It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, not really considering it was 90 degrees outside when we went to pick out our tree! But you get the sentiment! The season is upon us and we were anxious to get our lights up and tree decorated! Let me just say that my husband is a PRO at putting lights up. He rents a HUGE extension ladder from Home Depot and goes to town! I love watching him do it, he is soo good and it is a total turn on:) Haha! Anyways, while daddy was putting the lights up, the boys and I got all our decorations down and started decorating the house. We got the nativity set out (unfortunately, we experienced a baby Jesus catastrophe last year and he is no longer with us), but we replaced him with Dillan's "Little People" baby Jesus... It fits right in with my beautiful porcelain set:) Once the boys had their bath and their cozy Christmas jammies from Yaya on, we put the Polar Express on and decorated our tree! This is such a fun family tradition for us, especially now that Dillan is old enough to participate. He calls all the ornaments "his." "Oh! There's my candy cane" or "there's my pickle." It is so cute. Connor, has to be "rerouted" several times a day as he heads to dismantle my tree! I love this stage....I am pretty sure he eats dog food on a daily basis:) Anyways, we got a beautiful tree that smells so good and looks beautiful. This is sure to be a very fun Christmas! We have Christmas tree lightings, gingerbread house making, visiting Santa, our annual party, Garrison St, work parties, and more! All the while celebrating our Savior who was born in such a humble way. I just love how God orchestrated how His son came into this world. I came across the following and loved it! Merry Christmas!

Christmas~ the unfolding of God's wonderful story of redemption, which reached it's crescendo with the birth of Christ Jesus. What a humble, quiet way for Him to say "I am the King of Kings" and have brought the power of my kingdom with me.

Dilly and Conman picking out our 

tree in their shorts and t-shirts!

 Watching Polar Express

Christmas Jammies!

 Cutie Patootie

Me and Con

Our tree!

My mini me

Guess I didn't do a very good job at taking any pictures of Dust....he was there! I promise:)

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration this year. As always, it was a PACKED weekend! I considered myself blessed because Dusty and I get to celebrate with both sides of our family. This is so important to us and we are so grateful for the flexibility of our families that allow us to celebrate the day after so we don't have to forfeit a family every year. This year, we hosted the Olson gang (all 23 of us) at our house. It was so much fun and the weather cooperated which allowed us to eat outside. My 25 pound bird provided enough food to feed the entire neighborhood:) Everyone pitched in and brought some yummy food and we had a DELICIOUS feast! The after meal activities were organized by Oly and Uncle Gregg and they did not disappoint. We had a fierce competition of signing children's song (my group had the ants go marching and of course we won:). Gregg then organized his infamous magazine trivia game which was super fun as well. It's never dull with the Olson family:) The next day we headed up to Pasadena to my mom and dad's for another yummy meal. This year we all pitched in and brought something to help my mom out and it all came together very nicely. My mom's table looked so beautiful and you could tell she put a lot of time into it. We had a really nice time of sharing what we are grateful for and the consensus around the table this year was HEALTH. With my mom and dad both having some health stuff this year, we definitely are counting our blessings! God is good and He is present in the good and the bad. Drew and Jordyn and Dust and I even got to sneak out after the kids went to bed for a little adult time at the wine bar! It was so fun to be together! We are so blessed by our family, both the Olson's and the Davis'. This year, I was especially thankful for the health of my kids. I am constantly reminded that I need to remember, even on days that are SO HARD, they could be gone in an instant, so to cherish EVERY SINGLE moment with them, tantrums included:) So even though my kids had bad colds and we were wiping noses all weekend, we had a blast being surrounded by family and enjoying these little ones that bring SO MUCH joy to our lives! Lastly, I am so grateful for the cross and the fact that Jesus chose to save me as a sinner. I don't have to earn His love. He loves me just the way I am (trust me when I tell what a gift this is:) I am so excited to enter this season of celebrating Him and all He means to my life. 

My 25 pounder soaking in brine

Our huge table:)

Place setting

Table

My carving man

The food table

Let's EAT!

Charlie and Dilly getting a push from

their big cousin Ryan

Girl chat....

GG, Lexy, Andy, and Chrissy

Wheels on the bus!

Itsy, bitsy spider

The WINNERS! The ants go marching:)

Beebs and Dilly at Papa and Yaya's

Yaya's pretty table

My place setting:)

My parent's neighbor, Mike, brought

his John Deere out for the kids to ride, and

my mom took it for a spin! You can take

the girl out of the farm, but you can't take 

the farm out of the girl:)

Dilly riding with Yaya

He was definitely a little timid at first, 

but then he got into it once Yaya took

the reigns!

Yaya and her babes. Wyatt

was nappin:)

9 months

This post is definitely a little late. Connor turned 9 months on November 4th. Now that we have hit the holidays, the days are passing by so quickly! I feel like if I blink it will be Connor's 1st birthday! (Don't worry, I have already started looking into ideas:) Connor is getting really busy. He is crawling all around and started pulling himself up this month. He still eats everything in sight, but he must have a really high metabolism, because he is my little runt at just 18 lbs! The Dr really wants me to beef him up this month:) I officially weaned Connor right before he turned 9 months. I was happy to make it to 9, because I only got to 7 months with Dilly. He has waved hi a few times and LOVES to dance! Anytime there is music playing, he starts his head bob and then the whole body gets into it. Especially when he is standing at his music table! Check out the video below. Here are some of his other favorites:

playing with any type of ball, watching Jax trot around and also getting into his food and water bowl, riding the toy horse "Lucky", the bath, drinking water out of sippy cup (for some reason he always laughs and laughs), eating Mum Mums (shout out to Karly for the rec), and snuggling with mommy of course! We sure do love this little man! 

I am such a big boy!

 This picture kills me

Hey mommy!

 Bros

 Come here Connor, I want to give you a kiss....

or a headlock

My dancing machine

Loma girls reunite

I really do consider myself a lucky girl. You know when you leave to go to college and you think "who are going to be friends?" "Will these friendships last?" Well, I met my friends freshman year at Point Loma (11 years ago!!) and we have remained besties ever since. Two of the girls live up north so we have to be pretty proactive and intentional about planning get togethers! We had a little break in all of us pushing babies out (not by much, Steph is due in 3 weeks), so we snuck in a little weekend halfway between the northerners and southerners....Morro Bay! It was the perfect weekend. We slept in, stayed up late talking about everything under the sun (wouldn't you like to know the details:), ate yummy food, shopped, saw a movie, drank wine, got pedicures....everything we don't get to do at home since everyone that went is a mommy! We missed Kate, who couldn't come, but we made the most of it and just basked in one another's presence. We laughed, cried, laughed some more and parted ways once again. I cherish these trips and am counting down the time till the next one....Santa Barbara 2012.....with the WHOLE GANG.....hubbies and babies included! Let's make it happen ladies. Love you all!

Steph, Kim, Grace, Lex, and Jamie

 Playing a little Bananagrams

Walk out to the rock with Lex

Besties

J and I being our typical

silly selves!

The other girls were making

fun of our pajamas all weekend

 Roon eating right out of the carton:)

Connor's 1st Haircut!

Connor got his first haircut! I have tried to "trim" it around the edges for the last few months, but he was definitely starting to sport a ducktail! We are having our pictures taken next week, so I decided it was time to get both boys a haircut! Connor didn't make a peep! He just loved holding on to the wheel, and of course putting his mouth on toys that I am sure have a billion diseases on them....what are ya gonna do?? He is just the cutest little man on the planet!

Hanging in the rocket!

 Who is this lady mom?

 A little snip here

 ....and here

Almost done!

Looking good Conman!

Who is that handsome boy??

Halloween Fun

We started the Halloween season by carving pumpkins at home. Both Dusty and I are not the most artistic people, but we had fun anyway! Dillan LOVED his pirate pumpkin! My pirate and lobster stole my heart this year. I have to admit it was so fun to figure out what Dillan wanted to be and we he decided on a pirate he was SOOO excited! He was so into it this year, it was great! He got to wear his costume on 3 separate occasions: Mommy and Me class, our annual party, and Halloween night. For Connor, I went the hand-me-down route and borrowed a costume from a friend. It was 3-6 months, so we just snapped a couple of pics and that was the end of that:) Our annual party was so much fun. Having a night of kids wreaking havoc and yummy chili is my idea of a good time:) Dillan was stoked to have all his buddies over! For Halloween night we headed over to our friends, the Bettino's, where Les cooked up some major yummy grub. We then headed over to a cute neighborhood in Ladera and trick or treated. Dillan would get some candy and then say "next house mom." It was classic! Surprisingly he didn't want to eat the candy right away and now I have it hidden so it is out of sight out of mind. All in all, we had such a fun fall season!

Ready for Pumpkin Carving

Dillan was wondering where his knife was

 

Cheese

Our pumpkin family

Self timer!

My little lobster

Cutest pirate and lobster you ever did see:)

Arrrrgggghhhhh Matey!

 Beautfiul Peacock

Group Shot

Me and Dilly

 Peej and the boys

Yaya and the boys

My loves

Yummy pumpkin trifle

Movie time after a fun party

Halloween dinner at Bettino's

Spider Cupcakes

Me and Baby McKenna

Time for some trick or treating!

Self Serve!

Trick or Treat!

Daddy and Dilly

Connor Bear

Mommy and Dilly

On to the "Next House"

Monster Mash Seranade

Video of Dilly in action