Week in the Life- TUESDAY!

Tuesday! This is the day of the week we usually have the least going on. Today started out like any other. The whole family up, dressed, and having breakfast by 7am. Today the girls had pancakes :)

Here's what Madilyn picked out for today. Looking cute!

I filled out and turned in her permission slip for next week's field trip. Fun!!

We loaded up to take Madilyn to school....

After we dropped off Madi, we stopped by our favorite store:

I love that our littlest monkey still likes to be worn. I hope she'll be happy this way for at least another year :-)

After Target, it was time to get home and get dinner cooking.

Then we updated the calendar because I was a bit behind. Phew- it's going to be a busy month!

Grace had a bite to eat,

and then worked on her ABC's on the iPad.

Then I put Grace down for a nap. While she was sleeping, I worked on some Christmas presents. I can't tell much more than that or I'll ruin the fun! Trust me, it took a good chunk of nap time.

Ready to take a crafting break, I started doing my chores. As I was pushing in the chairs, I was surprised by a new friend. I use the term friend lightly. I'm actually quite certain he was as scared of me as I was of him. I do not care for critters!

Next up- cleaning the master bathroom! I spared you the "before". Take my word for it, you didn't want to see!

Finally, just over FOUR HOURS LATER, this pretty little lady was ready to get up! Someone must be growing!

I put together a quick snack for the girls, and we left to go pick up Madilyn.

But, I forgot a few odds and ends for dinner tonight, so we had to make a pit stop along the way. 

My helper.

One of the perks of living in California- cheap avocados year round. YUM!

We picked up Madi.

On our way home from school, we stopped to take a photo by this giant Christmas tree. Each year in December, there is a tree farm along our route and they decorate a massive tree. It's really beautiful and the pictures just don't do it justice. Anyway, Madilyn is completely in awe of it, so tonight I asked her if she'd like to stop and have her picture taken by it. Boy was she excited!!!

Home for dinner! We had shredded chicken tacos from the crockpot. Grace does not like them, so she had some leftover pasta from the other night.

Now it's time for bed! We're off to go read the Christmas Story! Night y'all :)

A WEEK IN THE LIFE - MONDAY!

Well, it's that time again! We're doing another WITL, and you get the chance to follow along :)

Rise and shine! Monday was off to an early start (as is the norm for weekdays around here). After we crawled out of bed, we all got dressed. Madilyn is finally taking an interest in picking out her own clothes. Here's what our fashionista picked today:

While the girls ate breakfast, I packed lunches for the girls. Grace has MDO on Mondays, so she needed a snack as well.

Ack! Look at that mess. Guess it's a good thing I looked in the mirror before we left. That mop just won't do.

Thankfully, I was recently introduced to some wonderful miracle hair therapy by my sister's hairdresser.  Seriously, you gotta try this stuff!

Look what it does! Why, that's much better...

After this, we took Madi off to school, then Grace to MDO. I forgot about my camera at school, so I'll do that tomorrow.

Here is G's MDO room:

And the playground ;)

With my kid free time this morning, I went and did some Christmas shopping with some of my neighbors. We all dropped off our kids and made the most of our time! We even stopped off for a (HOT) lunch at Panera. Sadly, I was so excited about all of these things, I didn't think to photograph them. 

Grace was still hungry when we got home, so we had some yogurt before nap.

During nap time, I did a bit more shopping.....

And delivered some Christmas cards.

Look who woke up! She wakes like her Mama- not quite ready to greet the world.

After a bowl of (her request) oatmeal and a glass of milk, things were looking up.

We picked up Madilyn from school and stopped off at Trader Joe's for a few staples. You see, my family kind of likes eggs, bread, and milk. So we had to stop. (And since we were there, I had to get some Candy Cane Joe Joe's. If you've not had these, you are missing out. Your life will never be the same once you've tried them. Really.)

Then time to cook dinner. Tonight it was shanghai beef and edemame. 

Poor Madilyn was having a rough time listening, and was sent to bed early. 

Our last photo for today captures us catching the last few minutes of Brave. Cute movie!

Well, that's all for today folks. I'll try to do better tomorrow!

(Almost) A Week Away

Well, almost two weeks ago the girls and I took a last minute and very unplanned trip back to Phoenix. I went to spend some time with my mom and Sandy and Done took care of the girls. They had an awesome time with Grandma and Grandpa. In fact, when I finally saw Madilyn again Monday evening (for the first time since Thursday morning), I asked her, "did you miss me?" and she responded, "not really." Not really?!?! Not even a little? Goodness! I was a little sad, but at the same time it is great to hear they had so much fun and keep asking when they'll be able to do it again.

Here are the girls getting ready for our flight (we departed LA at 9pm, 2 full hours after bedtime...)

The rest of the time entailed some (nearly) skinny dipping, park time, play time....

And a bit of mischief, too!

Disneyland!

Dance Dance Gracilyn

Something Matt put together in about 10 minutes.  Enjoy!