#31 Happy New Year!

We spent our final day of 2013 hanging out in the city, having fun, shopping, lunching, people watching...!  We love showing the kids our old stomping grounds and finding new places to explore together.  We toasted Good Riddance to 2013 with delicious margaritas at a place called Colibri, phenomenal Mexican food a few blocks from Union Square.  The kids loved the huge Christmas tree and watching the ice skaters on the square.

Tonight we had a pajama party and let the kids stay up til 9 (!!!) to watch the ball drop.  Even though they didn't even show the ball drop on TV. Whoops.  But we had fun. We played a game of candy memory waiting for midnight (9pm) and ate raspberries with our sparkly party crowns on.  I sure do love my sweet girl + boy.

And their dad.. 

Happy 2014!  May it be even better than 2013.  We are making a long list of dreams, goals, hopes & desires for 2014 and have nothing but the best expectations for a solid year ahead.  

December Daily #30

Our day started out like this...

...Cleaning out the Playroom!!!  We did a major overhaul to purge & make room for new stuff.  It was a big job.

So then we rewarded ourselves with this...

...A little boogie over to the breathtaking Marin Headlands.  

What a beautiful spot in the world we live in. We packed a picnic lunch and went down to the beach to eat & chase waves.    The kids also loved driving through Fort Cronkhite and seeing the barracks and military posts that have been preserved.  Lucca made the correlation between soldiers who served long ago & the old army men she saw in the 4th of July parade, realizing who those guys were that got to ride on the floats. Pretty special to talk about with her. 

It was a beautiful day, and tomorrow?  Take down the Christmas tree!

December Daily #29

Christmas morning Round 2

A happy little shrinky dinker

And the most useful/thoughtful/comical gift from my father-in-law, due to my minor cooking mishap earlier this month that landed me in the ER.

Twas a good Christmas this year!!!  

December Daily #28

Best Christmas gift ever?  These lavender light-up roller skates we got Lucca.  She just can't get enough of them, and keeps telling us, "I can't believe I got these!"  

I hope she always remembers getting skates when she was 4.  She's so precious.

December Daily #27

Today was spent celebrating Grammie & Pops 38th wedding anniversary.  We headed to their favorite winery in Amador County for a tasting and fabulous picnic on a gorgeous 65 degree December day.  Not quite the same setting as the actual day of their wedding in freezing, snowy South Dakota.

Thanks Mom & Dad for continuing to show us a great example of love & commitment after all these years.  We are  thankful.

December Daily #26

We had the best time hanging out with this girl today!  Sierra is so beautiful, smart, polite, fun, great with the kids and has big dreams of going to Juilliard in New York for college so she can one day be a Broadway star.  Love my Canadian niece so much!!!

December Daily #25 ... CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Day 2013 in iPhone pics

It was a good day.

Christmas Eve! December Daily #24

Christmas magic is in full effect.  And I'm loving every gosh darn second of it this year.  Christmas is so much better with children.

The kids at church tonight

Loving some Sierra time!

Santa (and Jackson) snacks

Cutest kids.

Rock & Roll church.

See what I mean? Guilty every time.

Putting Baby Jesus in the nativity 

My favorite night of the year!!!

December Daily #23

Merry Christmas Eve eve!  Today we hit the ice rink in downtown Folsom for some ice skating in the warm sun.  Jackson last about 20 feet on the ice before the crying, but at least he tried it again!  

Lucca LOVES it.

Our Brian Boitano husbands :)

Lucky girls, lucky husbands!

Tonight we walked around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights, and the sweetest moment of all was when the four big kids stopped to check out baby Jesus.  

Only two more days:)

December Daily #22

We loved having the Swishers at our house the past few days!   We are not so secretly trying to lure them to move to California someday. Thankfully our December weather is cooperating with our mission. Today was a gorgeous day for a little nearby hiking...

And balance beam walking...

And dancing...

And playing...

And tonight we moved the party to Grammie & Pops house where the real Christmas magic will happen.  

Only three more days!