February

Everything is looking good with Baby Charles!  During February we spent every weekend packing and fixing up the house.  We occasionally get out to do something fun..

Like go to Central Market.  Are you really into food?

A sick day for Elia

Gianna made her own Valentines.  They were really creative.  This was my favorite!

Someday I won't be lame and forget to take pictures of my sweeties.

December

It has been so long!  A year ago, if I had taken a peek into my current life, I wouldn't have believed I could do it.  Chris and I both have new jobs, a long commute for me, brand new curriculum, cooking a baby, and to top it off, putting our house up for sale!  Its all going to be worth it though.  We found out in December that we will be welcoming a baby boy into our family.  We are going to name him Charles but are unsure of the middle name.

After we found out it was a boy, we went across
the street and picked out some gifts for our boy.

For Christmas, we spent a little over a week in Napa.  It was so fun, as usual.  I even got to see some college friends.  

We went to my favorite winery.  I mostly talked, and of course drove.  :)

It was a very Frozen Christmas.  We saw the movie with all the girls- cousins and aunties.  There were a lot of Frozen themed toys at Christmas as well.  

Chris and I were spoiled too, so much that we had to send 2 boxes home because all of our loot wouldn't fit in our suitcases!  Since almost all of the grown kids were back home, Grandma rented an RV, and the boys all slept in there.  They set it up with a tv and video games, and it was a very popular spot to visit from the 4 little girls.  

Phoebe kept calling it the IV.  So cute!

We came home to Dallas late Saturday night to a tree with lots of present underneath it!  It was a wonderful Christmas.

Ice Storm Dallas 2013

Thursday around 4:30 I got the call that there would be no school tomorrow!  It started raining around 4:30 and then that started freezing soon after.  Chris even got Friday off, so we made the most of it by doing. nothing.

Sadly, Colleen and Bobby had to cancel their trip here.
Its like Mother Nature carved out a path of destruction, just for them from Missouri, through OK and into North Texas.  We will see them in the Spring.

Icicles!

Love this hat on Elia!

Slipped Away...

School preparation always starts way too early!  This was such a fun summer, I am sad to see it go.  We packed in a lot though!  The last few weeks were spent pretty quietly at home.  Love.

Crafting

Science experiments!

Toe Painting

Quirkle

On our last day home together, we ventured out to the Dallas zoo.  We left at 8:30 and were home by 12.  We were VERY sweaty.  Later on we got all dressed up (just like last year) and went out to eat fancy cupcakes.  A good, bittersweet day.

My fave pic of the day!

Some guy gave us free tickets to the Carousel.
They were so excited!

Top 10 of our Trip- #5

5. Sedona

We went to Sedona 3 days in a row.  One to hike, one to do Slide Rock, and then Chris and I spent our anniversary there!  This part of Arizona is breathtaking, and I think it is my favorite of the whole trip.

Mansion with an amazing backyard 

Mother and Child Rock 

Our Anniversary, 7 years!  Bell Rock in the background

Top 10 of our Trip- #4

4. Spelunking
This was definitely not a top on my list, but the girls LOVED it, and after all this blog is for them, right?  We decided to do an all family hike, and Aunt Jenny found this "kid-friendly" hike that is about a mile round trip through a cave.  Ya'll, I am claustrophobic.  I've never really had a chance to get over my fear of small spaces because, well, I just don't go in caves, small places or even my beloved StL arch.  When we parked, I thought I could muster up the courage to go in there with the girls.  They were so excited about it, and kept talking about finding crystals etc.

This is the opening of the cave.  This picture does not lie.  Would you go in there?

Apparently, the entrance is the hardest part of the whole hike, and most of the cave was pretty open afterwards.  I could not go in.  I cried  tried, but I just couldn't do it!  So I sort of hiked around the area while my babies walked further and further into the death-trap cave.  They all came out safely and they loved it all!  So glad they could have fun.

Inside.  See?  Not scary!

Emerging.  Did I mention it was 30 degrees in there?

Later that day, I took Daria out for a run through my Uncle's gorgeous neighborhood and almost got mauled by 2 neighbor dogs.  I think that was just not my day.  But hey, I'll take one bad day among 9 glorious other days!!

Top 10 of our Trip- # 3

3. Hikes.
I am in LOVE with mountains.  They are so beautiful and so fun to climb.  We started the climb up Mount Humphries, which is the left most peak in the picture that shows Uncle Dave's view from his porch.  The peak is at 12,000 feet, and we made it to 10,000.  Chris got altitude sickness so we had to get down, pronto.  The hike up and down the mountain is 10 miles round trip and we did 6 miles round trip.  Not bad for us being out of shape!
Later in the week some of us girls went into Sedona and climbed Bell Rock.  It is basically a huge rock in the shape of a bell.

A before Picture

One of the many beautiful views

Taking a break.  Our pup was a champ going up and down that mountain.

Before Picture

Everywhere we looked there was a beautiful view!

Last pic we took before we went down.
We were getting nervous about that storm rolling in- you can see it in the top left corner.

Top 10 of our Trip- #2

2. The Grand Canyon
It is so stinking beautiful.  Its a little different seeing it with kiddos, though.  Sometimes you just aren't so sure the railings are going to hold, or that they aren't going to run away and slip off!  But everyone made it safely back to their cars.

That is Chuck's finger up top.
G was holding me so tight in this pic!

My little poser.

Top 10 of our trip #1

So a little back story...
Back in January when I went to my dear grandfather's funeral, I was talking to my wonderful, eccentric uncle Dave.  He is the youngest brother of my mom, and of course was always the favorite uncle of ours.  A few years ago at Colleen's wedding he suggested the idea of house swapping and we talked about it again at the funeral.  We sort of came up with a plan for him to stay at my in-laws house in Napa while we all stayed at his house in Flagstaff!  So that will start off my list.

1. Uncle Dave's house.
Honestly, I think we got the better end of the deal.  He has a beautiful house with a porch that overlooks the mountains and 4 acres with a small zip-line, playground, sand box, and a small Frisbee golf course.  (not that my in-laws house isn't awesome, tho)

View from the porch

Backyard

Front of his house, with all of us crammed on the stairs!