January

Every time in the last two months that I've encountered some free time I've been forced to choose between my blog and the garden, or my blog and the dishes, or my blog and sweet, precious sleep. Guess who won? Not the blog.

Because it has been so long, I am going to try to make this post terse in text, prolific in pictures. Why? Because I rarely remember things that are not associated with a picture that I've taken. :)

First, we'll start with our sweet nephews' birthday parties. A cold park playday included candles, coffee cake, and popsicles - per the boys' request. See Bethany's wonderful blog for more details. Sofia and I bowed out of Zeke's train-themed party because we were sickies - thus, no documentation. By the time for Luke's cowboy party a few days later, we were ready to rumble. Siena was a cowgirl. Sofia was a cow. But no costumes  rivaled Luke and Zeke's matching vests, holsters, guns, bandanas, and hats (provided by Grammy for the occasion).

Grammy roped a cute one.

Dessert: Cowboy Boot Cookie

These are the authentic cow-folk who came to the party. The rest of us just pretended.

Birthday boy and his friend Alden

Ice cream cones for the kiddos

Shiloh sporting (Great-)Grandpa Carl's shirt. It's not technically cowboy-attire, but it does the job.

Luke needed a bit of assistance to blow out the candles. Note how the boot has morphed after baking. Teehee.

A nice finishing touch: Luke handed out presents to his guests!

Our friend Vanessa spoils Siena with presents every time she sees her; this time she got a sweeeeet hat!

Siena has developed a fond affection for school mascots - as long as they stay REALLY far away. Here she is confronted face-to-face with UCD's Gunrock. She is NOT happy.

Sam Klasing holds Sofia.

Shiloh holds Siena... and Siena holds her CabbagePatch baby from Aunt Katie - "Kaiya Jasmine."

We took a whirlwind road trip down to southern California for a funeral of Shiloh's second cousin. (Dale's cousin's son.)

We stayed the first two nights in San Marcos with our good friends Peter and Katy Nelson. Their son Riley and daughter Selah were both born very close in time to when our girls arrived on scene.

Flirtation much?

It was fun to visit the Nelson's church, where Peter is the Youth Pastor.

Sunday night we visited PopPop and Marguerite at their home. This was my first trip to Fallbrook since Shiloh and I were married almost seven years ago. It was about time!

PopPop and the girls

 Cousin Shanon holds Colson. It's a rare picture when this boy isn't smiling!

Much better.

 The Armstrong men returning from an exploration of PopPop's property

Monday we visited (Poppy's) Uncle Edgar and Aunt Mies in the desert (Yucca Valley). We almost lost Luke. Can you find him?

 Great-grand-nieces and nephews

The whole gang

Aunt Mies showing the kids around

Hi shadows!

Shiloh and the girls

Getting ready to leave. Uncle Edgar (who Siena called Uncle Ogre) is a VERY cool guy - notice the plane wing he is assembling in the background WITH NO BLUE PRINTS.

Our sweet ride

After leaving Yucca Valley (and stopping for date shakes) we headed for the motel in Riverside.

Sweet Sofia was a champ in the car!

 Motel = TV

Cousin Dallas's service

Reception

Cousin Don

Cousin Shawn

Uncle Chuck

And thus concluded our crazy trip. We arrived home late Tuesday night and Shiloh went to work on Wednesday!

I took pictures for the WCS Father-Daughter dance and Shiloh brought his two beauties. Siena is very into princesses these days and loved dressing up. She's wearing Sleeping Beauty shoes. She was excited to go "to the ball" like Cinderella and dance with the "beast" (Shiloh) like Belle. Oh boy.

These girls are going to be good friends!

Ruby doesn't get much blog attention, but we love her too. She's bulking up (90lbs) but is still small for a bullmastiff. She's also mellowing out. Yay! But she's no Trouble just yet. A few more years, I hear, before she fully forgoes chewing anything and everything when she's bored/neglected.

At the end of January we visited Shiloh's work in Marysville. This is his posh window office. Movin' up in the world... :) We had a great time making the rounds and showing off our babies, but I don't think Shiloh got as much work done as normal.

Coming Soon: February