a break

While I'm busy preparing for Christmas my girls are acting as if its any other day.

Kayleigh is jamming out to her new Taylor Swift cd on her boom box and Zoe is talking on the phone holding her baby. I guess they are more like me than I realize!

Hopefully sometime this weekend I will have time to update my blog with all the fun things we have been doing this month.

Happy Birthday to Zoe!

Here's a little about Zoe Jane Acorn at 2.

She is always hungry because she only eats little bits at a time. She loves to do whatever Kayleigh is doing from riding her scooter to saying the same words and phrases. She is starting to put words into sentences. Her favorite doll is a second-hand Baby Alive. Her favorite cartoon is Caillou. She likes to color with markers and play playdough. She loves grapes, apples, and blue berries, breakfast foods, chicken nuggets and pizza. Sometimes she'll eat corn and peas. We have to cheer her on to eat the other foods on her plate.

We all love her so much!

Make the most of a mess

This morning Zoe decided to pour herself a snack... So I said what the heck, let's get crafty!

Other People's Junk

I'm so thankful for other people's junk (yard sales, craigslist, and ebay). We have a lot of other people's junk in our house and I'm proud of it! Today in particular I'm thankful for an amazing $6 find. Cinderella that lights up and sings, her carriage, and her horse. I've waited a month before giving it to the girls. They deserve it today- they are playing so nicely together and they are letting me get some housework done. Yay!

And I can't forget the best deal. A perfectly good Electric Barbie Jeep for $25! We couldn't pass that up!

Community

I am thankful to be apart of my community. Gladden Farms is about 20 mins from anything- even a grocery store. When we first moved here we were promised stores and schools, but that went down the drain when the economy did. Anyways. I'm thankful for what we do have here. A library, never busy post office, schools, lots of parks, trees, grass, and no light pollution.

Coffee

I've missed a few days, so these aren't as thoughtful as the previous. But, I'm thankful for coffee. I've been drinking it since I was about 19 or so. 10 years later I like it even more because I can afford to experiment with styles and flavors. On Saturday Dave and I stumbled apon International Delight's Chocolate Mint Truffle. It's the perfect addition to my coffee this holiday season!

Kayleigh Bear

My stubborn and bossy little girl. Always the leader. She'll be 5 in 26 days! Crazy!! She has a big love for animals. Every lost cat/dog sign we see we look for the animal and she begs me to call the number to see if it's back at home or not. One time we actually pretended to call! LOL! She also loves people, anything pink or that sparkles, loves music (especially Taylor Swift), coloring (animals), Littlest Pet Shops, and her friends.

Here she is taking a picture of herself.

She also likes to help in the kitchen. This time she is showing Zoe how to make "Baby Sushi."

Playing her Pet Shop. I'm pretty proud of that desk. I stripped, sanded and painted it for her.

Zoe. Dear Zoe. She's the exact opposite of her sister at two. She's into everything, crys bloody murder if she isn't getting her way, doesn't eat her vegis, gets her hands dirty, trys more daring things, and snuggles. Hence the nickname ZoBug.

Zoe loves to swing.

I caught her!
I wasn't eating paint mommy.

She hates to go to bed. On this particular night, we couldn't take the screaming and crying after 20 min so we let her fall asleep watching TV. Yes, I was sleeping too :)

My Tucson Mom Friends

I'm obvoiously thankful for ALL of my friends, but today I'm especially thankful for the Mom's I've become friends with at Kayleigh's dance class. They make being a mom and wife a little easier. We talk about kids, husbands, shopping, life, and whatever else. We all have two kids which is nice too. Anyways... Today we were invited to a Pajama Jam breakfast playdate. It was Awesome for the 7 moms and 12 kids :) I'm going to be smiling about that one for a long time.

Sisters

I'm thankful for my sisters. They are always there for me when I need them. They call Dave Brother. They love my kids and I know that in their care Kayleigh and Zoe would be well taken care of.

Here we are during our reproduction of The Golden Girls "Yes, we have no Havanas."

For Katie's Golden Birthday the entire family particiapted in the play. We had scripts, props, costume changes, and a film crew. It was so silly and so much fun!

Esplin's

Today I am thankful for our next door neighbors. They are great people who are rasing three cute and wonderful children. They are kind, generous, fun to be around, and the type of people that I trust with my children. Our lives are better because of them. :o)

Da Dave

I am so very thankful for my husband. I'm thankful that he is a hard worker and goes to work every day to ensure we can enjoy the things we have and do. I'm thankful that he is such a good Daddy. He loves snuggling with the girls while they watch TV or a movie. Kayleigh always requests that Dave read her poems from A Light in the Attic before bed. And of course I'm thankful that he is strong enough to be my man!

This is a typical reaction I get from Dave when I plant one on his cheek.
Here we are in Alaska this past May.

And here we are winning the Not-so-Newlywed Game show on the cruise.

In Laws

Yes, I am thankful for my in-laws! I really lucked out that Dave has two sets of parents that I'm comfortable being myself in front of, whom I love and respect, and that love me too! :)

My mom

I am so thankful that my mom is my mom. She is a constant inspiration to me whether she knows it or not. Like most people, when I was a kid I would always say that I didn't want to be anything like my mom. Now, I hope that I can be as good as she is at being a mom, friend, and mam-maw. Thank you mom for everything you do for me and my family. We all love you!

nutty for nutella

Obviously my "I'm thankful for..." is in no particular order....


I'm thankful for Nutella. Yep, I'm thankful for a hazelnut chocolate spread :) I'm so excited about it that I eat it at least two times a day. What's my favorite way to eat nutella? For breakfast on cinamon raisin bagel. And also after the kids are in bed I get a teaspoon full and lick it clean. Tonight Dave gave me the fantastic idea of using it on a pretzel. I don't know what took me so long to try it. Well, yeah I do... I wasn't going to spend $4 on something I've never tried before, but I did and I'm so happy about it! So, please give nutella a try. It's fantastic!

Thankful

My facebook friends inspired me to do this. Everyday until Thanksgiving I'm going to write about something I'm thankful for.

Today I am thankful for my girls. They make me crazy, make me do silly things, make me smile at their excitment, and make me love them a little more each and every day. I'm so blessed to have these beautiful girls in my life.

Hair-larious

Yesterday Kayleigh, Zoe and I ventured to the park for a picnic. They split a PB&J and a cheese stick and had chocolate milk and juice. They both tend to favor drinks rather than food. HMMM.....

Anyways... a few weeks ago Zoe went down a small indoor slide by herself for the first time. I kid you not, by the third time she was going down head first. She is a stinker. Always watching and figuring things out before she does them. Must be Dave's daughter!

Now that Zoe is more independent on the play equipment it's a lot more enjoyable for me. Now I can split my time between the girls and also have some time to sit and relax and take in the fresh air.

Above are some shots of Kayleigh... at 1 month shy of her 5th birthday, she'll go down the slide on her back. Just one more of the many differences between sisters. I got a huge kick out of her hair each time she came down!

Weekend

We had a nice weekend. The kids played inside and out. On Saturday Dave grilled amazing hamburgers- they were so good!!! On Sunday we used a free Keeva coupon for some cheap entertainment.

Dinner in the Park

As soon as Dave got home on Friday we packed up some pasta with meat sauce and some drinks and headed to the park. We are so lucky to have so many fantastic parks in our area. And now that we have nice weather we can enjoy them!

This particular park is in the Cottonwod development. It's named after this amazing old cottonwood tree that is on the top of a hill.

We all had such a nice time out there. We had the park to ourselves. Man, people were sure missing out!

Some things have been on my mind

Shades of pink, pig-tails, big brown eyes, and curls

The GREAT outdoors

Food. The good, the bad and the kid friendly. Pretend food and crafty food. The cost of food.

Friends. How much I miss the old and how much I appreciate the new.

Cleaning. I could clean all day long and Dave would never notice.

As much as I want too, I just can’t get excited about Halloween.

Gymnasts

Kayleigh continues to love gymnastics. And Zoe is pretty proud of her Stink Bug Rolls. So, we have added tumbling to our daily dancing!

What Daddys are for!

Tucson Meet Yourself

This past Sunday we (including my sisters, josh and my parents) went to Tucson Meet Yourself.

The write up from the website is this, "This FREE, downtown Tucson festival is a celebration of authentic cultural foods and the living traditional arts of Southern Arizona's folk and ethnic communities. Over 100,000 people will attend the event this year. Be part of the excitement! Performances, folk artists, food and cultural heritage demonstrators will delight everyone. A "NEW" Festival Marketplace will feature handmade folk art demonstrations and the artists will offer their crafts for sale. Practisioners of Martial Arts, Healing Arts and Traditional Fashions will be part of the event. A Lowrider Car Show, Corrido Contest, global games and sports top it off."

But if you ask any of us Tucson Meet Yourself is all about the food. We had Indian, Coasta Rican, Thai, Korean, Greek, and Filipino delights. And that was just a few of what was offered.

It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with the family.

And the fun didn't stop there, we had our first of many fires at my parent's new firepit. The girls really enjoyed it! Who am I kidding we all enjoyed the fire and 'smores!