Fun with Nana and Papa Steve

Sara's parents rolled into town Friday evening the 27th and boy did we stay busy until they left on January 1st!  Ashley even learned how to say Nana after a little bit....she could be heard on the monitor calling for Nana which was just precious to hear!

Nana Jeanne brought along some cookie dough to make a gingerbread man.  We think Trevor pulled out every decoration possibility in the pantry to complete his gingerbread man.  It looked too good to eat by the time he was done!

Ashley showed off her walking skills to an impressed Nana and Papa Steve!  The girl is practically running while holding on to something but not yet daring enough to walk by herself!

Just like the olden days when we used to celebrate the Roslansky Christmas back in MN we started our 'Christmas Eve' with some bowling!  This tradition will never get old!  Trevor had a great time throwing his ball down the lane. 

Ashley was actually awake to see the fun this time around!

Nana stated that she liked having the gutter bumpers up...as you can see it really helped her score but Brian still won (like usual)!

On 'Christmas Day' Trevor found some more presents under the tree from Santa!

He brought Trevor a tennis racket so that he can start taking lessons with his friends Jack and Owen.

Nana and Papa opened their 'BirthChrisMoFaVersary' gift from us....a trip to Disneyland with us!  Of course we have to go one last time before our annual pass is up and we want to have the memories of such a fun place with both sets of grandparents!

Ashley was a bit more into opening gifts this time around!  What's in there?

Oooohhhh cookies!!  Nummy!

She is going to be just like her big brother...a baker!  She knew just what to do by putting the cookies on the pan!

One of Trevor and Ashley's favorite gifts from Nana and Papa Steve was a wagon!  The kids sat in it with no where to go and didn't want to get out of it!  Just wait til we actually take them on a ride!

Two days after our Christmas celebration we took down all of the decorations.  Went pretty quick with four people doing it which we were most appreciative of!  But probably the best gift ever was Nana Jeanne cleaning out and organizing our pantry so that we can actually find things and not be so terrified every time we needed something!  Thank you!  Thank you!!!!

On New Year's Eve we fondued with Sara's parents and had a blast!  As you can tell Brian and Sara love to fondue and we learned that Trevor does too!  His favorite piece to fondue?  Lobster!!  Our boy likes surf and turf.  He is most definitely our son!

On New Year's Day Nana Jeanne and Papa Steve headed down to their rental house.  And although we were sad to see them go - we always have so much fun together - it wasn't really good-bye, it was more like see you soon because they'll be here through March!!  Yay!!!!!!!

That evening Ashley enjoyed some dairy-free pizza.  As Mommy would atest, it isn't all that it's cracked up to be! Soon we'll do another dairy trial and see how she does.  Cross your fingers that she passes and we can indulge in some cheese, baked goods like doughnuts, milk, real pizza, fettuccine alfredo, garlic bread with real butter, homemade macaroni and cheese, steak burrito with cheese, real chocolate...ah, the list goes on and on.  And yes, Sara has a list for the day when she can eat dairy!  No joke!

Night out with the Yang's!

We'd been talking for some time about going out with our friends Bobby and Julie and finally we made it work!! Since Nana Jeanne and Papa Steve were staying with us we had built in babysitters!  Trevor was excited to spend special time with his grandparents...even broke out his new robe for the occasion!

And a quick family hug before the car service picked us up!  Bobby and Julie are big fans of Uber and we can see why!  It was so convenient and nobody had to worry about drinking and driving!

 Bobby and Julie planned the night and boy are they good planners!  Everything was fabulous!!! We'll have to expand our horizons outside of Desert Ridge/City North so we can plan a fun night and show them something new (if that's possible!).  But they haven't gone to bull riding yet so maybe we'll start there! ;) 

We started with dinner at the W hotel in Old Town Scottsdale.  We should say sushi dinner.  Sara wasn't worried about going to a sushi place because they always have the best teriyaki chicken.  Guess what though?  She didn't even order that!  Julie did a great job ordering sushi that we'd all like...yes, even Sara!  The five saki bombs prior to that may have helped the decision to try sushi for the first time!  And really like it!!!

After dinner we bar hopped around Old Town.  It was a Monday night before New Year's Eve so it was pretty dead out, but we had a lot of fun!  And what do you know...the one area of Minnesota that Julie is familiar with is Minnetonka so when we came across a Minnetonka moccasins sign you betcha that we were going to take a picture in front of it!

 The first bar we went to had moonshine and since it was a night of firsts...saki bombs and sushi so far...we added a moonshine shot to the list!

We checked out a country bar but apparently didn't take any pictures and then headed to a spot that was full of Christmas decorations.  Too bad we don't remember any of the names of the spots we went.  Strike that, we'd remember the names if we actually knew the names but we never learned where we were going.  We were good followers :)

 Here the boys  played Golden Tee

And the girls took selfies and played darts!

Before we knew it, it was almost 1am!!!!  So we headed out and prayed that all of our kiddos would sleep through the night and sleep in ;-)  Thanks Bobby and Julie for such a fun night!  We'll do it again soon...sooner than one year from now for sure!!  We're already looking forward to it!

Sara's new car!

Sara finally agreed that it was time to get a new car after receiving word that her current car needed a new oil pan...just doesn't make sense putting money into her 2000 Ford Explorer with 129,000 miles when we know that she is getting a new car.  Heck, she's put it off for over two years because she just loves her car but with this news, it's time.  So off we went to look at cars while Grandma Pauline and Papa John watched the kids.

Sara thought she would just get her third Ford Explorer because she's been pining after them since they were redesigned.  Plus her Uncle worked at Ford so she gets the A plan discount which is a bonus!  However, Brian thought the new Dodge Durango's were nice (have you seen the new commercial's with Anchorman?) and Sara's brother Jim was getting his second Arcadia so they were all in the running.  Technically Brian wanted Sara to get any car she wanted (probably because he knows she'll drive it until it dies) but she had a budget in mind and wanted a third row so when friends and family came to town we could all drive together.  That really excluded her dream vehicle but that's for later on in life ;)

So we ruled out the Arcadia and Sequoia (late addition) in that trip.  We went out again when Sara's parents arrived and we were on a mission to get it done.  The rainbow (sun dog, not sure) was a good sign that we would be successful!

 When Sara woke up she was leaning heavily toward the Explorer because that's what she's always driven, they've been good cars and she likes the look....and it was a little bit cheaper :)  But it wasn't rated as high on reliability which kept sticking in the back of her mind.

 

So we test drove the Explorer again first and thought we would order one of those.  But then we went to Dodge quick and drove that and it just felt right.  Plus it's rated #3 for SUVs/Crossovers which is a good peace-of-mind.  We had to go though because Ashley would be getting up from nap and want to feed and Sara's parents needed to bring their stuff to the house they are renting for the winter so we headed home.  We got the kids, stopped at McDonald's and brought lunch to the dealership.  Brian talked to the manager and worked out a deal for us to order the Durango!   It helps having a CostCo membership for pricing plus we learned that our friend Julie's cousin works at a Chrysler dealership in Texas so he could get us Friends and Family pricing.  So thankful! 

Why order?  Well apparently having captain's chairs with a pass through in the second row is near impossible to find.  Trust us, Brian searched the entire nation looking for one.  Well, he found one in Colorado but it had more options than we needed but Brian negotiated it to be only $500 more than ordering new.  However, there was the logistics of going to get it or pay for transporting it.  And it was granite/steel with an all black interior.  Which could work but we liked the tan with black interior.  Tough decision but in the end we're excited about ordering a new Durango and being the first people to put it's first mile on!!! 

Sara has never had a new car so it is especially exciting for her.  She thought she was going to go with a granite/steel color because she liked the look with the chrome but with all the dust in AZ it would always look dirty so she chose white (plus white looks better with our interior color choice).  It will look sharp with tinted windows!!

After we signed the paperwork it was so cute....out of nowhere Trevor gives Mommy a hug and says "I'm so excited that you are getting a new car Mommy!"  He's so aware of what is going on around him it's crazy!

So it should be here in 6-8 weeks (gives us time to sell Sara's Explorer too).  We've already received word that it has been scheduled for production and will hear next when it has been framed!  We thought of sending cookies to the plant in Detroit so that they build it extra good but then we realized that robots don't really eat cookies.  Kidding!  Thanks though babes (Brian) for all of your researching and negotiating to get our new car!!  So excited for it to get here.  Is it here yet? :)

Fun with Daddy

Daddy's vacation started out with a surprise lunch out on his last day of work before an almost two week vacation!  We went to an awesome sandwich place right by his work.  Even Ashley thought the sandwich was delicious!  Such big bites!

That evening we were invited to two parties so we did our best to attend each one.  The first one kids were invited to so we all headed over to Katie and Luke's house.  Their two daughters are similar in age to our kids so we always have fun when we get together.  Fun fact - Luke's parents and Brian's parents are good friends.  And both of their names are John and Pauline!  Ashley looked all cute in one of her cousin's old dresses!  Leopard print is in at any age!

When we got home from that party, the kids got ready for bed and we waited for the babysitter (Mrs. Webb, Trevor's preschool teaching assistant).  He passed the time by doing floor angels in his new Spiderman jammies.

We had a really great time at party number two.  It was right across the street at our friend's Troy and Lisa's house (yes, Gabriella's house).  How fun to be able to meet some of their friends and our neighbors and then just walk home?  There were just 12 of us and boy do they know how to throw quite the party with a lot of delicious food, wonderful drinks and fun people!  We had a really good time!

Other highlights from Daddy's time at home was getting out Trevor's old truck that he learned to walk behind.  Ashley is doing much better putting weight on her feet and cruising the furniture and walking behind things or with your fingers (must have both though, one finger will not suffice).  However, riding the vehicles is pretty fun too!

As is pushing Trevor around!

Ashley isn't too fond of being contained somewhere.  Please let me out!  Please!

Daddy got in lots of cuddles with his kiddos during his time off.  It was nice to see :)

Daddy and Trevor even took a swim in the little pool!

We went on an adventure walk with Troy, Lisa and Gabriella to check out all of the holiday lights around our community.

 We also went to the Princess hotel with our friends Sharon, Tanner, Connor and Kennedy to check out their holiday light display.  It was cold and rainy but we still had a fun time.

This was as good as it was going to get of the four kids together.  Love how Connor is helping to make sure Ashley is looking at the camera!  He just adores her!

Daddy did a great job re-tiling the bathroom where we had some water damage due to the toilet being installed incorrectly.  We are thankful he is so handy and determined to make it look just right!

Daddy and Trevor continued with the tradition of making a gingerbread house. 

And then that evening we visited the gingerbread houses at the JW Marriott just down the road.  Last year they had a whole city of little gingerbread houses but this year they had a handful of life-size houses!

Trevor was bummed that they didn't have their 'Letters to Santa' area with complimentary candy canes.  The boy is certainly enjoying this holiday season full of candy canes.

Ashley on the other hand is into just about any food that she can hoard in her hands and cheeks!  She gets so protective of her food!

She's got a death grip on the bag while watching out of the corner of her eye...

Seriously Ashley, don't worry!  Nobody wants your veggie straws!  My goodness!  Not to mention, we have lots of them! 

We really had a nice time having Daddy home - lots of other individual blog posts of other happenings like Christmas with each of our parents - but we wanted to remember some of the other family things we did during his time off too.  It was nice too for Daddy to have a glimpse into our daily routines and it must be noted somewhere that after two days Daddy said "I don't know how you do this every day!"  Well Sara feels pretty lucky to spend every day with the kiddos but she understands what he means.  It isn't for everybody. But it's moments like this that make it all worth it...(and could those darn i-teeth pop through so we can get some rest??  Thank you ;-))

Christmas at our home in Arizona!

This year we decided to spend the actual Christmas holiday at home in Arizona.  Last year we stayed in town because we didn't want to fly with a newborn and this year, we'll be honest, the thought of going to cold (um, freezing cold) Minnesota just wasn't all that appealing because of the weather.  To see family, yes, but weather, no.  Plus Sara's parents would be coming out for the winter a few days after Christmas; Jim and his family are coming in January and we got to see Jeff and family for a week at Thanksgiving.  Not to mention, Grandma Pauline and Papa John weren't planning a trip over the holiday like they usually do so we thought it would be a great time to start some of our own traditions and stay put and spend time with Grandma and Papa Hillins!

They came over before we needed to leave for church and since Ashley was still napping everyone headed out to save spots at church.  Ashley woke up just in time to get ready.  We were so excited that she got to borrow Brooke's 1st Christmas dress for church!  

 Not only is it super cute, we love that her cousin wore it too!  Mommy came across this picture when changing out a picture frame.  Everyone looked so cute!  Thanks Dawn for letting Ashley borrow it!!

Mommy and Ashley got to church just in time for it to start after having to park blocks and blocks away.  The kids did great at church but Trevor was disappointed that there weren't as many 'hi ya/pirate' guys this year. 

When we got home we took a few pictures in front of the fireplace!

Gotta love Trevor's smile and how is it that Ashley looks huge here!  Yay!  She's growing!

After changing into comfy clothes and putting one of our best gifts ever to bed....

....we carried on the tradition of fonduing on Christmas Eve!  Trevor thought it was the greatest thing ever!  His favorite foods?  Lobster, shrimp and steak.  He's developing quite the palate for a four year old! 

Cheers!

And we aren't saying how many bottles of wine were consumed during the course of fondue but we can say that one white bottle was definitely drank ;-)

After dinner Trevor watched an email that Santa had sent to him.  He waited in anticipation to hear if he was on Santa's naughty or nice list.  Of course, he was on the nice list!

We left out cookies and milk for Santa.  And a peanut butter ball for Rudolph because reindeer like peanut butter, just like doggie Randle used to :)

And after one last horsey ride from Grandma Pauline (who Trevor still just calls Pauline), it was bed time for bonzo!

We took a few pictures of special ornaments...H for the the first Christmas we both had the same last name.

A Christmas ornament that Sara's Grandma Kelly bought for them after their wedding.  Her handwritten note stating "Cherish the love you felt on October 9 forever" is still in the box making this one special ornament. 

Our first born in a locket ornament from Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Jerry!

And an ornament from Mike, Nicci, Adam, Cole and Kendall showing our now family of four for Ashley's first Christmas last year!

And with that we were all off to bed so that Santa could make his appearance and take Jake back to the North Pole.  Not sure we got a picture of Jake but he made an appearance a few days before Christmas and Trevor loved (and named) him.  Can't wait for Jake to come back next year and get into more trouble hiding around the house!  And yes, Santa definitely came...

Christmas morning Ashley was the first one up at 7:45!!!!  

How lucky to have two kids sleep in on such an exciting morning!   We're lucky Ashley could wait for big brother to get up well after 8:30 to start opening!

Before we all got upstairs to open gifts, Trevor found a special gift that Santa left in the media room (which has become more of a toy room).  Trevor was so so excited for his new bigger bike!

Other favorite gifts....a batman airplane (as he calls it)

A big wheel!

And another pirate ship (this one from 'Pauline' and Papa John) so that everyone in the family has a ship to play pirate with!

 Ashley was perfectly content having other people unwrap her gifts for her!

One of her favorite gifts was the present Trevor picked out for her after she got the Princess Castle for her birthday.  It's a multi-pack of princesses.  We can't believe he kept the present secret for 6 weeks!  He was so excited for her to unwrap it so they could start playing together. 

Another hit gift from Grandma Pauline and Papa John was Ashley's new baby grand piano.  The girl loves anything music related!!

As well as anything princess.  She is (and knows she is) a princess after all! 

After all the gifts were opened Sara and Brian got busy in the kitchen.  We made a turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing/stuffing, corn souffle, green bean casserole, and rolls....all without help from Brian's parents!  We wanted to give them time away from the kitchen after preparing such a huge Thanksgiving feast and we were successful!

Nothing to do except fill up our plates and eat!  And we finally got to use our holiday plates we've had since 2005!

After we ate and cleaned up, Ashley decided the Big Wheel was for her...he he! 

We also played a new game that Trevor was very good at!  And it's not even for kids his age - it's for 7 year olds!  We love to play family games!!

The guys went to the park for awhile to burn off some energy.  Isn't it nice to be able to do this after a Christmas meal?  Wouldn't be able to do this in MN without fifty layers on!

And the night ended with a visit from Santa Claus!  He was visiting Gabriella's house but recognized Trevor and wanted to say hello!  What a fun and memorable Christmas all around!