Christmas Day

Christmas 2009 was really great, considering the stomach flu epidemic of Christmas 2008. The kids were beyond excited to get to FINALLY open presents. We didn't put very many under the tree before Christmas because we thought there might be some "accidental" unwrapping.

Bright and early Christmas morning.

Claire was thrilled by every gift she received, but she especially loved this pink princess backpack. She has been eyeing one at a friend's house and we have left crying on several occasions because the backpack couldn't come home with us. Well, Santa heard her cries and now she has her very own pink glittered princess backpack. Since it was unwrapped it goes everywhere with us. She wore it the whole time that presents were being unwrapped.

It was really nice that Andrew could read the names on the tags. He really enjoyed passing them out to everyone and digging for one that had his name on it.

Claire also got a bike helmet of her very own. She likes to wear Andrew's helmet outside which often causes conflict when Andrew needs it. It too, is pink.

Andrew got a castle building set and lots of Star Wars figures. He also got a a new Wii game which he is trying to master. We went up to Danny's parent's house for more presents and dinner after we opened presents. The kids loved playing with their cousins from Austin that we don't see very often. Even though I had my camera I didn't take any pictures up there. It was a great day of family and fun.

Christmas Pictures

We tried to get Christmas pictures in front of the tree last Sunday after church. As usual, we had trouble getting Claire to cooperate.

Andrew really liked his Christmas outfit this year and wore it all day! Usually, he wants his church clothes off right away.

Yeah - finally!! This was the best one we got.

Claire and Elaina had matching outfits, but they had some trouble looking at the camera. We tried to get them to hold hands, but they were dancing, jumping and playing.

We were also able to get a quick family picture.

Gingerbread house

I bought a gingerbread house kit right after Thanksgiving with the plans that we would put it together the first week in December. That way we could have it out throughout the holiday season. Well, we just got to it this week :( It was still fun except for the agonizing wait for the kids. It has to be assembled in stages - walls first then the roof and finally the candy. There is drying time between each of these stages. I thought that Andrew was going to explode before we could finally put the candy on.

Andrew and Claire both loved picking out the candy and "gluing" it on. The icing was a bit on the dry side before we got to put the candy on, so we couldn't do some of the designs on the box.

Claire really wanted to put the icing on and I let her try because things were already a mess at this point.

The final product! It is quite the sight. Basically, Andrew decorated one side and Claire did the other.

This is Andrew's side of the house. He saw this design on the box and did a good job replicating it.

Claire did more of an abstract design. Towards the end, she started scraping the icing off with the candy for some reason. She also kept sneaking the candy and eating it.

This is the best picture of the two of them with the finished product. They kept standing right in front of the house so you can't really see it. Now I really wish that we had done this sooner so that it could be around longer.

Getting ready for Christmas

Our church had a Christmas party last Saturday night. Andrew was asked to be a shepherd in the nativity play. He was so excited about this and even more thrilled with the costume that my mom made him. She went to Ross and got a curtain panel and made the striped part of the costume and then a robe over the top. The "hat" is also a curtain panel just folded up.

He was also really excited because he got to be a shepherd with his friend Max. As a side note, Andrew asks to go to Max's house a lot because he has a "super fun" large trampoline.

This week we finally got to decorating our tree. We have to be careful about ornament placement so that Chris doesn't reach any. In this picture, Andrew is hanging the picture ornaments he made last year. There is a one for each of his cousins.

This year Claire also wanted to hang ornaments. She was supposed to be hanging them on the tree, but only got as far as the garland on the fireplace.

I tried something I have never done before - the delay start on the camera. I got out the tripod and set up the camera, did a couple of test shots and surprise it worked! I was stunned to see that everyone was smiling and looking in the right direction. Maybe I'll have to try that more often.

California Academy of Sciences

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went to the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. It was a beautiful day in the city. The museum wasn't overly crowded when we arrived, which was nice.

Here is our group, as you can see, group pictures are not our forte.

Andrew was thrilled beyond belief to see T-Rex bones. When we told him we were going to a museum, the first thing we asked was if there were dinosaur bones there. I told him no, but was thrilled to see that there were. He was amazed at how large the skeleton was.

We visited the aquarium area first. Similar to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, there is a touching pool for starfish and other small things. Andrew wouldn't touch anything, but Claire was really interested.

All of the kids loved the huge aquarium wall. There were tons of colorful fish swimming around. We probably spent 20 minutes in here just looking at fish. It was very relaxing.

Andrew was also quite thrilled with the living roof. They actually have plants living on the roof which he thought was really cool. Another really exciting thing for him to see was the albino alligator. He wanted to see it a second time. Overall the kids were great and we all enjoyed a big lunch afterwards.

Thanksgiving

We were supposed to have the whole family together for Thanksgiving, but Ryan's family was sick so they couldn't come. We missed them and really showed our support by all getting sick the week after Thanksgiving. It was great to see Erik, Lisa and especially Taylor now that she is walking.

We went to my parent's house the big event. The china, gold silverware, and crystal goblets were out in full force. There is nothing like a holiday at the Larsen's without hand wash only dishes!

My mom even set a table for the kids. Here they are investigating everything and fighting over the silverware. We had a wonderful meal full of favorite foods. I love Thanksgiving food!

On Friday we went to the Children's Discovery Museum. It was crowded, but the kids still had fun running around.

Andrew pulled a bowling ball up using a pulley. He was so proud of himself as he watched it fall.

Danny and I were able to do some toy shopping for the kids in the afternoon, after the crowds had died down a little. We went back to my parent's house for leftovers Friday night. Here are four of the cousins "playing" together. Claire and Elaina are actually sitting in the storage ottoman with the toys. Apparently it is easier to play with the toys when you don't have to spend all of that time reaching into the box. Claire and Elaina were both smitten with Taylor and wanted to play with her all of the time.

Awards!

Andrew's school does awards for the kids in the fall and the spring. We didn't know what to expect when we went to the ceremony last week. All of the kids get awards for things like attendance, doing all of your homework, learning their letters, etc. Andrew received three awards!

He received the Homework Hero, Certificate of Achievement for knowing all of his letters and sounds, and the People Respecting Others Award (PRO). They only give 1-2 of the PRO Awards, so the teacher said that this was a big deal. She said that he had been very kind to the kids in his class and had been helping some of them with their work. A big deal indeed because I don't think he always acts this way at home.

Here he is in his classroom with his teacher, Mrs. Rodriguez. He was so proud of these awards. We all went out to ice cream that night to celebrate. We also had his parent/teacher conference last week. He is doing really well, she said he is a great listener! Once again this was surprising, because when he comes home, he doesn't seem to hear anything we say. We are really proud of our kindergartner!

Claire's first haircut

Claire's first haircut was actually back in October, but I never had the chance to get the pictures off of my dad's camera until now. Wow, time flies! Claire was sporting a mini curly mullet, so we decided that it was time to take her to the family barber - my mom. Her hair only seems to grow in the back. The front never grows at all, and the sides are wispy. So, we evened out the the back and put some more layers in so that it would be a little bit curlier.

Claire was a champ! She sat still the whole time and didn't say a peep. I will really miss her curls if she eventually grows out of them.

For some reason, I didn't get a picture of the finished product right after the haircut. This picture is from before church the next week. This is a rare picture of her smiling, so cute.

The end of the season

Andrew's first soccer season has come to a close. Although, we were happy about getting some time on Saturday back, Andrew was not happy about the season ending. He thinks it should keep on going year round. I asked if he was looking forward to playing T-ball in the spring, he said, "no, I just want to keep playing soccer". His last game was cold and muddy which was fun for the boys, but not the spectators.

Andrew learned a lot about soccer and improved a lot this season. He started taking initiative and running to the ball rather than waiting for it to come to him.

In this last game, he almost scored! The picture above shows the ball that he kicked crossing in front of the goal. It missed by inches.

At the team party, the coaches cut apart the banner and gave each child the soccer ball with their name around it as a souvenir. They all thought that was really cool.

Even though he doesn't look like it here, this trophy was the highlight of his month. He thinks this is so cool. We could not have asked for better coaches as they were so patient with the kids and really tried to teach them the game. The trophy is currently sitting on our mantel where I'm sure Andrew would like to keep it permanently.

Halloween

We had a really fun Halloween this year. It started with two parties - on one the 24th and one on the 29th. There different friends at each party. The best part was that Andrew got to wear his costume more than just once!

I made these Frankenstein marshmallows for the party on the 29th as well as for my book club. We read Frankenstein this month so I was looking for something to fit the theme. They ended up tasting really good and the kids loved them. This is a keeper recipe!

On Friday night Andrew carved his pumpkin. He did a lot of it by himself. It is hard to let him just start sawing into a pumpkin without wanting to do it for him, but he was really careful.

I just had to post this picture, because this is the type of picture I usually get with Claire. It really made me laugh when I saw it. She is trying really hard to be unhappy, but she really liked her costume, so the frown didn't last long.

She wouldn't stand up for a picture, but I got a sitting one.

The Bumblebee transformer was Andrew's third choice this year. He had a hard time deciding. Also in the running were Jango Fett and Batman. He kept telling me that he couldn't smile in the mask. After we went to the party at the church, we did some trick or treating in the neighborhood. I also took him to his soccer coach's house where they had a haunted house in their garage. He was afraid to go in at first, but was eventually persuaded. From then on it was fun to scare the other kids coming through.

So I made a costume error. Danny's mom bought these wings for Claire a couple of months ago. That is where I got the idea for the fairy costume. About halfway through the party at the church, Danny asked where the wings were. Somehow I totally forgot them!! By the time we got home Claire was too tired to take any more pictures, so I couldn't get a picture with the wings. So after church yesterday, I made her put the whole costume back on with the wings. The picture is above and she is so cute.

The Pumpkin Patch

We went to Usegi Farms pumpkin patch in Morgan Hill last Saturday. Since it had rained last week it was a bit muddy in parts, but still fun. We rode several of the small rides including the annual train ride. The kids had a lot of fun on the rides, but the best part is always picking out your own pumpkin.

Claire was not in the mood to smile for any pictures, so this was the best one I got. She picked out this pumpkin and would not let it go. She held it the rest of the time we were there and all the way out to the car.

Andrew had a lengthy search for his perfect pumpkin. There were tall ones, short ones, fat ones.....so many to choose from. He finally found one he liked and we loaded it the wheelbarrow. Then we discussed the whole way home where it should be displayed. We settled on the front porch. I think he wants to carve it this year which should be fun.

The life of toddlers

Being a toddler lets you get away with certain things and to live in a fantasy world all your own. I imagine that they often let us believe that we are in charge, but in reality they are in control.

Here are some snapshots of life as they see it:

1. They have to endure Grandpa's photo shoots even when they don't want to. "We just don't look our best after a day at the park, this is all we can do".

2. We can dance whenever and wherever we want. We can even wear wings when it isn't fashionable.

3. If we feel like taking a nap in the middle of the kitchen floor, we will! "Luckily these Aquadoodle mats are easily portable so that we can rest wherever we want".

4. Sunglasses are always in fashion. Multiple pairs are required because there are so many places to take them like mommy's car, daddy's car, the stroller, the store, grandma's house, etc.

5. Sometimes we want to be the photographer. "It's your turn to say cheese and stay still".

6. Well, it isn't always easy. Sharing is complicated even though there are three strollers to choose from. "I've gotten all dressed up and ready to go take my baby on a walk and she just took my stroller!"

7. We have to hug and make up. Elaina isn't so sure about this reconciliation.

All in all the girls have fun together and make us laugh. Some of the stories that Natalie has to tell are hilarious.