More Holiday Fun...

I forgot to share a couple of other fun things that happened in December.  The most exciting was that Auntie came to visit!  The kids love their Auntie and I quickly move to #2 when she's in town.  Here she is spending some time reading with the kids.

Rarely pictured with just each other...sisters!  We were bundled up headed out of church, it was so cold!

The next weekend we hosted the Inaugural Blubaum Holiday Open House.  Growing up my parents always had a Holiday Open House and I have such fun memories of their party.  We've wanted to start having one...but the last few years have been filled with newborns and nursing Mom and not really in the mood to party.  This year there were no excuses...so we had a party!  It was so much fun and we had a great turn out.  There will definitely be a 2nd Annual!

The highlight of the party (other than the chocolate fountain!) was that we had Santa make an appearance.  There were about 15 kids at the party and to see the look on their faces when they heard Santa's sleigh bells and all of a sudden he came in with presents for each kid was priceless!  While excited to see him, Cole was actually quite freaked out that Santa was actually in his house and for once Cole was speechless!  Here they are enjoying some time with the "big man."

They also got their picture taken with the creepy mall Santa a couple of weeks later.  Seriously...who's the chubby kid with the mug shot on the left?  Smile girl...he just might bring you presents if you do!

I always like to put a copy of our holiday cards on the blog.  By now you've all received yours so I am not spoiling anything.  Kacey Droz did another amazing job.  We've been working with her for 5 years now and each year the pictures and cards get better...we feel so blessed that she shares her amazing talents with our family.  Thank you Kacey!

The fun and the festivities!

Another Christmas, survived!  We had a lot of fun leading up to the big day...

Thursday we headed out to Zoo Lights with our friends Sean, Rachel and their 2 little ones.  It was a chilly, chilly night in Phoenix.  I think I was the only mom who didn't have gloves on her kids.  Who the heck owns gloves when you live in Phoenix?  Apparently everyone but us!  Here we are, ready to head out!

Here are 3 of the 4 little ones, including our friend Haley.  Zach is not yet 1 so he was easy to contain.  These 3 on the other hand, not so much.  We had them convinced to hold hands...but then they would run off at top speed.  They had so much fun!

We ate dinner before we left, but leave it to my kids to "get hungry" about an hour in.  We had to stop and wait in the massive lines for some emergency chicken nuggets.

The next night we headed over for a pre-Christmas Eve dinner at Grammy & Papa's house.  Cole has been interested in Star Wars lately (thanks to cousin Lukas).  Grammy truly saves everything and had pulled out all of Shawn's Star Wars toys from when he was a kid.  The kids had a blast playing with them!  Kenleigh especially liked Chubaka and kept calling him "Waka." She slept with the figurine that night.

Grammy had set up a special table for the kids to enjoy their dinner.  Cole of course didn't want to sit at the "baby table." Kenleigh enjoyed her meal and Papa joined her for entertainment.  Love this picture, pretty much sums up their relationship!

Here are Shawn and his parents on Christmas Eve!

We had a great time reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (the version recorded by Grandma & Papa John) and setting out cookies for Santa.  Unfortunately the kids got thirsty and drank all of Santa's milk.  The kids posed quickly before bedtime.

By midnight we had everything assembled and wrapped.  It was a long night!  In the end it looked so magical with the lights on the tree on and all the presents around.  I wanted to have a glass of wine, sit on the couch and enjoy it...but knew little feet would be up early the next morning, so off to bed we went.





Santa brought lots of great presents...here the kids are enjoying a few!

Dress up clothes are a hit in our house.  Cole is always dressing up in the fairy and princess dress up clothes so Santa decided it was time for some boy dress up clothes.  Up first...Captain Amerca!

Then a sweet little Tinkerbell wanted to join in on the fun (post nap hair do included!).







Couldn't miss the chance to picture them together.  Here they are posing with the neighbors outdoor plastic light up nativity set (don't ask!).

It was truly a fantastic Christmas and I am so sad it's already over!  A special gift arrived for Christmas.  Marcia sent me a DVD of the photo slide show we showed at my dad's service last October.  The kids and I sat and watched it on Christmas Day...I cried and smiled, it was so nice to see him on a day that I miss him so much.



Snuggies!

Today is day #1 of vaca...and today is Mom vs Kids.  My list was a bit lengthy of chores that had to get done.  The toughest task?  Operation grocery store.  Somehow as they have gotten older, this has become a more challenging task.  Today the kids were rock stars.  Both rode the entire time in the car cart, ate their cookies from Damien, our friend in the bakery and allowed me to get my shopping done.  I had to reward them for their great behavior.  The purchase?  Kids sized Snuggies!  Cole picked out Toy Story and Kenleigh got Tinkerbell.  They are hilarious and adorable.  Here they are snuggied up waiting for their lunch.

The bonus of the Snuggies is that both kids were so excited to wear them that they raced upstairs to their bedrooms for nap time.  Thank you Snuggie!

We have to be well rested for our outing tonight at Zoo Lights.  Time to bundle up in the Valley of the Sun...it's a cold one today.  Happy Holidays!

...and we're back!

I can only hope that the recent purchase of a new laptop and a new computer with = more frequent blogging. I am tired of making excuses for why it's not updated. No doubt the kids will look back and know that 2011 was a busy one.

Through the busy times we still have a ton of fun. I don't have access to many pictures yet, but I'll update with what I have from my iPhone. More to come, I promise.

I updated last about Cole's birthday party...but a few days later we celebrated on his actual birthday. Of course we dined at the standard Blubaum birthday spot...Red Robin! Here is the birthday boy playing his favorite money wasting game.

Here he is again sporting his Spiderman gear from Auntie (picked out by Lukas of course!).

We pretty much start celebrating Christmas on November 1st in our house. We love Christmas so much that just the days in December aren't enough for us. Cole's first viewing of Charlie Brown Christmas (with his Charlie Brown tree next to him), was in early November.

Can't forget K...enjoying one of brother's birthday gifts!

On Thanksgiving our friend Amanda brought her dog Scout over. Scout is one of Kenleigh's favorite "people." She does a bit of over loving on Scout, but her heart is in the right place. Here they are snuggling on the couch before Thanksgiving dinner.

Elfso arrived the Saturday after Thanksgiving and greeted the kids with a fun festive breakfast. They were so excited that Elfso was back and get up each morning filled with excitement to see where he will be and if he brought them a treat from the North Pole.

Most people know that Cole is passionate about whatever he is into. Lately it is Wizard of Oz. He's obsessed! As a treat a couple of weeks ago I took him to see the show at a local theater. It was 2 1/2 hours long, with intermission and he did GREAT! He loved it! I treated him to McDonald's before the show.

Can't forget to show you how high up our seats were..2nd row from the top. Yikes! I wasn't willing to pay the high tickets price, just in case he got bored with the musical in the first 30 min. Lesson learned...

The kids definitely love to imitate what we do. Sometimes this is cute and funny and sometimes it's an eye opener about yourself! :) Two cute moments lately...found the kids "driving" my Tahoe, each sporting a pair of my sunglasses.

Miss K loves to put on make up with me on the weekends. I finally just bought her some cheap of her own...I can't bear to waste mine!

This past week the kids had their Christmas Concert at school. Adorable! All the kids were decked out in their holiday best and sang songs like, Go Tell it on the Mountain, Joy to the World and Happy Birthday Baby Jesus. Both the kids did a great job. Cole sang his heart out and Kenleigh sat front and center in a chair, smiling looking adorable and never sang a word. Oh well, at least she didn't come crying off the stage like Cole did last year. Small wins. Afterwards we went to their classrooms for cookies and celebrating. Here they are, so proud of their performances!

Cole's SPOOKY 4th Birthday Party!

It's officially a tradition...Cole's Annual Halloween Birthday Party. I am not sure if I look forward to it more, or if he does. I love hosting this party and each year add more fun food and decor to the party. I am including some of the food pics on this year's recap. Somehow missed taking pics of a few of the items. Boo.The costumes did not disappoint this year! Have to throw in our family photo as we were impressed with ourselves this year!
Had to throw in one of Amanda's "Yellow Brick Road" and Vanessa as the one and only "Miss Piggy!" By the end of the night Cole was in his Halloween PJ's and ripping into his gifts. I think by 9:30pm he was finally asleep...yikes! It was a great party...Happy 4th Cole!

Heading to the Pumpkin Patch!

Lucky kiddos...they got to go twice this year! Schnepf Farm's is THE place to be around Halloween. Pumpkins, dust, dirt, BBQ, carnie rides and a train. What more could you want as you welcome Fall?

First the kids Nanny, Miss Emily, took them. She is so darling...why do the kids look so crazy? Apparently K was having a snack.

There are my cuties! We had pictures from their 2nd trip, but apparently not on this computer. More updates later, I guess!

Sis is 2!!

It was almost 2 months ago...but Kenleigh is 2! Most can't believe she is only 2 when they see her. At her 2 year visit she was already 37" tall...the size of many 3-4 year olds. She's slowing down on the weight side and is becoming a taller, trimmer version of herself. She is still an insanely verbal little girl. At her 2 year doctor appointment our Pediatrician commented that at Kenleigh's age they would like her to have at least 30 words and speak 2 word sentances. At that moment Kenleigh announced, "Mommy, pick up my jacket, I dropped it." The Ped and I looked at each other and laughed. Check...she can talk. :)

In untypical Blubaum style, we hosted her birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza. First time we haven't thrown the soiree ourselves, but it was so much easier to do it there! Might have started a Miss K Tradition!

Here is the birthday girl!

Here she is enjoying her "Happy Birthday" song...also featured, my friend Rachel's famous cupcakes! Can't believe my baby girl is already 2! Thanks for all the fun, smiles, snuggles and love Miss Ryan. We love you beyond words!

Wrapping up summer, even though it's still 100+ degrees!

So my camera broke. Cole the future photographer was capturing memories in Sunriver and dropped it. Say goodbye to camera. What I didn't realize was that it was still working enough to get my pictures off of it. Joy! Now I can update the last 2 months of our lives. As I look at these pictures I am trying to remember the stories that accompany them. Work with me...

I was having one of those days in early August. Just a day where I was feeling sad about things. I decided I needed a pick me up and what better to do that than bringing Christmas to August? So that's what we did! We turned on Christmas music...put on our holiday baking aprons and the kids and I made Christmas cookies! It was so fun and just what I needed to lift my spirits.

Goodie Taker #1 and Goodie Taker #2 are pictured below.

I forgot that back in late July we took the kids to the Circus! We got free suite tickets (thank you Auntie Karla!) and took the kids. They lasted a little while...long enough for Shawn to spend around $50 for drinks and cotton candy. Here are the kids and I enjoying the show, sorry for the close up!
Next we headed off for our annual trip to Sunriver. Kids ages 5 1/2, 5, 3 1/2, 3, 2 1/2, 2, 1 1/2. Eeek! It was a crazy good time! Highlights included naked hot tubbing for the kids, bikes rides, trips to Goodies for ice cream, long days at the pool, watching Michael John perform and Rock Band performances after the kiddos went to bed while we ate Kristie's amazing popcorn and drank Ryan's yummy drinks!
When we got back it was time for Miss K's first day of "school!" She is enjoying 2 days a week at Risen Savior (where Cole goes 3 days a week). She is having so much fun making new friends and learning at school! Here she is on her first day, getting ready to head out the door. Spilled water on her dress while brushing her teeth, oops!