Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

I can do magic!

Happy Thanksgiving

It make look Sunny, but boy was it cold.  We woke up bright and early so we would be one time for the turkey bowl.  It was mostly the EQ playing football, but there was a small group of moms, kids, and dad playing their own football game.

After some fun on the field we moved to the swings and hang out as a family.  Sam was pretty quiet all morning, until I brought him his sun glasses.  Then we perked up.  His eyes are SO SUPER sensitive to the sun.

While Daniel entertained the kids at the park I went home to work on my Beehive lesson and get a few things straightened up for our small Thanksgiving feast.  But before our feast.....

We drove to the Santa Cruz mountains and found our Christmas tree.  It was colder than freezing cold.  Luckily we have the best Christmas tree picker-outer ever!  Bob just has a way with the trees.  We wondered around for a little while, before deciding we wanted a fat little tree.  We thought this would be good for the kids if there were a lot of low branches for the kids to hang the ornaments from. 

And here it is.  Daniel said his hands were killing him after he cut it down!  It was so cold!

One exciting part about the Christmas tree ranch is the little cart they lend out for carrying the tree back to one's car!  Everyone had a turn pulling the tree.  Ever Lu tried.

Another favorite part about today was this tire swing.  Bob pushed them WAY TOO high.  I am sure the kids would have broken something had they fallen.  But boy were they having fun.  I have a video that is hard to see, but you can hear the fun in their voices!

After bring our tree home we enjoyed a yummy Thankgiving meal with all the trimmings! I brought out the china, processed cranberry jelly, stuffing, real mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds, homemade rolls, pomagrannits, gravey (from a mix :()and Martinelles.  (except I bought a small Costco chicken instead of cooking my  own turkey)  We had a great time at dinner... together...just us!

But the best part of the dinner was the.... See's Chocolate Turkeys!!  This is Lu's third Thanksgiving in her WHOLE life.  I can't believe she is so excited for the choclate turkeys.  Look at the smile and these kids.

I believe this borders on lusting tukeys.  Bob on the other hand is eating his pumpkin pie so quickly the fork is blurry in the picture.

  I love him!

Bubb Thanksgiving

 

Kindergarten had there own Thanksgiving Feast.  Sam (with turkey hat) in front of the boy facing the camera with the red sweater on. 

Here is Sam's teacher Mrs. Sherman.  I admit I did not like her at the beginning of the year, but from what I have seen as I visit the other classrooms, she is GREAT.  She has a great handle on the kids in class and has the progressing nicely. 

After Sam's Thanksgiving feast, I went to Mr. Franklin's classroom to visit Olivia.  Mr. Franklin had some parents bring make a real Thanksgiving feast.  I made the Mashed potatoes and other parents brought other items.  Besides one pie and my mashers, ever other part of the meal was pre-made from the grocery store...bummer.  But I was grateful that Olivia did have a nice Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a fun day at school for the kids.

Here's my girl with her Thanksgiving Feast!  and that is the "greenware".  Yes it is made out of recylced garbage and we wash it and reuse it.  I am not a fan, but this teacher is so green it makes me sick!

contrast

I decided I liked the black hair, so I am leaving it dark for the winter months!

lu

I would have to say silence is not always a good things while I am cooking dinner.  Most times I find silence leads to disasters.  But sometimes it means the kids are deep into play.   Tonight I finished cooking dinner and found Lu outside playing by herself. (near Sam)  She set this whole "table" up with the cloth and piggy bank, then crawled inside to play.  So cute!

Gutter Sundae

After our Beehive scavenger hunt the girls made a rain gutter ice cream sundae.  It was like heaven.  The girls we so happy and crazed with sugar.  It was a great idea, Hilary.  I don't think I have seen a yummier sundae. Hey...what happened to the bananas?  I think they got voted off by the Oreos, caramel, and whipped cream. 

Cable Cars in the City

We had Veteran's Day off at school, so Sophie's dad, Mike, and I arranged to take our kids up the city and ride a cable car...well, mostly my kids--Sophie is an only child. Their was a LONG line, but the kids did not mind waiting.

Off we went.

Once we reached the end of the line, we found someplace to eat and window shopped our way to the end of a different cable car line.  

You guessed it!  Olivia got new sun glasses.  Look out Hollywood!  Once again we had to wait about an hour for a seat on the car. 

Olivia and Sophie love just hanging out talking and swinging.  They are good friends.  We had a great (long) day.

10.5 years

Ten and a half years ago Daniel asked me to marry him.  That weekend was Veteran's Day, so we took a train up to the city and just got to know each other.  Our train ride home was memorable ;)... we ran into one of Daniel's high school buddies and THEY talked the whole way home!  

 And here we are 10.5 years later- beautiful roses in an old broken down house with a broken fence (just to name one item), and bank owned home next door! But we really do have a wonderful life full of good health and stability.  Above the roses you can see a cute, happy little bee made by our daughter!   What a life.

Natural Bridges Park, Santa Cruz

Olivia scored both ways on the bus.  On the way to the park she got the very back seat and on the way home she got the first seat.  It was a lot of fun to go with Olivia and her class.  She loved having me with her.  That made me feel good. 

Natural Bridges is a Monarch Butterfly reserve.  There were hundreds of butterflies to see.  We found an injured one by the path.  

After a quick lecture from the park ranger and a quick walk through the reserve we had lunch and spent most of the time playing on the beach.  Mr. Franklin is a fun teacher.  I can see why all the kids love him.  He loves to play WITH them.