Our Christmas Week of Fun

What a wonderful week we've had. It started with baking cookies with my girls. We do it every year. This year I thought I would try a few different recipes. The Cashew-Lemon Shortbread Cookies were a huge hit. We'll be making those again for sure.

Tuesday we went Christmas Caroling to my grandmother's house. She will be 95 in February. Singing and a short visit was the perfect gift. Well, in addition to her favorite cookies...Biscotti. After having a wonderful dinner with my parents I took the girls and my cousin to Christmas in the Park.

Wednesday, we had our annual visit with our good friend JBK in Santa Rosa. Each year we find something fun to do for the day. This year we took the girls ice skating for the very first time at Snoopy's Home Ice. We had a blast. The girls didn't want to leave.

After a full day of ice skating and decorating cookies we had a wonderful dinner with Aunt D and Uncle J in The City. What a wonderful visit and delicious dinner.

Christmas Eve we went to mass and had another great visit with my cousins. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures from that night. We had a great dinner, a joyful surprise (one of my cousins came home for Christmas),  and a wonderful visit.

Christmas morning we stayed home. We opened gifts from Santa and a few others that were under the tree. I made Dutch Baby for breakfast. YUM and the girls played and we relaxed until it was time to go to my parents for a wonderful dinner.

 

A picture is worth a 1,000 words! O's favorite gift from Santa.

Here are some pics from my parents house. I think I like the goofy picture of all the cousins better.

Merry Christmas! I hope you also had a wonderful week filled with good food and the ones you love.

I love all of our traditions. What a fabulous week we had!

Thanksgiving

As I am getting ready to post pictures from our fun Christmas week, I realized I never posted Thanksgiving. I thought I'd better at least post a collage.

I love Thanksgiving. Not only for the wonderful pies, turkey, and stuffing, but for the relaxing day to spend with those we love.

As I looked out my parents kitchen window on Thanksgiving afternoon the sun was shinning on one beautiful baby pink rose. It was shinning there in full bloom for everyone to admire. It was so beautiful. So uncommon for the end of November.

Losing Control

The girls were getting ready for bed tonight and all of a sudden I wasn't sure if the cat was outside or inside. As I started looking for Genie this is the conversation that took place.

Mommy:  "Is the cat still outside?! I think it was raining."
CK: "No, she's downstairs on the couch."
Mommy: "Oh, I think I'm losing my mind."
CK: "You are losing control over everything you have control over."
O: "Are you losing half your mind?"
Mommy: "Oh thanks!"
CK and O:  [laughing historically]

Oh my gosh, do these two take after their uncles or what?

Wish List to Santa

Item number 4 on O's wish list to Santa: a robot that can clean.
That's on my list too my sweet girl.

Visiting Santa

Santa makes a special trip each year to daddy's work. We get extra time with Santa and the girls love it. No more mall Santas. "The real Santa goes to daddy's work." the girls told me a few weeks ago.

They wrote out their lists and go over each item with Santa so he understands exactly what they want. He keeps their list for later use. The girls get their goodie bags, cookie and juice. Mommy and daddy get a free print (and all the pictures I want to take).

Music Recital

For the past 3 years CK has been taking piano lessons. Voice is thrown in there as well. O started taking piano lessons in September. She had been wanting to learn piano like her big sister, but we just didn't think she was quite ready until September.

They both love playing the piano. As soon as it gets a little hard, CK wants to stop, but then once the curve evens out she likes it again. I know they both enjoy playing because out of the blue they will stop and play the piano or they will include the piano in their imaginary play. It's so cute.

Tuesday night was their recital. This was CK's third recital and O's first. They both did wonderful. I wasn't sure how O would be, playing in front of everyone. She did great. Here are some pictures. I am hoping to download video and post that, but for now pics...

A duet with her teacher.

Singing with friends, accompanied by another student.

Belt it O! No stage fright with this kid!

The girls with the BEST piano teacher EVER

Mommy and Daddy's Fancy Date Night

Last weekend C and I not only got a date night, but a formal date night. Basically it was C's work Christmas party. We had a blast dancing, visiting with friends/co-workers and having a wonderful dinner. All while the girls were with Aunt G and Uncle S for a sleepover. (Thank you S & G!)

We look forward to making this an annual event.

 

The decorations were beautiful! Very winter.

School Project on Ancestors

I have so much to blog about and so little time. Here is one quick one.

CK had a project at school. She needed to make two clothespin dolls. Each representing countries her ancestors came from. She chose Korea and Italy. She did a fabulous job....with just a little guidance from mom. Really CK did all the work.

Making Jeans Last a Little Longer

I don't know what my girls do, but they get holes in their jeans so fast. In an effort to try and make them last a little longer I put patches on a pair of O's jeans this morning.

I had been wanting to do this for several weeks. O keeps complaining about being cold in the morning. It has been cold and holes in the knees would make me cold too. O had a birthday party to go to this afternoon so I finally made time to patch the jeans. I had her pick out some scrap fabric I had. That almost took longer than sewing on the patches!

How I Did It:
I took some cotton fabric, just slightly larger than the hole to be patched. I put a piece of flannel fabric behind the cotton. I cut both pieces of fabric into a fun shape that would cover the hole in the jeans. (If you don't have scrap fabric laying around like I do, go to the fabric store and go through the remnants. Bring the kids and have them help you.)

Using a blanket stitch and embroidery floss I hand sewed the two pieces of fabric to the jeans covering the hole.

I then put Fray Check around the edges of the fabric. This will prevent the fabric from fraying and falling apart during the wash. It also saves me a step. I did not want to take the time to hem the scrap of fabric or zig zag the edge.

Not a totally long term solution, but these patches should last until O outgrows the jeans. Which will be soon.

After sewing on the patches I got a giant hug from O. "Thank you mommy! I love them." She proudly wore them to her party. CK now wants a pair. No problem. She has holes in her jeans too.

BFF

O:  "Sandy is not Sarah's BFF anymore."
Mommy: (WHAT?! Who is Sandy and Sarah and did my 6 1/2 year old just use the term BFF?!)
"What does BFF mean O?"
O: "Best Friend Forever."
Mommy: "Right. Where did you learn that term?"
O: "CK"

OMG, my 6 1/2 year old is using BFF.

Offiial Halloween Portraits

Happy Halloween

I made the girls costumes this year. If you remember last year, there was too much going on with house repairs and I wasn't able to make them.

I have been so busy, it was getting too close to Halloween Parade day at school for O. Several days ago, she came to me crying (big crocodile tears) afraid I wasn't going to finish in time. I tried to convince her that I would finish. Even if I needed to stay up all night on Thursday. She didn't totally believe me or trust me. I'm not sure why.

CK seemed to be okay. Trusting that I would finish in time, but she is different. She won't say. She internalizes.

Thursday afternoon I finished O's Tinkerbell costume. She was so excited. So proud, and felt much better. Now she was worried I wasn't going to finish CK's costume.

5:30am O woke up. 5:30AM!!!! Went to the office to check on my progress from the night before. Came to my bed with joy in her voice, "You FINISHED!" YES, I said I would. My sweet girl then asks me "Did you have to stay up all night? Did you get any sleep?" Yes, my dear sweet girl, I went to bed at normal time and got some sleep. UNTIL 5:30am!

Once CK woke up I had her try on her costume. "It's beautiful!" she says. "You finished it." I knew she was worried a little too. She just won't say. I promised the girls I would start earlier next year, but they need to do their part and decide earlier.

Today at the school Halloween Parade the girls proudly showed off their costumes and made sure to tell eveyone "My mommy made it!"

Official Halloween Portraits will be tomorrow, right before Trick-or-Treating, but here are pics from today.

After school we went to a local farm/pumpkin patch. It's a wonderful old fashioned pumpkin patch. Plus I like the idea of supporting one of our local farmers. Here are some pics:

Here are the Jack-O-Lanterns we carved from our pumpkins. I love doing this as a family. From left to right; C's, mine, O's, CK's. The girls designed their own and CK carved her own.

My Beloved Turns 39!

C is my best friend, the most caring loving husband and daddy, a wonderful cook, my biggest fan (other than maybe my mama and papa), makes me feel like the sexiest women alive, and makes me laugh until I cry. I love our family time together as well as our alone time and date nights and days. C makes the most of spending quality time with his family. He always makes me feel beautiful and loved. I am so blessed and proud to call him my best friend and husband.

I love you C! Happy 39th Birthday!

Our Miracle Baby Turns 8!

I can't believe my miracle baby is 8 years old today! I waited for her for so long and now she is 8 years old. It seems like yesterday that CK was born. How time flies.

CK is a wonderful big sister. She is so smart. Nothing gets past her. She is Beautiful, loving, caring, and always helpful. She is always willing to try new things. A wonderful pianist. Enjoys the outdoors and camping. She is a Girl Scout and loves God.

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY CK!!!

 

A Day at the Aquarium

One of my favorite places to go is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. After spending two days in Capitola and a wonderful night in Santa Cruz with my brother and his family, the girls and I spent Sunday (of Labor Day weekend) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. What a wonderful day. Just me and my girls. We missed daddy terribly, but we will find a day to bring him.

Here are some pictures from our day (double click on the image to enlarge)

One of my favorite creatures of the sea are the Sea Horses. So beautiful. So many different kinds. My favorite Sea Horse is the Sea Dragon. (green leafy one)

We went to see the Great White Shark they have in their Outer Bay exhibit. I was so excited to get this shot. Then I got home and C told me that wasn't it. Oh well. It's still a nice shot.

Look who I found on exhibit. The girls just loved this little bubble window.

So much to see at the Aquarium. O had not remembered she had been there before and CK was excited to be back.

Wonder

Pure joy!

This last image is perfect to reflect how our day was.