Boxing Day Fun

Stace has the week after Christmas off, and this year we are home for the holidays.

Our friend Jim, working for the same company but another site, also has the week off, and neither of us had our UK family coming into town this year.

We took advantage of this to spend some nice family time together over Boxing Day, driving out to La Verne and spending the night.


We went to a big county park that combines playgrounds with natural areas and a picturesque reservoir - perfect for our age range of children.

Callie and Violet got along so well! It was great seeing them play together.

Recent cold rains had covered the local mountains in snow - it was a stunning view!

After our walk, we had a nice dinner at JT and Jim's house, and then the children went to bed and we grownups watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

On Tuesday, that snow was calling our name. We drove the short half hour to Mt. Baldy, and found a great sledding hill.

The kids had a great time, until they were wet through and cold, naturally. Then, it was a short drive back to La Verne, where we enjoyed another meal together before we headed back to SClarita.

Thank you, JT and Jim, for a great mini-break!

Christmas Festivities

Stace and I had a late night on Christmas Eve, with all the final parental preparations.

We awoke Christmas morning to the excited sounds of girls finding their Christmas stockings and Santa gifts - new Lego sets and Christmas Beanie Boos. "Santa always brings Christmas Beanie Boos," Violet had told me days before.

We celebrated Christmas with our Somerset family via Skype, and Cora opened her "big" gift, a sewing machine. Many of her gifts from Nan and Pop and Dean and Jenny related to her sewing machine.

It was tough to not see them all in person, but we are excited that Nan and Pop will be here in just over a month for a visit.

Later, we had a tasty dinner of roast beef with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Mel and Uncle Nick. Then, it was time for more presents.

Violet's "big" gift was a real American Girl doll, which was on every list she wrote out.

She was duly excited; as a parent, it's such a blessing to see your children so happy.

Cora gave Violet clothes for her new doll, which she named "Joy." And Violet gave Cora a thoughtful gift of a new journal, something Cora had mentioned earlier in the month.

Cora was especially generous this year. She made some gifts - sugar scrubs and ornaments, including this Dodger baseball ornament for Grandpa.

The most humorous gift award had to go to my mom, who gave Stace this hilarious reindeer leg hat (among other presents). I haven't seen Stace laugh that hard in ages.

We also Skyped with Uncle Bill, Aunt Patty and cousin Elizabeth in Washington. The Internet is a wonderful tool for staying connected with those you love!

We all had a beautiful Christmas, and are thankful to be so filled with love and blessings.

Christmas Eve

With our church's explosive growth over the last six years, holding Christmas Eve services only on Christmas Eve doesn't cut it. We start the Christmas service fun several days before the holiday, so there are many opportunities to take it in.

We chose Wednesday night as our time to celebrate Christ's birth with our church family.

No candles, but we did have cell phone lights as we sang Silent Night to close out the service.

On Christmas Eve afternoon, Rigo and Colleen invited us over for lunch. It was great to see them again.

Violet and Cora helped make the chocolate crinkles, the one Christmas cookie I make in honor of my grandma.






















And we finished our Christmas Eve by attending another church with Melanie and Nick.

Our friend Christine is the choir/orchestra director here, and the music was gorgeous. This time, we did have candle light for Silent Night.

 When we got home, it was time to prepare for Santa's visit. Violet put the special magic key on the door, and the girls put out reindeer food...

...and milk and cookies.
Christmas is here!

Sleepover

Melanie has been asking us to come over for weeks, so she could bribe Stace with dinner to build a cat tree for Gibby. Our opportunity came Thursday night, when we dropped Cora and Violet off at Maya and Natalia's house for a sleepover. They only live about 10 minutes apart from each other.

Stace had trouble working...

But he persevered and eventually built the tall cat tree and installed two other shelves.

Juliana and Daryl sent me these sweet photos of our girls having a grand time. This was their first time having a sleepover, and they had been very excited about it for weeks. It's so beautiful to see the friendship between these two flourish as they get older - they met as toddlers!

Violet missed Mummy a bit, but she did OK and had a good time, too.

Many thanks to Juliana and Daryl for showing our girls such a good time, and feeding them so well!

Christmas Break Fun

Grandma has been working as Mrs. Claus every day that she's not at her school job, so she has been very busy. But she had Tuesday off, so we took the opportunity to walk the Wakefield Court Christmas extravaganza together in the evening.

And look what we found! The Disneyland sign Stace made for Melanie's bridal shower, on display at a home with a lot of Disney Christmas decor. My parents had given it to a nearby resident.

Violet had a vision checkup on Wednesday. After a very thorough exam, the doctor said she doesn't need glasses. This was a bit disappointing to Violet, funny enough.

Cora has been on a cookie-baking kick lately. She really wants to make proper gingerbread cookies to decorate, but we've had trouble getting them to turn out right.

They've been yummy, but aren't staying in shape as they bake. (These ones were a shortbread recipe.)

We had Sophia over to play Thursday morning, and the girls worked on one of the cookie recipes. They had a lot of fun (and made a lot of mess).

Another batch of spread-thin cookies! Sigh. At least they were still tasty.

Besides cookies and tablet games, the girls played Top Trumps and played outside.

See Violet? They also took turns hanging out inside the cat tunnel.

A New Look

Monday was the day we'd been waiting for, for more than 18 months. After waiting for certain teeth to fall out, and her expander to make more room on top, Cora had her braces put on Monday morning.

Here is her before smile...

















Next is halfway through the process, with the brackets glued on...

And, all done! (At Cora's request, I'm not posting the closeup of her braces.)
We are so pleased with her orthodontist's office. Great service so far!

The best cure for a sore mouth (next to Advil)? Lots of new books to read! We checked out an armful at the library after her appointment. She was such a trooper! No complaints, even though we all know she would have had some discomfort.

Even more helpful was a bit of frozen yogurt. Cora chose red and green bands for her braces, naturally.

We think she looks pretty darn cute with them on, even if they do help her look more grownup.

Weekend Fun

On Saturday, we went to a Christmas party at our friend Luis and Audra's house. Stace and I had a lot of fun with Colleen and Rigo, Angelica, and of course Luis and Audra.

With Grandpa available to watch the girls for the evening, we extended our date with an afternoon movie. We enjoyed Dr. Strange, the Marvel Comics film with Benedict Cumberbatch as the lead. He's a favorite of ours.

On Sunday night, we met up with some Mom2Mom friends to look at Christmas lights together. A friend who lives on one of the amazing streets hosted us, with cookies and a hot chocolate bar. It was a great evening.

Also Sunday, Melanie came over with Gibby, the new kitten she and Nick picked up this past week.

He's an adorable blue-eyed Siberian, a breed that doesn't trigger allergic reactions. Nick is very allergic to cats and dogs, and Gibby is his first furry friend.

The girls loved playing with him, and our cats tolerated him, with only some minor hissing.

Speaking of cats...
Cora and Violet made and taped up some cute icicle and snowflake decorations. Spencer did not approve.

Class Christmas Parties

Friday, the last day of school before the three-week break, was a fun day of parties for both my girls.

Mrs. Shafarman's holiday party was a lot of fun, and included the dreidel game for the fourth- and fifth-graders. Here, Cora shows the dreidel to her partner, as the students win or lose stacks for pretzels.






I feel so privileged to be able to help out in class for these special occasions.

 The snowmen craft came out so cute! Here are Sophia, Gianna and Cora with their snowpeople.
Unfortunately, the craft involved one of Sebastian's favorite toys - the puffy balls used for earmuffs. He quickly removed one once it was on display at home.

Cora is a lucky girl to be in Mrs. Shafarman's class. She is a brilliant teacher who pushes her students to become better.

After Cora's party, I went across the building to help Violet build her gingerbread house. A bonus from being in a K-1 split class is getting to do the project again!

As a big first-grader, Violet needed no help at all, but of course I love being a part of it all. She did a great job.

Violet loves her teacher, too, and it's great to have the familiarity. Behind her is the gift card tree the class put together as a Christmas gift.

And then, after our fun day of partying, we were off on our three-week Christmas break!