Christmas Concert with Ashley

For the last 10 years my family has attended the South Shores Church Christmas concert.  It was at a Christmas Concert that I decided this was where I wanted to get married.  Then I met Jason and 5 years later it's where we said our vows.  I love going back every year, the music is great and to revisit the place we became Mr. and Mrs. is special to me.

Colin was not in best form because of his darn tooth so Jason agreed to stay home and Ashley, my dad and I went to the concert.  Ashley was so excited to see my mom on stage.  It was a fun date night with my dad and daughter.  I told Ashley it was the place Daddy and I got married and that opened the gate for so many questions.  She asked about my dress, the people, what we did, it was so cute. 

This year the concert began with Marines from Camp Pendleton lighting the candles- I love those men and women.  The sacrifices they make, along with their families, is beyond noble.  I experienced a fraction of what the family members of a soldier go through and I can't imagine experiencing it to the full extent.  So after shedding a few tears of appreciation the concert began.

I didn't worry about Ashley getting antsy through the concert but I wasn't prepared for her to be so interested.  She watching every instrument and singer through the entire performance and kept telling me, "I can not believe how amazing and wonderful this is."  The things she says make me laugh.

It was a fun night introducing one of my childhood traditions to Ashley. 

These are just a few pictures of me with the kids before Ash and I left.

Santa visited our neighborhood...again

Santa must really like the boys and girls in our neighborhood because he has visited A LOT!  Of course Ashley was thrilled to see him again and to meet the Mrs.  Colin had his usual attitude and was just happy to have someone holding him.  We met up with Dylan because he had a run in with Santa that didn't go so well but we thought he might be brave if he was with Ashley and it worked!

Ashley really wanted to make sure Santa understood why she needed a new bike.

Little Lambs and the Sun and Sail Club

The kids sang at a community Christmas Party at the Sun and Sail Club in Lake Forest.

Colin was excited :-)

So Santa Can Find Us

We put some lights up on the house to make sure Santa would be able to find our house.  Ashley did a great job supervising Daddy.  You can tell our daughter is a SoCal girl because she has a coat on but still insisted on wearing her rainbow sandals, only in California :-)

I had her step back from the house when Jason was going to light it up so she could see everything and this was her reaction.

Little Lambs at the Retirement Home

The kids had another choir performance, this time it was at an elderly home in Rancho Santa Margarita.  After singing the kids went around and gave hugs to the grandmas and grandpas and Ashley chatted with two grandmas for a while.

After wishing everyone a Merry Christmas Ashley got to spend some time with her cousin, Dylan!  He was so excited to watch Ash sing.  Colin on the other hand slept through almost the whole thing, again.

Our Tree is Up!

I had so much fun decorating the Christmas tree (minus the lights, I really can't stand doing the lights and that will never change!).  This year, I had a little helper.  Ashley was so excited to see all of the ornaments, to hear a story about each one and she had fun helping me find the perfect spot for everything.

It was so nice to have a tree this year and not have to remove furniture from our family room to make room, that put a BIG simle on my face.  To top it off I now have a front window so people can see our tree when they come to the front door.  This has been one of those things I've dreamed of forever and it is so fun to finally have!

Ashley was pooped after all of our hard work, so as a big thank you I made her blueberry muffins and hot chocolate for breakfast the next morning.  She was thrilled :-)

Snow Day

 

A year ago we had found a house that we liked, so we made an offer, but I still wasn't completely sold.  We went back for another look and found the neighborhood snow day taking place at the park across the street from this house.  After watching Ashley play for an hour, I knew this was where I wanted to call home.

Here we are a year later enjoying that neighborhood snow day once again.  Ash and I decided to make it an event for the girls since it was too cold for Colin and Daddy didn't mind staying home watching football and Colin.

Ashley loved playing in the snow, trying to build her own snowman and trying to get the carrot back on the big snow man.  

 

 

 

She thought she had hit the jackpot with the snow lot, then she spotted the snow slopes that kids were sledding down.  She asked if we could PLEASE go NOW.  We headed over there and while we were waiting in line I offered to go down the slope with Ashley and she thought for a few seconds and said, "I think it might be a little scary, but I am going to try to be brave and tough and go all by myself."  I was shocked, proud and feeling a little sad that she was too old for my help.

 

She was so excited to carry her sled by herself and she grinned from ear to ear as she zoomed down the slope.  When she was done she said, "I knew I could be brave mommy!"

Then we waited in line to get her face painted and while we were in line Santa rode in on a red convertible.  Ashley was so happy to see him again and wasn't sure what she was going to talk to him about this time.  While she pondered that she decided to dance for me, I need to get her in a dance class because she is always twirling around for us.  After her face was finally adorned with a candy cane I took a picture to show it to her and she said, "No mommy, we have to go look at it in the mirror."  It was so cute to watch her check it out in the mirror, it reminded me how grown up she is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to visit Santa and they had a great visit filled with high-fives, stories and of course talk about presents. 

We decided to visit Santa and they had a great visit filled with high-fives, stories and of course talk about presents. 

We finished the day off with a ride on the choo choo train and as I watched her smile from ear to ear with the cold air blowing in her hair I couldn't help but think about how much I love this girl.  Her joy for life just oozes out of every smile and it is so infectious.  It was just a special moment with my girl that I will always remember.