A Little Bit From Our Christmas Week

We had a fun, eventful Christmas week. Most of the pictures from this week are on Jon's parents camera, so will be coming later.

We started the break the Friday before Christmas by spending the weekend in Danville with Jon's family. On Saturday we had a Polar Express party. We all had to wear pajamas and then go outside so we could give the conductor our ticket at the door.

Jon's dad played the conductor very well

After we got our tickets punched we went and made spritzers (I think that's what they're called.)

Jon tried his hand at it

Emma put herself in charge of tasting all the sprinkles

And Matthew just played and looked cute
After cookies, we watched The Polar Express and enjoyed our cookies and hot chocolate. It was a fun night.

Monday we had the Farrells over to our house for dinner, games, and a trip to the candy store. It was a tight squeeze but we made it work and had a lot of fun.

Tuesday me and Matthew woke up sick...cough, congestion, fever, the works. I took Matthew to the doctor and found out that he also had a really bad ear infection. Poor kid! He was so miserable. We had been planning on going to the Farrell's for Christmas eve and staying until Christmas and decided to go ahead and do it since most of the family was sick too. Since we were going to be gone Christmas morning, we had our Christmas on Christmas Eve. It was fun to watch Emma's reaction when she came out in the morning. I love that she's old enough to understand and enjoy holidays.

We got Emma this mini trampoline and it was a hit. She was so excited to jump on it. After she jumped for a minute she stopped and said, "Oh, it's perfect!"

We also got Emma this road mat with some cars and trains. She loves it. I thought she and Jon looked so cute playing together.

After we finished our Christmas and cleaned up, we headed out to Danville and spent most of the next 4 days there. We came home after present opening on Christmas and went back again the next morning. All of the siblings were home so we wanted to take advantage of that and spend as much time as we could with them. It was a bummer to be sick but we were glad we could still see everyone and enjoy our Christmas. We are feeling much better now, just fighting off these coughs.

Emma loved this little nativity

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Emma's Haircut

All right...here it is. The haircut I gave Emma. I realize the pictures aren't amazing...but I'll take what I can get. :)

This haircut is really growing on me. I think she looks so cute and just a little more grown up.

Some Random Tidbits

Just a few random things that I've noticed or thought about lately.

*Emma has become quite the packrat(for lack of a better word) lately and it is so funny to me. Every time she goes to take a nap or go to bed, she carries a stack of about 20 books with her. They have to sit in a certain spot on her bed with her 2 pillows, 3 large stuffed animals, and about 10 blankets. Throughout week she also added the tv remote, an envelope, and an order summary form to the pile.

*I am TIRED!!! Matthew has been waking up 4-6 times a night and Emma must have decided that she's missing out. She woke up 3 times last night (all right before or after Matthew) and was hysterical. I'm hoping this was a one time deal and not the beginning of nightmares.

*Winter has come and brought lots of rain with it. After only 2 days of rain, we are really starting to feel cooped up. We have watched more movies than I care to admit, and read a million books. My creative juices aren't flowing so I need some ideas. What do you all do during the long rainy (or snowy) days? I'm desperate for ideas of things to do at home on those days that I don't have the car or just don't feel like braving the weather.

*I can't believe Christmas is so soon. I was talking to someone on Monday and said something about how I can't keep track of time anymore and that I keep thinking Christmas is next week. She looked a little confused and reminded me that it IS next week. Hmm...good thing we have all of our shopping done.

*I cut Emma's hair on Saturday. It was getting so scraggly (is that a real word?) and was just driving me crazy. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I just picked some hair and cut. It ended up being shorter than I had planned but I really like it. It is right above her shoulders. Will post pictures as soon as she lets me take one. :)

*I can't wait for Jon's week off next week. We have lots of fun stuff planned and are excited to spend some time with his family and with each other.

*Emma has started calling me Mr. Conductor (thank you Thomas the Train). All day I hear "Oh, thank you Mr. Conductor" when I do something for her. At least she's remembering to say thank you... She has also taken to calling Jon and I by our first names.

Meeting Santa

Santa made a special appearance at Dreamworks today. I don't think Emma had ever met him and we've only talked about him once or twice, so she wasn't really sure what was going on. Luckily she didn't cry and when it was time to leave, she didn't want to get off of his lap. Matthew was totally oblivious and just liked playing with his beard. He even made off with a handful of it. Oops...

Lots of Updates

I am finally getting around to posting again, so this is going to be a random, lots of stuff post.

The first two pictures are at the Coyote Point Museum. We met up with a couple of our friends on the free day and had a blast.

Emma and Ella loved turning the handles to make waves.

Emma learned about polar opposites while playing with these magnets. Try as she might, she just couldn't get them to stick together.

On Saturday we all went to the Randall Museum in San Francisco. It is a free children's museum that is small, but fun. They had a professional bubble blower (who knew that was a real profession???) which was really cool. He blew the bubbles with nothing but his hands. He also used several other wands and even put kids in bubbles.

All the little white dots are bubbles. I think this picture looks cool.

When we went, they also had several workshops where the kids could make gingerbread houses, candles, candle holders, and soap. We made the gingerbread house. Emma did most of the decorating herself.

And of course, she had to taste some of the candy. I was impressed with how much actually made it onto the house.

This is also at the museum. You can build your duplo block tower and then push a button that makes the green board shake, simulating an earthquake.

This is the toy room at the museum. We love it. Tons of new toys and books. Great fun.

The view from the museum.

Saturday night we went to our ward's Christmas party. They did a great job. They had an open air market where we got our dinner and then they had everyone sit on blankets to eat. We forgot our blanket but luckily Matthew brought his and was willing to share. :)

At the end of the party, they acted out the nativity. They did a great job.

And...last but not least...we finally got some Christmas decorations up last week. We don't have much, but we have enough to make it feel Christmasy and cozy. We have a ledge around our living room where the wall meets the ceiling so we hung lights all around the living room. We also got a small fake tree, our first since we've been married. I love this time of year.

Jon took a sick day today and stayed home with us. Since Matthew started teething, he's been really hit or miss with eating and hasn't really been sleeping at all. My body didn't do well with the change and I ended up with some nursing problems. So, he stayed home to help out and let me get some much needed rest. It was great to have him here. He took Emma out on a little daddy daughter date this morning. They got some Christmas shopping done, played on the toys at the mall, and went to the candy store. Emma was really needing some one-on-one time, so I'm glad they could go.

Matthew continues to surprise us with what he can do. Just in the last couple of weeks he has been scooting a lot more. He'll scoot backwards and in circles when he's on his tummy and he has also started scooting across the floor on his bottom. He can also pull himself up onto his knees when he's holding onto something and will pull himself into standing position when he's holding onto one of us. He is such a busy little guy.

We are looking forward to Christmas and to having Jon home for the week. Only 1 more week!

All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

It looks like, just in time for Christmas, Matthew will have his two first teeth. His first one broke through yesterday...and it has been misery and woe ever since. I really think teething is worse than any shots babies ever get. He is so sad, and spends the day (and night) screaming and crying and trying to bite everything he can. None of the teething medicine works. It is so sad and frustrating. I wish the teeth could just pop up and be there. It sure would make life easier.

I don't remember it being this hard with Emma so I'm not sure what else to do. Any suggestions???

Thanksgiving

We had such a fun Thanksgiving weekend. We went to Jon's family's house from Thurday to Saturday and just enjoyed visiting, letting the aunts play nonstop with Emma, going on a nice little date to the temple, and eating lots of yummy food. I also went to a couple stores on Friday (late enough to miss the crowds, but early enough to still get the early bird specials. I got some awesome deals on a few things for Christmas, but I am most excited about the mini trampoline we got. Emma loves trampolines so this should be a big hit.

We really had a great weekend and being able to spend time with family.

Jon picked the pictures for this post. We didn't get very many while we were there, aside from a family photo shoot, so these are all pictures from that. Jon took all the pictures of just the kids and his dad took the family pictures. Anyway, these were just a few of our favorites.

Why is it impossible to get a decent picture of my kids together???

On our way home we stopped at a lake in Livermore. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful place to stop and enjoy the afternoon.

Matthew

Since Emma got her own post a few weeks ago, I wanted to do one just for Matthew too. And since he just turned 6 months I thought this was a very fitting time to do it.

I have been reflecting a lot lately as I watch him. It is SO hard to believe he is already 6 months old. His first six months went a lot faster than I remember Emma's going. It's hard to believe that 6 really short months ago, he was this little.

And that all of a sudden he is this big

He had his 6 month checkup last week and was 15 pounds and 24 3/4 inches. Like Emma, he inherited our short genes. The doctor said he looks great and is right where he should be developmentally. He has been sitting since about 4 1/2 months, but has no interest in rolling or crawling. He wants so badly to be able to stand and is always trying to pull up into a standing position. He also discovered how much he can do with his voice. He has been babbling for several months but recently has started screeching and screaming and making all sorts of other fun, loud noises. He also says dada a lot...pretty much all day.

Matthew loves watching people, but especially Emma. He gets the biggest kick out of her and is usually content to watch her every move. She can really get him laughing. I love it. It's a good thing he loves her so much because she thinks it's pretty funny to hit and push him. I'm hoping it's just a phase...

Matthew is such a little sponge. He gets so distracted and it's almost impossible to get him to eat or sleep. He doesn't want to miss a thing. We've tried feeding him baby foods and he'll tolerate them, but he really prefers to eat what we're eating...I don't blame him. We also think he is teething, at least I'm hoping that is what all the screaming is about. :)

We love our little buddy and are so grateful to have him in our lives.

Another Day at the Beach

We were needing to get out and get some fresh air yesterday and, once again, the weather was perfect, so we headed to the beach. Jon wanted to see Baker Beach, where Esther and I went on Monday and we both wanted to see nearby China Beach. We went to China Beach first. All the sand was really wet and it was tiny and rocky, but we had it mostly to ourselves and the view was great. We had brought a picnic lunch and had all of our food sitting out. Jon had gone to explore, Emma ran after him, and I ran after her. Meanwhile, the seagulls came and took most of our lunch. Nice...Anyway, here are some pictures.

China Beach

After China Beach we went up the road to Baker Beach. I like this beach better. The sand is drier and it's a little warmer there. Emma even wore her swimsuit. I love California weather!

We saw a whale (or dolphin) so Jon and Emma went to get a better look at it and explore the beach while I got Matthew to sleep. They are so cute together.

Emma is such a little beach bum. All day she kept asking if we could go to another beach.

Matthew took a nice long nap. He slept almost the whole time we were there.

After the beach it was bathtime

Trying to climb up Dad's leg

Emma has a slight, okay MAJOR obsession with Thomas the Train. He goes pretty much everywhere with her. Jon calls this picture train track to heaven.

I love days like this, when there is no rush to be anywhere or do anything. We get to just enjoy being with each other and it feels like it can't get any better than it is in that moment.