Christmas Parties

For a while now, every time Christmas comes around, I have helped planned Christmas parties for our church. At first, I was super nervous and had no idea how everything could work... but after a couple of years, I think Steve and I have it down, or at least run on autopilate.

This year, we weren't technically in charge of the entire thing, but did do decorations and cooked ham for 200 people.

Our church's gym is horrible in terms of decorating- you can't really do that much in terms of hiding basketball hoops, and the rooms is enormous with ugly florescent bulbs... but you have to do the best you can, on a $0 budget :)))

We decided to hang Christmas lights last year, and it was so nice, we did it again this year. It does take a while, but is so worth it. The rest of the decorations were from my house, my front door and a $15 garland from Coscto.

We bought the ham from Restaurant Depot and borrowed our friends card... this place is AWESOME ... think Coscto on acid and super cheap. But- you can only get a card if you own a restaurant or have a buisness that sells food.  I drove there at 7 am to buy our 11 hams that were precooked and already sliced. So easy- and so delicious.

Done and done. It was a great evening- everyone had a great time.

Ok- so my dream is to make a "Twilight" Wedding Scene- with a bazillion lights dangling vertically from the ceiling, but of course that is not possible on our budget, so this had to do. Photos never do justice, but it was really nice... we turned off all the over head lights, and it made the room more intimate.

 Last year, we made a complete manger theme with hay, a house etc... but that was crazy, and super exhausting... so this year, we simplified with this little manger that I borrowed from my friend...

The primary sung a couple of songs....

Everyone loves Sebastian... This is our friend Trent...

And his super talented wife that brought the house down. Man, I am jealous of her voice.

Having a great time...

This is our adopted Grandfather! He has officially knighted himself Sebastian's adopted grandfather- and I love it. He is so great with him!!

Here's to another great Christmas partay.....

Nutcracker

Fro the past 3 years now, we have taken the girls out to a Holiday concert, and I'm so excited that this one of our traditions now!! I really thought about taking them up to SF ballet's Nutcracker, but starts so late and is rather expensive :) Maybe when these girls are a little older and can appreciate it, we'll pay the big bucks, but we decided on Mountain View's Nutracker... which I highly recommend for a younger crowd. It's 1 hour 30 minutes, with lots of kids as the main characters. Clara was really impressive for a 10 year old?

We all really liked it- especially the little mice :)

A brief intermission...

As luck would have it, we bumped into one of Emi's favorite friends from preschool!!! Two great minds think alike!

Super great day!!!

Can she really be 6???

 Really- life goes so fast. I can't believe we have a 6 year old- Maddie is a great great kid. She is the best girl to have, and I try to cherish every moment I have with her- which isn't as much as it used to be when she wasn't in school.

She loves her Dad- and wants to be with him all the time! She writes him notes telling him how much she loves him, and loves to go to his work, and drive with him in the truck. Every Sunday, he lets her drive the truck with him in the parking lot- a lucky girl!!

Maddie loves to write and write and write. The second she wakes up, she is collecting papers, and writing out carols, or writing stories and showing them to us. She is such a great writer, and suprises us everyday how we is writing things out phonetically. She is a loving girl and such a great sister to Emilie and Sebastian. She often times spends hours in the day entertaining Sebi, cooing with him, and just acting silly.

Maddie is an independant soul- she definitely is not a follower- and is often times just happy doing what she wants which is usually creating stuff at home. She loves to make up games, cook, and did I say write?

For her birthday, she wanted to have a color me mine party- and I was all over that! We invited a few of her friends from soccer, school, church and had a great time painting and eating pizza!

They let the kids imprint their hands on the wall... and Maddie wanted to do her hand super high!!

All of her cute little friends. We love these guys!!!

Happy Happy Birthday Dear Maddie!! We love you so much.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a whirlwind!! We decided we would drive to see our parents, which would be a quick trip, but it was better than nothing :) We celebrated at Maddie's school with an Indian/Pilgrim parade... and then hit the road...

The drive to Utah is hellish, no matter how you slice it. On the way there, we decided to do it "Steve" style, with a stop at Reno for the night, and continue the drive the next day. Things to remember: Don't leave at 5 pm . Ever. We were stuck in Pleasanton for what felt like 4 hours... totally pointless. I can't believe people do that commute everyday. I would die. The stay in Reno was really nice, but the drive to Utah from there is just long no matter how you slice it, and it's Nevada. On the way back, we drove right through the night "Alie" style, leaving at 5 pm, and pulled into our house at 4 am. Twas pretty miserable, with the kids throwing up every hour pretty much (probably either motion sickness, or 24 hour bug), but we got home as fast as we could. That drive was not our favorite, but it was worth it because of this:

The girls LOVE playing at grandma/grandpa's house... especially their backyard- which has a super fun swing. I'm sort of glad there was no snow!! (I mean, don't get me wrong, I love snow, but I also love warm weather with grass, no ice on the roads etc!)

Since there was no playing snow in the valley, we drove up to the canyons and spent literally 20 minutes playing until they were done! (I guess they truly are Californians). But, we got some super cute photos of course.

 

We had some super fun moments with my dad... and I especially liked a dinner that we spent together- just me and him- just catching up. Wish we could spend more times like this :)

 

While we were in Utah, we also blessed Sebastian at Steve's parents. They made some great food, we had hte blessing, and spent a couple of hours just hangining out. It was really nice :) Sebastian seemed to have a lot of fun!!

Almost everyone in Steve's family- we are missing you Miriam and Nole!!

These cutie pies are so in love with each other. It really is too bad that we don't live closer- they get along so well... we really have to plan regular trips more often.

All of the cousins...

Nothi'n better than grandparents.... That Sebastian is the cutest/happiest little boy!!!

The second season of soccer

 Maddie finished her second season of soccer- and we are so glad we stuck to it. It has been so fun to watch her improve in her skills, get new friends on the team and cheer for her at her games. We are excited to start up again next season!! Here are a few highlights :) She is super great at passing and a spacial understanding of where everyone should be... can't wait to see if she ends up really liking soccer....