Merry Christmas!

This holiday season has flown by! Every year I try and stay organized, to get as much done ahead of time as possible so I can relax and enjoy the season. However, once again I find myself scrambling to finish the baking, wrap the presents, get everyone dressed and ready for the family parties..and somehow keep my sanity!

I love Christmas...but I'm glad that it only comes once a year.

We kicked off the Christmas festivities at my parents house. Growing up Christmas was a big deal. My mom would start shopping months in advanced. My parents didn't buy my sisters and I many toys or extra things during the year. Everything was saved for that one special morning. This year Lucas is finally old enough to be excited for Christmas. It was so much fun watching him and the boys tear through their gifts.

Christmas Eve is such a special time. This year we spent our Christmas Eve with my husband's family. It was such a fun party! Lucas enjoyed playing with his cousins, and Alara charmed everyone with an overdose of cuteness.

Christmas morning we stayed home. After two days of partying, it felt amazing to stay home and lounge around in our jammies eating brunch until noon. One thing I wish people had warned me about the holidays with kids is that everyone wants to see the kids...which means the days are long, the tantrums are hard and nights are short.

I am in love with this picture! Next years Christmas card??? 

We ended the Christmas festivities at my Grandma's house. The party was fun and it was great to see my cousins and their families. However, because this was the last party of the week, the kiddos were tired and cranky. Fun times. At least I did get one semi-decent family picture. 

Carlsbad Getaway Trip

Several months ago my husband purchased tickets to go see the new Star Wars movie. Being the Star Wars fan that he is my husband didn't want to see the movie in just any theater. He got tickets for the Cinepolis in Carlsbad...so naturally we made a weekend of it. This was our first trip as a family of four. I am thankful that Dadi and Dada traveled with us - having an extra set of hands made a huge difference. It was an amazing weekend, and we are all looking forward to the next family vacation.  

crafting christmas tradition

The holiday season is a time to build lifelong memories with family and friends. One of my favorite traditions that my mom and I do together with the kiddos is make Christmas ornaments. Although I love handmade ornaments - I'm also picky about what goes on my tree. I don't like anything with macaroni, large globs of glue, popsicle sticks or weird spongy craft stickers. There is a special place of those types of ornaments but not on our main Christmas tree.

Don't tell Lucas, but I think my favorite snowflake ornament is the one with Alara's footprint.

This will be the our third year of making ornaments. I love seeing the kids creativity. And they love making craft messes. It's a win-win situation.

Thankfully, Christmas crafting day only comes around once a year. Any more than that and I think I'd go crazy trying to keep four little boys from making too big of a mess in Grandma's kitchen.

Ahem. Sorry Mom. 

6 months old

Alara at Six Months

• Alara is a busy girl! She is doing the army crawl/scoot. 
• When she wants to be picked up she will do the "beached wale." The "beached wale" is when she is on her stomach and repeatedly lifts her arms and legs up and down really fast. Its adorable. Usually the "beached wale" is accompanied with coos, growls and other noises.    
• Still not sleeping through the night. On a good night, Alara will wake up twice..but on a bad night she will wake up three to four times. 
• On December 12th, we had Alara dedicated in our church. It was a beautiful ceremony. Afterwards we had a lunch reception at Dadi and Dada's house. 
• Alara tried rice cereal for the first time and didn't have a bowl movement for about four days. She has also tried pumpkin, potatoes and apple sauce. 
• She will taking her first vacation in couple of days and I'm curious to see how well she does.