This year was a true labor of love.  The boys (and this mostly includes MIKE) have been excited about having bunk beds in their room.  They have some friends that have a basketball hoop in their room, and they were all sold on the idea.

Well, in true Marnee Marriott fashion, you can’t just get a new bed… you have to go for new floors, paint, decor… and if that isn’t enough keep it a complete surprise from the kids for a Christmas gift.

So, with the help of my mom (making these gorgeous pillows), my sister and her boyfriend (watching the kids for 2 nights) and Mike (staying up with me for 3 nights straight), we pulled off a complete demolition, installed new floor, painted, built furniture, and decorated and all without the least bit of suspicion from the boys.

The room looked like this on Monday afternoon:

Monday night the kids received a letter from Santa:

The boys thought that was the coolest thing EVER!  They happily “camped” out in our bedroom in sleeping bags while Mike and I took down furniture, painted, and locked the room up with signs on the door about elves working, with ribbon, wrapping paper, and Christmas music coming out from the bedrooms.

The next day, Parker exclaimed that the elves must be really busy because it smelt like wood and paint!  They had lots of fun guessing what kinds of toys the elves were making for all the kids in our neighborhood…

They went to my sister’s that afternoon and spent 2 nights there while we busily worked to transform the room.  We sent updates about reindeer sightings in our backyard… lots of loud noises coming from the rooms, etc.

Mike and I surprisingly made it through the whole floor install without a single fight or argument!  I think that might have been a true Christmas miracle!!!

Kate’s room was also off limits because we had to switch furniture.  She got the big bed (Parker’s double bed) and the boys got her Armour and hutch.  So we were constantly moving furniture back and forth between rooms keeping things out of the view of the kids and trying to get everything moved between rooms.

Christmas Eve, the kids once again camped out in our room… and surprisingly gave us the best Christmas present by sleeping in to 8:30!  (These are the kids that wake up at 6:30 every morning no matter what!)  Go figure that on CHRISTMAS morning, they sleep in… but Mike and I sure needed that extra sleep!

Anyway, they went out to the tree to see their Santa gifts and stockings and had this note taped to the basketball hoop…

Christmas 2009

Parker, Ryan, and Kate,

Thank you for letting my elves use your bedrooms so they could finish their Christmas work. They were able to make lots and lots of presents for the girls and boys in your area.

They made quite a mess… reindeer antlers scratched up the walls and carpet in Parker and Ryan’s room! They tried to put everything back together for you and hope you like it. Parker and Ryan, Here’s an extra special present to hang in your room… (basketball hoop)

Have a very Merry Christmas! Thanks for being so good this past year – you were all on my “Nice” list. Make sure you work hard this next year to stay on the “Nice” list.

Love,

Santa Claus

And this is what their room looks like now:

And here is what they thought of their new rooms… It made the sore news, achy back, sleepless nights all worth it!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  Here’s to a wonderful 2010!

Categories: Personal Chaos

Categories: Personal Chaos

We have had a CRAZY month over here… Newport Beach Timeshare for a week, Disneyland 3 times, beach time, Kate’s 2nd birthday, several friends’ birthdays, 5-day cruise to Mexico, family pictures, launch of senior fall days, several newborn shoots, start of wedding season, St. George, hiking Zions Canyon, a marathon, visiting grandparents, sister in law and her kids in town for a week, Science Center, swimming, soccer and a hopeless lack of sleep.

We have had a blast and I have hundreds, no THOUSANDS of images to go through.  Tonight, I’ll just start with a few from Disneyland.  We spent the week at our Newport Beach Timeshare with our dear family friends, the Garbett Family.  (Check out Jen’s website here… she’s amazing!)  Our kids had a blast together, and we really enjoyed a couple days at Disneyland.

Kate is IN LOVE with Minnie Mouse.  It was so fun to see how excited she got seeing Minnie.  This makes the expense, lines, and heat all worth it, right?

Honestly, I’m not sure who is more excited and proud… Ryan for being tall enough to do all the big rides (including Tower of Terror!) or Daddy for having boys that would do all the big rides with him!

I know… I may just be the only person that LOVES the teacups, but I really do.  The faster, the better!  As you can see, Parker and Dawson may not share my excitement… they were the ONLY ones that I could get to ride the teacups with me.

Categories: Personal Chaos

I can’t believe my little girl is 2 already!  I honestly don’t know where the last two years have gone.  I know, that’s very cliche’!  I never thought I would say this (as I really do prefer the toddler years to the baby years), but I am a little sad to see we have moved past the baby stage in this house.  Not sad enough, mind you, that there will be another baby in this house… unless I’m babysitting that is!

I am not so secretly, however,  celebrating the fact that bottles, diaper bags, strollers (for the most part), those awful car seats, baby food, formula, baby swings, and all of the other baby gear that takes up 1/2 of your house is all getting boxed up and put away.  Diapers (hopefully) will be a thing of the past here soon… and I know it is just the beginning of a whole new set of challenges.  Oh yes, I know.

But I really am enjoying watching her little personality develop.  She definitely has everyone in the family wrapped around her little finger.  This girl knows how to play us all and knows how to get her way.  Instead of getting upset at her when she does something wrong, we find ourselves laughing and admiring how she so wisely manipulates the situation to not only get her way but somehow make us congratulate her on the process!

We had a great SHOE/swimming party planned for her 2nd birthday.  We had a blast despite the wind storm that decided to come in and wreck havoc on my weeks of detail preparations.  I was able to manage a few pictures before everything got turned upside down and the kids all had a blast, so really, that’s all that matters, right?

Some of the kids who would pose for a few seconds in the cold wind so I could get this shot… Thanks!

What would a shoe party be without SHOE relay races.  Funny thing… Kate loves putting on all our shoes and walking around in them all day long, but she refused to do it here!

My amazing sister, Anne, with help from my equally amazing sister in law, Shaliece, spent HOURS not only baking (from scratch… yeah, no cake mix) but decorating over 140 cupcakes (key lime with white chocolate and toasted coconut, vanilla with buttercream, and chocolate with vanilla whipped frosting).  Yeah, she made each of those edible flip flops!  AMAZING!  Thank you Anne!  They really did taste as good as the looked!

I love Kate trying to show everyone how old she is here…

She got her first dress up clothes this year… No more cars, trains and ball hand me downs from her brothers… apparently it is time to be a girl! 

And she just loved her little kitchen from Nema and Hepa!  She spent over an hour “cooking” food for her stuffed animals when we got home that night.  (Yes, it was almost 11pm before we got her to bed, but how could you possible put her to bed when she is this cute?  See… she is trouble I tell you.  She has us all under a spell!)

Thank you everyone that helped make Kate’s birthday amazing… friends, family…   Kate, we love you!  You truly are a joy!  We love the happiness and fun you bring into our family!

Categories: Personal Chaos

Yippee!  Two weeks after big brother started school, it is FINALLY Ryan’s day!  He has been so excited, but got a little nervous last week at meet the teacher day.  Who would have guessed since this is his second year at preschool?  This morning he did great, though!  He was trying so hard to be brave and had so much fun finding his name around the classroom.

We are looking forward to a great year!  And Kate, excuse me, PRINCESS KATE, as she likes to be called these days, is having a blast ruling this house this morning!

Categories: Personal Chaos