More Christmas Activities!

One of the Christmas traditions that the kids love most is making Christmas cookies!  We make everything completely from scratch, and the kids are now old enough to actually help!  In fact they did all the frosting and decorating themselves!  Because the cookies are so good, we gave most of them away!!

 

Faith was very helpful using the cookie cutters to shape the cookies!

 

Shane carefully decorated many cookies!  It's so nice that both Faith and Shane can help so much as it otherwise can be a very lengthy project!  Poor Olivia missed out on most of the cookie fun.  We let her have a few to sample, and for the next three days she asked for cookies at every meal!

 

That night, we went to the Parade of Lights at the Ventura Harbor.  This event has been going on for almost 40 years, but this was our first time attending, and it was so much fun it will not be the only time we attend!

 

Because we rarely get "cold" weather here, when we do go out in the relatively chilly evenings, it's a big, exciting event!  Faith helped me find all of our cold weather clothes, and together we came up with what each person should wear to stay warm!  Olivia loved her hat, and she thought my ear muffs, or ears as she called them, were hilarious! 

 

Steve found a place that sold hot chocolate, so the kids loved having that treat as they watched the boats. 

 

At the conclusion of the parade, there was a very nice fireworks show!  This was Olivia's first time seeing fireworks. Thankfully she loved them as much as the older two, and even said, "Oooo, Ahhh" after each firework!  It was pretty cute!  We now have a new tradition to add to our list!

Friday Fun Christmas Style!

Fridays are always the best days, and when Christmas celebrations are thrown in, Fridays become extra fun!  Last week Friday we started out the day at Better Together for our homeschool co-op!  During chapel time, the students helped tell the Christmas story by dressing up as people, angels, and animals who played a role in the story of Jesus' birth!

 

A picture of many of the Better Together students!  Shane is in the front row, dressed as a sheep, and Olivia is next to him!  Faith is towards the back as she was a shepherd. They had a great time!

 

After the school day was over, Faith quickly changed to get ready for the Christmas Cotillion party!  The entire place was beautifully decorated for Christmas!  My pictures did not do it justice!  In addition to wearing Christmassy clothes, there were some extra fun dances the kids did (the Bunny Hop and the Hokey Pokey to name a few!), along with the more regular dances they do.  And to top off the event, all the kids received a chocolate sundae as their snack!  To end the evening, Steve and I were able to get away for a date night, so it was a fabulous Friday for all!

Annual trip to Knotts Berry Farm

One of our family December traditions is to go to Knott's Berry Farm for a day!  It's always fun to see the park decorated for Christmas, and the kids like the rides too!  Faith took along her friend Rose, and we also met Russ and Jaime there!  The weather was perfect, and we all had a great time riding the rides and seeing the sights!  Olivia of course bypassed her nap because who wants to sleep in the stroller when there is fun to be had?!?!

 

The kids waiting to enter the park!  Olivia is the biggest challenge when it comes to pictures! 

 

Olivia went on a number of rides!  Some she really liked, some she was not quite sure what to think, but overall she enjoyed them.  Even on the roller coasters that the big kids wanted to go on she would stand by the height requirement sign to ask us if she could also go on the ride!

 

With the kids growing older, they are becoming much more adventurous in the rides they want to ride!  Since Steve and I both enjoy roller coasters, it's fun to be able to take them onto all of the rides they want to try!  Shane went on his first real roller coaster this visit, and while he was nervous before hand I was glad he said he would like to go on the ride again...next year!  Many memories from a very fun day!

O Christmas Tree

"It's the most wonderful time...of the year!"  Putting up the Christmas tree ranks as one of my most favorite things to do!  I love sitting in the living room at night, with the lights down low, and letting the beauty of the tree warm the room!  Of course the kids love it too!  The older two are to an age where they can do most of the decorating!  They find "their" ornaments in the box, reminisce about different ornaments, and have fun trying to place them all over the tree!  Olivia tried to help, but she just wanted to play with the ones that she like, such as the Minnie Mouse ornament!

 

Another picture of the decorating process!  These two really took the job seriously!

 

A complete tree and a complete set of elf children!  Our elf on the shelf, Freddie, is once again back to give Santa reports on the kids!  This year he came back from the North Pole one night with elf pajamas for the kids!  They absolutely love them!  Olivia is thrilled there is a belt! 

Happy Birthday Olivia!!

Olivia turned two on Thanksgiving day!  She was very excited about having a birthday, and she loved having everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to her!  We are so thankful for this sweet, funny, energetic, crazy little girl who never wants to sit still!  She is full of life and personality and we couldn't love her more than we do!  She is such a fun and special part of our family!!

 

One of the gifts she received from Steve and I was a Minnie Mouse big wheel!  She had a blast riding at the lake, and has loved driving it all over at home too!

 

From Russ, Jaime, and Preston she received a musical instrument set!  They may be receiving something similar in the near future!! :)

 

Unlike last year, she actually ate some of her cake this year!  Happy Birthday sweet Olivia!!

 

Thanksgiving in Lake Havasu!

This year we decided to do something a bit different for Thanksgiving.  We spent the entire week of Thanksgiving in Lake Havasu at our time share!  After a very busy few months, it was really nice to take a week to relax together as a family on vacation!

 

The weather was beautiful, but much cooler than what we normally encounter while at the lake.  Thankfully the pool was heated, and the kids were even able to do one of their favorite things - a night swim!!

 

We were all excited to have Steve's brother, Jamie, and Steve's dad join us for a few days!  The kids loved being able to spend time with their cousin!

 

Friday we took the boat across the lake for lunch.  On the way back both Faith and Shane braved the cold water and did the E Z ski!!  They were wearing their wet suits and didn't actually go in the water, so it wasn't really very cold for them!

 

Shane soaking up the last boat ride of the year!  It was such a gorgeous day!  While it was an un-traditional way to spend the holiday, we really enjoyed it!  We were also able to have a Thanksgiving meal with Steve's Aunt and Uncle who lives in the area.  We all were thankful for the time together!

The Nutcracker

One of the reasons that November was busy, besides just life in general, was that Faith danced in the Nutcracker the weekend before Thanksgiving!  This meant that the weeks leading up to the three performances were filled with extra rehearsals and longer rehearsals!  But in the midst of all the craziness, Faith had a wonderful time dancing as a snowflake!!

 

Here she is entering the special back stage dancer entrance!  For Faith it was fun to be part of a professional production that included a 56 piece orchestra and numerous professional dancers.  She really enjoyed being able to see parts of the show in which she was not involved.  Her fascination with the entire ballet was neat to see!

 

Here she is after the final performance.  All the parents are required to do a number of service hours.  One of the areas I was able to help was the cookie party for the kids who attended the matinee performances.  Faith helped me set out the cookies for the final cookie party, and here she is posing by the nutcracker on the cookie table.  While participating in the Nutcracker was a big commitment and many hours of practice for Faith, she is looking forward to next year already! 

The blur that was November!

It's hard to believe an entire month as passed since I've updated the blog!!  What can I say...most of November was a blur of busyness!!  Here are a few of the highlights...

Faith enjoyed another evening at Cotillion, dancing the cha cha again, and adding the Mexican hat dance and Swing!  As before, she loved dressing up and learning the fine art of manners!

Shane's soccer season (finally!) came to an end in the middle of the month.  It was fun to be on such a victorious team, and it was a nice group of boys and parents with whom we spent all of our fall Saturday mornings!

 

It was also crazy hair night one of the Tuesdays in November at Awana!  The kids just love to spray paint their hair and of course act extra crazy!

 

Our Friday fun field trip of the month took us to CPK!  The kids were able to take a tour of the kitchen, including going in the refrigerator that is the size of our kitchen!, and make their own pizza!

 

While Faith has been on a field trip to CPK many years ago, Shane was especially excited to go and create his own pizza!  He was very proud of the sad face he made on it using pineapple!

Halloween Fun!

For kids Halloween is such a fun holiday!  Candy, costumes, friends, candy, food, candy, fun, family and more!  Going to my friend Melissa's annual Halloween party has made the day fun for the parents too!  What a treat it is to eat dinner together and be able to walk the streets with not only our crazy kids but our friends too! 

 

Here we are in front of Melissa's house!  Shane was MIA - and now that he sees this picture without him in it he is very sad!!  Olivia had a completely matching costume to Faith for Halloween!  After her wardrobe malfunction at trunk-or-treat (her cheap Minnie costume tore at the waist!), a friend had a red Minnie costume that her daughter outgrew and loaned to Olivia!  In case anyone is wondering, I went as a mad scientist and Sumo Steve made another appearance!

 

Shane with the solo shot!  And his ghostly pumpkin!

 

All the kids and their pumpkins!  We carved them a few days before Halloween. Olivia wanted to make sure that her pumpkin was a happy one!  Now that the costumes are put away, tomorrow we bring the candy to the dentist to turn it in for some money!  They all selected ten pieces tonight that they want to keep for themselves, and the rest will go to the troops thanks to the dentist! A situation in which everyone wins!

Trunk-or-Treat!

Yesterday evening was the second annual Trunk-or-Treat event at our church!  The kids love having the chance to dress up more than once, and it's a fun event in which the whole community is invited! As the picture indicates, the girls are both going as Minnie Mouse this year, and Shane man is the Hulk! 

 

With the event being at our church, we of course had the van open for business!  We didn't go too crazy with the decorations, but our witch hat ring toss was a hit!  Olivia is asking for more m&ms!!

 

One thing that I overlooked in preparing for the event was buying Olivia a pumpkin for her candy!  Last year she dressed up, but being 11 months old, she was not exactly into the whole trick-or-treating thing!  Of course that is not true this year.  She realized very quickly that there were just two pumpkins and three kids!  And the big kids were not about to give their pumpkin to her!  So Steve made a run into the 99 cent store on the way!!

 

Big kids waiting to play the games at the carnival car!

 

Shane attempted to win a full size candy bar many times by bobbing for apples.  Poor kid came up short every time! Thankfully he did not let that bother him!

 

Faith enjoyed having her face painted at one of the trunks!

 

It was a fun event for the kids and adults, and it even included a chili cook-off!  And Steve's famous poker chili won second place out of eight!  From now on he will be reminding us that it is award winning chili!   

Faith's First Cotillion

Friday afternoon, after the pumpkin patch!, Faith attended her first Cotillion.  For those not familiar with Cotillion, it is a time for elementary and middle school students to learn etiquette, manners, and do some dancing.  In our area, it is a highly sought after opportunity!  While it starts in third grade, Faith has been on the waiting list since kindergarten!  We were both very excited about finally being able to attend!  And of course part of the fun is buying a new dress, shoes, and the required white gloves!

 

The third and fourth graders are grouped together, which is nice as approximately half the group has done all this before and can help the younger ones a bit!  In this picture Faith is dancing the cha cha!  Those running the cotillion do a great job of teaching the kids all the little details such as how both the boy and the girl is to hold his or her hands while dancing, leading on and off the dance floor, and always properly thanking your partner for the dance.   And they rotate partner 3-4 times, so they are able to dance with a variety of people.  Also, there are more boys than girls, so the boys can practice cutting in while dancing.

 

Here Faith is being escorted to her seat, and the boys were taught how to properly do that! After they practiced this a few times, they couples had to converse for about two minutes!  Coaching was given on how to ask non yes or no questions in an effort to create conversation!  It was really cute.  Something else that was done was punch and cookies were served.  Faith learned how to eat a cookie making as few crumbs as possible.  The adults watching picked up a few tips as well!

Faith had a great time, and it is really cute to watch her practice some of the conversational pieces they focused on and see her try to teach Shane the cha cha!  We're looking forward to the next cotillion in a month!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

After coming back from the lake Thursday evening, we ventured out to the pumpkin patch Friday morning with our Better Together co-op.  To make the adventure even more fun, we took a train to the pumpkin patch.  About five years ago we took the same train around Christmas time to a Christmas tree farm and were able to see Santa.  This train ride was less traumatic (Shane was petrified of Santa!), and of course it was fun to be with friends.

 

Olivia thought she was pretty tough carrying around her pumpkin!  She would for about ten seconds and then look at me and say, "heavy! heavy!"  With pumpkins everywhere, she had fun just running from one spot to another and pointing to all the pumpkins!

 

Sweet Faith!  She is a little disappointed that we are yet to carve them!  I assured her we will do it before Halloween!