Happy New Year!

I know it's mid February but, I took some time from all my "should do's" to rest last month. After talking with my godmother this week (who is the best godmother in the world even if she doesn't feel like it right now) I realized I haven't posted an update here in awhile. Here is what our little family has been up to ... 

Banging pots and pans on New Years Eve!
Steve and Connie joined us for the live Phish concert stream.

We did enjoyed playing with sparklers for the first time on New Years Eve night too but, I didn't take any photos. Here we are on New Year's Day "sort of" having fun. Hudson was a little uneasy about them.

Bert and I spent a couple of frustrating hours putting these shelves up in the boys bedroom. I bought them when Ethan was about 3. About time they showed up on the wall! The kids really enjoyed arranging all their prized collections on them. Ethan especially likes seeing his Super Mario figures on display. I think he has the collector gene.

A beautiful bounty of lemons, oranges, romaine lettuce, chives and swiss chard from my friend Sara's garden.  I didn't know swiss chard was so delicious! Bert and I both really loved sauteing it with garlic. So yummy. Thanks Sara!

We hit the park playground almost every day after school with our friends and brothers Cayman and Cason. We also run into other school friends. So nice to enjoy the weather, get outside and play.

Speaking of Cayman, he celebrated his 8th birthday this month. We had a great time at the party! he had an amazing race themed party at the local park and it was really cool. A great idea for kids to run off steam and work in groups of two to try and win the race! Bert and I helped out with two of the activity stations - I did memory and he did nerf target practice.

I don't have pictures but, Hudson began a Hip Hop dance class and is loving it. He has a recital in May! It will be our 1st time time attending a dance recital, being a dancer for years as a kid with countless recitals I am really looking forward to it (of course he is too)!

So that's what we are up to. 

Hope you are doing well in your neck of woods. 

Lots of love, Kristen xoxo

holiday happenings

All quiet on Christmas Eve and a good time to share some December photos. 

Photo shoot for our holiday card.

 

Our Advent calendar kept us on track for lots of holiday fun. Baking cookies, watching Christmas movies, hot cocoa, seeing lights, baking treats for the boys old daycare, making gifts for their teachers, seeing a holiday play, attending their holiday school party, picking out toys for tots and more!

Here are some Creative Stash orders I worked on this month ...

These are the gifts I created for the boys teachers. They choose the crystal spacer to match their teachers favorite color and I printed a little gift tag that said "Thank you for your pearls of wisdom."

 

A visit to Enchanted Island at Encanto Park for some snow tube sledding and rides!

A visit from the Tohki Family!!! Aziz played while Jacynda the boys created their 2nd gingerbread house. 

 We wish you a Merry Christmas!!!

grandparent's holiday visit

My parents were for a long weekend visiting us for the holidays. They got to see our new home, take a ride on the light rail to the Tempe Arts Fest, visit the boys school for a holiday party, see Ethan's flag football tournament, watch a holiday play and help us build a gingerbread house! We really enjoyed them here. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

 

Gingerbread House Building

 

Tada! 

5 minutes later ...

 

 

Freezing at Ethan's Flag Football Game

East Valley Children's Theater Holiday Play at Mesa Art Center

Enjoying dinner at the boys new favorite restaurant - Got Sushi?!

Hudson's Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast

 

flag football

This fall Ethan has been playing flag football, go Mountain Lions! He has learned so much about the game and it's such fun to watch him and his teammates play each Saturday.

 

halloween

Here is the trick or treating gang! Gnome (Tommy), Super Mario (Ethan), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle (Hudson) and Star Wars Trooper (Timmy). We had a great night trick or treating and stuffing our faces with candy!

Here are the boys terrifying jack-o-lanterns! Ethan's is on the left and Hudson's is on the right. We listening to spooky music while creating them to really get into the mood.

our new home!

 

We moved into our new home last week and area all settled, unpacked and decorated!

Our new place is super cute. We really like the neighborhood. The space inside fits our family well. It is cozy and so much quieter then our last place, so much quieter. The kitchen is slightly out of the way and I like not having to see any unfinished business in there when I'm relaxing on the couch. Chloe has her first ever doggy door. I hope she loves it as much as we do :) The kids playroom has a door and full walls which helps a lot with sound control. We have a sweet little backyard with enough space to play, a pretty tiled patio and lots of flowers, we have even had some visits from butterflies and hummingbirds which I love.

Here are a few snapshots ...

We hope you will visit us soon!