Christmas Season

Celebrating Jesus all month long with these two little munchis,

it doesn't get sweeter.

We had an amazing month, lots of time with friends and family, and lots celebrating. We kicked off December 1st with decorating the tree. I love having the tree inside and feeling all cozy with the lights on, especially on all of those cold, rainy days.

Owen and I had a "date" to Disneyland.

Here is my handsome little man...

Owen was chosen to lead one of the parades with Mickey

and help him conduct his band!!!

We rode four different trains at Disneyland, Owen's dream day. This was Owen waiting for his favorite train of the day, the FAST train,

Thunder Mountain!

(Yes, this two and a half year old is tall enough to ride thunder mountain!)

We enjoyed a night with friends walking the Island and looking at Christmas lights. That is one of my favorite things to do at Christmas.

Owen and I baked cookies for the neighbors... He loved using the cookie cutters and wanted to wear an apron just like mommy. I love the image of his dodger t-shirt underneath my anthropolgie apron. Sweet days.

Christmas morning. Love your smile Bub.

stockings....

Enjoying Monkey Bread...

Chilling together by the fire and opening gifts.

We met up later with both of our families. So much great time with both of our families this season. Here is Santa with his two little elves.

Ended our year on New Years Eve morning enjoying breakfast at the orange circle with friends.

Peyton celebrated her half birthday in December...

how is she already 6 months?

She has us all wrapped around her sweet, tiny fingers. She is the easiest little thing to love. Trying to start her on solid foods, although she is indifferent to eating (and drinking for that matter.) She is rolling around, grabbing toys, attempting to sit, hanging out in her exersaucer and obsessed with her older brother. I love my girl.

Hope your holidays were Merry and Bright.

Peytee Girl

5 months... almost 6!!

Peyton is the sweetest thing, I cant get enough of her. I kiss her all. day. long. This is her new face that she makes as she sucks on her lower lip for teething all of the time. Its seriously cute.

Our girl is a little bundle of sunshine. This last month Owen has grown to love her and want to play with her all of the time. He loves it when she "plays trains" with help standing next to his train table, and he makes her squeal with happiness when he gets close to her face and smiles or hands her a toy. Peyton is always content to be sitting in a lap or playing in her ocean adventure activity mat. Little miss was sleeping great for a while, but now it seems she doesnt need much sleep at all and is still so content... Im hoping thats a VERY temporary thing. Her first year seems to be flying by... Im trying my hardest to capture her baby sweetness, but these past few months it seems I have neglected my camera.

Big Boy Bed

....or man cave.

Just before Peyton arrived last spring, I felt the pressure of moving Owen into a big boy bed on the chance that I would put her straight into her crib (which by the way, Peyton is still sleeping next to us in her cradle. so much for pressure.) To solve the whole sharing a small room dilemma, Mark suggested we remove the doors on the closet of Owen's room and build him a bed. My dad built Owen the coolest little bunk, complete with shelving on the side and storage underneath.

Owen LOVES it.

Its his own little nook in the house where he can rest (and play when he's supposed to be resting). I secretly want one too. At night Mark and I sqeeze in to read to him and snuggle him before bed.

I decorated the wall with nautical charts and he loves to look at the maps and play with his blankets or read in there. Pretty cozy.

Thankful.

So thankful this year for my little ones... they fill my life with so much joy.

Here is Peytee girl on the swing for the first time Thanksgiving morning. She is so much fun.

Thanks Meghan, for capturing this moment with your iphone... Shoot, Im running out of reasons to not like them.

Halloween

Boo! Caught ya.

Our kids have turned me into a Halloween lover. There is nothing cuter than Halloween with toddlers. Love them in costumes, love them so excited about being all together and running around all crazy, and LOVE them trick or treating. It was so fun to be with all of our favorite little munchis on Halloween night.

Here is the gang getting wild and ready to go in our front yard!

"Clarke" Kennedy (LOVE the slick do) and his Wonderman.

Remember these two bashing around Europe together?

Here we are with our second babies.

Gramps showing up to catch a peek at his fireman.

Sorting the loot and ruining any chance of getting to bed on time.

Here is my little firefighter. He looks so old in this picture.

For two and a half, this little man is so tall. Growing too fast.

P is for...

Pretty..

...Pensive

...Precious

...Playful

...Petite

Peyton.

We love our pretty girl, she is growing so fast.

3 months

3 months of baby bliss with this girl.

5 Years.

Celebrating 5 Years of marriage...

No doubt, the best five years of my life.

Mark and I enjoyed a night away at Shutters in Santa Monica. We loved Santa Monica, its such a great city. We walked the boardwalk, went to third street, explored the city, chilled by the pool a little, read by the fireplace, enjoyed some amazing meals, and just absolutely loved every minute of being alone together.

Everyone talks about how marriage is work... and I aggree that it takes effort to get alone time, to continue to serve each other, to keep communication alive, to stay on the same page... but honestly this man makes marriage so easy. It is so easy to love him and do life with him. I love my life with my man.

...And boy does he love his burgers. This Mark at Father's Office,

grubbing on some delicious food.

Training

We are pretty serious about our trains over here. Owen has developed an obsession with his trains.... I know you are thinking, ALL boys love trains. Seriously, we take it to a new level. Owen calls it "training", he loves arranging and rearranging the trains in specific orders...

He loves pushing them along the tracks and has figured out just the right speeds so they dont crash around the curves and down the hills....

And he LOVES the characters. He knows all of their names and makes up amazing stories about them. He narrates little scenes with the trains like "oh no Percy you are going to fast", "I need a wash down, Gordon said ", or "Fergus is scared of the smelting yard".

Here is Toad (the train), Owen's new best friend. He comes everywhere with us. I don't know why Owen chose Toad out of all of the other trains, but there is something so special about him, its pretty sweet.

Each different train comes with a pamphlet that shows you all of the different engines and all of the different stations you could possibly buy. About a month ago, Owen discovered this pamphlet and studies it every day. He knows all of their names and tells me all about them. He also points out which trains he doesnt have and wants Bella (his grandma) to buy for him. Oh boy.

I love watching this precious one and seeing his imagination take flight.

Big smiles!

So in love with this kissable baby girl.