We Came, We Saw, We Conquered!

Santa Fe, NM was fabulous for Thanksgiving. The city brought in the Christmas season with candle lights lining the streets and the rooftops - Santa also paid a visit and the main Plaza was filled with singers (who by the way were singing Elvis Christmas songs so I was in heaven!).

The girls enjoyed checking out all the art and the amazing Indian culture. We actually went to a pueblo one day. It was certainly eye opening even for Brent and myself.

On Thanksgiving Day we made a ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie....so we did have almost all the fixings of home. The condo we stayed in was fabulous. Seriously though we had some great QT as a family...Kaitlyn has found a new love of the game Connect Four (so has Daddy!).

On the drive there we stopped in Amarillo and spent the night in a hotel that had an indoor pool - so the girls LOVED going swimming again. It actually worked out great to break the trip up like that; however on the way back Brent just drove straight through. Now we are looking forward to Christmas! YEE-HAW!

Wish they all could be California Girls!

Thank You so much Aunt Roxanne and Uncle Jack for the cute matching polar bear PJs....we girls love them! Addy was a little too enthralled with her princess shirt to put on the top to the PJs but she eventually came around. The pants however were a different story both girls thought they were super comfy and continued to wear them all the next day while dancing in front of every mirror they came across.

The visit to Cali was wonderful, refreshing, rejuvenating, relaxing and any other re- word you can think of! I loved spending QT with the Hollands, especially my Chelsea B!!! We went and shopped literally until we dropped (who has ever shopped for 6 hours straight...in my defense though it was outlet shopping!) Then we were able to see Jason and Marc's rehearsal for their new show "Beauty and the Beast" where Marc is the beast and Jason is Lumiere. They were both amazing and stole the show! Let's see what else? Oh, I got to run on the beach....man I could do that every day for the rest of my life!! AND...Rob made me the most delicious mushroom stew, I got the recipe so I could make it for Brent and the girls! Also, I got to see where Chelsea works and meet some of her friends there. We went out one night, which for an old lady like me was so much fun....I even made it to the greasy food part after the evening! (No, No, No, No, No, No.........) We went to Temecula for wine tasting and more outlet shopping. Oh yes, probably one of the neatest parts of all was that Chelsea set up a day of pampering for me while I was there....we got pedicures, which were out of this world and then I got my haircut (and I do mean cut...went back to short hair people!) oh yes and colored....trying something new all of you will have to wait and see! Thanks to Brent and Chelsea for enabling all of this to take place - it does wonders for the heart and soul to spend some uninterrupted time with the people you love.

As far as Brent and the girls - they seemed to manage fabulously while Mom was away. The house was spotless when I came home, laundry all up to date, refrigerator stocked, fruit bowl out on the kitchen table and everyone was in one piece. I surmised they had some secret fun as they were all giggling like crazy when I first walked up the stairs to put the girls to bed...but I have yet to figure out what went down. Anyway...getting ready for Thanksgiving now over these next few days. Wishing we all could be together! Keeping our prayers headed toward Old Froggie and GG! Lots of Love....LUMUKU.

Uncle Andy's Visit 101

What can I say about having my brother Andy here? It was sort of like having another 4 year old around the house. He would play hide and go seek every night before dinner, he took walks outside to hunt for nuts, he made forts out of everything all over the house, he colored, he played princess (Oh, excuse me Cinderella), he laughed, he made me smile. In truth the girls adored having Uncle Andy here especially since he was never afraid to be a kid with them. It warmed my heart to see them interact. The pictures posted are from when we took them to school and our "Silly Faces Only Day".... why are adults so afraid to let loose and be silly? You would think it would have a huge impact on our society if people were not so caught up in their own self-image. Anywho....

Having a great week, although I double booked the girls today...I mean really they are so busy I almost need little calendars for them to keep their activities in order. We had a playdate today after school which is a staple and then had to rush over to another playdate shortly thereafter with only a stop for a Sonic Slush in between. What a rough life these little ladies lead let me tell you :)

We are getting excited about Santa Fe - the girls have looked on the Internet to see what stuff they want to do while there. They are looking forward to it as well! However I think they are more thrilled about the hotel room over anything else! It is so funny what little kids are thinking.

Ciao for now.....