Meeting Santa Claus

We took Caleb and Myah to visit Santa tonight. We even coordinated their outfits to match Santa. Caleb is still in 'awe' of Santa and kept asking,"Is this the real Santa, or just a helper?" Myah didn't want anything to do with Santa as you can plainly see (and hear). She stayed on his lap just long enough to snap a couple of pictures. As we were leaving, Caleb became very concerned for his little sister and asked if Santa would still bring her presents, even though she cried. We explained that Santa understands and yes, Myah will still get some presents. We were about 99.9% sure she would cry when she sat on Santa's lap - she doesn't even like the plastic light-up Santa at the store.

Myah's Many Faces

See my tongue? It's lots of fun to stick out.

These are my teeth. I have eight of them by now.

Aren't I just the cutest little stinker?

I Like Cranberry Sauce

Even though it's a little sour, cranberry sauce is fun to eat!

Illinois Thanksgiving

A few pictures from Thanksgiving in Illinois.

Picking out a Christmas tree with cousins.

Caleb and cousin Ryley playing out in the snow. Myah watching from (and kissing) the back door.

Opening a few early Christmas presents from Grandma & Grandpa.

Is someone pretending to be asleep?

Out to dinner with Grandma and the cousins.

In A Galaxy Not So Far Away...

Back when having a daughter was just a dream, I never would have thought that one of her favorite things to play (at the ripe old age of 13 months) would be Star Wars. Granted, her brother is a pretty big Star Wars fanatic and her uncle could put most people to shame with his knowledge of all things Jedi, but for my sweet, dainty little daughter, it never seemed like a possibility.

My mighty Jedi knights-in-training (at least they kept themselves busy while I folded the laundry).

My littlest defender of the galaxy. The microphone on my camera is not very good, but if you listen closely, you can hear Myah making 'Light Saber sounds'. She really has the sound effects down and it cracks me up to see her and Caleb duel with their light sabers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know this is a day early, but we will be traveling for Thanksgiving and I wanted to make sure that all our friends and family know that we are thinking about them today. May you all have a blessed Thanksgiving and remember to give thanks to the One who blesses us all.

Caleb's class singing 'Give Thanks'

Pizza, Pigtails and Pilgrims

I am finally able to get some pigtails to stay in Myah's hair. She sits really well for me while I'm doing it, but she pulls them out if she gets bored in the car. I think I have ten, maybe fifteen strands of hair in each pigtail.


Myah had her first pizza the other night and she sure liked it. Come to think of it, she likes anything that has to do with bread. She's my little 'Carbo-holic' - kind of takes after her dad!


In other news, Caleb had a little Thanksgiving program at his school yesterday. He makes one cute pilgrim - too bad he acts like a little turkey!

Caleb and his class reciting Psalm 100.

A Beautiful Fall Day in AZ

We went for a hike the other day. Nothing strenuous, just a nice relaxing walk up a little mountain. When you live in Arizona, it's kind of like you're in a little bubble. It's hard to imagine other places getting snow while it's 85 and you're wearing shorts. My apologies if you're one of the people getting snow!

The really tall cactus with arms are Saguaros. The shorter ones that look fuzzy (it's really tons of prickles) are called Cholla (below on the left). These particular chollas are called Teddy Bear Chollas. Caleb once made the mistake of thinking they were fuzzy and grabbed one. He never did that again! The tall spindley looking plant that has lots of spikes sticking up (below on right) is called an Ocatillo. Our house is somewhere down in the valley in the bottom picture.

A Crafty Kid

Yesterday the local library had a craft workshop for kids. Caleb was busy making three different turkeys for Thanksgiving.

This poor guy only made it till dinnertime.

Getting a head start on Christmas crafts at home.

Good hair gone bad. This is what happens when you have pigtails in your hair and then take a nap.

Going For A Ride