As Christmas is rapidly approaching, the girls are getting a little antsy. Nana came over today for a visit, and we decided to pull out a Christmas puzzle. Nana, Bailey, and Ellie did the bulk of the puzzle, but the little sisters did come down and help for a while. Here's a picture of everybody working on it together:
Dec 31, 2009
Day 360, December 23, 2009
Day 359, December 22, 2009
Bailey and Grace went on a playdate with their best friends today. Here they are being dropped off.
Day 358, December 21, 2009
Every night for the past few weeks, we have left our windows cracked open a little and our ears have been on alert, listening for the sirens of our neighborhood fire trucks. Why were we doing this? Because every year Station 82 drives through the streets of our neighborhood with Santa perched on the top of the fire truck. Tonight, while Ellie, Grace, and Katie were still here, we heard the faint siren, followed by by a muffled, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" The girls all shrieked and ran upstairs to bundle up, while I called my neighbor Joan. Then we all ran to the front yard. I snapped a quick photo of the four cousins before we ran up the street the meet up with the other neighborhood kids. Finally, we saw the engine's lights turning up our street, which in turn, caused a lot of whooping and hollering. We really are a rambunctious crowd! Santa must really like our group though, because they actually stopped at the top of our cul-de-sac, and Santa came off his "sled" to pose with the kids. This year, because of budget cuts, they couldn't afford to roam the neighborhood while on duty, so many of Station 82's fire fighters took time out of their days off to do this for us. They even brought their own kids with them to help hand out candy canes. What awesome men and women! We love Station 82!
Day 357, December 20, 2009
I always try to find some creative way to display the many Christmas cards I receive each year. In the past I have made them into a large Christmas tree. This year, I simply lined the cards on the wall between my pantry door and the kitchen. On the pantry door, I taped the Christmas crafts the kids had made at school this year. I also decided to take a regular picture frame and fill it with all the Christmas cards we have sent out since Bailey was born. It was fun to look at how everyone has changed in 10 years.
Day 356, December 19, 2009
German Christmas was celebrated at Jenny's house in Ventura this year. We ate the traditional pork roast and dumplings and drank the traditional Goldwasser (not to be confused with Goldschlager) before sitting down to sing "silent night" and open presents. Oma now has 8 great-grandchildren now that Stephanie and Andrew have sweet little Olivia. All the kids have fun playing together and running around the front yard.
Here is a collage of some pictures from the day:
The whole family! Can you believe Oma and Opa brought their two young boys here from Germany over fifty years ago. Look how the family has grown. We all still miss Opa so much. This is our 7th Christmas without him.
Day 355, December 18, 2009
One of my girls' favorite celebration days at school is the Christmas parade. It is always on the last day of school before Christmas break. The parents are encouraged to join in the parade and march next to their child through the classrooms. This year was even more exciting because it was Ellie and Grace's first parade.
Dec 30, 2009
Day 354, December 17, 2009
The girls worked on decorating the gift bags for their teachers' presents. I wish I had taken a picture of what the completed bags looked like. Both the girls were so creative and made beautiful winter scenes on the bags.
Day 352, December 15, 2009
I almost cried when I saw Reese's gift for me that she had made at school. It brought back so many memories for me of my childhood. Katie, Nick, and I had all made ceramic hand prints or drawings when we were young, and my mom cherished them. In fact, ours are still on her wall today. When I opened one that my child had made, I was so surprised. Now I understood why my mom loved ours so much. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I am going to love this little hand print forever.
Day 351, December 14, 2009
After work today, we (the teachers from my school) all headed to Suzee's house for our annual faculty Christmas party. I was dismayed to pull out my camera and find that I had left my memory card in my computer this morning. Uh-oh. So there were no pictures from today. I did get a good one of me with my co-teacher on Friday at our final day of school before vacation, so I am using that one here. Please note that I am the proud new owner of "Festive-Wear". I decided that since I am now in my third year of teaching, I really needed to invest in one :)
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