Maui Memories...

I realize I am cutting this close, but before Christmas passes us by I want to share what we did for Thanksgiving. We were blessed to be able to spend a week in Maui with Blake's family.

Here is Big Papa in his board shots and flip flops on the tram ready to fly to Maui! :) On the plane, ready for the 5 hour flight!

Aubrey Rose did great on the flights! Thanks to the DVD entertainment! The second we started unpacking the bags, Aubrey Rose found all of her swim stuff and started BEGGING to go "swimming NOW PEESE!"
They swam for a little bit, but then Daddy took Aubrey Rose out to the beach and buried her.
She LOVED it!

Great way to start the vacation! Sand EVERYWHERE!
The next morning Aubrey Rose woke up, quietly snuck out of bed and went to look out the window. Then, she came to me in bed, tapped my arm and said, "Mommy, Beach!! Come on...let's go...Beach!" Little did I know, this would be her morning routine every morning.
So out we went to the beach and lots of swimming in the pool. I love how she isn't even looking at the camera. She was eyeing the pool already.
Daddy and Aubrey Rose
That night we went to dinner at Duke's.


I can't get enough of her big cheesy smile.

The next day we did a little sight seeing. We visited some organic farms, which led us on quite the road adventure. We ended up at the Haleakala Crater. Absolutely FREEZING, but amazing scenery!

Then, back down the mountain and we ate at the delicious Hail'imaile General Store. It was an ADORABLE restaurant.
Then, we continued on our journey to the airport to pick up Blair and her boyfriend, Jordan. More family fun to come!

Fisbee, the Elf

A fun new tradition we started this year in our house was Elf on the Shelf. Even though some of the concepts are completely against my grain to go along with (since I did not grow up believing Santa was real), I absolutely LOVE seeing the joy and excitement Aubrey Rose shows each morning when she finds our Elf, named Fisbee. Each day does not disappoint. There is jumping. Huge smiles. Lots of twirls and clapping. It is adorable. For that, I am LOVING our new tradition. And of course, Blake is a HUGE fan too, since he might be Santa's #1 fan. :)
Every night, Fisbee moves to a different location in the house. He watches over us all day to make sure we are nice and not naughty. At night while we sleep, he tells Santa how good we were and then he moves to a different location of the house to watch us again the next day.

With only a few more days until Christmas, Fisbee is running out of creative places to hide. That and sometimes Fisbee is so tired that he moves in the morning. :) No matter what, the response in the morning from our little 2 year old is completely worth the while. So cute.

Christmas is almost here...

It is hard to believe we are less than a week away from Christmas. The busyness has actually slowed down for a few days, which is nice, but it also makes me feel like I MUST be forgetting something! The house feels warm and Christmas-y, the Christmas cards are out, the presents are wrapped under the tree, and most importantly we have been reading and sharing the true meaning of Christmas to our little girl any chance possible. We have played so much with our nativity scene that we can't find baby Jesus right now. :) Kind of an important part of the story! Hopefully He returns by Christmas!

Right now I am cozied up next to the warm fire Blake made for us, listening to Christmas music and enjoying the Christmas decorations around the house...
This year I worked on a couple of projects. This wreath was one...


This year I decorated the inside of the china hutch too!
This is what the middle section of the china hutch looks like....

Here is another project I did...

This wreath was a little of a hassle, but the final product was worth the challenge.

It is better to give, than to recieve...

And the Christmas tree...oh, the background of this tree. Thank you if you think it looks pretty. I appreciate your kindness. I, on the other hand, laugh every time I think of how we came to this. Oh, the things you do for your little children, especially when they start having opinions. :)
I LOVE Christmas time!

Just one...

Sorry...no time for more! Just one picture will have to do for today. My mom sent me this picture of Aubrey Rose playing at the park. I could hardly believe this is how long and tall my daughter is. When did this happen??? She might look like this in pictures but I promise she is not this big when she sits on my lap and I give her a million kisses while tickling her! These little ones get too big, too fast!!!

Back up...FINALLY!

We have had computer issues around here. I am FINALLY back up and running. First thing on the agenda was to download all the pictures I have not been able to download for weeks. We are now back in business. Whoo hoo!! Now if I could just carve out some time somewhere in these busy holiday days to bring my blog back up to speed! I will try my best. Here are a couple of pics just because I know every post is better with pictures.

Even though things are go, go, go around here, we have had cherished time enjoying the cozy fire and reading books with Aubrey Rose.

This past weekend we got out of town to do our annual Christmas shopping. Definitely a success! Here is the only picture I took of the whole weekend. I know...shame on me! Hey, at least it was a cute one! :)
We have also been able to enjoy the newest little baby in the family...

oh wait....this is NOT a baby!!!Here is Aubrey Rose hanging out with her cousin Jedidiah! Aubrey Rose all of a sudden has become a quite the fan of baby car seats, pacifiers and bottles. UH-OH!!

Hilarious Hats and Hair!

Our Letter H day continued...
We had a little dress up party with different HATS and HAIR styles. And of course, us moms took advantage and made a photo shoot out of it! HA!!
I know, Christopher, why do we do these things to our sweet, little ones. :)
And just to keep it real, I have to show you this great picture below. We still had like two activities to go and we look over to see this....

We gave them a little snack and they made it through the rest of our fun day. :) Sweet, sweet cousin memories. LOVE these letter days!!