The National Tree & Santa.

Last Friday, after Scott's last final of the semester we headed to the National Tree and to see Santa.

I was jumping for joy at the thought that we get to have Scott for two weeks!!!

This is the cutest little Santa's Workshop! I'm so happy we got to go and I think we'll definitely come every year we are here! I had a MUCH better experience here than at our mall's where they rip you off! At this Santa's Workshop they took a picture and gave us a 5x7 for free!!!...and we could take pictures with our camera too! That's what I'm talking about!

...and look how cute it is inside...

...the elf lady in the picture was so friendly...

I'm so excited to see Santa...I just can't hide it! OH! my heck! I'm crazy! I was in kind of a silly mood that day!:)

Brielle was so excited the whole time we were standing in line until she actually saw Santa and then she started freaking out and crying! We were soooo surprise that she got scared! Braden was such a good sport and after they took the picture he sat on his lap and told him what he wanted for Christmas. Brielle wanted NOTHING to do with him...after we walked out I asked Brielle why she got so scared? She said that he didn't have his hat on.

Later that day, we were saying prayers before bed and this was her prayer:

"Heavenly Father, please bless that my mom might listen to me that the Santa today was different and he didn't have his hat on and stuff...Thank you for the other Santa at the mall that had his hat on and wasn't different..."

I had to convince her that there is only ONE Santa and that this time around Santa was just hot and that's why he wasn't wearing his hat! We shall see how long she believes me...she is just too smart for her own good!:)

Static.

So happy to have seen Santa!


Braden was keeping Scott's ears warm.

The White House.

Being silly...the only way that we could get our kiddos to look at the camera!

I miss this man so much when he's studying! He's mine and ONLY mine for the next two weeks. I'm not sharing him with books!

He was checking me out...I think he likes me too...:)

Life.

Last Saturday we woke up to snow!

Brielle and Braden played for a little while outside, eating the snow and throwing snowballs. Until they were so cold, Braden started crying desperately because his hands were frozen.

I don't know what it is about my kids and wanting to see what snow tastes like...

We came back indoors and I felt grateful that we are not homeless and that we have a warm, cozy home to come to when we are cold...and of course we HAD to have some hot cocoa with marshmallows.

By Tuesday, most of the snow had melted. We ventured outside on a walk (to keep everyone sane) :) and we decided that winter had finally arrived! It was cooooold!

I followed Brielle and Braden around and just let them do their thing...they LOVE being outside, even when it's cold...my feet were soooo cold...

Brielle was just enjoying herself, just chilling in the cold...coloring, meditating...what a silly girl!

"Cooome oooon!!! Leeet's gooooo!!!"

Apparently, I was walking too slow for Mr. Braden's liking...

Oh! Look what Mr. Braden found...what would you call it? Snow? Ice? or Slush?

Whatever it was...

He was in heaven!

Then, Brielle had the bright idea of getting our sand little shovel and rake to play in the snow.

Braden thought it was the coolest thing ever!

So much concentration...

The things children find entertaining...

I think by then, my toes were about to fall off...I was soooo cold...but look at how much fun these two were having!

I HAD to beg them to come back home...

while I was waiting for them...I found this...they are all over here in Virginia. Just beautiful!

They FINALLY, decided to come back home! By then, I couldn't feel my feet!!!:) But they had a blast!

Later in the week, Braden whacked Brielle with something and cracked Brielle's lip. She was bleeding. Braden got in trouble. Brielle put on a Dora band aid to make it all better.

Another day, I made delicious homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. It was delicious and Braden let me know it was delicious, which is VERY unusual for Mr. Braden. He is picky. If it were up to him he would eat ice cream, cupcakes, anything sweet the rest of his life.

So he liked the soup. He kept telling me: "Hmmm...mom this good mom." But he took his sweet time eating it. He'd eat a bite then contemplate, eat another bite, then contemplate...he's picky and a slow eater. But at least this time he WAS eating and not waiting for me or Scott to force him to finish his dinner. When he would start contemplating for too long, I'd remind him to keep eating. He'd tell me: "mom (with a tone), I'm just looking at Brielle's plate." or "I'm looking at yours plate." I tried to keep a straight face but it was way too cute to keep one.

This little girl can bring me the most joy and at the same time she can also make my days soooo complicated! She's been so sassy lately, having MAJOR selective hearing, and so incredibly whiny. Sometimes I just have to remind myself that she's only 3 years old. I often wish I were an EXPERT at parenting, I wish I knew exactly what to say, the perfect consequence to give, how to always keep a calm and poised voice, etc. as she is learning, I am too...

She looks so ANGELIC and beautiful in this picture.

She asked me to make her a "princess" pillowcase. I was going to save it to put in her Christmas stocking but I couldn't wait, we both went to pick out the fabric. Of course she wanted to get fabric with Disney Princesses but I refused! Glad I could convince her that it doesn't have to have Disney Princesses to be a "princess" pillowcase..and she actually is in LOVE with her new pillowcase!

These days, I think I'm more of a negotiator than a mom!

Thanksgiving in Cleveland.

This Thanksgiving we were thankful.

1. Thankful that we arrived to Cleveland safely and that our kids didn't have one potty accident the whole time! We had a couple of potty stops and they did wonderfully!

2. Thankful to have met precious little Anderson. Brielle and Braden gave him lots of love!

3. Thankful to have children in our lives who fill our days with tenderness and love.

4. Thankful for Stacey's good homemaking skills. She makes everything she touches look beautiful!

5. Thankful for everyone's cooperation in putting our yummy Thanksgiving dinner together. The highlights were Stacey's moist, delicious turkey. Kara's AMAZING, out of this world homemade stuffing, yes even the bread was homemade and my husband's delicious gravy!:)

6. Thankful for Brio's (our new favorite restaurant), for good company (Justin and Stace) and a great time.

7. Thankful for the amazingly talented people of Wicked!!! What an INCREDIBLE play! and a million times thankful to Ryan and Kara for being willing to watch the kiddos for us to be able to go have a good time! Our kids had the time of their lives at their house! Every child needs an aunt like Kara!:) You can go to her BLOG and check out the fun time they had there.

8. Thankful for a good hamburger joint like Red Robin, where you can split a burger and still feel like you ate a whole one! We were so full and spent half the price because we shared! (half the calories too!):)

9. Thankful for kiddos who find joy in balloons.

10. Thankful for open spaces to run around.

11. Thankful for family. Scott's brother Ryan and his family moved to Cleveland last August. Ryan started dental school at Case Western. We are so happy to have them only 6 hours away! We can't wait until New Year's when we get to hang out with them again.

12. Thankful for the Nativity Parade at the Kirtland Visitor's Center; to remind us the true meaning of Christmas.

13. Thankful for silly children who entertain one another. Here Jack is telling Brielle to close her eyes. Then he started to count one, two, three....then he yelled SURPRISE! It was priceless!

14. Thankful for this man who I love with all of my heart.

15. Thankful for a sassy girl who told our home teacher yesterday: "I'm a modest girl with sass!" (Where does she learn these things?)

16. Thankful for children who are full of energy!

17. Thankful that I was able to see my two former students, now good friends Emily and Seth. They are such a cute couple, they both took Spanish from me at BYU-Idaho. Seth works at a bank in Cleveland and Emily is getting her master's in ESL. They showed me around their cute little house! Emily has spent many hours making it cozy and beautiful! It was nice to see you two!

18. Thankful that our little nephew Christopher let Scott and I love him and hold him. He was born right after we headed to D.C. last year and we hadn't met him until last week. He is as cute as they come and has the sweetest personality!:)

19. Thankful for good friends.

20. Thankful for children who keep our lives real!!!:)

We had another happy thanksgiving shared with friends and family!

Can't wait until next year...