as a mother." REALLY?! he was a gem. made the smile in my heart grow even wider that day. thanks to him.

i have never seen a resemblance between my little gal and myself. then i came home and ma pointed out a phote of i at her age. BAM! proof that she is mine.

saw santa at the mall.

made some ornaments with salt dough, cookie cutters and paint.

also, we adopted our "elf on the shelf" this year. he was lovingly named "prengl" pronounced pringle and surely came up with lots of silly shenanigans to fill his nights with while we were sleeping. there was plenty evidence of what he had been up to and the babes got to go on an elf hunt upon waking each day. he was fun to have around to say the least. sometimes during the day, he would even find his way to a new spot when no one was looking. "THAT TRICKY LITTLE STINKER!!!!"

watching us all play outside.

one eve, he pooped in a jar. ever wondered what elf poo looks like? chocolate icing and sprinkles. polly  found out that it even tastes like it too.

knob hill in san marcos, clark griswold lives there. 

we found this home, courtesy of al. my hair cutter stud muffin at dels barber shop. 

just a home on the top of the hill, tons of lights to look at, a santa to visit and candy canes to be eaten. they were a beautiful older couple.

made for a lovely family evening.

much more to come on our holiday fun times. 

disney and the dukes

the dukes, we love them! loads and loads. they came out for a disneyland trip last month and we joined for 2 days. i only took a minimal amount of photos. on purpose. iv been making it a point as of late, to just be where i am. soak it in, enjoy it, love it, be in heaven. cause when im with my family, thats exactly where i am. heaven.
do not misinterpret. still carry the camera everywhere i go, still whip it out to snap away at what most would think is complete non-sensical-ness.

because we were unsure about whether we would be able to go, we mentioned nothing of it to the babes.  SURPRISE!!!!! we are at disneyland.... do do do.... lets go walk this way.... do do do.... SURPRISE!!!!! there are your cousins that you have been missing so dearly! obviously, it was superb on all counts.

first order of business: FIND THE TREATSSSSS!!!! karissa introduced us to "tigger tails." mallows covered in caramel, walnuts AND chocolate. yeah.... im not a mallow fan but that bad boi was delush!

teds sure is lucky to have such an amazing sister. and vice versa.

two reasons i come here... corn dogs and pinapple whip. boff of um are majik!

STOKED!!! ...... RIP OFF!!!!!

these shoes. they are my bass boat shoes. i have owned them for years. they are the only ones that could comfortably house my swollen achey feet through pregnancy, they have fallen apart and been sewed back together by i, they are truly rusty and crusty by now, they are my faves. i am thankful for them and the many miles i have and will continue to beat them up over. i will own them forever.

this guys fave ride. nemo.

holidays. we are making sure to have happy ones. 

a november holiday

i am so incredibly thankful for my family; each and every member. although we drive one another bonkers on a daily basis, i would be completely lost with out them. each one brings a different but equal joy to my heart. except my kids... they bring more so they are the winners. i am so full of thanks and gratitude and appreciation.

we went to doug and al's new home. broke it on in, broke it on down.
they painted their fence and i love it.
brought our craft basket and a bucket o' toys for the babes.
polly made herself a "new pocohontas costune" and truly, i was amazed. resourceful little bugger.
she showed it off. naturally, upon witnessing the praise his sister received for her skill and creativeness, brother wanted to create something of his own. so he placed a couple pom-poms a top his noggin a presented himself. he was proud, as were we.
mia gave sun room recliner rides.
pols participated in her first battleship game, EVA.
littles made a goodly huge mess, dougger carved his first turkey with guidance from pa and it was a great day.

tattoos, parade and a girls date

klint, i, mom, pols and ted went to ant pennys for a parade and ice cream. after, the kids gave us tattoos and the gals headed out for some female fun time.

real stoked on his bubblegum ice cream.

talmage art fair. with smiley face tattoos on our nosies. courtesy of  missy polly. 

pink one got "toasty." a piece of toast pillow with a heart pad of butter.

dinner.

hair decorations.

learning to play skii ball. 

take note of the ball flying three lanes over.