A thief among us

On Christmas morning, the boys woke up to a trail of candy canes, left by Santa, that led from their room down to the tree. They followed it down the stairs, picking them up as they went. After a quick discussion between the two of them, they decided to leave some for Sara. She LOVES candy canes, so it was an extra special treat to find when she woke up! She picked them up one by one until she couldn't possibly hold anymore. We gave her a bag to hold them, thinking she would forget about the candy! Wrong! She started opening presents with one hand! (picture to the right) As you can imagine, it wasn't the smoothest process around! We finally talked her into setting down the bag but that was short lived! She found something even more exciting...Grandma Linda had put a candy cane on every present! She walked around the tree taking them all off! Wrapped gifts, unwrapped gift, gifts for her and gifts for others...they were all fair game for the Candy Cane Thief!!! (last picture) The boys were really good sports about the whole thing. They let her steal them all, knowing they would get them all back!

Believing

Wow, we've had a wonderful Christmas this year. The kids are all at great ages for the fun parts of the holiday. Iain was trying to figure out ways to stay awake all night so he could see Santa. Sean was running around the house wondering if Santa was getting close to our house and Sara was asking "Santa is, Santa is?" all night wondering where he was. Before we put them to bed on Christmas Eve we went on the computer to track Santa. We were able to see which parts of the world he had already delivered presents to, and how close he was to us. When we looked he was in Peru. At one point Santa and his reindeer flashed across the screen, we think as he was leaving Peru and heading to his next destination. Iain's mouth fell open and his eyed widened. He couldn't believe he was actually seeing Santa. All I have to say is, Thank You Norad!

Christmas morning was filled with even more fun. The boys opened all their stocking gifts and waited as patiently as could be expected for Sara to wake up, which was an hour and a half!! Then it was joyous chaos! They loved all of their gifts! We've spent the better part of the last two days playing with all of it. Skateboards, baseball cards, dolls, doll accesories, Wii games...there is so much!

Iain opening a much wanted Lego set.

Sara, lost in a sea of wrapping paper, with all 4 of her new butterfly clips in her hair. (and candy cane around here mouth!)

Seany and I after dinner

Look at all this wrapping paper! Yikes!I'm sure we will be enjoying all the gifts for a long time to come!

Dear Santa,

Iain and Sean sent letters off to Santa a week ago. Iain asked for a few toys and then asked for one special wish. He asked to ride on Santa's sleigh with him to deliver toys or a handwritten letter back from him. On Christmas Eve, he received a very special letter in the mail. Much to his surprise, it was from Santa! It said that he would love to have Iain come along, but it was a job that he had to do alone. Iain was a little disappointed but completely understood, and was thrilled to have a handwritten letter! Sean also wrote a letter, and wrote the whole thing himself I might add!!

They both said they wanted to save the letters forever! So do I...

3 days and counting

There is some excitement brewing around these parts lately! The boys can hardly wait for Christmas. They are counting down, talking about what they hope Santa brings. Just watching their little faces as they talk about Santa is so precious! Iain is trying to figure out what time he will get here and how he can fly around the world in such a short period of time. We have cookies to bake (they think Santa will like Chocolate Chip the best, I agree!!!) and presents to finish wrapping. Sara is definitely enjoying the season too, but of course doesn't get it as the boys do. She does clasp her hands together and cheer with delight when she sees a present so I'm sure she'll be having a great time come Tuesday morning.

These pictures are completely unrelated but still fun action shots!

Night on the Seven Seas

Okay, not really...but we were on a boat!! Last week we took the kids out on a Harbor Cruise to see some Christmas lights. The residents decorate the backs of their homes with lights and decorations. And boy do they go all out!!! There were surfing Santas, palm trees covered with lights, and huge nativity scenes. Not to mention the homes looked like hotels! The boys kept asking, "Is that one a hotel?". When we'd answer no they'd give out a little "ohhh" in amazement!

The way it's set up, we park and take a bus over to the harbor. Sara was screaming 'school bus' over and over, she was so excited! We see buses each morning when we drop Iain off at school, so to ride on one was huge for her! She loved it! Luckily for us she loved the boat too! She held on to the edge and stared out at all the lights!! She would call out "nanta" (santa) and "noman" (snowman) each time she saw one, which was alot! After about 30 minutes she was getting bored and wanted a change of scenery. Luckily it was only a 40 minute cruise!!

This was Santa getting barreled! Who knew Santa could surf!! The wave is wire wrapped with blue lights, then Santa is riding a longboard in the middle with a lei around his neck. If you look really close (really, really close) you can see the reflection of the longboard as well as the lei.

Our weekend

We've had a very fun and eventful weekend! It started on Friday with Sean going to have a special afternoon with Grandma. They went back to her house and put together this great truck cake! So cute!! Then they enjoyed dinner together! He had so much fun! When she left, he said "very thank you Grandma!" Another, so cute!!

The weather has been soooo cold here! I know, I know...a few of you are laughing at the idea that we even get cold weather around here! Really it has been in the low 60's during the day. That is cold! We even brought out the newly named Eskimo jacket for Sara. The only pics I was able to get were this blurry one and this adorable one with her Daddy!

Saturday morning we went to get our Christmas tree. Remember this post from last year? Again, I was very excited to find the right tree for us! I so enjoy looking at each of them, picturing it in our house. Iain on the other hand, still isn't crazy about my fickle tree choosing style! We finally went with tree #5. I thought it was a pretty short process, but I'm fairly sure I was the only one! The kids did enjoy running and hiding in the trees though. When we got home, Iain T. helped get the tree up and ready to be decorated! He sure is Daddy's little helper these days!

Iain and Sean came up with the idea of a patriotic tree this year. Sure, why not! Instead of the multi colored lights we usually use, we used red, white and blue! It turned out great! Here's Sara putting on her very first ornament! (sniff-sniff, she's getting so big) Last year she sat on the floor and watched! You can see the red and white lights. The blue are up at the top! I just noticed I don't have any finished tree pics, better get one!

This is getting pretty long and I haven't even gotten to the parade on Saturday night! That will have to be for another time!

Sara vs the mud puddle

Puddle wins!

Notice the bottom of her pants!

Was it that long ago?

A friend if mine gave me these pictures today. They're from her son's birthday party back in August. I know it isn't that long ago but for some reason I think we look so different. Maybe because we were all so tan!! Nothing like a tan!

Quick recap

I feel like my blogging has really taken to the back burner lately. It's such a busy time of year, that I'm exhausted and/or too busy once I finally have some free time. I do have a little time and energy right now so here's a quicky post!

Crazy hat girl here! We put the hat on her and the dancing began! The 'bracelets' on her arm use to be rings to a sorting toy. They are now the newest fashion trend around our house!

A few weeks ago, yes I know I'm behind, the boys both had Thanksgiving festivities at school. Iain's was "Grandparent's Day". The kids had been practicing songs for weeks. Iain's class dressed up like chefs (see picture) and sang about cooking a turkey. It was of course adorable! After Iain's party was over, we darted over to Sean's school for a Thanksgiving feast.

The kids had been chopping veggies for Stone Soup. After a quick story from his teacher, we all ate the soup (which was much better this year than last!) It was a wonderful beginning to a long weekend!

Yaya says...

Now that Sara is doing more talking, she has so many cute words. I know they eventually learn the correct pronunciation, but for now, we'll enjoy the variations she's come up with! First, she calls herself Yaya. It sounds so cute coming out of her mouth! She knows her name starts with the letter s. When she sees an "s" she says, "s for Yaya". Oooooo' love it!! Here are a few other Sara creations

Bismis = Christmas
Bubba = Sean
E = Iain
an-ich = Sandwich
pobby = potty
edited to add:
bibish = finished (I forgot this one!!)

She also, funny enough, won't say the word one. When you ask her how old she is, she holds up one finger and says two. When she counts, she starts with the number two. The other day Iain was trying to get her to say Obi Wan Kenobi. It went like this...
Iain: Say Obi
Sara: Obi
Iain Say Wan
Sara: Two

Then she'd giggle and throw a Kenobi in at the end! I guess he's Obi Two Kenboi around here!

Since the post is about Sara, I feel like I need some pictures of her. The most recent ones I have are from after grocery shopping the other day. She loves to unload the bags from the car, bring them in and help put the food away.

Bringing them in the kitchen...

Unloading the food...

Taking time to smell the yummy vanilla candle

Christmas Pictures - The Outtakes

Can you believe it is already that time of year? I decided to be proactive about them this time. I called a photographer a few weeks ago and booked a date. All I had to do was find matching outfits. Well, that was much easier said than done. The original idea was to have all 5 of us in the shot. Maybe have Sara and I in one color and the guys in another color. Coordinating maybe? The original idea went downhill quickly. I shopped for several hours one afternoon and nothing was jumping out at me. I'd find something for the boys but not Iain or for Sara but not me. I was getting frustrated!! After enough complaints about it and my stress oozing out at Iain, he made an executive decision...if these pictures caused this much chaos, then no professional pictures! It was a very easy decision to make and I felt relieved just hearing the words. The only problem was we still needed a picture for our Christmas cards. The next day when Iain got home from work we threw clothes on the kids (from their closets) and went to the nearest park. We ended up getting some really good pictures! The kids all cooperated (part of the time) and were actually into it! Within 15 minutes we had some great shots! I can't show you the picture we chose, since it will be on the card you'll all receive in the mail. Here are some of the kids being silly.

Super Sean

I love her expression in this one

Iain seems to be rejoicing here! Ho ho ho! More Ho ho ho!

After going down the slide together! Darn cute if I do say so myself! I loved the way they were sitting in these pictures, but apparently it was too hard to be serious!! They were all going crazy!Ants in her pants Sara stood up, threw her hands in the air and yelled "cheese"!!!

See Iain's frustrated look in the last one? It was time to be done! This was the last picture that was taken. We came home with about 50 shots, some silly and a few great ones!

To share or harass, that is the question

These pictures just crack me up. Sorry that a few are blurry!

Sean staring at the tv while sitting in the shoe basket. Not sure why his fingers are in his mouth or why he's in the shoe basket but...

Here she comes...

He realizes she's coming and scouts forward...

He settles in leaning forward and sitting on the edge...

She gives up on the attack and joins him in mindless staring. But is this comfortable enough?

Nope, this is comfortable! Sitting on bumpy shoes, with her brother!!

Silly Sara pics

The girl is definitely silly!