It's beginning to...

look a lot like Christmas!

Warm (day before) Thanksgiving

Today we went to the beach with Blair's sister, Ashlee and her family, and Blair's parents. It was such a beautiful day! We went to Laguna Beach and enjoyed warm weather and clear sunny skies. Lately I've been hearing over and over and over and over again how boring it is that California has no seasons and how everyone misses the seasons. Maybe it's because I've grown up here and I'm Californian through and through, but I'll take this over falling orange and brown leaves anyday ...





























Heading down the stairs to the beach....Mackenzie striking a pose. She cracks me up!

















Oh, my boys. Oh, how I love these guys. They both make my heart melt in different ways.
























Mackenzie just adores her cousins. She has so much fun with them. Here are a couple pictures of her with Audree (they are just three months apart). Karlee and Rylee were playing down by the water, so I didn't get any pics of Mackenzie with them.















And then there was trouble. Here is Garrett with his cousin Spencer. They are pure mischief. They are also oh so cute.

Garrett looking for dolphins and whales, and saying "night-night sun."

Mommy and Garrett at sunset.

Our Little Pilgrim

Today Garrett and I went to Mackenzie's preschool and watched her sing Thanksgiving songs. My favorite was "Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble, fat turkeys are we." I mean, come on, does it get any better than that? Okay, it does, but you had to see the dance that went with it.

Here are a couple of pictures. I didn't get any great ones, but you try balancing a video camera and Garrett in your arms while trying to capture the moment with a picture. Pretty tricky stuff.

They made pilgrim hats and teepees (out of an icecream cone, frosting, and candies...yum!).




















In this one, notice it looks like Mackenzie is trying to hold the boy's hand who is next to her. Yikes, I guess it just starts earlier and earlier. At least he's the cutest boy in class. :)

Christmas at Disneyland

After the birthday party was over, my mom and I took the kids on some other rides at Disneyland and looked at all the Christmas decor. A couple days later, Blair and I went back for date night and the all the lights were beautiful! They have an awesome holiday fireworks show and I loved seeing it "snow" on Main Street. My favorite part was the castle at night! I can't wait to take the kids at night for them to see it all. Blair and I didn't have our camara with us, and the pics from his cell didn't turn out great. But here are some pictures of my mom and I with the kids.

In this picture, Garrett has a grumpy face because a few minutes earlier he tried to crawl under the "A" with his sister and bumped his head pretty hard. He was still holding a grudge.

Garrett on his favorite ride - Buzz Lightyear.

Mommy & Mackenzie waiting to go on the rockets (another of Garrett's favorites).

Birthday Party Fun

Mackenzie is at the age now where her little friends are having birthday parties. It's so fun to watch her pick out a gift for them, color a card for them, and go to the parties. Last week, one of her friends had her party at Disneyland, so the moms all went to help supervise. My mom came with us too, so she could take Garrett on some rides while I stayed with Mackenzie and the girls. They actually met back up with us at lunch time and went on a couple of rides with the girls too. Garrett was pretty entertained by them and loved joining them for some rides. Mackenzie has a great group of friends and I love that all the moms are so fun too!

Mackenzie is getting so good at writing her name. She can now write and spell her name pretty well...except for the backward "z", but hey, we did give her a long name with some tricky letters. Opps. Sorry Sweetpea!

If you click on the picture, you'll be able to see her name better.

Halloween Fun

Friday afternoon, I took the kids to our City's Trick or Treat party at the mall. We went with some of Mackenzie's friends and it was so cute to see the girls trick or treating together. Garrett wasn't very into it. It was really hot outside and his Dinosaur costume was cooking him. We ended up taking half his costume off.

Mackenzie decided to sit on this blow up witch's brew and ended up on the ground, with the deflated witch....lots of laughs. Poor thing.

On Halloween, we thought we'd sugar up the kids first thing in the morning with Halloween donuts, then we went hiking and to play at the park, then carved pumpkins. Girls vs Boys. Mackenzie and I carved a bat (I wasn't really interested in winning, I was more interested in keeping it simple and easy). Garrett and Daddy carved Scooby Doo with a witch's hat on. Clearly Daddy and Garrett's win!! Great job boys!!!

Both Blair's parents and my parents came over for dinner and to see the kids in their costumes. My camera's battery died, so I need to get Blair's mom's pictures. For now, here is all I have. Doh, not even a family picture this year. Blair and I went to a Halloween party after taking the kids trick or treating and I meant to get pictures of us dressed up with the kids dressed up, but Garrett was so tired, we put him to bed. Oh yeah, and our camera died. Wow, I'm so on top of it this year ;)

Preschool Musical

Our Halloween festivities kicked off on Friday with Mackenzie's preschool Halloween party. As you can see, Mackenzie was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz for Halloween. This was her choice 100%. I personally am pretty weirded out by the movie and always have been. She loves it though! She really wanted Garrett to be Toto for Halloween...no way, that's where I draw the line.

Hmmmm...this Bingo is tricky stuff.

Mackenzie getting ready to sing Halloween songs. I guess I was bugging her by taking pictures, because she finally told me, "No, I'm not looking at you or smiling for any more pictures." And for Mackenzie, that's pretty bold. She is usually sweet as sugar. :)

A proud Mommy.

Daddy & Garrett with Mackenzie.