Merry Christmas

We have had an absolutely wonderful Christmas! We celebrated Christmas Eve last night with a lovely dinner with Sadie, Jack and our friends Tamarind and Eddy. After the kids were snug in bed we laid out all the family presents including two Jeeps from Pud. The kids slept well and did not get up until 7:00am this morning. They were very exited to see their Jeeps and then the remains of Santa's cookies and milk. The dove in to their stockings with a vengeance and were not disappointed. Santa brought Jack a Peter Rabbit stuffed animal and a red teddy bear. For Sadie, Santa brought a talking baby doll and a Rudolph stuffed animal. All the toys were quite a big hit, but the highlights were the Jeeps, a cash register from Momma Su, a fairy costume from Grammy and Papa for Sadie and a lego set for both the kids, a tent from Uncle Tommy, a pirate ship, tree house and silk pajamas brought home from Hong Kong by Uncle Craig. The last photo here is of the kids in their beautiful silk pajamas.

We finished up with opening presents around 9:00am and suited up (Sadie in her fairy costume) for our first trip in the Jeeps. While the kids were over the moon about the Jeeps, I must say that there is good reason that states keep raising the driving age. J. and I were scrambling to keep the kids from driving into parked cars along the sidewalk. Not that our endless cries of "Steer!" and "Look where you're going!" slowed the kids down one bit.

We spent the rest of day playing with toys and finished up the day with dinner in front of the fire. Now the kids are fast asleep and we're getting ready for our big trip to Delaware tomorrow morning.

Thank you to everyone who showered our family with love today. While we're far away, all of our family was close to our hearts today. We hope that you too had a very merry Christmas!

Eagles Fans

These are some much belated photos of the kids in their Eagles paraphernalia provided by Pud. While neither J. nor I can actually explain to the kids what the game of football entails, the kids nevertheless were thrilled to don Eagles wear and ham it up for the camera.

Cookie Party

Jen, Jay, J., and I hosted our now annual cookie decorating party earlier this month. Jen and Jay provided the party and we brought cookies, frosting and sprinkles galore. After decorating enough cookies for an army the kids were visited by Santa. Jack asked Santa for a red teddy bear and Sadie asked for a Rudolph toy. The kids were also quite taken with the piano. A good time was had by all.

Pony Bliss

Grammy and Papa took Sadie and Jack for a day out on the town on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. From the photos it sure looks like the kids had a good time at the pony rides!

Bungee Trampoline

We spent the Friday after Thanksgiving enjoying the Santa Monica pier with all our guests. We visited the carousel, kiddie rides, and Jack went with Grammy and all his cousins on the ferris wheel. The big hit of the afternoon was the bungee trampoline. Because of the bungees the kids were able to jump a good 15 feet in the air off the trampoline, which resulted in many squeals of excitement and joy.

Thanksgiving 2011

We're settling back into our routine after a wonderful Thanksgiving visit from Grammy, Papa, and cousins Beth, Karen, Dani and Nyko. It was very special to be able to host everyone in our home for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving night itself was a bit stressful, as the kids made it very clear that they did not appreciate us focusing on cooking all day instead of them. Thankfully we had many other wonderful times while everyone was visiting. It's always very special to have Grammy and Papa visit, and Sadie and Jack loved spending time with their cousins.

HomeWalk 2011

The kids participated for the 3rd year in row in the United Way's HomeWalk to end homelessness in Los Angeles. This was a very special year as we walked with Jack and Sadie's friend Lilella from their preschool and her mother. It was very special to share our value of being of service to the community with another family.

It's quite an experience walking the 5k (or 3.1 miles) with the kids. This year it took us a little over two hours to finish the walk. I was pretty amazed when we ran into Sammy Squirrel. I've have used a charter called Sammy Squirrel to explain homelessness to Jack and Sadie over the years. I have no idea where this Sammy Squirrel came from and I was too tired to ask, but it was a happy surprise to see this plushie during the walk!

We are so grateful to all the family and friends who supported our participation in the walk. I feel very grateful to be able to do things like HomeWalk with the kids!

Bunk Beds

The big day has come. Jack and Sadie are sleeping in their own beds tonight. J. and I were a bit terrified to have move on from cribs. Sleep is so tenuous as it is. We were prodded on by the cribs beginning to fall apart from so much wear and tear. It was a bit frightening when J. had to demolish the cribs to be able to get them out the door of the nursery. Then the beds were so hard to put together they were not ready for bedtime last night, but tonight every thing was in order and the kids went to bed (after some fighting and pleading) in their new beds.

Jack (AKA the Climber) had to have the top bunk of course. It took a bit of convincing to help him to understand that it was best to use the ladder when climbing to the top bunk. The ladder makes it a bit too easy for Jack, but for tonight at least he humored us by using it. We're crossing our fingers for a restful night for the whole family. We'll see how it goes...

Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween tonight! Jack and Sadie were amazing - they were very excited to be Little Red Riding Hood and Snoopy. They were more excited to collect candy rather than eat it. They managed to not try one piece of candy until we got home. This was a big change from last year, when Sadie felt she had to sample the candy from every house we trick-or-treated at. They said "thank you" at every house we went to and were just generally amazing kids. Happy Halloween to all!

Our Amazing Levitating Children

Not a foot on the ground between them.

Riding the Horsie

We are so lucky to live near a beautiful old carousel. We took the kids over to the Griffith Park merry-go-round again last weekend. We all love it there. Here are the kids riding the mechanical horse in front of the merry-go-round.

Pumpkins

We went out to Forneris Farms in Mission Hills yesterday to pick out our pumpkins. Jack and Sadie went non-traditional with white Lumina pumpkins. Forneris Farms puts on a big harvest festival all October with pony-rides, a petting zoo, and games. The kids had a great time feeding the goats and chasing ducks around.

Key West

We had a wonderful trip to Key West earlier this month. Sadie, Jack and I traveled on our own to Key West because J. could not take the time away from work. Traveling alone with 2 three year-olds is no piece of cake, but we survived the cross country flights and overseas highway drives without any horror stories. The kids could not have been happier to spend time with their Grammy and Papa. The extended swimming season also made them quite happy. They are both totally comfortable in the water, including underwater. This trip they took to jumping in with noodles (floatation devices) and no one to catch them. It was pretty amazing to be able to sit on the edge of the pool and watch as they jumped in, went under, and then popped back up with big smiles on their faces.

Family Values

This past year I've been dedicated to bringing the community of families around us together. A few weeks ago we gathered many of those families together for community service project. Each family brought a different household item and then we put all the items together to build a "welcome home kit" for a person experiencing homelessness who will soon get a home. To help the kids get into the spirit of what we were doing I told them the story of Rocky Raccoon, who lost his home in from a lightening strike and would also be getting a new home soon. Each kid got a kiss from Rocky as they gave away their contribution to the kit. It was a really wonderful morning and an introduction to a family value that I hope the kids will learn to cherish.

Mimi's 3rd Birthday Party

Also in September was Mimi's 3rd birthday. In addition to their good friend Mimi, the kids got party down with their friends Tatum, Hazel, and Birdie

Pud's Visit

We have so many wonderful memories of late that have not made it on to the blog. I'm going to play a little catch up. We had a wonderful visit with Pud in September. She came just in time to help us take care of two sick kiddos. She was a humongous help. Fortunately the illnesses passed pretty quickly and we were able to take advantage of the warm September days at Pud's pool. I think the kids swam every healthy day of Pud's visit. They are both becoming very adept in the water and will be swimming soon.