Holiday fun

Oh boy. A month and a half since the last post? A couple of months before Halloween, I sense the craziness around the corner of the approaching holiday season. Halloween costumes to sew/procure, 2 birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas preparations, another birthday, Christmas, and this year a baptism (one week from today!) Somehow, as Christmas approached this year, the chaos subsided, and we had a lovely day and were able to relax and enjoy it. Alan's been home this week, and he's kept me busy by instigating cleaning of the garage, which I loathe. But, I really want it done, so I anguish over baby clothes and toys and try to ignore my sentimentality and throw stuff away. Ugg. Its painful and progress is slow, but its progress, ok? He also managed to clean our spa, which was left in a state of disrepair by the previous owners. We've been holding off on buying all the stuff we need to get it running again, but the recent storm blew the ailing cover to styrofoamy bits, so since we don't want the spa being ruined, buying a new cover and parts moved up higher on our priority list. Now, we're on our way to having a working hot tub. Good times, right? He also planted grass seed on the small side yard out front. The rest of our grass out front is growing nicely, but that small section didn't get planted before. Now, we need to get it going or we risk getting a stern talking to (and probably a fine) from our HOA, but I don't know if the weather is warm enough for the seeds to germinate. I guess we'll see in a couple weeks!

And now photos from the aforementioned craziness:

These little cuties had a Thanksgiving play/performance, which was cute.

It was also hilarious because Ethan, who pouted and insisted that he wanted to participate as minimally as possible, stood up front and showcased his superhero moves for all the parents during the musical numbers. Meanwhile, Amara tried to hold his hands to his sides and keep a straight face.

Awww... Over Thanksgiving we braved the LA traffic and headed up to Nor Cal. Mathis did better than I anticipated on the drive and it was definitely worth it. The traffic on the way home after Thanksgiving was miserable though. Curses on you, LA traffic!

Cute baby considering his future career options.

Exploring Grandma's and Grandpa's yard.

Chilling with daddy. On a side note, this baby loves his daddy. He follows him around chanting, "Dadadada!!!"

Upon our return we found fantastic weather and had to pull out our shorts and tees.

Yes, warm enough for the hose. About two days later, it poured for a week straight.

Happy 8th to Amara!! WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

She requested these cute reindeer cupcakes. We all got reindeer, but Amara claimed the exclusive rights to Rudolf and his red nose.

Taken a day or so before Christmas. It was a miracle to get Mathis to sit there. If anyone tried to hug or hold onto him, he screamed. He is on the move outside, digging in and eating dirt, throwing the ball down the driveway (and entire cul-de-sac if we don't catch it quickly enough), and today's new favorite - tramping all over the newly seeded area of grass. He thought it was hilarious when I told him to knock it off. Anyways, a Christmas miracle for sure.

Oh, and we rang in the New Year last night by watching Night at the Museum, playing a game involving the tablet of Ahkmenrah invented by Amara, then doing the east coast countdown at 9 with the kids. The kids then went to bed and we watched Pride and Prejudice. Not very festive, perhaps, but its hard to be party animals when you have little kids that you don't like to leave. We had a nice night, and are looking forward to a great 2011.