Dear Sleep

Dear Sleep,

Where are you? I haven't seen you in a while. I'm not doing so hot without you. I'm cranky, my head hurts, I can't think straight. My husband is getting jealous that I talk about you so much.

I know my kids can can cry at night and chase you away, and my huge to-do-lists don't help either, but I can't deny it any longer.

I need you.

Please come back around.

Tara

Candyman

I went to get Riley a diaper and while I was gone, Mikey decided to be nice and share.

Riley was SO happy....until I took it away

Merry Christmas

We feel very blessed this Christmas

First Christmas
Matching PJs

Mikey opening presents

Riley eating ribbon off his present

Plate I made this year

Santa's favorite Christmas cookies

Riley's loot pile

Mikey's loot pile

Mikey helping daddy pack up Christmas

My reason for taking so long to get this post up:

I finally got a Wii...

Enough said

Christmas Cookies

My sister is always organizing fun things for our kids to do. This week they frosted sugar cookies. They were infitesimally better than last year and only ate some of them during the process

Best Friends

Mikey and Riley are so funny. They have such a bond as brothers that is fun to watch.

They just sit there and laugh at each other...

Mikey won't take a bath without his flexible brother

It's his favorite time of day


Love my boys...(don't ya love the creative cover up? : ) )

Jingle Bell and Elf Run

Our family decided to participate in the local Jingle Bell 5K and 1K Elf Run this year. I only started running three weeks before, so it was harder than I thought, but I didn't walk once and I will definitely beat my time next year. Mikey even ran his little half mile race without walking. It was a fun day.

Mikey got to meet Santa. Probably his only time this year...can't you tell how happy he was?

Michael and I before we ran...


After the race....

Mikey at the starting line. He was definitely the youngest one there.

Starting line again

Video of the starting line (Can you tell I'm proud of him? ha ha)

About 3/4 of the way through the race

The finish line

Happy little elf

Happy little family

Riley's First Haircut

Riley, unlike Mikey, doesn't have a lot of hair. So, we kept putting off the haircut. But, it kept getting longer and longer and my husband said he reminded him of Einstein. Today I took the plunge and snipped it off.

Here's the before....

Here's a couple afters....

You can't really tell he has hair in the pictures, like I said, he doesn't have a lot. But in person he looks like a grown up baby boy. 7 months already...where does the time go?

This and That

I haven't been very good at blogging for a while, so I know nobody expects any excuses for why I've taken so long. I will warn you that there are a lot of pictures to follow. A lot.

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Mikey and I made these turkey cookies and he thought it was so much fun and they turned out beautiful. He's a funny kid.

Thanksgiving morning, Michael played in a Turkey bowl with some friends from church. It's his favorite thing.

Riley smiled away in his carseat and then took a nap.

Mikey climbed and adventured away at the playground nearby.

He has no fear.

We were rather glutenous this year and attended two Thanksgiving dinners. Michael's sister Aly hosted the first one....

And my sister Andrea hosted the second. Both dinners were delicious. I told myself to eat just a little bit at both, but I couldn't hold back. I was really sluggish on my run the next morning.

That weekend we stayed in Stateline and did some shopping. When we got there it was snowing. We had brought our swim suits in hopes to get some swim time in. Guess not! Riley loved the snow.

Mikey rode the train they had at the outlet mall there. I know it's blurry. The train was going pretty fast.

We had the chance to visit Michael's great-grandma who lives in Vegas. It was a nice visit.

My parents were also in Vegas for the week and we got to see them as well. It was only a couple hours, but it was a really good visit and we had a lot of fun.

Mikey and my dad watched airplanes and helicopters from the hotel window almost the whole time. It was cute.

Riley loves his grandma!

And his grandpa....

Mikey is now fully potty trained! He's been peeing on the toilet for a while now and wearing underwear, but had trouble with pooping. We told him once he pooped on the toilet he could go to Chuck E Cheese. He succeeded and now he wants to go there everyday!

We have a few pictures of Riley in this hat, but I think it is so cute!

Michael got to go to a Lakers game with his dad. They love that Kobe is in the middle of them!

Riley loving his baths.

Mikey and Lizzie are coloring their Christmas ornaments.

They are best friends and it is SO cute! They love each other.

Riley is getting SO big and chunky. His favorite thing to do is eat.

My guys!

Mikey and Riley got new slippers. Mikey loves that they are matching. I'm not a very good mother. I don't get my kids matching stuff too often.

And now it's almost time for Christmas. Where does the time go? This is our tree. It smells delicious!