LOTS to blog about...

Okay, so it's Sunday night and I've just spent a ridiculous amount of time uploading and editing photos, so I'm gonna post 'em! (just a warning...this post is going to be really long...I don't want to miss anything that we've been up to lately.)



So just WHAT have we been up to?




1. Payton's 4th Birthday







Yes, my baby turned 4 on Thursday and I can hardly believe it. She is suddenly looking so old and so tall to me...such a big girl. She had a fun birthday. Thursday night was really low-key with just the 4 of us. We went to Montana's for supper (I had cleaned the kitchen that afternoon and didn't feel like messing it up...haha!) and then back home for presents and dessert. This was like, the FASTEST little birthday party ever! Payton was so cute...she was just so excited about everything that she couldn't get to the next thing on the list fast enough. She was awesome about letting Gabby help her unwrap her presents, and even offered to give her some of them! So sweet. Then we sang "Happy Birthday", the girls had about one bite of their dessert and they played the rest of night. Serious birthday heaven. On Friday night we met all of our family at Chuck E. Cheese's for pizza and "rides". The girls had so much fun and were totally into it...again, they just zipped around that place and couldn't get from one ride to the next fast enough. I don't think Payton ate at all, she was just so excited and overwhelmed. Fun, fun, fun.




2.Christmas party at playschool







This week was also Payton's little Christmas party at her playschool and it was super special because parents and siblings were invited. I cannot even explain how excited Gabby was to be there! It's getting hard for her to see Payton do all this fun stuff that she isn't old enough to do yet, so she was just beside herself at the party. The girls looked so sweet all dressed up...the kids ate, sang songs for the parents, played with toys, did crafts, and Santa even came for a visit. It was a jam-packed morning, let me tell ya, and I will never forget Gabby saying over and over, "Me too???" in just total and utter shock that she was included. Melted my heart.




3. Santa at the mall







The girls have been very excited to see "Santa at the mall", so on Monday morning we bundled up and headed on over. It was great...no line up and no crying. Enough said!




4. a new Christmas toy




Have you seen this nativity set by Fisher Price? So stinkin' cute. Nana gave this to the girls as an early Christmas present and they have been loving it. I'm excited for them to have a special Christmas toy that only comes out once a year...I imagine keeping it year after year...who knows, maybe MY grandkids will play with this set one day! (scary!!)



5. some new books and magazines I'm reading





I went to Chapters on Friday afternoon and left with a bag full of reading material. I loooove that store! I could spend hours and hours in there, and even more money. Anyways, these were the books I left with, and I'm excited to dig in. And yes, I know Christmas is in a few days and why the heck am I buying myself books...well, I was there to pick up a couple gifts and these ended up being little gifts for me! Hehe! (Actually, the Jon & Kate book was a present from my friend Adria...thank you so much!) I haven't been reading at all lately, and I'm ready to be inspired. I'm so excited to read the Creative Family, and you can never go wrong with Simple Scrapbooks issues. Oh, and since I'm just about in my third trimester, I picked up another Baby Whisperer book 'cause the first one was a fave of mine when I had my babies. Whew!



6. our new fireplace



Ever since we moved into our house a year ago, Graham and I have wanted to do something with the fireplace (I wish I had a before picture) but just have never gotten around to it. Well, this week Gray decided that he was going to get it done, and that he did! I wasn't really sure how it was going to turn out (he kept telling me to trust him) and he definately pulled through. He did it all on his own, and more importantly, he got it done when he said he was going to! Imagine that! (hehe) Anyways, we love it, and yay, it got done before Christmas!



7. a layout





What? A scrapbook page??? When and how did that happen? I've been taking Elsie's 6 week online class and have been totally inspired, and not just to scrapbook, but to do other fun projects as well. This is a lift of a page she shared with us, just something that was quick, cute and simple and satisfied my need to "make something cute". I miss scrapbooking. I miss creating. It seems that life has totally taken over. I need to get back into it in the new year. Maybe that can be my goal for 2009. Start scrapbooking again!



8. Christmas dresses!









Every year the girls get new dresses, especially for Christmas. We got all dressed up this morning before church and they were so excited and I have to say, so cute, too. Even Gray and I managed to get in a couple pictures (yikes!) and we avoided tears till the very end. Glad I got these 'cause I am pictured out!



Off to bed, have a happy Monday!!



Tal :)