Christmas Tag

A Christmas Tag - Merry Christmas Everyone!

1. Have you been naughty or nice this year? mostly nice, a little naughty
2. What do you want most for Christmas? To be with my family and friends and to always remember the magic sparkling in my girls' eyes on Christmas morning!
3. Do you believe in Father Christmas? Yes
4. What is your favorite food at Christmas? cinnamon rolls
5. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Yes
6. Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet? Pretty much!
7. What is your favorite Christmas song? Do I really have to pick just one? I love Mary's Boy Child.
8. What is your favorite Christmas movie? It's a Wonderful Life
9. What is your best memory of Christmas? Running downstairs to see what Santa brought. It was magic!
10. What do you look forward to most at Christmas? Making memories with my family and friends.
11. What are you doing for Christmas this year? Staying home and then going to California to visit family.
12. Who do you want to kiss under the mistletoe? Jason
13. Do you take part in a secret santa? No
14. Do you go to any Christmas parties? one
15. Have you ever had a white Christmas? No, I'm a California girl!
16. How early do you wake up on Christmas morning? Early and whenever I hear little feet scampering around.
17. Do you still get a stocking? yes
18. How many Christmas cards do you normally send out? 50
19. What is your Christmas wish? For all of my friends and family to be blessed with health and happiness!

I tag Jennifer, Lindsey, Crystal,and Kim!

Snow Day!

We had a snow day today! School was cancelled and the girls had a blast playing in the snow. Our neighbor pulled the kids around on a sled behind his four wheeler and as you can see from the big smiles, it was the highlight of the day! I think the snow got everyone in Santa Clara ready for Christmas! How do you like Julia's snow puppy? Who needs a snowman?

A Snowy, Christmasy Day!

It snowed here today! All Day! It was the perfect day to host my first annual Gingerbread House Party and it was so much fun. I have wanted to do this for years and thanks to my friend Michelle, my wish came true. I love gingerbread and what gets you in the spirit of Christmas more than decorating a gingerbread house? It was a fun night.
There are a few more things on my Christmas list of things to do that I still need to check off! Here they are...
1. The Live Nativity at Tuachan. It is so beautiful and it is the perfect setting to see a live Nativity.
2. Sleep under the tree with my kids. This is a tradition we adopted from our sister in law Crystal's family and the kids love it!
3. Baking sugar cookies with my girls and saving some for Santa!
4. Drive around to look at lights listening to Alvin and the chipmunks Christmas. I can't wait to hear Grace yelling, "Ho! Ho!"
5. Read our special Christmas books.
6. Watch Little house Christmas. I know I a nerd and yes it makes me cry.
7. Wrap Christmas gifts late at night watching an old Christmas movie.
8. Torture Jason with Bing Crosby's Christmas CD. I love it, he hates it.
9. Watch Home Alone, Christmas Story, and It's A Wonderful Life.
10.Read the Christmas story from the Bible and have my kids dress up to tell the story.
Did I forget anything? I'd love to hear everyone's Christmas traditions! I love new ideas. I got a great idea for when I am a Grandma from Amber's blog. Her mom surprised all of her little grand kids with Christmas jammies and then invited them to her house to have hot cocoa. Santa even dropped by. That is the cutest idea ever!

Emma's Blue Ribbon

Emma won a blue Ribbon for the poem she wrote about her baby sister. It was part of the Reflection's contest at school. The theme was "Wow!" So, she wrote about Crissy.
We attended Reflection Night at the school and we were ready to go home but Emma insisted that we stay to hear the winner's announced. I'm glad we stayed and she was ecstatic to go up front, in all her glory to claim her blue ribbon! Jason and I had to laugh! She is so proud and I think this will be a moment in her life she will always remember!
Here is her poem:
Crissy
Chubby,Cute
Learning, playing, growing
Love to squeeze her
Wow!

What a Happy Thanksgiving It Was!

I am going to kill you all with a ton of pictures! Mom slaved away for a couple of days to give us an awesome feast! It was so good and her table looked beautiful. There were miniature cornucopias as our place setting made out of icecream cones and dipped in chocolate and filled with candy. She even piped our names on them with green icing. We all helped out in the meal preparation and it was fun to all be together in the kitchen. We feasted and were thankful to be together!
I wish I had pitures of Black Friday. My sisters and I hit the stores by 5:00 A.M. We were all excited with our ads in our purses! I was on a high all day from all of the shopping! It's fun to get stuff CHEAP! My favorite find was the art easel at Ikea for $9.99! It was a steal!
We went to Twilight with my good friend Emily who I haven't seen in years. My mom and sisters went too. We all loved it. ( I loved it for the second time) It was fun!
Saturday we went down to the beach and played at the Balboa fun zone. The girls braved the ferris wheel with their dad and they all loved it, especially Grace. I hate ferris wheels. I always feel like I am going to tip backwards! Then we went to Newport Beach and let the kids play in the sand for a few minutes. It was a fun time! I only wish I had more time to hang out and see more friends that I haven't been able to see in a long time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a fun Thanksgiving! We are off to California to spend the holiday with my family. I'm excited! I love Thanksgiving and can't wait until the holiday season is officially here!
Today was Julia's Kindergarten feast and it was pretty cute! They prepared all of the food on their own. Their feast included turkey and cheese roll-ups, trail mix, fruit sald, ants on a log, and pumpkin pie. They all had to say what they were thankful for before they could eat. Julia said, "My mom." I am thankful for you too Julia!

Our New Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken a month or so ago. We had them taken by Holly O'Keefe Creative and I think she did a wonderful job! I think she captured each of my girls' personalities so well. We haven't had a family picture since Julia was a baby so I was so excited to get a new one! Since I don't remember how to add a link to Holly O'Keefe Creative(I'm challenged when it come to computers)just visit my blog and look under my favorite sites. If you are interested in getting your pictures for the Holidays book fast because she is a busy mom and doesn't have many appointments left!




My silly little girls!!








This one of Emma kills me! It is so Emma!

Twilight

I am so excited to see this movie I can't "bloody" stand it! ( I stole that line from my sister's blog) Seriously, I haven't been so excited to see a movie since... I don't know Karate Kid? I feel like a teenie bopper again but it is fun! And the young girl at heart that I am has a date with Edward this Thursday at midnight! I'll let you all know how it goes! And don't worry girls, Jason is totally cool with this.

Pumkin Pie Play-Doh

I found this recipe in the Family Fun magazine. Grace and I made it today and it was so fun! It is the perfect size recipe and it is super easy. Kids can make little pumpkin pies, pumpkins, turkeys or anything fall related they can imagine! Here is the recipe!

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
6 drops red and 15 drop yellow food coloring

Mix all dry ingredients. Add food coloring to the 1 cup water, stir, and then add oil. Mix together. Cook in a pot over medium low heat until the mixture forms a ball and it doesn't feel sticky anymore. Store in an air tight container. Will keep for one week.

Post Election Thoughts

It is no secret that I am disappointed Obama won. But he won and now all I can do is have hope that he will be a good President for our country. I'm so nervous about where he is going to take this country because he never exactly told us what "change" means. Time will tell.
I'm so tired of the Bush bashing. He made some mistakes but I think it is a great thing that he has kept our country safe from another attack all of these years.
I'm so thankful Prop 8 passed! I was living in California when Prop 22 was passed and it is so amazing to me that four judges overturned the will of the people. I don't think so! Thank you California for passing Prop 8. This will have a positive impact for the whole country. It sends a message that traditional values are still alive and well, even in California. Thank you for quietly and compassionately carrying this burden in the face of true discrimination and intolerance. If there was a silver lining in this election, it was this!

Halloween!

Halloween is such a fun time of year and this year was so much fun! The girls were so excited to be able to go trick or treating with Nana and Papa, Auntie Sarah and their little cousins, Marlie, Kailer, Sadie, and baby Gemma. We love when family comes to visit since most of them do not live here.
This year Emma wanted to be a vampire. I love that she wanted to be something scary! She is such a fun little girl. Julia wanted to be a tooth fairy and Jason made her the cutest tooth wand! She looked so sweet. Gracie started telling me a few days before Halloween that she wanted to be Pooh Bear. Thanks Paige for lending us your costume!! Grace was so happy! This was Crissy's first Halloween and she was Minnie Mouse. All of my babies have been Minnie Mouse! She loved riding in the wagon while her sisters trick or treated.

Tips For Kids In Need!

I can still hear Emma yelling this as cars passed her by. This weekend Emma had her friend Marlie over and I heard them in my laundry room. That means trouble. I told her she could not get into things and she asked me if they could make things so they could sell them. I wasn't in the mood so I told her no. I thought all was well until the house was too quiet. I asked Julia where the girls were and she told me they were out riding bikes. I decided to go out and sit on the driveway to watch them play. I go out onto the driveway and see Emma and Marlie with Grace on the corner yelling at cars. I hurried over and as I approached I heard Emma yelling, "Tips for kids in need!" They had a little sign that they were holding up to cars that said "Tips for kids in need. 1 $." They had a glass jar with a dollar bill in it. I guess someone actually stopped and gave them money! I about died and asked them who these kids in need were. Emma told me she was sending the money to kids in Africa. At least it was all for a good cause!
They spent the rest of their playtime going around the circle singing "Scotland's Burning" to our neighbors. They rounded up more loose change and candy. They had tambourines and a drum. When I went to get them to come home they seriously looked like dirty little homeless kids. I even let Grace go. I did not feel like a good mother that afternoon letting my kids roam unsupervised but I did know they were in the circle somewhere. Jason was out of town hunting and I was a little worn out and they were so happy and having a good time so there you go! I may not get the mother of the day award but they had a great time.

Grace's First Dance Class!

Here is little Grace on her very first day of dance class! She is always yelling at me at home to watch the little dances she performs. She loved the first day. She was the only little girl there!
She is a funny toddler. She has her own language that only few can understand. It is made up of Grace's version of sign language and a few words. She is making slow but steady progress. She can say so much with her facial expressions. She wanted to feed Crissy and I hesitated but gave in. The smug little look on her face says it all. If she could she would be telling me, "I told you I could do it mommy...all by myself!"

Grace and Crissy

Nana on Emma's bike?!

I wanted to post this picture for my mom on her birthday! I love this picture because this is what my girls love about Nana. She is fun and silly! I laughed when I came out and saw her on Emma's bike. Who wouldn't love a Nana like this? Happy Belated Birthday Mom. The girls love you and so do I! Oh and I'm glad you didn't jump on the skateboard. We all remember what happened when you tried that!

Childhood's Purest Treasures

I love getting catalogues in the mail! The Magic Cabin is one of my favorites, especially this time of year when I start thinking about what to get my girls for Christmas. I love to tell myself that I will order all kinds of things but then reality sets in. A girl can always dream though! You will love the fairies and the little houses you can buy to go with them! I love the big mushroom playhouse and the art work of children reading and painting! Check out their online catalogue at here!

Swiss Days!

Swiss Days was so much fun this year! I think it was the best Santa Clara has ever had! The new city building is so pretty and I love how they had the parade came down Santa Clara Drive this year! The turn out was great!
It was a fun weekend! I ran the 5k and loved it! It was so pretty out that early and it was fun to run through downtown Santa Clara. I love this cute little town! When we ran down past Grandma Tobler's bakery the front door was open and there were the cute ladies with their baker's hats and aprons cheering everyone on! My favorite roadside cheerleader was the old lady sitting with her CD player blasting Bob Marley as we ran by.


Friday night at the Swiss Miss and Mister fashion show with Grandma Rosenlof!


On the float waving! It was so cute seeing Grace waving her little hand!





The girls were in the Swiss Miss and Mister Fashion Show again! This has become a tradition the girls look forward to every year. Grace was old enough to participate this year and she had fun! They were so excited to be in the parade which was so much bigger and better this year! So many people lined the streets. We sat at the end of Grandma Rosenlof's driveway to watch the parade. The girls had fun waving and riding on the float! They were happy that they were one of the first floats so they could run back and watch the rest. They didn't miss out on the candy either! We gave the girls some money to blow at the carnival. They bought cotton candy, snow cones, and tickets to play games. When we were leaving they had just begun storytime and we could hear the reader of the books loud and clear through the sound system and Emma said said, "Mom I know that voice, I don't even have to look. It's Mrs. Lefler!" Sure enough it was Emma's school librarian dressed up as Dr. Suess. We ended our day listening to her read a few books. A perfect ending to a fun weekend!