USS KIDD Kid's Christmas Party

Last night was Mark's work kids Christmas party. It was really nice and we had lots of fun. Santa and Mrs.Santa showed up and read the kids The Night Before Christmas. It was really cute! We had one of Mark's friends take our picture...It was great that everyone was looking at the same time..lol

I love Blake's face in this pic..he was saying mmmmmmm he was such a ham the whole night..

Daddy and the kids and of course our son is making silly faces again!!

Blake was having fun w/throw the ball in the snowman...didn't want his sister to do it.. ;-)

My cute kiddies...I just realized Blake is in need of a serious haircut...gotta do that before we go out of town..

Taylor going up to get her gift from Santa

Showing what Santa brought her....

Blake going up to get his gift...and NOT letting go of daddy!!! Can you tell by the grip he has on Mark's shirt??!! lol

Happy as pie away from santa...

Well it was a great family evening...and mingling w/other military families gives you a sense of being part of a bigger family than your own. It's a great feeling being part and having an extended family even if it's your military family.. :-) I'm glad the crew is home for the holidays and I'm especially happy Mark is home with us. We are off to LA and AZ for the holidays and we are soo excited to see everyone and make new memories. I love my family and love being around them. I'm not sure if I will be able to post anymore before we leave or while we are away. So I wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Be safe and have tons of fun!!! If you live in AZ send me a message on Facebook w/your phone number if you would like to get together..we plan on heading to the Mesa area to see the temple lights and do some visiting...and I would love to meet up with whoever is free..

A little bit of everything....

I thought I would combine the last week into one posting. We have had a busy rainy week here in San Diego! With lots to try and find to do inside vice us being outside where it's normally sunny and warm. I feel as though we live in Seattle,WA with all this rain and cold weather. :-) I do enjoy the coldness even when I complain I will take it over the HEAT anyday! Below is Taylor's x-mas tree she has in front of her bedroom window. She decorated it all by herself. She is so proud of it and so am I so it is blog worthy to post! :-)

Daddy and daughter on our Wednesday (family home evening) since we didn't have time on Monday and Tuesday Mark had overnight duty we decided to do it when he was home. Taylor said it was better to wait to have daddy here cause Family home evening has "family" in it and daddy is part of our family and he has to be here. Of course she is right so we waited and had so much fun. (the picture below this is out of order but the results of our FHE activity is below that)

This is out of order but I'm too tired and laze to fix it so I thought this was a cute pic of the kids the other morning when Taylor was getting ready to go to school. Blake woke up and would not leave her side and just stood by her. It was really cute and I love that my kids are so close and Taylor is a GREAT big sister to him. Blake just adores her and loves her!

Okay so here is our Santa handprints that we made for our FHE lesson on Wed. It was so much fun and we had a blast! So we displayed our little santahand family on our wall.

Below is our kids "feet" x-mas trees. Blake had so much fun getting his foot painted, and Taylor thought it was funny how her foot turned out to be a christmas tree...All in all we did not have melt downs like our last FHE so it was so enjoyable and fun. I guess I need to work on my patience with little ones nad understand that they aren't at a age where its very easy to sit still and listen w/out throwing fits or getting bored easily...lol (a issue I will be trying to perfect for a VERY LONG TIME)

Taylor and her BFF Hannah. This was our Ward x-mas party last night. The kids had to wear their pj's to perform there dance I want a Hippo(not sure how to finish spelling it) for Christmas. It was so cute!

My cutie pootie waiting for them to be called up to dance!

My rascal son getting himself into whatever trouble he could find. lol He ran EVERYWHERE and thought it was so much fun to run away from us when we tried to get him to stay where we were at. Gonna have my hands full w/him and I blame my newly found grey hair on him...ha ha ha

Daddy got tired of chasing him so he put him on his shoulders...and as you can tell Blake is leaning backwords...silliness I tell you!!

Taylor performing her dance...she looked so cute and I want to now put her in something like this where she can perform.

Well this is our little updates from the last week. We had fun and still trying to stay dry and warm with this crazy weather we are having. I'm excited to see family and be with them for the holidays. Lots of pics will be loaded when we get back. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'm grateful to my family for the love and support they give and show especially my parents who are always there for us no matter how big or small with open arms never judging. I'm grateful for a loving heavenly father who everyday forgives me of my short comings and guides me to be better everday. I am grateful for our savior and brother Jesus Christ for his loving sacrifice of giving his life for all of us. I am grateful for the gospel I believe in and the strength I find in it when I need an extra push or reassurance. I am grateful for my friends and there friendships. I am grateful for my husband who is such an amazing person who continues to show me unconditional love and keeps me on my toes w/his jokes, smiles, hugs and thoughtful words. I am grateful for my children and the joy they bring into my life. I learn so much from them and they make me want to be a better mother and teacher to them. I am also grateful for Alisabeth and Jared for the short time I was with them they joy I shared with them. I'm happy to have had that time w/them and excited for the near future visits to have them here w/us making new memories. My heart is filled with a lot of grattitude for the ones I love and hold dear to my heart. I have learned so much, and continue to strive to learn more. I hope I never forget the small and little things that mean the most.

Decorating our Tree

Mark left on Tuesday morning out to sea yet again, but only for several days till tomorrow (fri) afternoon. Before he left he was such a sweetheart and set up our little artifical Christmas tree and put the lights on it. The kids were in bed so I said we would have to have the decorate it while he was away and we would surprise him w/a finished tree by the time he got home. So last night we got busy working on it.

So when Mark's kids went to live with him several years back they got the tree and some decorations. So we still have them and use them, PERFECT now especially having Blake. The ornaments are plastic, and though they aren't what I would of choosen but I was not around at that time of buying or even knew Mark. LOL I do like the BRIGHT colors of the ornaments and so do the kids and that's all that matters. I do have real glass balls that I either wrote on or had the kids put their hand prints on and made snowmen with them, but have yet to put on the tree cause Blake still likes to shake or grab the tree. So we are trying to work with him that you don't do that, but telling a 14month old NO touching a colorful anything is like talking to a wall..A BIG WHATEVER MOM! ha ha ha

Anyways, I thought it was so cute to get them both hanging stuff on the tree and for the most part Blake did a great job. So here are the pics...I am so excited for Christmas and I can't wait to see my family!