Taking a break from painting to visit the ZOO!

I had an appointment at Stanford today so Clark decided to take a break from painting and take the kids to the zoo. This morning Uncle Ryan sent me a text saying he and Camryn were also going to the zoo so they were all able to meet up. From what I heard, they all had a great time visiting the animals, riding the rides and snacking on musubis too.

Bummer, I missed out on all the fun!

When we decided to move we told the kids they could choose the color they wanted their new rooms to be painted. Bailey choose purple and

PINK! Love it! So bright and cheery.

Brushing the goats at the petting zoo

Checking out the Christmas decorations

Taking a snack break

Playing flamingo

Ride one,

Ride two,

and ride THREE!

Gregory thought he lost his zoo key, but he found it around his neck! (under his shirt) He found it after getting another key! Good thing we had two free coupons.

Bailey by the lights - She wants to go back when it's dark to see all the decorations again.

What a Week! (MONTH!)

Well, lots has happened in the last month - we sold our house, we rented it back for a couple of weeks, we bought a new house, we moved, we put up our tree and decorated our new home, we celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas! I've been without a computer and access to the internet for almost two weeks now so the slide show will cover a few events.

We are almost settled into our new home. Well, most of our stuff is here. We still have a U-Haul load at Grams house, but we'll deal with that once we get what we have here unpacked. Clark is busy painting away. Most of the house was painted green so he has a lot of work to do. We LOVE our new home. Can't wait for you to all stop over for a visit!

Christmas was quick. We got the keys to our house on Wednesday and Wednesday night we put up our tree and decorated the living room. Gregory wanted to make sure there were enough lights that Santa would know he was here! We just bbq'd some steaks for dinner and opened the gifts we had under the tree. Bailey got the cookies ready for Santa and they both went to bed so Santa would have plenty of time to visit.

Christmas day Santa was able to find us! (Gregory left the fireplace open for him) We hung out here for most of the day and went to Stockton for a delicious prime rib dinner! More gift opening and LOTS of fun time with cousins!

Hope you all had a great Christmas!

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Bailey's Holiday Party

Today was the last day of school for the year and Bailey's class celebrated with a fun party. They exchanged gifts (each child brought 26 gifts to share with the class), played Christmas BINGO, played dreidel and decorated a festive cupcake! All at 10 in the morning!!

Poor Mrs. Van Boening still had to teach for the rest of the day! (Nope, I don't miss teaching) Daddy's office also happened to be closed today, so he joined in the fun too. Now we are all home, just taking it easy wondering what we should do next.

Bailey decorating her cupcake!
(This was the station I had to work in:))

Holiday BINGO

Dreidel

Checking out her goodies

Class taking a silly photo.
(reindeers)

Bailey's Kindergarten SING

Today was Bailey's "Kindergarten Sing"! All the kindergarteners got up on stage in the MPR and sang there little hearts out (for about 30 minutes!) So cute! Wish you could've all been there to see her.

After the show we went to Bailey's classroom for cookies and Mrs. Van Boening was presented with a color printer and a box of chocolates from the class.

Teddy Bear Tea Party

Well, it's the season for Teddy Bear Tea Parties in this area and since they aren't allergy free, we decided to have our own here at home! This morning Gregory and I baked cookies (actually we baked them for Bailey to take to her school party tomorrow) and after we picked Bailey up from school, we made s'mores cocoa and enjoyed them for snack. They both said everything was YUMMY!

S'mores cocoa - rim the cup with crushed graham crackers (dip the cup in nucoa first), add hot cocoa, 2 roasted marshmallows and a drizzle of chocolate syrup!

Lisa's Baby Shower!

My friend from high school and her husband are adopting a little girl from Taiwan and today she had a little baby shower to celebrate! I can't wait to meet Amanda! Maybe in 6 weeks or so!!

Here's Lisa -
Amanda's room will be filled with cows :)

Dino, Lisa, Sherri and me at the end

Holiday Krispie House

Today Gregory and I went to Michaels to pick up some (more) clear ornament balls so we can remake our snowmen, since the ANTS ate our first round, and we came across this little Holiday Village Krispie Treat Kit!

I read the ingredients and found out that the kiddies aren't allergic. So we picked one up and decided to make it this afternoon. We're rolling along and then I opened up the frosting and...it's a powder - not what is described in the directions so we looked the kit up on the internet and found out that they had the wrong instructions in the box. And on the the correct directions, we found out that there is EGG in the frosting! Well, Bailey being the good sport she is says she'll just make hers for Daddy and we move along. We'll make some sugar cookies this weekend that she can enjoy!

Bailey's Thanksgiving Book

Today in Bailey's Friday folder she brought home her Thanksgiving book that she has been busy working on at school. It's so cute, I had to share!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent Thanksgiving in Stockton at Grandpa and Grandma's house. The usual crew was there, we had our Thanksgiving service and a delicious dinner. Our camera battery died pretty early in the day so thanks Aunty Kristin and Uncle Ryan for sharing photos! Enjoy...

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The Turkey Trot!

Thanksgiving morning, Daddy ran a 10K in Stockton called the Turkey Trot. They have them all over the place, but the one in Stockton had a nice course so we all bundled up and headed out very early in the morning to make race time. The race started and ended at the Stockton Ballpark. I think Daddy said he cut 4 minutes off his best time! (This young girl was trying to outrun him, so being the competitive man he is, had to sprint most of the way!)

Once Daddy went to start line,
we never did find him in this crowd

They had taiko drummers at the start and finish of the race

Oh, there's Daddy!

He found us in the stands...

...of the Stockton Ballpark
(pretty nice little park if you've never been)

Ornaments for 2010!

Well, we usually have our house decorated for Christmas by now. But with our house selling and getting prepared to move, we decided to wait to put up our tree. Boohoo...! But that doesn't mean we can't make ornaments! Today we went to Michaels to pick up some ornament goodies and here's what we made!

First get a clear glass ornament

Fill it with marshmallows

Tear a carrot shaped nose

And coal shaped eyes and mouth

Glue it to your ornament

And you have the cutest little snowmen ornaments!

Next take an acrylic ball that opens in half

Choose a few little Christmas trinkets

Fill half with poly pellets
and the other half with trinkets

Close the ball

And now you have your very own homemade "I Spy" ornament! (We also added an "I Spy" tag to let everyone know what they needed to find and a ribbon)