Flying High

Yes, that star is on the top of our seven foot Christmas tree. And yes, Halle loves to fly. And yes, Jarrod is Halle's hero.

Aunt Cookie is Engaged

Do you see the big beautiful ring on that finger? We are so excited to tell you all that Aunt Cookie (formerly known as my little sister Courtney) is engaged. She is going to marry Johnny Hall who we love very much and are so excited to have for a brother and an uncle. I personally can't wait to go dress shopping with my baby sister. I have also been asked to be a matron of honor, along with my other beautiful sister. And I just want to announce now that Kelsey and I are so going to take matronly out of Matron of Honor. I mean really who came up with that title anyway.

Non Transformation

The other day my kids decided to work on me . They worked and worked on me. For about an hour they put things in my hair and used makeup brushes on my face. At some point when my hair was full of everything that they could find. Ella said to Bryce what do you think she will look like when we take it all out. Bryce said "I think she will look like Hannah Montana." When they did take it all out Bryce stood back and looked at me and said "You look like Mommy." Sorry Bryce, I am sure that was disappointing.

Jana

First off I am sorry to anyone who is keeping up with my blog, that I haven't kept up very well this month. We are very busy enjoying all the festivities of the Christmas Season.

Okay do you all know who this is? Because you had better. It is Jana Alayra. A real live super star to my kiddos. She came to our MOPS group last week and she is such a sweetheart.

We got to MOPS early that morning and so my kids came in the room where we have our meetings, and saw Jana walking around casually. Then they followed me out of the room and they were standing at the entrance of the room near me. As we were standing there, Ella was whispering as people walked by, "Jana is in there!"

Thank you Jana for a great cry(her testimony), and a fun time with the kids(concert).

Don't Eat Them All Mom

So this afternoon Ella and I were baking caramel apple bars. And after we put them in the oven it was time for Ella to take a rest (I would love to be able to say it was time for Ella to go take a nap, but who am I kidding she doesn't nap). And Ella said "No Mommy, I want to taste them." I reassured her that she was welcome to do that after her nap when they were finished. And do you know what she said to me, "Don't eat them all Mom, I want to try them." What? Why in the world would she think that I was going to eat them all? She is 3 why is she talking to me like a grown up?
Well anyway I think that this serves as a wake up call, eat less baked goods, or maybe just make more! I think I will go with the latter.

Great Grandma!!

I love my Grandma. The kids love her too. I love to hear all of her stories and I love to get her little pieces of wisdom. She is such an amazing woman. She was married to my Grandpa for, I think, 56 years, before he went home to be with Jesus. She has 4 kids, 14 biological grand kids(many more if you count all of the ones that married her grandchildren), and almost 18 great grand kids. She waited at home for my Grandpa while he fought in World War 2, and after he fought in the war, they owned and ran a farm in Nebraska. See I told you she is an amazing woman.

Bryce and Ella call her the Great Grandma with Fritzie. (She has a cute little dog named Fritzie.) And they love to go visit her. We love you Grandma!

One of my favorite things that she has ever said to me was just recently, when we started talking about how we didn't want to be stuck here on earth for too long because we are so anxious to go home and be with Jesus. She said "Oh I know, every morning I wake up and think oh Lord, (sigh) another day."

An After Thanksgiving Hike

We went for a really fun hike today. Really fun!! It was so great to be together as a family. We climbed trees and rocks and laughed.

Bryce and his friend the lizard that "rode on him" for quite some time.

I love this picture of Bryce and Ella. They stood like that on their own. I love that they are such good buddies.

After I took that picture of the two older kids, Halle walked up to the fence and turned around and smiled at me and said "eeee." Man that kid cracks me up.

My sweet Ella girl that I love so much.

Monkey Girl

Wow does my monkey love to climb trees. We went for a family hike today and she just loved to climb everything. And of course she was as determined and full of personality as always.

John 3:16

Hooray for Free Day

We had such a fun family day at the San Diego Children's Museum. Hooray for Free Day.

The motto of the Museum is Think Play Create. That is all that we did there Sunday and it was right up the kids alley. They made shadow puppets, pillow buildings, houses out of cardboard, buildings out of blocks and bubbles blown from pipe cleaners. They also climbed walls, matresses, jungle gyms, a tent city, and tire pillows. Can you imagine a better day in the life of a 5 and 3 year old?

Dancing with Halle

Okay so Halle has recently added some new dance moves to her routine. What do you all think?

A Date with Daddy

This is just for you Honey Bunches!

Yeah for Halloween. We had so much fun. And so did the kids. Because is Halloween really for the kids or is it more for us adults? When we first put all of the kids costumes on, all of the little kids, Colton Mason and Halle, started crying and whining and protesting. They eventually caught on. And once we got them all outside they all had a blast. But it made me think that really we adults just love to see our little guys dressed up and running around.Halle was a ferocious shark complete with a bow, leg warmers, and ballet flats. So ferocious Halle!
Bryce was Captain Jack Sparrow. The leader of the pack.

My dear sweet Colton was a sock monkey, or as Ella later recalled a sack monkey. Whichever right, all that really mattered was that he was adorable.

Mason was a tiger, who was not willing to humiliate himself by wearing the head of the costume. Who can blame the kid when it is like 90 degrees on Halloween.

Oh and of course Princess Ella or on Halloween Princess Ariel. The other night we went to a little Halloween party at the park with the ladies from MOPS and one of the little boys there asked her if she was princess and she told him, "Ya, I look like Ariel."

Another thing that happened on Halloween was that while we were trick or treating we did happen upon one house where there was a man dressed up and trying to scare kids. Well Ella was horrified and scared out of her mind. She ran back to me at the sidewalk were we started to talk about what had happened and she said to me, "But Mama that wasn't very nice, he hurt my heart, and he is trying to scare the kids. I don't want his candy." I don't blame you Ella.

Pumpkin Muck

Okay, I found this great pumpkin carving lesson on a website, I think it is called TheHeartof theMatter, but anyway I love that it has all of the verses with each point. It is probably to late for most of you because we are probably the only ones to pick the day before Halloween to carve pumpkins, but I thought I would share it anyway in case anyone was interested. Also something I saw that I want to get for next year (because it is too late for this year) is a kids book called The Parable of the Pumpkin by Liz Curtis Higgs. Anyway just thought I would share what I had found.

~HOW GOD CARVES A PUMPKIN~
Create a pumpkin. Make it big, little, short, tall fat or skinny. No matter which, it will be a WONDERFUL pumpkin.
“Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” Isaiah 66:2
Harvest the pumpkin when it’s fully ready.
“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
Hold the pumpkin gently as you cleanse the dirt outside, washing all the dirt away.
“Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sin.” Acts 22:16
Make an opening at the top, Search into the dark cavity for anything that needs to be removed.
“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind to reward according to conduct and deeds. Jeremiah” 17:10
Remove all the stringy pulp and slime, and clean out the entire cavity.
“Create in me a pure heart, O God.” Psalm 51:10
Give that pumpkin a big set of eyes so that he may see all the good around him.
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” Luke 10:23
Carve a nice nose so that he can take in the wonderful scents of the world.
“Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart.” Proverbs 27:9
Carve a great big SMILE so that he can bring JOY to anyone who sees him.
“A cheerful look brings joy to the heart of others.” Proverbs 15:30
Make the pumpkin glow all over with a little white light inside.
“God said, “let light shine out of the darkness,” and made His light shine in our hearts.” 2Corinthians 4:6
Rejoice in the “NEW” pumpkin that has been created and given new life.
“Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep.” Luke 15:6
Place the pumpkin in the perfect spot so that the light will guide others.
“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise the Father in Heaven.” Matthew 5:16

Disneyland Again

The other day I took Bryce, Ella and Olivia to Disneyland by myself. I know I am a crazy person, but it was fun to give them all of my attention. I love them all so much and it was so fun to watch the joy in their faces about the different things. The highlights were definitely the parade and the Elvis concert.

It was also one of the only times that I have stayed with kids to watch fireworks. I must be so old because it felt so late to stay. Oh and also it was so cute they picked Ella to be the princess of the carousel, which if you know Ella, you know that is a big deal. They announced her name over the loud speaker and everything. All in all it was a fun and very exhausting day.

"I want it all!"

So really I guess that I most love to blog about the little funny things that happen in our lives and in our home. These things are small and maybe even uninteresting to most, but some of these little things are the highlights of my day.

Yesterday these two cracked me up. I gave Bryce a Toys'R Us ad, but it was like one of those super ads, meaning it was more like a catalog. I told him why don't you sit down and circle some things that you would like to get for Christmas. So Bryce and Ella, who soon

joined in on the fun, sat and started circling. About an hour later (by the way did you get that, this lasted for an hour, which if you are unaware that is like forever in the life of a five and three year old) they had circled almost everything in the ad. Bryce would circle everything that he wanted of course. And then everything that he saw that was girly he would say do you want this Ella and I don't believe that I ever heard her say no. Well I guess everyone is allowed to dream.

My Halle Reesey Piecey

Halle is one now. Well actually she is 14 months but who is counting. What can I say about Halle? I think that she is so adorable, but it is a good thing because she can be a royal pain in my hinney. Am I allowed to say that about my precious little one year old? I love her to pieces but she is the most stubborn independent and active one year old I have ever seen in all my life. I am actually a little bit scared of what the next few years are going to be like. I know that some of you at this point are thinking what is the big deal? Or, look at that face, how could she be anything but adorable? Well there is a reason that God gave her that cute face, let me tell you. There are also those of you that have seen her in action and know just what I am talking about. I do love though, that she has a mind of her own and I know that she will be a strong girl that loves to laugh.

We all love her so much though. It was so cute when we were doing this photo shoot with her, every time I would put her on the backdrop she would run off of it and straight to her big brother and then laugh like she was the funniest thing in the whole world. It was so cute to see them all laugh and play even in the photo shoot room. Bryce and Ella wanted to do anything they could to help Halle do what she was supposed to do. And Halle loved being the center of attention and wanted to make Bryce and Ella laugh.

Cilantro

So Bryce has become a kindergartner. Which by the way is just not right. How did my little baby boy become a school aged kid? I think that something happened when I wasn't looking. Like someone threw me in a time machine with all my kids and warped me like at least two years forward. Anyway I guess I have to accept it.

So yesterday Bryce came home from school and started counting in Spanish because that is something that they do in school. It was so cute he said "Uno, dos, tres, cilantro." To which Jarrod and I laughed hysterically. Which by the way if you are worried about Bryce's little ego right now, don't. He loves nothing more than to make people laugh.

So I started to count to ten in Spanish correctly and by about the time I reached siete, (I know really impressive, is that even spelled right?), Bryce looked at me with wide eyes and said "Mommy you lived in Chinese."

Man I love that kid. Have I happen to mention that yet? I am still not entirely sure that it is fair that Mrs. Taylor gets to spend so much time with him.

Lake Mead

We got to go to Lake Mead with the Carrillo Clan. We had so much fun with them. It was colder than we had hoped, but we had fun anyway. We went on the boat and we found a beach to eat lunch on and collect seashells. Jarrod got to wake board which is one of his most favorite things in the world. The boat trip was definitely an adventure considering that it was so so cold and windy and it looked like it would start to rain at any minute. We were all bundled up and trying to stay warm. But it was kind of special in that way too because I think that I will always remember it.

The next day the guys took the big kids and went four wheeling through a wash to some red rocks were they hiked and had a picnic up on a big rock.

Amanda and I went to Planet Hollywood Hotel in Vegas and had lunch at P.F. Changs and shopped. It was Halle and Cruz's first ever trip to Las Vegas.

One of the highlights was Joe singing the Mad Gab phrases. Who knew it actually works.

Thanks again guys for having us we had a really fun time.