hot steamy mexico

it's been so unusually cold the past few weeks.  i know. i know.  it gets a LOT colder in lots of other places, so i shouldn't be complaining, but we moved to boise to avoid this kind of ridiculousness, for heaven's sake! it just seems wrong sending your kids to school when it's 1 degree out.

i've been dreaming of tropical climates and remembering our trip to mexico last may.  that was warm.  and fun.

and warm.

i'd go again just for one day.  even if it meant i had to do it 6 months pregnant again. not that that was hard when all i did was sit at the pool and beach reading and drinking slushy drinks all day.

some christmastime pics

a teeny bit of what went down this Christmas.

angel?  we'll see about that

someone looks a little disappointed at being typecast as the donkey...again.

it's only natural.

Mary and Baby

look lively, shepherd. 

Joseph and the bright shining star

our tree was really small this year, but i wasn't complaining since it went up quick and came down even quicker.

it was cute.

stocking check

getting her nails done did early Christmas morning.

first Christmas!!  aaaaaaaw.

why not?

it was nice and mellow.  just the way i like it.

baby elle @ two months

i took these when elle was two months and am finally getting them up.  she's starting to fill out those NB onsies.

"aw! sick! dee pooked!"

"dee" is gwen's non-commital word for he or she.

i suppose it would be nice to have one of those on hand for those times when you're not really sure which pro-noun you should use.

i guess "it" would work too, but i think i'd be more offended by being called "it" than if i were mistakenly called "he".

anywho...

baby elle does tend to "pook" quite a lot, but it keeps here happy so i'm not complaining.

not too much anyway.

we blessed elle when she was 9 days old since my parents were in town, but i didn't really get any pictures of her in her dress that day.

i know.

deplorable!

she barely fit into her dress when i pulled it out for these pictures.

my lovely mother made this beautiful dress out of some left over silk from my sister's wedding dress.

it's actually the exact same pattern she used to make my niece's blessing gown and bille didn't mind if we copied.

i love this dress.

bonnett and collar and cuffs are all edged with antique lace and the buttons are antique from my grandma's collection.

she's an angel baby.

halloween - yes, i know. i'm pathetic

when i suggested the girls be heidi the goat herder and her herd,

who do you think fell all over themselves to be a goat?  

yes, of course, whitney and devan.

while other girls their age dream of dressing like princesses, taylor swift, or cheerleaders,

my girls tend towards scruffy barn dwellers.

i can't say it doesn't fit them to a T.

gwen was a rather catching heidi, i will say.

MAAAAAAAAAAH!

(goats say "maaah" and sheep say "baaah" by the way)

even baby elle got in on the fun.

doesn't she look like she's have SO much of it?

those two fit the role perfectly.

wade said he couldn't keep up with their trotting all night long, but all he had to do was follow the sound of their bells to know where they were.  maybe i should fix those as everyday accessories.  hmmmmm.

and being the awesome mom that i am, i managed to not get a single picture of max and nikki in their costumes.  boo.

nik was a red ninja and max a homeless dude, not the most sensitive costume, but his was certainly the easiest, given that he looks practically homeless most days of the week.

love you, max ;)