december week one

Christmas is all around these days. I kinda love it and it kinda stresses me out, and I blame that mostly on the damn elf on the shelf. But I made the kids believe that the elves would not come until our tree was decorated. Yes we have two elves. Because I lost the original elf and had to special order the fastest thing on Amazon which was two for the price of one.

We got a tree this week! It's always a bit of a search. We have our go to's, Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot and usually find our tree at one of those places. Dan is way more picky than I am. He always looks at 10 trees before we pick one. And he always asks me if they are green because he's color blind and I always say yes because what other color would they be? We found the winner at Home Depot this year. Angus went with us because he's the only one who's not in school these days. He found a broom in the tree lot somewhere and started sweeping the pine needles of course. So helpful, that one. 

The girls were super into decorating the tree this year so I just sat on the couch with my glass of wine and aggressively suggested that ornaments were too close together as I sipped, and took pictures. Angus watched a movie upstairs. It was better that way.

Our little slice of Timberline Drive is not looking too shabby.

This is my tip for the month:

Buy Costco's frozen pizzas. Four for $10!! Even if your family eats all four because they're kinda small, dinner is $10. TEN. So very cheap. December is always nuts. So I need some quick easy meals. Pizza gets it done. 

And this is pretty random and will never fit into any blog easily so I'm putting it here. This is the street I drive up every day. Azusa Ave. TREES. MOUNTAINS. CLOUDS. So pretty. 

Angus is very sensitive to smells, and the way his clothes feel on his skin, and how cold or hot things are, and the tone in one's voice. So I guess he's just sensitive. But he loves this dog so much. He doesn't even care that she stinks. 

"Mommy dis dog is YO tinky ugh!" But he just continues to lie there...

Sitting on Otter's head while checking to see if the cookies are done. Multitasking. 

These two ❤️

And these two. ❤️  There's just so much love in our house right now. Probably because it's colder these days.

Mya had her first ever violin performance. I've never heard her play because I don't encourage her to practice her violin at home. If you spent any amount of time at my house you would understand. It was so very cute. All the musicians in training were very serious and actually impressive. They've only been practicing for 3 months and were able to play recognizable songs. A HUGE accomplishment for any music teacher. I can't even imagine what it must be like for them during those first few weeks when all they hear is awful unrecognizable screeching sounds. And then slowly they begin to hear something transforming into a melody of sorts. Good job Mya. I curled her hair because she begged me. She looked adorable. 

And our small group at church had our annual christmas party and white elephant exchange and optional ugly sweater contest. Such a fun time. 

We visited our beloved Santa Barbara Bakers last weekend! We overwhelmed them with Wagenbrenner love but I think they were okay with that. 💗 Most of these pics were taken by Wendy Baker, not me. 

Happy 1st week of December! May you all experience your favorite Christmas traditions. 💚❤️