9 years...

Today, Cade turns nine. It's becoming more apparent to me, every day, that Cade is such a complex little soul. Don't try to label him. He is bold, yet painfully cautious (thanks Mom). He is a brainiac that plays sports, year-round. He gets so frustrated with people and things that he gives himself terrible headaches, yet, he begs to be surrounded by friends and loves to be challenged. I love him dearly and can't wait to absorb all that he has yet to teach me. Happy birthday, Cade-Man.

Cupcakes, cupcakes and more cupcakes!

I have said it before, I am always looking for an excuse to make cupcakes or cakes, so today was dedicated to decorating 65 cupcakes for the Cub Scouts Blue and Gold banquet. The theme of the dinner was 'Amercan BBQ', so I made sunflowers, corn on the cob and ants to top the checkered table cloths.

Did I mention that I'm exhausted right now?

In Honor of Paca

Saturday, my grandfather turned 90 years old. Yes, 90! And what a specimen he still is. Swimming, hiking, you name it. He is what I dream that I would be at that age. And most importantly, he has always been the best grandpa, or as we call him, Paca.

Uncle John and Drea cooking authentic Mexican cuisine! So yummy...

Looking young, Pac.

My baby is 2!

Today, we celebrated Lila turning two with a Valentine-themed family party. I was looking at Lila today, thinking, 'there's no way that my tiny baby is 2 years old!'. She is small, and she doesn't talk, yet, but I think that I understand, now, how the roles develop in a family. She will always be the BABY. Just like Cade will always be the oldest, therefore, the one who takes most of the blame and bears most of the responsibility. Lila will always be the one looked out for by everyone and the one who will get away with murder. We love each of our children immensely, but we're so grateful to have such a lovely little girl to be our BABY, forever.

TAG! I'm it.

One word answer only...OK. Here goes-

1. Where is your phone? here
2. Where is your significant other? work

3. Your hair color? blonde
4. Your mother? waiting

5. Your father? quiet
6. Your favorite thing? friendship
7. Your dream last night? ?
8. Your dream/goal? righteousness
9. The room you're in? study

10. Your hobby? running
11. Your fear? mediocrity
12. Where do you want to be in 6 yrs? here
13. Where were you last night? Sonic
14. What you're not? patient
15. One of your wish list items? buns-of-steel

16. Where you grew up? Mesa
17. The last thing you ate? bread
18. What are you wearing? jeans
19. Your TV? Bravo
20. Your pet? Chancey
21. Your computer? overused
22. Your mood? so-so
23. Missing someone? mom
24. Your car? big
25. Something you're not wearing? shoes
26. Favorite store? Anthropologie
27. Love someone? family
28. Your Summer? eventful
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When was the last time you laughed? park

31. Last time you cried? Friday
32. Something you crave? contentment
33. Why you blog? affirmation

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

...and they had fun. Phoebe's birthday party was full of screaming, running, jumping, lipgloss and lotion making, pizza, popcorn, movies, hair brushing, cupcakes and ice cream and presents. Perfect GNO!

Cabin Fever

This week, we got cabin fever, that is, the hankering to get up to the cabin and have some good ole' family, snow time. One word-beautiful. I'm so relieved to have grown up in a warm climate, free of snow days and driveway shoveling, but, snow-covered trees and kids sledding in the backyard are sights that the cabin, so generously, offers us. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for that gift.

Highlights (and a couple lowlights) of the month

Wow! What a last couple of months! Where has it gone? In fact, pinch me, am I dreaming? No really, I absolutely LOVE the time from October to January but, it just gets exausting. It was all worth it, though. There were lots of highlights (and some lowlights) celebrating Christmas this year-

My 1st Christmas Cookie Party
Small and sweet, about 15 of my friends and I got together for eating, sharing cookies and laughing. It went smoothly so I have decided to make it a new tradition. Notes to me-next year I'll send out invites and I will NOT have extra sweets! Only some salty snacks to kill off the sugar headaches from all of those cookies.

Las Sendas Ward Breakfast with Santa

The best parts of the breakfast that we had right outside of the lake were...

King-of-the-Mountain, and

eating pancakes and breakfast burritos and hot chocolate.

A couple in our ward (Bette Sue, from the biggest loser and her husband) run some property out by the dock of Saguaro Lake and that's where our breakfast was held. We had a big bonfire and the men were cooking up loads of hot breakfast food. I think that this was the first really cold morning of the month. The kids kept warm playing on the big dirt mound and tire swing. Casey kept warm in a vicious game of ultimate frisbie. I froze.

Sofia's Preschool ProgramNotice that I didn't get one picture of Sofia singing. She refused to sing. But, that was not my concern. My only concern that day was how to mask the bangs that Fia had cut a couple of days prior. Despite the mullet, I thought she looked really cute.

Turley Family Christmas Party

Every year, my mother-in-law and her sisters and all of their families get together for a big Christmas party. This year, the rotating location landed at my in-laws. Convenient since the rest of the family lives way west, from Glendale to Camp Verde. Since it was our year, all of the Skidmore grankids sang a song and we planned games for the program. The night always ends with the reading from the scriptures of the birth of Jesus. We love this party.

and, the finale...
Christmas Day, for us, began at 5:30AM and went like this...

Mom, can we open our presents!?

No! Go back to bed until 7.

SEVEN!? How about 6?

6:30.

Fine.

Fine.

When we all finally got up, the kids were so excited to see that Santa had brought them everything that they asked for (and mom and dad bought everything else). Cade's favorite gift was his WII, Phoebe's was her doll and all of the acessories that came with it, Sofia's was her huge box of PlayDoh (I have the mess to prove it) and Lila loves everything that everyone got. She has no idea what's hers and what's not. I think that my favorite gift was what Phoebe got me, a book on cupcake decorating. Spaghetti anyone?

Las Sendas Ward Family Christmas Breakfast

Casey and I, in Kauai