December 23

We have made it to Mimi & Papa's house!  The kids are getting very excited and Jackson is learning that presents don't unwrap themselves, so when a present of his is unwrapped under the tree, he is caught. Three year olds are THEE best.

Magic is in the air!  The last presents have been bought!  Mema is here! Christmas 2014, let's do this! 

December 21

Mimi set us up for an ambitious 1st day of Christmas vacation by sending us 50 feet up into the air to go on a rad ropes course and zip lining!  The adults went on the treetop course for 1.5 hours while Mimi managed all 6 of our children on the kids course.  We all had a blast, and despite Jackson's tears and fear of tight rope walking while strapped to a harness (at 3 yrs old) he ended up LOVING the zip lining and went three times! 

Such a fun day!  Thank you Mimi! 

December Daily 22

Going to bed with a five & three year old on vacation:

Both asleep successfully.
Five year old wakes up and wants a cookie.
Cries because she doesn't get a cookie.
Put her back in bed.
Three year old wakes up to go poop.
Both back in bed.
Three year old wakes up and crawls in bed with us.
Five year old cries that she's sleeping alone now.

I just wanna sleeep.

Peaceful sleeping photo NOT from tonight, obviously..

December Daily 15

Christmas cookies!!!

Yesterday we made the sugar cookie dough, cut them out and baked them, and today was the fun (messy/crazy/insane) part...decorating!   Sugar cookies are a lot of work.  And extra credit for making them dairy free.  But they were worth it, the kids loved every part.

And this cute girl is OVER THE MOON excited to be a Flower Girl in March!!

Oh, and it's stillllll raining here. The end of our three year drought is upon us. The backyard is a small pond, our fountain is overflowing, and we need a boat in our master bedroom. We are the new Seattle. 

December Daily 14

Our day was full and lovely.  We went to church and listened to a meaningful message about God showing up & meeting us right where we're at -- and would you believe as soon as we got home we got a call with news we had been waiting for.  We got the house we were hoping for.  God showed up and we knew it. After such a stressful, rainy, leaky, uncertain week, we got exactly what we needed: resolution and peace about our next steps.  

In the good, in the bad, God shows up. And it's real & rad. 

December Daily 13

Today, we played.

Our cute town brought in SNOW for the kids to play in today.  Real, freezing, hard snow!  California kids went crazy for the stuff and we sledded until we could feel fingers no more...

And then we birthday partied in the neighborhood with amazinggg bubbles.

Proof of a rad day is listening to both kids cry because they want to sleep with each other tonight. 

December Daily 12

Another day home from school today, even though it barely rained. The rest of the country is laughing at our school closures for light rain.  But...we aren't complaining! We took the kids to Petaluma and somehow always end up at Lala's. It was a very interesting lession in social studies to see just how many different kinds of people eat ice cream on  a Friday afternoon, during a "storm" in December.  A lot!

December Daily 11

The kids are off from school due to our BIG STORM!  The storm has actually not proven to be as big as suspected, but we are home nonetheless watching the rain fall.  And dealing with our leaky master bedroom, which is loads of fun for everyone. We are spending the time baking Christmas cookies for my holiday party {which was canceled due to the BIG STORM}. And playing games.   And looking through the giant stack of Chatbooks that arrived today.  Use my code 99QNZ6KZ and get your first Chatbook free :)  

Tomorrow's goal is to get a manicure and find a new place to live.  One small task, one life-changing task.  

Also, thankful for online shopping in this season, can I get an amen?

December Daily 10

10 Things About December 10:

1) We are preparing for the "Storm of the Decade" in the Bay Area

2) Preparations include flashlights, chips & salsa, new board games and ingredients to bake cookies

3) Californians are wimps, we do better in sunshine 

4) Thank God we don't have to deal with storms on a regular basis 

5) With all the storm prep, we almost forgot to go to Lucca's ballet class, but remembered just in time and were only 15 mins late

6) Rustin working from home right now is very amazing & special. This extra time spent with the kids has been incredibly impactful and the best memories are being made. 

7) We ate egg salad sandwiches for dinner.  Fancy!

8) The laughter that came from the kids while playing Operation for the 1st time was the absolute best sound in the world

9) I got all our Christmas cards sent out!

10) Angels We Have Heard on High just took the place of O Holy Night for my favorite traditional Christmas carol 

December Daily 9

       Bedtime Carols sung by Lucca

We are all piled on Jackson's bed while Lucca sings us Christmas carols before bed. My personal favorite was on the fourth Day of Christmas, when her true love gave her a... chicken?  May I always remember Lulu singing the song that most precious way. ❤️

December Daily 8

For the past few nights, we've loaded up the kids after dinner and hit the best Christmas houses around town. The Mickey Mouse House is a tradition now and the kids LOVE it!

December Daily 7

Santa Found!!! At a house in Novato?!

Lucca wants tape & dress-up clothes and Jackson wants planes (shocking!) for Christmas.  

Christmas with kids = the best.

December Daily 6

N U T C R A C K E R ! ! ! 

Took these beauties to see the Nutcracker and had a lovely time.  Giggling, whispering, cookies, ballerinas, HIGH HEELS ... such an amazing time spent with Lucca and sweet friends.

(Lucca's first pair of heels, which she is allowed to wear three times: Nutcracker, Christmas Chapel and CHRISTMAS!)  #dreamcometrue

December Daily 5

It hasn't stopped raining for five days, so the kids decided to go outside and play in it anyway!  We miss our big golden sun, but are trying to be thankful for all the rain since we need it so badly.  I let the kids play and get drenched and then to the warm bath they went!

Jackson has been requesting we make a "Christmas Countdown" so we made paper chains...

It's certainly feeling Christmas-y around here and I love it!   

December Daily 4

For today's post, I'm choosing not to post photos of our master bedroom that has major flooding as a result of the 4.5" of rain we have received in the last day.  Amidst the chaos happening, we are choosing joy. And thinking about where to move next :)

These two, thinking they are so cool sitting in the wayyyy back today. 

Thankful every day for my girl and boy and their sibling relationship.  So happy they have each other.

Silliness before bedtime that makes me crazy, but is so dang precious that I have to take a pic.

And to hoping they sleep past 6AM tomorrow...

December Daily 3

Jackson can be found at any given moment over by the tree talking to Mr. Christmas.  

What? 

Your tree doesn't light up and sing 12 different Christmas carols by request? 

And Lucca, our very own sugar plum fairy.

December Daily 2

Elfie is back!  Our latino elf from the North Pole.

Jackson doesn't get it, or care, but Lucca (and all her classmates) are ALL ABOUT THE ELVES.

Tonight we are setting up a super secret spy camera to try and catch Elfie flying around the house while we sleep.  You can only imagine the excitement around here.  Thanks to Daddy's new GoPro, Project CATCH THE ELF is in full effect.

December Daily 1

December Daily: A photo a day in December to capture bits and pieces of Christmas magic.  My favorite season! And this year (minus sitting & losing in traffic court today) is off to a good start!  My husband hung the lights on the house!  FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!  Amazing.  Happy wife, happy life.

And Coco? She's happy too and even makes signs about it.  After creating this I Love December sign, she went and invited the neighbors to come look at our beautiful lights.  And they did.  The excitement is in the air!!