I am not in love with this new template, but it’s free and I wanted a change.

Sometimes FREE = cheesy!

Seems I should’ve had this one over the holidays with my peppermint fetish!

I guess it’ll do for now…

I was straightening out our shoe basket and thought this photo represented flipflopfollies.com:

We love our flops!

I just added a new pair of Havaianas to my repertoire ~ black! They were $5.49 at Ross! (Retail for $22)

You gotta get a pair of these for Summer (or now!) if you don’t already have one!

havaianas.com

So, this morning I was up working on my $6 photo gallery (pics to come) and I hear Holden say, “I have to go pee pee!” Jay takes him to the little potty and all of a sudden I hear, “Good job, Holden! You pee pee’d in the potty!”
Uh, we haven’t really been focusing on it much, but I’LL TAKE IT!

I swore I would never take a picture of my kids standing in front of the potty posing with their “#1” or “#2”, but remember that post “Never Say Never”?

Here goes:

I spared you the angle that showed more yellow…trying to be a little discreet here. But if you look real hard, you can see proof of his accomplishment!

He may be closer to wearing his “football panties” than we think.

(Figures…we JUST bought a box of 200 diapers at Costco!)

I stole this idea from another Mommy Blogger.

I thought it’d be fun to review just some of the highlights of OH NINE!

I would be completely satisfied if the following snapshots were the ONLY big moments throughout the past 12 months, but our year was full of so much more happiness, new experiences and moments shared with friends and family. This abbreviated post is going to be a mile long as it is and I will apologize now!

I hope you enjoy taking a look into our lives as much as I have enjoyed reliving these precious moments.

The month of January included the Rose Parade Float Viewing

First day of preschool

Visit to the Bay Area to celebrate Jay’s Aunt & Uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary. Here the kids are with cousins Izzy & Samantha

February was also full with a visit from Grunc

and Auntie Jill

and Auntie Bucky

and Holden’s Buggy 2nd Birthday Party in San Diego!

March started with a quick trip to San Diego to celebrate Sophie Sharp’s 1st Birthday

and of course St. Patrick’s Day!

April brought Easter

and May was host to Elliott’s 4th Birthday Ice Cream Social

In June we celebrated my Cousin Dorothy’s 100th Birthday in San Diego

and celebrated Elliott’s first semester in preschool with an end-of-the-year performance

We spent the 4th of July in beautiful Wawona, Yosemite with Grunc & Jill

and Elliott started swimming lessons again

In August we celebrated Gramma K’s birthday early at The Corvette Diner in San Diego

and spent LOTS of time in the water since this was a HOT month!

Took a trip to Newport to visit our good friends Jen & Dave

September took us back to the Bay Area for two special birthdays ~ Finley’s First Birthday

a visit with cousins Izzy & Samantha

and Charlotte’s 4th Birthday

Then it was back to school!

and Popsi came to visit too!

In October, Jay and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary with a nice dinner out

Lolo & Lola also visited and we took a trip to the zoo

and celebrated Halloween as a fairy…

and a candy corn!

November was fabulous with our annual Disneyland trip

and another trip to SD for Turkey Day

December was extra special with a trip to Vegas to celebrate Jay’s 40th

and of course there was Santa’s visit!

and a trip to The Picture People after a 3 year hiatus!

and last but not least a super fun New Year’s Eve with my sweet family and our wonderful friends!

It couldn’t have been a more perfect year! I am sooo blessed!

So, I found a super cute Tinkerbell backpack at Target for Elliott.

She opened it yesterday. She LOVED it.

I, on the other hand, am now not so happy with my purchase!
As I was removing the tags, I noticed one of them had a Prop 65 warning on it!

Read more about Prop 65 here.

The materials used to make the backpack can cause cancer and reproductive harm?? I have seen this sign posted in department stores in the housewares section, but ON A CHILD’S BACKPACK?

The thing that irritates me the most is that it is a licensed Disney product. I can understand if it’s a backpack from the dollar store, but $14.99 at Target?

I guess as parents we have one more thing on our plates to worry about while rearing our children. From now on I am certainly going to be more careful…first lead paint and now backpacks that can cause cancer?

Wish I’d have taken a picture of it along with the warning tag, but I immediately banished that thing to the garage and returned it the first chance I got. I couldn’t even donate it to Goodwill in good conscience! 🙁

So parents, please check labels and tags when shopping for your kiddos! I would’ve NEVER purchased this had I seen that teeny, tiny tag in the store!

First off, let me say that I LOVE Elliott’s preschool, but I was bummed to learn that they do not celebrate the holidays or have a holiday program. They do all sorts of other wonderful things, so I will forgive them! LOL

One morning there was a little gift for us in her cubbie ~ all wrapped up in beautiful purple tissue paper and adorned with a darling glittery card. We waited until Daddy got home and then opened it together.

She had been telling me that she was working on a present for us, but that it was a secret. She never told me what it was even though I could tell that she was so excited to share what she had created.

It is precious. Each little pom pom & button placed in all the right spots! She even explained how she made the card…”We put a paper in a box and rolled a “marvel” around with some sparkle paint!” That made it even more precious!

It will make an appearance for many, many more Christmases to come.

I. LOVE. IT.

Thank you, Elliott, for being my sweet, sassy, spunky, silly, smart daughter! And thank you for the most special, handmade gift this holiday.

I love you, my little Sugar Muffin! XOXO