Christmas Angels

Nursery Girl

Sunday was a day of mixed emotions for me. It was Taytum's first day in nursery! I was so relieved that I wouldn't have her distracting me during Relief Society and Sunday School anymore (although, Papa takes over during Sunday School every week and does his darndest to get her to sleep...almost always successful!) but I was so sad that my baby won't be tucked on my lap anymore looking at books and eating her endless supply of fruit snacks. She did great-no incidences to report of, but I think that had something to do with Grandma Linda sneaking in and snuggling her for a few minutes between classes! Turning 18 months is no small feat...here are some of Taytums likes and dislikes:

Likes: Putting on mommys lotion, playing in mommys make-up, taking all the reciepts out of mommys wallet and strewing them all over the house, being rocked to sleep, fighting with her sisters and getting her way...every time.

Dislikes: When mom leaves the room, getting her diaper changed (yes, she is in the running away stage) and when her sissies won't let her play with their toys.

What a peach! She is our strong-headed little firecracker that won't back down, and we wouldn't have her any other way!

Thanksgiving in San Fran!

Gotta love Public Transportation-I know my kids did!

SO Excited to be at the Tree Lighting Ceremony!

MuirWoods

Enjoying the relish tray...and I mean REALLY enjoying the relish tray.

Look at that Turkey...and the bird he's holding!

After much begging and pleading and crying and pouting I got my way and we were off to San Fran for the Thanksgiving Break!! We arrived at around 1 in the morning on Thursday and woke up to an AMAZING Thanksgiving dinner being cooked. If any of you know my brother you know he is a borderline gourmet chef, so we had a wonderful brined turkey with fresh sage and other spices, brussel sprouts with bacon and butter (sooo yummy!) sweet potato casserole with brown sugar and coconut, potatoes, homemade apple sausage stuffing, the list goes on. The rest of the day was filled with lots of laughter and leftovers. The next day we ventured to MuirWoods Redwood Forest where we walked a trail along some, you guessed it, giant redwoods. We had to cross the Golden Gate bridge to get there and my kids were in seventh heaven-they thought it was great! Afterwards we found a delicious little pizza joint that really hit the spot! We took the kids to an AWESOME park where they would've played for the next 2 days straight if we would have let them. Uncle Jed got some amazing picures of all the kids-go to http://www.heatherandjed.blogspot.com/ to check them out. We also went to the tree lighting ceremony at Macys that night and saw the giant tree get lit up. The next day we went to Fishermans Wharf to see the seals and walked along the pier. We also took the kids to another park where they had an even better time than before. We had such a fun time with all the Thompson clan-I am so thankful for my family and their generosity to share their apartment, food and time with us. I love my family so much and am truly thankful that they are mine.

Happy Birthday...kinda

I am blaming daylight savings on my childrens behavior. It was the twins birthday on November 2nd and we decided to have a Build-A-Bear party! We had all their little friends show up and everyone was so excited about getting a new bear to take home as a new friend....everyone except for my kids. At one point of the party Ellie was actually having a "rolling around on the filthy floor fit" and screaming "I am having a hard time, I am having a hard time" over and over again. I guess the transition from age 2 to 3 is too much for some kids to handle. The highlight of the day was Ellie and Reese getting in a full blown punching fight in the middle of the store while all their friends watched....ahhh memories. To all my friends and Ellie and Reese's friends we're sorry for our behavior. Hopefully next years birthday party will be better...that is if we decide to have a birthday party for them...as of right now they next birthday party they get will be their 38th. Happy Birthday to my girlies-I love you more than anything in the world!

Crappy Halloween

This year wasn't our best Halloween ever. I have been hyping up Halloween and Trick or Treating to the girls for weeks, and they were so excited to go! They were as happy as can be and looked so adorable all dressed up as bugs, that is until we stopped at our first house. We made it all the way over to Grandma and Papas house before the tears started flowing like bat venom (had to throw in a Halloween simile somewhere!). Tay and Reese were sad for no reason whatsoever! Once we left Grandma and Papas we headed to Grandma Hopies house so she could see how adorable the girls all looked. After Hopies we decided to go see Grandma Linda, then we were going to go around our neighborhood for good old fashioned Trick or Treating. We took one step into grandma Lindas house and every stich of their costumes came off and they were done. I kept explaining to them that we had to go out to peoples houses for more candy. The response was a big "No thanks mom!" So, $30 per costume later 3 people saw them. I guess I shouldn't be so disappointed that they didn't get tons and tons of candy, but I was so looking forward to taking them around to our neighborhood so they could get a glimpse of how Kell and I used to Trick or Treat before Trunk or Treat hit this town. I guess there is always next year...

Status Updates

It's been a while since my last post, and as there are things going on constantly, we haven't done anything super exciting. So, here are some updates on my favorite puddin-faces in the world:

Ellie:

• LOVES bugs. Daddy has a very expensive, very detailed book on bugs that Ellie will fall asleep with on a lot of nights because she LOVES looking at them. Needless to say the very expensive book is now wrinkled, ripped and some of the pages stick together (so I let her eat a PB&H sandwich while looking at it, ok?!)
• Loves squishing bugs
• Loves robots (what am I, raising a dude here?!)
• Dosen't love Ratatouille
• Is turning into the "Heather" of the relationship. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVED being bossed around by Heather growing up, and now I can see that in Ellie and Reese's relationship.
• Weighs 34.3 lbs
• Really, really hates getting flu shots
• When asked to clean she tells me she is "weally, weally tired" Ok, so maybe she is the "Hillary" of the relationship, I don't know.
• Is very loveable and gets excited by the simple things in life-flocks of birds, a butterfly, cheetos.

Reese:

• Also, LOVES bugs.
• Dosen't love squishing them though. That is where her Knightress in Shining Armor Ellie comes into play. Reese looks at Ellie like she just saved her life when Ellie squishes a potato bug that is meandering towards her general direction.
• Loves cereal-wants it every single morning within a minute of waking up. Yesterday I made it a special occasion and made pancakes. Reese looked at her plate and said "This isn't cereals."
• Weighs 33.3 lbs.
• Is definitly the tenderheart of the two...reminds me of someone...
• Loves to say "Look what I can do" and do random things like blink her eyes, smile big, or shake her head back and forth...we are so proud of her accomplishments!
• Is always saying "Just a little bit."-"I'm just going to go outside just a liitttllle bit" (the little is always drawn out) or I'm just going to eat Hershey syrup from the bottle a liiittttllle bit" It's adorable how she can justify anything with a "little bit."
• Loves telling people her name is Sissy Mondragon.
• Loves everyone and gives kisses, hugs and snuggles to prove it. Even to perfect strangers. Awww.

Taytum:

• Is walking, talking and getting into EVERYTHING!
• Loves to have her arm rubbed to get her to sleep. In exchange, when she is really tired she will rub your arms until you have matching Indian burns.
• Really, really loves her Papa. It may have something to do with the licorice he always has in his pocket, we're not really sure.
• Weighs 22 lbs
• Loves helping mommy unload the dishwasher. I will stand by the silverware drawer and she will bring me the silverware one piece at a time (I've removed the sharp knives before this takes place...what kind of a mother do you think I am?!)
• When anyone raises their voice around her (which NEVER happens in this house!) her little bottom lip automatically sticks out and she is ready for the tears.
• Loves bracelets, shoes, socks and phones...she is a true lady.
• Is the most cuddly bug around.

Baby#4

• Is about 7 weeks old
• Is the size of a pea
• Will be a freshman when his/her sisters will be seniors and a junior.
• Is making his/her mommy and daddy very happy and very nervous at the same time.
• Is making his/her daddy buy his/her mommy a new, bigger vehicle as to fit him/her in.
• Better be a boy for his/her daddy's sake.
• Is completing our family-we can't wait to see you in June Baby Mondragon-we already love you so much!

Camping...ugh...

Everyone who knows me knows I hate camping. The bugs. The dirt. Going to the bathroom outside. I just basically hate being outside. Everyone who knows Kell knows he LOVES camping. The fishing. The wildlife. Building fires. He basically just loves being outdoors. He begged me to go camping this year. I begged him to stay in a hotel. Well, we compromised. We went up to Fairview and stayed at his Aunts cabin with all the Mondragons. Good news: It had indoor plumming, we didn't have to sleep in a tent, we were able to cook all our meals indoors and we were there with family. Bad news: We were still camping. The girls got FILTHY and we all know how much I hate when my babies are dirty, there were squirrels running on the roof half the night so I didn't sleep well at all, and everything we own now smells like campfire. I would have made a TERRIBLE pioneer. I've jokingly said that if I were a pioneer I would have died 3/4 of a mile into the trek. I truly believe that would've been the case. So, our first family camping trip (well, almost. Tay stayed with Grandma and Papa. I am sooo glad she stayed home. I missed her, but I was already a basket case trying to keep tabs on both girls the entire time!) was a success. We're all still alive arent we?