Christmas Day

Fun times on our new Wii. Even Grandpa got in on the action. Christmas Day was great because so many family were able to come - both grandparents, brothers and their families, a total of 21. We had a wonderful day.

A very unique gift wrapping job from Uncle K. He got the boys gift cards but the boys had to reach up into the tube and get them. They were taped on the inside. :)

More Wii fun. For the first couple days the Wii was on for over 8 hours. That will soon change once school gets started back up again and we get in a routine but since it's vacation I don't mind them loosing a few brain cells.

Baby T. enjoys playing with everyone else's toys. His oldest brother got a tabletop Foosball game. Baby T. of course wasn't interested in opening his gifts - he just couldn't figure out the unwrapping part of Christmas. His favorite toys are Tigger (who jumps and bounces all over) and his fridge magnets. (Of course his other favorites are boxes and other things he can climb into and the ladder on the boys' bunkbed which he tries to climb up any chance he gets.

A new tool set for Big T. Now he can build and fix like Dad does.

Rocky

Christmas Break

We have been enjoying our Christmas break so far. Our littlest one is still fascinated with boxes and things he can climb in or on. He learned this week how to climb up his brothers ladder on their bunkbed. Months ago I thought all he needed for Christmas was a box and now I think that's true.

We finally got cable tv so we've been enjoying Christmas movies and other shows. The kids have also played in the snow and then played on the swings (a few hours later after the snow melted). Today is a big day - the family is coming over tomorrow so today is bake pies, clean house and tonight is Polar Express reading, the Christmas story, set out cookies for Santa and seeing where Santa is on Norad's Santa Tracker. Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas.

Remember what Christmas is all about - - Jesus Christ. And our gift to Him could be service to others, kind deeds and words and striving to have His spirit with us this year. Merry Christmas to everyone!

A little windy

Last night was a little windy. In the 8 years we've lived here, it's never been windy enough to move the basketball hoop (full of water) or the picnic table. The basketball hoop was on the opposite side of the patio. We also had our screen door bust (just the screws that hold the springs together) since it got whipped open in the middle of the night. But we lucked out since some of our neighbors have broken fences and stuff. The weather report says gusts on the ridges at 120 miles per hour. Should be better by this afternoon when it starts snowing - oh, no wait, it is already snowing.

Discovering New Things

Baby T. is just so cute!! After crawling under the table, he crawled into this little box. It was so cute because the lid was on top of his head while he tried to get in and it took him a little while. Tonight when I took the trash can out from under the kitchen sink, he quickly climbed into that empty space too. What a fun stage he is at.

Makin' Ice Cream

Since we were gone when the Scouts made ice cream in a bag, we decided to do it Sunday afternoon. I've learned some tricks to make it turn out better. One trick is to double bag the ice cream otherwise the rock salt tends to seep in and make your ice cream salty. The other is to put the bag of ice cream in a container like the one above and roll it. This makes it not take as long as lets you not freeze your hand squishy a bag of ice cream in a bag of salt. It was very cold outside when we did this but we all had fun anyway.

Santa Train

It has become a tradition for us to ride the Santa Train each year. Here we are this year. There was quite a storm in the forecast for the night before but although it was cold, there was only a dusting of snow so it didn't hamper our plans.

School Christmas Concert

Little J. and Big T. had a Christmas Concert at their school. They did a great job.

Disneyland - Day 3

The third and last day at Disneyland we were on our own. Grandma and Grandpa decided

to stay at the trailer. We went to both parks hitting our favorites and things we had missed

the first two days.

All my boys in front of "California Adventure" entrance. I was cold on this day because I went on Grizzly River Run with the kids twice (it's one of their favorites), but I got very wet and it took me a while to dry off (it's hard to get your soaking socks and shoes wet in the afternoon in December and have them dry quickly). We also hit Soaring Over California again, Little J. got his guts up to ride California Screaming and Baby T. went on his first Carousel Ride and LOVED it.
The family with Mickey. We had such a wonderful time!!

Disneyland - Day 2

The second day we went to California Adventure (and by the way, Soaring Over California is

still my all time favorite ride) and had a fabulous day. By the end of the day, Jason got enough

guts to go on California Screaming!! Jared went on it this time and last time we went. Jason AND Tyler even went on Tower of Terror - which is a super intense ride. Mullholand Madness was a big hit with the boys. They also loved Grizzly River Run. They didn't seem to care that it was December and that's a water ride :)
A couple of the kids with Dad on the caterpillar ride in Flik's land. Oh, Tyler was a little afraid of the 3-D movies. We told him he could take off his glasses if he got scared which he did. It was fun to see his face as his brain tried to process why things were right in front of him with the glasses on and not when the glasses were off. It was also fun to hear his comment after Indiana Jones. He told me, "I just kept saying it's not real, it's not real". At California Adventure the Pixar Play Parade was fantastic. I really enjoyed that.

DISNEYLAND

We had a wonderful time at Disneyland. The first day was at

Disneyland park. All 3 older boys got picked for the Star

Wars Jedi Training. They also loved Matterhorn, Space Mountain,

and Big Thunder Mountain.

This is in line for the new submarine ride, "Finding Nemo".
This is on the famous Dumbo Ride. The baby is with his Dad but you
can only see the top of his head. The baby liked Dumbo but was
scared to death of Peter Pan and Pirates of the Caribean. Those drops
in the dark freaked him out so we had to be careful where we took
him after that. In the evening we went to Rainforest Cafe for Grandma's
birthday dinner. In was a fun filled day; that's for sure!

Gingerbread House

Baby T. loves to go places he shouldn't -like digging in the potted plants and behind the coffee table to pull on the cords. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the gingerbread house. The kids all had a great time putting it together - they even watched the instructions online first then decorated until their heart was content. However, they only let it last a couple hours then they ate some of it. Within the next 3 days it was gone.

Thanksgiving Weekend Traditions

Setting up Christmas
Every day after Thanksgiving we set up all our Christmas stuff. Since it was nice weather we were able to set up the lights and the things on the inside. Here are some pictures of the festivities. FYI, my husband was the early bird who did the Black Friday shopping - I value my sleep too much.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we were able to see both sets of grandparents. How lucky we are to have family close by so our kids can grow up knowing their grandparents and having the support of them as well as uncles and aunts. This is the older boys with grandma.
Big T. showing grandpa his loose tooth.

I love spaghetti

Every mother has a picture like this of each of her kids. Here is Baby T.

New Words

Baby T. is 11 months old tomorrow. His first words were Mama and Dada. Then uh-oh. Yesterday he added a new word - "Bye Bye" and he has used it in context a few times already.

The shape of the world today

(I copied this from my brother-in-laws blog.)
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
My confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees.. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it It shows that we are all brothers and sisterscelebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.. In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking. Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?' In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK. Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.' Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Are you laughing yet? Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.My Best Regards,Honestly and respectfully,Ben Stein

We have a dog

Little Baby T. is walking all over the place. He also likes to walk while holding onto your hand. For a while now he has also liked sticking things in his mouth and crawling around with those things hanging out of his mouth - very often socks. Big J. today said "Baby T. likes to hold my hand and go on a walk like a dog and he likes to stick things in his mouth and crawl around like a dog, so I guess we kind of have a dog." I certainly am glad it's not a real dog; the "baby" dog is the cutest most wonderful type of "pet" a person can have.