Family Time

We had a wonderful Christmas and will get photos up soon. In the interim, we are posting a few photos of our fun visit with Daddy's family. We were able to get a great family photo!

Daddy, the kids and our gracious hosts, Sheldon and Ann all went on a little walk to the neighborhood pond to look for ducks and throw sticks for Mocha. We all had a great time, so thanks to our hosts for all their hospitality!

We finally convinced Grandma to allow us to take a picture! First up, a goofy photo to get everyone in the mood.

Victory! We were able to encourage the kids and even Grandma to take a nice family photo!

Sing, Sing a Song

Will's class had put on a Cozy Winter Night celebration last week. They sang about ten songs and the cuteness was beyond compare. In the past, Will was not a very active participant at these types of events and so we thought it might be the same this year. We were very wrong! Will stood in the front row and sang his little heart out, as you can see here.  And not only did he sing, but he had all of the moves down too!

 

 

 

 

It was awesome!  Will was proud of himself, as he should have been, for doing such a great job.

The reward:  a giant sugar cookie with his buddy, Jake!

 

Beautiful Ballerinas

Natalie and Amanda having been taking ballet and tap lessons for several months and they recently had their first dance recital.  They were a little nervous, but also very excited.  Mom was more nervous about getting their hair into the mandatory buns, but with a little help from some socks and a you tube video, we did just fine!

Here is Amanda with some big smiles.

 

Natalie poses nicely.

And she warms up with some of her moves.

 

Some sisterly love and then we were off to the big show!  We don't have any photos from the show as photography was prohibited.  

But here are the lovely dancers right after the show.  They both did a terrific job! 

We are proud of you, beautiful ballerinas!

 

Breakfast With The Big Guy

These lucky ducks got to have breakfast with Santa Claus this weekend!  They were only a little excited as you will see in these photos!!  As soon as we entered the door, they all went racing up to Santa wearing broad smiles.

One by one, they each told Santa what they wanted for Christmas this year.  Amanda says she would like the little stuffed unicorn in the pink hand bag!

And Will says he wants Rocker Boots so he can fly all around!

After reading our lists to Santa, we sat down to have a very yummy brunch that made us all grin!

 

 

During brunch, Will went back to talk to Santa Claus several times.  I think he has a long list!  I would like Shredder, Batman and Ninja Turtle stuff!

The girls joined him too.  More stuffed animals for Amanda and Pinky Pie for Natalie!

Then everyone took turns smiling for the camera.  Mom and her mini-me.

And Dad and his mini-me.

Dad with his beautiful girls!

A little sisterly love.  

And finally a giant smile to wrap up our fun morning!

 

The Christmas Countdown Begins

We maintained our tradition of heading up to the mountains the day after Thanksgiving to get our Christmas tree.  The weather was absolutely spectacular and we had fun trouncing around the lot to find the perfect tree.

We looked and looked.

And looked and looked.

 

Finally, we found just the right one.  Will was very excited to assist in the cutting process.

After we hauled the tree up, the kids were rewarded with a candy cane!

Mom got a cute picture with her cutie pie girls before we headed out.

Our next stop was one of the great foothill wineries where we were able to capture some nice photos.

 

 

 

 

 

We like this particular winery because the kids can run around and have fun too.  They loved running down this hill just as fast as they could go.

And they all took turns jumping over the stream.

Once we got home, we wasted no time.  We donned the Santa hats and went right to work decorating the tree.

 

We did a little more decorating the next day and we were so happy to see our little Elf who flew in from the North Pole to enjoy our balmy weather!

 

This is the Elf, hiding in the tree.

 

Even Sable was in the holiday spirit with her reindeer antlers!