New Uses for Tool Benches

Santa brought Cooper the coolest toolbench for Christmas. Cooper loves to hang out with Daddy in the workshop, so he knew this would be the perfect present.

I'm sure he didn't imagine that Cooper would climb into the bench to sit on the lower shelf.

Rainy Day Fun

Yesterday it started raining. The weather forecast is predicting a steady week of rain with several inches falling in the next 8 days.
The kids and I have today off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day (King Day as Gracie calls it), so we were looking for something to keep us occupied while staying dry. Playdough seemed the perfect answer.

We mixed up two batches yesterday afternoon while Cooper was napping. Gracie made purple (although she insisted on calling it magenta).


Emma Jo made aqua-marine. The girls spent a good hour yesterday making playdough pizzas and animals.



This morning Emma Jo is more interested in playing on the Wii, but Cooper loves the playdough.



He has been bring me presents saying "cookie for you" or "Merry Christmas" and asking me to taste his creations.

MIA

Over the past year, I've really come to enjoy reading other people's blogs. It is a little glimpse into other people's lives. Sort of like reality TV but without the staging and drama... I've always been disappointed when my favorite bloggers sort of disappear for a while or dramatically reduce the number of entries they post. They usually return after the absence and apologize but explain that life just got too busy and they didn't have time to write. I could never understand that. For me posts usually take 10 minutes in the very early hours of the morning after Jason has left for work and the kids are still sleeping. It is my quiet time and I spend it reflecting on the previous day and preparing for the day ahead. If there was something noteworthy that happened the day before I jot it down and share. I do it as much for my recollection as I do for my readers. I never felt that blogging was a time drain... Until recently.

December was one whirlwind of a month. At work I manage a shipping department and we had a record number of orders each day for a week! My staff worked 50-60 hours a week for the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was non-stop all day and everyone pitched in to get the packages off to our customers. On top of that the kids were busy. We had many Christmas activities between school, work, church, Girl Scouts, Awana and Family. There wasn't a chance to unwind from work in the evening.

To top it off, Cooper chose December to be the month when he wouldn't sleep. We were lucky if he was asleep by 9pm and hoped that he would only wake up once during the night. Then he would wake up at 5am (or earlier). Not only did his night waking reduce our level of sleep, his early morning wake up prevented me from having my quiet time. No quiet time equals no blog posts.

Now things have calmed down. The Holiday rush is over at work. The Christmas activities are behind us for another year. Cooper is sleep better (although still not great). But I'm still at a loss for words. I think part of it is winter dull-drums. The cold weather has really prevented us from "doing anything" which is a little depressing.
We had a family talk today and decided we would like to have at least one "family activity" every month. Choices include going to the beach, visiting the zoo, camping, Angel Island or Alcatraz, China Town and a Giants game. I'm looking forward to many family activities during the new year.

Last night we were able to go to the Janine Faloni Pasta Dinner Fundraiser. Janine was injured in November when an SUV jumped the curb and pinned her to a pillar. She lost one leg and severely injured the other. During her 6+ weeks in the hospital and numerous surgeries, her faith in the Lord carried her through. Janine's daughter goes to school with the girls and we are members at the same church. Her faith and reliance on prayer has been a testament to me and I was encouraged to see the turn-out at the event last night. The event sold out and they had to halt the collection of auction items because they got so many donations. It was amazing to see people from church, school and the community that banded together to help this local family.

Christmas 2009

This Christmas season was a whirlwind. Between work, family, kids, parties and activities, I've hardly had time to breathe let alone post. I was utterly exhausted last weekend trying to re-coup from our Christmas celebrations. Now I feel better than normal! Here are the pictures we captured from the season.



Decorating the Tree.


Opening Presents Christmas Morning.


Ready to go to Grammie's.


Mid-Brown. Grace's number 1 Christmas Present. She asked for it for weeks. Grampa came through, just as she knew he would!


Cooper and his new motorcycle.


Cooper riding one of the Twins' new motorcycles.


Grace and Mid-Brown watching a movie on Grammie's bed.

Christmas Eve 2009

On Christmas Eve every year we celebrate with the Pina family. For the last few years we've gathered at the winery. This year it was a casual finger-food feast. The party started early enough in the day that the kids could play outside. They enjoyed the bocce court, horseshoes and the new "VIP" Deck.


My gorgeous nephew, Dallas.

The very handsome, Mays.

Grace jumping "SO HIGH" on the deck.

The best I could do for the Gimme Five photo.

Once we came inside my camera battery went dead. The rest of the pictures were taken with Grampa's camera...

Silver Oak Children's Cookie Party

The Sunday before Christmas, Silver Oak hosted a Children's Christmas party. The highlights of the party were decorating (and eating) cookies and a visit from Santa Claus. It was a great party and I totally enjoyed. It was nice to have something for the children to do that they really liked and didn't require too much supervision. It was a very low-keyed, relaxing party.

Each of the kids made cookies. Cooper tried to just lick the frosting and eat the decorations.

Grace was thrilled to sit on Santa's lap and tell him how all she wanted for Christmas was a Barbie doll.

Emma Jo didn't want to sit on Santa's lap, but she really wanted one of the Target gift cards that he was giving away.

Cooper was terrified from the moment Santa walked into the room.

Mommy was the mean one who forced him to sit on Santa's lap (just for one second).

What a Week!

This whole Christmas season is tough! Not only is work crazy with so many people buying gifts they want shipped to arrive before Christmas, we've also had holiday events every night for the past week.

It started with the Silver Oak Christmas party last Saturday. For the first time it was an adults-only party which meant we left the kids with a babysitter overnight for the first time ever! They've only ever spent the night with their grandparents. Cynthia has been babysitting them since Grace was a baby, so I wasn't really worried about it. Jason and I had a good time watching everyone in their 70s outfits for the Disco themed party.

Sunday was the Christmas party at church. We started with getting our Christmas tree in the afternoon, then had dinner with Grammie and Grampa. After dinner we headed to Church for carols and cookies.
Monday evening Jason and Emma had a father-daughter date. They did their Christmas shopping and then went to Applebee's for dinner.

Tuesday Emma Jo's Girl Scout troop had their Cookie-Making Holiday event. All the girls and their families were invited to decorate and bake cookies. Emma Jo and Grace had a great time covering their creations with as much sugar as possible.

Wednesday is Awana night and this week was caroling for the big kids and movies for the little ones. We didn't get home until after 8:30 that night.

Thursday was Windsor Christian Academy's school Christmas play. Emma Jo was the reporter on camera and a member of the chorus. She did a fantastic job!

Friday was Pina Napa Valley's holiday party. I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Casino night. Katherine made a great meal and it was fun playing Blackjack with Jason, Mom and Dad.

Saturday Grammie and Grampa were nice enough to watch the kids while Jason and I finished our Christmas shopping. We finished quickly after just three stores, so we went to John Ash for dinner to finish off the night.

Today was church and the Silver Oak kids party. Thankfully it was at Twomey West and was a low key cookie decorating party. The kids enjoyed putting as much frosting and sprinkles as possible on their cookies and then eating as many as possible. Santa came to the party and each child got to sit on his lap. Emma Jo was "too old" but relented when she realized it was the only way to get one of the $25 Target gift cards he was passing out. Grace eagerly told Santa how she wanted a Barbie for Christmas. Cooper was terrified and wanted Grampa to save him. The longer Santa was there the more relaxed Cooper became, but he still definitely did not want to sit on his lap. Finally after everyone else had a turn, I took Cooper and plopped him on Santa's lap. He only hesitated a moment before he was all out crying trying to throw himself at papa. Jason said it was torture, but I'm sure we have pictures of all the other kids crying on Santa's lap, it wouldn't be right to deprive Cooper of his opportunity. Later on tonight Cooper was telling us that he sat on Santa's lap and told him that we wanted a race car.