It's (was) the Holiday Season

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year. We headed over to Norco to go spend Thanksgiving with Grammy (who Emery insists on face timing almost every night before bed :) )
Joining our Zulauf clan were the Trapnells and Riches. We had so much fun together, and as always one of my favorite parts is watching all the cousins play.

 Thanksgiving Dinner. Thanks again Mace for helping me make the rolls! and taking care of Crew every chance she got :) 

Emery loved playing with all her cousins, but her and Buggy were sure good, little buddies. We were watching some Curious George on the iPad and I had to stop and take a picture of these two thumb sucking friends. 

We had a fun beach day and these pictures are probably my most favorite thing. Look at all those cute kiddos! 

It was hard to leave and go back to real life after a fun time like this. We sure miss every one and are hoping the next get together isn't too far off! 

Christmas time is the BEST time! 

Christmas is by far my favorite time of year. It just keeps getting better with kids. Here is some of what we did during December and of course, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

 We decorated the tree for family night that very first Monday in December, which included some pizza.

 The next Monday we opened up Christmas Jammies and wore them to temple lights. 

 Christmas Sunday is the best (Easter Sunday is right there with it). I love going and being reminded of what we are truly celebrating. 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is what I look forward to most! I love it, and it did not disappoint this year.

Look who won First place this year in our h'ourderve contest. I even beat some real chefs (bragging rights people!) I made cheesy, jalepeno pull apart bread. 

My prize

 Opening up sibling, cousin and grandma and grandpas gifts. 

 It's not Christmas Eve without a beautiful Christmas piano piece from my dad. He is so good on the piano, every time he plays it makes me think of my childhood (I know that sounds so cheesy, but it does. I almost always fell asleep to the sound of the piano being played) 

 Santa was very generous. Please especially notice Emery's tricycle. Court redid that whole thing (we got it for free from a neighbor, it was pretty banged up but Court made it perfect! It seriously looks brand new, I wish I wouldve taken before and after pictures) 

 I really think her favorite this was the big lip smackers chap stick in her stocking haha.

 Her face says it all, life is good! 

 I decided to break out my crafty side this year and made this for Court to hang up in his office. I don't think it could be in a better place. 

We had such a fun Christmas this year. I couldn't help but get even more excited for next year with the ages our two babes will be! It just keeps getting more and more fun. 

My grandparents took every one to the Butterfly Wonderland for our Christmas present. It was so fun and always fun being with all the extended family. 

 Emery loves when we wear these shoes. 

 Waiting for butterflies to land on her.She walked around the whole place like that, it was so cute. A big butterfly landed on her head.

 I love us. 

More posts to come! Hopefully I will be all caught up by the end of this week! 

Catch up time!

I can't believe the last time I posted was Em's second Birthday! We have a lot of catching up to do...And I am going to start with the babes.

Em is two. Two! She is still our cute, quirky girl and almost too smart to keep up with. She jibber jabbers from sun up to sun down and makes me smile (and sometimes scream) every single day.

This girl...

Some other things about Em and her two year old-ness:

She loves, loves, LOVES her "cwoo-cwoo"

 She tries to hold him all the time now so I have to watch her like a hawk. She loves when she hears him on the monitor and shouts, "Cwoo wake up!" and runs and jumps in his crib and the laugh and play for ever. I have loved watching how much they love each other. 

Emmy is all about her Daddy, and she knows it too. Really though, she is attached to his hip when he is home and copies everything he does. She grabs Crew's stuffed little tools and always says "I fix it like Daddy." 

And let's not forget about "Bapa" (Grandpa). There are only 2 people Emery calls her "best buddy" and they are "Bapa" and "Cwoo-cwoo"

 She loves coloring, stickers, play dough, playing outside, singing and watching Curious George, Daniel Tiger and Frozen. 

She also loves riding the motorcycles with dad, dressing herself (she was adamant about wearing her witch hat to Costco the other day and well...why not?) reading books, being mommy's helper and wearing make-up, especially lip stick.

And let's not forget what this sweet girl loves most of all...Her blanky, Purple Night. She started calling her blanket purple night a couple months before she turned two. And it pretty much melted my heart and made both me and Court laugh hysterically. If Emery is around you can be sure purple night is not far away. 

In December this babe got a bad UTI infection and was pretty sick for a week. Ive never seen her so sick and it was sad to watch but we could still always get some smiles out of her.

 This picture makes me want to weep bc of how cute it is. Crew was so tired and fell right to sleep when Em was holding him. 

We absolutely adore this sweet girl. She is still pretty cuddly and affectionate and aways silly. My beautiful Em, we all love you so very much!

Our Crew-crew

I need to do Crew's 5, 6 and now 7 month updates! And I am a terrible mom bc I never did his pictures for 5 and 6, but that won't stop me from posting others and rambling on and on about our precious baby boy. 

Crew at 5 months:

 LOVES his pacifiers is an understatement!

 -Has the cutest squishiest legs!

 -Is somehow getting cuter and cuter :)

 -Loves being around people. He is seriously the best baby in big groups. He loves to watch everything that is going on

 -Loves his chubby feet, almost as much as mommy. 

 Is good at sitting up with little assistance 

Em had to join.

Crew also:

-Can roll from back to tummy and tummy to back 

- Has 3 bottom teeth. 

-Eating solids

-Loves to play with Emery

-Attached to Mommy :)

We can't get enough of him! 

Crew-crew at 6 Months:

Crew turned 6 months on December 17th. I can't believe it! I remember when we hit the 6 month mark I asked Court when and how did this already happen???? When did 6 months go by. It is going just too quick. This little boy is my squishy cuddler.  

Crew at 6 months:

-Sits up without assistance and starting to lean forward (pancake) on to his tummy

-Knows what he wants and gets mad when you take something away

-Can put his binkis in by himself (Hallelujah! This made a big difference in our night time sleeping) 

-Cut four, FOUR teeth. It was a little nightmare-ish. All 4 on top. I swear my kids get one and then they get all the rest at the same time.

-Rolls onto his belly about 30 seconds after you put him down to sleep. Good luck trying to get him to stay on his back! 

 He has really taken an extra interest in foods lately, if your eating something...you better give him a taste. 

And those big eyes! The doctor said they look like they are going to be green, which about made me jump for joy bc someone needs Court's beautiful green eyes in this family. 

 It is a piece of cake to get this babe to smile and laugh, being so ticklish helps :)

 Love getting some one on one time with this baby. 

I can't hardly stand his good looks! Those 2 little dimples on his right cheek about do me in every time he smiles. How grateful I am for you Crew-crew! What a sweet heart baby you are. We are the luckiest family ever to have you a part of it! 

We love Arizona this time of year so we do a lot of park days...

 Emery loves making a "house" under the dining room table so we took it to the next level last Sunday :)

 We have loved eating our Sunday dinner in the back yard lately and these two babes especially love playing in the sand box. Em also is in love with her play house Court built (what little kid wouldn't be). I am going to do a whole post devoted to it soon. 

 We love to bake around here. She loves helping me cook. 

And of course we always love to go hang out with Grandma, especially in her big tub. 

I absolutely am in love with these babies of mine. To say every day is complete bliss would be a bold faced lie bc it can be so very tiring and patience can easily ware thin. BUT at the end of the day when I am thanking Heavenly Father for my beautiful family I find myself thinking 'Yes, today was the best day' and thinking about the sweet moments that we had together. I've decided as a mom that even in a "bad day" you still always, always get the best, sweet and most innocent moments. I just want to soak up my time with these precious littles.