Waking to a Rainbow

What a treat to wake up to this in the morning. The rain had just stopped and sun was just beginning to peak in the east.The rainbow began on the south side of the house (which did not photograph well) and ended on the north side. The kids were feeling very special to have our very own rainbow. Clay was a little ticked that he couldn't see the purple band and the red sort of blended into the yellow so he couldn't see the orange clearly. His class at school is really big into rainbow order. We saw a beautiful rainbow and he saw a rainbow with flaws.

We Had Dinner with the Real Santa!

A couple of weeks ago we were at Chili's for dinner. Scott dropped the kids and me off to get out of the rain while he parked the car. While we were waiting out in the vestibule a gentleman with a full white beard and curly hair came in. He was wearing a red t-shirt and gold rimmed glasses. He said, "Oh, the kids have to wait outside?" like he was sad for them. I thought, you know, dressed like that, he's asking for trouble. I replied, "Well, they've been really naughty." The man went inside then popped his head out quickly and whispered loudly to me, "No Mom, actually they have been trying really hard this year!" and went back in. Emmie and Clay were bug-eyed and gasping with their hands covering their gaping mouths. Emmie said, "I can't believe we actually saw him!" The best part of this story is the wonderful pleasant dinner we were able to enjoy this night. The kids could not have been better behaved. Eating dinner in the same restaurant as Santa while he was off duty was the best thing that could have happened to the kids (or the parents!) By-the-way, the Big Mouth Bites at Chili's are pretty awesome! I don't know what Santa would recommend.

Church Christmas Dinner

As usual, after the Christmas dinner at church, Santa made a visit. The kids were totally brave and prepared this time. Finally! Emmie put on her best dress for him and rehearsed what she would say to him. She wanted a new bike. She told me she didn't tell him what kind and that she would let him pick out one for her. I know that really he better bring a Hello Kitty bike or he'll be in trouble. She has complete faith in Santa's judgement.

Clay didn't wear his best clothes but he did run and put on a clean shirt that he thought Santa would like right before we piled in the car to head to church. The kids take their Santa visits very seriously.

Emmie and Clay were both very brave and went right up to sing with the primary children. We didn't have to poke or prod them along like we've had to in the past years. It's so nice to see the kids growing up and feeling more comfortable and confident in themselves.

CA Academy of Science

We absolutely love the Monterey Bay aquarium but we decided to try the one in San Francisco to stay closer to home. The Planetarium was interesting but was scary for the kids and sickening for the adults. The tropical rain forest was hotter than South America in July! Pretty butterflies though.

The 3D bug movie was fun.

Watching the kids take pictures was more fun.

Nothing beats the Monterey aquarium but we enjoyed ourselves here.

More Snow Pictures!

I took a ton of artsy snow and frozen crystal pictures. You'd think I'd never seen snow before. That's what happens when you spend an entire week at home not able to leave even to buy milk, go to the post office or anything else while the kids were also at home off school.

The Owl

During the big snowstorm the trees were coming down everywhere. This owl decided to make our courtyard his temporary home until the snow melted out of his tree or maybe his was one that fell. He slept soundly during the day and didn't let us bug him. He had the cutest fat round body and pointy ears.

The Annual Gingerbread Houses

Before.

During.

After. Clay sort of pooped out on his. He spent so much time piling and completely covering this one area it ended up one sided.

Emmie did her best. It's nice and organized.

Har Har

There was a big tree down across the driveway after the storm. We were taking the truck to get to the lower part of the property to go sledding. Scott didn't want to get out and walk and didn't want to try and move it. So he drove over it. That was simple enough. Unfortunately it wrapped itself around and up into the hitch. Scott dragged that 20 foot tree the entire length of the property. He said he was glad because it actually saved him time not having to load it up to take it to the burn pile. That part was fine but then it took him another half hour trying to get it to come loose from the truck. We sledded and laughed at him while he sweated it out trying to dislodged it. Clay said, "I don't think Dad has a brain." So true, so true my son.

Thanksgiving Tree

For a few years now we have had a Thanksgiving tree the month of November. We each write things we are thankful for on leaves and hang them from the tree. It's one tradition I never want to forget. Then I collect the leaves before the Christmas decorations go up and put them in their memory books.

Ready for Church

This is Clay at his best. Thank goodness he's only 5 and can pull this off. He bore his testimony at church today. He said he loved Jesus and his family. He even blessed the food , Jesus and the gospel while he was at it. Emmie piped up, "This isn't the dinner prayer!" He sure got a lot of compliments because he had gone up there all by himself. He needed no one to hold his hand, whisper in his ear or be near for moral support. He's an attention monger. He's just like his dad. His dad's hair looks better, Clay likes his monkey hair. No one can match Clay's style however and it's all him. I really want to make him wear a sign that says, "I dressed myself!" on days like this. I guess that would be most days really.

The Kids' Very Own Tree

We have been putting up a fake tree for the past few years because it just looks so much better. We feel bad that we don't let the kids go out and hunt for a tree and let them "help" cut it down anymore. That was a tradition we wanted to keep going and did the first few years we had the kids. So this year Scott took the kids out to search for a tree on our own property. We wanted something sort of small so we wouldn't have to rearrange the furniture. This is what they found just as the snow started to fall right before the big storm hit. It was the top of a ponderosa pine. It was wider than it was tall. We had to prune the branches back a foot in every direction. The branches were not only huge but scarce. It's our Charlie Brown Christmas tree for sure. It was free and the kids were totally in charge of picking it out, hanging the lights and ornaments. They were sure proud of it. Oliver liked it too, even so much he pulled a big glass ball off and carried it to the other room. Unfortunately it exploded in his mouth. I didn't enjoy having to sweep the inside of his mouth and around his tongue with my hands to get the shards of glass out but he quickly learned his lesson. Pretty to look at, not to eat.

Good job kiddoes!

More Snow Fun!

Ready for blast off!

The kids being towed behind the truck.

Flipped the sled, did a trick and didn't get hurt a bit! This was momentous. Almost every trip Clay went down the hill hooting and hollering loving the thrill and then crashing face down and crying. This time he shook it off and went again.

Watch out Clay has a snowball!

The kids went flying down over the bank. They thought it was so funny landing in the bushes and trying to crawl out.

Even the tractor was fun, not that it isn't usually but anything covered in snow is at its maximum capacity for fun.

We need bigger sleds!

Brrr! This is awesome!

White Christmas...Almost!

This was the biggest, coldest snowstorm we've had in the area in 33 years. I'm so glad we were here to enjoy it. We were fortunate to have heat, water and electricity. Grandma and Grandpa Lamb were out of power for a full 5 days! We were snowbound however and couldn't get down our driveway for those 5 days but we tried to take advantage of it as much as we could stand. Scott had to drive out in the 4wd to get to work each day. We begged him to stay and play. He was able to play during the day a few times before going to off to work so he didn't miss it entirely. We discovered we have the best sledding runs right here on our property. They aren't too long or too steep. We could have opened a snow park IF people could get into our place. Lots of fun! I wish it could give us a big dumping of snow like this once every year. By the end of the week I was thoroughly ready for the kids to be back to school and the snow and ice to dry up. Putting snow gear on kids all day long and running the dryer to keep up with their wet winter wear was for just that week was more than I could handle. We're ready for summer to return now, we've had our fill of winter. It was just so pretty I suppose it was totally worth every minute of it.