To the North Pole

Dear Santa,

For Christmas I want the biggest dolly in the whole world, a car for me and Adria to ride in, a Diego lollypop and a doll house.

Love,

Julia

Thankful

I know it's cliche, but I just wanted to say that I am thankful this year for my family. And I don't mean the "oh, it's nice to have a family" kind of thankful, but the deep in my heart, more grateful than anything in the world kind of thankful. I watch my girls growing up so fast and all I can think is that I wouldn'trather be anywhere in the whole world than here. Of all the good choices I've made in my life, my family is the best. I love knowing that I mean more to them than anyone else. It's nice to matter so much to someone. So, to myadorable girls and my wonderful, patient, forgiving and loving husband, I'm thankful for you!

Christmas is coming...

I know that Thanksgiving is still a week away, but I love Christmas and I am so excited for it this year. Julia is just as excited, she talks about it a lot. It doesn't help that all the stores are overwhelming us with Christmas stuff. Julia has been asking for a Christmas tree for weeks so I finally caved a few days ago and got out a little tree for her room. She wanted to decorate it herself. And, of course Adria had to help too. I think this Christmas will be more fun than any Christmas I've ever had.

Play space

It would appear that our girls were overwhelmed by the giant size of our apartment and felt that they should find a smaller place to play. At least I had one for each girl.

3 going on 16

I can't believe how fast Julia is growing up. Look at this picture and tell me she doesn't look like she's going to the mall with her friends. I took the picture and told her how pretty she looked and she got embarrassed and started dancing on the stairs. What a goof. Today Adria was emptying my dishwasher for me and Julia said,"You're going to be put in trouble, Adria. And then Julia and Mommy and Daddy will be soooo cranky." I tried to clarify that Adria was getting herself in trouble and would get put in a time out and she said, "Yeah, she's climbing into trouble." Then I just laughed and hugged her. Don't grow up too fast, Julia.

Fun with friends

Our good friends the Mortensens are here for a few weeks from Texas. Today we got to go to the Spectrum and hang out with them and the Hansens and the Syeds (minus all the dads). While I admit to lots and lots of craziness, the kids (all eight of them!) had a really great time. There were a lot of cute pictures, but I won't overwhelm you.

The way things work

Lately, I feel like my girls want to know everything about the world...all at once. Julia will see something, like stars last night and say, "Mommy, what do stars do? Tell it! Tell it!!" Today Adria wanted to know about the rainboots she had in her drawer. I told her they were for walking in the water and then went on making dinner. I guess the only water she could think of was bathwater. Did you know that Adria could climb into the bathtub and turn on the water? Neither did I. These are censored to keep this G-rated. Julia says something funny pretty much every hour. Here are some of my favorites. Driving past a dairy farm, I explained that those cows gave us milk and I said, "We call them milk cows." Without hesitation Julia replied, "Where are the hot dog cows?" Today we were watching bees on the flowers outside my bedroom window. I was telling her how bees use the flowers to make honey. Julia said, "That's not all bees make." "Yes sweetheart, honey is the only thing bees make." "No, they also make the clouds very, very beautiful." Ummm....what? Also, if she doesn't want to do something, she'll start walking backwards, holding her arms towards me saying, "I think I'm going the wrong way! Help! Help!" And I have to laugh, it's just too cute.

Arizona Halloween

Cousins

Trunk-or-treat

counting the loot