eden's birthday!

eden's birthday kind of snuck up on us this year (although i knew it was coming all along...kids seem to remind you of those things like all the time).  but, being that she was born on the first of december and thanksgiving was soooo incredibly late this year, it was all of sudden here and so was december.  and not only was it eden's birthday but it was the first day of the arrival of our elf, charlie red.  he usually leaves her a birthday message along with a note for the other kids.  jack happened to note that our elf's handwriting looks somewhat similar to mine.  hmmmm.

we had a small birthday celebration for her in the afternoon after church.  we were saving most of the birthday fun for her party that she was having later in the week.  i got her some cupcakes which she wasn't very happy about because she said that she wanted a piece of cake instead. okaaaay.  but it was too late for that so she decided that would be alright if she went along with the whole blow out the candles and make a wish thing without her "piece of cake".  we got her some ariel jewelry which went over very well.  as you can see in the last pictures she is decked out in her ariel bling.  a crown, necklace, ring, and charm bracelet. ariel is her favorite these days and that's quite alright with me because she is probably one of my favorite princesses too ;)

happy 5 eden!  you keep us on our toes but we like it (well, sometimes).  you are so independent and confident and are quite funny.  i love watching you dance/twirl in the halls of our house, be so opinionated about the clothes you wear, and your sweet drawings of me and your family that you bring home from preschool almost everyday.  we love you to pieces, eden bear.

thanksgiving in mexico.

i've decided spending thanksgiving on a beach isn't so bad.  add some cousins, some mexican food, a poolside strawberry daiquiri (virgin, of course), some sand volleyball and warm weather and then it's really not so bad.  we even had the traditional turkey dinner....on a large patio overlooking the ocean.  it was pretty dreamy.

we changed things up this go around in mexico.  we usually stay at jason's family casa on the bay but since his whole family (forty plus peeps) was there, there was no way we could all fit in one little house.  so, it was a beach resort instead and i didn't mind one bit.  the kids ran around with their cousins all day like they owned the place and when night came we all had our own private rooms to retreat to.  i can feel a tradition in the making.  but really, it was just so good.

gilbert days 5k.

a few weeks back, we (jason, jack, ava, and i) ran in the gilbert days 5k.  we have done it for the past 3 or 4 years but this was the first year that ava ran the 5k. in the past, she has only ran the mile so this was a kinda a big deal for her.  she was quite the super star and she hung in there the whole time.

the plan was for jason and i to stay with her because for one, jason hadn't ran in almost a year so he was pretty much out of shape and i even questioned if he could hang with her and two, i had just had my appendix taken out two weeks prior and wasn't sure how much i should push myself.  well, about a mile in i decided to try and catch up with jack.  he took off pretty fast in the beginning but i thought i could catch him.  i thought wrong.  jack ended up finishing a minute or two ahead of me and jason and ava came in after me.  i was so proud of my kids and so thankful for my parents who came to cheer us on and help watch jonah eden while we raced.  it's nice to have family close by.

i could tell the next that day that ava had pushed herself to her limit because she kept saying how sore she was and every time she would go up and down the stairs she would say how much it hurt her legs.  i realized a 5k to her is like a marathon to me.   hopefully by next year she will forget how miserable she felt afterwards and she will want to run it again :)

decorating the tree.

with the thanksgiving being so late this year and with family coming in town and traveling to mexico for turkey day, we decided to get the tree up and decorated before the holiday weekend. this was only after my kids begged me for like a week straight the to hang ornaments and i caved.

it was quite an event at the breinholt home (as most things are).  we had the christmas music playing, ornaments strung out everywhere and kids fighting about who gets to hang which ornament.  it wouldn't be the same if they were all getting along :)  jonah was was very in to the tree trimming this year.  he wanted to hang every ornament on the same branch and would get frustrated when they all didn't fit.  and then when we ran out of ornaments, he would just take them off and start all over again.  he's the funniest kid.

after all the decorating was done, we had a tree that was fully decorated minus the top third which was completely bare since none of the tiny arms could reach that high.  usually this bothers me, but no this year.  i think being in nursing school and stressed out about that all the time has let me be less stressed about little things like not having our tree evenly decorated.  this could be a good thing :)

halloween.

^^^my favorite halloween kids. the movie star, sheriff jonah, jack the magician, and ariel. ^^^

^^^our trick or treating transportation.^^^

^^^run, jack, run.  chasing down the golf cart.^^^

^^^chugging down the m&m's.^^^

well, halloween was a success. barely.  i had school that night and got home just in time to get my kids dressed in costume while jason worked up some pumpkin shaped tuna melt sandwiches in the kitchen.  we had a quick halloween feast due to some very impatient children who couldn't wait to go get some candy.  then, of course, i had to take some pictures which really didn't go over well with the kids.  the whole time they were complaining and kept trying to run out of the picture as i was taking them.  luckily, i was able to get a few.  we then loaded up the golf cart since that is the only way jason will trick or treat.  i prefer the old fashioned way of walking but i seem to lose that battle.  so, we were off.  jonah was the cutest trick or treater of them all.  at each house he would yell "twrick or treat" so loud that he startled half of the neighbors.  i think two is my favorite trick or treating age.  however, eden's mermaid costume stole the show.  people kept commenting on how adorable she looked.  i have to agree :)  although, i think all my kids looked pretty adorable.  after many houses and nearly full candy bags that got to heavy for my kids to carry and some tired faces it was time to head home.  see you next year halloween.