Zoo Lights!

We had never done this before and wanted to do something new with the kids this Christmas.  So we took them to the Zoo.  It was such a nice night, and we had a great time.  A lot of the animals were alseep, and some were not in their homes at all, but the ones that were there made it really fun.  The best part about it was all of the fun lights everywhere, the reindeer, and of course...SANTA!  They had the cutest set up with Santa where they first wrote him a letter, then got to visit with him and tell them all about what they wanted for Christmas this year, then they dropped their letters off in the big mail box.  Check!  Rowan looked so cute in her little hat, but she did not like waiting in line forever for Santa.  All in all though, it was a great time, something we will do again for sure!

Paisley Looses Her First Tooth!

She hasn't been this excited for a while about something!  That dang tooth hung by a thread for several days before I finally insisted that before she go to tumbling I yank it out, and once it was out she was SO EXCITED for the tooth fairy!  

And the tooth fairy made it a extra special experience for her first time.  I came home from being out late, and there was this note left on the kitchen table:

So of course the Tooth Fairy answered with a note back to Paisley, letting her keep her tooth for one more day so she could show her friends at school, but needed to make sure she put it under her pillow again the following night for collection.  She left her a glittery Golden Dollar, and a glittery regular dollar.

What did she do with her money?  Begged me to take her to the dollar store so she could buy 2 things: a 100 days teacher calendar and a large notepad so she could play school.  What an exciting time!

My Dear Friend...

Such a sad day.  Paisley and I both cried a lot of tears when the Lindley Family moved this week.  Not only is Jess one of my dearest best friends, but Jaylynn has been one of Paisleys best friends since she was 2, and Bracken has always been one of Noahs best friends, and Jess is Noah's teacher so it's going to be an adjustment to us all.  I know we will still see them a lot, hopefully there will be lots of trips in the summers together, but we will sure miss them on a day to day basis. The night before she left a few of us took her out to dinner after a long day of moving to one of her favorite places, Olive Garden.  She of course had to wear a crown and a sash.

Then we took a late night stroll through Target taking advantage of our last few hours together.

The next day I think I had about 10 little break downs.  So hard.  I sure love you Jess and will miss you dearly!

New Pictures of the Kids...

My favorite of Rowan...

 My favorite of Paisley...

 My favorite of Noah...

 Noah's cute class with his old favorite teacher Mrs. Lindley.

Thanks Skye!  Love ya!

Thanksgiving at the Richmonds

Thanksgiving was held at the Richmond residents this year.  What a great time we all had!  We got to spend it with Grandma Great, and it was so good to see her up and eating, and feeling so much better.  We thought we about lost her a few months ago, so to see her doing so well made me so happy.  Shanna (with Mom's help of course :) was a wonderful host, the table looked so beautiful, and every single thing we ate was to die for!  Rowan drove me slightly crazy in her "not so child proof" house, so we didn't stay as long as I would have liked to, but it was still a great time.  I couldn't have asked for a better day!  So grateful for my amazing family, for my sweet amazing grandma, and for all of my many blessings on this day especially!

The ROLLS I made...my favorite recipe!

Cooking, cooking, cooking!

Mmmm...chocolate!

 Love this picture of us girls!

 Listening to Grandmas stories...