Merry Little Christmas

On Christmas Eve we go to my parents' home to open presents after a dinner of goulash. It has been this way for as long as I can remember. I don't know where it started, but for some reason trains seem to go along with the holiday decorations. My mom's train is a Lego train. Does anyone else remember these?

Last year Santa accidentally left his hat on our fireplace screen. The girls thought that was so funny and we mailed it back to him at the North Pole. This year he left a little note:

Dear Mollie and Allison,

Thank you very much for the delicious cookies and milk. They were a wonderful treat.

I’m so glad you were both such good girls this year. I know there were times when it was difficult for you to get along, but there were also many times when you played well together and treated each other with love and kindness. Those times make your parents and I very happy.

I hope you enjoy the gifts I left for you both.

Be good girls next year, too. I do enjoy visiting your home.

With love and cheer,

Santa Claus

P.S. Thank you very much for returning my hat. My head was very cold and I had to wear Mrs. Claus’ bonnet for a few days. How embarrassing.

Unfortunately he dropped his hat again! I think we'll hang onto it a little longer this time so Santa will learn to be more careful next year.

Dance Class

Before taking a break for Christmas parents got to observe the dance class. And of course I took a bunch of pictures!

After stretching the teacher has the girls line up and practice going across the room with different steps.

Allie spent most of the time watching the class. Towards the end she found a way to entertain herself.

O (Little) Christmas Tree

Girls enjoying the little tree set up on the front lawn. We enjoy taking a little time during Christmas to drive along the Willow Glen streets to admire the lights.

Santa Lucia

The church I grew up at has a Swedish background and one thing my church would do is a Santa Lucia celebration. This year Santa Lucia Day came on a Saturday (Dec. 13) so I thought it would be fun to do a little breakfast at home. Tradition is for the oldest girl to dress in a white dress with a red sash and a crown with seven candles. She wakes early in the dark morning and serves a breakfast with buns, coffee and ginger cookies. Mollie dressed up and she served the breakfast to us and her grandparents.Allie wanted to get dressed up and into the act too. How could we say "no" to such excitement? Some of you might recognize the crown. The closest thing we had to what I was reading about was the crown Mollie made at her fairy birthday. I found some small candles and used twisty ties. I wouldn't light them - not at all traditional, but that was as close as I dared with her hair!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Preparations

During the Thanksgiving weekend my sister and her husband were in town visiting. Here is Kathy getting back in touch with her inner child.

My parents have a little tree they set up in the play house in the back yard for the girls to decorate.

Well, they can't all be smiling pictures. I'm showing you this one because my dad mentioned to me a difference between the girls is that Mollie likes to serve food through the windows and Allie likes to climb through them.

Cheesing it up after a job well done.

Thanksgiving in Coarsegold

Where is Coarsegold you may ask? Why, in gold country, of course! Our sister-in-law's dad invited us to his home to celebrate Thanksgiving - mountain style. Such beautiful country to spend a special holiday in. The girls got to explore the outdoors in a way we don't at home. We spent a lot of good family time together. Thank you so much, Dieter, for everything; including a warm and comfortable place to stay.

Dave took us around the area. Some of the ground was a bit uneven so he helped Allie along at some points. We found deer tracks, animal holes, and rocks with flecks of gold.

Dinner table setting. Each of us took a turn with the Native American Talking Stick sharing one thing we are thankful for.

Mollie helped me make the Pilgrim hat cookies.

Mollie and Allie really had a good time spending so much time with family. It is such a blessing that everyone in the family gets along well and actually looks forward to spending time together. Grandpa, Eddi and Mollie had some game going on the couch where it was "Men vs. Ladies." Lots of laughter and good memories.

Over the mountains and through the woods

to Yosemite we go!

Scott and I decided it would be fun to drive through Yosemite on the way to Thanksgiving this year. The weather was cold and wet and the clouds were low. Still pretty.

Walked up to Bridalveil Fall.

Date Night

Our good friends, Chad and Kendal, recently visited CA for a month. Just before they left to return to Papua New Guinea, a few of us got together for an evening of bocce ball. As our time ended on the court we took this action shot using the timer on the camera. The game lacked any real competition, which is why I don't feel bad about the cheating I did. That's right, I cheated! As we walked past the score board I added a point or two, several times. So for those of you who played and are reading this, the game wasn't really as close as it ended.

Before leaving we asked someone to take our picture with our camera. And I learned something. If you set the timer, turning off the camera until the next use doesn't clear the timer! We all had a good laugh as we waited for the camera to finally click.

Thankful Tree

Lately I've been coming up with new family activities; testing ideas to see what will stick as a tradition for us. During November we had a tree painted in our dining room. Every night at dinner each of us would write on a leaf something we were thankful for. Thanks for the idea, Suzanne!

Ho Ho Ho

Outdoor Art

Scott is an artist at heart. Creativity comes easily to him. I think that's why he likes to figure out how to fix and build things around home. He made our shelves and computer desk in the family room. Most recently he built me a few planter boxes. We're trying (again) to grow some herbs.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

We will be back soon with new pictures to share.

Too nice to stay home

Those of you readers not in CA should be warned that the following pictures contain sunshine. So much sunshine and warm weather here this week that we headed for the beach. I figured that the beach would be cooler so we wore jeans and brought sweatshirts. I should have packed shorts and swimsuits!

Our first stop was to see the monarch butterflies; they are migrating to Natural Bridges from Mexico right now. The girls brought telescopes to see better.
After a nice visit with the butterflies we enjoyed a picnic under a huge eucalyptus tree. Scott introduced the girls to tree climbing.
Then the sand! The beach had a huge puddle (for lack of a better word - maybe pond?) that a bunch of little kids were playing in. Much easier for the girls to enjoy the water this way. The bottom was clear, the water was moving, and it looked like the ocean would meet up with it with the tide. We built castles and the girls waded and we just had fun! Great way to spend a warm Saturday in November!!
Should I end this sunny story with the Marini ice creams Scott treated the girls to on the wharf? Maybe not; I think you snowy readers have had enough sun for one day.

On Parade

The kindergarten classes at school held a parade between showers for all to admire the costumes. Mollie looked so cool with her pink streaked hair!
Allie enjoyed the playground during the parade. The jacket she's wearing was given to me when I was little. My grandparents went to Hong Kong and brought that back for me. Pretty rock n roll, huh? Allie and I also sported pink hair. I dressed a bit punk, but no one caught it on film.

Carving Night

Last week Mollie's school had their fall festival. So much fun and so well done! Girls dressed in their rock star costumes. Don't you love the guitars Scott designed and made for the girls?

We cut into our pumpkins this week with the girls. Mollie was rather disgusted by the slime.

Allie loved the cool wet squishy feel of the pumpkin pulp. So typical.

Scott and I were left to do the final cleaning out when the girls had their fill.
Scott worked on picking out the pumpkin seeds while the girls...watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" with warm cookies from the oven.

Uesugi Farm

A fun trip to Uesugi Farm's Pumpkin Patch included a hay ride through some of the crops.

The marigold area was amazing!

Path through a corn field.

1... 2... 3...

Picking Pumpkins

We recently visited our favorite little pumpkin patch. Found a few for our porch to carve this week.

Grandpa Phil showing Mollie the finer points of racing tractors.
Still a farm boy at heart.

We found straw all over in clothing the rest of the day.

what a mess

I don't ever think I will be caught up in chores; and they say that admitting it is the first step. We do pick up the toy room, but it seems to come undone quite quickly. I'm thankful my kids have a room they can play happily in and there is a door to hide it all when needed.

One of the stranger things I've done in the kitchen

I got this in an email today from Scott who got it from his boss, Nan. Thank you Nan!! Tonight we made this little tasty dessert as basic and simple as can be. It's pretty good; perfect for a last minute dessert when you get in the mood for hot chocolate cake late at night. We made it without chips, and think it's missing something. Try it, experiment with additions and share what you come up with!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE


4 tablespoons Flour (plain flour, not self-raising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Hershey's baking cocoa

Dash of vanilla
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil


3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

1 large microwave safe coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well.
Add the vanilla, egg, milk and oil to mug and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using)
Mix well.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3
minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake will rise above the top of the mug,
but don't be alarmed, it will not run down sides of mug,
But will drop back down when Microwave stops.

Allow to cool a couple of minutes and tip out onto a plate if desired.
Let cool, Serve with cool-whip or drizzle a spoonful of can frosting
over
top.

Super Easy!!
ENJOY!!!

Words I will miss hearing Allie say

Handaburger - hamburger

Skingky - stinky

(and my personal favorite...)

Strawbaberry - strawberry

Vocabulary lesson needed

This morning Mollie was looking at a Fisher Price catalog that showed up in the mail a few days ago and came across the holiday section. And I quote, "Hey, Mom! Here's the Jesus farm you got me!"

Old Cars Old Homes

Yesterday was the annual car show at the San Jose History Park. I loved seeing all the antique cars in a small town of perfect old homes. There wasn't really anything for kids to do, but that was easily remedied with a stop to the old candy store of sweets and ice cream.

I can't even imagine what riding this would be like!

Some people were in period dress. My mom was able to catch these ladies in front of my parents' car. Beautiful details in the dresses.

Stopping to smell the roses.

Sweet treats