A huge thank you!!!!

...to our secret Santa this year! Someone did the 12 Days of Christmas for our family every night for the past 12 nights, and it has been one of our favorite parts of the holiday this year! Every day from the minute it gets dark the kids have checked to see if the "Secret Giver" has come yet. And come they did, dropping off wonderful gifts like a poinsettia, scented jar Christmas candles, festive mugs and hot chocolate, stuffed Snowmen, cinnamon rolls, frosted brownies, boxed chocolates, and tonight: a Disney Christmas CD. The kids danced their little hearts out to it (Ava and Nate are both getting better at ballet).

So, if you are the family who did this for us, or you happen to know who is, please accept/pass along our sincerest THANK YOU for helping to make our Christmas a wonderful one!!!!! You're awesome!

Christmas decorations

In case anyone's interested I thought I'd post our Christmas decorations. I bought a beautiful pre-lit tree this year that I love and a bunch of new ornaments too. I kept things pretty simple and I love it! Usually I'm feeling claustrophobic from all the Christmas "clutter" by now, but this year it feels just right.



A view of the whole "formal" living/dining area.

Nate showing off our new stockings. I have one more for the baby. By next Christmas I'll have our names on them. Clearly the mantle needs more color, but this too will have to wait for next year.

A view into the family room from the dining room.

And our other favorite Christmas decoration. Unfortunately it looks nothing like this now, but Nate found it highly delicious.

Carrot cake recipe

I've had several requests for my carrot cake recipe since I made it for Thanksgiving this year. I wish I could claim this as my own, but all the credit has to go to Southern Living. Don't think about the calories. Don't contemplate how much sugar is in this thing. And whatever you do don't skip the buttermilk glaze, which is THE KEY to this awesome cake. Oh, and cream cheese frosting, which is sent from the gods. I would eat cardboard if it was slathered in cream cheese icing!

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=257583

Ava's Christmas festivities

Ava has been very busy this week (and as a result, so have we!) Tuesday night was her preschool's performance of the Nativity. Ava was one of the "stars" in the heavens. We couldn't take any pictures during the performance, so here are two pictures of her after the fact. As her family knows, Ava loves to sing (which she did beautifully that night) and she loves to pose:

Wednesday morning was her Christmas dance recital and cookie reception. She's the gorgeous little thing on the right (as opposed to that also gorgeous little thing on the left):

Being a ballerina makes one introspective:

She loved having Daddy there:

And today (Thursday) was her preschool class Christmas party. Everyone wore their pajamas and brought blankets, pillows and a stuffed animal. They had a visit from Santa, ate pizza and cookies, and had a book exchange. Ava loved the book she received:

Today was the last of the Christmas parties (Brenna's was this afternoon....pictures to come soon) and I am relieved! They were very fun, and I love seeing my kiddos beaming from ear to ear, but now I'm ready to hunker down and enjoy the family fun!

Nate loves Santa

Mind you, Nate saw Santa at our church Christmas party a couple of weeks ago. Still, he was beside himself when we saw Santa at the mall on Tuesday. Silly woman that I am, I thought it would be enough to "see" Santa from a distance, since Nate had already sat on his lap and told him about his "Chrissums chee" (aka, Christmas tree). Oh no, Nate watched intently as a brother and sister had their picture taken with Santa. The moment those two were off his lap, Nate squeezed through a hole in the fence surrounding Santa's enclosure, ran straight up to the big man, and planted himself on his lap. Meanwhile, although Nate can squeeze through the small fence, me and my 36-weeks pregnant belly cannot! So it takes me a minute to figure out how to get through (and much laughter and assistance from the mothers waiting in line) so I can remove my overzealous child. Thankfully, the other parents were very kind and our mall's Santa was extremely sweet and gave Nate a big hug and talked to him for a minute before sending him on his way.

So then comes Ava's little Christmas dance recital and cookie reception today, complete with visit from you-know-who. Guess who was first on Santa's lap? And guess who went back and saw him again five minutes later? Here's a hint:

And here's big sister telling Santa that what she really wants for Christmas is a Barbie doll. Don't tell her, but she's got two coming to her!

Nate's first haircut

Over the Thanksgiving break we took Nate for his first haircut. Here he is protesting having to wait his turn for the totally awesome car chair:

He settled down as soon as he got to sit in the chair, which apparently was everything he had hoped it would be:

Then came the razor, which felt pretty darn weird:

And finally the trim up top, which was disconcerting, but not nearly as weird as that vibrating razor:

And the final result. So much better than before!

I'm not sure why I waited so long, except I was terribly worried he would no longer look like a toddler, but a little boy, which he does. But he's a handsome devil, so it's okay.

Manipulation

My friend Katie suggested this title for my previous post, but I still stand by my original title, given that Ava hasn't decided to actually put her dad's offer to the test. No, I have a better example of manipulation.

Yesterday Brenna asks for votes from everyone in the house...which of her Build A Bear Workshop animals should wear Christmas clothes? So we all vote, and ultimately decide on her Husky, Mason Superhero.

Fast forward to this morning, when Brenna informs me that we need to go buy Mason his Christmas clothes from Build A Bear. I ask her why I would do such a thing and she informed me that "YOU voted for it, Mom!" I told her nice try, but I had assumed she was already in possession of acceptable stuffed dog Christmas clothes when I voted and would not be purchasing any for Mason.

The funniest part to me is that she didn't argue. She knew EXACTLY what she was doing when she held the family vote yesterday!

Reinterpretation

Scott went up to see the girls after they'd gone to bed tonight and while giving hugs and kisses told them, "I love you and I would do anything to make you happy." Later he asked, "Do you remember what I told you?"
Girls: "You love us."
Scott: "And what else?"
Ava: "You'll do anything I say."

Oh dear. Maybe he should do some serious rephrasing until that one comes back to him the way he intended it to.

Playing at the park

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we gathered up the kiddos and headed to the park. Something to love about central California...it was the end of November and 60 degrees. My little Californians wore sweatshirts and sweaters, unlike my nephew from Utah who wore a t-shirt and shorts and he only has 1% body fat to keep him warm! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but that boy is skinny... I adore his little chicken legs.

Nate enjoyed climbing up the giant playground and sliding down the huge tube slide.

Then he made everyone but his mom nervous by hanging off stuff that 2 year old boys shouldn't. The fact that we haven't had an ER visit with him yet has convinced me that this boy is invincible. Did you ever see that movie "Unbreakable" with Bruce Willis? In 30 years we'll discover that Nate is actually a superhero.

Miss Ava, who was very busy playing with two little boys she met at the park. She makes new friends everywhere she goes, and always calls them that too. "Mom, my new friends and I are playing chase!"

The looker. Holy cow, this is one pretty boy. By the way, how do you like his new haircut?

And this is a new favorite picture of Brenna. It just looks like her to me.

Nate the Great climbing with Uncle Patrick:


And swinging with Aunt Julie:

And my gorgeous niece, Annie. She's got her mom's beautiful eyes:

I found the camera cord!

Probably because I spent more than 3 minutes looking for it. So here are some pictures I've been promising! First, Brenna's tooth before she pulled it out. As with the pictures of her "Mississippi Mamma" teeth, the pictures don't do it justice.

Second, the adorable toothless grin. I love it!

Third, a self-portrait. Someone should clean that bathroom mirror! This is at 32 weeks, so 2 weeks ago.

Finally, Ava and Nate, the 2 good buddies (most of the time). These two party out together for a good part of the day.