The Days Leading Up To Christmas

These days we're keeping very busy as we prepare for the upcoming holidays.  We've had cold but incredibly sunny weather for several weeks, and we realized we haven't been to our favorite park since Anabelle has been a proficient walker.  It's so much fun to walk hand in hand.


Anabelle climbed all over the play structure and loved going down the slide.


We need some more constructive outlets at home for Anabelle's love of climbing, as you can see.  We ended up scoring a great Little Tykes play structure for FREE on craigslist, which has yet to be assembled.  Unlike the bigger one we already have, this one is perfect for little kids Anabelle's age.  Can't wait to get it set up!


Vita has been enjoying lots of time doing arts and crafts, and in particular is refining her abilities with scissors.



We also had a visit with Ernie's sister Jennifer and cousin Dan.


We had a great time, despite the fact that Ernie was sick.  We let him sleep it off, and didn't let that stop our fun.



The girls LOVED being pulled around the house on a blanket.  To this day, any time Anabelle sees this blanket she jumps on top of it, and gets upset if you don't take her on a ride around the house.


Later on we started a nice little fire.  Vita helped chop up some kindling.


We snuggled by the fire, and talked about Santa Claus coming down the chimney.


Vita is so excited about Christmas, and I get the sense she's starting to think it's taking so long that it will never  really come.

So close, Vita.  

Just two and half more days...

Vita's Pirate Birthday... Arrrgh!

This year for her fourth birthday, Vita had a Pirate Party!  Ernie and Grandma Victoria got there early to set up.  Here's Ernie guarding the park.


As guests arrived, each got a pirate hat, patch, and inflatable sword.  Then, Vita would escort them to the ship.  (The park actually has a pirate ship themed play structure, which is why we chose this location.)


A couple of real pirates attended the party!  Here's Captain Mike playing with the kids.


Lots of Vita's friends from school came to the party.  Here's one of Vita's very best friend Cleo!  They have so much fun together!  The reason Vita is a little blurry in this photo is because she was actually in mid air, jumping for joy.  Seriously, she is.


Captain Mike led the kids on a very exciting and dangerous adventure...  Mike found an ancient scroll with a clue that led to a treasure chest hidden at the park.  (Amazing coincidence, don't you think?)  Each clue led the kids to the next clue...


The kids really had to listen closely to solve the complicated riddles and find the next clue.


They were great at it, and here they are re-grouping at the bow of the ship where they found the next clue.


The next clue was at the statue...


The final clue was at the water fountain...  which led them to...


The hidden treasure chest, which was found in the shrubs near some trees! The treasure chest was filled with "goody bags" filled with pirate related stuff for the kids, and some chocolate.  (If you think this picture isn't well composed, then I suggest YOU try to get a pirate and a whole gang of kids to look and smile at the same time.)  Look closely at Vita's face in this picture, and you'll see her cheeks are about to explode off of her face.  She had SO MUCH FUN!


Meanwhile, my other little pirate was in good spirits the whole time, despite the noise and commotion and the cold weather.  In fact, she wanted to run and play with all the older kids.


After the treasure hunt, we all had pizza... sang happy birthday, and ate pirate cupcakes.  Vita beamed as her friends sang to her.


The party took a bit of a turn when we realized that Vita was actually a brain eating zombie pirate!  (Or perhaps she's just a bit messy when eating red velvet cake... I can't remember the details.)


Soon it was cold and dark, so we headed home with all of Vita's "loot".  Vita made out like a bandit.  She opened one gift that night, but we waited until the next morning (her birthday) to open the rest.  Just look at this haul!


Moments later, gifts were unwrapped and Vita played with everything all at once.


Mid afternoon, Vita crashed from all the excitement... with toy and birthday card in hand.


Later on, with Vita's birthday celebration behind us, Christmas preparations officially began with lights and a Christmas tree.

PS - Many many many thanks to my pirate friends Mike and Jackie for making this a very special birthday celebration that Vita and her friends will "treasure" for years to come.  

Thankful

We have all been sick, on and off, since last Sunday night. We were so disappointed to have to cancel our Thanksgiving trip to Los Angeles at the last minute, but we had no choice... as many of us have been fighting some sort of flu with high fevers, body aches, and coughs.

Instead, we have been staying in our pajamas all day. Anabelle is starting to get old enough to play games of pretend, and she mimics what she sees the rest of us do. Vita is so sweet and encourages her as she learns to play tea party. At one point I overheard Vita say "Thanks Anabelle! This sock tea and piece of lint is delicious."


We have been taking long three hour mid-day naps (even those of us who don't nap anymore).


We've been playing with dolls. Anabelle is working on being able to put clothes on the dolls. At this point, she takes clothes from her own drawers and tangles Vita's doll in a mess of sleeves and pant legs, places her in the doll bed, and pats her gently with a big grin on her face. I wish I had a picture of THAT.


Or sometimes, she throws the doll out of the doll bed and climbs in herself (which is why a certain much fancier doll cradle has been placed out of her reach until she knows better).


Vita has been learning more computer skills, including having a bit of fun with Photoshop.


We have also been sneaking in extra snuggles while the kids are too weak to resist.


The end of Thanksgiving does mark the beginning of the Christmas season, which has not gone unnoticed here. We're already singing Christmas songs, reading Christmas books, and working on our letters to Santa.


Finally, we're also getting ready for Vita's pirate themed birthday party next week. We made these cute invitations tied up into a scroll (with burned edges of course) and placed them in recycled plastic bottles with sand at the bottom to look like a message in a bottle. They were a big hit with the kids at school! (Note to self, when you make cute invitations, the kids notice them in the school cubbies, and then you end up having to invite the entire school to avoid hurt feelings. This can be avoided in future years by putting the invitations in plain white envelopes.) 

So much to look forward to!

The Calm Before The Storm

The next six weeks will bring Thanksgiving, Vita's birthday, Christmas and New Years... but it has been nice to have some downtime between the excitement of Anabelle's birthday and Halloween two weeks ago, and the upcoming holiday season.

Last weekend I used a "groupon" to get a really good deal on a professional family photo shoot. I just got the proofs tonight, and some of them came out really well. There are no family shots where we are ALL smiling, but three out of four is pretty good. (Excuse the photographer's logo at the bottom right, that will be gone when we get the official set of pictures.)


Also, this is a beautiful shot of the girls.


OK, now back to the non-professional photos, mostly taken on phones.  Here's Vita with a lady bug.  She let this lady bug crawl around on her for over a half an hour, watching intently.


Here's Vita with a friend at some one's birthday party in a park.  It's really cute to watch the social interactions of the kids become more meaningful, and to watch as real friendships start to develop.


And finally, here are the two girls in their room playing.  Strangely, Anabelle is usually the one doing the tackling and Vita is usually the one getting tackled.  She doesn't seem to mind.

Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween today.  The day started off with a preschool parade.  It was fun to see all the kids dressed up, but trying to keep them organized was like herding cats.  I especially loved all the kids holding hands as they walked down the block.  Vita dressed up like a black cat.


There were a couple attempts to take a group shot.


Anabelle went to school dressed as a skeleton.  Today was a big day for Anabelle, as she is starting to transition out of the baby room and into the toddler room at school.


Grandma Victoria came over dressed as a witch, and joined Ernie and Vita for some trick-or-treating in downtown Santa Cruz in the afternoon.


Anabelle and I stayed home, and had a little photo shoot in her other costume... a bee.






Vita came back from trick-or-treating with LOTS of candy, and she was excited to join up with her friend Maddie for more trick-or-treating in her neighborhood.


One last photo and Victoria, Vita and I headed out for the evening, while Ernie stayed home with Anabelle.


At Maddie's house, we met up with more friends.  Vita looks like she is wearing scary Halloween teeth, but really she has a mouth full of crackers.  Somehow, I didn't get a photo of Vita and Maddie together, but here's Vita with some of Maddie's friends.


Vita was so cute saying "Trick or Treat" in her tiny little girl voice.


We trick or treated until past Vita's usual bedtime, and headed back home with a VERY FULL bucket of candy.