Christmas/USS Iowa Battleship

Christmas morning Connor was much more eager to go downstairs than last year (last year we had to talk him into checking out his loot).  This year he was the first one down stairs after me.  I thought I took pictures, but apparently not as this was the only one on my camera...oh well.  The kids fared pretty well.  Connor's stuff is on the left, then daddy's, mommy's and Chloe's is on the right.  The stockings that I didn't finish last year, I once again didn't finish this year.  I made sure I got the needlepoint part done for everyone and then couldn't figure out how to get the cuff on the stocking, so hence the names are all missing from them.  My mom told me she would help me this week, so next year they'll be ready :)

As for other gifts-Connor got a new Twenty Trucks shirt and the second DVD of Truck Tunes, Candyland, a cement mixer, a cherry picker truck, a memory game, books, apron, a dinosaur pillow pet, pajamas and a bucket of gears.  Chloe got an elephant ball popper, a vacuum, clothes, a shopping cart, pajamas, a frog and a doll.   Peter got some shirts, and a pajama shirt.  I got a foot massager and some jewelry.  Together we got a Roku, a gift card for dinner out and sonicare toothbrushes.

We did Christmas morning at our own house.  Then my parents, Josh and Bubba came over for breakfast and to see what we got.  We gave them their presents then as well.  After they left Chloe napped and the rest of us played with our goodies.  Later we went to Sean and Amy's house for dinner and present exchange with cousins.

On the 26th Abbie and Rafe came into town and we spent the day with them and E and P were also in town.  We had a great Christmas break!

Today we went to the USS Iowa Battleship in San Pedro.  David, Peter, Connor, Chloe and I enjoyed the battleship.  On the drive there Chloe puked in her car seat.  At one point Connor announces that it smells back there and then the fumes wafted up to the front seat....it was pretty bad.  We arrived and I changed Chloe while Peter cleaned out the seat.  Then we went in and enjoyed the battleship. 

Connor as Chief of Staff

We had a great time, Peter is already talking about going and seeing it again, he picked up several buy one get one free passes.  The weather held up pretty well for us.  It was a bit chilly, but it didn't rain while we were there, which was nice.  On our way home it rained pretty hard.  We stopped for lunch at Cafe Rio, one of Peter's favorite places (we still don't know why there are no locations near us).  Then we got back in the puke smelling car and drove home.  Once home I showered Chloe and then we took the car seat apart and threw it in the washing machine.  The shell needed to be hosed off, but since it was raining I put it out in the rain to get washed off.

Ugly Sweater/Graham Cracker Houses

Friday was my last day of work for two weeks.  That evening my work held their annual holiday work party and ornament exchange at Carvers.  This year they added in an ugly sweater contest and said there would be a prize for the ugliest sweater.  Many teachers set out to make an ugly sweater, some bought one, and some went with festive sweaters.  One of my co-workers suggested that I pin a bunch of my teddy bears to a sweater, and so I did.  While looking for the smallest bears in my collection, I realized most were Christmas bears, so I purposely pinned all of my small Christmas bears to one of my sweaters.  It was awesome!  I walked into Carvers and the people at the front all agreed mine was the best.  One guy walked us to our room and announced to everyone that the competition was over that I had won it.  Awhile later the same guy came back to pick the winner.  Each staff member had to stand and display their sweater.  If you wore a shirt and not a sweater, he disqualified you.  It came down to me and two others, one got disqualified because she took it off and didn't wear it the whole time.  Then it was down to me and the music teacher.  I liked his.  He found a Christmas vest at goodwill and glued silver tinsel around the edges and then spelled out Joy on the back in gold tinsel.  It was pretty awesome.  The guy wanted to call it a tie, but my boss said there was only one prize.....so then he decided that I was the favorite.  Woohoo!  I won bragging rights, a certificate and $50.

Saturday my mom and I went shopping.  I promptly spent my winnings and some more on Christmas gifts, but can say I pretty much started and nearly finished my shopping that day.  I ordered a few things online for the kids as well.  Saturday evening we had cousins over for our annual graham cracker house makings and a trip down Christmas Card Lane.  The festivities got underway a little late, we ate dinner, did Christmas Card Lane and then all the kids fell promptly to sleep.  We divided up the candy and everyone took home their houses undecorated. 

Today Connor and I decorated houses.  I decorated Chloe's and she had a great time eating it afterwards.  Connor decorated his own, let me take a picture and then plucked all the candies off and ate them.  Chloe basically ate the whole thing.

Tomorrow will likely consist of waiting for the garbage truck and making crafts.

School walk-a-thon/Beach day

The week before Thanksgiving week Connor participated in his school's walk-a-thon.  This year the theme was Trot for Turf.  We have tried countless times to grow grass on one of our playgrounds and it never lasts.  So we raised money for some artificial turf to go on one of our playgrounds as part of our soccer field.  Connor had a great time running his laps, and I snuck away from my class to watch him participate in his first walk-a-thon.  We had a great time. 

Every time he ran by me he had a giant grin on his face.  He was loving it!  

A couple days after the walk-a-thon, our school had our annual Thanksgiving Feast.  I was able to go to Connor's class and enjoy the feast next to him.  We had turkey, tater tots, apple sauce (made by Connor's class), carrots, cornbread muffins (made by the 4th and 5th graders) and a pumpkin bar dessert made by the 2nd and 3rd graders.  The feast was delicious and I loved getting to enjoy it with Connor.

Then we had a week off of school which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Connor loved waiting for the garbage truck on Tuesday and helped me clean the house for guests.  For Thanksgiving Peter cooked the bird and two pies.  He made pumpkin chiffon and apple cranberry pies.  He made an extra pumpkin chiffon and traded with Sean and Amy for a key lime pie.  We had dinner at my parents' house.  Abbie and Rafe were there and so were E and P.  Chloe showed off her walking skill/s to everyone.  She began taking steps unassisted about 2 weeks prior, but would often fall down and then resort to crawling.  This time she would fall and stand back up again.

On Friday my dad, Abbie, Rafe, Peter, Connor, Chloe and I headed to Del Mar Beach for some fun in the sun.  It's sad to say that we've taken Connor to the beach only a handful of times and live practically 20 minutes away.  Chloe had never been before and she loved the sand as much as Connor did, maybe more.

Who made this mess?  

Connor's reaction, "Chloe did it."

 She has chips in her mouth.

 Look at my new moves...I can walk now!

 Building castles together...or big muddy messes.

 Have no fear, she doesn't have black eyes...she's coated in sand .

Before getting into the car we stripped this little sand monster and gave her a new diaper.  Then after getting home everyone took a much needed shower.

Chloe has a knack for emptying out my purse...this time she found a brand new toothbrush.

Day off of work

On Tuesday we had a day off from school.  Connor "helped" me put away clean clothes by fork lifting my folded piles into the laundry basket thus unfolding them and creating more work for me.
All Connor wanted to do today was wait for the garbage trucks.  Everything else could wait, the garbage trucks were way more important than an outing to the park, running errands or going for a walk.  The first truck came around 10:30 or so, while waiting for it to turn around on the next street and come back up our street the second trash truck arrived and flipped around and so we saw it twice.  We kept waiting and waiting for the first truck to come back up our street and so yes all errands were put on hold.  Finally the truck came back up our street around 1:15, and then Connor fell asleep on two chairs at 1:30.  It's exhausting waiting for the garbage truck to arrive.
Chloe napped from 1-4, Connor napped from 1:30-2:30.  While waiting we played with playdoh, cleaned, made messes, organized the cupboards out of Chloe's reach and broke a few items while we cleaned.  Connor managed to break the dustpan, which has since made cleaning the floor a bit interesting.  And Chloe broke a corningware dish.  Chloe also rearranged the DVDs at least twice...which is a regular occurrence.  Chloe has also rearranged all of our plastic tupperware stuff, she found where I kept the muffin cup liners and played with just about all of them, she decorated the kitchen floor with bibs and then mommy finally put her in her highchair for snacks while she cleaned up each mess.  I fell asleep around 7pm exhausted on the couch, got up to go to bed and then slept soundly until my alarm went off at 6:30am.  Having the day off of work is so exhausting!

Class Field Trip

A couple weeks ago I got the opportunity to go with Connor on his class field trip to the pumpkin patch.  Pretty much every child had a parent with them.  The kids had a blast.  They went on a wagon ride, ran through the corn maze, posed for a couple of pictures, picked out a pumpkin, had a snack and went back to school in time for sharing time and morning recess.  They had a great time.

It's tough getting 20 kids to all look the same way.

Here's the pumpkin we took home.  We anxiously await carving it in a couple days.

Here's a few cute pictures of the kiddos.

Chloe is 14 months old and on the verge of walking.  She'll stand up to anything, or really nothing at all.  She also enjoys pushing objects around the house.

This past Saturday was our work fall festival (Halloween Carnival).  Chloe loved this booth the best and wanted to stay there the whole time.  When we pulled her away she reached and lunged her way back towards the water table until daddy decided to go back.  Connor and I wandered to a few more booths.  We all had a great time.

Oktoberfest/Sea World

About two weeks ago we went to the El Cajon Oktoberfest.  They fly in a band from Germany and their Oktoberfest lasts for two weekends.  The kids had a great time dancing with daddy.

Connor and Chloe loved posing for a picture.

Mommy and Daddy tried it out too.

We had a great time and came home with several yummy desserts.

Then on Saturday we went to Sea World for their Halloween Spooktacular.  You could come dressed up for Halloween and trick or treat around the park at specially designed candy booths scattered throughout the park.  Connor went as a garbage man with a hard hat.  The hat was too big, but while cruising around in the stroller, he proudly wore it.  Connor's only wish for the day was to go on the flying elmos, spinning jellyfish and some rocking thing.  He had a great time!  Our passes expired two days later, so we were glad to get in one more fun trip to Sea World.  I think we'll get year passes again in two years.  Or perhaps sooner, Connor really had a great time going.

We came home with exhausted, sugared kids who had a great time.  We still have some of the candy left over too.

This house is full of surprises!

So today we had a company start digging up the concrete in our backyard.  We realized that the spa that used to be in our backyard was filled in with cinder blocks and then concrete was poured over the top....ugh what a mess!

Peter and my dad took down the gazebo Tuesday and Wednesday night.

 After they took out all the nuts/bolts/nails, they tried to push it over and it fell straight through the posts.

 Above is what is left of the shack that was knocked down several weeks ago.  Now it holds all the gazebo pieces.  The bobcat loader took down part of the walls in order to get into our backyard.  Less work for us to do later on.

 Here's the area that was broken up today.  More work will take place tomorrow.

 Connor and I missed all the fun, so we took a picture next to the bobcat.  He'll likely skip school tomorrow to watch all the action since daddy has the day off of work.

1 Year Photo Shoot

Aunt Amy took these adorable photos of our One Year Old!

Happy 1st Birthday Chloe!

On Saturday we celebrated Chloe's birthday with my family.  Chloe got to dig into a big cake....and then Connor moved it away, as he wanted some too.

Mine?!

No, there aren't any pictures with cake all over the face...that didn't happen.  We cut her a piece and she picked it up in two pieces and threw it on the floor.  She was decently clean when she was done with her cake.

She was thrilled with the popcorn popper that she got from grandma and grandpa.  She also got a couple of 18 month outfits.

Saturday afternoon we picked up this awesome set of Geotrax from Craig's List...it was a great deal!

We swiped a set from my parents' house and then Mary gave me some, but when I saw the ad on Craig's List, we couldn't pass it up.  We had the cousins over for dinner on Sunday and it was a major hit.  I think it was also the first time that there were no major battles/fights between children.  In fact, the kids were having so much fun, the adults ate dinner first and let the kids play.  I think we'll leave the track all over the floor for awhile...it really is fun to play with at any age.

So Sunday, we had cousins over for another birthday dinner.  Chloe got some cute outfits and Aunt Amy is going to take 1 year old pictures for us next week.

Then today, we celebrated Chloe's actual birthday.  She got a fun dinosaur toy that sings several songs, a toy phone(Connor picked out and has said numerous times that he's going to share it with her, even though it's for her birthday.), some cute soft indoor shoes, pajamas and snack cups.

 Everyone thought the dinosaur was pretty cool.

 Feeding the dinosaur a carrot.

 Look at me, I'm ONE!