New Family Tradition???

So this year we thought it would be fun to go to Santa Cruz and cut our own Christmas tree. We went to Crest Ranch to find the perfect tree. Cameron immediately took charge. She pulled the cart up the hill and set off on her search.

Riley touched all the different types of trees. He enjoyed smelling the trees but didn't like getting sticky with sap. It was a really great day, sunny and pretty warm. It was also not too crowded. We saw lots of families who obviously do this every year and picked up some tips for finding the best trees. We didn't know it, but they allow dogs so next year we will have to make sure to include PJ. We walked a lot, the farm is about 100 acres, and finally I found a tree I thought we should choose. Cameron had other ideas.

After about 15 minutes of asking Cameron to pick a tree, I finally decided to pick one out myself. I announced that I had found the tree and Cameron immediately responded with, "No, not that one, this one!" It was the tree right behind me and I have to say it was actually a better tree. She watched Daddy cut it down, directing him the whole time. There was no doubt about who was in charge today.

When the tree was on the cart, she told daddy he was going to have to pull the cart back to the car, it was "Too Heavy Daddy! You get it."

Although Riley was still recovering from being sick, he was in a very good mood. He did a great impression of Daddy that had me laughing. What do you think?

Happy Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving together. It was quiet for us, no other family or friends, and it was good to have a low-key dinner together. Cameron sat at the head of the table and we went around and said what we were each thankful for.

Daddy was thankful that his Peter Lik picture finally arrived (you can kinda see it behind Cameron). Mommy was thankful for her happy kids, and supportive husband. Riley was thankful for his plastic book that didn't get soggy as he chewed on it during dinner. And Cameron was thankful for "Mommy!" We of course did not forget about PJ. He enjoyed the week hanging out with Ellie, but he was most thankful for his share of the turkey!

During our holiday break, Riley practiced his crawling. Although he is one of the youngest babies in the class, the teachers believe he is likely to be the first to crawl. He gets up and seems to know he needs to move forward but hasn't figured out the hands need to move. Here is a video of him trying to get around.

Sick Kids for the holidays...

It figures that the kids would get sick as we go into the holiday week. Luckily I've already taken the week off. Both Riley and Cameron have a virus that seems to be going around. There is no fever just lots of congestion and nausea. Cameron seems to be handling it much better than Riley with just a cough and runny nose. Riley is struggling to breathe through his mouth and get any rest.

Having an extra day home was a great idea to Cameron. She let Riley play in her room and with her toys. It was especially fun when she realized she could dress him up. In return for allowing her to put him in pink, she let Riley play with her Curious George books. This was a really big deal, because those are her favorite books.

Classroom Karaoke

So I stopped by the school for lunch and found the Tiger Beetles (Cameron's class - not sure about the name, its a pretty bug but the bugs are actually predators...) in the community room doing some Karaoke. The VC camera was on and the kids were happy to dance and see themselves on the two big screen TVs. When Ms Jessica turned on the microphone, David and Cameron sang "ABCs". David was a complete natural, but Cameron got a little shy while singing. On camera though, she was a complete natural.

Riley was also enjoying a musical day at school. Ms Ana was in his class today. He was loving it! He kicked his feet and was very vocal during the songs as if he was singing along. Ms Ana was very impressed with his energy and excitement. He discovered a new song he really likes, Skidmarink! Ms Marie did the hand motions during the song and he was extremely responsive. He is learning his signs and is much more interested in signing then Cameron was at this age.

Riley has a tooth!!

This has been a big weekend for Riley. He has a tooth coming through the gums. Mommy was really excited but then got sad because he is growing up too fast. Since he now has a tooth, we decided to start him on rice cereal. His reaction to this was really funny. He was excited until it was put in his mouth. He made a really funny face each time it was put in his mouth, but got happy again when he was able to push it out. We think at least some was swallowed.

Cameron celebrated the tooth with Riley. She danced around him and he got really excited. He loves to watch Cameron and she is loving his attention. She had him laughing for more than 10 minutes. We had to put a stop to it so he could breath.

Cameron had a big weekend too. She got to hang out with the big girls. We rode bikes with Stephanie and Dana. We rode up to the neighborhood school and played on the playgrounds and rode our bikes around the campus. Cameron was so grown up and you could see her trying really hard to keep up with them. When Dana fell off her bike Cameron went to her and said "Are you okay Dana?" She was so sweet.

Halloween!!!

Well the big plan to have Lil'Bo Peep and her sheep didn't quite work out. Riley cooperated but Cameron decided she didn't want to wear the costume after all. Sometimes its not so cool that they have preferences. Its probably my own fault. I put on her ballerina undershirt and then she decided she should be a ballerina instead of a Bo-Peep.


I can't really complain. She looked really cute, especially from the back because her diaper poked out of the tutu. Her school had a big party and Grandpa and I setup a spooky room which was a big hit with the kids.


Of course we decorated our house again. We lit up the trees this year so when the sun went down the entire house glowed green. Jeff got dry ice again this year and he refused to give the kids candy unless they came up the driveway. The witch was flying over the driveway and we had a really cool mummy hanging out the window so with the bubbling cauldron several kids refused.

Bringing out the decorations means of course we had record crowds. The sidewalk was packed and we had given away 20lbs of candy by 7:30. Luckily Uncle Turtle had reserves and we made it through the night without having to close down. We estimate that we had more than 300 trick-or-treaters this year.