Where's the teeth?!

All those pictures just to get a shot of Archie's too-cute little front teeth, and I got nothing! Well, not nothing, I did get some cute shots of him, and Elliott snuck in there a few times too. But alas, you will have to wait even longer to see my two favorite things.

Look what Archie can do!

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Twas the first Day of Christmas!!

What a wonderful start to our Christmas season!!! Since the day after Thanksgiving officially starts the Christmas season, we kicked it off by getting out our decorations, and turning on our lights that Mike put up on Thanksgiving day. Keeping it going, on the second day of Christmas, we got our tree. Mike found a Christmas Tree Farm near us! My Grandpa and Grandma Johnson owned a Christmas tree farm in the Mother Load in California when I was a kid. It was so special to share this tradition with my own family! We read from my grandma's history on the drive up, so the kids could learn a bit about why it was such a special experience for me. I am hoping to make it a yearly tradition, the farm, and the family history.It is only about 40 minutes away, in Horseshoe Bend, and it was GREAT!!! I tried to take pictures to tell the whole story...let's begin.

The kids enjoying the hunt.
We found the tree!! It doesn't look so big, out here in the great outdoors, but it is a beauty. It's amazing how glossy and soft the needles look. It is just beautiful.
The tree farm is also a chestnut farm. Here are some fallen nuts.
There was a fire for the kids to roast marshmallows...

And of course, there were chestnuts roasting over said "open fire"..
Once the tree is cut and driven up the hill, they stick it in the shaker to get all the loose needles off.
Then they load it into the bailer. We really didn't need it bailed, but this is one of the only things I remember from my grandparents' farm, so we got it bailed just for me!

Just to commemorate the moment, here we are by the sign.

It just barely fits in our living room.
The kids love their tree.
Once it's out of the great outdoors and into our mediocre indoors, it seems MUCH BIGGER!
Archie loves it.
Here it is! It makes me smile every time I see it because it is so ridiculously HUGE! I smile because I remember how we picked it out, and what it means to me to have a tree from the farm. I also laugh because we picked a great, HUGE tree, and I love it.

Thanksgiving; just a Nibble

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I only have 3 pictures to show for it! (And one of them I borrowed from Kristine's blog; thanks Kristine!)

Lucy, Harmony and I started the day with a little ZUMBA class at the Y. It was my first class, and Lucy's second. Harmony's a Zumba pro. It was nice to start a day of eating with a little active fun. Hopefully, this will be something Lucy, I, and even Elliott can do together often.

We had the tiniest Thanksgiving in my memory...only 10 of us! It was the Wilsons and Mike's parents at my house for dinner, then on to Kristine and Jason's for dessert! Some highlights were mounds of sweet potatoes, a great glazed ham, Heather's homemade blueberry pie, and my pumpkin cheesecake. YUM!! Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I am thankful for a healthy, happy and loving family; extended, close, and everybody in between! I am so blessed.

RED BELT ALERT!!

Lucy tested for her red belt this month!! She only has 3 more belts until black...CRAZY!!! She had many supporters. Here is Elliott and Archie.

Check out her high kick!!

Her form...

Breaking the board with her spin kick...

This is the testing group.

Receiving her RED belt!!

We are so proud of her. It is getting harder and harder, and she just keeps on going!

These are some projects I saw hanging up in Elliott's class. He is grateful for:

And he dreams to be a police officer. He sounded that out himself.

Here is a little bit about Archie. When he gets excited, or anxious, or pretty much any fun emotion, he covers his eyes with his little fists. Elliott used to do a similar thing, but he would grab his ears instead.

Our kids love our Harmony. She is so fun to have around. Here is an homage to Harmony that Lucy made in her free time at school.

Harmony loves to knit gifts for the kids. She made Lucy and Elliott some scarves and hats.

Here, she is feeding Archie persimmons. When we went to Korea, Lucy was 1, and Great-Grandma Khumsu used to feed Lucy persimmons in the same way. It made me smile to see this picture.

Dad has been busy too! He decided to take Elliott to a high school football game. Elliott LOVED IT!

Oh yea, Mike and I had our NINE YEAR ANNIVERSARY too! Don't look a day over one year, do we?
Lucy, sweet, cute girl that she is, made us this "Happy Marriage" sign at school. What a great life we live!

First day of Thanksgiving break

What do we do when there's no school?
Mom's hair...


Lovely!


Watch a little TV


And Elliott practices his numbers. All the way to 73!!




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Happy Birthday Dear Elliott...

Happy number 6 Elliott!!!

Look at that smile!! Happy birthday to my biggest helper, and my smart-little kindergarten boy! This year he had quite a birthday list. Everything from a big Power Wheels to a tiny nano-bug robot.

We had a family dinner and presents this year (it wasn't a party year, those are 5,8,12, and 16; trying to save my sanity by not doing a "friend party" every year). Family and presents abounded! Here are some of his fun faces, and a few of Lucy's too (the first picture).

BEST PRESENT EVER PAPPA AND GRAMMA!!

Yummy Spider-man ice cream cake.
Frosting that matches his eyes....hee hee.
Mike and I got him a new bike. It's HUGE!

But, he's amazing and he manages to ride it just fine.

Elliott discovered that when he lays on Archie for a photo-op, Archie giggles. Cute boys.

Lucy gave it a try too. Still works!
On a side note, we are trying to teach Archie to drink from a sippy cup to avoid the bottles all together. He spills a lot, but he thinks it's hilarious!