Timber!

I can't believe I didn't put these pictures from my mom in my Christmas post!  Our tree was beautiful, but also very unstable!  It fell over twice!  The second time I was already headed to bed and my mom came and got me and told me the tree had fallen over.  So, we spent the next 45 minutes or so trying to stand the tree back up and eventually, my dad and I held it up while Donald cut about 6 inches off the bottom and was able to stabilize it.  I'm so glad that my dad was there to help hold it up and my mom was there to help re-decorate the tree!  It really was pretty funny, just don't ask Donald, cause he didn't think it was funny at all!
 

 

Christmas 2012

We had a very nice Christmas this year.  The kids are so into everything festive and such fun ages.  I love watching Sarah and Joshua explain how things work to Elizabeth.  They knew just what they wanted to ask Santa to bring them and helped Elizabeth with the process.  They were excited about everything and just fun to be around.  We were lucky to see both grandparents over the holidays.  My parents came up for Christmas and Vickie passed through on her way to Amanda's place, so we saw her on her trip there and back home too. 

Making gingerbread houses.  A fun tradition, that we really missed having cousin Keilana there for.  We didn't even decorate gingerbread cookies this year and I think it was a combination of being busy and missing doing that special thing with her!:(

 

This is how my parents spent a lot of the trip - my dad relaxing from all the work he has been doing at Wayne's and my mom spoiling Princess Elizabeth with love and attention.

 

 

On Christmas Eve we let the kids open the presents from the Decker relatives.  They always like to hold up a present and declare "The First Gift of Christmas!"

They also got to open pajamas on Christmas Eve.  Can you believe how Elizabeth looks like a big kid and not a little toddler?

 

They are such good friends!

This is what it looked like on Christmas morning.  Sarah and Joshua asked for special Lego sets and Elizabeth asked for the special mermaid doll with black hair that she had seen in the gift shop of the hotel in Hawaii.  She also asked for a hula girl (yes, it is the kind you stick on a dashboard, but it is just a doll to her).  The kids were confident they would get their requested gifts, but Elizabeth was just so sincerely happy and surprised with her gifts!

 

 

 

It was fun to have my parents here while we opened gifts.  It was the first time that they have been at our house on Christmas.

 

Elizabeth LOVED the princess play doh set grandma got her.  She played with it for hours!

The big kids got caught up with Legos and we hardly heard a peep out of them for two or three days!

 

Cutting our Christmas Tree 2012

We went back to the same Christmas Tree Farm to cut down our tree.  The man there is so nice and friendly.  We walked around a lot, since it was a nice mild day and ended up getting one from right next to where we cut down our tree the year before.  The Christmas tree farm is small, but so are our kids and to them, it is just like the years when we have gone up into the forest to cut a tree.  The big difference is that this is much easier for the adults!  The kids feel like they are in a real forest and they love it!  They always give us hot chocolate and a candy cane before we leave and that is a huge hit too!
 

 

 

The Reagan Library

While we were in Simi Valley for Thanksgiving, Vickie was working on a craft project with the kids that ended up being a Christmas Present for me.  It is a wood painted Mary and Joseph holding a baby Jesus.  She had the kids sand and paint it and glue it all together.  It was super thoughtful and cute.  Since she had that big project to work on and it was meant to be a surprise for me, we ended up leaving the kids at her house for several afternoons.  One afternoon, Donald and I spent up at the Reagan Library seeing a special exhibit of Disney memorabilia.  I have to say, we did see a lot of neat stuff and it was just perfect for Donald.  Here he is with President and Mrs Reagan. 

Me next to one of my favorite (fictional) people (well, her costume), Mary Poppins!

And here I am giving a speech!  Can you see Mrs Reagan and George HW Bush cheering me on in the crowd?
I love the Reagan Library and was lucky enough to be there on the opening day when five presidents were gathered together for the celebration.  I have only been back once or twice since then, but what a wonderful resource it provides to the community.  Spending the day together with out the kids was a nice treat too!

 

Thanksgiving 2012

When we came back from Hawaii, it was the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  We planned on staying the week in Simi Valley and seeing our families.  It was so nice to see everyone and just be relaxed not be rushing anywhere.

Here is Elizabeth giving Uncle Wayne some love.

And here she is hanging out with Uncle Ash.  She loves them both so much!

 

Brenda hosted Thanksgiving at her house and included Vickie and Clayton, so we didn't feel like we had to split our time between the two families.  That is so nice.  Uncle Ash got a new game to play with the kids, Farkle Frenzy, and they loved it.  There was a lot of screaming and laughing.  Clayton was pretty quiet, I'm not quite sure what he thought of it all!

I wish this picture was on a real camera and not my phone.  What a special thing for Elizabeth to have both of her grandmas together and know that they are friends.  My grandmas lived in the same town and were friends and that always meant so much to me.

 

Everyone relaxing after dinner.  My dad and Donald cleaned up the dishes.  Isn't that wonderful?

Here is Elizabeth hanging with Grandpa Bob.

 

We got to see quite a bit of Wayne and Jolene.  Jolene has a little baby bump now and it is so cute!

While we were at Brenda's the kids both played piano for everyone.  Betty, Brenda's Mother in Law, is a piano teacher and she receives such joy from watching the kids play. 

 

 

Elizabeth playing in one of the dog cages.  She is too cute for her own good.
She loves to pretend she is a cat and almost everyday she tells me that her name is "Jewel Cat Kitty".