January 21-27 {Highlights + Isabelle turns 8! + That Awkward Moment When You Show Up For A Concert A Day Late}

{Max at the vet.}

The week started off with two very sick boys -

Thomas and Max.

Poor Max had a skin infection on his tummy

and he had to go to the vet.

The Doctor gave him a shot and prescribed an antibiotic.

He's doing much better now!

Little Thomas had walking pneumonia and missed 

two more days of school.

It was rough... Thomas was really tired,

had a nasty cough and just wanted to sleep a lot.

It's sad when little ones are sick!

Thanks heavens he is better now!

{Isabelle on the morning of her birthday!}

The HIGHLIGHT of the week was 

my Princess Isabelle Grace turned 8!!

Eight! I have an eight year old!

It's great to be 8!!

We spent the whole entire day 

celebrating Isabelle non-stop.

I know that this is the BEST birthday

she has ever had, no question!

What an exciting and special time this is for

my Izzie Grace!!

Birthday cupcakes!!

I brought cupcakes into Isabelle's class at school.

The frosting and sprinkles were bright,

and the cupcakes were topped with:

shoes, purses, butterflies and dragonflies.

Very fitting for my birthday girl!

{Isabelle eating a cupcake at school}

{Cupcakes with a classmate!}

{So that's where my Christmas magnets went!}

Before we left the school,

Isabelle wanted to show me how she's decorated

the inside of her locker door.

{Nat and Thomas having a birthday cupcake at home}

After school I had to pick up a few things from 

Barnes and Noble,

and while I shopped

the kids had a lot of fun playing at the 

Lego table upstairs.

So much fun in fact it was hard getting them to leave!

{Me. Greg. Olivia. Stephanie. 

Sarah. Thomas sleeping. Nat. Isabelle}

The most special part of Isabelle's birthday is that

she shares it with my sister -

her Aunt Stephanie.

So every year we have double/"twin" birthday parties!

My mom was still in South Dakota with my grandma

for the double birthdays and my day had

an appointment

{we'll celebrate with them when everyone is back from SD}

so my wonderful Greg took

us all out to dinner at Benihana's downtown.

Thomas and Isabelle had never been there before,

and having the chef cook their food right in front

of them + the eggs rolling, flying shrimp, 

fire and juggling of the knives - - 

 they were mesmerized.

The food was so good too,

it's one of the most fun nights we have

ever had all together!

{Isabelle and Nat}

{The "twin" birthday girls and Sarah!}

{With four of my favorite people in the whole world!}

{Me & Mr. Handsome}

{All of us!}

At the end of dinner, Isabelle and Stephanie were sung to

and brought out ice-cream,

 and then we opened presents at the restaurant.

Isabelle was thrilled with her American Girl presents!

Anything American Girl is her favorite thing

in the world!

Thomas and I gave her oodles of doll clothes

for Marie-Grace and Cecile,

Greg and Nat gave her American Girl books,

and Olivia gave her the American Girl dog Pepper.

Tonight was quite the birthday bash at Benihana's!!

Now Isabelle is looking forward to her upcoming

8th birthday party at the Lion House!

It is something I have wanted to do for her

when she turned 8 ever since she was born 

{for real}

so both Isabelle and I are very excited

for this next event!

{Jailbird Max}

On Friday Greg and I put Max in his kennel and the

three of us drove up to Heber for the night.

While we had a lot of fun up in the mountains

for the evening,

we completely missed the George Strait Concert

that Greg bought me tickets to for my birthday.

Suite tickets.

We both thought the concert was on Saturday...

So on Saturday night,

{"concert night"}

Greg and I went out for sushi downtown and then

walked over to the Delta Center

Energy Solutions Arena and were confused

by the lack of country radio stations and 

rednecks crowds and were wondering why

the people walking in with us were wearing

Jazz jerseys instead of cowboy hats. 

When we got up to the door, the guy scanned 

our tickets and:

FAIL!!

Then we looked down, saw the date,

and saw that the concert was the night before

and it was just a Jazz game that evening.

I wanted to die, and I felt like crying and

eventually I did start crying.

I was completely sad and devastated.

I had so been looking to seeing George Strait

{it's his final tour!}

for months and months now.

Luckily, Salt Lake was not George's final

city to perform in.

Greg found tickets to an upcoming show online 

and then booked two plane tickets 

half-way across the country so we I can see 

The King of Country before

The Cowboy {officially} Rides Away.

So, it really was that awkward moment when we

showed up for a concert a day late.

If it weren't his farewell tour I wouldn't

care as much,

but he is my favorite, and traveling to the mid-west

in the middle of winter to hear him perform

THIS song alone is so, so worth it.

December 17-23 {Highlights}

Decorating the Christmas tree!

Isabelle Grace decorates!

Nat decorates!

Thomas decorates!

Thomas put the ornaments on the tree together 

in a big group down at the bottom,

 because he thought the ornaments were "friends" 

would want to be together. 

{He is the sweetest boy!}

I wore my new Eiffel Tower earrings

from Stacie and Partick.

LOVE.

Thomas got back the ceramic airplane he painted 

at the birthday party he went to at Color Me Mine.

It went strait into the curio cabinet.

Greg and I {and Isabelle} went on our 

first official"Costco trip."

Greg hates Costco. 

I love Costco.

After listening to Greg rant about American Consumerism

for a good hour, I had him put me on his Costco card

so I can go on future shopping expeditions alone.

So now I have a Costco card again;

its been three years since I last had one.

It feels good to be back.

The kids decided they wanted home lunch at school...

and so home lunch they had!

Greg and I went to a Les Miserables

pre-screening with my mom and dad

a whole week early.

I loved it.

I love the story,

I love the music,

and I love Russell Crowe.

{He can act and sing! 

Russell Crowe is one of my favorites!}

Isabelle made me a Christmas present at school,

{quite the wrapping job, isn't it? Glitter galore!!}

and she was so excited to give it to me

she couldn't wait until Christmas day and

insisted that I open it now...

Isabelle made me a beautifully detailed Christmas tree 

ornament with her picture in the middle. 

LOVE!

It went strait on the Christmas tree.

Homemade presents from my children are always the best.

They're priceless.

{Shopping with Peter, Paul and Mary = bad idea}

Greg and I and all the kids met up with my family 

downtown at City Creek to see the lights 

and do some Christmas shopping.

It was pretty hectic, but the lights were beautiful.

And the kids had fun.

Greg and me in front of the giant Christmas tree 

at City Creek.

{Dad. Stephanie. Sarah. Mom}

{Sarah. Isabelle. Stephanie}

{At Temple Square}

{Thomas-Bear in the Tabernacle}

{Nat. Isabelle. Thomas}

In front of the Christmas tree in the

Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

On the last day of school before winter break,

both Thomas and Isabelle had performances

parents were invited to.

The kindergartners in Thomas' class dressed 

like little Swedish children and held candles

as they sang Christmas carols.

It was beyond cute.

I wish I could dress Thomas this way,

all day, everyday, forever.

{Thomas & Mommy}

Thomas made me this calendar for Christmas

where his hand prints make up pictures

for each month of the year.

LOVE!

Isabelle's class did theater readings,

and Isabelle's group presented Cinderella -

and Isabelle was Cinderella

{or course!}

She read her lines perfectly!

It was so fun to listen to her group read their parts

and tell the story of Cinderella.

I am so proud of my girl!

Princess Isabelle playing the part of...

a princess!

:: THE END ::

December 3-9 {Highlights}

The highlight of the month so far has been

 the advent calendars - for real.

The ones with the chocolates behind the doors.

Grandma and Grandpa have been buying them for

Thomas and Isabelle every year since birth,

and it's the first thing the kids do every morning, 

the second they get out of bed.

Sweetheart Thomas all snugly in his bathrobe,

after his nighttime bath,

just before bedtime.

Greg and I saw the movie Lincoln.

It was amazing,

there are no words.

Definitely one of the best movies we've seen this year!

I loved it, I want to see it again,

and it really made me want to go back to

Washington D.C.

On Thursday we all,

as in Greg + Shannon + kids

went to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory

in Trolley Square.

The kids like it because it's so "fancy" inside

{crushed red velvet has that effect}

and their spumoni ice-cream is pretty delicious.

As always, dinner out with kids is an event,

and a good reminder of why it's better to eat at home.

Not in public.

Away from others.

Behind closed doors.

Case in point,

Isabelle playing with her straw and spoon,

as her food sits untouched on her plate.

But at least the spumoni is gone.

On Friday night Thomas went to a birthday party 

for his little friend Sidney at Color Me Mine!

Thomas got to paint an airplane,

eat pizza, and have a fun-filled night with

his friends from school.

***

Unfortunately, strep throat befell me last week

{Not a highlight. At one point I was convinced I was 

actually dying, and I am still way sick with it.

Strep throat is so bad. Ouch.}

Anyways, when the weekend came around,

Greg, my mom, and sisters Stephanie and Sarah

were so wonderful to step in and not only take

care of Thomas and Isabelle,

but give them one of the most fun and

memorable weekends they have ever had.

I am so lucky to have such an incredible fiancé and family,

and I was reminded of that this weekend.

I don't know what I would do without them!

On Saturday Greg took Nat and Thomas skiing at Brighton.

Thomas had never been skiing before,

so Saturday was his first time ever!

He had the time of his life!

It was really good for Thomas to have a "boys only"

day with Greg and Nat doing something sporty,

because Thomas is one active little guy.

Thomas spent half the day with Greg
teaching him how to ski,

and the other half in ski school where he learned how to

stop, make a snake, make a pizza,

and get on and off the lift all by himself.

Thomas passed his ski class with flying colors and is 

officially a Brighton Ripper!

Nat and Thomas are a couple of pro-skiers!

Thomas felt really proud to go to school today with a

Brighton ski pass attached to the zipper on his coat.

He can't wait to hit the slopes again!

{Thomas. Nat. Callie. Abby}

Lunch in the lodge at Brighton - pizza!

Because skiing really works up an appetite!

Thank you, Greg, for teaching my boy how to ski.
He had so much fun with you and Nat on Saturday!
You are the best and I love you.

Meanwhile, Isabelle Grace was having the time of her life 

having a "girls weekend" with her Grandma and Aunts.

Aunt Sarah took her to the U to a ballet performance,

and afterward they went to Dan's so Isabelle could

decorate a sugar cookie.

Dinner date night!

Isabelle had a dinner date at Cafe Rio with

Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Alan.

My kids really do have the best
aunts and uncles ever!

Thank you, family, for doing so many fun things with
Isabelle over the weekend... she had so much fun,
in fact, she didn't want to come home!
You are the greatest and I love you.

Uncle Alan bought Isabelle a snow shovel,

just her size.

Now he has a little helper with the driveway!

{So I guess it was kind of a gift for her for him...}

Little boy, big weekend!

Last night after his bath, Thomas was so exhausted he

fell asleep on the floor in the hallway.

The poor thing couldn't even make it the four extra feet

to his bed.

A miserable weekend for me,

but a wonderful weekend for the kids.

Now on to me feeling better...
because staying in bed gets old really fast.

{Hopefully that at least explains my high activity
on Pinterest over the weekend though...}

::  THE END  ::