Saturday, December 20, 2008

Let the Holidays Begin!

Winter Break is officially here- the kids are out of school and we are moving full speed ahead into our Christmas activities. The parties at school, with friends, and family have been so fun- and now we are getting set for our holidays in the Bay Area with my family and old friends on the block. We leave first thing in the morning for Napa, after one night there, will be in Oakland for a few days, then back to Napa for Christmas Eve and home to Weaverville late Christmas Eve night. I should totally be packing right now, but I decided to clear my camera and make room for are next set of Christmas 2008 memories. Here's what we did the past few days:

Owen's Preschool visited the Grandma's and Grandpa's at the Convalescent Hospital to sing their Christmas Carols. Grandma Linda joined us for this fun field trip!


Kylee's kindergarten class performed their Rudolph songs dressed in their cute reindeer costumes. They sang a bunch of songs with the 1st, and 2nd graders, too.


Santa came to Owen's Christmas Party, and Owen told him he is 3 years old and wants a Giraffe for Christmas.


Owen and his buddies love the cookies and punch.


Grandma Linda and Grandpa Paul's Christmas party. All the cousins in front of their stockings.


Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandkids


Uncle Adam feeding Madison


Our kids in their new jammies from Grandma


The cousins in their new jammies!

Monday, December 15, 2008

First Snowy Weekend!

Weekend's like this one make me just love where we live SOOOOO much! We woke up to our first dusting of snow Saturday morning, it was just enough to get the kids excited at the possibility of throwing snowballs at each other. Kylee had ballet, so they had to wait on the snowball wars... but no one seemed to mind because Grandma was bringing the cousins in to check out Kylee's class' little choreographed dance to the Nutcracker ballet. She danced really well, but my camera died two seconds into the show- so I don't have much video to show for it. It didn't snow any more Saturday, but Sunday it snowed all day long. Wes went out to chop wood, so I bundled the kids up in their gear, and sent them out to play. Madi and I had the important job of keeping the fire going inside. It was awesome! The kids would come in freezing every now and then, and I'd warm them by the fire and give them hot cocoa. We didn't get enough snow to bring the sled out on our sled hill, but they are saying we'll get 3-6 more inches today. We had about 4 inches when we woke up this morning, and the kids wanted to go play. We had to get to school- which went really smoothly considering we had friends over late last night, and we woke up a bit late, had to dress in extra layers and dig out the car- but everyone was a bit late today, so it was no big deal! Hopefully we'll be able to do some sledding after I pick the kids up.
Here's some pix...




Friday, December 5, 2008

Kicking off the Holidays

Sometimes its hard to get motivated for the craziness around the holidays, but having young children has made Christmas' so exciting the past few years. It always takes me back to being a child, and all the magic of the season just warms my heart! Here's a couple of little "moments" to help you get into the Holiday spirit, too!

Kylee's class had a "Polar Express" event last night. I brought Kylee and Owen to the school library in their PJ's and they "boarded the train" to her classroom. Her teacher read the Polar Express, and Santa came in for a visit. He handed out presents to all the students after they quizzed him on all his North Pole knowledge. Afterwards they enjoyed hot cocoa back in the library while the older students played Christmas music. It was such a fun night for the kids! They all loved wearing PJ's at school and I was smiling from ear to ear the whole time! The whole experience was so much fun, a great way to get into the holidays!

Ky and Owen walking to the school in their jammies!

Kylee, Natalie, Owen and Brian meet up in the library

Kylee's classroom door... with their cute "Elvis- Blue Christmas" Theme

Owen, especially,is fully loving all the talk about Santa, and is beyond excited for Christmas this year. His class wrote their letters to Santa, and they all say "Dear Santa, I would like such and such..." and it's very cute. Owen's letter says, word for word, "Dear Santa, I just love you very much. And that's it. Love, Owen" He's been learning all the Christmas carols at school, and is singing them all around the house. Here's a sample of his lovely voice...

Happy Holidays!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Thanksgiving and stuff...

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The past week has been a lot of fun- we've all been so busy, I just haven't had much time to sit down and post about it. My mom and dad and their dogs came up on Wednesday before Thanksgiving with the stuffing (or dressing? I still haven't figured out with the difference is) all made up and ready to be stuffed into a Turkey. They dropped it by my in-laws house that evening on the way to our house. When they got here, we had dinner together and talked about the holiday plans. Thanksgiving morning, Wes smoked our 13 lb turkey at our house while my parents and I took the 3 kids for a walk/run. Kylee is becoming quite the little runner- she ditched me, my dad, and Owen, who were a bit slower with the baby, the chihuahua, and Owen's shorter/"really tired" legs. Kylee sprinted to keep up with my mom and her crazy german shepard, and she did great! We got home to help make side dishes then got ready and headed to Wes' parents house for the feast. My mom's sister, Aunt Jeannette, and her husband and two teenage kids met us there- they have never visited us up in Trinity county, and it was such a treat! Uncle Fred's kids, Alex and Maria were AMAZING with Kylee and Owen- they played all weekend with the kids, who just adored their own personal playmates! Wes' mom, Linda, had her house set up beautifully- dinner ( with 2 more 13 lb turkeys!)was delicious, and we all had a nice relaxing time visiting. We took a group walk to the Salt Flat Bridge next to their house, to digest dinner a bit before diving into ALL the different desserts. Yum! Madison slept through almost everything, but opened her eyes every now and then to check out everything. She continued to win the prize for "Best Baby" throughout the weekend as she enjoyed snuggling with all her admirers, and barely fussed. Friday we drove down river with my extended family, to have coffee and breakfast at the Strawhouse. We got back home and went for a hike from our property and into the trail system with some gorgeous views of the Alps. Madi has been doing great hiking in her front carrier, when she needed to nurse about an hour and a half into the hike, I just found a nice log and sat while the family checked out the scenery. We got home and started snacking and enjoying leftovers, then Wes' brother's family and parents joined our big group and we all walked from our house to Main Street for Mountain Magic. This is where Santa comes to ring in the season, and all the cute little shops stay open late giving out hot cider, cocoa, wine, snacks, and freebies to all the people strolling the street. It was so much fun! Saturday my family headed home, and Wes and I hung out with the kids and worked on the house. We have been enjoying the fall weather, and though it is chilly, are still playing outside a lot. We need to start seeing soome rain and snow soon, though, the lakes and rivers around here are lower than I've ever seen them, and we need a wet winter to avoid another summer of wildfires like last year.

In other news, I took all the kids to Madison's 1 month check up yesterday. We are quite a "show" when we go anywhere now! But I just love my Dr's office, they have been treating the kids since Kylee was 2 days old, and they just love them, and the kids love everyone who works there. So, taking the whole crew was not a big deal- we're loud, we've got all sorts of bags and toys and snacks everywhere, but no one seems to mind. In fact, while I was taking Owen to the restroom- our FNP chatted with Kylee and watched Madi, and ended up loading Kylee down with more stuff than we came in with... some old soccer ball and basketball that she brought in to give to a good home. At the end of the appointment, which was a bit more fun than informative (I have a hard time remembering all my baby questions with all the managing of the kids during the exam...) we learned Madi still has a slight heart murmur, but nothing we are too concerned about. She is already 10 lbs 1 oz- where Kylee was 10 lbs 2oz at her 2 month check up! So all was well, we left after visiting the treasure box and getting loaded down with holiday rice crispy treats for the whole family! All in all, a great visit to doctor as a firstime mom-of-three!