Another Christmas Celebration

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Saturday night. It was fun to be all together. We ate yummy food and enjoyed exchanging gifts. Here are a few pictures of our time together...

Allie loves her grandma!

Great-Grandma even joined us - Beth always loves having time with her.

No one lacked for help in opening their gifts! Nathan and Zachary were glad to offer their services.

The girls and I were posing for a picture and Grandma caught the side view!

The kids are modeling their favorite gifts - pajama pants made by Grandma Tos. Phil and I received some too, but we declined to model them for the camera. What a sweet, generous present - jammie pants for the entire family!

Et Cetera

Nathan discovered one of his daddy's ties while I was cleaning out the closet. He decided he was ready to go to work!

When Nathan gets tired, he often asks for "Bethie." They cuddle together and she knows just what to do to make him happy. He fell asleep just minutes after I took this picture.

My two favorite men!

The girls loved playing on the deer at Grandpa and Grandma's little house!

Christmas Day 2007

We had a quiet Christmas this year. We spent most of the day just relaxing and enjoying being together. Phil's sister and her family joined us in the late afternoon and we had a great dinner with them. Deb managed to take a picture before they left our house. Unfortunately, we were unable to pry Nathan's fingers out of his mouth!

Point Buchon Trail

We went hiking on Point Buchon Trail in Los Osos with Grandma and Grandpa Tos. It's a 1.8 mile hike through unspoiled terrain. We saw beautiful sights and walked right through a field of cattle! Although it was very windy, we all had a good time. We returned to the car both windblown and winded! (I am SO out of shape!)

Cambria

On Saturday, December 22, we headed to the coast, leaving the valley's fog behind and discovering sunny blue skies! We stopped briefly in Cambria to walk along Moonstone Beach. This is one of our favorite places!

Nathan announced, "I can do this! I am a rock climber!" He is such a character!

Seasonal Smiles

Last night we attended Allie's Christmas program. The kindergarten and first grade classes performed, "Flower of the Holy Night." It was a fun program and we enjoyed watching Allie sing! Here she is before we left...

This was our fourth program this year. Whew! We enjoyed them but we're also glad they are over! Nathan doesn't make the best audience at the moment. Here Phil is enjoying some tickle time with Nathan while we waited for the performance to begin.

And the highlight of the evening for Nathan was walking out to the car holding his own umbrella! Sometimes it's the little things that mean the most!

CHRISTMAS COOKIES!

We baked our Christmas cookies last weekend and put them in the freezer until we had time to decorate them. Heaven knows plain cookies will not do - they taste SO much better with frosting and sprinkles! So today we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

I learned several things during this process: (1) Whoever coined the phrase "Many hands make light work" probably didn't have a three year old, (2) Sticking out your tongue makes applying sprinkles much easier, (3) There is such a thing as too many sprinkles to choose from, (4) The words "Whoa - those came out lilly lilly fast!" spell trouble, and (5) Decorating Christmas cookies with our kids may be time-consuming and messy, but it's a tradition that I look forward to continuing each and every year!

Our Gingerbread House

Beth and Allie have been looking forward to our annual tradition of decorating a gingerbread house. This year, Nathan joined in on the fun! (In the past few years, we have done it while Nathan napped!). Somehow, our gingerbread houses never look quite like the picture on the box - probably because I'm not very skilled at applying the icing - but our kids are always thrilled with the finished product. Of course, they also look forward to eating the leftover candies!

A Visit with Santa

We headed to the mall this morning to see Santa. It was high on Allie's list this holiday season - and the first time we've ever taken pictures with Santa. We all had a great time!

Cookin' Up Christmas!

Tonight we enjoyed watching Beth's Christmas program. The second and third graders performed a great program entitled "Cookin' Up Christmas." As always, Beth sang her little heart out. It was so much fun to watch her singing with such joy and watch her toes tapping to the beat! (I think she enjoyed having the drums along with the piano!). Beth was chosen to be part of a girls' octet and they sang a beautiful song. She was so proud! (So were we). Now we get to look forward to two more programs - one for Nathan and one for Allie!

Trimming the Tree

Today we put up our Christmas tree and decorated it. The kids were so excited about it - and were such a big help! It was fun to see their enthusiasm and hear their comments as they chose which ornaments to hang on the tree.

Nathan took care of the bottom part of the tree for us. Each time he'd hang an ornament, he'd announce, "Ta-da!" He was very enthusiastic about the entire process.

Beth especially enjoyed seeing ornaments that she had made in previous years. She was able to reach quite high this year - and was a big help!

Allie was my best helper in trimming the tree. She lasted long after the others had grown tired. She wanted to be sure every ornament we own had a special spot on the tree!

Daddy was not nearly as enthusiastic about the tree trimming process. He made a good spectator, however, and enjoyed the kids' comments! (I think hanging lights on our house this afternoon tired him out). As for me, I enjoyed having little helpers help decorate the tree and I just LOVE seeing their handmade ornaments and hand-me-down ornaments from my own childhood. Our tree is filled with beautiful memories!

Snow!

We experienced typical Denver weather during our trip. On Monday it was sunny and 70 degrees! The temperature dropped nearly 35 degrees in one day - and there was snow on the ground when we woke up on Wednesday morning. Our kids were thrilled, but their cousins weren't too impressed! They are more accustomed to snow.

Nathan opened the drapes and announced, "Ta-da! God did it with His power!" He was SO excited that he was outside playing at 7:30am! He had a great time!

Beth enjoyed being outside in the snow as well, but she didn't last quite as long as her brother!

Here Allie strikes a pose. What a cutie!

Cousin Time

Of course, the best part of our Denver visit was just being together! The kids were thrilled to be with their cousins again and played so well together. The older kids even planned and performed a "show" for us on Thanksgiving. It was very fun!

Nathan and Cara enjoyed playing in the tub together!

Perler beads were a very popular activity!

Why is watching a movie on a laptop computer so much more exciting that watching one on TV? I'm not sure - but it gave the dads a chance to watch Monday Night Football in peace!

Allie loved playing with Cara - and Cara really enjoys her ice cream!

Quickly posing for a group picture on Thanksgiving night!

DENVER ZOO

We took a road trip to Denver to visit my sister and her family. On our first full day there, we were blessed with a beautiful day so we headed to the zoo!

Here we are at the polar bear enclosure. They are beautiful animals!

(As you can tell, Nathan was not in the mood to be photographed!)

checking out the ducks, geese and swans

We took a train ride and the kids really enjoyed that! It was so nice to be out of the car and outdoors!

Here's our kids' favorite animal of the entire visit - a peacock that wandered by while we ate lunch! They thought it was hilarious because it was eating Cheetos off the ground.

Friendship is a Special Gift

We enjoyed a weekend with some very special friends. Our friend Jane and her daughters, Mia and Rachel, came down from Escalon on Saturday and stayed for two nights. The kids all picked up right where they had left off and had a wonderful time. Jane and I enjoyed catching up and just being together. Jane's family lived across the street from us when we lived in Escalon and God has really blessed us with a lasting friendship. Friendship is such a special gift!

Dreams of a Little Boy

Nathan likes school, but he also enjoys his "mommy days." We walked to the park a few days ago for some playtime. When we were finished, we saw something that completely enthralled my little guy. He plopped down on the curb and just watched.

They are building a new school next to the park and a grader was working on the street. That really got Nathan's attention! When we finally decided to head home, Nathan announced, "When I be a grown-up, I want to drive one of those!"

Endangered Cat Haven

Today Beth's second grade class went on a field trip to the Endangered Cat Haven. Located just above Dunlap, the Cat Haven houses many large wild cats. It was a fun day, full of an informative tour, some class time, craft time and lunch. Both Beth and I are tired, but we sure had a good time! It is a blessing to be able to go on field trips with our kids.

This is our tour guide, Laura, with Tango. Tango is a cheetah and was amazingly docile. He was actually purring!

This is one of the bengal tigers - Goliath. He paced back and forth and watched us as we ate our lunch. Maybe he smelled something tasty!

Beth poses with her friends, Madelyn and Baylee, at the entrance to Cat Haven.

Proof that Mommy was there! It was fun to spend special time with my sweet girl.