I've got some competition now!

So not too long ago I got a new teensy camera to keep in my purse, so I passed along my first digital to Emma, who had been asking for a long time when she could have her own camera. Check out some of her very own images!

I must say I'm quite proud!

Disneyland....again!

Okay, so I learned how to get this video on to my blog successfully, but I also learned you can't shoot video vertically! Oh well, just turn your head sideways, cuz this girl is awfully cute!

Yup, you'll probably be seeing a lot of Dland pics this year, taken on my new ultra-tiny camera that I bought mostly just for it! I decided to try out the movies, and it was pretty cool!

Me & my girls (yes, Chase finally handled the camera!)

Caleb's big stunt.





Thanks for the cotton candy grandma!

In Tomorrowland they were having some music Sunday night. It was late, around 9:00, and Sarah was going strong, even with no nap for hte day. We had a blast dancing, well, Caleb didn't (I'm a boy, I can't, was his excuse) and eating cotton candy. And, we stayed until 11:30 that night!

Tearin' it up on the dance floor!

On the way home....

Sunday, Sunday

Today was our normal Sunday, went to church, ate lunch (at home today), cleaned up the house, went to the grocery store...nothing too exciting. But I did get a new camera last week that excites me, just a little one that I can keep in my purse. So I didn't miss my opportunity this morning to take some pictures at church on the playground! Oh, and I'm really having fun dressing Emma and Sarah in new coordinating outfits! Too cute...if only they'd stay little for longer.

(She's kneeling, it's not a super long dress!)

Emma helping Sarah off the end of the slide.

Oh, and Sarah has entered a new stage now. The stage of "Why?" I thought 21 months was too young to be there, but every time she's told to do something, we get the "why?"

On my mind...

Well, today is the last (official) day of my three week long Christmas vacation (I know, I know, my job is too easy...just try it yourself sometime and you'll see why teachers have those vacations!)



Anyway, I had a wonderful three weeks with my family celebrating Christmas, seeing a good friend from Idaho, visiting DISNEYLAND, and even just taking my kids back and forth to school this week, a task I usually miss. It was all great. And it just reminds me how lucky I am to have all that I do. I love my family. I have thee BEST kids and the #1 husband. I have a secure job...and I love it, too! Chase finally seems to be out of jeopardy of his job being cut (though we can never be sure...). It's all just great.



So I didn't make any resolutions. Actually, I gave that up a few years back, because I found myself struggling to make myself do something that I really didn't want to do or that I just couldn't keep up with, and it just caused me more stress...so what's the point of that?



There are some things I do want to accomplish this year. I definitely need to get more regular at reading my Bible again. Quiet times have just been pushed too far aside. I want to continue to pursue my new photography hobby and get better with the great camera I have. I'd like to read a few books for pleasure...and maybe even one to learn something new! And I'd like to know a little more about world events going on me. On that last one, I've always told Chase that I prefer to live in the bliss of my ignorance regarding world events, but perhaps it's time I wake up and know a bit more about the world I live in. I'll make it my goal to look for the good, though, otherwise, it's back to my bubble (although I'm afraid once I come out of it, it's not possible to go back in.)



So I know this isn't my usual post with pictures of the kids, but I thought it was a good place to share my thoughts.



Oh, and just for laughs, we were going to Disneyland the other day and Caleb was reading all the signs around the parking structure entrance. Then he shouted, "Whoa, Mommy, don't get in that lane, it's the slow one. (The yellow diamond SLOW sign was just beside it!) Cracked me up!



Oh, and I posted an album of Christmas pictures on facebook. I think this link takes you too it, if I did it right! http://www.new.facebook.com/photos.php?id=1547361722

The Bike Parade

I can't believe I forgot to post pictures of this! We live in the greatest neighborhood. The weekend before Christmas, Caleb was playing with one of his friends who asked Caleb if he was going to be in the bike parade. Caleb asked us if he could, and we were thinking "sure, you and your friends can parade up and down the street."

NOT!

This was a full-blown Christmas-lights-on-the-bike parade! Not one to be outdone, Chase quickly raced to Michael's in search of battery-powered Christmas lights (then raced to the drugstore for batteries- which ended up costing more than the lights!)

He and Caleb decorated all of our bikes, including the bike trailer for Emma and Sarah. What a sight! Now, the pictures don't really do it justice, as it was dark and I had my older camera with me (couldn't ride my bike with that big one around my neck!) It was awfully chilly, but everyone had so much fun. We rode through the neighborhood and stopped at several houses for treats. It was a great time to meet even more of our neighbors.

Here's Sarah trying to take baby Jesus from someone's display!

Like I said, I love our neighborhood. The people here are so friendly, and I can't remember ever living somewhere before where I knew so many people. We are so richly blessed!

What you've all been waiting for...

I've been waiting on this post because I wanted to do something exciting, being that it's a new year and all...but sadly, what's exciting in my life is not so exciting to others. But I thought THIS was EXCITING! And it's something new for the new year!



Yup, my kids washed and dried the dishes. I think I should record that in the scrapbook under "milestones," don't you?



So there it is, Happy New Year!

(By the way, we were out of dishwasher soap, that's why they were actually doing it!)

Disneyland!

Wow, so much time has gone by since I last sat down to share. We all had a wonderful Christmas and received so much more than we could ever need. We are so blessed with so much family who thinks of us at Christmas.

Anyway, Emma had been asking to go to Disneyland for the last three or four months. So, after much debate and thought, we finally decided to get the family annual passes to Disneyland.

So yesterday, with full knowledge that the crowds would be as thick as could be, we went to Disneyland and had a WONDERFUL day. And I mean great! There was NO crying!! Can you believe that?

Emma and Caleb both rode the Mattercorn (as Emma likes to call it) although Emma decided that once was enough for her. Sarah rode her very first Carousel. She was full of "Whoa!" and "Oohhh" and she was trembling! I'm not sure if she was scared or excited, but she wanted to do it again! We got to go on the revamped submarines and experience Nemo's adventure. Chase took Caleb on Space Mountain, another first which he loved, while the girls braved the line for the Christmas decorated Small World.

We actually sat down to watch the parade, which was great. Every time a float would pass by, Sarah would turn and ask, "More?"

We had planned to leave and get some dinner, but they were having so much fun that we stayed (even though it was quite chilly) all the way to the fireworks. (We did view them from the parking structure, though, where it was much less crowded and we avoided some serious crowds down Main Street!

All in all, it was a WONDERFUL day at the happiest place on earth. We can't wait to go back!

Our first attempt at a family self-shot.


A little better...

We asked someone else to take one for us!

The Santa Train

Tonight we rode the Santa Train. Every year Irvine Park Railroad transforms into a beautiful Santa's Village and this was the third year that we've gone and visited Santa there. The line's a bit long, and the price is a bit high, but this is the only Santa Caleb and Emma know (can you believe it...they've never seen the mall Santa!) And tonight was Sarah's turn to experience it. She was there last year, but she was asleep. Not that she'd likely remember it anyway. Well, she did decent. She wouldn't go up to him, but there were no tears, so I'm okay with that!

She wanted that candy cane, but big sister Emma had to cross the threshold for her.

Emma's private moment with Santa.

Although he's 7 now, he still believes. I love the magic that their innocence brings.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but I have Decked our Halls anyway. Normally I've never done it this early, but I just felt the urge to get ready for Christmas and I decided to go with it. (Besides, by the day after Christmas, I'm ready to put it all away, so I might as well get as much time as I can with it!)

Sometimes it seems like a lot of work to decorate all over, but this morning Emma looked around and said something that stuck with me. She said, "I bet it makes Jesus happy when he sees how much we decorated for his birthday." I love that she said that. Simply put. And just a reminder to me that despite the commercialism that surrounds us at Christmas, her young heart has not been mislead.

So take a look at how we've decorated for Jesus' birthday this year!

This last one is my very favorite. It's a plush Christmas tree, but the ornaments tell the story of Jesus' birth. The kids love to take them off and tell the story as they put them all back on. Such a great reminder for us all!

We all had to do it

Do you remember Thanksgiving in elementary school? It hasn't changed much at all. Today Caleb's first grade class celebrated the annual Thanksgiving Feast and everyone was dressed as either a pilgrim or an Indian. I'm sure it's probably not politically correct, but it's tradition nonetheless!

Most of our nights look....

like this.

Now that the time has changed and it's dark by 5:00, we've fallen into a new routine. When Chase and I get home the kids are begging to go outside, so usually they head over to a friend's house or we all go out to play. But before you know it, it's getting dark, so we come inside, work on homework as I cook dinner, then settle in to play dollhouse, read books, or video games (mostly for Caleb and Daddy). By 7:00 it's bathtime, teeth time, and bedtime at 8:00. (And then I collapse on the couch and doze off, pretending to watch TV!)

Tonight Chase was at a baseball game and the kids were all in the same room playing dollhouse. This dollhouse was a Christmas gift for Emma last year and has been played with every day since last Christmas. She loves it so much! And Sarah has become quite fascinated with it now, too, watching Emma play and learning how to make the people interact. I love watching how she makes the people move and play, carefully maneuvering each one into the correct spot and getting so frustrated when her little hands just can't make the doll do what she wants it to do.

As we were all playing, Caleb wanted me to read the Jingle Bells book, and before I knew it, an impromptu round of Christmas caroling ensued!

As we were singing, I just knew I had to catch it, because I know how fast these days go by, and I'm trying my hardest to savor them.

Yes on 8

Since tomorrow is the big day, and my friend Julie's blog inspired me to vent a bit, there's just something I've got to get out there. It is driving me crazy hearing those commercials out there by CTA that say "California teachers are for equal rights...that's why they say vote no on prop 8." Well I am a member of that union. I am a California teacher. I do support equal rights. But I think the definition of marriage is a man and a woman. I don't think that denies anyone rights. I think it simply keeps marriage as what it was intended to be. But that's not my point.

My point is, why is my union, whose dues I pay into, promoting a proposition that has nothing to do with education. True, if it does go down, there may be some stories in books that talk about a dad and a dad, and that's not what I want my kids exposed to. Nor is that what I want to share with my students. In fact, chances are, if that story were in my text book, I'd skip it. Simple.
But still, I digress.

Why is my union using my money to promote something that not only do I full NOT support, but that they have no business being in anyways? They tell us that our dues only go to political support if we request them to go that way. But then they blanket all teachers under their campaign.

So I just had to get that off my chest. And I want to let you know that when the next school year comes around, I am leaving my union. If they're not representing my point of view, then I don't need them!