holiday cards

We love to get good mail at our house. The kids enjoying walking up to the mailbox with our "golden key" (it's gold, there's nothing magical about it really) and opening up box 7. During the holidays it's even more fun for them because of all the cards we receive. This year we're participating in an international holiday card exchange (thanks, Kirstin, for sending me the info again!) and I've organized a similar card exchange for our playgroup. Ten here, ten there and with two kids, that means they should be receiving 30 cards addressed to them individually and together this year. This is in addition to all the other cards our family receives every year. The kids received five cards today alone. Their little fingers are going to be worn out by the time the holidays are over!

special holiday trains

Last year Grandma gave Thomas this wonderful little holiday train that he absolutely loves. He's asked us throughout the year every time he sees the box if we can set it up, but we told him it was a special thing for the holidays. So he's been waiting all year for this train. Needless to say, he's pretty excited to have it assembled and circling the base of our Christmas tree tonight. It plays holiday tunes, lights up and makes real train engine sounds. Both kids are loving it!

This weekend we're taking a special holiday train ride with Santa and Mrs. Claus and some of our playgroup friends. It's going to be a really special treat for both of the kids!

giving

with pal Michael at the Birch Aquarium & running on sugar

.

Three is such a fun age during the holidays. He understands everything from all the fun activites we do to the more serious things we participate in. This afternoon some playgroup friends gathered for a "wrap party". One mama supplied all the gift wrap materials and the rest of us brought gifts to be wrapped. For whom you wonder...?
.
Through a charitable organization, we adopted a "local family in need" for the holidays. Each of us purchased a clothing item (or two!) for a family member and also other items like personal products, non-perishables, toys, gift cards, etc. It's a great program and we are fortunate to know so many generous mamas who also wanted to participate. Though individually our contributions are small, collectively they'll make a huge difference for this one family. Christmas morning will be all that more magical for them this year.
.
We show our kids the importance of giving to those in need all throughout the year, but even more so during the holidays. It's important to us that our kids see us do this and that they participate as much as they can. Earlier this week the kids helped me pick out new pajamas for the 6 and 3 year old girls in our adopted family. We stuffed a holiday gift bag full with non-perishable foods -- all our favorite pastas and beans! And today, we brought these items to our friend's house to wrap. We've been talking about it all week and Thomas understands we've made the holidays a little brighter this year for these two little girls. That makes this mama feel good.

yummy holiday cookies

Tonight we made gingerbread cookies complete with icing and whatever else we had laying around. Both kids were really into the toppings and Thomas ate several cookies he decorated, but Meredith wasn't so hip to the actual cookies. She much preferred the bag of Ghiradelli chocolate chips all by themselves. Me, too.

.

staying up to watch "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

bottle opener v. snowglobe

You know those really annoying bottle cap openers that talk or play music once the cap is popped? We have two in our house. One plays my alma mater's fight song and the other is Homer Simpson speaking. Of course, the Simpsons opener is the one the kids favor and since M showed Thomas an easy way to make it work by using a spoon... well, let's just say I've heard the following all day long:
"Mo, give me another beer."
"Alright."
"Gimme gimme gimme. This is the greatest beer of my life. I'm king of the world!"
I kid not.

In an effort to combat the continuous playing of this opener, I thought picking up the musical snowglobe he saw at Home Depot today would draw his attention away from the opener and soon he'd forget. Well, it did. But now I have to wonder: which is really the more annoying to this mama's ears? I guess with the snowglobe there isn't the fear of him repeating anything.

T & the snowglobe music from c on Vimeo.

a Legoland holiday

holiday tree constructed entirely with Legos
.

This evening our family went to the holiday tree lighting ceremony at Legoland. Of course everything was built with Legos and there were holiday decorations distributed all around the park... but there were also some surprises during the actual lighting ceremony like fireworks, snow falling from the sky (yes, real snow), tin soldiers on stilts, a couple of "celebrities" and music and holiday lights to delight everyone. We'll be enjoying nightly firework shows from Legoland until Christmas (from the master bedroom's deck). Fun!

.

kids with Santa

the gingerbread house: can we eat it now?

They love to make goofy poses when I have the camera.

fresh air

This morning we went for a hike at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. With eight miles of trails high above the ocean and direct access to the unspoiled beaches below via trails and steps, it's a popular destination for both tourists and locals alike. Meredith enjoyed climbing around "Red Butte" (top photo) and Thomas enjoyed seeing how fast he could run on the trails. We'll have to visit again on a clear day to fully appreciate the spectacular views; today we had short periods of blue sky. After exploring the busy streets of Los Angeles earlier this week, it was especially nice to experience a quieter side of Southern California.

the playroom tree

For years we've gone back and forth with artificial and living trees for the Christmas holiday. Given that we'll be traveling every December since we moved away from family, this year we'll purchase a new (taller!) artificial tree. So, the little 6 footer we have has become the kids' tree! Tonight we set it up in the playroom and began making some ornaments to decorate it with. I cut out foam stars, M strung beads and together the kids decorated the tree. I still get a kick out of how they clump all the ornaments onto one branch. Thomas had started out spacing them out, but then resorted to hanging them all on the same branch.

.

[Yes, I did space them out when the kids were finished - I couldn't help myself. I did, however, hang them all on the bottom half of the tree and within their reach since they'll likely be rearranged daily until the tree is taken down.]

Happy Thanksgiving!

me: " What are you thankful for, Thomas?"

Thomas: "School."

.

Last year it was his stuffed rabbit and his slippers. This year it's preschool. I thought that was a nice response for a 3-1/2 year old.

scenes from Santa Monica

Santa Monica ~ Pacific Park (on the pier)
.

ice rink ~ Third Street Promenade (shopping, food)
.

La Brea Tar Pits

.

Los Angeles County Art Museum (outside)

.

Hollywood Walk of Fame ~ Kodak Theater
.

El Capitan Theater (Disney) ~ Grauman's Chinese Theater
.

Getty Center

Santa Monica

The whole family is enjoying a short getaway to Santa Monica, California. Many new things for us to see and explore! La Brea Tar Pits, Rodeo Drive, the stars on Hollywood Blvd, Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Kodak Theater, shopping at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, the Santa Monica pier, Muscle Beach in Venice -- all of this in our first full day here!

According to Thomas, we're staying in our Santa Monica house. It's about 800sf and reminds us of our Portland home (never an outlet where you need one!) but we're loving it. The lovely Santa Monica beaches are just a short 6 blocks away and it's been really fun to be in a "walking neighborhood" again. Need a coffee? Starbucks is just a few blocks away. Need to make a quick trip to Whole Foods? We can walk there. Living in the suburbs as we do now has its perks, but I do miss a more urban neighborhood. It's fun to spend a few days at our "Santa Monica house".

19 months

Meredith has become quite the daddy's girl. In this photo she's giving me her "sad face". Her daddy will do just about anything for her, so in 14-1/2 years when she asks for a car and gives him this look...

she reads a book

M reads from c on Vimeo.

why? why? why? why? why?

glimpses of Thomas in preschool

.

I have been asked no less than 100 times already today "why?". It's flat out exhausting. Like all preschoolers, Thomas is curious about everything and just wants to know things... which I love. I love the kinds of questions he asks, I love listening to him think through things aloud, I love the way he comes up with several alternatives or options to do or say things, I love that he wants to know everything about everything... but this mama gets tired of the endless questions. And so this afternoon after his 100+ question, I heard myself say "Please do not ask me any more questions. I love that you ask really good questions and want to know things, but please don't ask any more questions until after naps."
.
His response was, of course, "Why?"

caught!

Thomas: "Mom, come look at Meredith!"

[followed by laughter from all three kids in the hall]

Thomas: "We caught Meredith."

[Meredith is squealing with delight, absolutely loving this game.]

.

She's laughing. Thomas and Jack are enjoying this game of pulling Meredith all around the house. And my floors are getting just a wee bit cleaner. A win-win-win all around in my book.

his wish list

Two weeks ago Target released their toy catalog inside the Sunday newspapers. Maybe you received one, too? We are currently subscribed to two newspapers so we received two of these catalogs. The kids love to sit and look through their toy catalogs. Today Thomas spend some time identifying, cutting out products on his Christmas Wish List and taping them to a door in the kitchen. He was kind enough to ask Meredith which items she wanted cut out for herself, but there weren't any things today. I don't know if you can see the items on the door, but you'll easily identify those that Thomas picked out (dinosaurs, trucks, racecars, etc...) and the one item I picked out for him (doctor bag). There's definitely a theme in the toys he is currently enjoying!

the endless summer

Thomas today: "She looks like a princess in her hat and skirt."

.

We're in a heat wave. Today we hit 85 degrees. I'm not complaining. It's just a little strange for Oregonians to be experiencing summer-like weather in mid-November. We saw Santa Claus yesterday at the mall, we see the fallen leaves (very few where we live, but there are some around!), evenings are noticeably cooler than they were a few months ago, our sunsets have shifted far to the south... All these things tell us the holidays are near and the "summer months" are long gone but in sunny, warm Southern California it still feels like summer. I'm not complaining.

spiderman

This is apparently the month for birthdays. I've lost count but I think we've been invited to eight birthday parties this month. From a fantastic 40th at the Four Seasons (adults only) to an equally fun 3 year old's party at the park and everything in between. We aren't going to all of them, but the ones we are attending are keeping our weekends busy this month. From the look on Thomas' face, he isn't complaining!

fun morning at Birch Aquarium