Desert Fun

We took off in search of warmer weather, and Arizona was perfect!!

Ben's parents are snowbirds, and surrounded by mountains, so we did some hiking.

And had a little fun with the cacti!

I made Ben a little nervous. He kept telling me to get down, he afraid of heights...

This Saguaro was quite a character!

On our last day, we took the boys hiking, or "mountain climbing" as they called it.

We were pretty impressed on how well they did. They went a lot further than we thought!

Miles taking a look around.

Me with the Superstition Mountains in the background.

Awwww...

Our wonderful guide, Bob (Ben's dad).

Miles REALLY close to the edge of a cliff, Ben would have had a heart attack if he hadn't been back in the car!

Crazy Miles and Crabby James.

We got a kick out of the Phoenix weather reports telling us a cool down was coming (a high of 74!)

More to come!!!

A Relaxing Holiday

Usually the holidays are are too busy. We're rushed, running around from celebration to celebration. This year was so relaxing!It helped that we spread the family get togethers out throughout the month. Lists were made, shopping started before Thanksgiving. It just felt sane.
We even managed pictures!

The it was a great family holiday, family month.

Come to think of it, why should any other month be different? I'm not saying the whole gift thing, more the relaxing family weekends.

Good food, games, playing. What were we doing before?

Here's to 2011, I'm calling it a year of family firsts. We have a lot we want to do!

Have a fabulous year!!

A Whole Lotta Christmas Fun!

Miles set up this little tree in his room. He did a lot of other rearranging to prepare for Santa as well! AND he decorated his tree...

...all by himself! Very proud!

James and Grandma Mary. His baby, which he has named "Grandpa Paul baby," and Miles' guitar, which James has taken over.

Miles got these great blocks. He loves them, builds garages for his police trucks!

We got an amazing amount of snow over Christmas! The heavy wet stuff. So James and I made a snowman!

Unfortunately the snow was a little too wet and he fell over. So he became a little shorter!

Miles made some reindeer food in preschool, so he sprinkled it out back so they would know to stop here!

Milk and cookies for Santa.

A carrot for the reindeer (there was food outside so one would do).

And some truffles for Mrs. Claus!!!

After Santa arrived!

I informed the boys Santa wouldn't come until they were REALLY asleep. Miles decided he didn't want a bath, he just wanted to go to sleep!

The next morning he forgot all about Santa.

He came into our room to snuggle with his mama until I said, "Merry Christmas Miles." Then snuggling was over and he went down to see his presents. All was quiet until he got to the bottom of the stairs and peaked in the living room.

"WOW!"

And back up the stairs he ran to wake his brother!

I think James was a little disappointed Santa ate all the cookies!

Oh and I here's a picture of the quilt I made my mom!

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!!

Dance Party

Last week while Ben was at a meeting i went upstairs and was told by my 2 year old to go back downstairs. "What are you guys doing?" I asked. "We're having a dance party!" exclaimed Miles. So downstairs I went... ...grabbed my camera (which shot some lovely red eye), and back up I went. This had to be good. Miles was standing on a stool in his room and announced, "attention, attention everyone!" (to James). "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider has been cancelled. Thank you." He then bowed, stepped of his stool and said, "okay James, now we can dance."
And dance they did!

James caught me. I was allowed to take a picture before being banished downstairs again.

On another note... later that night while James was in the tub, I called for Miles to take a bath also. He responded, "Mommy, I just need some time alone right now." WHAT?! Yep, he did a puzzle in his room alone, and then was off to the bathtub.

Sir Miles and the Wingless Dragon

The boys got it this year!

Last year we went to 3 houses. They strongly believed they should eat the candy as they go.

This year, collecting the candy was okay!So, Miles was a knight, and James was a dragon.

Miles pointed out, James didn't have any wings, so he wasn't a dragon. SHHHH! Don't tell him that! Could have made for some interesting last minute wings!

I think it's time to start Miles on chores. He loves to help, any suggestions on what a 4 year old should do around the house? So far I'm thinking, setting and clearing the table, vacuuming (although this one will upset James, he likes to play with it). What else??

Sweetness

So, I've been having a rough week. I'll leave it at that!

But there have been some very sweet things happening, that are turning it all around!

Yesterday when I stopped for coffee, I was told it was already paid for.

I received a business card for auto body repair, but it started my day off nicely.

Then Miles brought home a flower from his field trip to the grocery store.

Flowers always make me smile!

I've also had 2 great evenings playing with the kids!

This morning both my boys begged to stay with Mommy! And have been extra cuddly lately! Loving it!

Then after staying late at work, I came home to this!

I know a rug...

But this rug and floor is was covered in muddy shoe and paw prints. In the summer it was sand. A never ending battle! But 3 guys worked hard cleaning it!

And on the table was a perfect fall plant!
Did I mention flowers make me smile??

And finally I found this on the counter!

Pecan pie is my favorite!

So my week is turning around.

I'm working on a better attitude, reevaluating what matters, and trying to focusing on what I love!

Thanks for the pick me up!

Family Photos

We were way overdue for family photos! The last ones were 1 1/2 years ago and James was just learning to pull himself up. You can see that has changed!

This is one of my favorites because it is the most honest. I usually hate photos of myself and never post them, but I love these! Thank you Ana!
I little boy is getting so big! And thankfully is quite a mama's boy.

That dandelion ended up in Ben's nose... hee hee!

So our photographer is the wonderful Ana Ankeny. She has her own little man now and he hogs her camera now! But I can't blame her, he's pretty darn cute!

Yea, I was being choked here!

I can hardly believe 7 years ago Ben and I were married, and now we have two sweet noisy little boys (oops, I mean BIG boys).

Miles REALLY liked those dandelions!

Trying to convince James to stand by us for photos.

Okay maybe they're both mama's boys. It's a fabulous thing!

Me...

Us...

I am so blessed!

Weekend

We headed to my parents' house this weekend. The boys spent the whole weekend outside, enjoying the beautiful weather. Miles' birthday is Wednesday so there were presents and a VERY happy birthday boy!

James made out quite well too! One of things Miles wanted for his birthday was a present for James, that way he wouldn't have to share his.

The boys follow Grandpa Paul all over! This time out to the island for some cattails...

...but of course being boys they became weapons and were either broken or confiscated.

A little story (unrelated to the weekend)

- Miles had an appointment in Sioux Falls about 1 1/2 weeks ago. Of course I needed to take advantage of the shopping available, so we headed out early. We ended up stopping in Victoria's Secret and Miles exclaimed loudly, "It's beautiful in here!!" Much better than the kid that was pulling a bra on over his head!