Prepping for Santa!

On Christmas Eve Mia & Daddy prepped for Santa's arrival. We baked fresh M&M cookies for Santa, and left them by the fireplace with a note. Mia then set carrots on the front patio so that Santa's reindeer would have a snack while they waited on Jolly Saint Nick to shimmy down the chimney... She was very excited to find that all that remained on Christmas morning were scraps!

Christmas Morning!

Can you tell someone really liked their gift?! Mia got a lot of great gifts from all of her loving family, not to mention partaking in multiple holidays! Still, Christmas morning was something special... She got a guitar that she had been wanting, and she now formed a band with each member of the family playing a different role. I must say, Aubrey takes her back up dancer routine very seriously, generally spinning until she falls down... Christmas with kids is the best!

Sharing Gifts!

For all the fighting and craziness, Brandon & Aubrey have really learned to share & love each other. Christmas morning was definitely a time of learning to share... The excitement in their eyes was truly amazing!

First Night of Hanukkah!

Mia has learned so much this year about Judeism that she couldn't wait for the first night of Hanukkah! She's actually reciting prayers and singing Hewbrew songs that Mommy & Daddy have never heard... She was adamant about taking lead on lighting the Menorah. As much as she understands the logic & beliefs behind it all, make no mistake that she rushed through everything to get to her favorit part, the receiving of gifts! She's very big into Transformers this year... Go figure!

Hannukah Program!

Mia's class staged a program for the parents last week. Each student got to read a section on the history of the holidays, and then they all sang together. Our little angel was quite the performer!

Twin's Hanukkah Party!

The twins had a Hanukkah party at school with tons of sweet snacks! As you can tell, our little eaters weren't shy about shoveling down the traditional latke, followed by some frosted cookies & chocolate doughnuts... These kids sure do love their food!

Happy Puppy!

Mia's school has a big Hanukkah Festival every year that the kids love to attend. This year Doug & Heather were visiting, so their daughter's Zoe & Lilly got to attend with us. Mia had her face completely painted like a great big puppy dog! She was so proud, and had so much fun with her friends...

Mia's Prince!

Mia still spends a great deal of time playing with our neighbor's son, Easton. They've had a crush on eachother for the past few years, even picking out the home in our neighborhood that they plan to purchase and raise their family in... However, it wasn't until this picture that we realized how much he really means to her. You see, Mia hates the color pink, and is always the King, never the Queen. Yet on this particular day she dressed in pink and allowed him to be the King! What progress... :)

The Hanukkah Bush!

Being the greedy family that we are, we celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas and just about any other holiday that invovles excessive eating and the receiving of gifts! I mean giving... Mia absolutely loves picking out a tree, setting it up and loading it with decorations. With Hanukkah falling over Christmas this year, she's certain that the festivities will never end! She's certainly our little angel...

Growing So Fast!

The kids are growing so fast it's scary... When Mia falls asleep in our bed and I pick her up to take her back to her room, it amazes me that she's slung over my shoulder and her feet are hitting my legs! Our Meezers is quickly become an opinionated little girl who learns and knows things that continually amaze us. It's such a great experience! The twins are growing like weeds as well... They're starting to talk quite a bit more, and definitely know exactly what they like, and more importantly, what they dislike! Big Boy could set records for his ability to sleep anywhere, anytime, and for excessively long periods of time. In fact, you might notice he's asleep at the dinner table in this picture. Aubrey continues to be the sweetest little thing, with a ridiculous attachment to Momma! Well, that pretty much goes for all three of them. They sure don't lack for Momma love... The level of effort involved in raising these little weazels borders on absurd, but we wouldn't change it for the world!

Holiday Cards!

Mommy decided that this year we were going to take out one of Daddy's old cars, pile the family in, and take our holiday card photos! Well, the plan didn't go exactly as Mommy had hoped... Almost immediately we decided to remove the adults and see if that might help to get the kids focused. Nope, that didn't work either! We snapped several hundred photos, literally, and came away with some great pics of Mia. Any great pics of the twins you ask? Not so much... Oh well, maybe next year!

Rudolph!

Mommy bought cute little antlers for all the kids, that actually light up & blink! As usual, Aubs is the ham who wears them around smiling and posing... She is such a ham! But darn cute...

Holiday Lists!

This is the first year that Mia can fully appreciate the benefit of being a kid during the holidays! She has been busy making her Christmas & Hannukah lists for months... In fact, we can't get through a TV program without her rewinding to make sure Mommy & Daddy know that she absolutely must have the toy on the commercial she just saw! She's also taking her catalog shopping quite seriously... Here she is perusing catalogs with the support of her twin siblings!

LA Adventure!

This past weekend Momma & Mia had a girls weekend. They went to see Chrissy & Sascha in LA, while Daddy stayed home with the twins. Sascha is two years older then Mia, but they have a very tight bond. In fact, Sascha was the first little girl we met when we were exploring adopting from China. Unfortunately, Russell & Christine moved back to LA earlier this year... So now it takes a little more effort to see them, but you can tell by the smiles in the pictures that it's worth the effort!

Sleepy Sisters!

The girls never stopped all weekend long... Between cupcake decorating, petting zoos, trips to see Santa, and of course the random performances coreographed by Sascha, the girls were exhausted. Well, at least Mia was... It's so cute that even at almost 5 years old, Mia still sucks her middle three fingers when she gets absolutely exhausted. She sure slept well the night she returned from LA!

Santa Visit!

The girls even got to visit with Santa during their big LA weekend... Mia was sure to let him know that she wanted a puppy, which is never going to happen if Daddy has anything do do with it! So she settled on a Transformer toy... It's always cute to see a couple of Jewish Chinese girls sitting on Santa's lap!!

Fashion Queens!

One of Momma's girl friends is launching a clothing line and asked if Mia & Aubrey would be in her launch runway show! They were so cute all dressed up in tutus, butterfly wings and pigtails. Only problem was that Aubs was clearly against anything that involved instruction or supervision... So, Mia of course stole the show and worked the runway like a champ. Daddy's little cuties sure are something special!

Computer Geek!

Mia has become quite the little computer geek as of late! Ever since Daddy brought home a new tablet computer and loaded some children's games and websites, Mia is loving technology. She loves the math & reading apps, and it's surprising how much she is actually learning... Now if the computer could just teach her to pick up her toys!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We stayed home with the kids this year and had Grammy & Papa up for a few days of relaxing family time. They were extremely helpful as always, and the kids love having them around. In fact, when Papa walked in the house, Aubrey ran up to him and blurted out, "Hi Papa!". We were all shocked, as talking is a relatively new thing... We were joine by Aunt Cathy & Uncle Ryan, as well as some of our friends who just moved to Arizona from Israel. Great food, a relaxing day, and crazy loving kids everywhere!

The Place Setter!

Mia was the best helper this Thanksgiving! Her school had the kids each make a place setting template to assist in setting the table. It was a really cute idea, and Mia took her job very seriously! She was setting out her plates, arranging silverware, and extremely focused on making sure it was all correct. So sweet...

Horse Show!

One of Momma's friends is a horse veterinarian who was kind enough to invite us to a big horse show they hold each year in Scottsdale. Mia heard about the horse show and made certain we planned on attending... It was the first time the twins had been around horses in person, and they had a blast! We watched a few horse jumping competitions and watched Mia fall in love with horses. Plus, she learned about horse camp...

Cowgirl...

Aubrey is quickly turning into the biggest ham I know... Here is her best impersonation of a gun slinger!! Pretty scary, huh?!

Riding Camp!

Mia was so excited by the horses we saw at the show that she begged us to send her to horse camp! It just so happened they were offering a horse camp over the long Thanksgiving weekend. So.... Who are we to kill a kids dreams?! After shopping for a new pair of cowboy boots, Mia was off to camp! It's so amazing to see how confident she is at such a young age. We dropped her off at the farm, and she happily ran off with the other kids, yelling "See you later!" over her shoulder... When we picked her up she had all sorts of stories to excitedly share about trotting her pony & horse safety, and wanted us to be sure we knew his name was Leo. Now let's hope she discovers some cheaper hobbies! Her smile makes it all worth it...

Nay Nay!

The twins were mesmerized by the horses at Mia's riding camp! When we dropped her off for camp, they ran straight over to the horses and gazed in amazement... Gotta love their cowboy get up of jammies and Ugz!

Crazy Girl...

I'm not even going to try and explain this one... Suffice it to say this girl is crazy! Between the hair & the goggles, she's quite the spectacle. We love her, craziness and all...

The Puppet!

I still can't quite figure out why Brandon is so obsessed with an older sister who absolutely torments him... She clearly loves him, but continually tortures him! This was her response to Daddy asking her to give Big Boy a hug for the camera. Shortly after this photo was snapped his face began turning red... Even when being strangled he was smiling with love for his big sissy!

Rare Pose...

Brandon is such a boy... It's gets harder every day to actually get a picture of him! Aubrey will stop and say cheese the moment she sees the camera. But Brandon? Nope, he immediatley hides his face or runs away... He's a goof! But when we do capture a photo, the handsome little man never seems to fail to impress with his winning smile & beautiful blue eyes!

Happy Girl...

Boy, it's amazing what a few months can do... Before Aubs could walk she was really frustrated and cranky. Now, she's just a ball of joy and happiness! Here she is proudly displaying that she was able to undress herself right after Momma had just gotten her dressed... Yes, the dressing of children can take close to an hour with Momma chasing children in every different direction. It's rather entertaining!

Sunday Morning Football!!

Yes, we all look a little rough, but isn't that what Sunday mornings are all about?! Daddy makes it to the couch, gets a little football going, and shortly thereafter finds himself engulfed with lazy children looking for a little cuddle action... It's really very sweet! Big Boy is either chewing the leg off a chair, or searching for the love of his life, Momma!

Mr. Tantrum!

Here's Big Boy doing what he does best, throwing a tantrum! It's so funny to watch the various phases they go through. Thankfully, the twins seem to trade their quirks back and forth, rarely being trouble makers at the same time. Now that Aubrey has been walking, she's happy as could be and it's Brandon's turn to be whiney and needy... Funny thing is that their personalities are the exact opposite of what I expected. He is so aggressive and rough, and she is so sweet and dainty. However, when it comes to any kind of new adventure or daring ride, Aubrey can't wait to partake, while Big Boy runs to the safety of his Momma's arms and whines... He's quite the sissy, but we still love him to the moon!

Rain Dance!

The hot weather has finally subsided, and we've been rewarded with cool days, and even a few rain showers! Aubrey got very excited the first time she saw her big sister singing in the rain, and immediately got her rain coat... She's such a happy little girl and thoroughly enjoys every new experience!

Happy Halloween!!

Wow, it's hard to believe that this year was already our 5th Halloween with the midget! Every year is more fun with our little angel... This year Mia insisted on being a scary dragon. She was quite proud of her tail. As usual, Momma cooked about 10 gallons of her famous taco soup, and we hosted a party for the neighborhood. The big difference this year is that Mia was quite a bit more focused on accumulating maximum candy! After trick or treating a bit with all the kids, we put the twins down and Daddy & Mia went back out for some serious candy collecting... Mia was chasing her friends around in the driveway long after the trick or treating festivities ended. It's pretty impressive what sugar will do to a child!!

Candy Time!

The Twins got to trick or treat in style! Momma loaded them up in their cars, and Daddy pushed them house to house... I'm not really sure they had any idea of what the whole night was about. They were just happy that every neighbor on the street put candy in their Elmo buckets! Brandon got a chocolate sucker from his cousin Amanda, and spent his entire trick or treating adventure trying to figure out how to tear through the wrapper!

Mrs. Elmo!

The Twins are both obsessed with Elmo right now, so Momma hooked them up with some matching costumes! Sweet little Aubrey was so happy to play the role of Mrs. Elmo...

Mr. Elmo!

Big Boy was quite proud of his masculine Elmo costume! He looks like a character off the 'Sponge Bob Square Pants' show... That cute little face was smiling all night!

Pumpkin Carving!

In preparation for the holiday, Mia insisted that we carve a very intricate skull & crossbones pumpkin! She lost interest after about 3 minutes and left Daddy to do the hard work... Good thing she's so cute!

Disneyland!!

It's become a family tradition that we take Mia to Disney every October, as Halloween is her favorite holiday! This year Grammy & Papa were kind enough to arrange a trip for the five of us. Thankfully, Grandma & Grandpa were willing to drive in from Colorado and stay with the twins so we could enjoy our time away with Mia! It was an amazing weekend... We were in the park with Mia until after 11 pm on both Fri & Sat night!!! That is late for a little girl who normally goes to bed around 8 or 8:30. She was an absolute trooper! Long days of playing, leisurely mornings and incredible memories with our little angel. Momma spends so much time caring for all the kids these days that it was especially great to see her getting to relax & love on the midget! We had an absolute blast, but sure missed the twins... Thanks to two wonderful sets of grandparents we made some incrdible memories, and one little girl is extremely happy!

Quality Time!

It was so nice to get some quality time alone with the midget! We absolutely love & adore the twins, but sometimes miss the closeness of when it was just us and our little angel... Next year the twins will definitely be old enough to enjoy Disney with us, so this was sort of our last hurrah. What an amazing weekend of quality time for all of us...

Scary Dragon!

On Friday night they shut the park down early and reopened at 7 pm for a special night of trick or treating! Disney does an amazing job of decorating Main Street for the festivities, and they give out loads of candy all over the park... Mia has been anxiously anticipating the chance to wear her 'scary dragon' costume for months! She is expecially proud of her tail... Frightening, huh?!

Ketchup & The Dragon!

Mia & Papa got into the mood at for a little trick or treating at Disney! Needless to say, Papa was a celebrity for his inventive costume... Mia loved his enthusiasm!

Fire Station Visit!

This weekend we drove out to Globe, Arizona to take the kids to 'Apache Days'. This is an event where all of the remaining Apaches in the state come together for tribal dancing & singing. Mia was mesmerized by the festivites and is still talking about the outrageous tribal head dresses they wore for their ceremonial dances. On the way home we happened upon a fire station that was having an open house. The kids got to climb into a fire truck, and here they are aboard a helicopter! The high light for the children was watching the helicopter take off... It's such an amazing experience to expose the children to things they've never seen before.

First Day of School for Aubs!!

Well, the day finally arrived for our last child to begin going to school... She was a little slow in getting started walking, but boy is she making up for lost time! Aubrey hasn't gotten down and crawled a single time since she stood up and began walking a few weeks ago. Now that she's walking, it was time to join her siblings at school. And boy was she ready... She marched into that school with lunch bag in hand, ready to take charge. The best part was that she is so short that she had to drag her her lunch behind her! I'm happy to report that she had a fantastic first day and loves going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Handsome Devil...

Usually it's Mia's beauty that I'm espousing on this blog. However, I think this handsome young man deserves a little respect for his devilish way... What a cutie!

Nap Time!

The other day we were all playing in our 'family bed' during the mid afternoon. One minute we were all wrestling, the next minute Mommy & Big Boy were cuddled up and fast asleep... We crept out of the room and let them catch a badly needed cat nap! Aren't they sweet together?

The Fish Queen!

Mia is obsessed with gold fish. So much so that sometimes she dumps them all over herself! Ok, not really, but she sure enjoys those little crunchy things... Here she was right after she spilled a bag all over herself!

The Gang!

We are now clearly outnumbered by this roving band of crazy kids! Mia is the de facto leader, and makes certain to lead them towards trouble whenever possible... The twins are quite happy to defer to her, and in fact do their best to emulate her at every turn. They sure love their leader! So do we...

Intellectual Boy?!?!

I'm not sure who Big Boy is trying to fool, but we Lovell boys aren't known for our overwhelming intellectual prowess... Perhaps he'll be the first to change that! He sat down at Daddy's computer the other night and threw an absolute fit when anyone tried to prevent him from doing his work. What a ham this kid is!

Aubs Kisses!

Our sweet little angel just loves to give kisses! Only problem is that unlike her brother who gives sweet little kisses, she tries to shove her tongue in your mouth... She always finds her own path!

The Yarmulke Queen!

We all know how much Mia likes to pretend that she is a boy! Well, she took it to a new level last week at services. When she saw them passing out Yarmulkes to all the men & boys, she decided she absolutely must wear one... Who am I to ruin a little girls dreams?! So here she is sporting her beanie with her best friend Easton! Too cute...

Happy Holidays!

For the High Holidays we took the kids to Temple and then had a Tot Shabbat party in the auditorium. Mia had a blast dancing and singing along, while the twins... Oh yeah, they slept through the whole thing! You can see Big Boy lounging in his stroller above, next to his sister! It was amazingly loud in that room, and they snoozed through the whole thing... Those kids can sleep through anything!