Noon Years Eve 2012 style!

I am sure you all remember our noon years eve celebration of 2010!!  Well, it has been two years and one new addition to the group (Hi Gemma!) but the gangs all here. This time we had the celebration at our house. We did have balloons but no fancy balloon drop.

Look how big all these little one's have gotten!

A few Christmas presents for the kids.

It was time for NOON YEARS! Good thing we celebrated at noon because we were so tired after the party we didn't make it to midnight.

We have come a long way since Freshman year.  Jenn, Robbin, Me, and Meags. Poor Carsen was home sick with Jason.

We decided to try a group shot with the timer. Boy was that fun.

This one turned out pretty good! Little GG was napping so she missed out on the chaos.

 Although, I think the out takes are my favorite!

I love these girls! It is just too bad it is only about every two years we all get to be together. I have a feeling the next noon years will have some new additions to the group!! Two years ladies, better get moving, Gemma needs some little buddies!

Summer in January

I think this play house had a strict size limit. I am pretty sure we exceeded that. Poor Grampy had no idea what he was getting himself into when he had two grand daughters.

 He might still be in there, I better go check.

 Ahh the lazy days of summer, in January.

 We are gearing up for our vegetable garden this spring. We decided to try some seeds in these little "green houses." I have never had any luck with seeds so we will see if the old internet is right again. So far we have tri-color squash and french beans.

Quite possibly Gemma's favorite activity is bubbles. No I take that back, anything water takes precedence. For some odd reason I am not going to let her play with the splash table in January so bubbles will have to do.

 Taking advantage of the slide. Give them another year and I think the girls will out grow this too. Can they please just slow down on the growing up thing?

 Melt my heart. Who do you look like though? I am still going to vote Uncle Joel. Especially in this picture anyway.  Get more hair and we will vote again.

 Stylish outfit from your BFF. The hair is coming in faster these days though. It is wispy in the back and sparse on top. It looks ginger in the sunlight like your sisters did at this age too. You have moved past walking to running. We must run everywhere. You think you can jump because Lily has been hopping in one foot. You just bounce up and down and laugh yourself silly. Oh and your dance moves? Hands down the best booty shaking ever. I guess it is all the music we play all day but you have got a groove for a white girl.

 Grandma and Grampy are such troopers playing with their girls even though jet lagged. We are so happy they are back on this side of the pond again.

 Who is this grown girl anyway? I hardly know her!! She is possibly the cutest 3 1/2 year old preschooler. She is in love with her new preschool. She calls it "January preschool" because on the first day they talked about it being January now. I think forever she will call it the January preschool. She had such an easy transition and fit right in. She is only bitter she has to leave at 11:30 and the other kids get to eat lunch at school.

We are blessed with wonderful weather and happy healthy girls. What more could we ask for?

Merry Christmas to all

It sure does seem like Christmas Eve is the longest day ever when you're three. So much anticipation and excitement. We spent the day doing last minute preparations before attending church with Rach, Eric, Dan and Janine.

After church everyone came over to our house for pupu's and cocktails. It was a roaring good time.

We made cranberry margaritas as our holiday cocktail. I highly recommend them.

Aunt Penny and grandma came over after church as well. We did our Christmas crackers and all wore our crowns.

Grandpa and Carol also came to party.

Gemma had a great time snacking and soaking up all the attention. Up past your bed time on Christmas eve is pretty fun too. She was her usual spunky self and was a bit loud through church though.

There was so much good food. Everyone brought an appetizer and we had tons of Christmas cookies.

After we polished off the margaritas we opened just a few bottles of Peachy Canyon wine.

Some of this years Christmas cookie selection.

Gemma got a whistle in her cracker. It is the perfect prize for our musical genius.

Lily got to open her gift from Uncle E and Auntie Rach. A gardening set for when we plant our garden this spring. She is so excited she had to go out in the dark and do some quick digging. She even slept with the bag of tools!

Grandma opened some gifts too! Wedding pictures for her walls!

Time for bed. We read the night before Christmas and headed straight to bed.

Now the men get to work! Time to start helping Santa with some construction.

All the loot under the tree and ready for morning. WOW!

Imagine our surprise in the morning when we found the stockings stuffed, the cookies eaten, and the reindeer carrots chewed! The girls were so worn out they slept until 8 AM. Too bad Grandma was the early bird and arrived at 7 and had to wait an hour in her car for us lazy birds!

                                      

Gemma was so excited, and starved. Pa feeds her some cereal while the fun begins.

It didn't take her long to get busy playing with the play house from G&G England.

Even Winsty got a toy, guess he is mostly good after all.

Sisters playing well and sharing Gemma's tea set.

There is room for two in the house.

Looks like matching hooded towels and matching chairs were a big hit too. One little owl and one little unicorn.

We played all morning then headed over to Aunt Judy and Uncle Stews house for a great supper and fun playing the white elephant game. We got to see Stew's car collection too. WOW! Lily got to try out her new bike up on the tennis court. It was great, wide open, flat, and nothing to crash into. Don't worry, we got her a helmet but she was giving it a test run to get the basics down first!

What a wonderful first Christmas in our new home! We are all worn out and the house is a wreck but we have boxing day to ourselves to relax, play, and have fun with dad off work! That is the best gift in our house. 

Santa Claus is coming to town

Last weekend we ventured out to see Santa Claus. We had been building it up and sent him a letter in the mail. Now it was time to see him in person. Last year Lily had a last minute panic and would not sit on his lap. She seemed pretty excited to see him this time around. She had lots to tell him about her wish list. 

We decided to go to the grove outdoor shopping center in Beverly Hills and walk around and see Santa there. It wouldn't hurt to see a star or too while we were out. It was pretty busy but we got there early and got a number to come back and see Santa after lunch. It was a pretty good system so you don't have to stand in line all day.

 The girls were all decked out to see the big guy.  Gemma dressed as one of his little helpers. Adds to the "I am a girl" look as her hair is forever slow in growing in!

 We posed with Frosty as well. He is a funny guy I guess. Santa gave out snowman food this year. A bag of mini marshmallows.

It was a success!! Lily was quite happy to sit on his lap and immediately started spouting out her wish list. For two months it has been the same. A pink bicycle, a pink computer and two chairs. The week before Christmas she decided to "change her mind" and wanted a kitty park and zoo set. We explained that Santa's workshop was already closed and he was busy packing the sled with toys. She would have to add it to her birthday wish list. Nope. She told Santa a kitty park and a zoo. 

Gemma was pretty un-phased by it all. She sat there wondering what all the fuss was about. Only when the "elves" started acting goofy to try and get a smile out of her did she start to cry. Not bad considering it was about 2PM and no nap so far. 

Before....and after

I know you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting for some after photos of the house. We are not quite finished yet but I thought I could not leave my audience waiting any longer.

So let's review shall we?
Living room before...


and now...

We have the kitchen/dining room...

and now... (not much excitement here but notice the floors)

The biggest change was in the big family room...



and now...

Lily's room...

and now, two blues!!

Don't forget Gemma,

and now...

It really looks better in person so I guess you all have to come over and visit!