Happy Birthday Maddux

Maddux requested a Lego birthday party, and Legos are exactly what he got. Good gosh, I've never seen a kid so small with so many Legos! The sad thing is, he doesn't know how to put them together yet, so Daddy has been building Legos for hours!
This kid is loved!

Happy 4th Birthday Maddux!

The Best Christmas Ever

CHRISTMAS EVE

My favorite Christmas Eve tradition is making gift bags for the homeless. We fill the bags and then drive them around and deliver them. This year we had a really great experience!

watching Elf and eating snacks...

CHRISTMAS DAY

Off to Church...

Big present from Mommy and Daddy...

Then to mom and dad's house for evening celebrating...

Reese found Vander's present a little early...

This was such an amazing Christmas because Maddux was SO into it. He was ecstatic from the second he woke up. In fact, he was SO excited, that I couldn't get a picture of him that wasn't completely blurry! Hence, the lack in pictures of Maddux this year. Sad.

Preschool Christmas Program

Maddux started at Bright Beginning's Preschool this year (and if you ever ask him who he will marry, it is Miss Jenny, his teacher). They had the absolute cutest Christmas Program and it was to die for.

Here are a couple of videos. There is one more, but it won't upload. I will try again soon!
I apologize for the horrific video skills. I was giggling so hard that my hand was shaking out of control. But you get the idea...MAJOR cuteness!

Pre-Christmas

My favorite part of Christmas is the whole month that leads up to it. The carols, shopping, activities with the kids, Santa, I love it all! Here are a few pics of things we did with the fam this year.

Neighborhood Snow Party

As you can see, us Arizonans aren't equipped for playing in the snow. Bad mom! My kids were freezing, so we didn't last too long, but they loved it!

Gingerbread Houses
We had a little contest between Kasey & Joel, Mom & Dad, Drew & me (& Maddux). Kasey and Joel won, but they were the ONLY ones who didn't have Maddux "helping" them. Can't wait to see their house next year when Vander is helping. ;)

Pre-Christmas with the Ingram Girls

Wendy, Jess, and Sam went to Utah for the week of Christmas, so we celebrated early with them. We played the family Christmas games (I won again...woohoo), ate yummy dinner, and opened presents. Fun night!

Reese @ 18 Months

Well, we've got a little peanut on our hands. I knew she was small, but I didn't know she was 3rd percentile small!

Reese's 18 month stats are:
weight: 20 lbs 6 oz (3%)
Height: 32.5" (75%)
Head: 18.5" (70%)

We have to take her in for a weight check next month, and then if by 2 years she isn't back on the growth curve, we will have her tested for allergies, thyroid problems, and a few other things that I can't quite remember.

She definitely does NOT lack in energy though. She was born ready to keep up with her crazy big brother. These two do not sit still for 5 seconds around here!

A few things about Reese right now:

*She loves shoes.

*She loves singing and having people sing songs to her. Her favorites are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, and If You're Happy and You Know It.

*We call her "monkey", and she IS a monkey. The girl climbs and crawls on everything. She actually has her brother beat in the bumps and bruises department.

*She loves to be chased and loves to hide.

*Her sassy attitude is still going strong. She has mastered the art of glaring.

*Even with her sassiness, the girl knows how to melt mommy's heart. She gives hugs and kisses at the perfect times.

*She talks a lot, new words everyday and even full sentences. But... I'm not sure anyone but us can understand her yet. Her current favorite word is "mine".

*She is a most definitely a Daddy's girl. She really likes men better than women overall, but Daddy is her favorite person in the whole world.

*She loves books. She gets to choose a book from Maddux's bookshelf every night for bedtime.

*She is a pretty good eater. There are a few things she doesn't like, but for the most part, she will eat anything and make a good mess of it!

Happy Halloween!

My sparkly witch with an attitude...My muscle man Captain America...

For those who AREN'T sick of hearing about the Ragnar yet...

This last weekend I ran the Las Vegas Ragnar with 11 of the coolest girls you'll ever meet. It was worth every second of early morning training and planning that went into making it happen. Truly one of the most challenging and fun things I've ever accomplished!!

I want to be able to remember so many of the details from this race, but I would have to write a book to get it all down. I'll just jot some of the highs and lows (because there were certainly both)

LOWS:

• Getting only 1 hour of sleep from Friday morning at 4:30am until Sunday at 1:00am. This was the most uncomfortable hour of sleep in my life. In the driver's seat of a 15 passenger van. Steering while in my knees, and no room to stretch my feet through the gas and brake.
  

• Aubry eating the asphalt/dirt/rock at the end of her 3rd leg. She was rocking it down the hill so fast and lost her footing at the exchange. She went down faster than anyone had a chance to figure out who it was. She sprained her ankle, got road rash up her leg, cut open her elbow, and ripped open her awesome zebra pants.
  

• Eating dinner at the Cheesecake factory between runs #2 and #3. Why is this a low, you ask? I ordered my absolute favorite meal (Shrimp Franschese) and didn't get to enjoy one second of it because it was taking every thing I had to sit up at the table. It's not fair to not be able to appreciate a meal like that!
  

• Getting lost as the driver when we got on the freeway going the wrong directions for 20-ish miles trying to get to the next major exchange.
  

• My 3rd leg. 6.4 miles on a "dirt" road. It was more like a gravel/dirt/rock road. My headlamp was going out and it was pitch black (about 3 or 4am). Twisted my ankle more times than I was able to keep track. When vans drove by in the dirt, it was like running through thick fog and the dying headlamp didn't help. I ended up mooching light off of a fellow runner as I ran next to him for the last mile or two.
  

HIGHS:

• Spending time and laughing with 11 of the most amazing girls I've ever met. You would think that a 5-6 hour drive to Vegas and back with 12 girls in one van would equal disaster, right? Not even! We had a great time and even cried together (happy tears)!

• Getting up at 4:30am to drive to the starting line with my van. We got to cheer on Lauren as she started the whole adventure out for our team. I got a little choked up!

• Running through the finish line with Sarah (our final runner) on the very last leg of the whole 188 miles. Our team met up with her for the last couple hundred yards and we all ran in together. Again...choked up (what a baby!?).

• My 1st Leg. 7.4 miles in blistering miserable heat with 1 unmanned water station. The hills were killer and it was still the best 7.4 mile run I've ever had. I felt strong and pumped up! Loved it!!! PR 8:18 average.
  

• Getting all gussied up for a night on the strip in Vegas. We all showered and got cleaned up at Planet Hollywood, then walked to dinner at Serendipity. Bit of a mistake though because we ended up as 12 hobbling girls trying to get up and down the stairs and the Strip. We called it good after dinner and hung out in the hotel instead. :)
  

• Ragnar Amnesia. I'm pretty sure I heard at least half of the girls (myself included) say we would never do this again. Who's idea was this anyway? On the drive home, we are all figuring out when we can plan our next Ragnar. It was that amazing.

A few of my favorite pics:

Busy Bag Swap

We had a Busy Bag Swap at my house last night. I'm so excited about all these new activities for my kiddos.

13 of us chose an activity that fits in a ziploc bag (easy to grab on the go). Everyone made 13 of their activity and brought them to the swap. We all left with 13 new things to keep the kids occupied!

My kids have been playing with this stuff all morning. Now I've got to hide them so they are still exciting and new at church and doctor appointments.

First Field Trip

Maddux had his very first field trip last week. His class went to Vertuccio Farms and it was so cute! The kids had a blast and even the moms got to get in on the fun.
I cannot say enough how much I love Maddux's preschool and his teacher, Miss Jenny!

This thing was pulled by a tractor all around the farm...