Christmas!

This Christmas was fantastic.  Anita and Caleb (my MIL and nephew) came down for the holiday and it was a lovely visit and celebration.

Christmas Eve Night - New jammies!

After Anita and I stayed up til nearly midnight wrapping all these gifts! 

Caleb, excited for things to start! 

Jeremiah was so excited!

Sarah was excited too!

We started by reading the Christmas story.

And opening baby Jesus. 

The kids put our two baby Jesus' in their places 

Then, it was gift time! 

Jeremiah was absolutely spoiled! 

So was Sarah. 

Jeremiah was thrilled to open this - a Buzz Lightyear!

Sarah loved all her gifts, too. 

Caleb had a great Christmas :) 

Shawn surprised me with a cookbook from "America's Test Kitchen." (I also got a laptop - who hoo!)

Shawn got a blanket, some grilling stuff, cologne, and "Insanity" - a workout program.  

I cooked my first ever turkey and made mashed potatoes, gravy. cranberry sauce, and baked beans!

We even had a kids table!  *toast*

After dinner, a dance party! 

Hope your Christmas was beautiful and merry - Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Thanksgiving

The older I get, the more I love Thanksgiving.  It seems we get so few opportunities to spend time with our extended family here in Arizona, so those few days a year are precious! 

The day started off with a flat tire.

Shawn spent three hours at Walmart getting it fixed.

Very thankful they were open!

We drove to Tucson and ate the 'mother of all cheeseballs'

It was huge!

I played MindFlex - not sure how that works.

One of the most delicious turkeys in the world!

Picking oranges in a rusty wagon.

Bill, who had a stroke in January, juggling.  Yay!

The kids loved playing with Noah and Jacob's guns and swords.

They beat everyone up!

Sarah and Ari cuddling.

And finally, PIE!  Jeremiah ate two slices of pumpkin and one apple!



We had so much fun!  The drive down was pleasant - Jeremiah slept and Sarah didn't scream - that's always nice.  It was great so spend time with the family - all the kids had fun playing together.  Ari and Jacob did a little magic show and Noah's danced "Thriller" for us.  The kids were so tired on the way home - Sarah was sleeping before we hit the freeway.  

Halloween...two weeks later!

We're not big halloween people around here - the kids costumes are usually thrown together from what we have after the kids decide what they want to be.  We don't do family costumes or anything, I do love seeing people who coordinate their outfits, but it's just not us :) 

Jeremiah, the army guy and Sarah the diva-princess

We went to a fun party - these are all the cute kiddos.

Jeremiah and Sarah's first time trick or treating!  Wow!



Week in Review/4th of July

Mud Puddles!


Jeremiah didn't jump - just stood and smiled - BIG!


He spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house this past weekend - and they had a cake for him! Lucky guy has had two cakes so far and his birthday party is this weekend!


4th of July we decided to be crazy and take the kids out for fireworks - first we stopped at Scooptacular, where they had a special ice cream - "Fireworks" - vanilla with red pop rocks! It was a hit.


We went to Indian School park for fireworks. We found a great spot with a lot of space for the kids to run.



Sarah looking so tan!


Waiting for the show to start!


The kids running in the dark!


Jeremiah stole the photo of Shawn and Sarah.


After what felt like forever - FIREWORKS!


Jeremiah thought they were awesome!


Sarah, not so much!

Because we're Rolands - we left in the middle of the show. We didn't want to get stuck in the thousands of people leaving the park all at the same time, plus it was the latest we've ever kept the kids up - they weren't in bed until TEN THIRTY! No joke, the kids have never been up that late. They slept fine, thankfully!

Memorial Day Weekend

Sunday we went down to Casa Grande to visit Grandma and Grandpa. This is the only photo I took - a very tired Sarah after swimming and playing (and being up since 530am and not having a nap...) Is she just SO cute or what?


Monday, the Phoenix Art Museum was open so we headed there for a visit. We bought a family membership at a ridiculous price through Groupon, and we've already gone 3 times! We love the big dinosaur outside..


The kids also love "Mr. Blob" who is downstairs in the modern art portion of the gallery. (this is them watching him - I was afraid to take a photo of the actual piece and get in trouble!)


The museum's children's area is open - last time we visited it wasn't. They have several fun activities for kids - drawing on easels, tracing, and magnets.


Sarah loved the magnets.


Another HUGE hit? An exhibit called "Fireflies." The museum recently purchased it and it is crazy. You walk into the room, it's pitch black with all these little lights. The walls are mirrors and the floors are black shiny tile. It's very disorienting and needless to say, the kids were freaked out by it at first. But then they were begging to go back over and over again. I did sneak a photo inside.


And even though it's not technically the weekend anymore, we visited the Children's Museum and the kids love the dragon named "Rainbow" who sits outside the door.