Guys, Christmas is the Best . . .

. . . When you have kids.

First, I need to show you our formal family portrait:

Doesn't it remind you of what you'd see on those Mormon Mommy Blogs?  I think the office chair and post it notes really pushes it over the edge towards 'editorially styled.'

P.S. How many photos do those bloggers take to get their kids all looking?  And looking perfect?  Or do they have perfect kids and I don't?

Anyway, Christmas is so fun with kids because they Love everything.  

Can you just guess what Santa brought?

Who knew a swing would be the most fun ever?  Thank goodness Grandma and Poppa live in the forest so Santa had tons of tall trees to chose from.

And you didn't even get to see the matching holiday dresses Aunty Alisa sent!

 Miss C.C. was killing it for this photo shoot.

Here is another Christmas Family Portrait.

 And yes I kept my footies on for this photo.

I promise C.C. wasn't that mad/ jealous at Annie.  

Or maybe she was - Annie WAS wearing a headband Mimi sent her.  

Brinks put her gift (Sous-Chef Attire) to use right away.  And thanks to the Christmas cookie dough Lucie sent we had things to bake.

And P.S. no one told me it gets cold enough in the South to Snow!

 No one told Lil' Bear either.

At least he got used to it.

 And I swear I'm taking photos and not just texting my friends at the mall.

Guys, did I even tell you about our 2013 guests?

Of course not!  But I will starting . . . NOW

First We had the AMAZING Aunty Stacey.  

She won the kids over a little too fast and her last night here we found three little ones curled up on her twin bed.   

Aunty Stace fit right in with American Country Life:

And she did everyone's hair.

I mean Everyone's.  Well actually I asked for her to do my hair first.

 And she let the girlies torture/ beautify her.

 And she protected Annie from vicious dogs/ animals in general.

But she forgot to tell me to put a belt on which ruined this photo.  

So we asked her to leave.

Then Mimi and Popi came to town and took our fam 

to the finest establishments America has to offer.  

And Popi and Magic Man took the girlies swimmin' at their hotel after a light work out.

 Then we had A Monkey come to town and that was heaven.

She embroidered sequined initials on the girlies' stockings . . .

. . . And did Lil' Bear's hair like this,

And taught him why equality of gender roles at home is so important.  

Love that sister of mine!

Guys, let's talk March

It seems like everyone I know was born in March.  Especially the awesome ones.

And Magic Man is no exception.

So, like I've done in the past, I've decided to dedicate a whole post to the Birthday Boy (only this time it's 1 month after his birthday).  Sorry Magic Man.

He'll deny this but he's a great artist and for Christmas drew and framed me a picture.  But I guess he gets really serious / angry when he creates.  

When he grows his 80's shag hair he constantly looks like a little boy.  An overgrown little boy with giant hands and feet.  He wasn't even posing for this shot - he just wanted to sit behind his dad's chair cause it was comfy.

 He has a demanding calling at church but still wears cool ties and let's his kids go sans shoes.  Even when I tell him, 'OK, today at church you have to make sure shoes stay on.'     

He would do anything for the kiddies.  Especially at Christmas.  And sometimes his hair gets extra curly like Justin Timberlake in the 90s and I think it's amazing.  

He can do wheelies on his motorbike which actually makes me nervous and I want him to stop. 

 This guy (the big one on the right) can sleep Anywhere at Anytime.  On a hard cement floor?  On the rocks outside?  In the middle of a conversation with me?  Check. Check. Check.

Lil' Bear is especially obsessed with him and that boy can really ration his affections.  But Daddy?  Can't get enough of that Old Bear (I didn't even know we were calling him Old Bear).

 When I ask him to please discipline the kids he always obliges.  What a sweet man.

 When he's in trouble he knows what look to give me so I can't get mad.

He let's Lil' Bear go pantless.   

He's super good about making the kids tough and teaching them about nature and life and stuff.  Things I value but know nothing about.

And when I was driving to work and looked over and saw this huge monster on my purse he talked me off the ledge and calmed me down and told me what to do to get it out of the car without hurting either of us.  And I did and then I killed that jerk spider.

So that's why he got a drum set for his birthday:

Guys, now that 2013 is half over, let's catch up . . .

The worst part is, when I signed on and saw the last post was in Dec I thought, 'Well its only 2 months into the year . . . '

I have no concept of time now and I blame these guys:

Let me introduce you to some of these monkeys. . .

We have C.C., the animal lover:

There's Bee, our Daredevil:

Annie, our giggle monster:

'Lil Bear, our intellect:

And last but not least, Magic Man, our comedian magician:

 

 (His shoes say it all: half California Dude, Half Country Man)

We live in America.

I mean the real America.

In the woods behind a farm:

And we are casual folk: