Merry Christmas

This Christmas we went back to the tradition we had when my dad was still here (last year we went to Disneyland). We all spent the night at Grandma Becky's house and woke up early Christmas morning to see what santa brought. The kids were so excited and they got nearly everything that was on their long Christmas lists. After all the chaos of opening presents, we had our traditional breakfast of chorizo and eggs, tamales, and homemade tortillas. Yummy!!

The kids had a great day but it just wasn't the same without dad. We know that he would want us to keep with the Christmas traditions he created and we tried our best. Merry Christmas dad - we love and miss you!!

Happy 6th Birthday Taylor!!

Taylor is now officially 6 years old. When asked if 6 felt different than 5, she said, "Yes, I feel bigger." These last 6 years have gone by so fast. Happy birthday to our favorite little girl!

Visiting Santa

Every year one of our friends has Santa come to her house but this year Santa was too busy so he had to cancel. When we told Taylor she broke down and cried so we promised to take everyone to the mall because he would be working there until Christmas. She finally accepted our offer but she still wasn't too happy. As we were tucking her in bed she asked, "why is Santa working at the mall in the Arizona? What about all the other kids in the world? Shouldn't he be at the north pole getting ready for Christmas?" We fumbled our way through some lame excuses that seemed to satisfy her. Needless to say, she is way too smart for her age and we are afraid this will be the last Christmas she believes in the fat man. Bummer.

BTW the stuffed elephant Taylor is holding is "Teeny" the kindergarten class elephant. It was her day to take care of him.

Boys' Christmas Program

The boys' preschool had their Christmas program Monday night. Tanner was shy as usual and pretty much just stood there looking at us and smiling. Ty participated a little more but wasn't as animated as normal. Anyway, they looked adorable and said they had a good time.

Taylor's 6th Birthday Party

On Sunday we celebrated Taylor's 6th birthday at Bounce U. This was a kids only party, so we will have another party with family on her actual birthday. You don't think we're trying to overcompensate for her being born close to Christmas do you? Anyway, she had a great time with her friends.

Go Daddy Christmas Party

Saturday night was the annual Go Daddy Christmas party and it was nothing short of amazing. It was held at Chase Ballfield (BOB) and the Gin Blossoms played live as the main entertainment. The president "George Bush" even showed up to give a speech. It was actually an impersonator and he was hilarious. Brad and I had our picture taken with him and if I can ever figure out how to get it off his cell phone, I will post it. There were free racing video games set up where up to 4 people could race against each other, so Brad and I faced off against my sister and her boyfriend. Guess who won BOTH times.....ME!!! My car was pretty beat up at the end but who cares because I won! I won! I won! :)
Bob Parsons, the owner of Go Daddy, pulled names out of a bowl and gave money away all night (tax free). Brad won $1000. This is the first time he's ever won anything at a Christmas party and it was a blessing because we have to pay for Christmas somehow. At the end of the evening, they opened the roof of the stadium and had an awesome fireworks display.
Thanks for an unforgettable evening Bob!!

Tooth Fairy Time!

Taylor lost her first tooth this morning. I can handle just about anything when it comes to my kids but this whole loose tooth thing really had me grossed out. This morning when Taylor woke up her tooth was literally just hanging there. I told her it had to come out so I gave her a washcloth, told her to grab her tooth with it and pull. She got it out on the first pull and was surprised that it didn't hurt. I was relieved she did it herself because not only did I not want to do it, but if it hurt, she wouldn't never trust me again.

Right after school I took her to the store "Girly Girlz". They put her in a tiara with a tooth on top, took her picture, and gave us 10% off anything in the store. All for losing a tooth. She was so excited at all the attention she received. With her discount she got a Hello Kitty art set and has already been drawing everyone pictures. Now we will just have to wait and see what the Tooth Fairy brings her tonight.

New York

I'm back from New York! I spent 5 days there with my mom and sister and it was awesome. We did some serious shopping, sightseeing, eating, and saw a Broadway show. I think in order to see everything, you would need to spend about 2 weeks there but that would get really expensive. It's definitely an adult city - not a place for small children. After shopping in New York, the malls and stores here are pretty lame. The Broadway show we saw was "Wicked" and it was great. I was a little unsure if I would enjoy it, but after experiencing it, I would recommed it to everyone. It's an experience you don't want to miss. We tried to visit Ground Zero but since it is being rebuilt, it was entirely closed off and they have moved the memorial to a church across the street. I'm happy to be home with my family again but would love to go back one day.

Happy Thanksgiving....kinda

Our Thanksgiving began peacefully with dinner at my mom's with her side of the family but ended with us taking Tanner to the ER. The boys were really wound up by the time we got home so we let them out in the backyard to play a little. Next thing we knew, Tanner was running toward us with blood dripping off his hand and yelling, "the measure! the measure!" He was playing with Brad's tape measure and somehow sliced his hand open between two of his fingers. We rushed him to the emergency room and luckily he didn't need any stitches. He had cut the webbing between his fingers so they just buddy taped his fingers together until it heals. The most amazing part of it all was that he never cried. This is a kid who cries if you look at him wrong. We are so proud of how brave he was and we are also surprised he was the first one to go to the hospital. We've always thought for sure it would be Ty. Needless to say, tape measures are now off limits to the kids.

OUCH !!!

Brad finished laying our new wood floor (which we TOTALLY love!) in the kitchen but then our cabinets looked really crappy on the backside of our island. Upon further inspection, we realized that it was a cheap piece of wood with a sticker on it to make it look like wood. Yep, that's right, a sticker! Well, we couldn't have that so Brad went out and bought some real oak to cover up that sticker. Little did we know this new project would come at a price. We went to my mom's house so Brad could cut the wood on my dad's awesome table saw. Right in the middle of the final cut, the saw kicked the wood back into Brad. It hit him so hard that he flew backwards and landed on his butt. The picture above shows just how hard he was hit. Luckily he is short and was standing just off to the side or he would have hurt his boys. Good thing we're done having kids. The poor guy was in so much pain that he could hardly walk and he looked like he was going to pass out. Anyway, thanks for your hard work Brad!!

Ty's first ear infection

This weekend Ty developed his first ear infection. We've been really lucky that he hasn't had one before now. Saturday he was pulling on his ears but we just thought he was trying to be silly. Later on we found him on the couch crying because his ear hurt on the inside. Then came the fever and vomiting. Good times. The silver lining in it all is that he is such a good kid when he doesn't feel well. I hope you feel better soon baby!

Demolition begins

Brad spent a good part of the weekend tearing out some of the tile in the kitchen to get ready for the new wood floors. The tile was installed so well that he had to jack hammer it out. What a mess! There is dust everywhere and it's only the beginning. He only took out about 1/4 so far. I know when it's done this will all be worth it but in the meantime, this really sucks! Oh, and to top it all off, the boys and I got sick.

We also took the kids for their yearly photos and our family photo. The boys did great and Taylor was quite the little model.

JDRF walk

This morning was the JDRF walk at Tempe Town Lake sponsored by Go Daddy. The kids were really excited to go because they got these "cool" neon green Go Daddy shirts. There were a lot of activities for kids and we were worn out before the walk even started. We had to wake Taylor up at 6:30 and she complained that no one should have to get up that early. She's funny!

Happy Halloween

The kids had a blast this year going trick-or-treating. Taylor was Belle from Beauty and the Beast and the boys were both Captain Jack Sparrow. Uncle Robert and Aunt Patty came along and they brought their puppies Paco and Kaia. Tanner, who is normally shy, was running down the street yelling, "I love candy!" I guess he felt more comfortable being in disguise. Taylor has already asked how many days until next Halloween.

Down on the farm...

We all recently went on our annual trip to Mother Nature's Farm pumpkin patch. The kids went on a hayride, decorated pumpkins, and pet some stinky farm animals. We had a good time but it would have been better if it wasn't so darn HOT!! It's just not right to be outside sweating at the end of October.

Go Daddy picnic

This past weekend was the annual GoDaddy.com picnic. The kids had a great time playing on the inflatable slides, getting airbrush tatoos, and eating lots of food. Brad's team almost won the toilet seat races. He looks right at home with that toilet seat on his butt!

Okay, so my friend Heather has totally inspired me and turned me on to blogger. We have a family website (ehlyfamily.com) but this seems to be faster and easier to update right now. I can't believe how computer stupid I have become since I stopped working.