White Christmas

We experienced our first White Christmas this year spending the holidays at home. It was a great week with Craig coming home early most days and us just hanging out together as a family. The kids and I didn't get out of the house much Christmas week because we got snow almost everyday and the roads were a mess. Christmas Eve we carried on with the Texas tradition of tamales and chili and then watched The Polar Express ending the night with the kids opening one present from under the tree and reading about baby Jesus from A Christmas Story children's book. Christmas morning the kids finished unwrapping the rest of their gifts and played all morning with their new toys while Craig and I enjoyed a big breakfast. They took great naps from all the excitement of presents that morning that Craig and I had our Turkey dinner with all the fixin's alone and loved it!! No interruptions, no whining about the food, no arguments...you all know what I'm getting at. Anyway, the timing was perfect that as we cleaned our plates, the kid woke up and then they ate so I just left everything out until they were done. We spent the rest of the evening lounging around while the kids played, snacking in the kitchen, and enjoying our Christmas together. Even though it was a quite day without any other family around, it was nice spending the day at home.

We took pictures from Craig's work camera for Christmas morning and the pictures turned out terrible and grainy looking. Later that day I used our old digital and the pictures (the last 3)came out so much better.

All the stocking stuffers came from a convention Craig attended in Vegas at the end of November. The biggest hit: a slinky and a flashlight keychain

They are into puzzles so they got a ton of them this year

This is the beginning of all the Star Wars stuff for Brandon

They got these great V-Tech computers from their cousins that I knew they'd love

Brandon was so excited when we told him that these were Darth Vader gloves even though they are really Batman. My mom got them for a $1. The original price tag was still on them for $19.95 - what a deal!!

Grandma and Grandpa Holbrook sent this snow tube that I haven't inflated yet as you can tell. It is awesome and I can't wait to get the kids outside in it - they will have blast. Here they are testing it out already!!

Camping out on the kitchen floor after a toy-filled great holiday!!

Dressed for Christmas

I had to snap a couple photos of the kids today before we headed out to church. This is the first time Briana has worn this dress even though we bought it a couple years ago and she and I both were excited for her to wear it today.

**To explain about the line across Brandon's neck, he was in the playroom standing on the window seat, grabbed the blind cords and somehow pulled them across his neck, or strung them around his neck, or whatever, but that is the mark that it left. I happened to walk in just after he did this because he was grabbing his neck when I came in. It makes me sick thinking about it!!! I swear the older he gets, the more stuff he is getting into.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

We got dumped with snow all day Saturday and last night and the kids were so excited to get out there and make a snowman today. They had to wait most of the day with church all morning and then naps in the afternoon. Once they woke up, we had about an hour left of daylight. After bundling them up, Craig got the snow shovel and started clearing the driveway while the kids did their best to help out with their little shovels. Unfortunately, the snow was all powder so it wouldn't stick together to make a snowman. I don't think the kids really cared though because they actually asked to come inside. They were freezing from getting all wet in the snow and it didn't help that the temperature was 25 degrees!!

Hide and Seek

Last night Briana wanted to play Hide and Seek with Craig. So while Craig and I were in the kitchen, he started counting to 10 and told Briana to go hide. He started to laugh and asked where the camera was. I asked why and he showed me Briana's hiding spot. Then I started to laugh and took pictures of all her hiding spots that night. As you can see, she needs some helping understanding what a hiding place really means.

This one is my favorite and is what got us laughing to pull the camera out

Major Breakthrough with Brandon

I gave myself till the end of the year to get this kid potty-trained and now I can finally check that off my TO DO list. He made it so difficult and fought me so bad about going on the potty that I thought maybe he STILL wasn't ready. I was ready though so I made him be ready too and maybe forced it some but oh well. I mean, he is 3 years old and will be going into primary at church in January so it is just time. He still isn't 100% yet but at this point, there is no going back. Next obstacle - getting him in a big kid bed but from what we went through with potty-training, it will be a piece of cake!!

Twilight Movie

I saw the Twilight movie last night with two friends for a girl's night out. Our first stop was to a neighbor's home that was having a Scentsy party - candles. Both Kathy and Angie wanted to get some but I guess I'm not a big candle burning person so I passed on buying anything. Then we had dinner at the Pizza Factory. Both Kathy and I had never been to one and it was great. They have the most amazing breadsticks. I could have just eaten those up and would have been satisfied. Then off to our movie. I had heard so many things about how parts are corny, silly, and even laugh-out-loud bad that I went into the theater with very low expectations. So now my assessment - I though it was pretty good. Of course it isn't close to being as good as the book but still I enjoyed it. I thought they cast Bella perfectly - exactly how I pictured her in my head. Edward was just okay. Sometimes I thought, "he is pretty cute" and then other times I thought, "he doesn't do it for me". I also wished that the Cullen family had more to do in the movie, especially Alice, but I know there is so much that has to be cut out so it doesn't get up being like 3+ hours. Overall, I was just glad to finally see this movie and get out for an evening. I hadn't been to a movie since Indiana Jones in May so it had been awhile and I was ready to see this one.

Thanksgiving in Phoenix

We made the trip down to Phoenix again this Thanksgiving to spend with my sister and her family and my dad. I love that the weather is good that the kids can play outside everyday and have time to get to know their cousins. The last time we were there in July, Briana and her cousin Morgan, who is only 4 months younger, fought like cats and dogs. This trip around though they were glued at the hip the whole time and never had a disagreement. We stayed at my dad's house but headed to my sister's house every morning to spend our days there. As soon as we walked in the door, Briana had to put on her Sleeping Beauty dress and Morgan had a Cinderella dress that they wore for the rest of the day. They were so cute together!! Brandon loved that his cousin Tanner had 4 lightsabers so that kept him busy most of the day too. It was so nice to just sit in the kithen with my sister baking and eating all day while the kids were off playing on their own. We had a great Thanksgiving and ate way too much food but it was nice to spend the holiday with family.

What was I thinking?

The kids haven't had professional pictures taken since they were 8 and 9 months old. It has been somthing I've been wanting to do for awhile but never got around to. Last week while at Walmart, I walked by the Portrait Studio and then and there decided to make an appointment for the kids. I made the appointment for this morning to get it done before we left town for Thanksgiving. Why didn't I question my thinking of doing this alone without help? Have I forgotten what Brandon is like, how busy he is, how quickly he has a fit over everything?? Why didn't I make the appointment late in the afternoon so Craig could be with me for support??? Unfortunately all these thoughts escaped me until I was there going through the nightmare. The first couple rounds Brandon did really well but then it all went downhill. He refused to sit still and didn't want anything to do with more picture taking. We decided to get Briana up there with him hoping that would calm him down, but it was worse with them both yelling at each other, "don't touch me", "get away from me", "stop that", and so on. We did some pictures of just Briana and she did great. We then tried to get Brandon up there again with Briana to try and get at least one picture of them together - it never happened. When I finally just gave up on that hope, Brandon's face was all flushed with his forehead broken out in red spots from crying and screaming. We headed over to the computer to check out what pictures she did get and thinking that things couldn't get worse, it did. They ran around the studio, opened all the drawers and closets pulling out all the props and screaming at each other. I couldn't concentrate at all what the girl was offering me for the pictures so I hurried and ordered some so I could get out of this nightmare. While paying for whatever it was I ordered, Briana started yelling at me for a doughnut, something I promised the kids we could get in the bakery if there were good. I grabbed my receipt, grabbed Brandon's arm, and headed out of Walmart while Briana was behind me still screaming for a doughnut. I had a whole grocery list with me thinking that after pictures, I could do some shopping. I was too upset to even consider staying to get that done. Once we were in the car, I completely went off on the kids and they both started to cry. Then I started to cry. So here we are in the Walmart parking lot, 2 kids and an adult crying in the car and I turn around to see this man sitting in his car right across from us watching this whole scene like a movie. On the way home, I stopped at 7-11 for a much needed Big Gulp and ended up with a bag of Cheetos and a HUGE sugar cookie as well. Sad how sweets can cheer up our foul mood but it worked for me. I finally looked at my receipt and had ordered 6 5x7 photos of each kid - 12 5x7's total. Nothing else.

So to all Brandon and Briana's grandparents, you'll be getting a 5x7 of each grandchild in the next month just in time for Christmas!!

Briana's sense of smell is in serious question

Last night Craig took Briana to the potty and she happened to pass gas. Thankfully the kids have learned to say "excuse me" when they do this. Craig then told Briana that she stinks but she corrected him and said, "no daddy, I smell like oranges". Craig then asked what he smelled like and she said "apples". He then asked what mommy smells like and her answer was "carrots" and Brandon smells like "pears". The imagination these kids have at this age is hilarious!!

Cinderella and Prince Charming

I was so excited this year to have my kids dress up as Cinderella and Prince Charming. I already had the Cinderella dress given to me by a friend and that was all Briana talked about for the last two weeks. But as of about a month ago, I didn't know what I was going to do for Brandon and actually it was Craig that came up with Prince Charming. What an easy costume since he had the clothes already for it. He wore a white dress shirt, khaki pants, and I made him a royal blue cloak with gold trim and for his crown I hit my local Burger King. I added in gold trim the letters PC on the back of his cloak and on his crown I covered up the Burger King logo with a white sticker I colored blue and in yellow wrote PC just in case people couldn't figure out who he was. I was hoping that with him standing next to Briana all evening that it would be pretty easy. Well, once he took off the crown, everyone thought he was Dracula...whatever!! Our first outing was to our church's Trunk-or-Treat activity that was held on an empty cul-de-sac. Craig took the kids from car to car while I handed out candy in the back of the Jeep. Once back at home, Craig took the kids up and down our street for more trick-or-treating. Brandon eventually got bored and started messing with the neighbor's decorations so he brought him home and took Briana out for more. Craig said she did really good saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" and she even carried on with salutations to a neighbor saying "see ya", "happy halloween", bye-bye", "see you tomorrow". I guess the neighbor just started to laugh after this continued for awhile but kept it up to please her. Overall, the kids had a great time and loved getting all the candy. I'm not sure if I'll be able to decide for them what they'll be next Halloween but if Star Wars continues to be popular at our house then I'm thinking Darth Vader and Princess Leia!!

Halloween Day

The day of Halloween I got the kids dressed in these cute T-shirts my friend Nicole bought them when we came to visit her in CA in early October. They love wearing the shirts and going into the bathroom, close the door with no light on, and watch the red light move around on their tummies. They are getting so much better too about taking pictures so I got a couple cute ones of them together.

Briana and her aprons

Briana loves her play kitchen that we got her for her birthday and whenever she decides to bake something which usually is cookies, she has to put on her apron before she can do any baking. I find it funny that she does this because I never wear an apron myself so I'm not sure where she learned that from. My mom had made her two aprons to go along with the kitchen so she'll come up to me and ask for help in tying one of them around her waist. She then goes off to her play kitchen and later brought me a plate of cookies looking like this. She is too funny!! In addition to the apron, she also has on a princess skirt too. Pretty much everday at some point, she'll ask if she can get her curtains (meaning play clothes) out. Each day she comes downstairs in something different. She definitely is a girly-girl!!

Brandon's Tummy Toss

Brandon loves to get tossed into the air and no one does it better than Craig. He has tried several different ways in tossing Brandon around and has decided on the best technique in doing it.

Step 1: Brandon lays on his tummy between Craig's legs on the floor
Step 2: Craig bends down and grabs Brandon's ankles
Step 3: The countdown 3-2-1
Step 4: Brandon is lifted up into the air feet first
Step 5: Brandon then does this spin in the air
Step 6: Craig catches Brandon upright around the waist

Brandon gets so excited a keeps asking for more until Craig's arms and back start to ache or I can't take watching it anymore - it does freak me out a little bit. I had to try and get a couple pictures though because the excitement in Brandon's face while airborne is priceless.

Star Wars Videos

While at my friend Nicole's house, she showed me how to take videos on my new camera and took some cute ones of the kids watching their favorite movie - Star Wars of course!!

Snow...ALREADY!!

We had a freak snow storm come in last night and left the yard covered in snow this morning. The kids were so excited and couldn't wait to make a snowman. We had early morning church, lunch, and then naps so that when we finally got the kids outside, most of the snow had melted but they didn't care. They loved running around the backyard throwing snowballs at each other and Brandon ate so much snow that I'm surprised he isn't sick from all the grass he ate along with it.

California Trip

We just got back from spending a week in California and packed in so much that we were ready to head home when it was all over. There are so many parts to this trip that I'm going to break it down day to day.

Thursday, Oct 3rd: The kids and I (that's right...Craig wasn't with us and I did it all by myself!!) drove down to CA leaving our driveway at 4:20am. Our first stop was in Cedar City for breakfast, then stopping in Vegas to stretch our legs at a park next to where my brother used to live, then lunch in Barstow, CA. Once we got back on the road in Barstow, both kids took naps that lasted till we almost got my grandpa's house in La Habra, CA. The kids did awesome on the trip and only watched one movie the whole way down - unbelieveable!!

Friday: Spent the morning with my grandpa and my mom who flew down from Ohio to spend the weekend to visit too. That afternoon I left the kids with my mom so I could pick Craig up at the Orange County airport. Later for dinner, my brother and his two kids and my other brother and his wife came over so we could hang out together.

Saturday: Disneyland!! We got a 2-day hopper pass to the parks. We got there right as the park opened and basically walked on every ride for almost two hours. We headed to the picnic area to eat the lunch we brought ourselves and then spent the afternoon at California Adventure. We saw the Pixar Parade that the kids loved because they knew all the characters from the movies. We had dinner at the park eating at the Brea Bakery and I had broccoli cheese soup in a sourdough bread bowl. My mouth is drooling just thinking about it - it was so good!! After dinner, we couldn't decide what to do next since the parks were very crowded and we'd done quite a bit for one day already. So at 7:03pm we headed home. We figured to get a good night's sleep and come back early the next day and hopefully avoid the crowds again.








Sunday: Disneyland!! The park had different hours this day because of some Miley Cyrus Sweet 16 party so it closed at 5pm. Pretty early so they also opened the park at 6:30am. Like I said - crazy hours. We figured only the die hards would get to the park at 6:30am so that is what we did. We decided to head right to the Peter Pan ride since that line in Fantasyland is always packed. We started toward the castle and saw two cast members standing at the foot of the castle once you cross the drawbridge. Once we got to them, they handed each of us (the kids too) a Dream Fastpass badge, one for each park to use whenever we wanted. Each badge had tabs of all the rides that used the fastpass system. Basically we could walk up to any fastpass line anytime we wanted and they would take the tab from our badge. My brother Jimmy and his wife Susie were going to meet us later that morning so we waited to use them once they joined us. When they did, we each took turns watching the kids while the other couple used the passes. We first did Indiana Jones, then Haunted Mansion, and finally Space Mountain before we stopped to watch the Parade of Dreams down Main Street. After that we headed to the other park to do Tower of Terror and Soarin' and then stopped for dinner. They all did California Screamin' while I watched the kids and then we called it a day. We pretty much did everything we wanted at each park. I'm telling you that getting to the park right when it opens is the best thing to do and we did the majority of the rides then because there were no lines - it was awesome!!




Monday: My mom watched Briana while Brandon and I took Craig back to the airport so he could fly to Fresno for work. On the way back, we stopped at Downtown Disney and just walked around and did some window shopping. The rest of the day we stayed at the house and watched the kids play in the backyard.


Tuesday: The kids and I took my mom to the airport and then headed to Huntington Beach to spend the day and night at my brother Jimmy's place. I visited with my sister-in-law Susie while the kids watched movies in the morning and waited for my dad to come over. He had driven from Phoenix the day before to visit for the next couple days. That afternoon I left the kids with my dad and brother Jimmy so I could meet up with some childhood friends, DiAnna and Stacey, for dinner. I have known these girls since I was 11 years old and even though I only lived in the neighborhood with them for 3 years when we were kids, I know that I have friends for life - they are the best!!


Wednesday: Left Huntington Beach and drove to Santa Barbara to visit another great friend, Nicole. We knew each other from Texas having worked at the same company together. We both ended leaving Texas but have reasons to continue to visit Texas so that is when we usually see each other. We had a good visit and took the kids to the beach - their first time!!

Thursday: Drove back to La Habra but made a stop again at Downtown Disney. When I was there on Monday, I regretted not buying these Star Wars action figure toys for the kids so I headed back to get it. Spent the afternoon with grandpa and starting getting packed up for our trip home the next day. That evening while my aunt watched the kids, I headed back to the airport to pick up Craig. I was so tired of driving to the airport - my 3rd time in 4 days!!


Friday: We got a late start since both Craig and I were very tired and took our time in the morning getting ready. It turned out to be a very long day and the kids were not as good this time on the road. We were so happy to finally arrive home and sleep again in our own beds. I'm sure the kids would agree as well since they were towed all around CA the last couple days with me. Overall though, they did better than I had expected. We spent so much time in the car and sleeping here and there that I was surprised how well they adjusted to the changes. I hope this means that as they get older, it will continue to get easier. Here is hoping at least!!