28 Dec 2007 We're in Portland

We made it to Portland late last night! It took quite a bit longer than usual, since we hit some snow and Eric had to get out in the cold cold cold and put chains on so we could make it over Siskiyou Pass.
But we're here and we're cozy and having fun.
We had a fantastic Christmas in San Jose. The kids were so happy to be with their cousins, and Santa treated them well. Christmas Eve was a big party, with an appearance by Santa that really surprised the kids (and Santa shocked Katie by saying that Mrs. Norton has been telling Santa about her). I was assigned to video duty for that event, so I hope I managed to squeeze into the right spots and get a good angle. Then back to Noni's for bed (Auntie Sarah read "The Night Before Christmas") and they woke up at about 7:15 the next morning. We convinced Lucas to go get his parents, but he was ready to start playing with his dinosaur toys! Everybody got what they were hoping for, and the kids stayed in jammies all day (playing with toys and watching new movies), so it was pretty much a perfect day!
As for Eric and I, we both got to go to the 49er game (with Ryan and Sarah; Noni was a hero and babysat all 5 kids) and sit in the amazing seats for the Christmas-themed final home game. Then we went to the city late with Eric's high school friends and had (literally) too much fun.
On the day after Christmas, we all went to see "Enchanted." It was cute. Everybody made it to the end except Julianna (so Eric and Nick had to go to the lobby with her).
Nick only made it half the first night in the "big kids' bedroom." The rest of the time, he had to sleep next to mommy and daddy's little bed in the loft.
I will post pictures later. I hope I got some good ones! The kids were hard to pin down so we'll see!

in san jose

We're here! We got here at 4 or 5 or something. I'm sitting here wondering when the four kids will fall asleep. K, J, N, and L are all in one room. This is N's first time for this. Daddy is lying in there to help him fall asleep (well, maybe THEM) so I don't know if they're asleep or not (often E also falls asleep when he "lies with them.". The kids are very excited to be here together and Malia is SO ADORABLE! The big question right now is who is using the 49er tix tomorrow. I cannot handle the idea of being the one with the kids YET AGAIN, 1) I did for the SU-ND game last month, 2) I have done all the Christmas prep for this family and have exhausted myself and I am TOAST! So this won't be an easy one to figure out. Well, that's it for now, we'll talk more later! Enjoy your loved ones, we feel fortunate to be together right now!

Scenery

Hi! Let's take a tour of some pretty scenery:

Here is our living room.

Mantel

Console table

And the Christmas tree

This is my favorite -- the formal dining table looks really good.

This is in the den. Little toy Santa, Mrs. Claus and reindeer. Also, I covered all of the plants' pots with Christmas tissue and ribbon. Too much attention to detail?

As you walk down the hall from the den into the kitchen/breakfast area, you see this shelf unit:

In the bathroom, you find this:

Mr. Snowman (with Mrs. Snowman and their three little snowkids) is holding a sign that says "Count Your Blessings."

This is our "Christmas Countdown" hanging in the breakfast area. This year we also had a chain countdown made by Julianna at school:
Here is the rest of the breakfast area:

The kids' tree and gingerbread house are on the cabinet in the corner.

Now, this shows the lights on the front of our house: They are in the shape of two trees.

Hi Katie!

Remember when I told you about the "Haunted House?" Well, you could say that they went overboard for Christmas! The pictures are blurry but I hope you get the idea.

Yes, there are lights on their front lawn. Where aren't there lights?

A Christmas Miracle

The videocamera is back!!! And they replaced the power fuse or something so it is working!!!! We needn't have stressed so much; Canon's customer service was very smooth. Panasonic's was awful and made us pay for the labor (parts were under warranty but not labor). Canon's just fixed the camera and sent it back by FedEx!
Hallelujah!!!

Birthday recap!

What a third birthday we had here!

Nick woke up on Friday morning, December 14, and climbed into mommy's bed for a snuggle. Mommy and Daddy said, "you are three now!" and Nick said, "NO! I am two and a half!" Throughout the morning, he would throw a little fit whenever anyone told him he was three. So I said, "okay, you can still be two and a half if that's what you want." After all, if I can be 25 he can be 2.5, right? Katie figured that once he got to open presents he would be more excited about turning three! Does she know a thing or two about life?

Julianna was having her Christmas concert at preschool, so Nick loaded up his Cars in his Cars lunchbag and took them with him to the concert. Julianna's class sang "Away in a Manger" in English and Spanish.

When Daddy got home from work, Nick opened his birthday presents. Katie was right, Nick liked this part a lot and got great stuff! Then we went out to dinner and a special birthday treat at Baskin Robbins. That night, Mommy and Daddy stayed up late getting ready for the party (including cake baking, of course).

(It says "Nick is three" around the side)

Saturday was Nick's party. Normally he does not enjoy a lot of people, but since these were the people he had asked for, he loved having them over! He greeted them, and told them all about how this was HIS birthday! It was a real treat for me to see him showing his personality to other people. He played basketball outside with the other kids, and played on the train table that we had moved into the kitchen.

Then it was time for Music Together class. He was so into it! He knew what was coming next and even danced around the room (he never does that during the real class). He talked his teacher's ear off, which surprised her! He got to have the red and blue "egger shakes" that he had requested all those weeks ago. He also got to play the big gathering drum and even shared it with his friends! Right before the Goodbye Song, Angie said, "we need to sing Happy Birthday." Nick said, "to me?" and when she said "yes," his excited smile was delightful!

For cake time, he put on his own Mater party hat and climbed up into a chair to be the center of attention some more. We lit the candles and he blew them out while we were singing "Ha-" Guess he knew what he was supposed to do with this cake business!

All in all, it was a magical day. Everything went just the way he had wanted it to, and he rewarded us with his most charming personality, on display even for people he hardly ever sees! A lot of these people had never met the "real" Nick, so I was really tickled about it all. Now that he's tasted the spotlight, he may be hooked!

36 Months

Dear Nick,

You are now three years old. You are a quiet little guy, preferring to play alone or with your sisters. You are getting noisier, though, and have started running around in circles burning off energy and (as always) you love to put on a show to try to make mommy laugh. You do not like it when we call you a "big boy." You always tell us that you are a "little boy" or a "baby."

You have a deep affection for balls and vehicles, particularly the characters from the Cars movie. You like to shoot baskets and play catch, and everything else you can do with a ball as well. You listen for helicopters and big trucks and always spot motorcycles when they are farther away than mommy can even see. You like to play pretend, whether it's as the dog in your sister's games, or when you make your cars talk to each other.

You can count to 20 (although you skip some of the teens). You have pretty much entirely switched to regular words from the "Nick words" you made up (although you still know the old "Nick words": if I ask you who Bida is, you answer "Julianna!"). One of your words that you still use is "stink" (a noun used in place of #2, as in "I need to go stink"). Another is "you're a funky lady" (which has now been shortened to just "funk"). When you are upset with a person, you tell them this. "Mommy, can I have fruit snacks for breakfast?" "No, Nick." "Awww, you funky lady!" This would be funnier to me if you didn't say it with such an angry tone. I wonder where you came up with that one. When you ask for water, you ask for "coldwaterfromrefrigeratordumptrucks." The "dumptrucks" part refers to the sippy cup with dumptrucks on it.

You like to sit on my lap for a snuggle, and when we hug you tenderly pat my back. You tell me to give you "fast kisses" or "slooowww kisses."

You have mommy wrapped around your little finger.

There's a birthday coming up.

This is Nick.

Nick is turning three in TWO DAYS.

He "can NOT beLIEVE it."

Neither can I, man, neither can I.

Last year we went to a Clippers game and then had cake on McQueen plates.

This year, he has asked for a party. He has chosen McQueen partyware again.

We sent invitations out to his party list. He really did give me names of people to invite, I am not kidding. He really wants people to come over. We'll see what he thinks when they are actually here.

His Music Together teacher is coming to teach a class. He asked her to please bring egg shakers to use during the class, and he would like a red one and a blue one.

Other than that, the kids will be playing with cars, trains, bikes and balls.
Oh, and having cake on McQueen plates.

I need to start assembling the favor bags! Each child gets a die-cast Cars car and an egg shaker!

Some packages have arrived in the mail for Nick: Noni, Grandma Vi, Grandma & Granddad.

O Christmas Tree

Things are looking good here. Last week I was very busy (aren't we all this time of year) getting the decorations up, enjoying Katie's Christmas performance (she sang her heart out and we could hear her!), and dragging Nick all over town running errands. Today when we dropped J off at school, he said "where are we going now?" and I said "hmmm... Target?" to which he replied, "No! We're just going home!" So he has had it with errands!

Unfortunately our videocamera is not functioning and we have to send it in to see if it can be fixed. Eric gave it to me for Christmas last year and bought it 12/17, so it should be under warranty except that we don't have the receipt. Which they are saying is required. We'll see what happens, but having no videocamera for Nick's birthday and Christmas with the cousins is a total bummer.

Nick is getting very excited about his birthday! Every day we talk about how many days are left and he can hardly believe it! Tonight the girls and I went to the store and got the birthday gifts they had in mind for him. They can't wait for him to open them! Katie says she loves to give presents as well as get.

Yesterday we got our tree! We always play Christmas music as we hang ornaments. Nick was very involved in the decorating this year, so we were five hard workers! The girls ooh-ed and ah-ed and reminisced as we unpacked the ornaments. This all really feels like a tradition now! But no video of it this year ... gah!

The tree lot

Ornaments are out and ready to go

Nick's favorite is this train (the first one he put up), which he seems to remember from last year (it's one of Eric's from Grandma Jeanne)

Katie has a lot of favorites. Here, she is pointing to the shepherd/star ornament just after hanging it

I just taught the girls "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and Julianna and I found a set of "12 Days" ornaments. She enjoyed hanging them on our tree!

The finished product looks terrific!

The Christmas Concert! (by K)

I sang five songs at the christmas concert!

They were called "Bethlehem is Busy","Dollars and Census"," Everybody wants to stay with Him"," Miracle on Bethlehem St." and " Receive the King".

I loved getting up there and singing and acting!

This is my costume for the christmas concert! Mommy sewed it for me. The second graders were villagers in Biblical times.

This is me in my headwrap for the christmas concert with two worksheets to do while we were waiting!

This is some of my class in their costumes for the christmas concert! Don't you think they look just great?

quiz for fun!

1. Which child responds best to "mommy kiss it, make it better?"

2. Which child received this fortune cookie the other day: "You have a basic need for solitude some of the time"?

3. Which child often says "just kidding!"?

Right after we got home from Thanksgiving

Yes, I've been away a while. And this feels like old news since the Christmas decorations went up. But still, it's pretty cool and worth telling!

The first day we were home from Thanksgiving (Sunday), we went to the Getty Villa Museum in Malibu. Eric & Katie's Indian Princess tribe was having their meeting there. We got there and had a yummy lunch, then E & K went to meet with the tribe. While they were doing official tribe business, J & N and I walked around a bit.

It is a museum dedicated to Greek, Roman, and Etruscan art. The building is a replica of a Pompeiian villa. It is very unique and pretty!

We (and the other spouses and siblings) met up with the tribe after a little while in the Family Forum, which is an exploratory room with lots of activities about Greek vases. Then we picked up the cards that lead you on a treasure hunt of sorts, and the whole tribe/families set out to explore and find the "clues."

Then Nick and Julianna got antsy, so we went back to the Family Forum. They had a very loooooong attention span for one particular activity: drawing on vases. Greek vases have stories on them, and the kids get to decorate the vases with dry erase markers, wipe off, draw/write a new one, over and over!

Julie (by K)

Dear Grandma,

This is what Julie looks like: