Party, Recital and Kirkendall Christmas!

Wowzer! I have a lot to catch up on! We are in California until Thursday and I would love to say the trip has been super awesome but the stomach flu and the weather had other things in mind. But we are having a blast with my family and that's really what counts! More on that later!

Before we traveled to CA Katie had her Christmas party at school! All the kids were so excited. They had a yummy lunch, present exchange and even went outside and made "snow." So fun!



Then it was time for the Kirkendall Christmas celebration! I hosted it at my house and had a lot of fun hanging out with the family.






The same night Katie had her Holiday Recital! She did great although she admitted the lights were a little bright and she didn't do everything perfectly :P So stinkin cute although the iphone didn't do as well as I'd hoped recording it :(





And if you'd like to see my little ballerina last year CLICK HERE!

A Moment

We were playing Santa last night...it's Katie's favorite thing at the moment! I was snapping pictures of her "presents" wrapped in dish towels and pillow cases when Ryan came up and gave her a hug. Of course the lighting was awful...the grain is off the charts, but the moment was priceless!

Singin' for Seniors

This year I signed Katie up for "Music with Mary" at her school. I've heard such wonderful things about it and thought it would be perfect for Katie (and extend her day for an hour and a half...yahoo!). Well, of course my little diva loves it and this morning they put on a little program for one of the local senior care facilities. Much of the group was 3 and 4 years old and it was amazing what she got them to do only having 45 minutes a week plus half of the class as on a different day so they never practiced together! They were definitely cute!


I'll try to get some video up soon....after I forgive myself for messing up and totally missing her solo! Uggh!!!!

Cookies, Cocktails and Darn Good Time

Last night my pal Colby and I hosted an annual Cookie Exchange party here at my house. If you don't know how it works, you make multiple dozens of your fav cookie (or candy) recipe, bring it to the party, and then you get to fill up a container of everyone's cookies to take home! At ours we also got to have have some savory appetizers, to die for Cranberry Peppermint Martinis, Wassail (Hot Spiced Apple Cider), Egg Nog and a ton of WONDERFUL friends to hang out with while you stuff your face. :D

Some pictures of the spread...


Some pictures of the girls! (Sorry for those I missed!)


By this point the wine and martinis were kicking in. These girls had never tried Egg Nog before...Had to get their reactions :P



Meh...


The Littlest party ladies...Katie was so excited to have a friend over to hang out with upstairs with Daddy and Ryan!


I made Red Velvet Whoopie Pies...not impressive. Maybe I'm not a fan of red velvet. But they sure looked Christmassy! Here's the recipe:

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Thank you to everyone who came! I had a blast and the cookies/candy were beyond incredible! See you next year!

PS: I'm wearing my stretchy pants!

Seeing "The Big Man"

This morning we went down and saw Mr. Claus. Katie...EXCITED! Ryan...not so excited. We got there a bit early and while the kids ran around I grabbed a few snaps :)

Katie...loving the camera these days!


Ryan despises it and actually looks like he wants to beat me up lol!


About the closest thing to a picture together plus Santa pics!

Oh Shmoodle!

We call our animals all sorts of wacky names. Here's a sampling of what you'll hear us call our animals during the day...

Jack (The Cat)
- Jack Jack
- Jackson
- Jackson Fatson
- Ratson
- Jackson Fatson Ratson
- Fatty

Cali
- Shmoodle
- Shmoodle Doodle
- Poodle
- Shmoo
- Poodle Bear
- Cocka Poodle Doodle
- Doodle Bear
- Shmoo Moo
- Shmoople
- Cal Bear
- Cali Bear

Anyway...now that you know how extremely nuts we are here are some snaps of Cali modeling her new sweater. Fresh hair cut + cold temps make for a cold doggy! She didn't like it at first but now she's wearing it like a pro!


"Does this sweater make my tongue look big??"

Iphone Madness!

I share so many pictures from my phone on Facebook but know some of my family does not have Facebook. Here are some snaps!





I noticed quite a few pics that I didn't take....so photography by Katie!