Happy Christmas Eve!

Sarah plays Silent Night

Sarah's piano teacher asked me to dress Sarah up and bring my video camera to piano today. She had Sarah play her whole Christmas book for me to video with her teacher, Roxanne, playing the duets. They were all so cute. This is Silent Night, which Sarah has been singing for weeks. When she was playing she just started singing along. I love how Roxanne encourages me to take pictures and video so we can see her growth. We are so proud of her and how much she has learned in only six months!

Sarah's class performed Christmas plays. They were super cute and funny. Sarah was the narrator for one and she played Mrs Claus in the other. She memorized her lines quickly and she spoke so confidently. This is her with her student teacher, Ms Ode, who just finished with Sarah's class. Her teacher is always so busy and scattered, I think she loved the special attention she got from Ms Ode.

Joshua's class had a "P" Party last week. On Thursday, they got to wear pajamas to school and had a party with a bunch of "p" foods like pizza, pretzels, punch, and peppermint cookies. The kids loved it! It really added to the excitement of the week for the kids and since Donald was off last week, he was able to participate in so much of what the kids were doing.

We said we weren't going to do the Polar Express again, but the kids asked about it and we thought we should do it while they are still little. It was a lot of fun, of course, and a nice family day together.

The Many Faces of Elizabeth


This girl loves apples. She sneaks into the pantry and open the plastic shell that the apples come in from Costco and she grabs and apple and starts biting it. She knows that once she starts eating it, I will let her finish it. I put her in her chair and she will eat nearly the entire thing! I guess it could be worse, she could be stealing candy! The last picture is her pouty face. She gives this to any stranger who dares speak to her or to us when we tell her something she doesn't like. Cute!

Another really fun tradition we have had here in Chico is baking and decorating gingerbread cookies with Keilana. We always have fun and the kids adore her. This year another friend stopped by for a bit of decorating and the kids were impressed with her skill level of decorating! Also, according to tradition, Joshua ate more sprinkles than he put on the cookies!

After being in the mountains all day, we came home and rushed to get ready for the Christmas party at Donald's work. We don't go out very often at all, so it was a big deal to get dressed up and go out. Thankfully, I have a stylish friend down the street I can borrow a nice dress from and we do clean up ok! The party was ok, mostly it was just nice to be out with just Donald. Unfortunately things didn't go that great at home with the kids, so we are still weighing if it was worth it or not!

Cutting Down Our Christmas Tree

Since we have been back in California, we have enjoyed being able to cut down our own Christmas tree. This was a tradition in both our families growing up and I think it would be really hard for us to buy an artificial tree. When we lived in the Mid-West, it was hard for us to find a place to cut a tree, and when we finally found a place in Michigan, the trees were so small and pitiful, we ended up just buying a cut tree from the store. It was always so cold and so miserable, that was probably for the best. Now that we are back in California, we love to go to the mountains and choose our own tree. Whether we get a tree from a farm or get a permit to cut right in the mountains, it is a fun day for us. The kids did a bit of complaining on the way up, but they have since proudly shown our tree off to anyone who comes over. It is a BIG tree and a bit straggly, but we love it. I'll have to post a picture of it decorated.

Three tried kids on the way home.

Visits with Santa

The kids love the annual Christmas party at Donald's work. They do such a nice job there. They always have a fun project for the kids and then Santa comes in and they each sit on his lap and receive a small gift. You can see how pleased Sarah and Joshua look. I believe Donald already posted a picture of Elizabeth's reaction! Scroll down, it is a classic shot! Here she is enjoying a cookie after the trauma of Santa passed.

Sarah's first time riding her bike!!

She didn't want to try for months, but she wanted to get the bike out today and she did it all on her own. This was her second ride and now she is up and down the block going much faster than I'd like!! Great job Sarah!

MERRY CHRISTMAS ELIZABETH!!!!