Just a little walk with her babies!

AB is really into her baby dolls right now. Its so cute! So we couldn't resist when she asked to take one of her babies for a walk around the neighborhood!

Thanksgiving Break 2016

I can't believe we didn't take any pictures from Thanksgiving this year especially because it was my first time making all the food...that's probably why no pics were taken I was too busy cooking! We were all by ourselves here in SF this year which was actually really nice. Slow and easy! I cooked a big traditional Thanksgiving dinner though...except I only did a small turkey breast. It was my first time doing the dressing and I think it turned out well. It was Mims' recipe. We also had potatoes and gravy, hot rolls, mac and cheese, ham, cranberries, green beans and sweet potatoes along with pumpkin cake and chocolate pie for dessert. It was all really nice! Ella was a huge help in the kitchen this year! Luckily, Lyle only had to work the morning and was home in time to eat and watch the Cowboys play with us. Can't have Thanksgiving without football! Later that night we all sat our the table and read our Thank You's from our Thanksgiving box. I love that tradition!
The rest of the weekend we spend getting ready for Christmas!! We made our new traditional trip to the Christmas Tree Farm down the street to pick out our tree. We love this part of SF and its going to be hard to leave it!
The kids picked out a beautiful tree this year! It was a Blue Fir. Loved it! Here they are being silly while Lyle gets our tree put on the top of our car. Luke is doing the Dab of course.

That night after the tree was decorated Luke made a sweet gift for and family Elf Herman to take back to St. Nick. It was really sweet so we had to get a pic of it.

On Saturday, since Lyle was working, I decided to get out of the house with the kids and take them to the movies. It was AB's first time in theater. We watched Moana, a new kids' movie that had just come out. It was such a fun morning! AB felt like such a big kid! Right after this picture though she spilled that entire bag of popcorn! Over all it was a great Thanksgiving weekend! Bring on Christmas!!

Luke's First Reconciliation

Luke is in 2nd grade which our priest back home would always say was the "Best Year of Your Life". That is because you get to receive two of the best sacraments for the first time...First Reconciliation and First Communion. On November 22nd, Luke celebrated his first Confession. It was a fantastic ceremony and Luke (and I ) were so excited for this day. My little boy is growing up! Here are some pictures from the ceremony at St. Brendan's Catholic Church here in San Francisco. Luke had a long reading part and did a great great job! The church was nicely decorated and their principle Mrs. Grewal gave a very nice speech before it started.

 Here Luke is standing in line to say his first confession.

 Here he is sitting with the priest for his Confession. Normally you would be in the confessional, but since there were so many kids they put one priest up by the altar.

And he is the "Clean" little boy eating at Tower Burger to celebrate! We LOVE you Luke and are so proud of you! Don't ever stop going to Jesus for help! He will ALWAYS forgive you no matter what!

Mermaid Run #2 2016

Ella and I had so much fun running the Mermaid 5K run last year that we decided to do it again this year. We didn't get a lot of time to prep but we still did well and had a great time! Ella actually beat her time from last year and I ran at exactly the same pace! Ha! Afterwards we stopped for hot chocolate to warm us up and spent some nice quiet time with just her. Its hard to find time with just her but when I do I am always reminded of what a cool kid she is! We had so much fun that we have decided to do the Mermaid 10K run in May. I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

 This is her friend Caroline McFadden who ran it this year too!

Soccer Champs!

Luke's team won their soccer championship this year! He is so fun to watch play soccer. He just runs his little heart out and is really the best on the team! Love this kid! #41

Family Christmas PJs

I have been wanting to do this forever so with much dismay from my husband I bought us all matching Christmas PJs! Lyle's said Pappa Bear, mine said Mama Bear and the kids' said Lil' Bear. They loved loved loved them! It is going to be super fun wearing these all Christmas!