the past two weeks

*Christmas cookies with the quad girls.

*A few times before school, I surprised the kids with breakfast in front of the "fire". Breakfast consisted of a fun pastry, like daddy's favorite college treat, Honey Buns. 

*I'm very sad to admit we only did our, "Christmas (light) walking" two times this year. :(

*Heading up north for Christmas!

*Christmas cookies.

*Lego invasion post present opening.

 *Wayne made each family a Wahoo board. Wahoo is basically Aggravation, but has been a family tradition since Chris was a little boy. LOTS of games are played whenever the families are together.

*Merry Christmas!

*On Thursday we got together with my friend, Jen. Her kids had brought their bunny, so it also turned into a guinea pig/bunny playdate.

Today we'll celebrate with my family and then Christmas will officially be over... :(

black belt

*On Friday night we took the kids to Robolights in Palm Springs. The kids and I had been a few years back. It's basically a huge backyard which the owner has transformed into a maze of spray painted junk, decorated with lights. It sounds odd. It is. But really cool (in my opinion). Chris was somewhat skeptical and it turned out our visit did nothing to dissipate his skepticism. ;) He thought it was a little too weird and to quote Kendall, "I thought it was inappropriate. There were random mannequin butts everywhere." Disclaimer: There was nothing inappropriate, just plain weird.

Red Robin afterward...

*This week we hit 200,000 miles on our Toyota!! Here's to 200,000 more! Just kidding. :)

*Yesterday was Cameron's Black Belt ceremony. It was really special. During the ceremony (based off Korean culture), Cameron washed the feet of myself and Chris, as a symbol of respect.

SOOO proud of our guy. The number of hours he has put into this is astounding and we couldn't be more excited for this goal he attained. :)

*Kind of nice when your kid is old enough to ride up to Stater Bros. and get us our Redbox for the night. The walkie-talkie added a nice safety component for me. ;)

*Lately we've been enjoying our Harry readings by the fire...aka Netflix. :)

bisconis

*Made these little nuggets for work (though mine don't look quite as perfect). I've always been a chocolate dessert fan above all else, however a good, buttery shortbread is pretty tasty. :)

Shortbread Bites

*I've always loved Christmas time in elementary schools. Our Special Ed office has really gone all out as well. We have a work elf who likes to hide places. We all take pictures with him and post the pics on one of our walls.

*My mom gave us the best book (Jotham's Journey) to read for Advent. We started a couple weeks ago. It has an entry for each day (it's one long story). She also bought us candles to go along with it. Each entry instructs you on how many to light. They are really enjoying it.

*Yesterday was a Costco day. We made out with just one impulse/totally-didn't-need purchase. We had bought these before and I couldn't resist because the kids loved them so much. They are cranberry orange "bisconis", which are a cross between a biscuit and a biscotti. :)

black belt

Saturday was a big day in our house. Cam performed in the second part of his Black Belt testing for Taekwando (and passed!). He was incredibly nervous and had worked SOO hard to get to this point. We were so proud of him, not just for his performance, but for his perseverance despite a few setbacks throughout the testing process. What a boy...

*Last week, after we saw Wonder with Chris's parents, we picked up some Gourmet Pizza on the way home. Yesterday as Chris was eating some of the leftovers, he announced that it is officially his favorite pizza (Brando to be specific). I must say I agree.

*Every year each of us writes down a list of things we are thankful for (at Thanksgiving). It's always fun to look back and read what we had written in prior years . On this year's list, I included our guinea pigs. Why? Because they truly have become such a fun addition to our family for both our kids. :)

*I made these to take to work . They were sooo good and they were almost all gone by the end of the day.

Pumpkin Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies

*On Sunday afternoon, the kids watched the Emoji movie. I got current with This is Us. SO GOOD.

*As I went to text the quads' mom to send Kendall home tonight, I laughed as I opened our thread. As you can see, she spends a lot of time there... :)

*I was very excited last week when I had to drive to Moreno Valley to observe a preschooler because it meant I had 20 minutes of podcast time. I later texted Chris a pic of what I was listening to, in case he wanted to also listen. 

thanksgiving break

*For Thanksgiving, Chris's parents came to stay with us for a few days. For our actual meal, we headed out to Chris's brother's house, along with my parents and my SIL's parents. While I love hot weather, I must admit I would have preferred it a little cooler on Thanksgiving. :)

*The next morning, we went up to Oak Glen since Chris's parents love it up there. We first had breakfast at Apple Annie's. The kids were over the moon about the huge cinnamon rolls. Sadly they both were pretty overwcooked (to the point that Cam's had to be sent back), but the whole experience was still fun. :)

Next we went to Los Rios Ranch. They were having an Apple Butter Festival. Here is Kendall attempting to throw a tomahawk.

Later that afternoon, we went to see Wonder. It was awesome. It contained great life lessons and it made us sad that more movies aren't made like it... :(

This morning was Christmas decorating!!! I even got the outside done! I was quite excited about the fact that our palm trees didn't draw blood this year. They have the sharpest needles sticking out all over and I HATE wrapping them with lights!!

Tomorrow is our last day before real life begins again. Boo!!

hallmark

*Right now Cameron and Chris are at Taekwando so Kendall and I are finishing up a Hallmark Christmas movie we had started. She loves them as much as I do and I love even more that they are clean enough so that I never have to worry about fast forwarding anything. :)

*This past weekend was the first half of Cameron's black belt testing. We have been so impressed and proud of how hard he has been working.

It was a 2.5 hour test, so Kendall was quite a trooper for staying the whole time. Of course it helped to play with daddy's phone, taking pictures like this:

*I had to work today and will go in tomorrow as well...but then I'm looking forward to several days off with a visit from Chris's parents and spending Thanksgiving with both sides of our family. :) Today the kids were SUPER excited because they got to spend the morning at their friends' house while Chris and I worked.

*I love that Kendall eats a creme filled donut from the top! :)

*This has become my new perfume as of late. I think it smells like toothpaste. Strong toothpaste. I feel so sorry for my office partner having to endure the smell all day. :(

birthday

I've found my blogging motivation dwindling lately as I just don't feel like getting on the computer again when I get home from work. Here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks. :)

Last weekend we went up north to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. My mother-in-law planned a big party. The theme for the family's attire was red, white, and blue. :)

A highlight for the kids was exploring the church since it was empty (with the exception of where the party took place). :)

The kids loved being with their cousins all weekend. Many games of Aggravation were played!

Last week I had a conference in LA. I drove out the day before and spent the night so I didn't have to drive out the morning of. It was nice to have a hotel room to myself with cable TV. :) The only picture I took was at the conference and it consisted of supplies I need to get for a certain assessment. Exciting, huh? :)

Sometimes when Chris and I are feeling like eating terrible, we split an order of carne asada fries. We get two tortillas on the side and make our own burritos with them. :)

halloween

Harry Potter and Taekwando man :)

Trading Halloween candy the next day is serious business.

 

Rolling my back on a wall with a baseball. I'm trying a new, very intense (from what my friends tell me) chiropractor tomorrow and I had an ergonomics specialist visit my office Friday. I'm ready for something to work.

 

The kids helped feed a friend's cat for a couple days. They used the money they earned for a Lego and Shopkins at Target. 

 

The kids put on a production for the parents, complete with costumes.

joshua tree

*Last Sunday my parents treated us to lunch to celebrate Chris' birthday. My mom had made the cutest crossword puzzle for Chris. She even researched his FB baseball posts and made a few of the questions about certain players/facts. 

Here is Kendall helping him complete it. 

*Cameron came home early from school not feeling well on Thursday. Luckily with him, whenever this happens, he typically just requires a good night's sleep and then he's ready to go the next day. :)

*Ever since I began working, I've always struggled somewhat with soreness in my shoulders, due to typing/sitting so much. For some reason, something has changed in the last week to where it is almost unbearable for me to sit and type at work. Rather than pain, my entire left shoulder burns...horribly. Here I am at home attempting to type while standing up, with an ice pack (which I've luckily found relieves it...so I sit with an ice pack now sandwiched between my back and my chair all day). Ugh. :(

*This morning Kendall had a birthday party to attend, which was art themed.

*While we were at the party, Chris and Cam took a trip out to Joshua Tree. Chris has been wanting to visit for a long time. They scoped out a spot that hopefully we can all go to sometime in the future for a picnic/boulder climbing afternoon.