Summerland Weekend

Last weekend, the kids and I headed up to Santa Barbara with some of my dear friends and their kids for a quick, mini get away. My good friend Kristie Akl's sister has a rental property in Summerland that she was generous enough to offer up to us to enjoy for the weekend. It is an amazing beach cottage with an absolutely incredible view and it was super fun to be back in our old stomping ground Summerland. The beach cottage is literally doors down from the house my girlfriends and I rented our senior year of college. It brought back lots of fun memories of our college years but most of all, it was just so, so fun to hang out with my girlfriends and their kids. Maddie and William had a blast. Maddie was the big sister of the group and she of course, loved playing that role. She had all the kids playing house at one time and was tucking them in bed on the couch. Too cute.








We were fortunate to get beautiful weather on Saturday and the kids had so much fun playing in the sand at the beach and also at the restraunt we ate lunch at Saturday afternoon. It was such a great weekend and it worked out perfectly because Mike was in Colorado on a ski trip for work. We got home Sunday afternoon about an hour before he did. It was great to see him. I can't wait to take the kids up to Santa Barbara again. Such fun. And I can't wait to see all of my friends at our annual Girl's Weekend coming up at the end of March! See you soon everyone!!

Maddie's ACTUAL Birthday

Since we had Maddie's birthday party on the Sunday before her birthday, we went to dinner with our family on Wednesday January 13th...her ACTUAL birthday. It was funny to hear Maddie say that... actual birthday. She went to preschool that day and brought butterfly cookies to share with her class. We asked Maddie where she wanted to do for dinner on her birthday and of course, we went to her favorite... Islands.

Maddie got some great gifts including these cute ballerina slippers that William loved. He had to model them for the family and insisted we bring down the Bella Bella Dance-a-rella ballet bar to use as his prop. He's going to hate these pictures one day but they priceless to us now.

The Big Birthday Party!

I can hardly believe my little Maddie is FIVE! Her birthday was Wednesday January 13 and the Sunday before, we celebrated with a big birthday party at Bounce U! It was a great party. Maddie had so much fun bouncing and playing with all of her best friends and family. She loved being the center of attention and it was a day she'd been eagerly awaiting.

Maddie is the sweetest big sister ever. She was so nice to William and let him help her blow out her candles and let him help her open her presents when we did so later in the day at Grandma's house.
Maddie with her little friend Haley from school and Diana who she's grown up with.
We are so thankful for everyone who came to celebrate with Maddie. It really meant so much to us to have her friends and our friends come and be a part of her special day. Turning 5 is a big deal. She'll be off to Kindergarden next year and from what I hear, the next thing you know, she'll be getting her driver's license. Mike and I feel so, so blessed to be the parents of such an awesome kid. Maddie is smart, funny, kind, gentle, and so, so sweet. I know I'm her mother but she truly is the coolest kid ever. Happy Birthday sweetheart! We love you so, so much!

A White Christmas 2009

We had a great trip back to Minnesota for Christmas this year. We flew in the Tuesday before Christmas and the snow started falling that night. It literally snowed for 3 days straight and it was beautiful! We lucked out because the temperatures stayed relatively warm... upper 20's and lower 30's during the day. The kids had such a great time in the snow and playing with their cousins. They were so cute all bundled up in their snow gear. We were at Grandma's house for a week and it was good times all around and very relaxing. The pictures below are from the trip and in no particular order. Santa came Christmas Eve which was a highlight for the kids. William loved riding the snowmobile (surprise, surprise) . Maddie and Josh built an awesome snowman (with a little help from me). William got a skateboard for Christmas (which we opened the night before we left on our trip). That was his Dad's call. Looks like an accident waiting to happen if you ask me... a 3 year old and a skateboard? Well, hopefully I'm wrong. I was off from work for the full two weeks of Christmas and New Years. I did not miss it at all. It was so nice and relaxing I was thinking I might be able to get used to it! Ha-ha. Back to reality this week. Here's to the start of what I hope will be a great Year!