Phew! They stayed on the nice list!

Although there were a few texts and a phone call to Santa, the kids stayed on the nice list and Santa delivered!


I only woke up an hour ahead of the kids. Well, the kid, we had to wake Blake up at 7 because Mylie and I just couldn't wait any longer!

Santa brought Mylie an easel (or a weasel as she calls it) and her requested Tinkerbell doll and new slippers.

Blakey's favorite toy is his new vacuum. I now wish that Santa would have bought him a real vacuum as he has spent no less than 10 hours vacumming the house in the last few days. You can see him going for vacuum right here.

We had such a nice day, in our jammies all day long. Grandma and Grandpa Breach came by later in the day to see the kid's presents. It was a lovely, lovely day.

Merry Christmas!

Bosco

Bosco is growing so fast! He is nearly 4 months old. He and Mylie and Blake are all the best of buds and cause lots of trouble together.



He is completely housebroken and *almost* follows the rules. He must have missed Jeff when he was at work today because I couldn't keep him out of the recliner (he isn't allowed on the furniture). He looked so cute snuggled up I had to take a picture before I booted him out!
He has been a fun addition to our family!

Winter Garden Aglow

One of our favorite Christmas activities is going to the Winter Garden Aglow. In Boise, at the old pennitentiary, there are botanical gardens. Each holiday season they light the whole botanical garden with hundres of thousands of lights. It is so beautiful. I love it for its beauty, but more than that, my great grandpa Rudd was the warden of the prison when my Grandma was a young girl. She and her family lived there at the prison. I love going to visit (yes I am weird, I have a fascination with prisons!)

We went with our friends the Hawks. Alicia takes care of Mylie and Blake while I am working and her boys Drake and Henry are BFFs with Mylie and Blake. We had a fabulous time.

Mylie and Drake are such great friends. Drake started 1st grade this year and Mylie misses him SO MUCH while he is at school. He always saves part of his lunch and when he gets home they go up to his room to play and eat the rest of his lunch. They enjoyed leading us around the gardens.

All 4 munchkins. Henry, not so happy!

Our cute family! (If I must say so!)

Blake and Henry are 5 weeks apart. Henry is a such a sweet special little boy. Alicia and Darrel are in the process of adopting him and it should be final any day now! It was been so amazing to watch the process and watch him become a part of their family. He and Blake are pals and wrestling partners!

Mylie, Drake and Prancer. So cool to get to visit Prancer and pet him.

Such a fun evening and a great way to fill us full of Christmas spirit!

Christmas, Christmas time is here ....

We are full of holiday cheer at our house! I thought I would take some pictures of some of our decorations. These are just around the tree, I'll have to do the others later this week. Our tree - Mylie and Jeff did the decorating and did a great job. Just don't ask Jeff about the stand. It was Christmas ala Craig Ritchie for a few minutes there. (Love you Dad!)
I *love* this nativity. My mom made it and it is a puzzle that fits back in the manger. Mylie is in charge of setting it up, of course she rearranges it every day.

Hands down my favorite ornament. Jeff's mom gave it to me the Christmas after my Grandma died. I tear up every year when I put it up. One, because I still miss her so much, and two, because I am just so touched by this gift. It was the perfect gift for me that year.

One of the three snowmen sitting next to my tree. My mom made these also.

I like this ornament. My Grandma gave it to me one year.

Alicia (and Mylie) made this a few years ago.

I like to buy ornaments when we are on vacation. I got this one when we were in Canada after Bailey graduated from high school. 2003 I think?

Our star, Mylie and I made it last year and I forgot about it. I was tickled to find it in our decoration box this year.

And just for fun, a funky picture of our Christmas lights! (Put your camera out of focus and take a picture of your lights, kind of fun.)

I think I just may take some pictures of more of our decorations this week and post them.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Today, I had just settled down for a long {post church} winter's nap ... and the snow started falling. Our first real Boise snowfall this year. Later we headed out and tried to have a snowball fight - it was a little tough as the snow was pretty dry. Jeff and Mylie certainly tried though. Then we decided to go on a walk around the neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. It was such fun. Blake was all bundled up in his stroller and off we went. It was Bosco's first real walk on the leash {longer than around the cul de sac}. We saw some spectacular lights and had a lot of fun. Jeff whipped up some hot chocolate when we got back and we watched the Christmas devotional on TV.

We had a super weekend, got the house decorated and picked out our tree and decorated it as well. We had a progressive dinner with Melanie and Melissa's family. We had a great time, lots of good food and lots of laughs. I love this time of year!

Thankful ...

Today I am thankful for many things. I teared up quite a few times today, thinking about how grateful I am. Like when I was setting my table with these dishes ...

Or when I looked down at these 3 faces who I love more than anything in the world ...



And for sure when I took a bite of this yummy carmel apple crumble ... :)

There is lots more ... today I'm thankful for

• all of Mylie's help with baking today
• for Blake learning 2 new words today (this is huge as he has a pretty limited vocabulary, today he said roll and Bosco)
• a puppy who saved me lots of sweeping today
• that Jeff is feeling a little better today (sigh, on the 3rd week of a terrible cold/cough)
• for yummy food and relaxing
• for Jeff and Mylie going 4 different places before they found a Thanksgiving newspaper (and ads) for me
• for our families - even though we weren't with them today
• leftovers (Courtney and Bailey - I thought of you when I was eating cold mashed potatoes out of the fridge tonight!)

I am just thankful. Our family has been blessed so much in the last year. We have good jobs, a nice home, the Gospel, our health, and wonderful family and friends.

"For the joy of human love, Brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth and friends above, For all gentle thoughts and mild, Lord of all, to thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise."

Random Monday Night Blogging

Mylie went to a birthday party this weekend where she scored this ultra fashionable crown. She put on a dance show for us tonight.

Blake got a new haircut today, courtesy of Alicia's daycare, doggy daycare, and barbershop. Of course he couldn't look at the camera, smile, and open his eyes at the same time. His haircut makes him look SO grown up to me!

Mylie performing, she has a new necklace and wand also. Every princess has those items, right?

Blake LOVES my phone, but I rarely let him play with it (he broke my last one). I did realize though that if I did he would sit still long enough to let me take his picture. I could just gobble up those cheeks!

We are looking forward to a short work week and lots of time together this week. Jeff is off Thursday and Friday and I am off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Yippee!

These kids!

Yesterday these two kids were so cute. I had the day off and we had a relaxing day at home. We played and rested and they snuggled in the chair and watched Spongebob together.

Today was a different story. Jeff is off on Fridays and I was at work most of the day. Before I went to work I told Mylie she could go in the office and scrapbook and play on the computer. When I got home and noticed that Mylie hadn't put everything away when she was scrapbooking. I went into the office with her to make sure she got everything put away and noticed hair on the floor, hair in the garbage ... who knew that decorative scissors could cut hair? After an extended time-out and losing all her scissors we had a long talk. She had no explanation for why she did it. I explained to her that her hair looked silly and that it wouldn't grow back until she is 6. She looked at me with a very concerned look and said, "I shouldn't have done that!"

Fast forward to later tonight, the kids were in bed and Jeff went in the kitchen to put some cookie dough in the oven (yep, he makes cookies). He gets them on the pan, preheats the oven, and when it beeps he puts the cookies in. Just moments later there is a terrible smell. I ask Jeff if something had spilled in the oven. He goes in and looks ... apparently we were going to have baked football for dessert. Yes, Blake has recently discovered he can open the oven and we are having a problem keeping him (and apparently his toys) out of it. This is what I can't figure out though ... how did Jeff put a cookie sheet in the oven and not notice a FOOTBALL sitting there?

There was a Bosco story tonight too, but my Mom will read this, so I'll spare you the details. :)

"Gonna party like its your birthday!"

What a wonderful weekend! Mylie's birthday was on Tuesday and we celebrated with lunch at Red Robin, a trip to the zoo and cupcakes. Jeff and I both took the day off and it was great. We had her birthday party on Saturday and had a lot of fun. My mom and dad drove over on Friday night and brought Darcy, Max and Eliza with them. Darcy and Max stayed at our house ... party time!

Saturday was the party and it fun (and busy)! I put together a slide show of pictures of Mylie from birth to her 5th birthday. It was such fun to do and we had it playing during the party. It was fun because her friends and family who were at the party were in the slide show as well so it was fun to see how everyone has changed. Since I had watched it multiple times through the party, I made it through without crying.

Mylie wanted to have a bowling party, but we decided to have a bowling party at home. The kids bowled outside, and although it was cold, they had a lot of fun. Mylie took 3rd place! {Max, Helen, Mylie & Drake}


Mylie got lots of fun presents, including a dollhouse. It was mine when I was little and my mom repainted it and brought it over for her. She was very excited. It made me a big sentimental.

And of course, there was cake! Although I consider myself a good cake, we go for the Costco cake for birthdays. Yum! Mylie picked the princess decorations and I picked the cheesecake filling. All were happy.

It was a fun day. I'm grateful for Mylie and the special girl she is. I'm also grateful for wonderful family and friends who love and support us. My children will never doubt that they are loved by many people.

We had a fun rest of the weekend. Papa took us all to Fudruckers (his favorite) and then all the kids (except Blakey) went swimming with Papa on Saturday night. Mylie had fun having Max go to primary with her on Sunday. We had a yummy lunch (I did cook this time) after church and then Gramma, Big A Papa and the kids left for Idaho Falls.

I'm not quite ready for the week to start. One week until Thanksgiving break (yay!). I'm tired and tired of being sick. The kids and I have been on antibiotics (we had strep last week) for 10 days and I think all of us feel worse than we did 10 days ago. Jeff has a terrible cold/cough, that is lingering. Mylie and I are working on cleaning her room (not my favorite task). I need pointers to help her keep her room clean. She is a hoarder and everytime we clean her room I empty out bags of paper. But we got a lot done tonight and hopefully can finish it up tomorrow. I already pulled the Santa card ... gotta have a clean room. Believe me, there is no shame in milking the Santa card for everything it is worth.

So here's to a good week, to less sniffles and sneezes, to me being patient and motivated! Hey, a girl can dream, right?

It's strange ...

It's strange to think that 5 years ago, I was just a day away from being a Mom. It's strange to think that I didn't yet know how much love my heart was capable of holding and giving. It's strange to think that I didn't think I could love Jeff more than I did.

And just like that, Mylie was born and my entire life changed. Every little part of it. I didn't think I could love Jeff any more than I already did, and then I saw him hold a minute old Mylie and I fell even deeper. I loved Mylie before she was born, but when I held her, my whole life changed. I knew I would love her and protect her and teach her and sacrifice for her ... and I would be happy to do so.

Mylie and I were talking about her birthday the other day and I was explaining to her that before she was born, I wasn't a Mom. She couldn't even comprehend it, it was so funny. She made me a Mom. I'm so excited for her 5th birthday, but a bit emotional about it too. I've been working on something special for her birthday party and I have had a lot of laughs and tears while doing it.

I don't really even have the words for what I am trying to say, but goodness, I love this girl. I love the baby she was and the girl that she is. I love her kind heart and her quick wit, her willingness to help others and her ability to make others laugh. I love how much she loves her Daddy and her brother and her puppy ... and me. I love it when she tells me I'm the best Mom ever, or the Mom-diggity. I love it when she tells me I'm a good cook or when she can't wait to show me something. I love the pictures I have hanging in my office that she drew for me. Mostly I just love her madly. I'm thankful Heavenly Father had enough trust in me to send her to our family. She brings so much joy into our home and our heart.

So Mylie (or Bear, as Daddy calls her), we love you!

Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween celebrations started last weekend in Idaho Falls. Holli suggested a pumpkin patch in town and we went with Darcy, Max and Eliza. We were going to a trunk or treat afterwards, so the all wore their costumes to the pumpkin patch! So cute. There was a train. Blake liked sitting on it ... as long as it wasn't moving.

So the big kids went on a train ride.

And Blake started looking for a pumpkin.

He's a pretty cute Tigger, if I must say.

As soon as Mylie got off the train, she was ready to find a pumpkin for herself!

My best attempt at getting all 5 of them looking at the camera.

Ritchie grandkids are pretty darn cute!

And here is the newest grandbaby, Lila, in her costume.

Of course while we were in Idaho Falls we had to decorate and eat Grandma's famous sugar cookies. Love the look on Blake's face is this one.

Grandma helping out Mylie and Max.

Yesterday was a busy pre-Halloween day with trick or treating to Daddy's office, the courthouse, and to Grandma and Grandpa Breach. And then tonight they were off again. Princess Mylie posing with Bosco, our new puppy.

The kids had such a fun Halloween week.

Happy Halloween!

This boy ...

really truly cracks me up. He's walking around the house this morning having a deep conversation on his Elmo phone. Mylie and I are giggling at him and it is reminding me to write down the funny things he does.

• He jabbers non-stop but only have a handful of words (that we understand). This doesn't stop his communication in the least. For instance, yesterday we had to stop in Coscto quickly to pick up a few things. We are across the store, but Blake spots the samples, points and starts grunting. It was so funny! Better yet, they were cream puffs!
• This morning I found Blake in the kitchen on the floor. He had pulled one of the place mats off the table and was laying on it doing push ups. Not exaggerating at all. It was so stinkin' funny. He is a totally mini-me of Jeff.
• He loves to dance (total white boy style). He has serious moves to the Dora Explorer theme song.
• He loves to take out the garbage. Whenever there are boxes or containers (bigger things) he takes them and puts them by the garage door for Daddy to take them out. He is a good helper.

We sure love this little man, also known as Blakey, Blakester, Colonel, Bubba, Buddy and Turd.