Junior year Winter formal was in February.  Kayla and her besties had a blast getting glammed up and dancing the night away ..read more

 Brooklyn participated in the districts Amazing Shake again this year.  Last year she took 2nd place out of 200 something students (you can read about that here) and this year she took 1st place!!! She spent several days being interviewed again and once again did great!  The last day it was the top four being interviewed by some of the district staff members.  She was asked questions about things such as AI, if the world is better with or without social media, etc.  She did so well and once again she blew me away with how amazing she is. She had the op ..read more

Brooklyn and I were very jealous that Kayla got to go to Disneyland over Winter break with her friends so I immediately looked to find a reasonable priced day for us to go and bought the tickets. We were nice enough to let Kayla tag along with us even though she had gone a few weeks earlier. It had been five years since we had been so I was beyond excited!! I love this place!!! Indiana Jones was first and we had the biggest smiles on our face the entire ride.  The Haunted Mansion was still decorated for the holidays.  We were there just before they shut it down for th ..read more

  I had the perfect birthday this year. The girls, Chris and I drove down to the beach area to shop and eat dinner but first we grabbed my free Starbucks drink and then we shopped We bought nothing but it was fun being out and looking.   We drove over to Balboa Island after and walked around.   Itt was near sunset and so pretty.  I love looking at all the beautiful homes on the island. Dinner was up next I picked a delicious Mexican spot.   We ate well that night! Love spending my days with these people!   ..read more

New Year's Eve was spent at home with a cozy appetizer dinner. 2024 Calendars for the girls  Champagne Cheers  All the yummy appetizers The girls played some video games and then we watched the New Years shows before I headed to bed Chris and I were in bed before midnight, I think the girls stayed up.   The next day we headed out to Palm Springs to my father in laws for a New Years Open House. We snacked, we mingled we enjoyed more drinks.   Cheers to 2024 ..read more

 Kayla finished her Junior year Varsity Cross Country season back in November and I just wanted to have all of her pictures here to re-visit.  I can't believe how fast her high school years are going by.  She still loves this sport and works so hard to be the best that she can be.  She spent most of the season being the 2nd fastest girl on the Varsity team all while holding an above 4.3 GPA which had her among the top 10 highest GPA's in her Junior class.  She is now ranked 6 out of 738 Juniors which is amazing!!!  We are so proud of this smart and  beautiful ..read more

  Christmas day in pictures waiting and waiting for one of the girls to get up! even the cats get presents Kayla was reading patiently in her room waiting for Brooklyn to wake up.  I finally went in around 9 to get her out of bed June loved her new mouse my heart The house is cleaned up and set for our families.   Cheers to enjoying the day, we did it! Everyone had left and at 10:30 Kayla came out and asked "Mom, can I show ..read more

 Christmas Eve morning with donuts and hot chocolate! There was so much to do but Christmas movies and cat snuggles were so much better. Eventually I got around to getting things done.  The start of the Christmas Eve kitchen prep mess  Meanwhile Oliver was upset he had nobody to cuddle with so he cried at the end of the hallway hoping his sisters might let him in The last day of the chocolate advent calendar While I finished prepping for dinner the girls got to work on their gingerbread houses. Lots of giggles and lots of eating the candy that was ..read more

  The girls stay up later than us especially during Winter Break so I now just hand them their Polar Express tickets and then they know to grab what they want to take along for the car ride around town to look at the lights. They were strictly a NO pictures crowd this year! Dang teenagers! I got one!! It was nearly three days before Christmas and I finally had both girls home and there was time for them to paint their nutcrackers.  They painted their hearts out while I did lots of baking. Check out Brooklyn's details They came out sooo good! Nine ye ..read more

 The Mission Inn at Christmas is not only beautiful but fun because there are so many adorable stores nearby that are decorated cute and have lots of great gifts.  The girls always love looking around the shops and we usually find some cute gifts for others our ourselves. Enjoying the antique stores! After lots of perusing the shops we were hungry so we walked over to eat at our usual spot. Our little artist posing for a pic. We always eat at Heroes which is decorated for the holidays and is always packed because it's so good We had some time before the Ch ..read more