Happy New Year from our family to yours...

Christmas Recap - The vacation:-)

So every time we go to the desert we talk about going to the Tram...they have new cars that rotate and it is a fun time...and there is usually snow this time of year! But alas, something always happens to foil the plan...this year we thought we had it figured out...But sickness, and scheduling conflicted...and weather, it was supposed to be windy...trust me you do not want to be hanging from a cable when the wind gets roaring through the desert!

So instead of heading to the tram we went to the local Children's' Museum on the day after Christmas (after I went and got some snazzy boots for a ridiculously low price...my first day after Christmas purchase ever!) So anyway the museum was a BIG hit! I tell you it's awesome, you don't have to worry about your child doing something they are not supposed to because they can touch EVERYTHING in the place...Holden had a blast...he REALLY liked the outside "ball" area...look at him trying to manage two at a time!

We ran into some old friends and got to catch up...and we tired out the kiddos BIG TIME:-) always a plus...I love the above pic of Holden walking with my mom...
I can't remember what day it was but we decided to take Holden to the Living Desert...It is a sister zoo of the San Diego Zoo and it is very fun...we saw giraffes, hyenas (Holden's favorite from Goodnight Gorilla, you should have seen him it was SO fun!), Camels, Zebras, Big Horn sheep, oh and an amazing miniature train display which Holden thought was Great!

He thought he would take a ride on the Boar...too bad while he was doing this the Boar came out of his hole for a quick showing and he missed it! Man those things are UGLY!

Here he is chatting with my dad..."Ranka" apparently "Ranker" is Grandpere, "Ranka" is Grandpa, "Ranger" is Grandmere, and "Ranga" is Grandma...funny

My cutie! It was cold for the desert...colder than its ever been for us I think...we dressed almost as warm as we do here! The funny part is we thought it was fine walking around the zoo...but Grandma and Grandpa were FREEZING! Guess they are desert dwellers...Holden's cheeks are pink here partly due to the dry air...his poor little cheeks got chapped... He thought he would ride a camel too!
And play some drums in the African Village

Here are the Big Horn Sheep...these are my favorite! I have always thought they were beautiful...and growing up before there was so much development here, we would sometimes see them in the neighborhoods that nestled along the mountains/hills...
For our Christmas present from my parents we got to go on a 4 hour jeep tour of the San Andreas Fault line...it was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot! My folks watched Holden and we enjoyed the day...I learned that the valley which houses the desert sees only 5 inches of rain per year! No wonder its dry! Anyway the tour was fun and we got to hike around in some slot canyons, and see some real Oasis' in the desert.
Here we are in one of the slots...Glad there wasn't an earthquake or a flash flood while we were there! I always remember Flash Flood warnings from when I was growing up, but I never understood how there could be flooding with so little rain...apparently the desert floor is so dry it can't even soak up any rain so it runs along the top of the ground causing flooding...interesting...

Here Holden is imitating my mom's dog I think...He had so much fun with Brat (short for Brat W. Urst the daschund) I think Brat was tired out though...

What a fun vacation we had and a busy one...now we are recovering and enjoying the new year!

Christmas Recap - Christmas Day

Since most of the festivities happen Christmas Eve in my family...Christmas Day is a low key morning with sleeping in for the parents (and playing with the new/old toys for the kids and grandparents:-)) Holden's pretty excited about the car wash (that lives at grandma's) He carried that thing around everywhere...its a little big for him to carry, but he did it!
One of the kids favorite things about grandma's is jumping on the bed...uhoh...Holden had never experienced this before! He loved it...I was afraid he would be sad when I didn't let him do it at home...but so far no sadness:-) At Grandma's he kept saying, "dump...bed...dump...bed" and heading back into their room with anyone who would take him...
Atomic drops are very fun too!
Look how much fun Lu is having!
Holden learned how to "smile" and say cheese on this trip...he thinks you do it even if you are the photographer it's pretty funny!

Christmas night we had a great Christmas dinner and ended the evening with a birthday cake for Jesus and more Happy Birthday singing...It was very fun and Lu had a great time making the cake and decorating it with grandma:-)

Christmas Recap - Christmas Eve

Sunday morning we boarded a plane and much to Holden's delight flew to Southern California to see my family:-) Look how happy I am to be home:-) Holden was awesome on the plane..totally entertained by the plane and its passengers...he finally crashed after landing as we were taxiing to the gate...
Christmas Eve is the big night in my family...complete with sloppy joes for dinner, church and then the gifts...I'm not sure how that started I think my dad's family has always done it that way:-) It was fun...Christmas Eve morning the grandparents and Tom took the kids to the park...Holden had a blast playing with the "big kids"..."ushie" (Lucy) and "wynn" (Flynn)
Here he is in his Christmas attire...that's "ushie" in the front, and Great Grandpa in the back...It's nice that Holden gets to spend time with his Great Grandparents...it means a lot to me...You can see all the stockings in the back...They are all needlepoint, created by my mom...she makes them whenever a person is born into or married into the family...they are beautiful.
Holden thinks I am funny!
Lu was all dolled up and ready to go to church!

Christmas Recap - Local celebrations

The Friday before Christmas Tom took a half day and we all headed up to Apple Hill. It was a beautiful day and we had a wine club release to pick up:-) Besides who can pass up fresh apple cider, and apple donuts...YUM!

Holden thought this tractor was great! In fact he didn't want to leave it! Look at him trying to figure out what all the levers do!

"Hey mom, can we take this home?"
This year was our year to travel to my folks...we switch off Thanksgiving and Christmas between the families...We thought we were going to miss Tom's family celebrations, but luckily since we didn't leave until Sunday, we made it! Look at all those kiddos...so happy to be having their picture taken...Ha! It was fun to see the cousins, and chat with the adults:-) We don't see them all that often even though we live fairly close...
We had birthday cake for Jesus and sang happy birthday to him...There were also gingerbread men to decorate, Holden never even got to the frosting before the poor gingerman's head was eaten...oh well...probably better for him to eat it sans frosting and sprinkles:-)
Holden loves to "help" Grandmere play the piano...

It was such fun, a great way to start the festivities! And the next day we headed to Palm Desert to see my folks and my brothers family:-) But that's another post!

Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This year I was asked to write and read a Christmas essay at our church Christmas dinner, I thought I would post it here...enjoy

"I have always been creative and had an imagination that would run wild if I let it. I can hear a snippet, a song, or see a picture, and what feels like immediately a story forms. I remember Christmas in my house as I grew up. Santa was very important in my family. We went to church and heard about Jesus every Sunday. But Christmas was about Santa and his presents. My parents really played up the Santa part, maybe it’s because my dad is creative like me. He wanted me to have this thing to believe in, he also did this with the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy as well. Santa was so real in our house, that his pants were left in the fireplace one year (we were told they must have caught in the chimney…poor Santa had to finish his deliveries pant less…or maybe he had a spare pair this couldn’t have been his first pair of caught pants). The year we got a dog her tail had a bend in it (from a healed break I am sure), but we were told it must have gotten bent by coming down the narrow chimney. One year Santa was even on our roof when we got home from church Christmas Eve. Oh yeah, Santa came to our house about 5:30pm every Christmas Eve, while we were at church. We must have been the first house he came to. I think my imagination and my parents antics were why I believed in Santa for way too long. I am telling you this for context, not because Christianity was a joke in our family. It wasn’t. My parents both have very real relationships with God, but due to whatever reason, their relationships were very private, and it wasn’t until much later that I saw the realness of their relationships, not until my relationship was real as well.
Somewhere along my journey I longed to come out of my imagination and experience something real. When I did I was blessed with something I could never have imagined. All those stories I had heard in church were not “feel good” Christian stories, they were real. And God was real and wanted me to know him. The first time Jesus became an actual man to me I was sitting in church on Easter Sunday, and the pastor told this graphic story of a man crucified so that I could live a life free from the sins I had committed. The pastor brought to reality, the humanness of Christ, and with that the pain that he suffered, and the blood that he shed. I remember sitting there in awe realizing that this God was real, not just a Sunday school story. When I heard this account, I was in a place where I needed forgiveness; I needed something other than life on this earth to live for. Jesus and his suffering became real to me that day.
I believe children are a gift, and if we allow them to, these children, whether born to us or to others can teach us so much, if we just watch them with soft and open hearts. My first Christmas as a mom the reality of Christ as a man hit home again, here I was holding my son, and thinking about Mary holding Jesus. Jesus the son of God, the one who would die for my sins, was born a baby. A baby whose every physical need came from his earthly mother, because that’s how God designed it. A baby who cried when he was hungry, who felt the cold of the night air in the stable, one who cried for reasons unknown to his parents. A baby who was comforted at his mother’s breast, who learned to speak, crawl and walk like we all do. But this baby was different, he would live a selfless, and blameless life, and would one day save the lost in this world.
Again this Christmas season I was struck by realness…but also by childlike faith. As I was meditating on and preparing to write this essay, our Christmas decorations came out, and part of those decorations is a stuft nativity scene. Watching my son and my niece rock baby Jesus, carrying him around the house, they talk to him, cradle him, and basically love on him. I think this is what Christmas is. It’s about Jesus being real, about his birth as a human, in humble surroundings, and it’s about the beginning of a life that would save us, and draw us closer to our God, our creator.
Whenever I think of the reality of Jesus as flesh and blood, my heart begins to speed up, and I am overwhelmed by the personal God we have, one that loves us so much he sent his son to live, and experience pain and sorrow, and to eventually experience the worst pain of all, so that I could live knowing Him and His love. So I could call on Him and ask of Him anything, so I would never really be alone, so I would always be loved. I want my son to know this God and his son. I want Christmas in our house to be the story of his birth, the baby Jesus to be as real as any baby we will meet in our lifetime.
So Christmas in our house will not be about Santa, in fact I am not sure Santa will even play a part. But every year there will be a baby present. I am excited to be able to use my creativity and imagination to bring the truth into our home in a tangible way. I was surprised to learn only last year that most of the “commercialized” symbols of Christmas actually have a long history and can be tied back to the true Christmas story. It is my hope that when we read the Christmas story, Holden will hear it as a true story, and it won’t take him 20 years for Jesus to be real to him."

Welcome to our Home this Christmas

I saw a Christmas Tour of Homes over at BooMama...and wanted to enter...but didn't get to it to now...oh well, here is our home:-) This wreath is on our front door...normally Beth does all our arrangements, as she's a very talented floral artist. But alas, with the kiddos and our schedules it just never happened, so I did this myself...I'm sure its not as stunning as she would have done, but I like it:-)
Close up of the bird and pine cones:-)
Our tree this year just didn't photograph well so here are some close ups...An architect of course has to have building and bridge ornaments...Thank you Restoration Hardware, and thank you for after Christmas sales:-)
These are bright red bells from Target. Holden LOVES these, "balls"
Found these birds this year, never would have thought I would like these, but I love how they look in the tree...Holden loves the "birdies" too.

I made these stockings last year. I didn't put names on them so each one bears the owners picture on a pin...and in honor of Holden, they currently bear a child aged picture of the owner...he loves pointing out daddy's, Holden's, and mommy's.
This is a fun advent calendar my mom gets for Holden each year...I like it better than the candy ones, each day we talk about what sticker we are putting on, and he is anticipating when he can put baby Jesus on the picture...he loves to name the animals...

This is the stuffed nativity scene my mom found for Holden last year. This year it has been so fun to see him playing with it...all the pieces are finger puppets. The kings have traveled far with Holden...and baby Jesus gets rocked and kissed, and of course carried around a ton...

Thanks for coming in and seeing a little about how we celebrate Christmas:-) We hope your Christmas is blessed.

Ranker and other Holdenisms

So the other day we are at Grandmere and Grandpere's playing...and Holden is pointing to the remote control (I call it TV Changer) but that's another post...and saying "ranker" repeatedly...being the astute mom I am trying to figure out what he means, I think he's saying changer, taking after mom's habit of calling it TV changer...but when I say that to him he keeps repeatedly saying "ranker" which means "no mom it's ranker" so I kind of ignore it because I am lost as to what it is...A short while later we go up to Grandpere's office and it starts again, Holden is pointing to all the stuff on the shelves saying, "ranker, ranker" and now Grandmere is there too...we are thinking hard what could it be? And Holden says, "ranker hat" pointing to Grandpere's hat...could ranker mean Grandpere? hmm that seems like an odd pronunciation...but not a minute later Grandpere comes up the stairs and Holden runs to him, "ranker, ranker!" So yes folks all this to tell you Holden calls his beloved Grandpere, "ranker" and we hear about him several times a day especially if a plane flies overhead...and I should have known that's what he was saying because at home he points to everything and tells you who it belongs to...our remote control belongs to daddy...should have known...oh well...

Holden is also obsessed, I mean obsessed, with noises lately, anything that might make noise he is interested in and points to and says "noise", if he knows its name he says that too, "vacuum, yawnmower, etc." He also makes "vroom" noises while he plays with his cars/trucks, oh and this morning he was trying to imitate the humidifier noise...I tell you obsessed.

"yights" are also big in our house, Christmas or otherwise, he wants them on off, he wants to see them as we drive by...he likes to roam the neighborhood looking at the "yights" and looking for "amals" (animals for those of you who don't live with toddlers;))

He's getting boys and men's names down but not women...hmmm wonder what that means...he says "Zachy" for one of his friends, and "Josh" for Uncle Josh...but sorry to Uncle Josh, his "josh" also sounds very similar to his "trash", and "flush" so unless it is in context its rather hard to tell...I do know its Josh when he says, "Josh yawnmower" although I am pretty sure Josh has never mowed our lawn...

And everything can be found in the "offees", daddy, the broom, his toys, EVERYTHING...you just ask him where it is and he says, "Offees!" (Office)

He likes body parts, but watch out if he is pointing out YOUR eyes or nose because you might lose an eye or his finger may reach your brain! He also is learning potty terms and of course the lovely "boogie".

It seems like he has new words everyday...he is always repeating what you say if it is a "new" word. This morning he was trying to carry something awkward and he said, "heavy" I was shocked...I guess we are always talking to him so he gets the words from us...

Ok this post is probably only interesting for family members...I am sure anyone who has kids is not impressed but he's my first...all these things are so fun...and so I will end it here:-)

Wordless Wednesday

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Our Family

As Promised here out the photos Josh took of us at our Christmas shoot....remember we were dealing with losing the light, and crazy kids...But these are my favs...I love the mood of these:-) One of us was running after Holden the whole time:-)
Look how much fun he is having!

I love the angle on this one...don't love the faces...will have to try this one again!
Again I love this angle...

Holden and I have colds right now, hopefully we will be better soon...poor guy has a "big boy" cough:-(

Wordless Wednesday - My Guy

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P Family shoot

Here is the P family:-) Beth, Josh and MJ...we had some fun...I took theirs and Josh took some of us for our Christmas card...We were a little later than planned so the lighting was a little dark, but I like the "mood" these are in:-) We had to entice the kids with a trip to the park! Action shot of MJ...slides are fun!

Love this one even though you can't see MJ's face...

Fun!
MJ looking longingly at the slides and swings...no really I have no idea what she was looking at...It was fun...I can't wait till the kids are a little more cooperative...MJ is still way better at posing than Holden...we had to tickle him! Those will be posted later...