So wowza. I'm posting our December post and its nearly February real time. December was a great December. We stayed close to home all month with family and friends. James and I were so effected by the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton Connecticut that I think it gave an especially quiet, humble tone to our holiday season. With a little extra gratitude that I hope to carry the whole year through.
Peace on Earth, friends.
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| My dress up queen. In her Christmas dress from two years ago. Size 12m. Might even be 6month. |
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| Just a desert December morning. Coffee, books, sunshine. |
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| Fireman Will reporting for duty at Uncle Ians. Doing some emergency raking. |
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| Mary Coyle ice cream after the annual holiday light parade close to Uncle Ians. A table of the besties. |
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| Long wait for dessert = all star Dana teaching the kids to make paper airplanes. |
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| This is the look of a boy who sees his ice cream coming. |
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| Boys and comics. |
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| Will working on a "tool" project. Leaf blower, yard stick, safety goggles. |
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| The Gentry's brought my Midwest, German St Nick tradition to Arizona. Turns out, a foreign concept here. St Nick came with a couple treats, new pj's, clementines and walnuts. In true St Nick style. |
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| Snuggle read. |
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| Leaf running = pure joy |
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| As does the tossing. |
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| Picking out our first real Christmas tree at a local Phoenix farmers market. Tree farmer from Oregon comes down every year to share his beauties. |
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| Dad-son twins. |
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| Boy scout hubby rigs tree to Subaru. We love rigging stuff to Suby. |
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| Koren BBQ with friends. And our iPhone. |
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| Master tree decorators. |
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| Zoolights. |
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| Zoolights extended family edition. Do I even see a Grandpa in there?! |
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| Night time zoo carousal is magical. |
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| Will on elephant. |
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| Ada and Grandpa on dragon. |
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| Roar to another great year! |
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| Goofin' around with Grandpa. |
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| We love his stories. |
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| Grandpa and dragon playing a game I surely don't understand. |
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| Firefighter and his hose. |
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| At the mall to meet Santa. And scored some free mags! |
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| Keep up Grandpa! |
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| All happies. |
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| Reindeer ears. |
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| Walk with my lovely family. |
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| I love catching Will like this. He got this cushion out, piled up some new library books and had a good sit. |
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| The ever entertaining Ada's "cheese" face. |
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| Rain "cheese". |
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| Christmas cheer. Baking cookie party. Dana was in charge. |
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| Joy. |
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| Joy on sugar. Check out that cookie decor! |
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| Sneak a bite. And where did everyones clothes go, BTW?! |
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| Downtime and Grandma and Chips holiday party. |
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| Grandma snuggles. |
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| Smarties. Check. Safety goggles. Check. |
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| A dragon reading break. |
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| Christmas easel from Tia and AJ. The present swarm began! |
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| Will posing with his chalk. Thanks Tia and Ah-Jee! |
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| Gingerbread train making with Tia. Tia struggling with the 10-year old directions ;) |
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| Gingerbread pros! |
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| Wills decorating contribution was "accidentally" ingested. Sticky lips as evidence. |
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| As usual, momma and Tia last people standing at the kid craft corner. We killed that gingerbread train! |
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| Ada and momma baking cookies for Santa Christmas eve. |
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| Christmas morning tree. |
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| Ada got her baby. She named her "love", true story. |
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| And Will got his Daisy Duck. Could never capture the joy on his face when he opened her Christmas morning. They've been best buds ever since. |
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| Needing a present-opening break. Ada also probably moderately ill. This was the beginning of our winter germ spreading and Casa de Gentry. |
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| Daisy Duck in a Toolbox by Papa. |
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| Love's cradle made by request from Papa. |
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| Exhibit A of Ada's viral goo. Her bed and all Christmas toys were piled on top of her on the couch by like 8am. |
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| Christmas muffins, toys, dragon pants, naturally. |
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| Christmas dinner at our house this year just with Tia, AJ, Grandma, Chip, and Aunt Carolyn. |
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| Will and Daisy's Christmas photo. |
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| Happiness is a full kitchen. |
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| AJ and Rach making infamous Emanuele family Christmas calamari. So delicious and hope a new multi-family tradition he can share with us each year! |
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| More tools?! More safety goggles!? Two points Chip and Grandma! |
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| Christmas sharing. Will manning the princess bubble machine and Ada popping bubbles with Wills new drill. |
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| Cinderella dress from Godmother Auntie Sara. That's the money smile right there! |
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| Quiet morning with Grandma at Maya's farm. |
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| Hot chocolate to boot. |
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| Also a special holiday treat meeting the Doneski ladies and Grandma at the Arizona Puppet Theaters performance of Cinderella. |
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| Anxiously awaiting showtime. |
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| Peter Piper Pizza after the show. Best. Parents. Ever. :) |
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| Pizza? Carousal? Pizza? Carousal? BOTH! |
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| Cheers to eggnog sampler! |
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| We rounded out December by taking the kids to Flagstaff to see the snow. Beautiful. And cold. |
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| Hot chocolate break. |
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| This is what going out to eat looks like with two nearly three year olds. |
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| And last, but not least, all packed up on our way to Grandma and Chips for another New Years Eve sleepover! |
