Love these two sweet faces - they're ready for Christmas!!
On Sunday, a week before Christmas, the Hansens arrived!! We were super excited to get to see Jeanne, Marc, William and Charlotte!!!
We had a delicious dinner at Nana's catching up and with plenty of cousin time!!
Max finally lost his tooth that has been wiggly for months...he was SOOOO excited that Susie the Elf AND the toothfairy would both be visiting in one night!! Haha.
Monday night was Max's first orchestra concert - he has been absolutely loving playing the violin and wants to start with some private lessons.
Jeanne had the most ingenious idea - instead of exchanging presents between the 4 of us, we met up for a lunch. We picked Seis and it was beyond delightful - loved the good food and amazing company!
Meanwhile, Max had one of his many holiday parties at school (classroom, orchestra, GATE and Advanced Math)... They were doing a game where they balanced gingerbread cookies on their face. We're done with school for the year and ready for Christmas!!!
We recovered from our super-busy Surprise weekend and were back into the swing of things with school and activities.
On Friday, December 9th, Ella had her very first school dance!! It was right after school so she wore her dress all day - she put together her ensemble by herself!!
Looking gorgeous!! And so grown up!! She said she had a great time with Kendric (who asked her to the dance) and her friends!
Immediately after the dance, she had climbing practice. I had watched that morning as she carried clothes to change into out the door...but after Roger dropped her off at the gym she called me and said she couldn't find them.... Then she said "never mind. I got this, Mom!"
Go get 'em, girl!!!! I'm so super proud.
Meanwhile, Max and I had Addy over for a fun playdate!
On Saturday morning, we headed out to Rillito Park for the annual RAM family picnic!!
Rog dressed up as Santa with his co-worker in a Buddy the Elf costume (which Rog wore to his 8-hour long off-site meeting the day before - gross).
Aww, a nice family picture with Papa Elf! It was a beautiful day and a great location for the family picnic.
Rog giving his yearly speech thanking everyone for their support. So proud of you, babe. Your leadership and ability to guide and direct the entire program is just beyond amazing.
And with that, it's the annual pie an LT member in the face for charity...
Back home from family day and off to different Christmas parties...
Els and Max went to Kendric and Dominic's house for a fun holiday get together...
And Ali hosted our girls for an awesome night!!
Sunday morning, we hosted the Larson Family for more practice with the pizza oven and FINALLY got around to decorating the Christmas tree!!!
And to round out our weekend...yup, just the weekend...we were off to a late Winterhaven wagon ride!!
I absolutely love this tradition!!
On Monday, Els had her very first band concert!! She played the marimba and has been loving being a percussionist in cadet band!!
Rounding out our Tucson Christmas traditions with gingerbread boys at the Burts'.
We finished up the week with karate and swim and Ella's appointment to determine that she has broken the SAME toe yet again... Oy. And we had a great time at Roger's boss' Christmas party and the kids did a great job on their own until pretty late! We're ready for you, Christmas!!!
On Saturday, we headed up to Surprise for our much-anticipated family reunion and celebration of Auntie Elaine and Uncle Norm's 50th wedding anniversary!
Nolan and Alan organized some fun games and it was fantastic to be together!!
Unfortunately, the photographer had to cancel at the last minute, but we got some group shots in!
Ahh - all of the cousins are together!!! Otto, Cillian, Egan, Ella, Dean, Reese and Max! We're waiting on one more - hoping it's a girl - Els is seriously outnumbered!
Happy anniversary - here's to half of a century of love and laughter. SUCH an inspiration - love you both!!
After a delicious dinner, Ella reading to the boys.
On Sunday, we said our goodbyes to the O'Choy clan. We have been super spoiled by frequent get togethers since our Colorado trip. Need to start planning the next vacay, right, Cillian???
Back to the Semrau house for a little bit more cousin fun.
Ella and Dean have always been super sweet together!!
Then we made our way to back to Tucson with a stop for Roger's co-worker's [surprise] birthday party. SUCH an amazing weekend all around!!
Monday: I spent the day with my parents and the O'Choys in Green Valley. I got to read and build legos and had a great chill day with them!!
Tuesday: gym time and errands for me.
Wednesday: with the kids at school, I headed down past Green Valley to Madera Canyon - which I had not yet been to. It was gorgeous - I loved our little hike. We even saw wild turkeys below us!
You guys were great little hikers, Cillian and Egan!!
I ran home to get the kids from the bus stop and we met up with the Cotters at Peter Piper Pizza since they would miss Jack's birthday party.
Thursday: off to the Desert Museum with this crew!!
We stayed to watch the whole Raptor Free Flight show and it was awesome! My favorites were the Harris Hawk and the owl.
Our normal activities of climbing or swim/karate every night; the tree remains undecorated...
Friday: I pulled the kids out of school and we headed out to Starr Pass!! They love the resort and have been begging to go back for a long time.
I was super surprised - we had an absolutely gorgeous day and the pool was heated to 88 degrees!!
Loving all the cousin time!!
After a lunch of delicious quesadillas and burgers - the kids got frozen slushies to enjoy poolside.
With the sun starting to shift, we grabbed beers for the road, said goodbye to our lazy river and headed to Culinary Dropout for dinner!
We loved all the games while we waited for our food.
After dinner, we headed to the zoo (nice way to bookend the trip for Cillian and Egan) to see the lights and Santa!
Raegan joined us too so they could bring Els home for a sleepover.
We're getting closer to Christmas!! Home to pack and get ready for our no-longer-a-surprise weekend in Surprise!
