Some Thoughts on Christmas

I feel frantic, and I feel rushed.

That about sums up this Christmas season for me. You would think it wouldn't be that way since retailers start marketing for Christmas soon after the 4th of July (or so it seems). 

And I haven't been able to pinpoint why I feel that way this year, but I've heard it from so many others as well. We all feel like this season is rushing by. 

The funny thing is, I've actually done less this year than in years past. We skipped going to the Nutcracker Ballet. I didn't do as much baking as I had planned. I have only wrapped one gift so far. And here we are on Christmas eve, with the season almost past. 

So today let's all take a deep breath, enjoy family, and express our thankfulness to God for why we do any of these Christmas activities in the first place. It's because of His great love for us that Jesus came to live, to die, and offer us forgiveness that we could not obtain on our own. He truly is the greatest Gift, so enjoy Him this Christmas!

Six

I'm still not sure how my little girl is already six. It seems like just yesterday she was this size:

Hannah is growing in to such a young lady. She is fun, full of energy, and willing to try new things. Unless that new thing is a food, and then she's pretty resistant.  She is compassionate, and if she see's me crying will go get me a tissue for my tears. She loves her friends, and will make friends with every kid at the park. By the time we leave, she's saying, "Bye Friend!" and doesn't even know their name.

Hannah loves her brother, and loves to tickle him. Yes, she gets frustrated when he gets into her stuff but the handles it so well. I love how much laughter and fun she has brought into our home.

It's been amazing to watch her grow academically in school. She now writes all her upper and lower case letters, can read some sight words, and is also sounding out and writing words phonetically. Hannah loves school, I think mostly because of all the friends she has.

So on her birthday they year Chris and I got to surprise her with a special outing. I picked her up from school and then we picked up Chris at work to take her out to lunch. She got to pick, and we ate at In-N-Out. Then we hopped in the car and told her where our next stop would be: The Build-A-Bear Workshop. Her eyes got as big as saucers and her mouth gaped open, and her next words were, "Drive faster Mommy!"
Hannah has asked us for several years to go to Build-A-Bear so she was ecstatic. We came home with a sparkly, rainbow colored bear and she could not be happier.

We got to have a family party on her birthday, and then a friend party the next day with a small group of kids.

 

 We love you Hannah Grace, and are so proud of the young lady you are becoming!

Fall Festivities

We just barely fit in our annual trip to the Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark this year. Amy and I have taken the kids there for the last several years, always on a weekday because admission is a fourth of the weekend price, and it's a lot less crowded. However we discovered this year that these kind of weekday activities are a little harder to plan with the girls in school.

We managed to meet up there after school just a couple days before Halloween. The advantage of this was the lack of crowds, the disadvantage was that the kids were pretty tired when we got there. My plan to have Caleb nap in the car on the drive out there backfired when he fell asleep about 5 minutes before we arrived. Hence the reason he is not smiling in any of the pictures.

Amy and Silas were the first ones to the haystack at the center of the corn maze

Almost a smile!

Mr. Silas, I think his favorite part of the day was his first pony ride, the boy was ecstatic!

BFF's

And this is the best picture we could get at the end of the day with two very tired kids:

As for Halloween, Hannah decided quite a while ago that she wanted to be a cheetah. Between online tutorials for making ears and a tail, and an animal print dress and leggings from Walmart, I managed to get a costume together.
Caleb's costume has a long history. It's always been called a leopard costume, although I'm not sure what would distinguish it as a leopard versus, say, a cheetah.

Anyway, it was made my my mom's cousin for her child and then given to my mom. I was the first one in our family to wear it and all the kids since have had a turn. At first Caleb was rather bothered by the tail, but then decided it was fun to chew on. I didn't think he'd keep the cap on but he never took issue with that. We have also learned that he LOVES candy, particularly chocolate. He knows which jar is the candy jar and will frantically point at it and yell until we either move it out of sight or give him a little. It's now permanently out of sight on a high shelf.

I'm glad to be past Halloween and just enjoying the fall season (now that it's almost over), thinking of things we're thankful for, like this boy:

Long Overdue

I have had a long blog absence. Mostly because I can hardly find any time to sit down at the computer. A certain little someone wants to touch the computer any time it is out. And if I take my eyes off him for more than 30 seconds he may end up looking like this:

Well, what have we been up to? At the beginning of October we took a trip that covered most of the west coast, ending in Prineville, Oregon at Chris' grandfather's ranch. Chris was able to do some hunting with his parents and brother, and successfully harvested another deer.

 

The kids were troopers in the car, thanks to a portable DVD player we borrowed from some friends.

We also stopped at McDonald's 5 times in the span of 3 days and made use of every playplace between the Bay Area and Prineville. I have not been to a McDonald's since.

We broke up the long trip by visiting some family in the bay area, including David, Kristl and Kolton and all my parents. (I even got to sneak away for an hour to stop at Crate and Barrel and wander in downtown Walnut Creek, bonus!) 

Chris drove up to Oregon with his parents a few days before me and the kids, and my dad was crazy enough to volunteer to drive with us from Pleasanton to Prineville in one day. I may have lost my mind had he not been in the car with me. Thanks Dad!

While in Prineville we also got to see my Grandma Mary, and on the way home Holly, Steve, Stellan and Preston. I loved getting to see so much family, and grateful the kids were able to see some cousins.

Our other favorite stop on the way home is, of course, the Avila Valley Barn.

I had grand plans to fill this post with all the highlights from October until now, but I'm too tired. So I'll leave it at that and you'll just have to wait for the halloween pictures (which at this rate will show up right before Christmas).

Settling In

Hannah has been in school for a month now and still loves every minute of it. Her favorite part every day is recess, but she also enjoys her teachers and is making new friends. So she has settled in nicely.

Me, on the other hand, I'm still getting used to things. As a friend pointed out the other day, kindergarten is really about training the parents. We're the ones who have to set the morning routines, get out the door on time, check the backpack for important papers, sign the papers, pack the lunches, write the checks for the fundraisers, etc. Every week I feel like I am just keeping my head above water trying to keep track of the homework assignments and any special activities for the week. And I am still trying to figure out what to do with the small mountain of papers that is accumulating on my kitchen table. For a person who likes to be organized, this is a constant frustration.

Here's the current pile, you can't really tell how deep it is, just deeper than I know what to do with

So while Hannah is at school I am spending a lot of time with this guy:

Caleb has turned into quite the climber. Not only can he climb on the couch, but he can also get to the table next to the couch, on Hannah's little table, and then tries to climb on the buffet from the tabletop. Oh, he can also get on our bed by climbing on the ottoman at the foot of the bed. Nothing is safe, people. 

After cutting four teeth at once, he is now a happier child and much more fun to be around then at the end of August. Let's just say I'm happy that I'm not being yelled at everyday by a toddler anymore. 

Still, some days are hard (as any mom knows), some are better than others. But I've been reminded a lot lately, both through a book I just read and through scripture, to be thankful in all things. So I am trying to remember that; that in spite of all the challenges throughout a day or a week, there is still so much more to be thankful for if I can just take a minute to recognize those things. Something as simple as a sky looking like this out my kitchen window:

We enter the presence of God when we are thankful. Psalm 16:11 says, "You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

And how do we enter God's presence? Psalm 100:4 tells us, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name."

So there it is my friends, and this is what I'm trying to do, especially in this season we are entering. Let's come to God with thankful hearts in the midst of the busyness of everyday life (school lunches and all).

A New Chapter

A week ago today Hannah began the new adventure of Kindergarten. She was so very excited and has loved every day of school so far. 

After her first day, when we got home, she said to me, "Mom, I had so much fun I didn't think about you." 

Well my goodness child, I thought about you all day and even got a little teary, wondering what you were doing and how you were getting along. 

 I know it's a good thing she loves school so much, and I'm so thankful for her preschool that prepared her so well. This mama's heart is just not ready to see her grow up. I know each phase of watching your kids grow up is fun and exciting in its own way, but part of me still wants to keep her little and hang on to her innocence for as long as possible. 

This passage out of One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp captures my thoughts exactly:

"Stay, Little One, stay. Love's a deep wound and what is a mother without a child and why can't I hold on to now forever and her here and me here and why does time snatch away a heart I don't think mine can beat without?"

Our prayer for Hannah as she enters school is that she will not allow others to influence her and change who she is out of a desire to be liked by her peers, but rather to continue to be who God has made her to be, and have confidence in who she is. 

One last Hurrah

We had a one week window to fit in a family vacation before Hannah started kindergarten this week, so we zipped up the coast to Cayucos. It was such a fun week of no-agenda family time and some much needed rest. The kids even slept great, which can be the biggest challenge when away from home. 

We got to explore tidepools at Moonstone Beach in Cambria, as well as eat lunch there one day, walk around Morro Bay, play at the beach, take naps, drink good coffee, get ice cream at the Candy Counter, go to Farmer's Market in SLO, enjoy a one day visit from Nona and Gigi, and have breakfast at the Sea Shanty. I miss it already.

Of course we had to visit the Avila Valley Barn on the way up, one of our favorite Central Coast stops

Hannah always enjoys feeding the animals at the barn

We spent a lot of time in our pj's

Drying swimsuits after at the beach, where Caleb's favorite activity was eating sand

One evening we drove up to the top of Hwy 46 and watched the sun set over the hills and fog, it was gorgeous

Me and my crazy boy taking in the sunset

Climber girl

God makes beautiful sunsets

The boys playing at the beach, Caleb especially loves the slide and giggles every time down

An extra blessing was reconnecting with a long time friend, a wonderful woman who discipled me part of the time I lived in SLO. While we only got to connect by phone on this trip, I look forward to seeing her in person next time we're there. Good friendships make my heart full.

So now our summer break is officially over as Hannah started kindergarten yesterday. More to come on that soon.

Summer Fly-By

So after our month of illness in June we have jumped in to summer, just in time for me to realize that it is almost over. Hannah begins kindergarten on August 20 which I think is way too soon. What happened to starting school after Labor Day? Sheesh.

4th of July in Cayucos with the cousins

  So now I am panicking inside thinking we have not done enough this summer and are we really enjoying it? What else should we do? Am I taking time to enjoy and play with my kids? It seems like I am mostly just chasing Caleb and keeping him out of things and off of things, like the coffee table, the stairs, stepstools, etc. He started walking about two weeks ago and is giving me a run for my money. 

Yep, he made this mess by himself

But we have done some fun things already, like a trip to San Diego at the beginning of the month to visit SeaWorld and the Zoo. And what's better, we got to make the trip with Mimi and Aunt Megan, and stay with Aunt Vicki and Uncle Rich. Needless to say my kids were spoiled.

Caleb and Stella the cat were somewhat interested in each other.

The one thing Hannah really wanted from SeaWorld was a sword

Caleb and Uncle Rich relaxing

 We also got to take a family hike on Monday to Rose Valley, a new place for us. It's a short, kid-friendly hike that ends at a waterfall. Well, in the spring it ends at a waterfall and in July it's a trickle. Which was actually a good thing for us because it meant Hannah got to do a lot of climbing and Caleb got to play with the water too.

And to continue the summer festivities Chris and Hannah are gearing up for VBS next week. And we'll take a trip to the upcoming Ventura County Fair. Maybe we'll make it to the beach this summer, if I can work up the guts to lug two kids plus gear there and back. I don't know if I'm that brave.

And now that I look at all these pictures in one post, I think we are enjoying summer, more than I realized