Friday, February 2, 2018

January Post





Thank goodness for January posts after the packed month that is December. We've been taking it easy, keeping it simple.

I took some pictures of Lydia for her "All About Me" poster for school. Of course she had to put on her Shopkins jacket, tie dye heart dress, and her crown. And Roz had to get in the pictures too.

We took a picture of her and the house for the poster, so here's the house now! We still have a piano on the porch. And isn't the poster fabulously colorful??







We took Everett to see The Last Jedi! It was so good and a special treat to spend time together just the three of us. I think Everett is trying to use The Force in the picture.

Roz on the playground one of the times Brian took the kids disc golfing.

My big baby figuring out a thumbs up.

And special big kid time with Grandma Gion and Grandpa Phil. Puddle jumping and playing with their favorite things after a trip to Kmart.







Everett gets a lesson in automotive repair.

Lydia drew a picture of Grandma Kathie! She told me it's a head and two legs, but I thought it was a body with a braid sticking out, which would be very observant indeed.

Roz loves floating in the bath.









Everett's been suggesting we play boardgames from time to time. I love it!

When we drop Lydia off at preschool, Roz likes to hug these flat people. She calls this one Daddy.

Gion has taken Roz to gymnastics a couple times lately, and she has a blast!

We ran out of paper = paper wrapping hat!

And Everett with the sweet smile chose an unusual but delightful outfit, purple collared shirt with orange and yellow striped sweater.





Everett got an award at school!! He got it for basically being himself (outstanding contributions during classroom discussions), but he felt very special. And he has the best grandparents ever who attend as many of his events as physically possible. 



Roz looking so lovely in pink.

And we attended the Women's March anniversary rally! I literally didn't hear a single word of the speeches. We followed the kids around the whole time, they rolled down a grassy hill and explored the creek. But we added to the numbers, and there were numbers!! The Mission Plaza was PACKED! Even more packed than the vigil for Charlottesville.

After the rally, we went to "the fun park," Sinsheimer. That place is intense!! But very fun! And then we got to see Henry and Melissa's new house!





Brian had a work party to attend, so I did bedtime alone. As I was bustling around getting waters and such, Everett started enthusiastically reading this book to the girls. I've now started collecting names of books for "brother story time," because that was really great.

Rozzy's been sleeping in Lydia's big bed a lot lately, and it's pretty sweet. Bonus, I think she's been tottering into our room a bit less often in the middle of the night.





When the baby wakes cranky from a nap and she wants a whole bagel. Sure, have the entire cold bagel, enjoy!

Rozzy started Playtime Discoveries!! Oh my goodness!! The girls seemed like such babies until we started this parent participation class and I really noticed everything they could do! Everett probably seemed like such a little man because I didn't have an older one for comparison. Roz loved all the art, the painting, collage. She likes the songs and dancing with scarves! I'm actually typing on the second day of Playtime Discoveries. Gion took her so I could stay home with sick Everett. It sounds like she was even more comfortable today. How fun!





I made a collage of all the kids painting at Playtime Discoveries! Sweeties.

A picture of Roz that I sent to Brian and he loved. She was cranky after a nap (funny that's come up twice this month, she rarely naps anymore). And cereal with blueberries was what she needed.

Everett is playing basketball! It's been fun (to play and watch), and he's learning so much.

And Everett made a card for his friend Rosa. I asked him to add some color, and he declined. It's just so black and white and formal! Funny guy.

Until next month!

Monday, January 8, 2018

December Post: Part 2

It's time to share the rest of December 2017! 


This year we tried to broaden our celebrations a bit more. We put more emphasis than before on Solstice. We lit candles in Great Grandpa Oliver's candle holders. We watched an episode of Little Bear about winter solstice.





We made a fire outside, roasted marshmallows, popped Jiffy Pop, and we decided to give them their new pajamas then instead of on Christmas Eve like we've tried in the past.



Pirate Lydia shows off her missing tooth! The first she lost the usual way. In this picture, we were at Dollar Tree having the kids buy presents for their family with their own money.

And the traditional building-of-a-large-toy-with-terrible-instructions-that-looks-wonky. We had just gone on a drive to see Christmas lights.










Christmas Eve at Phil and Gion's! We were so happy Katie could celebrate with us.

I feel like there's something wrong with my fancy camera, hard to focus (even harder than focusing on moving children used to be) and the color seems off. Do we even have a camera store around here anymore??





Katie's face while E was describing his presents as if he was making a YouTube video (he was not under the impression I was taking video). ;)

The kids playing nicely together with Bunchems.



Santa gifts all set up. Santa was very surprised by how large that trampoline ended up being. It also took longer than "he" expected to assemble. Ha.





Everett's always our early riser and I was too excited to sleep, so we hung out together Christmas morning, watching Harry Potter and taking selfies. Maybe a new Christmas morning tradition.





Matching jammies in front of the tree!!



One of the kids' big Santa gifts this year was a Nintendo NES (one suspiciously like the one I had as a kid that has been hanging out in my old bedroom for a couple decades). We'd talked about getting the new Switch, but they're so expensive! And we'd been talking about digging up this old NES for a while. It's worked out perfectly. Simple intro to a gaming system but not as enticing and addictive as the new games. And it's actually been working! (Brian spent a good amount of time cleaning connections and such).







After some gaming time, we went over for Christmas with my parents! We were so happy that Mom felt well enough to have us over. I don't know if I've been able to illustrate here the ordeal my mom has gone through or express how happy we are that she's recovering. You're so strong, Mom!



Phil and Gion hosted all of us for Christmas dinner, and this sweet moment happened. Simple joys.


Lydia's crown and wand made this baby a queen! She's holding her unicorn. It was the Christmas of unicorns!





Before Katie went home, we took a lovely walk around the lake and had a nice, goofy lunch at Marston's 101.







A couple days later, the kids had a day they'd been dreaming of: mini golf! Phil and Gion took us to eat at El Compadre, then we golfed at Atascadero's own Mr. Putter's Putt Putt, and finished the day with frozen yogurt. Lucky kids! Lucky grown ups!!



Lydia's been getting really good at Nintendo! Everett too, but we weren't sure how not-yet-five-year-old Lydia would take to it. She'd done great with Super Mario 3 in this picture, but she's really been shining on Dr. Mario! I was playing her (super fast level zero), and we had a draw!! I didn't know that was possible!


Mother/daughter twinsies!! We ended up in the same color shirts so we had to find complete matching outfits.





Outdoor time! On his break, Brian took the kids hiking and disc golfing a lot. They went to check out the new park at Sinsheimer and disc golfed after.

We went to the park with our toys, from this Christmas and last.

Until next time!