December Misc.

I feel like every day this month there was something going on. If it wasn't a special event related to the holiday season it was a regular activity like work, scouts, swimming, dentist appointments, etc. It is a crazy busy month but I feel like it's all such good stuff so I can't really complain. 

The boys sent this picture to Aunt Natalee to help her celebrate her birthday earlier this month. 

The boys were asked to draw some pictures of the nativity to that were going to be displayed in the County Nativity Display Celebration but we ended up going to Ojai over the weekend they were due so they never were submitted. We sure enjoyed them at the house though. Above is Lincoln's and below is Logan's. 

My tennis team had a Christmas get together to celebrate together and help comfort and lift the spirits on one of our sweetest friends who recently lost her husband due to cancer. It was a wonderful time together, laughing and eating and then walking around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. 

Bam and Me.

They are a wild and crazy bunch!

Fab Five ladies. 

Logan got his staples out one week after they went in. Two of them came out easily but unfortunately he had one stubborn staple stuck to his hair that caused him some pain. He's such a tough kid but right at the end when the staple wouldn't come out, his precious little eyes began to fill up with tears. It's a hard thing for a parent to watch. All we could do was hold his hand, encourage him, and talk him through it. After a little break, and a rinse with some soapy water, it finally came out. He's all healed. 

This is a picture that Logan drew in primary class of the nativity scene. He was so proud of it that he asked me to take a picture the second I showed up to pick him up. 

For family home evening one night while we were out delivering candy we stopped in for dinner at Babbo's. 

Logan chipped his tooth. Not surprised with how rough and physical this kiddo is. Best we can figure is that it happened when he was playing tackle football with his brother in the backyard.

After a visit to Dr. Jane it was determined that it could, and needed to be fixed, so she patched it up. There will likely need to be more work done on it when he's older but for now at least his nerves are protected and it's no longer sharp.

After the dentist Logan and I got a little afternoon date together. He picked lunch at Rubio's and then we did a little shopping. He was super sweet and a good little helper all day.

Logan's picture from his Elf class party at school.

Some friends of our dropped off Pie Face and some whipped cream as a Christmas present for us. My kids have briefly talked about it but I had no idea they were so interested in it or eager to play it until it was on our counter. Lincoln was thrilled to get pie faced. 

Daddy on the other hand was not so thrilled to be playing but he did it anyway to be a good sport. 

Logan ended up winning the game. He made it around four rounds without ever getting pie faced. Then he began to feel left out so we just let him spin it until it got him. 

Mommy also was a good sport and played along. Thankfully this was pre-shower and makeup. 

Lincoln wanted to ensure that his whipped cream stuck to him so he helped it along. Silly kiddo!

 This picture may have been included earlier but I wanted to make sure so I'm including it here. This was a picture Logan drew about the time we flew to Florida for our cruise. It was so cute I had to capture it. I was cleaning out the church activity bad and found it.

We spent several hours on Christmas Eve playing Monopoly. Lincoln was the big winner!

Since the weather as been pretty cool, on the non-rainy days the boys have been spending some time outside each day throwing the football and practicing soccer.

 I took the boys to Peter Piper Pizza one day for a fun activity. We ate pizza, and in keeping with their luck, they both won pretty big jackpots on the games. Logan got 792 tickets.

Lincoln hit the 500 jackpot on this game.

On the last Friday of the year we picked up some Subway for lunch and had a picnic at the park. Lincoln and Daddy threw the football for a while and Logan and I threw the big frisbee. It was a great way for me to spend my lunch hour with them and the weather was beautiful!

 The boys and I got to have a mother/sons outing so we went to lunch at Rubio's and then on to see Hidden Figures at the movies. This was/is by far my favorite movie of the year and likely one of my favorite movies of all time. It was a little over Logan's head but they both watched closely the entire time, followed along and asked great questions.

 Lincoln's Scout night and Logan got to also play one of the games.

 Cafe Rio is still one of our favorite places. I was so proud of myself because we got $35 worth of food for free with coupons and rewards points. It made it taste that much sweeter!

 I got to play some tennis during winter break and this was the view from the court - cold but beautiful!

Logan writes or draws the most adorable messages on his Boogie Board during church. It is the sweetest ever and melts my heart!

Logan and I cuddled on the patio chairs watching the clouds and airplanes, just being silly.

Christmas Concert with TSO

Since we all received tickets in our stockings to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas concert and the local Gila River arena for the day after Christmas, we got to carry on the holiday festivities. It was the first concert for both boys. We have been listening to their music all month and the boys really like it so I assumed they would like the concert too. We all really enjoyed it but it was longer than I expected. The boys were great for the first 90 minutes or more but it ended up going for two hours and fifteen minutes with no intermission. The boys were pretty tired and restless by then so it was tough to keep their attention. Thankfully at about the two hour mark a train appeared on the screen during the song and that perked Logan right up and he was good for a bit. Overall it was fun and I'm glad we got to go. I think any exposure to the arts is good for the boys and I'm glad we had the chance to provide that.

 My three loves.

 Poor guy is afraid of heights so he grabbed the rail pretty tightly!

Merry Christmas!

As a mother, Christmas morning might be one of my most favorite days of the year. This year the boys had a really hard time going to sleep on Christmas Eve because the excitement of what was to come was so overwhelming. They were incredibly anxious, as any little boy would be, and Logan was so eager and excited that he actually gave me a massive hug and about 25 kisses. That NEVER happens. I'm lucky if I can get one kiss out of him. It's little wins like that that stay with me forever and give me some sort of hope that I'm giving this kids a good childhood.

Christmas morning we got our wake up courtesy of Logan who was in our room bright at early at about 7:00 am. He promised me he ran to our room and didn't see all of the presents that were already in the living room. It was too cute. We made a plan to go back to his room to put on some pjs, go potty and wake up brother. Within a few minutes that was all complete and the party started in the living room. The boys were both very kind and well mannered. They wanted to actually go about this in a somewhat organized fashion. They took turns opening presents and liked seeing what the other received.

By about 9:45 we were done with presents and the boys had already begun to play with their toys. The house was a disaster all day but it was fun to see them layout all of their stuff and try to play with all of it that day. We built several Lego sets, a huge train track, played new games, ate a nice ham dinner and ended the evening with Rogue One at the theater.

I love the spirit of Christmas and the love and charity that's in the air this time of year. I'm thankful for baby Jesus, whose birth we celebrate, who came lived, taught and died as our Savior. I'm blessed with my little family who I love dearly. I love spending time with them. I was off work for a week and we had no real plans other than to just be together and in many ways it was just perfect. I hope that we can always remember the reason for the season and the blessings we have and the love and hope that we share.

Merry Christmas to all!

This is a picture of our Christmas card this year. 

 Late Christmas Eve the boys set out some cookies and milk for Santa. 

 This year we left some presents under the tree in addition to their piles on the couch. 

 Santa must of come because the cookies and milk were gone!

 Stocking stuffers for Lincoln included Minecraft guys, a ticket to Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), an iTunes gift card, modeling clay, Yugioh cards and some chocolate.

 Logan's stocking stuffers included a ticket to TSO, airplanes, an iTunes gift card, a wallet, modeling clay, some Minecraft guys, some train books, chocolate, and a Hallmark train ornament. 

 Both boys got these crazy glow in the dark sweatshirts that they've been wanting. 

 Santa brought Logan a new iPad mini (and case) that has more storage and is faster. 

 Lincoln got a new football, a Cardinals hat and some new football receiving gloves. 

 Since Logan is always trying to play my Ticket to Ride, we figured this kids version will be perfect for him. 

 Logan put a skeleton on his wish list for Santa. I'm not sure why but he's pretty fascinated by bones. Maybe he will follow in Tutu's footsteps and be a chiropractor!

 Most of Lincoln's haul for the day. 

 We carried on the Phillips' tradition of giving presents from random people. This year we brought Lincoln in on the fun too. I got presents from Calais Campbell, Ben Spies and Mr. Byers. Ricky got presents from J. Lo, Dwight, Yoda, Beth the Dog and a brother in our ward. Lincoln got presents from Kylo Ren, Carson Palmer, Yoda and Larry Fitzgerald. 

 Ricky's scored some North Face jackets, some T-shirts and tickets to see Jesus Christ Super Star. 

 Logan lined up all of his toys on his own. The soccer goal has since been put up in the backyard and we immediately got to building those train tracks. 

 The first big track from the new set. 

Unfortunately, Christmas Day was the last day Elfie was with us. The boys said their goodbyes and were sad for a bit but told him we'll see him next year. I hope he doesn't mind the warmth of Hawaii!