Dagzilla
and
Lucy Kong
These are the sweet names Jaidyn came up with for these two cuties. They are a ball of fun and curiosity. This is the warning label printed on their butts.
Warning: Keep your eyes on this one at all times or else!
(Here Dagen said, “Mommy, I see you.” Then Lucy had to copy.)
(taken from Mel’s Blog)
Playing in the Snow
One of the things I love best about Arizona is that in the winter we have the most perfect weather but if you drive 2 hours north you have a winter wonderland! We love to take the kids to play in the snow in Flagstaff. We are super excited for this year because the cabin will be finished!!! Mike and Mel and us took the kids to this out of the way sledding hill that is about 5 miles from the new cabin. It’s awesome because it’s not crowded and the kids can all go off together safely. I look forward to many more years of enjoying our secret sledding spot with the fam. Here are the photo highlights from the day.
Valentines 2011
A few years back we decided that Taylor and I wouldn’t go out on a date on the actual day of Valentine’s because it was always nuts everywhere, hard to find a sitter and basically a rushed event. Instead we started having a Valentine’s dinner with the kids and going out the weekend after. I love this tradition. Let’s be honest I love celebrating anything with my kiddos. Our tradition has evolved over the past few years to included heart shaped pizzas (thanks Papa Murphy’s), Valentine’s card from on another, strawberry milk, some treats and this year we treated the kids to a movie and pillow pets. We usually don’t get gifts for Valentine’s but these kids have been dying for pillow pets and I found them on sale. We all snuggled down to watch a movie together and then Weston’s first tooth came out!!! This was a huge event. I still need to figure out how to take the picture without it looking so bloody. At least it’s red for Valentine’s!
Valentine’s Party in Weston’s Class
I absolutely love volunteering in Weston’s classroom. I feel bad I can’t do it more but splitting up time between a 2 yr. old, a preschooler and I kindergartener can be tricky. One of the things I like about Weston’s school is that I am allowed to bring Jameson with me to volunteer on party days. Wes loves having his little brother there and Jameson idolizes Weston and loves hanging out with him at school. At the Valentines party the kids got to decorate bags for valentines, decorate cookies and make noodle necklaces. Weston even brought a rose for his amazing teacher Ms. McGinty. It is so fun to be able to see my little boy in his class and see all the good friends he has made and to watch him succeeding. It makes me realize that for all the doubts I have about whether or not I’m doing a good job I must be doing something right.
Weston Plays Basketball
This spring a friend of our was putting together a basketball team for the YMCA and Weston, Isaac, and Collin all signed up to play together. Wes (once again 
Since I am am now officially almost a year behind on blogging I thought I needed to get back on the horse and blog my brains out for the next little while.
One of the things I love best about Lucy is that she loves everything I do!! She is seriously a mini me (even when she is being feisty and difficult). We have so much fun together doing anything. One her actual 2nd birthday I thought it would be fun to go to the mall and have her pick out a birthday outfit and have some lunch. I realize she is only 2 but I swear she loves this. Being girl after my own heart she zoned in on this strawberry tutu and shirt that said “pick me.” I have always LOVED strawberry children’s clothing so I was more than happy to purchase this darling outfit for my little girl. She was so proud and went immediately to Grandma’s to show off her new look. I love this little bundle of energy and joy. After we picked Jameson up from school we went in that backyard and had some birthday treats. Is this little ham not the cutest little thing you have ever seen?!?!?!?
I am usually the kind of mom who has birthdays planned out for months in advance. I have also been known to go a little overboard with these kind of celebrations for my children. Lucy’s 1st birthday was an awesome party but perhaps a little over kill for a child who won’t even remember it. (Thank you Tammy for making all of the the little girls darling tutu’s and Annie for running our photo shoot area.) After that extravaganza Taylor was not wanting make such a huge fuss out her Lucy’s birthday this year. I actually saw the fear in his eyes as her birthday grew closer. Since I am the kind of girl who likes to keep him guessing I decided to actually tone down her birthday and have a low key affair. We had a little hot dog dinner at the local park with just family and a few close friends. Shocking, I know. It was actually a ton of fun just letting Lucy run around with her little cousins and buddies. We had cupcakes and a piñata which are basically the easiest party tricks ever. I had an accident with a piñata when I was a child that involved getting railed in the head with a piñata stick so I always purchase the piñatas that have the ribbons you pull instead of the kind you hit. I thought by doing this I would be in the clear for someone getting hurt. Not so. Weston got smacked in the face when Taylor was spilling out candy from the opened piñata. I had to include this cute pic of Lucy and her darling little friend Layla. Susan (Layla’s Mom) is one of my favorite people and we were so happy that our kids love each other too! A picture with my good friend Catherine is becoming a tradition for Lucy’s birthdays. Her first birthday Catherine is holding her in most the pictures. I must say that the party was fun and I sure didn’t miss the all the planning and work that go into a big party. Most importantly Lucy was happy and felt the love of those close to us.
Today Jameson got four stars at preschool!! Way to go James! When that happens he gets to choose a prize out of the treasure box. He chose a stamper, a red stamper. He then proceeded to suck on the cap of it on the way home and stain his lips bright red for a few days. I love this silly, wacky little darling cutie of mine.
I didn’t take a ton of pictures this Christmas! I’m shocked and disappointed in myself. However I think I got the important ones. Every year on Christmas Eve Taylor’s wonderful mother cooks us all an amazing Christmas Eve feast. After we have sufficiently stuffed ourselves silly we have a little Christmas program were the kids reenact the Christmas story. This year Wes got to be Joseph! Lucy was a sheep with Dagen and James was a shepherd. It is always a lot of work but I love having that special time where the kids focus on Christ and what Christmas is all about. When we came home from that we opened our Christmas PJ’s ( Wes got Iron Man, Thomas for James and Ariel for Lucy) and put out Christmas cookies for Santa ( nice finger Wes!) Next the kids wanted to say goodbye to Poppy our “Elf on the Shelf.” (If you don’t know what this is look it up…best thing we ever got…..thank you Megan McEwan!) Then the kids hopped into bed.
PS Notice the eyeliner stain on Weston’s chin from his Joseph beard.
Christmas morning the kids were up bright and early and were so excited to run downstairs. We blockaded the stairs so they couldn’t get down there while we were still asleep. The look or pure joy on their faces when they see there presents is so precious. It’s just pure joy and excitement. Weston wanted a pogo stick. James got a power wheels jeep and a Polar Express toy train set, and Lucy a kitchen set amongst other gifts. We put toys together until our fingers bleed. Seriously why do they have to secure toys in their packaging with wire and all manner of craziness?!?!?! After playing with our toys ( and new trampoline!) we head to our Christmas movie with the family. This year was the new Chipmunks: the Squeakquel movie followed by dinner at Panda Express. A lovely Christmas indeed.
The Polar Express train ride has been a tradition for our family for 5 years now. We absolutely love the Polar Express movie and of course our kids love trains. We found that the Polar Express ride in Arizona was WAY better than the one in Utah. For those who don’t know the Polar Express comes to a local train station and you get to board a ride to the North Pole. The train car has Chef helpers (like the hot chocolate ones in the movie.) They serve hot chocolate and cookies, read the story of the Polar Express, and greet Santa as we arrive in the north Pole. The North Pole is a big village of lights complete with the sleigh scene from the movie with Elves and the big man himself. Then Santa boards the train and greets every child and gives them a bell. The look on the kids faces in priceless and it is now and forever a Proudfit Family Christmas tradition.
We decided to stop the the cabin on the way up to the train ride and check out the progress. Only the foundation was poured and we thought it would be cute to get a picture of the kids sitting on it to later put in the finished cabin. Mel and I also took the opportunity to take family Christmas card photos in the picturesque woods.
We LOVE Halloween in this house! This year Wes decided to be Wolverine, James Woody and Lucy Minnie Mouse. As always they were completely decked out and as cute as ever. We took them for our traditional Halloween free picture at Kiddie Kandids ( thanks for that awesome idea Mike and Mel!) This year Halloween was a little different because it fell on a SUnday. So we went to 2 ward trunk or treats and then stayed home and handed out candy with Mike and Mel on Halloween. We still did our traditional chili dinner and mulled cider. I think the kids had even more fun handing out candy than they do trick or treating! We let them eat candy while we did it and we all sat in the drive so the kids could play the whole time. I think it might have been the best Halloween ever!
