Merry Christmas Trees!

The annual Tree-decorating time rolls around. 

First we help Mimi with her tree. 

Then we pick out ours and decorate it. 

"O Tannenbaum"

We like to help Mimi decorate her Christmas tree.  It is a tradition for us to help her each year. 

I like helping Mimi decorate!

Now we are going to decorate our own tree!

Ta-dum!

Yo, like this?

Teeth: such useful accessories.

Merry Christmas.

We found a stray kitty. We didn't keep it. The end.

November-December Off Track Holiday

The kids are off school from Thanksgiving until the beginning of January.  Sometimes it is loooong!  But, thankfully, the Holidays create many opportunities for fun.  This year we had Thanksgiving in Lincoln with the Andrews Grandparents.  Most of us came back home, but not Mckay.  We left him at Gramma and Grampa's for two weeks of spoiling and fun!
 One of the things we like to do when we are off-track is visit Mimi and Pappa's house.  We like to spend the night-- staying for a few days or a week at a time.  Mimi lets the kids eat lots of cold cereal and watch cartoons all morning.  Sometimes the weather cooperates and brings a little snow to the mountains.  This time we had snow and so we got some exciting outdoor sledding and play (something these southern CA kids only see about once a year).  

Nothing like the excitement of newly falling snow!

There was a layer of ice under the snow.  It was like an ice rink in the backyard.  They loved it. 

Elias used the dolly stroller as a "walker" on the ice.

Even with the help, he kept crashing!

Ryanne and Leah Discoverd that with the ice/snow combination, all it took was a good shove to send the saucer flying across the yard. 

The next day there was more snow and some real cool, hair flying, tongue-licking snow-sledding!

Yummmm.

This is how we warm the toes and nose after sledding.  A warm, bubbly bath!

Elias turned five in December

Our kids get birthday parties when they turn 5, 8, 12, and 16.  That's because I really dislike doing birthday parties, but I really love my kids.  So, this is our compromise.  On the other years, they get family parties and special outings, but not huge friend parties.  Elias got his 5-year-old party this year.  He had so much fun.  You can tell by his open-mouthed facial expressions what he thought of his day.  We played lots of little games such as marshmallow toss and nerf gun target shooting.  He had a pinata and wanted cupcakes (with his own little birthday cake).  It was loud, and fun!  He is such a fun kid to be around!

Here are The Guests:

The Marshmellow toss is always the favorite game (could it have anything to do with shoving the projectiles in our mouths)?!  

This is what his face looked like most of the party!  This one was especially exuberant because he got a marshmellow in the hole.

There's that excited face again.  Worth the effort of the party.

Make a wish birthday boy.

Blowing out the candles.

Have your cake and eat it too!