Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas season this year filled with tradition and love!  This was the first year that Thomas was really excited about opening his gifts from Santa, which also made Noelle excited. Seeing their expressions as they open their gifts is priceless.  And speaking of expressions, Kelly had a great surprise for my Mom and Dad also.  She gave them both pictures of the kids with a hand drawn picture of a baby on top and a baby’s first Christmas bib in the box.  They were both VERY surprised to find out that Kelly and Dave will have a new addition come June.  You can see their expression in the slideshow below. 

  

This year was especially nice because Troy and Julie were able to spend more time than usual in Stockton.  It was really nice to watch the kids play together and hang out with them.  Troy and I had a great bowling tournament going on the Wii although he claims that I cheated because I didn’t tell him how to use the controller to his advantage….

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas Baking

I love to bake during the holidays but I hate having all of it in my house.  Those of you who know me, know that keeping all of the goodies in the house is a midnight “eating behavior” in the making! So, this year I decided to make all of the things that I love to make and give them all away.  Noelle and I got up early Saturday morning and finished just in time for her to take her bath and go to bed.  She had a lot of fun helping and I loved having a helper.

Noelle loved making the popcorn balls that we made for Kelly to take to work for all the ER folks.  I think she liked putting all of the butter on her hands the best.  Some our  finished products. In all we made  3 kinds of fudge, 5 kinds of bark, 2 flavors of popcorn balls, and cookies. Once everything was done I immediately put them in gift bags for all of my co-workers and delivered them on Monday.  It was perfect.  I had a ton of fun with Noelle and I gave it all away.  No midnight “eating behaviors” for me!!!

December 8th has come again

The last week or so I have often thought about this day coming and nervous as to how I would feel this morning as I woke up.  I was really hoping that I wouldn’t feel as sad as I have in the past.  Although I can’t say the sadness is gone, I can say that it doesn’t hurt  as bad has it has in the past.  I can’t believe that it’s been five years!  I read my blog post from last year and although the feelings are there it just doesn’t hurt as bad.  I’ve had some tears this morning and I’m sure there will be more to come but today I will try and focus on the good.  I am so blessed and have been given so much.  Not often do I take a day and just focus on me, but today is that day.  Tomorrow is a new day and a new chapter.  This coming year is going be full of surprises and joy. Hopefully December 8, 2010 will be a little easier than today.

The most amazing Christmas light displays!

On Friday I went with Kelly, Dave, Thomas and Noelle to look at Christmas lights.  The past couple of Christmas’ we have been going to a wonderfully decorated house in Manteca.  The amount of lights they have hung is amazing. I definitely would not want to have their PG&E  bill!  On the weekends Santa comes to visit and they give out cookies and hot chocolate.  We had been preparing the kids all evening that they were going to see Santa and they needed to think about what they were going to tell him. 

On the way there we had our own Christmas concert in the car.  Everyone got to play their favorite Christmas song and we sang along.  Kelly and I have a habit of singing very loud in the car and playing the songs over and over and this was no different.  We had a blast.

We arrived at the house and the kids were jumping out of the car to go see Santa.  To much disappointment, Santa had not arrived!  I thought Thomas was going to have a complete meltdown   but have a few minutes he was fine and enjoyed looking at all the lights. 

 

Then we drove to Modesto and saw an amazing light show!  Kelly and Dave work with a lady that she decorated her house with a ton of lights that are in sync with music.  You turn your car radio to a certain station and the lights “dance” with the current song.  It’s an amazing show!!!  If you live nearby you should really go see it.  She was featured on Good Day Sacramento last Friday.  It’s worth the drive.

Of course afterwards we had to go get one of my favorite treats, a Candy Cane blizzard.  We had a fabulous night.  I love this time of year.

 

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a nice a quiet Thanksgiving holiday.  I was finally able to get Kelly, Dave and my Dad to play Monopoly with me while Noelle took a nap.

And I won…

Kelly and Dad did the majority of the cooking.  Kelly made mashed sweet potatoes.  They were the BEST sweet potatoes I have ever eaten and that says a lot because I hate sweet potatoes and probably haven’t eaten one since I was a child.   Dad put the turkey in the rotisserie and it turned out PERFECT.  

After dinner we went and picked up Thomas from his Dad’s and went to my Mom’s for dessert.  Mom made some great festive desserts.

I had a great Thanksgiving holiday filled with family and great food.  I have so much to be thankful for and have been blessed with all that I have been given. 

 

All the summer projects are DONE!

Back in April I decided to do a few home improvement projects. 

1. Order and install blinds for all the bedrooms. That was a success. Back in May I ordered the blinds and Kelly and I installed them in one afternoon.

2.  Decorate Thomas’ bedroom.  That also was a success.  I picked a baseball theme for him and finished it in two phases. He loves his new room and best of all I never have to fight with him to sleep in his own bed.

3.  Decorate Noelle’s bedroom.  This was my challenge.  I really couldn’t figure out kind of theme I wanted to do.  A lot of things and colors popped in to mind but nothing that I thought she wouldn’t end up growing out of to quickly.  Finally after a long debate with Kelly, I chose cherries.  I found some cute fabric at JoAnn’s and made pillows, a bed skirt, and a valance. I panted the walls white and had a plan of stenciling cherries on the walls but I couldn’t find one that I liked.  By the time I decided on something it was getting close to Kelly’s wedding and then my Mom’s wedding and I just couldn’t find time to do it. Finally last weekend my Mom came over and helped me paint the cherries.  We didn’t find a stencil so we painted them freehand.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  Last night I hung the shelves and did the final touches. 

I’m so glad that all of the projects are done and I’m pretty happy with how everything came out.  

 

Halloween

Thomas got to wear his costume to preschool and went on a parade with his class. Grandma surprised him and walked with him and his class in the parade.

Halloween evening I took Noelle to Kelly’s house and had a great dinner with Grandpa and Grandma. Then Kelly and Dave took Noelle trick-or-treating to all the neighbors before having to go to work.

Then we went back to my house and handed out candy.  I think Noelle enjoyed seeing all the kids and handing out candy more than trick-or-treating herself!

Getting ready for Halloween

I can’t believe how quickly this month has gone by.  Before we know it, it will be Christmas!  This month has been busy with our usual fall activities. We started October with decorating the house for Halloween.

The kids enjoyed putting Halloween decals on their bedroom windows.  Later that evening we made Halloween sugar cookies.

Then we went to Apple Hill and to the pumpkin  patch.   

 

We bought Noelle her Halloween costume.

 

and lastly we carved pumpkins.

Thomas loved getting the seeds out of his pumpkin 

Noelle wasn’t as fond of the pumpkin carving. Until the seeds were out. 

And then in typical Noelle fashion, she licked the top of the pumpkin.Thomas was trying to show us what kind of scary face he wanted on his pumpkin.

                  

The finished products!!!!

I asked the kids if I could take a cute picture of them by the Halloween flag.  Thomas decided he needed to pose and of course Noelle does whatever her big brother does.

Apple Hill 2009

We had another fabulous trip to Apple Hill today. My Mom joined Kelly and I and the kids again this year.  We hit all of our usual spots and the kids had a blast.  Thomas has been every year now and it’s nice to hear his stories and what he remembers from the years past. I love tradition and I love that I’m able to go and do these things with him and Noelle.  Hopefully this will be something that they will always enjoy doing as a family. 

When I downloaded this years pictures, I took a look at last years pictures and it’s amazing how much the kids have grown.  Noelle was tiny and ever so cute and Thomas was getting that “big boy” look. Apple Hill 2008.