Christmas 2012

Back on the blogging bandwagon! 2013 has been rough for us (with Chet's mom being sick, postponed move, etc) so blogging about little happy moments was a struggle and felt like a betrayal. However, I was recently reminded that we can suffer and experience heartbreak while still finding joy in the good. So back to blogging about it all- good and bad....

Christmas was a little "off" this year since it was the week of realization of all the hard moments ahead. Luckily, with children, all the magic of Christmas still surrounds us and makes the "happy" come back.

 THINGS THAT MADE ME SMILE THIS CHRISTMAS

How much longer can I expect these 3 to be happy about new, matching pjs on Christmas Eve?? 

 

Trying on all the snow gear that Santa brought!

 

 Santa brought this one an Ipod touch- she has wanted one all year! 

The joy from this cute 3 year old as she squealed at the little stocking stuffers. See her untouched pile of gifts in the background? For some reason, her stocking was the first thing she ran to- weird!

 

Julia loved all her girlie gifts- her makeup set (which she doesn't wear but is a very talented makeup artist at age 10!), blow dryer and toiletries! 

 Chet faking a smile while it's still dark outside!

2 funny 'Bella' memories:

Bella bought each one of us a gift at the school student store. These felt mustaches must have had "daddy" written all over them!

 

I got these beautiful earrings from Bella- after a while Julia realized they looked a lot like the pair she had given me the year before. Bella admitted that she went through my jewelry box, wrapped them up for  her gift this year. What's funny is that I don't think Bella was trying to be sneaky- just didn't think it through! 

Lamis family update

I hadn't blogged in a while due to many, many life changing events. We decided to move to Minnesota (planned for January) for a great opportunity for Chet and a change of pace for us. In the midst of what we *thought* was important- packing, Christmas shopping, buying snow gear, etc- a true life changing (for lack of a better word) event happened that made everything else seem so insignificant. Chet's wonderful mom Jackie/Nanny was just diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer that she will be battling for most of this upcoming year. At times, we weren't sure if she could/would win the battle against this vicious disease but we are truly hopeful now. Moving was no longer part of the plan since we want and need to be with her during treatment. Luckily, Chet's job and the great state of Minnesota will wait for us!

Nanny, Papa and their wonderful family!

Happy 8th birthday!

Bella is now an 8 year old! I actually had to pause when writing that to make sure she is actually 8- cannot believe it.

She chose a faux slumber party at home for her friends- make your own pizza, lots of dancing, games and squealing.

Dancing Queens!

Ready to make pizzas!

Silly games!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BELLA!!

 

Polar Express

**Way behind on blogging but trying to catch up!

The girls went to Polar Express with my parents back in December. Glad we live near both sets of Grandparents and our girls can share these moments with them!

 

Happiest Place on Earth

For Thanksgiving this year, my parents took us and my sister's family to California! We all love any family vacation where we are all together and spending one day at the Happiest Place on Earth on Thanksgiving made it that much sweeter! We already celebrated Turkey Day with the Lamis' side that past weekend and were happy to forgo a second round for Disney rides and churros!

Elise and Camille waiting to get into Disneyland on Thanksgiving Day! 

Camille was SO excited for Disneyland but wasn't 100% prepared for what to expect. Our first ride was the Jungle Cruise and she wasn't so excited anymore! It didn't help that our next ride was the Pirates of the Caribbean. Once we got off, she announced that "I no like Disneyland!" 

 

Luckily, my mom took the little ones on rides like the tea cups. This ride makes me green just looking at it!  

The cousins! 

Thanks to our (Suzanne and my) love for adorable matching outfits and a little  help from Etsy (for the decals), I made these matching shirts for the girls. The cool boys are not as keen about matching anymore but are still just as cute! 

LOVE this picture of Camille and Will. They are so cute together and always had so much to say/share to each other. 

Bobo, Ronnie and Julia waiting in one of the many lines. 

*The troopers- Ron, Chet and Pat 

Self portraiting (not a word, I know) from 'It's a Small World". What a good looking bunch!

 

Our sneaky group somehow found this front row spot for the holiday parade- we were in line for Its a Small World and found a little exit spot perfect for us just as the parade was starting! 

The BRAVE ones (me, Chet, Pat and Ron in the 1st 2 rows) went on Space Mountain twice in a row! 

After a little rest from our marathon day at Disney, we were off sightseeing and to the beach!

Bobo and Ronnie's 6 blessings

Aunt ShuShu and the kids- eating their bribes for all the "say cheese!" demands. 

Next stop- Balboa Island. I had never heard of Balboa Island but its now my next vacation destination! Its a quaint, quiet little town full of beautiful sea side cottages.

Chet and 3 of the kids- Braden needs to master the Lamis pose to hang with us! :)

Doing what kids do best! I could have watched this scene for hours. 

SO happy to call this clan my family! Love You!

My beautiful sis Suzanne. 

Or as Chet likes to call us- the "masterminds" behind this trip. He says we begged for Disneyland "for the kids" but it was clearly for her and me!

LOVE this picture of the 'big' cousins- they fell asleep while watching a movie and fell asleep all touching each other. How sweet!

Watching the Disney channel was a favorite way to wind down since none of us have cable anymore! 

The Buchanan clan had to leave a day before we did so we spent the last day missing them..

stuffing our faces with Brazilian pizza.

sightseeing...

My beautiful mommy   

and enjoying the beach a little more...

Julia wrote everyone this email (I didn't even know about it) on our ride home. 

I couldn't have said it best!

"Hi guys,
I am just emailing to tell you how thankful I am for that trip! Bobo was right, it was the best Thanksgiving! Anyway thank you thank you thank you for making this trip happen!"

Wild World of Nascar

Chet got free tickets (front row!) to the Nascar races and even though we know nothing about Nascar or ever wanted to go, why not enjoy the race and all that goes with it? We arrived at the races and were in shock at the world of Nascar! The sheer amount of fans, logo'd gear and $$ that comes with these races is INSANE but so much fun to sit back and watch. We all had a blast and it will forever be one of those "remember when?" memories!

Our front row view!

*It was too loud so we moved back a few rows. :-) 

*Even though we bought ear plugs, they didn't cut it for the kids. Some really nice fans behind us (2 different groups) let us borrow their head phones for the kids. Chet and I, on the other hand, can still hear ringing in our ears. ;-)