Tia

Tia is our neighborhood dog.  She is so good with the kids-loves to give big wet kisses to them!  She makes the kids so happy with her unconditional love!  That is why dogs rock!

Bye Bye Christmas Tree

This is how we get rid of our Christmas trees!  Much easier then when it arrives!

Great Grandma 2013 Moments

Zackary is lucky that he might remember these precious moments with his Great Grandmas.  I remember my ProBaba and those memories I hold close.  Zackary is very connected with his "GG"-above.  Emeline loves to dance with her.  It's really sweet.  Living with her has helped each of them develop more compassion and gentleness with the elderly, and they aren't afraid.  ProBaba, below, gets visits a lot from Emeline.  Zackary is usually in school when we go visit her, but Zackary has fun visiting her as well.  Enjoy each moment.

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013 with the Zotovich's!  Good times!  Here are all of your second cousins and your aunt and 2 uncles on mommies side.

The Excitement was surrounding our home!  Christmas Morning had come!!!  With Pj's on we headed to the prime Santa scene...what did he leave us? Well Emme got a slide!  Zackary got drums!  And they both were equally in heaven.  There were many more gifts to open but after these two biggies there were satisfied!  So we didn't push it...we had breakfast and then Ben and I opened up our gifts to each other!  Fun!

Eventually we got around to our stockings and all the other gifts.  It looked like a bomb exploded in here after opening up everything...I loved it!

Time to head off to our Christmas dinner at my Uncle Steve's house.  Aren't these two cute!

Pictures with Baba...sweet.

I love you two so much.  Merry Christmas.  You are my best gifts ever.

Bubbles

Charles came over with his family and brought some presents for the kids.  One was a bubble machine and the kids wanted it open with urgency!  What better place to chase bubbles than Grandma's backyard.  "GG" was there too watching all the excitement.  

I love this picture below.  Zackary was really into catching that bubble up high!  The bubble machine like most only lasted a couple of months, but it gave us some smiles!

The First Steps

Every once in awhile I have this overpowering surreal moment...and finding Zackary sitting quietly, calmly, reading one of my stepdad's books was one of them.  These are the stepping stones to his life...learning to read and igniting passions for travels and the wonders of the world.  Love.

Personality in this One!

Emeline is constantly bringing a huge smile to our face.  She just looks cute in anything she wears, anything she sits on and anything she is playing with.  She loved my old tricycle and as long as she could she used it.  Flashback to 34 years ago and it's me.

She loves to wrap herself up in blankets and cuddle.  If Mommy or Daddy are laying down she finds us and joins!  I love the cuddle moments.

She is literally better at my i-pad then I am.  Not sure if that is a good thing but I am glad she is smart, and will be right there with everyone else technology wise as she grows up in this era.

Santa Scary or Sweet?

Emeline was so excited to meet Santa and take a picture with him and her brother.  Ya not so much in person...she literally freaked out...so scared.  Santa did good though, tried hard to entice her with a Christmas song, toys and just slowly feeling safe, but that would have taken forever and there was a long line.  So he just held on tight and the picture turned out perfect.  I would not want to take away from the moment that really happened, and this picture touches my heart...I love it.
Zackary looks so angelic, happy and comfortable.  Santa and Zackary had a chat after about what Zackary wanted for Christmas...it was quite lovely as the Santa's in the past haven't spent this much detailed time with my kids.  Zackary even was holding his hand, and enjoying every moment even with his sister crying.  Thanks Santa for the perfect magical Christmas picture.

Heaven?

If this is what heaven looks like, I am in!  Of my 10 years living at the beach, this is probably the prettiest sunset I have ever seen.  The clouds were rippling in covered in all different colors of yellow and red and orange.  Breathtaking moment.  Thank you God!