WHAT?!?!!?!?

Yes, that is a dog in our backyard. We met her on Courtney's birthday trip to the rescue. Her name is Dixie and is very sweet. We did not get her on Courtney's birthday, but kept thinking about her all weekend and decided to call to see if she was still there and she was. So, now she is ours, but very sick. We have thought she died a couple of times now, but nope she is still breathing. Today she is finally walking around and acting interested in food. We didn't know she was sick when we paid for her. I feel like we have a newborn again.

The Mall

I had to make about 4 hours worth of errands the other day. Porter and Courtney were soooooo good. Only once did Courtney get upset with me and it was short lived. I let them play at the mall for a few minutes before rushing off to the next place. They loved it.

Cake Time!!

Courtney wanted a purple flower for her birthday cake and to have her friend over and eat pink ice cream. She was only willing to wait for her friend to come to eat the cake, otherwise, it might have gone missing before.

Birthday activity

Courtney loves to go see the animals at the rescue so we took her to go see them again for her birthday.

Courtney's 3rd Birthday morning

I can't believe Courtney is already 3! This is her birthday breakfast and opening some presents.

The Farm

We went to the famiy farm while in Yuma. The kids got to pick oranges, play in the dirt and walk in the canal. Highlight of their trip? Maybe! They loved it out there.

Cousins!!!

We had a great time playing with cousins in Yuma.

Flight with Kids

We went to go see Mark's parents after Christmas this year. This was our flight there. Porter cried for the first 45 minutes and then threw up from crying so hard. He didn't want to be held and he didn't want anything, but to be left alone so I put him on the ground. He promptly went into tantrum mode and cried into the floor of the airplane and cried himself to sleep. Everyone else was great.

Christmas 2011

The whole month of December was very full of Christmas activites. The kids loved getting out all the old decorations we have and placing them around the house. We opened up a nativity set that only had Baby Jesus, Joseph, The Inn Keeper and a Lamb, which spurred the memories of who broke what last year. Mary was shattered last year from that set and Mary broke in half in our other set this year. The kids really like to play with Mary. Courtney pulled the tree over and off the table it has to sit on to stay out of reach of Porter. Only one ornament broke, but was repaired and stuck back on. Mark pulled out all the lights for the outside of the house and only one strand worked. December was really cold (for us) so we had lots of hot chocolate and soup, but of course it is now spring here so we enjoyed it while we could. I decided we'd make whatever cookies the kids wanted so whenever we ran out we'd make a new batch of something else. And, of course, we had Christmas music playing as soon as our Thanksgiving guests left our house. We went to a friends house to do a nativity scene and we drove around town looking at Christmas lights. Christmas was always magical growing up and I hope this last month was just as magical for my kids.

The Zoo in Winter

Before Christmas Mark took a day off work and we all went to the zoo. It was freezing cold that day as you can see, but the kids had a blast anyway. Good thing since I guess we'll be going again soon because we forgot the tickets that Mark had already bought from a local store and had to buy a new set at the zoo once we got there. We got to feed the giraffes, which wasn't all it was hyped up to be. The kids liked it, but we were there for maybe a minute. I think the biggest hit was the reptile house. They loved the snakes and the albino alligator and the also loved the aquarium. Pretty much anything that was inside and warm.