Merry Christmas!

This year's Christmas was wonderful- so full of joy, love and lots of wrapping! Thankfully, we were settled enough in this new house to fully enjoy all that the holiday brings. My family (parents and sisters family) were all in Idaho this year (we missed you guys!) so we spent both days with the Lamis side of the family. It is always so fun to be surrounded with family and all the cousins running around with their new toys.

Santa was good to us all this year! He brought us a Wii which has been a fun activity for the entire family. He probably figured we needed something to keep us busy in the 'Copa (Maricopa)! :)

Next up, New Year's Eve!



*Christmas morning. Camille is wondering what we all are doing up when its still dark out!

Chet and Camille with GG (Chet's grandma Dorothy)

Chet and his new Christmas pjs that Angie and Joe bought for him. They said that they thought of Chet when spotting this little treasure at the store. Hmmm... :)

Bella's big birthday bash

We finished our backyard just in time for Bella's birthday party at home. She chose a Fancy Nancy party- probably just to have an excuse to dress up in whatever outfit she wanted. It's always fun to have cousins and friends over and let them run around and just play. Then feed them sugary cupcakes and send everyone home! :)



*My nephew Isaac trying to lick his cupacke cone- cute!

*Why must all 5-8 yr olds hold up the bunny ears sign in every picture?!?!

Holiday happenings!

Whew- there is so much going on this month and its not even over! Earlier this month, we headed to Sedona for our annual trip to the Red Rock Light Display- my favorite family event! Unfortunately, our camera was showing an error message all night so we have no pictures. We all had a great time walking around with our hot cocoas deciding which display was our favorite.

We then headed to my parents house to celebrate Christmas a little early. They are in Idaho with my sister's family for the holidays this year. The girls were all for opening up gifts a little early this year!




*Julia and Bella LOVE to color. When we unpacked all the toys at our new house, Bella was most excited when we found the box with the crayons and papers! Ron also loves to color and they love coloring together. I hope they inherit Chet and Ron's artistic ability and not mine.

We also attempted to get our Christmas card photo taken. With 3 kids (one baby and one active 4 yr old), it was not easy but turned out well.




*This one makes me laugh. It is the only one that Camille was smiling in -she was ready but apparently the rest of us didn't get her memo! )


Camille is now crawling! It is so cute to see her learn new things each day and to realize that she is no longer confined to one spot. Just in time to spot the Christmas ornaments! For some reason, she has a favorite ornament and I will be surprised if it survives the season. Yes, I know I can just move up all the ornaments but my to do list these days is just too long! :)





Julia had her holiday recital at school. She loved getting dressed up in Christmas dress and performing. I love watching my these recitals and cannot wait until we have 2 in school next year!

~ Happy birthday Bella ~

Happy, happy birthday to my little sweet potato ( nickname from a book we read together)!! I can't believe you are 5 already! You make my heart melt and you make me laugh everyday, that is why you are so special. We all love you so much!

Camille- my little fish

Camille loves her bathtime! She gets so excited when I start running the bath. She uses her thick baby legs and splashes so hard- you are soaked when bath time is done. It's fun to watch her have so much fun but sometimes I need to stay dry during bath time. I used the bumbo seat (loaned to us by my sister- thanks!) in the bath and she loved it. So, did Julia who got to bathe with her.

Turkey day

We are fortunate to live close to both of our families and this year we spent the day with everyone together at Aunt Shannon and Uncle Al's. It was a great day- lots of food, fun anf family! Julia and Bella had been sick for a few days so it was nice to leave the house and have a delicious homemade dinner.

Every year Chet and I are delegated to bring the bread (always store bought). It started off as a joke but has become tradition- I admit, I never fought hard to change it and my cooking history did not warrant a contribution upgrade. :) Both moms (Chet's and my mom) are great cooks and I have really been trying to be a better cook. This year I brought homemade rolls- turned out ok, but could have been much better (next year!).

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Now off to finish Christmas card photos and start baking!

*My photo option has been weird and won't let me move them around or comment. The first is of my parents and family. The last one is of Chet's family (the ones who live in AZ).





*Some of the cousins- Julia, Isaac, Brennan (holding Camille) and Camille at GGs house over the weekend.

Home sweet home

Finally getting back to a normal life and not living out of boxes (most of the time). We moved to Maricopa 2 weeks ago and so far its great. I had never been to Maricopa despite living in AZ all my life- I didn't even know where it was. Boy, is it far and pretty removed! But, its a nice community with all the important ammenities and our neighborhood is beautiful!

Those that know me well know that I am picky with schools. I had some issues with Julia's school last year but really tried to be involved and worked with the principal on some of the issues. I am happy to report that I love our new school here- Pima Butte Elementary. I am amazed at how caring the teachers are and how involved the principal is. All of the staff have gone out of their way to make Julia feel welcome.

One of the hard things about moving was downsizing our house size- 2300 sq ft to 1400 sq ft. I write this as I sit in our "office"- otherwise known as the floor in the corner of our bedroom. :) We have accumulated so much stuff over 10 yrs- it's insane! I think we have pared down as much as we can and I have to say, I actually like living in a smaller home. I feel more connected with the kids and I LOVE having less stuff. The older girls share a room so that they could have a playroom and so far its working out really well. But, the biggest plus is that it only took me 30 minutes to vacuum and mop the entire house yesterday! Double yay!!!

May the force be with you

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and we seem to enjoy it more and more each year. Now that the girls are getting older, gone are the cute fairy and ladybug costumes of years past. This year they wanted to pay tribue to one of their new favorite movies- Star Wars!

*Bella really wanted to be Darth Vader but I had to veto it due to the large plastic mask. I love little Bella dearly but the girl is super clumsy- without the trouble of a mask!

They had a great time! We trick or treated in our neighborhood and then headed over to Angie and Joe's to run off their sugar high with their cousins. They woke up this morning eagar to carefully look over their loot and for some candy swapping (Julia's idea).

This first picture is an awesome house in our neighborhood. They had it decked out like a pirate ship- lights, masts, lighting to make it look like a stormy sea, etc. It was SO fun!

Fall fun

I have been a blog slacker lately. We have been SUPER busy with a bunch of stuff. We are moving to Maricopa in the next 2 weeks! We are sad about leaving our friends here in the neighborhood but excited about a new neighborhood/experience and being able to simplify our lives with less stuff and a smaller home!

One of my most favorite things about this neighborhood has been being a part of the Power Ranch MOMS Club. The MOMS Club has been a great source of support & fun- including our wonderful playgroup that we have been a part of for 4 yrs. Today was the annual club Halloween party for the kids. I didn't bring my camera to the party so I don't have any pictures- it doesn't matter anyway, I only saw the girls while they stopped for short candy breaks. :)

This is a picture I took before we left.

Quarantine fun!

I have had the flu so the kids and I have been stuck in the house ALL week! As Julia said, "this is the worst October break ever"! Bella also had the touch of something so my dear sweet mom rescued Julia and took her to their home. Julia is having the time of her life at the grandparents while poor Bella and I are trying to be creative without leaving the house. There is only so much TV watching and coloring you can do.

Happy Halloween!

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If only....

In pre-school, Bella made family puppets. She cut faces out of magazines to represent each member of her family. I think she came pretty close! :)


This is the family dog, daddy and her 2 sisters (grown up). This cracks me up! Daddy has aged a little bit, Camille is the smiley one and Julia (the last one) looks like an angry Avril Lavigne!

Now, for my puppet. You know what they say- kids this age are pretty honest so I guess I can live with her portrayal of me. ;)
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My sweet potato and me

Julia is off to school, the kitchen is clean, Camille is napping- now I am off to LegoLand! I love hanging out with this little girl of mine!

On her own 2 feet

Julia and I are alike in SO many ways- she is truly a mini me. But, I am glad that she is not like me when it comes to sports. Julia loves playing soccer and would rather forgo all other interests just to play soccer. I liked sports as a child- for the fun or fitness aspect of it. But, I hated playing on teams or playing in front of a crowd. Too much pressure for me and I would just wither.

So, I love seeing pictures like this of my little athlete (Julia is the one on the far left in the yellow). She seems so strong and determined!

The Juice

My brother Kyle and my parents came to visit this weekend. He is technically my step-brother (for all those confused) but after 25+ years of being his sister, there is no need for the "step" part anymore. He is stuck with us as little sisters :)

As usual, we had a BLAST! Chet and Kyle are like long lost (goofy) brothers and we all have such a good time together. All that was missing was Melanie (our wonderful sister-in-law) who couldn't make it out this time. And of course, the girls were all over Kyle from the second he woke up. They love wacky Uncle Kyle!

It was a fantastic weekend! Julia learned to ride her bike- finally! It is mostly (ok, all) our fault for not trying harder with her. My parents bought her a big girl bike and within 5 minutes she was riding by herself down the park sidewalk. Yay Julia! She loved having an audience watch her at this important "first" and even earned her new nickname of 'Juice'- given to her by Kyle.

And she's off!

Cheering squad

So proud of herself!

We all cheered Julia on at her first soccer game as part of "Lemon Drops" team (GYSA league). She did great but it was an afternoon game and SO hot. I actually thought that Julia was going to pass out after the game- she was so sick from running in the extreme heat (100 degrees) but still played most of the game without wanting to sit out. She loved hearing cheers for "Juice!" from the sideline.

We finished the great weekend with a trip to my favorite restaurant- the Brazilian Bull in Ahwatukee. Yummy!! Every weekend should be filled with family, food and fun!!

My little sweetheart- she loves just to hang out and be part of the action!

And to be held by Bobo!

Can't forget about our little Miss Bella! This is one of many photos that Chet took of her by request (Bella's request).

These next photos are to demonstrate the antics that kept us in stitches!
In our kids' eyes, Chet and I definitely fell a notch or two.
*Sorry Kyle- but Suzanne asked me to blog about this!