Take THAT, Santa!

(Oops! I wasn't finished with this post the first time I hit "publish" - this is the REAL one, in case you caught a glimpse of it before!)

Last year for Christmas, the girls both asked Santa for a hair salon that they'd seen on TV. Well, Santa hemmed and hawed, because quite honestly, the toy looked like a piece of JUNK. But the girls weren't asking Santa for anything else, despite the clever promptings of their clever mom.

So.

A week before Christmas, clueless about what to get the girls, Santa buckled and went to Toys-R-Us. Predictably, the only toy they wanted for Christmas was out of stock. Santa called nearly every Toys-R-Us in the state. You guessed it - NOTHING.

My cousin Alicia saved the day and went to her Toys-R-Us and guess what? They had it!

And the elves rejoiced.

She bought it and hauled the thing around in her trunk for me. However, she's in Dallas. I'm in Denver. With the exorbitant shipping costs to get it that distance in time for Christmas (because we were now just days away), Santa may as well have bought the girls a REAL hair salon complete with tuition to beauty school. It wasn't going to happen.

Thank you, Alicia, for going above and beyond the duties of cousinhood.

Fast forward nine months or so. A few weeks ago over lunch, Addie says to me, "Mom, you know what? I learned that if you want Santa to bring you something you want for Christmas, you shouldn't ask him. Because I wanted a hair salon for Christmas and instead I got Baby Alive. Mommy, I didn't even WANT Baby Alive."

Alrighty then. A little reverse psychology on Santa. Well played, Addie.

Her birthday was just a few weeks after this conversation, and so what was she asking for? That's right. The hair salon.

And this time, it was in stock. In places other than Dallas.

Here's the part where Gary and I become heroes: we got it for her for her 5th birthday last week.

If you could have been there when she opened that present, you'd have thought she'd opened the door to the Publisher's Clearing House Prize Patrol. But instead of $1 million dollars, it was just a cheap, plastic, probably-going-to-break-in-a-week hair salon.

She's in heaven with this thing.

Ha! Santa ain't got NOTHIN' on us!

And for the record, I definitely don't want these boots, or this necklace for Christmas. Got that, Santa?

California Vacation :: Epilogue

Our California vacation ended the same way every vacation does.

Suitcases to put away.

Mounds of laundry to do.

But despite Mt. Washmore, we'd do it all over again.

If you didn't get enough pictures from our trip, you can find more on Facebook!

California Vacation :: Family & Friends

Sea World is super, the beach is the bomb and Disneyland is dynamite, but our awesome family and friends are the real reason we love visiting California!

(And thus concludes the cheesiest blog post opening ever!)

But seriously.

Sweet times with Granny-Great (Gary's grandma):

Hangin' out with Papa Bob & Grammy:

Celebrating birthdays with Aunts, Uncles & fun cousins:

Goofing around with Aunt Heidi:

Reconnecting with special friends... first, Thomas, Kristen & Katin:

...and of course, LV.

We had a fun time just being together.

Playing.Loving.
Laughing.
Enjoying each other.

Creating golden California memories.

California Vacation :: Disneyland!

I took very few pictures of our trip to Disneyland this time.

We're really lucky in that we get to enjoy that magical place quite often for living in Colorado.

I decided to lay low with the camera, take mental pictures, and enjoy the day.

We had quite the crew with us: Papa Bob, Grammy, Granny-Great, Aunt Heidi, Dan and our family of six.

Finally! A decent adult-to-kid ratio!

Brody helped to sum up how we all felt by the end of the day.

What's YOUR favorite ride at Disneyland/California Adventure?

California Vacation :: The Beach

What would a trip to California be without a visit to the beach?

I'll tell you: less sandy.

Like her sisters and brother, Chloe got to take her first dip in the Pacific before her 2-month birthday.

And in proper Osborne tradition, she loved it!

Beach days are usually the days of our California trips when we dream about what it would be like to live there.

So relaxing. So fun. So peaceful.

We were so busy on this last trip to California, that when we got home we felt exhausted.

We should have had more beach days.

The kids are all so happy and carefree at the beach.

There's no bickering, no whining, and everyone is content.

It's easy.

The kiddos are so happy just exploring, taking walks, digging and playing in the sand and water.

The girls are even at ages now that we really trust their confidence in the water and they have a blast playing in the surf.

Emma did an EXCELLENT job boogie boarding all by herself.

One thing that makes me smile?

The fact that I keep finding evidence of our beach day a week later.

In shoes... in pockets... in the camera bag...