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Here is a picture prior to Baby Orajel (teething numbing medication):

Here are some pictures AFTER baby orajel was used:

Cara is currently getting 3 molars and 2 bottom teeth. She is a crabby patty.

Also in these pictures she couldn't decide if she wanted to play outside or not. So she sat in the doorway until I made her come inside because I didn't want the heater to turn on.

Full Effect

Just in case you didn't really get the "experience" of Disneyland from my other blog post. (which you didn't! Because I hardly felt like I had been to disneyland with that!)

Here is the one ride we took a video on, hopefully it will bring you back to that magical place.

The happiest place on earth.

Wedding Day

Yesterday morning we were able to spend the morning with extended family. My cousin Keith got married to the beautiful "princess" Kelsey. I would like to think that my girls were perfect angels and everything went well, but they did make me miss wedding cake.

if you know me at all... I hate missing wedding cake!!

Here is Cara Kay, James, and Jenna Kay with Lindsay.

It does sound like they were pretty good for the cousins who were watching them while we were in the temple. At least they got a couple cute pictures.

I love this last picture for so many reasons. One because we all look ridiculous, two because it shows the craziness we go to as parents to keep our children entertained, three we are only holding the girls because I was a bad mom and didn't have them in warm clothes, and four because James and Bruce in the background are pretty awesome.

Black Friday Disneyland

Our black friday was wonderful- hardly any lines and no huge crowds. We started off with a bang- Straight out of the shoot down to Peter Pan. Then the carousel, dumbo, and its a small world. After that we went to toon town.

Did you know it is difficult to remember to take pictures when you have two kids??

Especially when one is riding on your back all day in the Ergo carrier. She actually fell asleep during the entire Jungle Cruise and lunch. (what a blessing!)

Here is Paca and Cara. Cara doesn't like many people besides her mommy... but it is fun when she does go to other people.

Some other rides we went on were pirates (of course!), Indian Jones, Buzz Lightyear, and we saw the Christmas Parade. Ryann and Cara wouldn't stop dancing for the parade. It was so much fun.

Here is our best attempt at a family picture. How do you convince an almost 4 year old that pictures are fun??

Daddy and Ryann went on the Train. This is- hands down- Ryann's favorite ride because of the Dinosaurs towards the end. So strange. Rich said she kept talking to all the little kids that sat down and was telling them about the dinosaurs.

Cara did occasionally get off of my back and into the stroller (or to run around with grandpa), and this was usually the only time I had free to pull out the camera.

My mom took about 100 more pictures on her phone- so I will get her to email me those so I can post them as well.

Thanks mom and dad for the wonderful trip! We had so much fun. We did miss all the other cousins though. Next time... right?

After this...

After this delicious Cherry pie (and many many others!)

We took a drive while I was wearing this bracelet

So we could visit the happiest place on earth!

Pictures to come soon

Thankful

I am thankful for backyards. Playing girls. Cooking food. Delicious pies. Messy faces and dirty hands. Full Bellies.

I am thankful for a husband who is involved in his girls lives. Who plays with them. Who makes me happy.

I am thankful for family. Uncles who serve on mission and uncles who play with my girls. I am thankful for prayers from my family in my/our behalf. Thankful for text messages from Aunties and friends.

I am thankful for the wonderful messages of thanksgiving on the internet and facebook.

I am thankful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the videos that they post. The videos that remind me daily about family and other important things in life.

I am thankful for my nuggets. They define me. They love me unconditionally. The are my world.

I am thankful to be able to jump into a car and go see my parents in a few hours. I am thankful for enjoying a delicious meal with individual martinellis! (sippy cups optional)

2 more sleeps!

2 more sleeps until Disneyland! Can you tell Ryann is excited?

She makes me take her picture about 30 times a day.

Then she has to see what every picture looks like after I take it.

You think she would start to smile instead of open her mouth as wide as possible.

Ryann has been using her paper chain countdown so she knows at all times how many more days until Disneyland.

On a side note- the pumpkin cheesecake I made was delicious.

Is delicious... I hope I don't finish it off tonight...

Handiwork

We all know that my family is super huge Giants fans (baseball people- world series champs!). Well, Rich's family are also super huge Giants fans as well.

This year for extended Hamilton Family pictures we are all wearing Giants gear. Ryann is the only one without a shirt or hat. Well, the time to purchase baseball gear in stores is over so I improvised.

I think it turned out pretty good- for puff paint.

You think you are a bigger giants fan? Check out the youtube video by ASHKON. Push pause at 53 seconds. Yup. That is my brother in the background. Awesome.

Daily Hike

You may or may not know that every time my dad is in town he goes for a jog. This jog starts out simple and pretty much 3-4 hours later my dad shows up- usually exhausted. From my house every day you can see these towers at South Mountain and my dad always makes this his goal.

Every time he comes to visit he tries to convince me to hike with him. Until now I thought he was crazy.

Until I started hiking south mountain every morning at 5:30am.

You heard me. 5:30 am. I love it. I have a little neck lamp that helps me guide the way and I have 2 or 3 others who hike with me every morning.

So whenever you are ready dad... I will be waiting to go hiking with you!

Cat Nap

Sometimes I wish I could just lie down and take a quick cat nap without anyone bugging me. I think I walked over tinkerbell like 5 times before I picked her up and put her back in the girls' room.

Since I had 2 doses of Harry Potter this weekend I missed out on some sleep and I had to bribe Rich by entertaining the girls on Saturday morning and letting him sleep until 9.

Whew... I need to sleep in until 9 one of these days.

Or just take a quick cat nap like Tinkerbell and hope no one wakes me up.

Business Expenses

I am trying to get Rich to submit all his expenses from his recent business trip.

You know, the one that turned into THIS

I am not sure how that will go- maybe they would get a tax write off?

disclaimer- we have insurance, it just hasn't processed through it yet. This won't be our actual bill. Granted- we will take donations just for fun.

SamMich

"Mom- for breakfast I want a sammich" (aka sandwich).

"What kind of sandwich do you want Ryann?"

"No mom- I will help you."

So she goes to the fridge and picks out a couple items. Then she asks for peanut butter as well.

And she poured her little heart and soul into making a sammich all by herself.

Guess what? She ate about 1/2 of the final product. She handed it over to me and said, "this is yucky mommy"

Yeah, I could have told her that.

Happy 29+2 Years!

Don't think this is late... I have been writing this post for a couple days now. I have also been searching for a good picture of Ashley- then I realized all the pictures I take when I am with Ashley are of Cara and Addie. So I decided against posting preggo pictures of us.I FOUND A GREAT ONE!

Happy Birthday (yesterday) to my sister Ashley.

We are so different but look some much the same.

Ashley is the one who can't stand a dirty/messy house. She used to pay me in makeup, jeans, or nordstroms shopping sprees to have me clean her house....... I think that ruined me. Maybe I don't clean my house very often because I am not getting a reward everytime I clean it. (A thought for another day)

I am slightly more laid back than Ashley... her intensity leads her to be incredible. Because of this she has acheived many things in her young 29+2 years. She is a charge nurse in labor and delivery. She is an excellent special care nursery nurse. She is a wonderful teacher. Her kids are well behaved. She never misses a birthday, anniversary, or special event. She tries to make sure everyone is involved and happy (whether they like it or not!).

I also love that Ashley wants what is best for her family. She may not know this, but I am jealous of her. Last time I talked to her she was still nursing her 16 month old and she was asking me how to wean her. I wish I still had that special bond and closeness with my Cara. (by the way- the world heath organization is recommending breastfeeding up to the age of 2!! So stop any weird thoughts. I personally recommend to breastfeed as long as the mother and baby want to after 1 year) It also shows how Ashley wants what is best for her family by how hard she works. She works night shifts so that she can be there to pick up her son from school. She even got him into the elementary school where all of us kids went! (Go WEST PARK EAGLES!)

Yes, Ashley and I are different, but we compliment each other so well. She always knows the right day to remind me to move back to Napa. She takes drastic measures to come visit me in Arizona (or get me to Napa) when it has been more than a couple months that we haven't seen each other. She is also one of the people I blog for. I blog so that my family never feels like they are missing a day without watching their little girls grow up.

I have watched Ashley grow to be the amazing woman and mother that she is today and I am so proud of her. I love that when I come to town we can just sit on the floor while our girls play (when I say play I really mean fight) and talk for hours. Then we both will take our girls and put them down for naps. I put mine in the crib and shut the door and she takes hers and snuggles her and whispers to her and rocks her until she falls asleep. Or sometimes she lets her skip naps! Like I said, so different, but equally wonderful in different ways.

I love that we swap stories and ideas. I love that I get phone calls after a rough shift at work. I love that if she is really busy I won't hear from her for a couple weeks and when we talk again we still know everything that is going on. I love that we discuss "honey-do" lists. I love that everyday I know she is doing her best to be a wonderful mother, wife, sister, daughter, and friend.

Thank you Ashley for being such a good example for me. I love you and I am so thankful that you are a wonderful Auntie for my sweet little girls.

And thanks for making me an Auntie too!

Rough Tumble

Ryann and Cara love the backyard. This weather in Phoenix has been so amazing that I just let them run free. They climb and jump and throw dirt and pick up feathers and push each other in the swings.

Both are learning how to ride their tricycles.

Which, I think I need to pump up some tires now that I mention it....

Obviously letting them have this freedom leads to some bumps and bruises.

We usually brush them off and say, "Good for you"

I did cuddle Cara pretty long after this recent spill.

It looks worse in person than in a picture.

She tripped over Ryann and hit the rocks. Hit the rocks hard, with her face. No hands were put out front to brace herself.

I also took this picture more than 24 hours after it happened, 24 hours after the ice (thank you for homemade boo boo bunnies!)

Morning Breakfast

I thought it would be extra special to let the girls eat breakfast together in front of the TV.

(yeah right! I let them do it almost every day!)

However, we needed daddy to intervene. Cara was bugging Ryann. She is totally the pesky little sister when she wants to be.

So to intervene he made a nice lazy divider and they weren't allowed to cross to the other side.

That quickly diverted their attention to playing with daddy's foot. Kind of gross if you ask me- breakfast, pick toe, breakfast, smell feet, breakfast, tickle feet... yeah, it is gross.

But they were having fun and they ate their breakfast.

Good thinking daddy.

p.s. Cara's blood count doesn't show any real problems. Some inflammatory markers were elevated, saying it might be viral, but we are still waiting on the blood culture and the chest x-ray. Her fever left for about 2 days but she had another one this morning.

Phoenix Suns

This past weekend Rich and I were able to score some sweet tickets to a Phoenix Suns game! It was so much fun to be in a box suite. We found out later that the tickets we got were usually $140 a piece.

We sported our orange and purple and cheered for Steve Nash! This is the one phoenix sports team that I am "allowed" to cheer for (according to Rich), since we never really were Warriors or Sacramento Kings fans.

The best part of all was that they had $1.50 hot dogs! What kind of professional sports team has $1.50 anything???

These shoes are made for walking...

I can't believe how fast my baby girl is growing up. Reading and wearing size 8 shoes already. Before I know it she will be taller than me, off to college and blah blah blah.

She is on day 2 of antibiotics. No update on the lab results- but the doctor said she would call this weekend if there was anything critical, so I am thinking we are okay. Cara is a fire cracker today- like normal! She also hasn't had a fever today (that I have noticed), but still having some funky diapers.

Don't mind her messy hair- we are just gearing up for the big harry potter movie coming out this week!!!

And finally I thought this video of Cara walking in my shoes was too cute to not post for auntie Erin.

Swing-tacular

It is fall.

We love our swingset.

I did add the "little" swing so that the girls can swing higher.

Come over and push us please.

Ryann and Cara are always looking for someone to push them.

Figure this out

After a low grade fever for over 2 weeks... it finally reached a temp of 101.5. Not a high fever, but enough to make some waves.

She had a straight cath to check for a urinary tract infection. Then she had her blood drawn. Tomorrow she gets a chest x-ray. She didn't cry for any of her tests so far. She has been a trooper through all of this.

Here she is enjoying (sort of) her time on the swing and showing off her smiley face bandage.

We start antibiotics in the morning. Wish us luck.

Something For Everyone

We got a sweet little package today from Grandma Mingo!

Rich had been requesting homemade cookies.

Rich's Mom's cookies are quite amazing. I have given up all hope of making a chocolate chip cookie as good as hers. This is one area I am more than happy to never try to win my husband's heart for.

And Rich knows this is the one area he doesn't have to pretend that I do it better than his mom.

:)

He is sure a good husband.

There was also 2 Giant's World Series Hats, a world series t-shirt, and 2 bottles of bubbles.

Like I said, a little something for everyone.

Packages are awesome.

I am not sure if I mentioned it, but my family is taking turns sending packages to my little brother who is on his mission. Packages are awesome.

Silly Girl

I took this cute photo just hours before she puked her guts out. Then she rubbed her puke in her eye.

I guess I am just going to blame it all on teething. How does that sound?

Oh yes- it was finally cool enough to wear feetie pajamas!

Duck Duck Goose

We have recently taught Ryann and Cara how to play "Duck Duck Goose"

However, when we play it, no matter who is "goose", everyone gets up and runs around and around in circles.

We usually play it with kids Cara's age. This is probably why they haven't grasped the concept yet.

So finally after enough duck duck goose, we decided to go to the duck pond and feed the ducks.

Cara was wonderfully cautious.

(Notice her toy story sticker from the doctor's office- Flu shot booster today)

Ryann spent a lot of time feeding the fish instead of the ducks. She actually would say, "Oh man!" when the duck got the bread instead of the fish.

Cara is wrapped in a blanket because it was actually chilly today in phoenix! (70 degrees)

Here is a picture of a crane that Ryann was trying to "catch." She kept calling it a flamingo.

What can I say? We love flamingos in our family. I think it is in the blood.

These are the days

Now that the weather is cooling down we like to spend all day long outside. Occasionally at the expense of a nap.

This day happened to be saturday when Ryann and Cara's friend from daycare had a birthday party. Ryann had her face painted as a cat. (we did remove the rest of her face paint from the couch!)

It is very rare when she falls asleep on the couch. It was sweet.

Craftiness Continues

I don't think "craftiness" is actually a word.

I am feeling pretty crafty on a budget. Here are my Thanksgiving costumes made out of felt, tacky glue, and some stuffed animals of Ryann's.

I sure love my pilgrims and Indian.

Homemade Cornucopia

The cornucopia (Latin: Cornu Copiae) is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC

I am not sure what gave me this idea... but I spent a couple days crocheting a homemade cornucopia. It is very homemade and rough, but I guess spending 0.79$ on the yarn and 0.89$ on the flowers I figure this was a pretty awesome Thanksgiving decoration. And yes, I am proud of it, even though it looks funny.

Ryann helped me fill it with her plastic play food and then we made some hand turkey's and Ryann colored them in.

I will have pictures tomorrow of my Pilgrim and Indian decorations tomorrow too!

I LOVE the holidays!

Thankful

I am thankful my husband is home safe and sound.

I also am thankful for this awesome Thanksgiving tree that was made by a good friend. I put a little note every day of something I am thankful for. At the end of the month I will pull them all out and celebrate all of the things I am thankful for.