Christmas finally came

We had a wonderful Christmas at our home.  We have been blessed beyond belief.  We made sure that Rhone knew he didn't get to run out and look at the gifts without waking up Mom and Dad first.  Growing up, we always had a family prayer on Christmas morning before opening gifts and I think that is an important tradition to carry on.  We headed out to see if Santa came as a family (well Sylvie was still sleeping sweetly in her crib).  Rhone played with his Santa gifts and opening his stocking.  When Sylvie finally woke up,we had a yummy french toast casserole hot out of the oven.  Sylvie got a turn to play with her gifts from Santa.  After that we opened gifts, face timed with family, and just enjoyed our whole day together as a family.  It was a pretty low key Christmas, but it was perfect for our little family and it was fun watch Sylvie celebrate her first Christmas.  (See the funny picture of Rhone holding up undies.  We are working on being grateful for all gifts that we receive. He laughed and said that was so silly of that elf :)

Christmas Eve

We had our own little Christmas Eve celebration.  We cooked our nice meal on Christmas Eve this year, so on Christmas Day we could just enjoy the day and left overs.  We had clues set out for Rhone about the symbols of Christmas to go on a hunt to find thier gifts (always jammies).  We spent some time with our little people Nativity Set talking about the Saviors birth and we talked about the similarities between Jesus and Santa.  Finally the kids got to open 2 more presents.  They each got a dream light and a fleece disney blanket with a character and their names on it for bed.  We snuggled on the couch and watched a movie all together and then headed to bed.  Every Christmas Eve when I look around in the quiet of our home, I am in awe of the goodness of life and all the blessings God has given our little family.  

A Birthday Party

I tried hard to make sure that Christmas is about the Saviors birth, not Santa.  It's hard with little ones and the Santa excitement.  This year we did a few fun activities and we decided to have a birthday party for Jesus.  Rhone was pretty pretty excited about this.  I made this delicious chocolate cake (absolutely worth all the work).  We invited our neighbors over to help us celebrate.  They have 5 kids, so that makes it feel like a real party.  All the younger kids took a turn blowing out candles.  Fun to celebrate with friends and nice to have a night about being together and remember our blessings instead of worrying about toys and gifts.

Santa rolled through the neighborhood on a fire truck one evening.  I went out in my skiing base layer, not realizing the whole neighborhood would be there.  I am sure I made an impression in my wool socks and tights.  Ha.  Rhone went right up to Santa and hugged him.  Sylvie cried.

Jesus' birthday cake

The candle blowing party.

Sylvie's 1st Christmas ornament.

My adorable kids being silly.

Trying to get a picture.  We took so many.  This one is especially funny.

We finally got an adorable one.  Notice that it's a different Sunday!  Doesn't Sylvie look grown up here?

Tahoe Ski Trip

We squeezed in a trip to Tahoe right before Christmas.  There is a really small resort up there that caters to families.  We were able to get a great rate with the Air Force.  Rhone and Ben got to enjoy the hot tub, while I stayed in the room with fussy/teething Sylvie.  I was sad to miss out on the peaceful beauty of fresh snow.  The next morning we had a gourmet breakfast at the lodge.  It was included and it was yummy.  The weather was crazy and snow was coming down in sheets.  It took us 5 hours to make the 2 hour drive up there (mostly because of the chain laws in CA).  All the fresh powder made it rough skiing for a little guy, but he was brave and had a great time.  It is so fun to watch my kids learn something new.  Sylvie was a real trooper and spent the whole time in the back pack carrier. There was great Mexican food at the little warming hut.  Next time we go we need to spend 2 nights so that Ben can get in some real skiing and Sylvie can nap in the hotel.  It was a gorgeous place and truly got us in the mood for Christmas.

She is such a trooper.  Thank heavens for the shade turned snow canopy.

The 1960 Winter Olympics were held at Squaw Valley right down the road from where we stayed.

Can you believe that in an hours drive from the winter wonderland we can buy fresh from the tree mandarins?  California Agriculture is really new and interesting to me.

Down Town Sacramento

So I have been blogging from my iPhone in an attempt to stay current while trying to catch up from Christmas. So the pictures aren't awesome and I can't add captions but I can blog in the car which is pretty awesome so please put up with my phone posts.

On Monday we took advantage if the MLK holiday and headed to Sacramento. We ate lunch at a European bakery and cafe called Ettore's. It was delicious. And we scored free cake and cookies since it was our 1st time there.

Next we headed to the train museum. It was filled with real trains downstairs and model and toy trains upstairs. Rhone had a great time running around and exploring. We finished the day strolling through Old Town and sipping on a free Jamba Juice on the drive home. We even scored a free Red Box rental. It was a pretty fun day for our little family.

Grass Valley Day

Last Time we were in grass Valley I ordered some hand made Quail. I try to pick out something local and handmade from every place we live. And this cute little quail family of four seemed like the perfect thing for California.

Today we headed out there to pick them up. We got lunch at a fun local place. And went on a hike. Rhone had a great time using his new birthday Camelback. We saw mushrooms, trees, birds, snow, and cool ice formations and all sorts of other things. We had a great time on our little get away day.

9 months

Sweet little Sylvie is changing so fast.  She is such a smiley baby.  She is always a show stopper when we are out.  I think she could get almost anything she wanted with that smile.  Ben took her in for her check up and She is a little below average in height and weight.  She weighs only about 18 lbs.  It is so strange to have a baby who actually fits in the close for her assigned age.  Sylvie is a great eater and wants whatever we are eating.  In fact, she is much easier to please than Mr. Rhone.  She LOVES jamba juice.  If you take that cup away from her, there is instant tears.  At 9 months she finally decided to start crawling.  We love this little lady with all our hearts, her big brother does too.  

 

Sylvie and her shrinking kangaroo

Rhone likes to get in on  our little photo shoots too :)