Chandler Christmas Tree Lighting 2009

So the City of Chandler Christmas Tree Lighting event is one of my favorites every year. This is when my kids see Santa and get photos taken. They have bounce houses and performers, food, a parade etc. But this year I did not enjoy it at all. We needed to get their earlier and that was a big mistake of ours. By the time we waited in line to see Santa we didn't have a lot of time left to do everything that Ella wanted to do before the parade started. Ella watched the dance troops perform and was mesmerized. She kept moving away from me closer and closer to the stage till she was sitting on the ground right in front of it staring up in awe. After that we tried to get some food but just waiting in line for Hot Chocolate took over 30 minutes!!! With three Hot Chocolates, my sister and her friend Liz who finally met up with me in line, three kids and a wagon we were struggling to get access to the street just to cross it so we could meet up with Jimmy and Ryen. People were blocking all parts of the street with their chairs for the parade but that meant even people trying to leave couldn't. Not one person would move their chairs to help me get to the street for fear I was going to try to take their spot. I finally push my way to the front and the lady tells me sorry Ma'am I can't let you cross the street the parade is about to start.

Jimmy and Ryen were on the other side. I was so stressed out that we were going to be separated for all of the parade and we weren't even sure we were staying for the whole thing. Ella was disappointed that we had no time to bounce in the bounce houses. I had to alk a half mile up the street and cross the street with Ella leaving my sister/friend/kids and wagon behind. By the time I met up with Jimmy my frustration was at an all time high. Then I tried to give Ella a pony ride before we left only to have the guy tell us the ponys get cranky during the parade and no rides will happen till it is over. She was so bummed she had to miss that too! Poor thing. But we got some cute photos and Ryen had a blast! :) Here are the few photos I took. Next year we are there as soon as it starts! >;)

PS My girls wore matching sweaters and hats that their Auntie Lisa and Uncle Dave bought them. SO CUTE! Except Ryen looked like a boy wearing Mommy's favorite color... BLUE!




And our biggest reason for going. Bringing our kids to see Santa. Below are our photos with Santa. Here Santa was telling Ella to be a good girl for Mommy and Daddy and asking her what she wants. So cute. I love taking her to see Santa. She has LOVED him since she was a baby. NEVER cried. EVER!



Here are the souvenir photos we got to take home... See you next year (EARLY!)

Girls Dinner/Xmas Exchange

(most of these photos came out like crap cause of an incorrect setting on my camera so sorry in advance that they look all snowy!) Here goes...

My neighborhood kicks butt! We have so many cool families in here and we have all become good friends. Us Moms get together once a year for a Christmas dinner and have a Secret Santa gift exchange. We look forward to it each year. This year we had a great dinner at Ling and Louie's gourmet Asian at the newly built Wild Horse Pass Casino in Chandler. The food was awesome. Thanks to my bud Deanna, I experienced my FIRST Sake Bomber (yeah) and as usual we had some laughs over our gift exchange. The best was when Kathryn gave Teresa her gift and said, I saw this and thought of you cause I know you love bling. And she gave her this hat below...



None of us were sure what to think but we were wondering is she for real or was that a joke? Teresa looked at like and was like Wow... I do like my bling... what she left out was the "BUT this is ridiculous" part. Probably wanted to spare Kathryn's feelings. Jackie could barely keep a straight face (see below)



Luckily that was not her real gift and Kathryn was pulling a joke on us all. Her real hat was adorable! After dinner, some got drinks, some got their gambling on (I think Crissy even won $100!) and then we entered this "Vegas style" nightclub for dancing. We have never danced this hard ever for a MNO. Or maybe just me! Ha ha! But we had so much fun! Here are the pics! Here's to another great year with you ladies and I cant wait for the more good times in 2010!

PS: Next year's girls dinner and Xmas exchange will be held whenever Ms Deanna comes back to the States from Singapore. I don't care if it is the middle of July! LOL... but I am pretty confident The Dowdy's will be coming home for Christmas next year. XOXO





and lastly my favorite photos of the night...

Our Winter Family Photo Shoot

Recently, we had so many cute photos with our friend Jessica who does photography on the side. Those of you who got our Christmas booklet (i mean card) will understand that it was hard for us to choose our favorites. Here is our photo shoot below. Thanks Jessica for some awesome photos. If any of my local friends would like her info here is her email address. I highly recommend her. She is a great girl. Jessica Stoker: jmiller_12@msn.com








For 2010 we are so excited that we won a photo shoot with Andria of Andria May Photography. We also will be having our friend Tanya shoot us next year as well! I love having all these photographer friends who are all so talented and help me capture my beautiful family and create lasting memories.

Let the festivities begin!

The Carillis have started getting in the Christmas Spirit over here a little more lately thanks to some fun Christmas activities. You should see our social calendar this month, it is laughable how many Christmas things we are trying to squeeze into a 25 day span! Ha ha! But we love it and so do the kids. Here are some photos of Ryen getting in the Christmas spirit!



Yesterday we took the kids to a free event at Tumbleweed Rec Center where Ella has pre-school. There was a Christmas expo and Frosty the snowman was there for photos, as was a bounce house. Here are photos of the kids meeting Frosty. Ryen was fascinated and laughing and walked right up to Frosty and started petting him. She only got mad and started crying when frosty put one of his giant paws around her. Then she was like uh..no! But she didn't even freak out she just started whining and walking away from him. But later she kept going back to him and kept trying to sneak in other people's photos. Here is their photo shoot with Frosty!



Today we went to make Gingerbread Houses with friends. Here are those photos. We had a great time. Tomorrow more festivities and Saturday is the big event. Chandler's Christmas Tree Lighting and parade! Yeah!

Happy Thanksgiving Photos 2009

Having my sister out here for Thanksgiving was the 2nd time in 5 years I was able to be around family on this day. My older sister came out in 2004 for our 1st Thanksgiving in Arizona, and we haven't had family here for Thanksgiving since. It was great. Because Lori and her boyfriend David share one car right now and live out in San Tan Valley, I had David drop Lori and my neice Livvie off (and their two doggies) here on his way to work. They arrived in PJs breakfast in hand before 9:45am.

The girls played all day. They actually played pretty good overall having very few fights and Ella only socked Livvie like 3 times which is a good day for those two! LOL. They fight like Sisters. Anyhow Lori hugged and kissed on Ryen all day and threatened to kidnap her. Lori and I hung around with the girls for a while. We let them color with markers, took them on a bike ride, play with a new spinning paint toy our friend Tanya got Ella for her birthday, and just overall had a real fun day. My girls were wearing their matching custom made Turkey shirts from my super talented friend Megan. (each with their own little rhinestone "E" and "R" on the turkey's belly and matching hair bows! Hee hee!)

I baked a lasagna that was ready for lunch at 11 and then cooked a full turkey meal with all the fixings that we had around 3ish. It was only the second time I cooked a full turkey dinner and Jimmy really liked all of it except the burnt biscuits! OOooops! No offense to my Mom but nobody taught me how to burn the bottom of biscuits better than her! LOL. Love you Mom. ;) David met up with us after work and ate some leftovers we heated up for him.

Anyhow afterward we tried to take some photos in front of my tree but it looks more like Christmas then Thanksgiving in these pictures (the only downside I can find to putting your tree up so early). We all had a great time and even the four doggies had fun playing, chasing, barking and humping each other all over my house. (oh and leaving black greasy oily paw prints all over my carpet because they kept stepping in the door jam instead of over it when they went in and out the sliding door! Oy Vey! Was on my hands and knees scrubbing it out of the carpet till my arms wanted to fall off) Dogs will be dogs. Sigh

Here are the photos! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble. PS Look at my gorgeous new Christmas Tree! Yeah...

Ella's Birthday Photos

It dawned on me recently that I never posted the photos from Ella's birthday week. Supermom must have been paralyzed by some Kryptonite to forget something like that?!! We had two parties for Ella. One was with our neighborhood friends at our park. We had it on her actual birthday 11/2 and all the kids met up to play at the playground. We had pizza, and hello kitty cupcakes that Ella picked out at the store, and then presents! It was great. Thanks to all our neighbors who came out to help us celebrate after school. Here are some photos:



We also had a party with our playgroup besties on Saturday at Peter Piper Pizza. It was a princess themed party and all the girls were invited to wear a princess dress to the party along with Ella. It was so cute to see all the princesses walking around. People were smiling and pointing at them as they walked by. So adorable. We had a great time and Ella LOVED it! My favorite part was letting all the girls take all the tissue paper from all the gifts and throw it up in the air over and over and let it rain down on them. It was so colorful and there was so much of it. Even the babies were mesmerized! :) Thanks to all our friends who made it out. Here are some photos:




Happy Birthday Ella!

There is nothing like Sisters!

Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there. ~Amy Li



A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garretty



The best thing about having a sister was that I always had a friend. ~Cali Rae Turner



I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old toys and clothes and has to go out and buy new ones. ~Author unknown, (attributed to a 4-year-old)

Happy 3rd Birthday Princess Ella!!

I will never forget the day our beautiful Ella came into our lives. She was challenging us right from the start. First after a 19 hour labor, we had to push for 3 hours for her to join us. (stubborn already maybe??) I will never forget 2:17pm on November 2nd. The moment of hearing her cry and the feeling of relief that is was over. The pregnancy, the waiting, the anticipation, the wondering, the anxiety. Now I get to see my beautiful baby's face and start the wild crazy anxiety filled ride of Parenthood.



I'll never forget my shock at how big you were. Almost 8.10??? And how long you were- 21.5 inches! You also had the biggest newborn feet I had ever seen! a size 1.5!! The nurses (and your Auntie Lisa) were calling you flipper. No wonder I was uncomfortable!! When I got to hold you for the first time, I broke down with the most raw emotion I have ever experienced.



I'll never forget the nurse saying we have to go, and grabbing you out of my arms and running with you down the hallway. I'll never forget holding your Daddy's hand as they told us you had suffered some trauma during the delivery and that you couldn't breathe on your own. I'll never forget the look on your Daddy's face when he thought he was about to lose yet another person he loved in this world, or the fear in his voice when he asked the doctor if you were going to survive. The doctor just looked at us and said, I can't guarantee that. The first 48 hours will be critical. About 2 hours later they wheeled you into my hospital room in a large plastic capsule and the helicopter flight crew told me they were taking you to a different hospital so you could get the care you needed. They raised my bed about 6 ft off the ground so that I could peek in at you and touch your little fingers and whisper goodbye before you left and tell you to be brave and that Mommy loved you and would be with you as soon as I could.



By the time I got out of the hospital and raced to see you at Banner Desert, Daddy was sitting with you and had already brought you a stuffed doggy to keep you from getting lonely. You spent 11 days in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit at Banner Desert Hospital. Mommy and Daddy (and Nana and Grandpa and Auntie Lisa) visited you multiple times a day. It was so hard leaving you to go home each time. It was even harder spending my days and nights at home looking at an empty nursery and an empty belly.




The NICU is an interesting place. I would stand there feeling sorry for myself only to hear the doctors break the news to some parents that their baby didn't make it. Or to see a mother showering and brushing her teeth after spending all night with her baby who had been in the NICU so long he was in a real crib and was standing up in it. And I thought about all the other parents whose babies were never going to come home and I decided right then and there to stop feeling sorry for myself and to be thankful that my baby was going to make it. And make it you did!



Not only did you make it, my angel, but you have far exceeded every expectation I have ever had about children! From walking at 10mos to talking at 12mos to singing entire nursery rhymes at 18mos to starting your terrible twos at 19 mos. To becoming a big sister, to potty training, to starting pre-school, and oh yes, to starting your three's early too! You keep us on our toes so much. Thank you for teaching me how to be a Mom, how to love unconditionally, and BE LOVED unconditionally. Thank you for letting me experience the joys of my own childhood ALL OVER AGAIN by seeing the excitement and the wonder and amazement in your own eyes. Thank you for being so mature, and so bright, and so much older than your actual age, but staying my baby and staying so needy on me at the same time. Thank you for being good to your friends and for being a good Big Sister to Ryen. There was a time I couldn't imagine you in my life and now I cant imagine what my life would be like without you.

Finally, here is an alphabet for you to read one day my love and it describes you as you are right now at age three:

A- Audacious
B- Beautiful
C- Caring
D- Difficult
E- Engaging
F- FUNNY
G- Good Natured
H- High Maintenance
I- Intelligent
J- Jealous
K- Kind
L- Laughable
M- Mature
N- Needy
O- Obsessive Compulsive
P- Playful
Q- Queen of DRAMA
R- Ridiculous
S- SMART
T- Tiring
U- Unique
V- Vulnerable
W- Wide-eyed
X- X-HAUSTING! lol
Y- Youthful
Z- Zany