yes! cold weather!

These pictures don't show any snow, but, boy were the kids happy to get outside and breathe in some cold air over the holidays! There wasn't much snow while we were in Michigan, but the kids were outside shoveling the driveway every chance they got, even if there was just a dusting of snow. It's amazing how one comes to cherish and miss something when you only get it for two weeks a year.

Linc, Cass, and Yiayia.

Little sis and big bro. 

cousins.

The kids love spending time with their cousins. This Christmas was tough as three of the cousins moved to Texas and weren't able to make the trip to Michigan this year (hopefully next year!). We are so glad that their twin cousins, Allison and Nicole, are still in Michigan.

Nicole and Cassidy.

Lincoln and Allison.

 These kids are getting so big! 

Alli, Cassidy, Lincoln, Nicole.

7th birthday cont'd.

Cassidy's 7th birthday celebration continued when we visited Michigan for Christmas. We got together with family and friends at one of our favorite pizza places: Buddy's!

In past years, Cassidy hasn't enjoyed her birthday parties all that much -- too many people, too much forced socialization, and too much attention on her. She's coming out of her shell a bit more each year and she really seemed to have fun celebrating this year!

Yummy Tinkerbell cake.

Little sis and big bro hamming it up.

Cassidy showing off her American Girl doll.
She named her Kennedy.

Doing Kennedy's hair!

lucky seven.

Happy birthday to my sweet daughter. I can't believe she's 7.

On her actual birthday, she celebrated at school by taking donuts in for her classmates. There's really nowhere else she'd rather be than at school with her teacher and classmates. She's even said that instead of being home on the weekend, she'd sometimes rather just be at school. Hilarious.

For her birthday dinner, she requested homemade mac & cheese. Big surprise there. We'll be meeting up with family and friends in Michigan to complete the celebration soon!

In the meantime, she opened a few gifts at home in AZ...

Love this reaction. See below pic...

This is what the reaction was for: a Decendants cd, from a Disney tv movie that she watches all the time.
She'll be jamming to the soundtrack in her room soon! 

Skateboard from her cousins in Texas.
She was pretty dang excited about this.

Big bro and Little sis with the Peanuts Gang.

Happy birthday to you, sweet girl! 

tumbleweed tree 2015.

Last year, we went to the Parade of Lights in downtown Chandler. At the end of the parade, they light the tumbleweed tree. We had a terrible vantage point and barely saw the tree lit up. This year, we opted to skip the parade and went a few days later to get a nice, close look at the tree which is truly made of 1,000 tumbleweeds that are spray-painted white. It's a unique sight!

A full view of the tree.

Matt & the kids.

Julie and the kids.

The kids reading the history of the tumbleweed tree and learning about how they construct the tree.

we love Christmas cookies!

As per our annual tradition, the kids and I made several batches of Christmas cookies. The kids love doing the decorating. While they get better at it each year, there were several cookies this year that were drowning in sprinkles. Gotta love it.

Our all-time favorites: Gingerbread cookies! 

volunteer work.

Some of the girls from Cassidy's Girl Scout troop participated in a volunteer service project this month at Feed My Starving Children. Our whole family joined the scouts and we packed meals for malnourished 6-12 month old babies. The kids got to try several different jobs (scooping, weighing, packing, and labeling) and they did great at all of them!

When our shift was done, they both said they'd like to do it again - woohoo! I'm so glad we all had the opportunity to do this.

The Gough's looking stylish! 

Lincoln packing food.

Cassidy at the weighing station.