Our Holidays!

So I guess the highlight of Christmas was our new DS! Jon surprised the family with this. The girls got mainly American Girl Stuff and Sam got mostly stuff from "Cars" the movie. Nana, Uncle Ross, Uncle Vinnie and his family all came to celebrate with us. We were so lucky they could come to our house because Jon was on call again! Thanks everyone! My nephew Italo was adorable.

Here is Baby Italo with his noise making hammer! Insert evil laugh here. Just Kidding. Actually, we searched high and low for this because our Sam loved his so much when he was younger.

Oh and I got my Ruffles and onion dip which is VERY important. There were lots of snacks. Especially See's candy. We actually had to make a 2nd trip to See's because we ate some of the first box! It was a fun day!

New Year's Eve we headed up to Granpa and Grandma Jim's house. We celebrated with Martenelli's just a wee bit early for the kids who ended up staying up past midnight anyone! They did have fun though and that is the most important thing, right? Sam didn't want the Martenelli's. He went with milk.

We headed home on New Year's Day sans Sarah who stayed with Jon's family(grandparents, Aunt, cousins). Sarah left the next day on a trip to Utah with them to see a cousin get baptized and a brand new baby get blessed at church. I think she had a lot of fun. She keeps talking about her cousin Taylar having her own puppy. I guess that left an impression.

Our Ride on the Polar Express

Thursday, Dec. 11th we went with our charter school on a field trip to the RR Museum and a ride on the Polar Express.

The morning started out very productive. Jon and I made it over to the DMV to renew our licenses, take our vision tests and pay our 28 bucks each. It went quickly and I was glad that Jon could come with me and that he didn't have to take time off for souch a dull errand. We got home before 9am and had two hours before we needed to be in Sac for the Polar Express but the kids wanted to leave right away so we killed some time at Sam's on the way.

The first part of the day was spent at the railroad museum. Sarah and Bekah spent their time looking for trains you could walk through. They were afraid of the train that feels like it is moving(the sleeper car). We got to see the really big Cab Forward which is one of my favorites and I also got to see the dining car with all that beautiful china!

Our next stop was Round Table for the buffet. It was pretty good but busy. The field trip we were on really increased the demand for plain cheese and pepporoni pizzas!

Finally, it was time to board the Polar Express. It was jam packed there. Our field trip coordinater had our tickets so we only had to wait in line to board. The trip was great. Our family took two of the bench seats that face each other and we had the sweetest lady seat us(on the North Pole side!).

We had our tickets punched and then it was time for the Hot Chocolate which was just the right temperature for little children. YAY! Next came the cookies and a reading of the Polar Express.

Sometime in here the hobo came through our car and asked if we believed in Santa. It was very cute and he had a lot of personality. In fact, everyone on the train was GREAT and really cared about the kids.

We arrived at the "North Pole" and I had to admit to Bekah that we were at a pretend North Pole. She is six now and guessed the real North Pole is nowhere near the Sacramento Zoo! Santa came onboard and gave everyone a bell from his sleigh just like in the story.

The hobo came throught again to ask Santa why his bell didn't work and demanded a present. Santa gave him a bag of coal! The kids loved that!

By that time we had made it back to the station and we headed back to the train museum to finish up our day playing with Thomas trains and catching a few last exhibits.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving at our house. Jon was on call so we had to stay home. Luckily my Mom, Vinnie and his family, and Ross were able to come up to our place. We had a delicious dinner all together and lots of snacky things. We even had potato chips and onion dip. I love that! Mom made her awesome corn and bean salsa and I love that too. After dinner we went on a walk and then back for some Safeway Fruit Tart which I highly recommend! I am so grateful for my wonderful family and friends.

Our Halloween

We are having a great Fall, lots of learning going on at our fabulous home school. This Halloween the kids carved a couple of pumpkins with their dad(while I worked from home). Here are their creations


For Halloween night, we went to our church for Trunk or Treat. The kids dressed up as Dorothy(Wizard of Oz), a snow princess, and a pirate. I was a pirate too because we ended up with an extra pirate hat. Some people said I was Capt. Hook because of my coat. My snow princess was afraid her hoop skirt would keep her out of the donut eating contest but in the end I proved to her that it would not and so she agreed to wear the costume. Thank Goodness! A good time was had by all and the kiddies didn't eat all that much candy(just a couple of pieces and a sugar cookie really).

Our trip to Safari West

I have been having trouble uploading pictures so I had to go with this small one. Jon and I took the kids on a field trip to Safari West in Santa Rosa. We had a great time. It's really like being on a safari and I highly recommend it. You can even spend the night there.

cute things

This morning Bekah was very distraught and insisting she needed to return her Halloween costume. Why? Because it has a hoop skirt and she thought it would get in the way during the donut eating contest!

For the last couple of days, whenever my two year old Sam wants attention, he brings me some sight word readers and announces, "I can read". He then points to a word and says "what this word"? After I tell him he starts reading. Each sentence has a picture and when he gets to it he stares at the picture and then with great pride announces what it is. I guess you just have to see it. Adorable!

And not to forget Sarah, my 8 year old. Today she asked me whether Santa Claus's birthday is on Halloween or Easter. That's a little random. Cute though, just like my Sarah.

unsettling week

So I had been thinking about how lucky I was to have such a great street, full of generally nice people. The house that was foreclosed on down the street had been purchased and the new neighbors on the other side of our house seemed nice too. Things were going well. THEN...I found out a guy across the street and a few doors down is on the Megan's Law Page and that was creepy. So I went to tell my favorite neighbor, the one who lives next door to me and(this is the really short version) found out they had lost their home to foreclosure. She was too embarrassed to tell me. They had gotten a bad loan about 8 months ago and the bank wouldn't work with them to get a new loand(it went up 3%). I mean, this is a family where the husband has a good job and they are super nice. Bummer for me, the neighborhood, and our wonderful neighbors. The kids and I will miss their cats and holiday decorations.