Happy Christmas Feelings

Christmas is here. Andy's been a bit busy but the kids and I are in full Christmas mode. The music is on and the mood is festive. I have to say this holiday season with the kids a bit older is full of fun surprises.

Sarah is starting to recognize more Christmas Carols/Songs. She can now sing just about all of Rudolph and walks around the house humming O Christmas Tree. It's very fun. Will knows most of Jingle Bells, even if he gets some of the words wrong. I also find it wonderful that, at home or in stores, both kids can immediately recognize almost any song from the Nutcracker. It also cracks me up that Will's favorite song is It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Forget Rudolph and Frosty, he lights up and yells whenever that songs comes on.

Sarah talked to me about the Christmas Spirit the other day so I asked what she thought that was. She, quite seriously, informed me that it was about family and love and giving. I LOVE IT! She then continued her wish list for Santa but at least she has a clue that it's not just presents.

I started baking cookies and have several more kinds to make. Not for gifts or anyone else, just for us. It's just fun to do with the kids and feels more like a holiday with cookies around.

Most of our presents are wrapped under the tree. It's very tempting for Sarah but she has been so good about not peeking in the bags. She just likes to look at the labels and tell me all about who things are from (as if I didn't wrap most of them and label them!)

For Christmas this year, my dad bought a goat in our honor. Ok, this isn't the exact goat but it's still pretty cool. He did it through World Vision The kids loved the little video but also wanted someone to give them a baby goat. We had a talk about how lucky they are to not need a goat and how special that gift was to a family

I'm off to bake more cookies and finish sending the last of the Christmas cards. Still on our list of things to do this Christmas season: Visiting Santa at the mall, 1 or 2 presents to get, fixing the broken strand of lights at the bottom of the Christmas tree, Christmas Eve Afternoon Church Service, and many arts & crafts projects to give to family.

Merry Christmas everyone!

PS Listening to one of my favorite Christmas songs as I write this: Christmas in Killarney!

Had to do it again this year....

They got the pairings just right!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

5 on the 5th

Happy Birthday Peanut! I can't believe you are 5 today. It went by far too fast.

Disneyland.... Day 2/3

Disneyland Days 2 and 3. Again mostly pictures

We got to see a lot of the main Disney characters on this trip - Minnie, Goofy, Donald, etc. This is one of my favorite pictures though. Will showing Christmas Minnie his map and Minnie totally indulging him as the 2 of them talked about the map and pointed at places! So sweet. Again, the ears are STILL on. I asked him a million times if we could take them off, especially on rides where they hit my face. He would always say, "Not yet."

Will got to meet Handy Manny. The boy had no problem walking right up to characters. I think he should have been at least a little scared but oh well.

Sarah and I waiting for Autopia. This was the first time in YEARS that I had been on the ride and now I remember why I was not a huge fan. That pedal takes some major effort to push down consistently for the entire drive. My thigh was sore after we made the loop. The kids both loved the simple ride. (Don't ask me about that weird Sarah face. I have no idea.)

We let the kids get their faces painted the last day. They both loved it. Sarah's lasted all day and then came off easily. NICE!

Will with his shark face.

We were not planning on the princess fair this year because the line usually takes SOOOOOOO long but we caught it at a short time - short being 30 minutes. Here is Sarah with Ariel just after Ariel asked her about her mummy shirt and wasn't she scared of mummies. And after Belle tried to convince Sarah that there is indeed a city in Arizona not far from where she lives called Tucson. Hmm... me thinks that Belle might be a fellow Zonie.

Jasmine actually got Sarah to pose princess style so we could see her shirt full on. Perfect Sarah - princess face, princess pose, mummy t-shirt.

The kids, Grandpa and Daddy went on the Go Go coaster 3 times in a row on the last morning. Check out Will with his hands up. It was by far his favorite. He told everyone when he got home about how Daddy took him on the Go Go Poster and how he went really, really fast.

The obligatory Will passed out picture. He actually only napped on days 2 and 3. The first night, he turned to me around 8p and said I need to go to sleep and so he turned over in the stroller and fell asleep. All 3 nights when we returned to the hotel, we had to get the kids out of the stroller and into jammies and bed while they were fast asleep. It was pretty funny and harder than I thought it would be. It's been a long time since I've had to clothe kids with no cooperation whatsoever.

The ride that convinced Sarah that she would like the Tower of Terror: the jellyfish ride. PS She did not like the Tower of Terror and her Mommy couldn't even be convinced to go on it. NO THANK YOU!

Sarah was incredibly brave on this trip. She went on every ride she could for her height which included Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, the Grizzly Rapids ride (or whatever it's called). She would sit in silence on them with no reaction and then get off and say I don't think I want to do that one again.

We ended up finding a spot on our last night to watch Fantasmic. We sat and waited for 2 HOURS!!! It actually went by pretty fast. Unfortunately, poor Will fell asleep on his Mommy and not even the loud show and fireworks could wake him. He was that tired.

We had a great trip. 3 days exhausted all of us. I can't imagine the people who go for 5, maybe their kids are older. I don't think we would ever do Disneyland for 5 days, maybe Disney World.

Finally... Disneyland Day 1

Our trip to Disneyland - 3 very full days. Mostly pictures. Enjoy.

Walking over on our first morning. It's trips like these that I'm glad we still have the double stroller. It's a lifesaver. The kids insisted on wearing their ears. Will kept his on almost the entire trip!

Out on the plaza was this fairy car. Sarah thought it was pretty cool.

Eeyore and the kids. We also saw Pooh and Tigger.

I caught this picture of Will and I just love it.

We waited in line to see 2 fairies - Fawn and Tinkerbell. I was going to have Andy and his dad take Will to do something else but he INSISTED on staying and wanted to meet them. Fawn was great at listening to him tell her about his morning so far. He was quite chatty with the characters he met.

Both of them were super excited to see Tink.

What a coincidence - we happened to park our car right under our window! I had to take a picture.

The rest of the trip coming very soon.

Computer Update

I at least changed the background. My computer is still restoring. It's been "restoring" since Tuesday night. The problem is that my computer goes to sleep at night so this is taking FOREVER. I have high hopes that the last 600 MB will be complete tonight. Then we will see how it all worked. I'm a bit nervous but at least I'll finally be able to work on Christmas cards and put up some pictures of Disneyland.

Cross your fingers for me.....

This is Why I Adore My Little Boy

How could you not love this!! I almost cried looking at it because it captures him perfectly. LOVE IT!!!

I have yet to meet a person who doesn't smile at him.

(Sorry for the picture of a picture but it takes too long to scan and our printer/scanner is a bit on the fritz right now.)

Disneyland coming soon.... I promise!

Evening Rant

Sarah Palin is stopping at a local Costco for her book tour in a few weeks. I do find that store choice a bit odd but have no problem with it. Andy is tempted to go get a signed book. I was curious which one so I looked it up. I came across a message board with someone else wondering which one. The answers were all opinions - mostly negative. I have no problem with that - it's a message board. What I have a problem with is that many of the postings included comments that the posters truly dislike her and are going to call Costco and complain and let them know what they think and maybe even cancel their membership. Seriously??? I can't imagine ever calling a store to complain about who they have coming in to sign books or what books they sell for that matter. It's called trying to make money for all parties - Costco and Palin. Power to them both for it. I would just avoid the store that day if I didn't like the person. RIDICULOUS. Why am I not surprised?? Maybe it's just because she inspires such loathing in people. I can't figure out if it's her or if someone else was coming to sign books, would the same people contemplate their Costco membership? I have no idea.

Thanks for listening to my mini rant/ramble for the day.

Fun Run 2009

Can you tell I'm playing catch up?

The kids' fun run was last Saturday. It was so much more fun this year now that Will could participate. Sarah did great and put in a great effort. She made it through the first heat (only 2 separate groups) to the finals. She came in somewhere in the middle and got her participation medal. She was happy as could be.

Sarah at the starting line:

Sarah in action:

Sarah hanging out on Daddy waiting for Will's turn:

Will's race came next. He was pretty excited. We weren't sure he would keep running in the right direction. Grandpa helped start him off. Unlike Sarah, Will saw this less as a race and more like a parade. He bounced along, looking around to see who was watching him, all while Daddy was running along the side yelling Go Will Go!!!

Will telling Grandpa, "Hands off, I can do it myself."

Will bouncing:

This is what happens when you try to get a picture of siblings:

We love each other.

Little brother trying to get out of the embrace. Big sister being silly.

Little brother agreeing to 1 more hug for Mommy's picture but mad at big sister because she keeps leaning her head on top of his.

All in all, it was a successful morning and the kids really had a good time.

Halloween 2009 (I know it's about time!)

First - Sarah's Interpretation of our Halloween costumes. This is the reason I took so long to get this post up. I meant to take a picture of it and then I took forever to get it uploaded to my computer. I LOVE it. She captured it all pretty well. I was supposed to be a ghost and I ended up as more of a ghoul.

Will actually asked to put his mask on. He wanted it off within 10 seconds but I still got a picture. He insisted on keeping the gloves on the WHOLE time. It was kind of hard to hold his hand but he looked so cute.
The kiddos together at Grandpa's house. We only convinced Sarah to be a witch because we found this pink and purple witch dress - that andthe hair pieces and the spider web tights and it lights up (see below).
The whole family trying to look scary - Frankenstein's monster, the pink/purple witch, the skeleton and the ghoul.

The light up part of the skirt was so much cooler than we thought it would be. It had an on/off switch and rotated through colors all night. She LOVED it. It was also great for safety. Cars could see her coming all the way down the road. We didn't try out the lights until the night of - not smart on our part. We got lucky that it all worked properly.

Watch out for the monster! Andy had far too much fun grunting at kids up and down the street that night. Will and Sarah watched him put on all the makeup and thought it was so much fun. He couldn't scare them!
Auntie SuSu - the pirate and me.
The Halloween after party. We usually hang out a bit at the grandparent's house after trick or treating. The kids change and do marshmallows and eat candy. Sarah insisted on keeping the pink and purple in her hair. Actually, I think she slept in them!
Will enjoying some chocolate with Nini.
The end of the night - someone was worn out. Will was going strong to the end though.
Some more Halloween art work:

Will's ghost. I was shocked that he drew this all by himself at school. Super cool!
Sarah's Monster Mash - How cute is that!

10 on Tuesday

1. Having kids means finding a piece of tortilla chip hidden in the banister of the stairs. Who knows how long that's been there.
2. Thanksgiving and Christmas are both at our house this year - our house, not just in town. Is it crazy that I'm thinking that that's an okay thing? Less toting the kids around to other parts of town and having to entertain them. I can just send them off to find toys or let them watch a Christmas movie.
3. I have started my cleaning schedule again. I'm into week 2 and so far, so good. I haven't been this good since before I found out I was pregnant with Will.
4. I really hate pigeons. Unfortunately they love our roof. That and our annoying back fence neighbors have bird food out - really helpful, thanks. They are the restaurant and we are the hotel - complete with warm bed and bathroom. UGH!!!
5. Why can't clothing companies make pants for my child - adjustable waists barely stay up on him and yet they are too short. It almost works that some of his jeans fall down because then at least they cover his socks! But then he's asking me to pull up his pants every 10 minutes.
6. Disneyland coming this week - 3 full days. It's sort of last minute but the hotel prices and availability dictated our timing. It should be fun.
7. Sarah now has 2 teeth out. I'm kind of glad they are the bottom teeth so her smile still looks pretty normal. I can wait until after the holidays are over for the top 2. The tooth fairy was, again, not allowed in her room. The very polite tooth fairy left Sarah a note asking her to leave the tooth in her room because she had a hard time finding it. HAHA! I'm having a bit of fun with this.
8. The white couch is still white - or maybe I should say dingy white - maybe gray by now. I need to wash it and GET A NEW COLOR COVER!!!!
9. I will not forget snack today. I will not forget snack today. I will not forget snack today. I will not forget snack today. I will not forget snack today. I will not forget snack today. I will not forget snack today. I will not forget snack today. I will not forget snack today. I will not forget snack today.... You get the picture....
10. Will's current "saying": "Huh????" It cracks me up.

To Be a Volcanologist or Not to Be

I am rethinking my indulgence of Sarah's love of volcanoes after getting the DVD of a National Geographic volcano special for her to watch. It's fascinating but they also show a group of volcanologists visiting a Colombian volcano studying it when it erupted suddenly. Most of them died. One who survived had skin grafts, a hearing aid, and a hole in his skull. Then the narrator continues to tell me that Volcanology is a young and very dangerous science. Great..... I love that Sarah has passions but maybe we could find safer ones (outer space anyone!). She wants to look at volcanoes on other planets. What is that - an Extra-Terrestrial Vulcanologist??? Woh - that's a mouthful. Then I have to remember that when I was her age I wanted to be a Dr. and that died as soon as I realized science was not my thing. We'll just have to see how this plays out.

To top it off, when asked where she'd like to go - she repeatedly says Hawaii but Washington state is also on the list. Crazy child!

Pumpkin Patch

No 10 on Tuesday today - just pictures from our trip to a local "pumpkin patch". I put that in quotes because there really aren't places out here where you can go pick your pumpkin - at least not within a quick and easy distance from the city. It's more like places to pretend it's Fall even though we're all in T-shirts and the jeans are really only to protect little legs on hay rides!

We went out to a ranch not far from our house and had a blast. The price was right and the people were soooooo nice. The kids loved this old tractor.

Then we walked over to pretend to be cowboys and cowgirls. Andy had a very hard time prying Will's fingers out of the hole so we could just get his face. Even then, he didn't quite get his face all the way in.

They also had this tiny mini golf type area where you could try to hit balls into mini western type buildings. They loved it. Sarah was amazingly focused on getting the ball all the way up to the hole.


Then it was time for some face painting. You should have seen their faces. Both kids were VERY serious while the nice people were painting their faces. Sarah refused to give me a smile and show me the ice cream cone. This picture was with the help of the face painter who distracted her.

Then (I know, how many times can I say then) we went over to visit the animals. They had chickens and rabbits in this large "coop" and you could pick them up. Andy helped her hold this rabbit. She was in heaven. In the stall next to this were 2 pigs - Charlotte and Jimmy Dean. Who names a pig Jimmy Dean??!?! Pretty funny.
Then it was time for the hayride out to pick our pumpkins. You'll notice that there are no pictures out by the pumpkins. Believe me, I tried but Sarah's inability to just sit and smile pretty much made getting a good picture impossible.

We ended the afternoon with a horse ride. Again, the kids were in heaven!!!

It was a very successful trip and next year I think I would go back to the same place. I only wish that it actually felt like Fall instead of the tail end of summer still.

All we have left to do now is carve the pumpkins. I have no idea when we're going to fit that in. Maybe Friday evening. We'll see. Check back for pumpkin pictures and Halloween pictures!