tree huntin'

 last weekend we welcome the newest member to our family for the holiday season....our Christmas tree!
C has been counting down to this day for months. He woke up & shouted, "today is Christmas tree day!" & he managed to tell everyone that all morning!

 The Ray's 2010 

 K got to ride a horse! She  loved it. 

L.E.D. lights this year.....still not sure about them. its that blue hue. its too space-age-y for me. 

i don't know if saving a couple bucks is worth having that untraditional blue hue glowing.

C demanded that we decorate the whole house straight away. the tree up = decorate! 

'Tis the season!

snow day.

a couple weeks ago we had a teensy bit of snow fall! it was super exciting! 

C was beyond excited and couldn't wait to get out and play, regardless of how little snow we got! but hey, we'll take whatever we get, right?! :) 

the sister getting her gear on all by herself. 

put 'em to work! 

hahaha....she looks like a pink marshmallow.

how 'bout lets make a snow angel?! 

{deck the halls}

the holiday decor is going up around here.....

new nativity scene for the kids to learn about the birth of Jesus. Its fantastic! Its from Playmobil & the kids love it. In fact, C makes the angel "fly" by tossing is across the room! 

this year i am kind diggin' a cozy, cabin-y, ski lodge-y like theme for my decor. i am going to attempt to make my own sweater pillows {like these} from some old ones of mine. {see, keeping stuff around is good & handy! you never know when a crafty project might come up!} 

have you begun to deck your halls yet?
any particular theme or color style you dress your house up in for the holidays?

{its December?}

how did that happen?

seriously.

it seemed like summer whizzed by, followed quickly by fall. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzooooooooooooooooom.

gone. 

the summer was packed with lots of photography, which was great! we got to meet a lot of new people and capture some great moments. you can catch up & read about it here.

the fall was lovely. the colors. so vibrant. ok, so the fall here is so short lived, but its wonderful. 

i am so glad i shot these photos of the kids when i did. b/c the next week. all those gorgeous leaves, gone. all gone. 

i turned a significant # in years this fall. my birthday celebration was fab. so far, the new # is great. no complaints here. ;)

now its time for the holidays. our Thanksgiving was good. we were low key this year. lounged in sweats. my mom, sis & i cooked up a storm. a few extra guests joined us this year. unwanted guests. teeny-tiny buggers. head lice. yep. C got 'em. so we were forced to stay in & pick out bugs, wash load after load after load. ugh. a week later, & the buggers are still around. go away! 

C is really into Christmas this year. He had a count down to Thanksgiving & even begged for some holiday decor up before then.....but the day after turkey day, meant no holding back! Christmas lights must go up! Christmas decor, must go up! Next up, our tree....which we aren't getting until this weekend! 

So sorry for allowing massive amount of time pass before I updated this thing! Promise to be better at it!

besos.

k 

got zucchini?

{*** i am holding a beer bottle for a reference}

this came from our garden. no joke. i laugh every time i look at this monster zucchini. its huge!

apparently you're supposed to pick them sooner to get more flavor! who knew?!

obviously we didn't. 

we're newbies at growing 'em. 

battle brownie.

last week, the hubs & i had a brownie throw down. he challenged me to this battle because it was his turn to bring snacks for his weekly meeting! hahaha! so we had a little competition. we both baked a pan of brownies and his co-workers judged them. they had to judge them on chocolate-yness, taste, & texture.

RJ even made them score cards! ha!  

Brownies:

Mine: Double Chocolate Espresso with a white chocolate & raspberry compote drizzle on top.

His: Vegan brownies {secret ingredient = purred black beans!} 

AND THE WINNER IS...........

MINE!!!!!

I won 8-5.
Most liked the raspberry flavor combined with the chocolate of mine.
Most thought the texture of RJ's was better, more fudge-y.
Some thought the coffee in mine was a tad much.

yippeee! i gots some braggin' rights around here now!

{for the record, RJ's brownies were actually really good, you couldn't taste the black beans at all. & they were more healthy than mine!} 

park

we had a little impromptu photo shoot at the park this morning. check out more photos on my photogblog
sooooo adorable! :)

its August?

how did that happen? 

it seriously fills like summer has never really arrived. 

the weather is weird & feels un-summer-like.

some of the trees in our neighborhood are beginning to change & fall. what?!

i swear it's August, right?

not the end of September. 

at least we've enjoyed some summer-y activities so far.

playing in the pool, going to the park, & eating ice cream during our picnics.

this is my fav photo!

sleeping in tents....

last month we went camping with a huge group of folks we used to camp with every summer. the last time we all went camping as a group was 15 years ago! so this summer we decided to do a camping reunion! it was super fun to camp with them all again & now that i have a family of my own, it was even more fun! needless to say, the kids LOVED it! for weeks C would ask daily if it was camping day yet!

when we arrived, it was 104°F! 

my camera loved that warm golden glow

there were huge rocks to climb! heaven for C!

the first morning, when we were heading down to the boats, C yelled out, "HAPPY WATER DAY!"

rolling on the PARTY BARGE!

going for fast boat rides!

sissy would yell, "go faster Papi, go FASTER!"

slide!

we did lots of swimming!

makeshift bath tubs for the happy campers! 

we woke up to this view daily. 

since we were camping during the World Cup final {no tv! gasp!} we had to drive in to town to find a place to watch it! thankfully we found a pizza joint that agreed to let us watch it! {whew!}

¡viva España!

took boat rides around the three rivers & looked at waterfalls & humma-moose 

{we saw a white goat on the side of the rocks & C claimed it was a humma-moose!}

sissy found a lizard.

we ate good food nightly

the kids built a "camp fire" to "roast" their marshmallows.

C swam, swam, & swam some more. i think he was waterlogged by the time we left.

the crew. 15 years later :) 

Afternoon tea

YES!!!!!

I. Can't. Wait.