December 2016

12/1/16

Grant drew this picture at school - he said he wanted to be a teacher when he grew up and this was his picture of him being a teacher.

12/2/16

Here I am waiting and waiting and waiting.  I waited at the bus stop for an hour today.  Luckily Scott's parents were here watching the kids at the house, but I almost missed my parent/teacher conference because of the late bus.  Another reason it would be great with all the kids at one school.   :(  No bus needed.

12/3/16

Anna's baptism day.  Both sets of grandparents were visiting for the occasion.  

Read more about it HERE.

12/4/16

Emma scooting around on the floor.  She likes to "help" while I'm cooking.

12/5/16

Our decorated Christmas tree.  We went to get the Christmas tree this past weekend.

Read more about it HERE.

12/6/16

These two have a knack for getting into trouble.  On this day it resulted in double time outs.  

I think Grant was having too much fun in time out.

12/7/16

Emma, our little bird, and her friend in the mirror.  I got the mirror out one day and Emma loved chit chatting with herself in the mirror.  She started bringing all her toys in to show herself in the mirror.  After a few days of her bringing piles of toys in I tried putting the mirror away in the closet again.  She went and found it and tried to bring it back out.  Oh Emma.

12/8/16

John and Emma dressed up as Darth Vader and a storm trooper. 

 They are my little buddies while the other kids are at school.

12/9/16

Scott was doing reserve duty all week and he got back tonight.  

We were all so excited to have him back!

12/10/16

Tonight was the final performance of Anna's school play - Little ReDefined.

Great job Anna.  Read more about it HERE.

12/11/16

We decorated gingerbread houses tonight.  It was a lot of work but so much fun!

Read more about it HERE.

12/12/16

Emma loves picture taking but she always comes up too close.  I have to back away from her to get a picture.  Tonight she did what I did - moonwalked away from me as I tried to take her picture.

12/13/16

Waiting at the bus stop on a rainy day.  

The photo doesn't capture it but the mountains looked really beautiful in the rain.

12/14/16

Picking kids up from school.  Emma and John were screaming and screaming while we waited.  

That screaming can be hard to take.  :(  Oh, my little buddies!!

12/15/16

Christmas goodies.  We made pretzel treats for Grant's class, and some for ourselves.  Emma would wait until I wasn't looking and then grab a few.  Sneaky.

12/16/16

Today I was able to go to Grant's kindergarten holiday performance and his little class party afterward.  I'm so glad I was able to go.  Read more about it HERE.

12/17/16

Emma has a tea party for herself and a teddy bear friend.

12/18/16

Gingerbread houses a few days later.  Already missing some of their candies.  The rule is only nibble off your own house - or with permission from the owner.

12/19/16

John likes fudge.  Really he does.  He wanted me to take a picture of him with his fudge piece and this was the happiest face he could muster.  He does look a bit disgusted.

12/20/16

Matthew said he needed gloves one evening when all the kids were playing outside.  It was probably in the 50s.  I suggested he could try pants or a coat, but he said that wasn't necessary.  He ended up with gloves, a hat and scarf - but still wearing shorts and short sleeves.  He also told me it was so weird how warm it is here in December and said it was like Hawaii.  Three of my children have asked me, longingly, about the snow over the past few days...and when it was going to snow here.  I for one love the warmer weather.  But maybe that's just me.

12/21/16

Great weather for a day at the park.  

The kids had fun running around outside after we ran some errands.

12/22/16

We had a fun day at Children's Fairyland in Oakland.  There were so many fun little things to do and see there.  Here the kids were sliding down the Jack and Jill hill on cardboard.  

Read more about it HERE.

12/23/16

Anna and Scott have a snuggle.  Scott works hard and we don't see him a lot during the weeks so I'm really looking forward to some holiday time off as a family.

12/24/16

Christmas Eve and matching jammies.

We had a little Christmas Eve nativity program and got ready for Christmas.

The kids are so excited!!

12/25/16

Christmas morning.  We eat breakfast before presents are opened.

It can be hard for the kids to wait and I'm not sure they have much of an appetite.

We had a wonderful Christmas day.

12/26/16

Anna accompanied me on some day after Christmas shopping, which was a total bust.  I was hoping to find a few discounted Christmas things but didn't find anything I liked.  We also looked at a few decorative things for the house.  Anna helped me.

12/27/16

"Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was not more than two"

Emma got this candy cane headband from Matthew for Christmas.  She loves wearing it and will shout at us that she is a "reindeer" when she has them on.  She reminds me a little of Cindy-Lou from the grinch cartoon.

12/28/16

Monterey!  Some of our vacation days have been lazy, some have involved outings.  Today we went to Monterey to walk on the beach and check out some tide pools.  The kids had a great time!

12/29/16

We took the kids to a local bounce house place today.  They had a blast and almost had the place to themselves for 90 minutes.  Scott and I were able to talk while the kids got all their wiggles out.  Everyone is already asking when we can go back.

12/30/16

Matthew and Anna had a playdate this morning with some church/school friends.  So the younger three went with Scott and I to lunch.  Here's John with his after lunch ice cream.

12/31/16

A scene from our crazy New Year's Eve party tonight.  

We played some minute to win it games, counted down to the new year very early and had lots of fun.

Happy New Year!

November 2016

11/1/16

The most wonderful thing happened.  

The porta-potty that has been in front of our house for a couple weeks is gone.  

HOORAY!!

11/2/16

Emma was testing our the orange Kit-Kats.  She didn't like them.

11/3/16

Grant surprised us by working hard on this sugar skull coloring page.

His interest in art projects has increased recently.

11/4/16

John was mad at me for taking a melty Twix bar away from him in the car.

He still scowled at me even after he got the (unmelted) other half.

11/5/16

Anna's last day of soccer.  She had a great time playing this year.

Hooray Anna!

11/6/16

Emma finds a target of opportunity.  

Someone left their pumpkin on the table and she was right there to loot it.

11/7/16

Glad we have a backyard to go out in now.

It's not too cold yet so they kids can enjoy the outdoors.

11/8/16

Election day.  We made these red and blue cupcakes for election day.

11/9/16

Matthew's favorite place to be - at the little secretary where the computer is.  We got him a small desk in his room for homework but he prefers to do all his homework out here.  He uses the computer for papers and a few odds and ends for homework and then can do his screen time when all other jobs are done.  His current career ambitions involve computers.

11/10/16

Emma and Grant looking at Grant's eraser collection.

Emma thinks Grant is lots of fun.  We all think that.

11/11/16

Visiting Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park near Santa Cruz for Veteran's Day.

Very beautiful and peaceful.  Read more about it HERE.

11/12/16

The kids enjoyed pizza and ice cream sundaes after their primary program practice today.

11/13/16

We celebrated Emma's birthday (a few days late) with cake and presents.  She was excited.

Read more HERE.

11/14/16

The BIG apple pie from Gizdich Ranch is really something.

The apples are piled as high as the crust before cooking, but they bake down a bit.

Very tasty!

11/15/16

Emma and Grant enjoy some of Emma's birthday cake.

11/16/16

It was a little iffy at the beginning of the year but Grant has turned into a very conscientious homework doer.  As soon as he gets home from school he wants to get a snack and get started on homework.  Good job Grant!

11/17/16

Kind of obsessed with this soup today - Salsa Soup.  I haven't made it in a while so I'm rediscovering its awesomeness.  It really kind of tastes like salsa and only gets better the next day (like most soups).  Yum!

11/18/16

Grant in the Harry Potter glasses.  He reminds me a little of Ralphie from Christmas Story with the glasses on.  "You'll shoot your eye out, kid."

11/19/16

Matthew at basketball.  He and Anna are in the middle of their seasons and learning a lot.

11/20/16

Scott helped me hang some pictures in Matthew's room.  Getting settled in the house is a long process for me.  Sometimes things take a while to get settled.  We'll get there.  Thanks Scott for the help.

11/21/16

Enjoying the backyard.  The kids have fun playing out there but the balls do go over the fence a lot.  Our neighbors know who they belong too and throw them back.  :)

11/22/16

Grant wears his Thanksgiving outfit for us again.  He was a bit distraught on the day of his Thanksgiving program so we didn't get many pictures but he was happy to try it on again.

11/23/16

We had a fun day visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium again today.

Glad to be so close to the ocean again.

11/24/16

Thanksgiving.  Scott and I worked hard on the food and it all turned out tasty and delicious.

Read more HERE.

11/25/16

More time outside.  Today the kids enjoyed a big bowl of popcorn out there.  Later we were pulling soggy popcorn out the water table.  Ew.

11/26/16

Visited The Tech Museum in San Jose.  We had a great time and enjoyed TWO Imax movies.  It would have been a lot funner if Emma was a better movie watcher.  Ahhh, some day.

11/27/16

Scott and I are sunbeam teachers.  I love having a calling with Scott since I feel like I don't get to see him much during the week.  Today we made Fruit Loop necklaces as part of our Sunbeam class and our kids made some at home afterward.  Grant likes his Fruit Loops separated by color.

11/28/16

Inspired by the example of her older siblings, Emma likes to settle down for homework time each weekday afternoon.  She shouts at me to get her some homework and follows me around until I deliver.  Grant had an old used up workbook that came home with him today so Emma got to "work" on that with her crayons.  I like that she's getting in the homework habit.  :)  I should probably get her some age appropriate workbooks.  

11/29/16

John plays in some of the grass by the bus stop.

Waiting for the bus each day is not my favorite thing.

11/30/16

Anna in her homework spot.  Matthew loves working by the computer, Grant likes the kitchen (by the food?) and Anna likes the office where she can close the doors and work relatively undisturbed.  I'm still working in tidying up the office.  Again...it's a process.