Everyone talks about how "weird" everyone is out in California, but look at this nice Highway Patrol officer. I mean where else are these guys giving out hugs to little kids....

Sarah and Joshua always love to see Uncle Wayne and to climb into his police car.

Sarah's snowmen

This was one of our craft projects this Christmas. Sarah helped me paint them and then she did the faces on all of them (well, I did one face for an example). She made one for each grandma, one for us to keep and one for a special friend.

Sarah modeling my new hat and scarf that cousin Keilana made for me.

Joshua's bed with all of his animals!

Sarah came home from church on Sunday with a card for Joshua. It said "Dear Joshua, I will make your bed every day for a week. Love Sarah". I'm guessing the lesson was about giving a gift of your time or something like that. Well, Sarah takes all things seriously (I wonder who she gets that from?). So Monday morning, she made Joshua's bed. She lay out his quilt, then placed every stuffed animal he owns on top. You couldn't even see the quilt. Same thing yesterday. Then today, I got in the shower before making my bed, and when I came out, Sarah said she had a surprise for me. She made my bed! How sweet is that. A king size bed is a big project for a 5 year old! I have the sweetest kids, what a great Christmas gift I have!

Something very exciting is happening at our house this year. Someone, and really I have no idea who, is playing secret Santa to us! About a week ago, an empty stable showed up on our doorstep with this poem "This is the stable, shelter so bare, Cattle and oxen first welcomed him there. This is the manger, sweet hay for a bed, waiting for Jesus to cradle his head." Then it says "Each day we will deliver a piece of that special night. May it help your family to prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ."

So each night, the doorbell rings, and then there is no one there. There is just a little present wrapped in white tissue paper and tied with a red ribbon. So far we have a pig, rooster, sheep, cow and tonight we got a shepherd! The kids, are so excited. Really I am too. How thoughtful is this person?

We have been reading the "Stories of Jesus" from the Friend magazine. Each night we read a different story about Jesus. The kids are learning so much, I an truly impressed. I feel like these two special nightly rituals are truly making this Christmas feel special!

Kid's Christmas Party
Donald's work had a kid's Christmas party. They decorated cookies, then Santa came! He had a gift for each kid in his big red sack. This is the first time both kids have sat on Santa's lap. I thought Joshua would be scared, but his name was called before Sarah's and he just went running right up there. He couldn't believe that Santa knew just what he wanted (two Lightening McQueen cars, both that he didn't have, if you can believe that!). Sarah got miniature My Little Ponies, which she is thrilled with as well. After Santa gave Sarah her gift, she leaned in and whispered in his ear what she wants him to bring her for Christmas (roller skates). Afterward, she was very concerned that she forgot to specify the color (purple). Then, they asked if anyone else wanted to talk to Santa. Sarah went running back up and whispered that she would really like the skates to be purple. It was very sweet. Christmas has never been more fun!

Making Ginger Bread Men! (and women!)

Keilana came over today to help the kids make gingerbread men. We all had a lot of fun. We had the dough all made up and Keilana and the kids rolled it out and cut out the shapes. Then we baked and decorated them. Joshua was all about the frosting and sprinkles, and at one point, he was "drinking" the sprinkles out of the container! Sarah and Keilana were really into making the cookies into art. Sarah made sure her gingerbread woman had a bow in her hair! Keilana mixed red and blue to get purple. The kids were really impressed by this and had to try it on their own. There are still cookies to be decorated, but we needed a break! Can you see Joshua's blue mouth? Look how happy Sarah is!

Painting the Polar Bear House!

When my parents brought up the piano, they stayed for a few days. My dad was happy that he had a chance to undercoat the polar bear house with Sarah helping. She had a blast! Now it is ready for Sarah to paint it her way. That is going to be something to see!

Our new piano! Donald's mom gave us her old piano and my parents were kind enough to drive up to Chico to deliver it to us. The kids are thrilled, and so am I! If you are one of our many friends with a piano, then you know how much Joshua loves to "play"!

Our Christmas Tree 2008

It was such fun decorating this year. As we took out each ornament, I told the kids where we got each ornament or who made it and when. One of the reasons why we have a live tree is because of a tradition we started the first year we were married. Each year, Donald cuts a slice off the bottom of the tree and then I paint something on it that represents a big thing from that year. Some years are really easy and some years it is really hard to decide what to paint. The kids loved seeing each one, especially the ones form the year they were born. Now we are starting to have a collection of ornaments that they made, and those are so precious to me. Joshua loves the star at the top because I explained to him that we put it there because the wise men followed the star to find Jesus. He keeps saying "our tree is so beautiful and the star reminds us of Jesus". Both kids are super excited and I feel like Christmas is in the air every day. We have been so busy, we haven't even done any baking or any of our crafts!

The tree was bigger than we thought and touched the top of the ceiling!

It was getting cold, so Donald go the tree loaded and tied on while the three of us waited in the van!

Donald cutting the tree.

Our tree in the forest.

We had to go up a little hill to be able to get to the tree. Both kids have walking sticks in their hands, but it is hard to see them.

Saturday we got our Christmas tree! Donald asked around about cutting your own tree and someone at work told him how you can get a permit and go into the mountains and cut your own tree. We were really excited about this since we always get a live tree. We had to drive around a lot to find places to pull over and look around. We had a nice little hike at this area and the kids both found walking sticks which they loved. Our next stop after this we found a perfect tree! It was so beautiful up in the mountains. I feel like we created some really special memories, plus the tree is beautiful and all for the price of the permit of $10.00.

THE POLAR BEAR HOUSE!

It still hasn't been painted, or the carpet added, but here is the polar bear house that Grandpa Bob worked so hard on. Uncle Wayne was a big helper too.

Today, December 2nd, is the first day that it feels like winter! After all, it is overcast, drizzly and generally dreary. Oh, and about 51 degrees! So, now that winter seems to have begun, I wanted to be sure to post a few pictures from our beautiful fall! These are from trees right here on our street. We walked everywhere we could this fall and just took walks to be outside. We collected and pressed dozens of leaves and really just enjoyed the season. This was really important to me as the one season I was afraid of missing from Michigan was fall. I feel like just seeing the color on our street, from our really small trees, made me feel like I was getting fall! We went to Bidwell park a few times where the trees are beautiful too! Even though we enjoyed the weather in Simi Valley, I did notice that the trees weren't as pretty there. I makes me feel like Chico is just the right compromise for us! So, I sent Sarah off to school this morning, all bundled up and feeling glad that I don't have to take snow boots and mittens, just a nice warm jacket!

Sarah lost her first tooth!
November 30, 2008

The tooth was really just dangling when Donald pulled it out last night! She was thrilled, and didn't even get upset that it was bleeding a little! I have to admit, I've been ready for all of the other milestones, but this one, wow, it has just blown me away. She is growing up so fast...

Another fun afternoon was going to the park with Grandma Peaches! The weather was so beautiful the whole time we were there, I was just loving it! They are playing with the water shooter and the rainbow Sarah is hanging from shoots water too. The water was turned off for the winter, but that didn't stop them from having a really good time!