Snow Much Fun

 

 

 

 

January has hit Salt Lake City with a vengeance. We have gotten snow, snow and more snow. It has blanketed everything in beautiful, magical white. It also creates a crazy, chaos trying to get boots, hats, gloves, and coats together to get out the door in addition to the regular chaos. Ahhh winter.

Santa Baby 2016

We had yet another wonderful experience getting our Santa Pictures done. We used FotoFly Santa and they blew us away with the amazing pics they got. IT took 20 minutes and the pictures were So amazing for the price... miles above a "mall" Santa. Even though Big A realized this wasn't the "real" Santa he was fine getting his picture taken with a "Helper".

My Little Pilgrims

 

One more year of the pilgrims...whew! I was so worried that my big boy would not be up for dressing up for a photo shoot this year. I had actually kind of resigned myself to the idea that I wouldn't get one this year. I tried to bring it up tactfully..."Hey guys we are going to do pilgrim pictures this weekend!" Big A was all "Mooooommmm, That is SO dorky, I can't let anyone see me like that!" "We are going to Gardner Village when they are closed, there wont be ANYONE around." Really Mom? Really?" and he gives me the raised eyebrow that he is working a lot lately. Then he says the golden phrase "I'll do it for $5!" Little a chimes in "I want $5 too!"

I am not proud to admit it but I am NOT above bribing my children. $10 in the piggy banks and I have one more year of AMAZING pics of A and A in full on Pilgrim mode!

 

Life After the Car Seat... Big A turned 8

Big A is now officially a 8 year old. He is officially out of the booster seat in the car... a big step. As I look over the pictures from this years birthday shoot I can't believe how much he has grown-up over the last year. At the photo shoot he had his own ideas for poses (some pretty awesome). He was kind of shy around the photographer (a first) and the warmed up as we went. Listening to him talk to the photographer about his life and likes again I was so struck by how very grown-up he has gotten.... How did this happen? It makes me tear up a bit (I know weepy mom mode!) whatching the "baby boy, little guy times fade into the past. He is such a bright, funny, kind, playful, thoughtful little guy. I am so blessed to be his Mom, watching him grow!

A thank you to FotoFly photography for once again giving me outstanding birthday shots of A!

First Stop Kindergarten... Next Stop the World

 

I can’t believe this day has come. My little a, my “baby,” just started kindergarten.  

In some ways I felt much more prepared for her to start than I did for Big A. I know her teacher (the same one Big A had) and LOVED her. I know that she will give little a an amazing kindergarten experience. I know the school now, and the ins and outs of the schedule. All those unknowns that kind of freaked me out when Big A started were not there anymore.

I now had the great sadness of losing my little buddy to contend with. We had the option of starting her this year or waiting until next year since she just turned 5 over the summer. She is the youngest kid in her class and that makes me nervous too. However if you know our little A you know that she is feisty and smart and outgoing and so ready to start school. Holding her back would have made me happy to have the extra year of our one on one time but it would not have been fair to her (as much as I REALLY wanted to!)

So off she went. Butterfly Backpack (she picked out), and a huge grin ready to take on school. I don’t worry about her being shy or not making friends, I worry about her taking over the school!

 

Our (Not So) Little A Turns 5!

Sometimes I just can’t get over the fact that my “baby” girl is growing up so fast. She is 5… FIVE… Half way to 10!!!  I am sure I’ll always feel like this. I mean we have so much growing up still to come, Tween, Teen… I don’t even want to think about that! Hitting 5 is hard enough!

Our little a is such a big girl now. She knows her numbers, Adds, Subtracts.. Letters, reads a bit. She LOVES Puzzles and Baseball, Swimming, and pretend Cooking. She is so smart but she loves some crazy shows “Zig and Sharko” and “Oggy and the Cockroaches” are her faves! She still loves Frozen and Zootopia. She is fearless, she’ll climb anything and her favorite ride is “Tower of Terror”!

She had a fun Birthday full or Family, Friends and Festivities! She got to Party with Chuck E. Cheese and enjoyed MULTIPLE birthday cakes! 

 

  She is a Silly, Crazy, Fierce, Funny, Playful, Zany, Sweet, Sassy, Fearless, Smart, Lovable,
Little Girl.... and now she is 5!

 

The Utah Arts Fest... 2 ways

We have found it… It’s official… the BEST way to do the Utah Arts fest as a family.

Do it twice! Once as a date night (we did Friday), and Once as a Kids day out (we did Saturday morning).

It is the perfect way to fully enjoy the festival.

Arts Fest #1: Date Night!

Thanks to my wonderful parents A and A had a fun sleepover, freeing me and Jeff up for a grown-up night at the Fest. We were able to leisurely stroll through the aisles of art. Jeff chatted with fellow artists and we ran into several friends we could stop and chat with. We ate and drank some of the wonderful offerings at the Fest and stopped to enjoy some of the fun entertainment, (the aerialists were especially impressive! We stayed out late and enjoyed the Arts fest at a relaxed pace (not something possible with A and A).

Arts Fest #2: Kids Day

We picked up A and A and headed out for Festival opening. This Arts fest experience was completely different from the one we had the previous night. It was kinetic, full of joy and energy. There was very little stopping at any of the booths, however some of the bright, bold pieces did catch A and A’s eye.

There was no time for chit, chat, no time for pleasantries. There was one focus… the art yard! The kids had the BEST time! They painted the huge “sculptures.” A put big blue A’s everywhere!  They did all of the activities; Tracy Aviary was doing “seed bombs,” Museum of Natural History did DNA bracelets, there was wish bottles, and time capsules. The SO delicious Dairy Free company gave out free “ice cream” bars to everyone (They actually ARE SO delicious!). It was all perfect and the weather was absolute perfection, 80’s but sunny, couldn’t have asked for better! A and A had an amazing time and since we had done the festival the night before we didn’t have to drag them to do anything they didn’t want to.

Another Arts Fest for the books!