Just some photos from the week....

All of my sisters...Kathryn, Ashley, Me, Lynnette, and Kasey...oh, and Kevin in the background.

Rory decorating cookies on Christmas Eve.

Rory opening up his plethora of gifts at Mema's house on Christmas Eve...he got so many I was tempted to return the ones we got for him! Now you see it... (Christmas Eve)

Now you don't.(Christmas Morning) Our tradition is to leave Santa a carne asada burrito for his snack instead of cookies. Santa personally requested it.

His favorite toy of all, a new race track!

Rory's new scooter. He was really excited! Not sure what this face is for, but he liked the new book that our neighbor Marci got for him!

Opening his bowling set, Santa thought he would enjoy this since he likes to stack up paper towel rolls and knock them down with a ball.

Remember these view finder things? $1 at Wal-Mart!! Great stocking stuffer.

Santa brought Micah a new watch...he was pretty excited.

Sydney and her cousin Madelynn.

Rory trying his new scooter out.

Fast asleep...

Down at Belmont Park.On the carousel.

3 more days!!

Mom and Sydney Rory likes to stick as many stickers on his face as he can...and then he got ticked whe I tried to get a picture.

Cuddling with Daddy

Christmas lights...

Caden, Rory and Danny

Me, Rachael and Luisa..we obviously didn't agree on which camera to look at first.

This is what Sydney did while we looked at lights.

Rory and Sydney messing around.

We're getting so excited for Christmas! I am anyways. Friday night we went out with some friends from the ward to look at Christmas lights. We have a great neighborhood right here in Poway that goes all out each year called Candy Cane Lane. We have made it a tradition to go as a family pretty much since we've lived here in Poway, so it was even more fun to go with our friends, too! Rory had a blast with his buds Caden and Danny, and they ran from one house to the next(and up the driveways and into the yards, and if the doors to the houses were open, I'm sure they would have tried to go inside them, too). ;) Saturday Micah took Rory to play disc golf with him and his Dad, Tyler, Paul and Rick. Rory LOVES doing stuff with Daddy, so he had a blast and came home so excited. We then spent the afternoon delivering goodies to our neighbors, and Rory got to go to our neighbor Marcy's house to decorate gingerbread. So he had a fun filled day.

Micah is really excited today because he won the Championship game for his fantasy football league, AND the Chargers won, so he's been floating on Cloud 9 all day. Other than that, just getting ready for the hectic week we have ahead of us. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!!

Giving sis a hug... I don't think she was in the mood for that hug.

She constanly sticks her legs in the air, I think it's so cute.

I recently mentioned to my sister-in-law Holli that one of my favotite things about Christmas as time passes is adding more stockings to our mantle.

Micah and the kids before church this past Sunday.

Getting his haircut.cutie-pie

Sydney almost asleep while she waited.

It's raining, yay! I love this weather. I would LOVE to live somewhere that it was rainy and overcast alot, like the pacific northwest, maybe? Although, I'd probably get up there and after a few weeks be begging to come home to sunny San Diego. So as an update to my last post, we finished ALL Christmas shopping! What a relief. Last night we called "Santa" so Rory could tell him what he wants. (grandpa put on a good act!) Rory was talking about Santa all night, and how he can't wait to meet him. He cracks me up, he gets on the phone, and immediately starts telling Santa he wants all sorts of toys, and a balloon. A really big balloon. And then Santa tells Rory he's bringing him a bike..WTH? Sorry Santa, but no bikes have been purchased, so...hopefully Mr. Rory will forget about that one.

Yesterday Rory got his first "salon" haircut. He looks so much better without his shaggy do, and he looks way older. He did great, too. He kept pulling on his hair all afternoon and asking if it had grown yet so he could go back and have it cut again. I love this age, Rory always has something funny to say. He was playing with the handlebar for a rocking horse he has(the handlebar pulls out of the horse's head), and he was running around and swinging it, so I asked him what he was doing, and he said "I'm a Power Ranger, Mom!" The tone of his voice was like "duh, mom, couldn't you tell?" The funny thing is, he's never seen the Power Rangers before, so how does he even know about them? And then I asked him if he wanted cereal for breakfast, and he gets a serious look, and says"Stop asking me if I want to eat breakfast Mom." "Why?" I ask him. "Because it's weird." Ummm, okay.

So had a few good laughs this morning.

Anyways, Sydney is getting huge, at her 4 month appt she was 17 lbs. 1 oz and almost 26 inches. Still in the 98th percentile...She's laughs and smiles if yougive her any type of eye contact, and she is definitely social. Typical girl. That's about it for us.

Christmas festivities...

Rory thinks he's a wise man. The whole Family.

Dad and Sydney.

Mom and Sydney.

Rory drinking his cocoa...

So there is lots to do in the month of December....and I haven't really started yet!! Decorations... Check. Christmas shopping...still not done. I have no idea what to get for Rory!! Granted we're only getting him maybe one or two gifts, and Sydney maybe one little toy...but still, any ideas? I think books for sure(you can get a great deal on books on craigslist!!), and maybe a race track for his hotwheels. Let me know if anyone sees any good deals. Sydney...I'll just wrap up some of Rory's old toys..she doesn't understand anyways. ;)

We went to the temple on Friday night to see the Christmas lights..we were going to stay for the Christmas program thing they do, but Rory was climbing on everything and running around, so we saw the lights and made a quick exit so as not to ruin anyone else's experience. Kids...

I love this time of year, I have been drinking hot chocolate, and it's really yummy. Just take a mug of milk, put in a nice big handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips(I've been using Ghiradellhi), microwave for 2 minutes, stir, and put a tablespoon of hazelnut syrup(you can get in the coffee section of the store). It's soooooo good. Rory loves cocoa, too. And the weather is gorgeous today!! 59 degrees and overcast. I love it. Merry Christmas everyone!!

Past week...Thanksgiving, etc.

Rory and Sydney in front of the tree... Rory showing off his handywork...he did a great job decorating!

Rory helping Mom put ornaments on the tree.

Mema and Rory(Rory was TIRED...up early, no nap, running all over all day...it was a long day!) Grandpa and Sydney

Sorry, Dad, but this picture cracks me up.

Rory jumping rope.

Micah and Rory in Mema's yard.

Mema and Sydney, she looks like she's struggling to hold on to her...and Sydney seems to sense that. :)Rory cleaning his closet doors...gotta teach him early!

We had a fun Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad, lots of yummy food(and I was so proud of Mom, because she made everything from scratch...no Stove Top stuffing, no potato flakes, wow!!!). Anyways, the weather has been great, too, it rained on thanksgiving and the day before that, and it's been nice and cool out since then.(Well, cool for Southern California...maybe in the 70's or so). We put all of our Christmas stuff up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Rory has been asking for the last 6 months when we could put the tree up, he was so excited!! Christmas is so much fun when you have kids. I love this time of year.