Holiday Fun

Christmas Morning

The kids kept jumping up and down and couldn't contain their excitement right before opening their Christmas presents.  

Here's Zade opening his present from Grandpa.

 Zade also got a nice construction costume, and quickly began using his new toy saw to chop up the couch. :)

Aria got 3 pairs of princess shoes. 

Later that day my brother Derek and his fiance Nicole came over.

Bowling
The next day we went bowling as a family at Lakeshore lanes.  Both Tara and Connie bowled very well, getting scores of 100, and Dane and Mark got scores of 144 and 135, respectively.

Bounce House
We then met up with Kari's family at Wacky Bounce house, where the kids wore themselves out.

Desert Museum

The kids and I love to visit the Desert Museum at least once a year.  Here Aria is looking at a tiny hummingbird in a tree.  The Desert Museum has an aviary filled with hummingbirds.

 



The museum has a cave with animals and gemstones from the desert.  Aria is trying on some bat ears here.  This is how big the ears would be relative to her body size.

 

Aria's Dance Class

Aria took another ballet class this fall and Zade did a Movers and Shakers class.  Last year Aria was nervous to participate in the class, but this year Aria was the most mature and followed directions better than any other class member.  It's amazing how much growth takes place in one year.

Tofu
 Here Aria is showing the disgust she felt about the idea of eating fried tofu.  She is a master at facial expressions.

Tucson Family Festival
Dane and I took the kids to a family festival at the park put on by the parks and recreation department.

 



Siblings and Friends
Aria and Zade know how to fight, but thankfully they also know how to play.

Tucson Zoo Lights
The Tucson Zoo puts up lights every Christmas.  The kids particularly liked this display that had lights flashing in sync with the music.

Lets See Santa Again
Fry's super market brought in Santa for a day and even had him sit on a chair made from coke can boxes.  This is Aria and Zade's third time seeing Santa for the year, but the first time that we've gotten good pictures.

Aspiring Auto Mechanics

Zade invented the idea of "fixing" his play cars.  Aria joined in on the fun.  They pumped up the tires, fixes screws, hammered things, and Aria made sure to wash the car down and apply generous amounts of lotion so that it would "smell good."  Zade has enjoyed fixing his cars on almost a daily basis.

 

Sugar Cookies

We can't have Christmas without baking and frosting sugar cookies.

 



 

 Olive Garden
Dane and I took the kids to the Olive Garden.  Aria and Zade were soooo hungry because they hadn't eaten a decent breakfast or lunch.  "Breadsticks!" they kept calling out.  Aria ended up eating three breadsticks, afterwards she clutched her stomach and rolled around on the bench.  "Oh, I shouldn't have eaten that last breadstick!" she cried out, over and over again.  

It's so nice to have Dane less busy and more able to spend time with the family.  We have missed him!

 

Winterhaven Christmas Lights

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is seeing the amazing light displays put on in the local Winterhaven neighborhood.

  

U Cut Christmas Tree
After 9 years of marriage, Dane and I decided to visit his family for Christmas in Oregon, instead of mine in Utah.  Here we are at a local tree farm, picking out and cutting down our Christmas tree.  It's so much more fun to have a real tree, instead of a fake one.

 

 Papas Pizza
We went with Kari, Dane's sister, and her three children, to Papa's Pizza for dinner.  The kids loved playing on the indoor playground, even though it was so cold in the room, it felt like it was an outdoor playground.

A Chocolate Protein Bar is NOT chocolate...

Today Zade awoke with a fever, crying that his tummy hurt. I offered him popsicles, sprite, and Scooby-Do movies, which had to be shared with older sister Aria as well due to her loud protest cries that she had suddenly become sick, "see mom- sniffle, sniffle." (uh huh, yeah right Aria). Little man fell asleep twice in my arms today, just cuddled up, closed his eyes, and was gone. He seemed better around noon (probably due to ibuprofen) but I thought I could squeeze in the Cosco trip that our empty fridge so desperately called out for. At Cosco, amongst the many samples being offered, we tried a piece of chocolate protein bar. Zade and Aria thought it was just chocolate, however as they chewed the protein bar a mixture of unbelief and disgust came over their faces. They demanded that I let them spit it out. I demanded that they chew and swallow. I mean come on, it wasn't that bad! I watched Zade's face as it changed from disgust to complete nauseation. He started to gag. I pulled him from the cart and ran for the nearest garbage can, which happened to be right in front of a lady trying to sell Ritz crackers covered in tuna. Zade puked into the garbage, with only a small amount landing on his sock and shoe. I apologized to the lady, who looked slightly disturbed, and grabbed a handful of napkins to wipe up Zade. After Zade heaved one more time into the garbage, I made it back to Aria who was sitting alone in the cart two aisles down, and offered her a napkin, in which she immediately spit out the protein bar that had been sitting in her mouth. I shall not look at protein bars the same, I think.

Family Pictures

Thanksgiving & Early Christmas

Tara's parents came to visit for Thanksgiving.  We made a delicious dinner, with all the fancy festive food.

 

Then Grandma and Grandpa Debenham helped us put up and decorate the Christmas tree.  Grandpa even created a tree stand made out of pipes from Home Depot because the tree stand was lost.

 

Grandma D was very kind to surprise the kids with an early Christmas, complete with lots of new clothes and fun toys.  Aria received wedding doll barbie and ken, along with a pink barbie car.  She also received a life size Cinderella doll, whose shoes actually fit on Zade's feet.  He loves to put them on, much to Aria's dislike.  Grandpa D gave Aria a new scooter, that she has had fun practicing on.  Zade received a Spider Man backpack (which he adores) a set of large plastic dinosaurs, a pirate bandanna and telescope, and a guitar with keyboard that plays a variety of styles of music.  I don't think I'm going to need to get the kids much for Christmas now.

Here's the skateboard Zade tried talking Grandma & Grandpa Debenham into getting him

Halloween 2012

For Halloween the kids decided to be Pirates this year. We had the Geyers come over and join us for pizza and trick-or-treating. As usual, the neighborhood was a hot spot for trick-or-treaters from around town.  

 Here are the jack-o-lanterns we carved. Tara's jack-o-lantern started out as a bat, but it didn't quite work out, so she carefully carved 3 triangles and a big smiley face. :)

When it was finally time to head out the door, Zade ripped off his pirate costume and demanded we put his Spiderman costume. (Tara got him 2 costumes since Aria has several dress up outfits, and Zade had none.) Here they are after 90 minutes of scouring our neighborhood for candy.

Fun in Fall

Friday night Dane went out to dinner with a visiting professor so I took the kids and myself to Sweet Tomatoes (our favorite restaurant- Aria and Zade for the ice cream and me for the salad) and to the Halloween festivities at the zoo.  Every year the zoo decorates the place and then kids can go trick-or-treating.  Zade isn't in these pictures because he was too scared to get close, and also too absorbed in his lollipop to barely look up.

On Saturday I met my friend Sara and her family at Agua Linda Farms.  They have a bunch of fun activities for kids including a movie out under the stars.