Decorating the Tree

We decorated the tree last week, and even let Claire help! Aren't we nice? We had a fun evening together and the kids were so awestruck and excited by the whole thing. Holidays with kids are so great.

I'm surprised Claire didn't tumble headfirst into this bin for the amount of time she spent like this...

Without thinking, I crawled under the tree to tie the tree skirt. I then immediately had three little copycats crawling under the tree with me. Sigh. Oh well, at least they're cute.

Of course that night, like every night, deteriorated into this....

And then finally James put the star on top of the tree. And of course, because Daddy was stepping on a stool reaching up to the tree, his little follower had to do the same....

Snow Day!

After Thanksgiving we had another fun day out in the snow. This time Claire really got into it and was actually walking around out in the snow first (although I had to stomp out a path for her since the snow was almost up to her waist). Again, the kids had a great time sledding in the backyard and throwing snowballs!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had an extra-awesome Thanksgiving over here due to getting TWO unexpected snow days that week! Oddly enough, we hardly had any snow, which was kind of the problem - it would rain all day, but due to the old snow it couldn't drain off the streets, so every night it would freeze into ice on the roads. So even though it was not cold and not snowy, we got two extra days off from school that week, which was awesome. So in sharp contrast to every other year we've had, where James would not get ANY days off the week of Thanksgiving, and had to work from open to close on Thanksgiving itself, we had six awesome days just to hang out together as a family.

On Thanksgiving itself, the weather "got better," the roads cleared off, and it started snowing again, making it possible to drive again. We had dinner with the Kenley clan and dessert with the Cartwright clan. It was a really relaxing day, and nice to only have to drive a few minutes home afterwards.

Claire got fussy after dessert but finally settled down with my grandma and stayed snuggled like that for like 45 minutes. Not fair! We can't get her to snuggle for 45 seconds!

Fun with my cousin Kelsey.

The kids outside after their snowball fight with my Uncle Gary.

After being completely clear of snow from our melt-down earlier in the week, it snowed like 10 inches on Thanksgiving Day. Here's a shot the next day of the stack-up on our balcony.

Miscellaneous Claire cuteness

Let us never be accused of taking fewer pictures of our third baby than the others. For some reason I just CANNOT stop taking pictures of Claire. She is such a cutie! Sorry she's looking so old - I don't know how that keeps happening!

Some Winter Gorgeousness

Okay, I'm not really a fan of winter or anything, but we had this amazing day where every inch of every tree was covered with frost. It was breathtaking.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Well, there goes Fall. It was nice while it lasted.

Time to get used to a whole new lifestyle, wardrobe, and vocabulary. I have to wear big old boots to work and then change my shoes when I get there. So weird! I'm learning all about scraping my car, driving in the snow, and buying/wearing socks. Interesting.

Of course when you're a kid there's nothing not to love about the snow. The kids have been just giddy over it, and very devastated when a day goes by that they don't get to go out and play. The concept that it'll be here for the next six months at least just cannot compute in their California-born brains. Of course, they have a mother who doesn't understand the concept of socks, so I guess I can't be surprised.

Saturday we finally had the manpower to get all six kids dressed in snow gear and outside to play. Other than Claire, the kids had a great time! The backyard we share with my aunt's family has this great hill that is just perfect for sledding, and the kids entertained themselves all afternoon while we watched from inside the house. Now that's a win-win.

Getting the kids all ready to go out in the snow. Not an easy task, x6.

^^^ That's a picture of poor Claire crying her eyes out after she toppled over and faceplanted into the snow. It was awesome. Sadly, Marci took pity on her and brushed the snow from her face before I could take a picture. But at least I got the aftermath. :)

Since these pictures were taken we have gotten a TON more snow. Winter, here we come!

Halloween

So growing up my mom always liked to entertain us by telling us about Halloween in Alaska, and how it was always snowy and you had to wear all your winter clothes over your costume, so trick-or-treating was miserable and you couldn't tell what anyone was supposed to be. She loves to describe her amazement when we moved to San Diego and she realized that people actually spent time, money, and care on Halloween costumes.

So this year was our first year with a cold Halloween, and my what a difference. Not as bad as my mom described (this year), but COLD!!! Funny to go from worrying that your kid will be too hot Trick-or-Treating in the 80 degree heat, to worrying about their limbs actually freezing off.

First, a few of the kids in their costumes. Amazingly, we got decent individual ones this year. A picture of all of them together was a joke, like always. Take a good look at the costumes here, because the winter gear's comin' on soon!

On Saturday we went to Trick or Treat Street downtown, where the kids could go from store to store collecting candy. Fun, other than the fact that I think it was less than 30 degrees out. But look - no snow!

Halloween Fun

Despite the lack of a pumpkin patch (yes, I must mention that in every post) and the possibility of snow by Halloween, we still managed to get in some festive fall activities.

Marci and I had a Wicked party where the girls dressed up like witches and we listened to the Wicked soundtrack and made delicious caramel apples.

Kenley and a new little friend

The cutest little naughty witch there ever was

Taking great care with the apple decorating

Marci and I racing to decorate the "gourmet" caramel apples. One had toffee bits and milk chocolate and one had Oreos and white chocolate - YUM!

We also had to carve pumpkins, of course! I was looking forward to getting to carve the pumpkins more than a day in advance here. In California you always had to wait until almost Halloween or they would get all moldy. But sadly, we did wait until almost Halloween just because we are slackers, and then we kept the pumpkin inside afterwards so it still molded. Oh well. I've heard that if you leave the jack-o-lanterns outside then the moose eat them, so maybe here, it just never ends well. :)

 This is Parker's sketch of what he wanted for his pumpkin.