Little Buddies

Cole's best friend from school, Brooks, just moved this past week. It was really sad and Cole's been talking about him all week and saying he wants to move to Las Vegas with Brooks. They were such cute little friends. I'd gotten to be friends a little bit with his mom, too. We'll sure miss them.





Claire and her friend, Gabby, dressed like twins for Twin Day. They were really cute. Gabby's mom even made them matching necklaces.



And I just had to throw this cute picture of Ava in cuz I think she's so funny! She loves to wear these sunglasses around the house and sometimes even to bed. She's woken up a couple mornings with the sunglasses on, which is why she's wearing them while watching morning cartoons in this picture. What a cutie!

Just Visiting

We've had a lot of visitors in the past month.  First, my family came for Christmas. It was so much fun and I loved having a bigger home to host everyone comfortably in! We did a lot of going out to eat, shopping, and hanging out. My favorite memory is playing Catch Phrase and seeing my parents laugh so hard they looked like they were in pain. It was great! We went to Sedona for a quick day trip, too.



We also took family pictures because we haven't had a good one in years. Of course, I had to "tweak" everyone to get their best face, so everyone in this picture is actually from other pictures except for Claire. Photoshop is amazing!



I just had to put this one of my parents, because it's my favorite:



Then, a couple weekends ago my best friend from high school, Tamera, came with her family.  They were in Phoenix because they might move here!  They were scoping out houses/areas and her husband was "interviewing" with a chiropractor here.  We went to lunch and then looked at some houses together.



Then this past weekend Grant's parents and little bro came to visit. We had lots of fun just hangin' out together and Grant's mom helped me hem some curtains for my kitchen, which was SO helpful! Ava always calls Grant's dad "Grandpa Dave," which is my dad's name. We kept prepping her before they came, pointing to his picture and saying, "Far Far" (that's Swedish for grandpa and is what we call him) but when he got here she would only call him Grandpa Dave. He was such a good sport about it and even started referring to himself as Grandpa Dave! :) The only picture I got from the weekend was one of Ava and Far Far/Grandpa Dave taking a nap together.



Grant's sister, Melissa, is coming to visit in two weeks, so we'll have one more visitor! (My goal is to have the formal living room and the bathrooms painted by the time she comes - then the whole house will be done!) We LOVE having visitors, so anyone who's reading this, if you're ever in Phoenix you have a place to stay!

In a Land Called Honnelly

Cole received the book "Puff the Magic Dragon" at his school Christmas party and I read it to the kids yesterday for the first time.  It's just the lyrics from the song put to pictures, so I actually "sang" the book.  When I got to the part where Jackie Paper grows up...

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.

His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, Puff could not be brave,
So Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave.

...Cole asked me why Jackie Paper left Puff. I told him Jackie Paper grew up and didn't believe in dragons anymore. I then finished the rest of the book. When I started to close it, Cole asked, "Mom, will Jackie Paper ever come back?" I could hear the tears in his voice. I turned my head and looked at my beautiful little boy, who, with a quivering lip, was staring at the ceiling trying not to let the tears fall from his eyes. I couldn't help but tell him that, yes, I'm sure he came back. And I started to get teary-eyed, too. Teary-eyed because I love this little sensitive man sitting next to me who could sense the sadness and loss in this song even at such a tender age. Teary-eyed because I understand being overcome with such emotion and being too little to understand it and I love that we can share these feelings in common. And teary-eyed because he, too, will grow up one day and leave the magical land of Honnelly, the land of wonder, excitement and innocence. The land where everything is possible and you view the world through eyes of belief rather than doubt. The land where he is my sweet little boy who wants to give me five million kisses when I drop him off at school. Somedays I wish he could stay in that land forever.

Dance Like No One is Watching...(yeah, right)

Claire had a dance recital last month. I loved her little outfit.









Even though she's done recitals since she was three, for some reason she made up her mind that she was nervous for this one. So, for the performance she made this goofy face and only did the actions half-way which actually made her look like she was handicapped. It was funny. I wish I'd taken a video. But, of course, I at least got pictures!









I love these last two shots: