The Last Post of 2014

Every year I say I can't wait for the year to be over and this year is no exception to that statement.
This year has been pretty good.
Let's see if I can recap the year.....

JANUARY:
Miss Kourtney turned TWO! My kids are growing up so stinking fast!
Kourtney is now going to be THREE in 3 days!It makes me sad because she is my last baby!

Berto and I were fortunate enough to go to a Suns game and get almost front row seats. One of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.


FEBRUARY:

Berto and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary. The 2 year itch they call it.
And Valentine's Day of course...

MARCH:

Berto turned 30!!!
We went to California and celebrated with my Grandma. We went to Outback steakhouse for dinner. We also took Matthew to Disneyland and California Adventure. We got to see Cars land for the first time and it was so much fun!

APRIL:

We moved Kourtney to her own bed. It didn't last long. Our current sleeping arrangements include her in my bed every night. Which I'm okay with. I like my kids sleeping with me.

We went to the San Diego Zoo. That was a lot of fun! We saw lots of fun animals!

MAY:

Kourtney's Cat Obsession grew to a whole new level.
Matthew was obsessed with walking around the mall. They both only like going there for the carousel.
Matthew's very last day of preschool was May 21st. We got to go to the Aquarium as the end of the year field trip. Aunt Kinsey came with us.

Mcdonalds came out with the creepiest, weirdest Happy Meal box which ended up being the new "character." He's still around and still creepy as ever. I love creeping Kinsey out by randomly sending her pictures or videos of him.... haha.

JUNE:

June must have been pretty uneventful because I have no idea what we did that month.....

JULY:

Matthew turned 5!
He got a Wii U for his birthday which was super exciting!
I made him a ridiculous Mickey Mouse cake.

We celebrated the 4th of July with our good friends Rich and Roz. Both kids got to hold a sparkler for the first time. And I even held one which I haven't done since I was a kid.

Kourtney discovered Selene's Minnie Mouse bike and that turned into a disaster! A week of her whining and asking about the minnie mouse bike! We finally found her one and she was so happy!

AUGUST:

Matthew started KINDERGARTEN!
This day was so bittersweet for me.
I was so happy for him to be in school making friends and keeping busy which he needs. But at the same time I was so sad realizing he was growing up and he was no longer my little baby boy. I think I cried more than he did.

I finished my Beauty and the Beast cross stitch. And started The Little Mermaid.

SEPTEMBER:

Just busy with all things school related. Homework..... you name it. all school.
Of course there was also the bullying issue. That was difficult.

OCTOBER:

Both kids got Croup. That was Hell.
Steven moved into his own place.
The kids picked out their Halloween Costumes. Matthew was Captain America and Kourtney was Sofia the First.
We played at the park. Went to the splash pad with Grandma, and spent more time at the mall.
We went to daddy's job for the Halloween Party and then went trick or treating with Berto's mom, Kinsey, and Korbin.

Matthew had his very first school official school field trip to Schnepf farms. I volunteered as a chaperone. IT was fun but WAY TOO HOT!

We got Matthew's Kindergarten school picture.

NOVEMBER:

We spent time with Berto's mom. She was here the whole month.
We put up our Christmas decorations, celebrated Thanksgiving, and of course did Black Friday.
We saw some AMAZING Christmas Light displays. We went and saw Santa. Sent out Christmas cards. AND the vapor rub disaster.....

DECEMBER:

This month has just been the stress of Christmas and all things that go along with that.
We got to celebrate Christmas Eve with almost everyone. (Me, Berto, the kids, Aubrey and Ben, Kinsey, Steven, mom, and Mark.) It was nice having everyone at the house just hanging out.

Christmas it was us and my mom and Steven. Everyone else was either working or had plans. It was kind of a strange Christmas. I still had fun hanging out with my mom though.
The kids got so many new toys. Unfortunately, Berto had to work Christmas morning. So we got up at 6am so he could be here to see the kids open and then he left. So I was left with the task of building EVERYTHING! That took almost 2 hours to finish everything! Ridiculous!
I took the kids to Freestone Park the other day to the little train park. They had a lot of fun.
I let Matthew go play at the the little park outside our apt by himself for the first time. (There were other kids there) It made me feel like he grew up 5 more years!

I'm ready for this new year to start. I'm ready to move forward. Move out of this apartment to somewhere cheaper so we can save some money. Focus on Matthew and school so he can continue to make progress. Focus on my relationship with Berto since we don't get to spend a ton of time together because he has to work so much.
And just watch my kids learn and grow.

I'm ready for 2015.

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park

Serrano Family

The whole family Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Kourtney's Toys

Matty's Toys

Christmas Morning

Freestone Park Train

Freestone Park

Goofballs

Playing all by himself

Christmas stuff, Fun activities, & Santa

This month has been crazy. I guess I should say last month and 13 days of this month.
Berto's mom was here until the 7th and we tried to do lots of fun stuff while she was here.
There is only so much you can do that doesn't cost a fortune.

We had a pretty good visit for the most part. A couple of speed bumps but all is good.
At the end of November we put up the Christmas tree and decor. I love this time of year. The lights, the smells, the happiness.... it just makes me happy.

We of course did Black Friday with all the other crazies out there. I don't know why but I actually like Black Friday. Not just for the deals but maybe the excitement of it all. I love to people watch because lets face it the craziest of the crazies are out on Black Friday!

I added some new decor to the Christmas decor. I saw it on pinterest. You hang icicle Christmas lights in your hall. It's pretty and makes a great night light. And it's true. Berto actually liked it enough that he suggested we leave it up all year!

I took Berto's mom out to Fountain Hills while she was here. Trying to find something fun to do. They have a fun park and the Fountain is of course really cool. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it.

Christmas Lights.....
Holy Christmas Lights! We have seen some pretty spectacular Christmas Light displays this year already!
A couple years ago I saw on TLC's Extreme Christmas Lights a house here in Scottsdale so we checked it out. We had been before but no one but me remembers it. haha
This guy's house is amazing. Pictures of course do it no justice.He has fake snow, his lights are timed to music, you can go in his backyard which is completely decked out in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer characters. You know the old school clay model movie? Rudolph, his girlfriend (I don't remember her name), Yukon Cornelius, the abominable snowman.....
He completely transforms his backyard including his pool! I should have taken pictures...... maybe next year.

We also went to Christmas at the Princess.
Now this is an awesome family activity. It's $30 for parking but you can have up to 10 people in your car so its really not a bad price. It's at the Fairmont Princess Hotel in Scottsdale and it is amazing!
They have a train that goes through their lagoon of lights, a carousel with teacups which you can ride as many times as you want, Santa (although he wasn't there the night we went), a four story dancing Christmas tree, an ice skating rink (that costs extra), and lots of other stuff.
The kids had a blast!
We also took my mom and my brother Steven with us and I think they had a lot of fun too.
Kourtney made me ride the teacups with her 3 different times and that was hilarious. I wish I could have gotten that on video. She got so dizzy her head started dropping from side to side. Haha.
It was nice having most my family there. I haven't had that much fun in a long time.

We finally went to see Santa. I kept seeing all the posts on facebook from my friends about Bass Pro Shop. I didn't know until this year that the picture with Santa is free! How I never knew this I have no idea! So me and my mom went to check it out since we were going to go to the mall anyway to see Santa.
Now this place is cool!
I feel like its set up more for kids than adults!
Not only do they have Santa, they have a carousel too! There is a waterfall that drops into a huge tank of fish and they have the most amazing FUDGE! I'm totally going there from now on. Of course you only get one picture free so if you want more you have to buy them which we did.
And OMG Kourtney's face. She was perfect all through the line and the second Santa's elf said it was our turn she froze. She was absolutely terrified! So the picture this year was not great.....but it is funny.

I also did our Christmas cards. I procrastinated a little this year. I'm pretty sure they will all get to the people before Christmas but oh well at least I sent them!

We are almost all set for Christmas. Kids presents are bought and hidden. They just need to be wrapped. All that's left is the rest of the family which we will hopefully get done next weekend.

That's all for now!
Here's all the pictures from our adventures!

OH AND.........
We had this disaster happen which I have to document because it's pretty funny.

Kourtney was being REALLY quiet. And all us parents know this is NOT a good thing. I was just about to get up and check on her when she comes out and looks like this....

The top right photo is Matthew's hair balm. Bottom right is Baby vicks chest rub......
She apparently thought the pink lid was balm for her hair and globbed it in....
Oh my goodness. I washed her hair a total of 7 times. I combed cornstarch through her hair 2 times and I washed her hair with dish soap. This stuff is ridiculously hard to get out of hair!! Thank goodness for the internet. And shame on me for not putting it out of her reach. We're lucky it didn't get in her eyes!
But it's going to be a funny story when she's older!