Holiday

We are having such a great time on our "holiday" (the way the British say it. I have decided from now on it is not vacation it is... holiday). So on our holiday, we have been to the CA Academy of Sciences in San Francisco with the Wonderlicks, FairyTale Town with the Celestin's, and we took Izzy and the Rees to the newly updated Crocker Art Museum. Personally, we think it is a little bit pricey, but it is definitely a larger, more worldly collection speaking. Even Izzy will tell you, and I am not fibbing one bit, there are, "Sculptures, paintings, statues, vases, stools, a Christmas tree, and a robe". When you prompt her about the robe she will even tell you about how it is a death robe. So we have gone into long discussions about Japan and were they are located in relationship to us. She is also using this art museum experience to relate it to her new V-Tech Reader game about how the worm goes to the museum and sees AMAZING paintings (yes, VanGoghs, etc.). I love technology that teaches. She is actually experiencing these paintings in her learning. She will tell you how to behave in a museum. The girls and I have one more week of holiday. So stay tuned to our next adventures. (The pictures from the top are of Ikea. She for some reason wanted to take pictures in the lighting area. Funny girl).

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve today. We were able to spend some time this morning with Auntie Steph, Uncle Colin, and Jude before Auntie Steph had to go to work. Then we all went to Fairy Tale Town, which was free today. It was fun to have Jude with us. Izzy and Jude just love each other so much. After we said our good-byes, Paul and I took Izzy to lunch, and then to pick up a battery charger for my camera. Who-knows where my charger is and my poor camera is blinking that the battery is dead and I surely cannot go to Christmas without a camera. Then we Skyped with MiMa, Grandpa, Grandma Pat, and Grandpa John. They were able to see Izzy open up some gifts they had sent. Then Paul made a lasagna. We rushed the girls into the bath and then headed into the car with hot chocolate to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood. Poor, Izzy didn't last . She even missed the very best houses. We got home, put the girls to bed, finished up wrapping their "Santa" gifts, Paul is watching a movie, and I will be off to bed soon. I had to write Izzy's letter to Santa and put out his treats. Maybe next year, she will be able to stay awake long enough to check out Santa online or watch one last Christmas movie. This year, too tired. In bed at 715pm.

Christmas

Okay, I know, it is New Year's Day, but I am finally getting time to get Christmas up. We had a great Christmas. Christmas Eve we stated a new tradition of taking the girls out to go see lights in their pj's. We also learned it is a great way to get them very sleepy and they went right back to when we took them in, which gave Paul and I time to be "Santa's Helper". The bad part was, was that I had to write Izzy's letter to Santa and put out cookies, soy milk, and carrots.



Izzy woke up Christmas morning and had no clue it was Christmas, so we got out of our bed and watched her in pure delight, see her new scooter and some presents Santa had left. She also had no idea that there would actually be presents in her stocking. So we had a great morning of opening presents and a big breakfast and then headed over to the Claussen's for dinner. We had a good time with the family eating yummy food, watching movies, and opening presents.




We look forward to next year when Izzy will almost be 5 years old and Reesie will be walking!