Our Christmas 2010

Our lovely decorated Christmas tree. Each year the kids get a few new ornaments of their very own. This year, the boys got superhero, Scooby Doo, and Mickey Mouse ornaments. Holly got a ballerina and Disney princess ornaments. I have always loved beautiful glass ornaments for our tree and I so enjoy the yearly tradition to add to the collection!

On Christmas eve, the Schlichting family came to our house for food, fun, and presents. We used our pool table for a gigantic buffet table since we had so many good things to eat!



Carson couldn't wait to start on the presents. Some of his favorites this year were, Toy Story tennis shoes, a "fur real" doggy, and a shark bath towel.

Tate opened (with Cheddar's help), new Lego's, "How to Train Your Dragon" cup and plate set, and Leap Frog learning numbers DVDs.

The boys love their Mimi!

After the Christmas eve party was over, the house was quiet, and kids asleep, Santa finally came to our house. In preparation, Tate put out milk and cookies for Santa, and oatmeal reindeer food on the front lawn. Santa brought Tate a castle with knights and horses, Carson received a Toy Story bicycle, and Holly got a ride-on pony and toy purse set.

Christmas morning, Tate was up first. We tried to procrastinate a bit so Carson could get a few more minutes of sleep, but Tate was too excited to wait any longer. We woke up Carson and Holly and all went downstairs together to see what Santa had brought. We all then opened presents from each other too. Holly was excited about her new princess cash register that her brothers picked out for her. I hope this toy doesn't promote a love of shopping and spending already!

Tate found lots of fun things in his stocking too!

Later in the day on Christmas Day, my dad and my grandparents stopped by our house for a brief hello and bring a few gifts. Then after their visit, we were on to our last event for the day. We went to Eric's parent's house for Christmas Dinner. The excitement of opening presents had not dwindled at all, even by the end of the day, so Tate happily distributed gifts to everyone.

Holly sat on RahRah's lap to open her "Little People" doll house.

I am wearing the sweater that Tate picked out for me for Christmas. Eric had taken both boys shopping so they could have the chance to each personally pick out a gift for me. Tate did a great job, I love this sweater! Carson's gift was so thoughtful too. He carefully chose for me a vanilla scented candle and a 6 pack of rainbow colored lighters to go with it. I am so lucky to have such great boys!

At the end of the evening, it was time to put on pjs and get comfy before heading home from RahRah and Papa's house. The boys had such a busy day, that they both ended up falling asleep during the 10 minute car ride home and were carried up to bed for the night.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!

Our visit with Santa went great!! Holly was less then thrilled, but the boys had fun. The rainy day must have kept other kids at home because there was no line at all to see Santa. So, the boys had plenty of time to talk with Santa and let him know their requests.

Christmas wish list

Tate has been practicing writing his numbers and letter at school, so what better way to do this then by writing his Christmas wish list. He had some interesting requests which I found amusing, so his list is shown up close in the photo below.

His list says:

Tate

I want is
1. Stinky (a garbage truck named "Stinky")

2. Transformer

3. Toy Dog

4. Baby Dragon

What he should be singing is " All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth". Tate was so happy and proud to have lost his second top front tooth....... and yes, I did have him sing this song for my video camera.

Oh Christmas tree

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we decided to take advantage of the sunny weather and head out to find our Christmas tree. All of the tree farms that we had been considering in Grassvalley and Foresthill were snowed in, so we decided to give the Davis family farm in Sloughhouse a try. This is the same farm that we go to each fall for our pumpkins, but this was our first visit there for a Christmas tree!

After careful tree selection, Carson supervised dad to make sure he knew how to cut it down.



Up close and personal with our new tree.

By that evening, the lights, ornaments, and star were all on our lovely Christmas tree. The boys helped by unwrapping each ornament from its tissue paper, and I would hang each ornament on the branches. We made a good team!

Thanksgiving Day 2010

As we do every year, we took our family Christmas card photo on Thanksgiving afternoon. Believe me when I say that it is not an easy trick to get all 5 of us sitting together, looking at the camera, and smiling at the same time!!!

My dad and grandparents came over in the early afternoon for a brief visit and some dessert!

My grandpa brought the boys each a '57 Corvette toy car. They loved their surprise treat and had fun racing them across the kitchen floor.


Then.....later in the afternoon, we hosted their second Thanksgiving event. Eric's brother Scott came over to help Eric deep fry the turkey. The boys were very interested in the whole idea of cooking the turkey with the pot out on the grass in our backyard.

The turkey turned out great! Our family enjoyed dinner with Eric's parents, Eric's brother Scott, and my mom. When asked what the boys were thankful for, Tate replied that he was thankful for his grandparents, and Carson said that he was thankful for Toy Story.

Holly's 1st Birthday

The Birthday Girl!

We went to "Icing on the Cupcake" with a few friends for Holly's first birthday party. Holly got to pick out her very own special cupcake.


The anticipation was big......

but the delicious cupcake was the best!!!!

Later that evening, we came home for some birthday dinner of tacos with Holly's Mimi and Pa, and RahRah and Papa. After dinner, she put on her birthday girl crown and had ,yes, another cupcake!!!

It was finally time to open presents! Holly got a "Little Mermaid" ride on toy from RahRah and Papa. She was excited to hop on to try it out, and her brothers were even more excited to push her around the house.

She also got her very own suitcase from Mimi and Pa for her to take on our Hawaiian vacation planned for February next year.

Tate's tooth

Tate was so thrilled to have wiggled out his loose tooth. This is his third tooth to fall out, but this one is much more noticeable since the previous two were on the bottom. He put it into his tooth fairy pillow and was rewarded with 3 dollars, since it was his 3rd lost tooth. He was so excited to show everyone at school the next day!

Happy Halloween

We carved pumpkins at Mimi's house, but this year it was raining so it became an indoor activity. I helped Tate carve his pumpkin because after feeling how sticky an slimy the pulp, he wasn't too interested in carving much more. Tate was so excited to have a skeleton on his, while Carson directed Mimi to make his pumpkin a kitty face.

Holly just was happy to be part of the fun day with her brothers!

Carson showed Holly his finished pumpkin, but watched her with a close eye so that she wouldn't tip his pumpkin down onto the floor.

Halloween night we went trick-or treating with our neighbors. Our group was 5 little boys and Holly. This was Holly's first Halloween!!! She liked her pink kitty costume, but didn't wear the hood part for very long.

Tate was Iron Man, Carson was Spider man, and Holly a kitty. The boys loved trick-or-treating so much this year! We went up and down 3 streets in our neighborhood. The boys love candy and realized quickly that it is very fun to knock on door after door to keep collecting more!!!

San Diego vacation

The one day it didn't rain during our trip, we went decided to take the kids to the San Diego Zoo.

We saw the real gorillas while at the zoo. The boys were very intrigued by them because one of the gorillas had a very cute little baby gorilla.

We saw all the animals that we could during the day, including these camels.


I parked Holly in her stroller in front of the glass near the orangutan. This orangutan came over and sat right in front of Holly and they just looked at each other for awhile! They each seemed to find the other very interesting.

Carson thought it was very cool to be so close to this lion as he walked toward us.

The boys let me take their picture with this elephant after seeing the real elephants. The zoo keeper was feeding the elephants tree branches while we visited. Carson liked it when he was told that one of the elephants that we were watching is named "Cookie".

The last day of our trip we went to the Birch Aquarium. It gave the kids the brief opportunity to run around with and visit with our friends who live in San Diego.

I got the chance to spend some time with my closest friend since high school. She lives now in San Diego with her family and is expecting her third daughter in January.

Sunset at the beach was so beautiful

Though it was too cold to get into the ocean, we took a walk along the water and found a fun place to stop for lunch. Carson's shirt says "king of the sandcastle", but he didn't get the chance to prove it on this trip.

Apple Hill

We took the kids to Apple Hill on this early October weekend. It was a really beautiful day and was a great day to spend outside. Holly likes to have her picture taken and pumpkins make a perfect background.

Carson loves Halloween and can't wait to have pumpkins decorating our house.

Tate is such a great big brother! He is always entertaining Holly and loves to help take care of her. On the car ride to Apple Hill today, he helped hold her bottle for her while she drank it in her car seat, and then played with her and her baby toys.

We stopped at a few different orchards, but the last stop was at Willow Pond Organic orchard. There was a paddle boat and a row boat that visitors can take out into the pond. We didn't take the opportunity, but maybe next year.

The boys had to sample what they were going to be picking!

The orchard was "you pick".....so the boys got right to work!

Carson loves to pick apples and he still talks about our visit to Apple Hill from last year.

We filled up our baskets so we could head home and make and apple pie.... or two.