Lego Nativity

This is Bryn's Lego Nativity. I love it - so cute and kind of funny. That tall blue thing with the clear and yellow blocks is the new star.

Here's a close-up of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and the three wise men.

Not-So-Nice Santa

We took the kids to the mall today to visit Santa. We tried going to a different mall the other day and it was CRAZY busy, so we decided to go to the mall we usually go to. It's not the nicest mall, but it's close, the line to see Santa is always short, and the girls behind the camera always let us take our own pictures.

When we got there, we noticed that the poster with the photo prices had a note on the bottom saying (paraphrasing), "We kindly ask that you don't use your cameras in Santa's court so that we can continue to bring Santa to the mall every year." Okay, no problem, we'll just take pictures from the gate - zoom in a little and it will be perfect.

Well, when it was our turn, I started taking pictures of Nick & Santa. Nick was looking my way, so no problem...........

Bryn went up and started talking to Santa. As you can see, she wasn't facing me, so I yelled out to Dave to position her in a way where we could get a good shot. That's when Santa noticed me outside of the gate. He told Dave that we were not suppose to use our camera. Dave explained that I was outside of the gate, like the sign said, and that we just wanted one shot of Bryn with him. He said he would not pose and would not look my way.

That's fine; we understand that they're trying to make a living. We only wanted the one picture of Nick anyway :-) Here we are stealing some more shots outside of the gate......

Merry Christmas from the Carattinis!

Yummiest bread!

A woman I used to work with would make this bread from time to time and bring it in to share. SO STINKIN' GOOD! The last time I tried to make it, I really messed it up. I needed something to take to bookclub and this seemed perfect. We were discussing "Mockingjay" the third book in the Hunger Games Series. So, since Peeta was a baker and Katniss was known for her long braided hair...............

Look at those layers of butter!!!!!!!!!!

Yum.

Halloween

"Mom, if you take one more picture of me I'll beat you with a banana!"

Mission Accomplished!

My desk has been a dumping ground for years. I couldn't take it anymore! I hated how it looked and I hated using my computer with all those piles of junk in my way. So......................

Before

In between

After!

I'm loving it! I just wish Dave would come in and organize those wires under the desk. I'll add that to his "honey do" list.

Halloween Fun

I LOVE Halloween! The house has been decorated with all my Halloween goodies since Sept. 1st. I'll be sad to take them down, but happy for Thanksgiving decor :-) I'll post pictures of the kiddos in their costumes later, but for now I thought I'd post what we made at my last Stamper's Night Out. I love these halloween stamps & paper........so cute!

Nancy is the fun mom

Bryn has asked me SEVERAL times if she can have a facebook page. I always say no. I think she's too young. Plus, we don't need another person wasting time in this house :-) Nancy, however, is the fun mom and let Andrew have a page on facebook. I was actually glad because I could say to Bryn, "See honey, Andrew is older than you. You need to wait a few years." And it worked. She hasn't asked since.

Nancy has found some really cute photos for his page. I stole them..........

I love the look on her face and the phone number on the helmet.

Look what I found

I was going through some files on my computer when I found this picture that my nephew took with the camera on my laptop. I didn't even know he and Nick had been playing with it. It's such a cute picture. Alex is such a sweet cousin!

Fun times this summer!

This past July, my sisters came down to visit us and brought some of their kids. Nancy wanted to have pictures of her boys taken so we decided to have pictures of all the kids that were here. They really turned out cute and it was so fun watching them together. At one point, the camera man asked Taylor to sit on Andrew's lap. Taylor wasn't sure if she wanted to do that and Andrew just said, "What do you want for Christmas, little girl!".

More Funny Bryn

Last night Bryn and I were being silly and joking around. At one point she said, "Mom, you don't have a brain. Instead you have a rat running on a rusty wheel..........Oh! and the wheel is squeaky." She cracks me up!

Teacher Appreciation

Teacher Appreciation week was last week and Bryn has a wonderful teacher. Bryn will have a hard time saying goodbye to Mrs. Silva next week. I made her a "Flower Pot" box full of treats and cupcakes for the school's staff (along with other parents). I was so scared to put her in public school down here, but I'm really grateful for her school. It's a great place!

Visitors

Yesterday, while Bryn was eating breakfast, she stared saying "duck, duck, duck". I asked what the heck she was talking about and she pointed out the window...........

You should have heard all the cute little quacking noises they made. It was adorable!

Getting bigger!

The other day, Nick climbed up onto the piano, put on the head phones, turned it on and started playing. He knows what buttons to push for music, different sounds, or to just play piano. I made me realize how big he's getting. Plus I thought it was really cute!

The poor kid did a face-plant on the cement a few weeks ago while we were taking a walk. That's why he looks like Hitler.

Phoenix Children's Museum

Dave took a day off work a couple weeks ago and we took the kids to the Phoenix Children's Museum. It was really fun. As you can see from the pictures below, they had a great time. We will definitely be getting a pass for the hot summer months.

Stamp Club

I LOVE being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. It is so much fun getting together with friends and making cute things. Dave doesn't get it, but he knows it makes me happy and is very supportive.

Here's what we made at Charilla's party on Tuesday:

LOVE IT!