Miniature golf...

We went to Boomers! to play miniature golf to finish the year. We had never been with the kids before and they were so excited to play! Actually, Noah thought it was going to be like Ben's golf lessons and wasn't excited about it at all. But once he saw where we were going and what we were doing he got excited and wanted a yellow ball. We played two courses and then headed inside to play some video games. They love trying to get as many tickets as they can and then going to choose their prizes from the prize counter.

We had a great end of the 2008 year with our kids. We can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us!

Happy New Year!!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my 39th birthday and we celebrated by going to the Big Bay Balloon Parade this morning. We thought that taking the trolley would be the best option because there were just so many people going. It was nice and smooth, we got there in no time at all. We found the parade quickly and even found a little spot to sit and watch without being blocked by others. After the parade we went to Seaport Village and walked around for a while before we headed to Fashion Valley for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. We got home around 4:30 this afternoon. It was a long day of walking around.

When we got home we had some family stop in to give me gifts (so generous!!) and birthday wishes. Others will wait until we see each other again. I also got cards in my email box and in snail mail.

All in all it was a great day spent with my family. The kids kept saying that it was my birthday so I got to choose what we did. That made it special. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthdate in lights :)

Noah loves the bands

Mr Potato Head

Polar Express train

Tired...

Noah was so tired tonight that he couldn't wait for bed. He didn't even get to hear the story the picked out! Daddy and he were sitting on the couch when all of a sudden Noah got itchy, he scratched and scratched (for a few minutes). Then the next thing we see is his head down and his eyes were closed. It all happened so quickly that it surprised us all. Poor little guy was so tired tonight!

Boxer Day...

The day after Christmas and we spent a good part of it in our pajamas. It has been so hectic and rushed that we needed a good day inside. So we did what we wanted to do: make cookies and watch movies. The kids also explored a lot with their new toys. Ben built his k'nex ferris wheel/coaster. And Hannah played with her princess ponies and pixos. Noah loves all of his trucks and played with them for a long time. It was great and relaxing.

6 Christmases...

Yes we had 6 Christmases by the end of today. We are exhausted and loaded with gifts. (I am counting last night because it wasn't that long ago) This morning Noah decided to wake up before the sun and remembered that Santa was supposed to come during the night. He popped out of bed and tiptoed out to the living room to see what had happened overnight. He found a monster truck and the other toys for the other kids. I opened the monster truck so that he would have something to do while we waited for the others to wake up. It wasn't long that we had to wait for others to wake, seeing their faces when they came into the room was priceless. We opened presents until about 8:30 when we could find no more under the tree. That's OK, Nanny was coming over in a while with more.

Nanny brought presents but not an overload, she gave the kids one present and then some cash in a card. That's nice because now they have some spending money for the months to come.

Grandpa came over next and he also brought one or two toys for each with a card and some cash. Nice! We'll definitely put some in their bank accounts. Grandpa stayed for breakfast and we chatted for a while, while the kids opened their presents, set them up and played.

We hung out at home for a few hours after Grandpa left and went to my aunts house in Coronado in hopes to catch up with my cousins and their kids. They weren't there yet but we exchanged gifts and goodies and by the time we were deciding to leave, the cousins and kids showed up. All the while, Noah took a much needed nap in the car! Good boy!

We then headed up to La Jolla to my Grandma's house for her annual dinner and gift exchange. Almost everyone was there but we weren't the last to show up! We were determined not to be the last to arrive (and get stink eye for making everyone late). We ate and then congregated around to open presents. This has been a tradition for as long as I can remember, we all have our 'spots' that we like to sit in. All the presents come out from under the tree and it is just crazy. Grandma gives pajamas to everyone and each one that is opened is greeted with a holler "pajamas!!" and everyone cheers. It's great. There is a lot of love and cheer spread in that house. Then, just when the last of the presents are being opened someone opens fire. Tonight it was Ben. The wrapping paper war was on. Everyone had been saving their own ammunition nearby and boom it went flying across the room. The paper is thrown across the room and everyone gets hit. It goes on for a long time. Tonight I got a bit of video to show but I think it is when it is winding down. I take this time to collect presents and leave the room for quieter space. No one knows why or when the wrapping paper war started but it has stuck around for several years.

That was our day from before sun up to after sundown. I hope everyone's Christmas day was a little less hectic and busy than ours was!

Merry Christmas!

Tree with camera flash on but...

We got up before the sun...it's dark

Monster truck!

Jewelry box!

Pixos!

Warm and snuggy

New puppy...Christy is Marissa's present from Santa

Waiting...

Ammunition stock pile

Wrapping paper war

Big tummy

Cheese

Kid pile

Christmas Eve...

For the past 10 years, our Christmas Eve tradition has been to host dinner at our house for my family and Corey's Mom. We have added going to Mass together at the Mission San Diego, because that is our church and it is nice to attend with family. So it ends up being an afternoon event. This year we added the fact that Ben was in the Christmas play during Mass. He was one of the angels! He was so excited to be in the play and super excited that his extended family was going to come and watch him! The bonus was that we had to get there early and we got great seats (for everyone). He did a fantastic job (says I, his Mom).

After Mass, we headed back to our house so that everyone could finish up their portion of dinner (it's a potluck), so that we can eat and then open presents. The kids are all giddy with Santa coming tonight and they want to open presents, now! They were good and were able to wait for all of us to be ready. Everyone got in position and the present unwrapping started. Once started it was hard to stop. Noah really wanted his presents and let me know (loudly) that he was ready for another. It is so great to see how much more aware of what presents are, and who Santa is from year to year.

We look forward to hosting every year and hope that next year we have a bit more room in our home to host a dinner indoors. Tonight, it began to sprinkle before dinner and while we were prepping but when it came time for us to sit, the skies cleared and stayed clear for our meal. That was nice but it was chilly!

Our angel

Cousins

Noah watching Marissa play a game

Ben playing tic-tac-toe with Uncle Chris

Our 10th annual dinner on the patio

Playing with new toys

Nutcracker...

Granny took all of her girls out to the ballet today, we went to see the Nutcracker downtown. We may have seen it when I was a little girl but neither of us could remember it. Hannah and Marissa were in ballet this year so it was a little special show for them too. We really enjoyed it. There were tables full of ballet souvenirs, nutcrackers, ornaments and toys for the girls to buy afterwards. There were even spots where you could meet the dancers after the show. Hannah got a musical jewelry box much like the one I used to have when I was a little girl. She also wants a jewelry box from Santa this year. I think she'll be OK with having 2, she has so much jewelry already. We're really looking forward to our next ballet!

After the show, the boys joined us for dinner at Corvette's Diner. We were all very hungry after the show and it was nice to include the boys in our venture out.

Marissa and Hannah

In our seats

Vanilla shake at Corvettes

Laguna snow...

We went and played in the snow this afternoon. Our local mountains got about 2 feet of snow this week and it was a beautiful sight. Many times we have been and the snow is just OK but today it was nice and fluffy, deep and so cold. It was great. Every time we've gone sledding until today Noah has cried in the snow, never wanting to sit on the sled by himself and certainly not with Daddy nor myself. He was content with staying in the car. But today he loved it, not one tear, just "I want to do it again...with you (or by myself)" It made it fun for us. Hannah has also never expressed interest in going it alone but today she was a little spitfire (see the video below).  She would throw herself on the sled and took it down the hill, crashing, flipping, jumping, rolling in the snow and squealing with laughter the entire time! Ben was also having a great time. I think he might be getting a cold because he was a little quieter about it today, but that might have just been his mood too. 

We left after it got dark and were the last to leave. It was absolutely beautiful. So if you have a chance to get to the mountains, go! And have fun! There should be more snow coming after this weekend too. :)

On a sad note, we broke a sled, I'm not quite sure what happened to it but it looks like someone kicked a hole through the middle of it... one down, two to go. We threw it out. Maybe Santa will bring us one with handles so that we can steer it.

Noah and Daddy

Tree with sunset sky

Crash landing

Coming down

Ben

Noah

and a video clip of our daredevil girl and boy. I was standing in the street and they would come right out and land on my legs if I didn't move quick enough. You can hear me narrating but in the background you can hear Hannah squealing with joy. She loved it.

Field trip...

For our monthly homeschool field trip we went to the New Children's Museum downtown. It was great and the kids had a great time. We tagged on a trolley ride so we wouldn't have to worry about parking and that made the day extra long and fun. By far the favorite spot was the mattress room, the whole room was a big bed and there were mattresses on the walls with big tire pillows all over the place. They spent the most time in there and got all there jumps and jiggles out. Perfect for little monkeys. There were a few rock walls that they could climb, Ben loved those. A rain house that was cool to run through the keyhole door and listen to the rain, bubbles, blocks,  art, pillows, shadow play, theater, who can forget about lunch and so much more. There were friends to play and experience it all with. The scooters were a big hit and every time we passed them each child jumped on one. We would love to go again and again, they had that much fun.

Scooters

Shadow art

Shadow play

Mattress room

Rock climber

Julian...

We had another open house today so we decided to go to Julian for the day. It was awesome and so unplanned. Sometimes the unplanned days are the best times... We ate lunch at a delicious pizza place in Wynola that we've been to before and then headed into Julian. I thought we'd check out the book store first but as we walked up I thought maybe that would be a bad idea with rare books in the store and all. So we turned around and went for hot chocolate and cider. Yummm... It was (literally) freezing cold outside at a cool 32 degrees F so getting a hot chocolate was the best.

As we were driving home through Cuyamaca, we saw quite a bit of snow on the ground! We stopped at Paso Picacho Campground to play for a while. The kids had a blast. Noah kept picking up snow and throwing it at Daddy. Ben did that for a while too but then decided to do some climbing and some snow collecting. Hannah made a snow mountain on a log and everyone had fun. We found icicles hanging on the rooftops, Hannah broke some off and ate them, it was so much fun. It was cold and getting dark so we headed home.

Hot chocolate with Christmas sprinkles

Outside the coffee shop (yes, Hannah has a Halloween shirt on...so does Ben!)
Snow

Gotcha Daddy!
Noah
Ben & Daddy
Icicles
Rosy cheeks