Advent

 All things fun leading up to Christmas Day:

 The Tree

 (The best, though, was getting box seats to the tree lighting.) 

 A Pioneer Christmas at Bale Grist Mill, St. Helena

 Isabella got to make a rope,

 an air freshener--by sticking cloves in a lemon, 

and decorate a gingerbread cookie.

 I attempted to make a wreath. 

Ward Christmas Party: This year the scene was Bethlehem; we could wear biblical inspired costumes (see Ally, not Isabella); and we ate our dinner on blankets on the floor, instead of  tables.

 Mark put in many hours helping with the scenery. It all turned out quite lovely.

The gifts: Mark then graced his co-workers with some ugly Christmas sweater cookies. We tried our best to make them as ugly as possible.

 Isabella made a gingerbread house in her class. 

There was a  trip to the Oakland Temple to see the lights. 

And, finally, year 2 of the Polar Express. Bathrobe-check. Ticket-check. New slippers-check. She came running out of her room, after Mark read her the book, with her ticket in hand and asked me if I'd made the popcorn and hot chocolate-check and check.

 Off to see the lights around town. We then went home to open the First! Gift! of! Christmas! (aka brother-sister gifts).

Christmas Eve 2013

The Two-Leaf Thanksgiving Table

Happiness is having to put an extra leaf in Mom's table to accommodate the many people coming for Thanksgiving. Double happiness is having to put in two leaves in Mom's table to accommodate even more people the day after Thanksgiving, for Thanksgiving #2. (I'm sure the Pilgrims and Wampanoag  felt the same way on Day 2 of their 3-day feast).

 Happiness is also gathering under the two-leaf table where all the little people dwell.

 Matthew and Baby James getting to know one another.

Matthew tackles Isabella

 Christa, Buddy, Baby James and Jack 

The many faces of Dave: Dave and Jack

Uncle Dave and Isabella

Dave and Janett (Clearly, he is the most popular in the family).

Mom and Dad

The Holstens

The Potatoheads and Isabella.

Happiness is having all of these people together in one place. 

Beauty School Dropout

Boy with a haircut

I can't believe I almost forgot to publish this story... To really enjoy this post (for those of you reading this from your email) click on the blue title link to take you to the actual blog. :)

So Matthew needed a haircut. But we learned long ago that Matthew does not like to have his hair combed or washed or cut, for that matter. When he was a little younger and more easily distracted in the bathtub, I could manage to get in a semi-decent trim while he was playing during his bath--but then he caught on to my sneaky ways. We decided then to begin cutting his hair once he fell asleep. Mark would hold him and I would trim a little here and little there, having no idea what I was doing, but miraculously it always seemed to turn out ok. That is, until a few weeks ago.

One night after Matthew fell asleep, I passed him off to Mark and got ready with my scissors. Unfortunately (for Matthew) I was in a particularly sleep-deprived state, and made the first cut, a straight cut, right over his left ear. Mark looked at me in horror and I looked at Matthew in horror (no I did not cut his ear!) as I realized, that with one single cut of the scissors, I was staring at the makings of a mullet.

"What did you dooooo?" whispered Mark, completely exasperated with my sudden failure as the family beautician.

"I don't know what I did! What do I do now?" I whispered back, the shock subsiding, the awful well of giggles starting to bubble up, as they often do when I haven't slept enough.

"Here, you take him and let me take over, " Mark said.

"No, no!" I protested (still in a whisper). "Give me a second to figure out how to cut it."

"Just give him to me, " Mark said, and then added. "I went to cosmetology school."

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???

So I've been married to this man for 8 years and did not know this little factoid about him. I mean, I knew he used to color his mother's hair in her later years in life when she wasn't able to do it herself anymore, but I thought he was just being a good son...

I. Had. No. Idea.

Of course the questions (and body-shaking giggles while holding Matthew and trying to keep him asleep) followed.  When? For how long? What did you learn to do? What interested you in beauty school? Why did you stop? And most importantly--why don't you do my hair?!

Mostly his answers were unimpressive: in his 20's, a good way to make money, lost interest...
 I realized I wasn't missing out on much when he then held up his hand and made a twisting motion and (Mark's words) said, "you know, I learned how to make 'curls' in women's hair."

"You mean a 'perm'?!"

I tried to keep it together, I really did. I only woke Matthew up once. He took one look at his sleep-deprived, giggling mother and closed his eyes again immediately. (Clearly not the first time he's seen this side of me.) All the while, My Beauty School Drop Out Husband trimmed and cut and groomed and fixed my wretched mistake--and gave his boy the CUTEST little haircut you ever did see.

First Ever Napa Turkey Chase

To start Thanksgiving Day, I ran a 10K. This allowed me to have many helpings of food later, guilt-free. There was also a 100 meter dash for the little kids, so Isabella ran her first Turkey Chase, too. I think she got a little discouraged when all the more experienced runners blasted passed her at the start line, but we just told her to run to the turkey waiting at the end, and that's what she did.

I guess I was so fast, my family didn't even notice me cross the finish line. (I told Mark to meet me at the finish an hour after the start of the race and I made it in 55 minutes--I guess he took "hour", literally) I found out later I placed 18th out of 56 runners in my age group, which isn't saying much, but it's not nuthin'!

Kick-off to Thanksgiving Break

It all started with a Daddy-Daughter hoedown Friday night at school. Isabella bobbed for apples, ate brownies, and learned how to throw a lasso. When they came home, Mark threw some hay that he'd stashed in his pocket on the kitchen floor, and said, "This is what it looked like." He then grabbed Isabella's hands and they danced while he sang "Achy, Breaky Heart". 

This was the best we could do with the western gear: hiking boots and a vest for Mark, dressy boots and a jean skirt for Isabella.

On Saturday we drove up to El Dorado Hills to stay with the Stephens family. We squeezed in a trip to Apple Hill to have family pictures taken. We arrived in the late afternoon, so we had to rush around before the sun set, but I love it there. We ate apple donuts and ran around the orchards while Heather took pictures. I wished we lived closer so we could go more often.

Here's a special preview of what our family holiday card will look like this year.
Oh wait! That would be the Stephens family. Ours will be coming...

I loved our trip for so many reasons. Here's one: Brooke and I often talk about how we lucked out having kids so close in age. Isabella and Daysha are 8 months apart. And this was Sunday morning. I went out to the back patio to see what they were doing, and they were just sitting there--conversing--all about Halloween and trick-or-treating. I went back in the house to get my camera, and when I came back out, they were telling stories. Daysha's was about a trip to McDonald's. Isabella's was about a house that got destroyed in a storm.

 Matthew and Leo are 4 months apart. Matthew decided to take Leo's car for a little joy ride.

 Leo didn't like that and came out ready with his broom and best scowl.
(Actually, he was just playing with the broom and squinting from the sun light)

 They climbed the stairs together...

and took a bath. Best buddies.

After all the kids went to sleep, we grown ups stayed up and played Loaded Question and Awkward Family Photos (the game), which was fun because Mark and I never do couple-things with other couples. Mark and I also helped deplete Brooke and Aaron's left over Halloween candy supply by at least a third. 'Cuz that's what friends do.

We finished our weekend at the Wentzel's for dinner. I can't wait 'til we go back!