The Hollies

This is my friend Holly. She moved to Australia. I love her. She has Pica. It's a disorder where you want to nibble rocks or dirt. She also loves chocolate. For her going away gift I made some chocolate drizzled slate pieces for her. She nibbles slate when she's stressed. She ate this entire box of chocolates in her first week in Australia. Hahahahaha. I love that Holzy.

This is what Jeff and I gave the kids for Christmas. She's a teddy bear hamster, and the boys named her Holly because of the holiday. They all love playing with her, and watching her climb the sides of her cage, and laughing when she falls. Gabey calls her Wah-wah and insists on telling her goodnight before he goes to bed. She's been a cute addition to our household.

Jojy loves my foot. He calls it Toby and talks to it and giggles if I wiggle my toes. If I'm sitting at the computer, or on the couch, or my bed, or making dinner, or any other activity where I might be in one place for a bit, he sits down next to my foot to have a conversation with Toby. He shows Toby his toys or drawings and tell Toby stories.

There you have it. My children confirm to me with their daily actions that their parent's weirdness did not skip a generation.

Torch it.

My men and I spent days making our little Christmasy-gingerbreadish house. It was fun. But after all of the sugar my family has consumed since Halloween, I thought it best to discard this without eating it.

Then Bear suggest we "light it on fire". We all laughed, but then I realized it wasn't such a bad idea. Naturally, my pyro husband agreed. We all cheered as it went up in flames. I think we have ourselves a new tradition.

Isn't it beautiful? (click on image to see the progression)

Christmas Eve

My little darlings frosting cookies for Santa.





This is right before bed in their new Christmas Eve jammies.

These are some of the only pictures we shot during the Christmas season. I'm doing so many things in December that I always forget to take photos. You'd think it'd be the opposite, that I'd want to capture all those precious moments with my boys, but apparently, I'm an idiot. Oh, well, at least I've come to grips with it.

Mr. No-Pants

He's all about Peek-a-boo and high fashion. Tre chic, no?

5k with Sara

My Sara and I ran the Cottonwood Heights Thanksgiving Day 5k. She's a marathon runner, so I know it wasn't much of an accomplishment for her, but I was so glad I did it. It was SO nice to get out there in the brisk air and get some exercise to justify the pie we know we'd be eating later that day!

She shamed me just a bit because she had a baby two months before. I'd NEVER attempt to run a 5k that soon after having a baby, but it's pretty safe to say she's tougher than.

Sara, thanks for getting me out there. Love you!

Sadie and Ann

The day before Thanksgiving I was able to meet up with two of my dear friends that I've known since I was 15. Ann and Sadie both live out of state and I treasure time I get with them. We have the kind of friendship where I may not see them for years at a time, but when we're back together we fall right back in with each other; laughing, and offering me supportive advice, and passing our plates around to each other to taste all the yummy seafood!

We met at a restaurant for lunch where Ann gave me these and another pair of adorable earrings she made. (pictured below)

Sadie's sweet hubby, Sean joined us too. I'm glad he did. It's so nice to see them together and how happy they seem to be.

Check out the cute earrings we're all wearing!

Thank you, thank you, Sadie and Ann for making time for me!