Visiting Santa at Disneyland

I love Disneyland at Christmas time- it is even more magical than usual.

Vance wanted to go on Splash Mountain first, even though it was very chilly that morning. Tevye, Calee, Caden, and Vance rode Splash (I stayed off to watch the baby, take their picture, and stay dry) twice in a row.

Everyone knows that the real Santa takes time out of his very busy schedule to greet children at Disneyland. We try to pay him a visit every year, and thanks to Tevye's very generous mom, we have been able to do that again this year. As always, Caden and Vance lived up to our expectations of cuteness. Caden asked for a Lego Republic Frigate, and Vance, after practicing how to pronounce it for several weeks with Caden, asked for the Lego AT-TE Walker with the Drop Ship.

Danica had woken up right before they opened the Santa line, and I knew that she would be expecting to eat. If you know her at all, you know that she is a calm baby- calm unless she is hungry. She seemed to still be happy, so Tevye and I decided to get the Santa visit over first and feed her after since we were first in line. Pluto led Vance by the hand all the way up to Santa. The boys went first, then Danica. At first she looked at him and had no problem. But, the longer she sat there, the more aware she became that Santa had no intention of giving her a bottle. That is when she lost it. So, to the random observer of Danica's Santa photo, it appears that she was scared of Santa. No- she was just mad at him for starving her.

At lunch time, Caden came up to Tevye and said, "Dad, my tooth is making it hard to eat." So, he asked Tevye to pull out his loose tooth (he lost the other one the week prior). I am pretty sure the other diners were thrilled to watch as Caden's mouth started bleeding.

After a long time of not riding roller coasters due to pregnancy, I was so happy to finally be able to do so again. Space Mountain is still my favorite!

Danica really enjoyed the Ariel (Little Mermaid) ride in Californa Adventures. Her eyes were taking in all of the brilliant colors, and I think that she enjoyed the music. We were happy that Aunt Calee was able to share that ride with her.

Finally, I have found the excersice program that I would happily follow- walking around Disneyland all day. That was the most excercise I have had since my early pregnancy, and my body was screaming at me by the end of the day. Unfortunately, Disneyland is a gym that is way too expensive for me to join!

We were so happy that Tevye had the day off to come with us! The boys fought over who would ride with him on each ride. I didn't mind being left in the dust (because the other one would choose Aunt Calee over me), because I have had plenty of opportunities to go with them while Tevye has not. I am also grateful that Kree was able to help with Danica.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving vacation, the kids and I spent a few days prior to the big day playing at my parents' home in Murrieta. Even though they live on 6 acres of land, the boys enjoy staying inside and playing video games all day- city kids! We did manage to get them to set the games down from time to time in order to play board games and draw these cute pictures of pilgrims. Caden's is the one on top, and it was actually a homeschool art assignment teaching him about how to draw profiles. Vance drew his all on his own-wow!

The boys enjoyed taking a bath in the jacuzzi tub. We put a little bit too much bubble bath in the water. They thought that was really cool.

Here is Mom getting the dinner table ready.

My handsome dad.

The table all ready with the traditional football game on the t.v. in the background.

Tevye joined us on Thanksgiving morning. Danica was happy to sit with Dad and watch football.

My sister and I. I would have put up a picture of her boyfriend, but he didn't want to look at the camera, so I'll try again at Christmas to get his picture.

The boys in their "natural state."

The turkey came out of the oven looking beautiful. The thermometer told us it was all ready.

Imagine Mom's surprise when Dad cut into a vary rare turkey leg! Our best guess is that the legs didn't thaw. Mom was pretty upset.

The meal turned out to be delicious- just a little later than we thought. I had fun visiting with my family, but missed my brother and his family who had other plans this year.

End of Soccer Season

The soccer season seems to have ended way too soon this year. Yesterday, the boys played their final games. They are sad that it is over. Vance is very excited that he got a trophy. He has been asking me for about a year to buy him a trophy, but I explained to him that trophies are earned, not purchased. Caden's team had a pizza party after their game, and then one of his teammates came over to our home to play for a little while. Thankfully, the rain that was supposed to be here yesterday waited until today.

Tevye's Birthday

My wonderful husband celebrated his 35th birthday on the 18th of this month. He is not big on celebrations, and he didn't want to go out to do anything. I was intent on showing him that we love and want to celebrate him, however, so the boys and I made a sign, blew up some balloons, and baked him a cake. Caden made him some drawings. He was so tired from work that he went to bed without eating any cake, and he passed on having me make one of his favorite dinners- enchiladas. Tevye even bought his own birthday present weeks ago (a Lego set). It is really hard to celebrate with an unwilling participant! Hopefully, he appreciated that we tried. Happy birthday, Tevye! We love you!

A Riddle

What is round, fat, and orange?

Give up?

It's ME- after eating many delicious pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies that my visiting teacher made for me and a piece of pumpkin pie all in one afternoon. I love desserts, and I like pumpkin. What more can I say?

Eventful Weekend

This was a very busy weekend for us. First of all, our oldest son was baptized by his dad. Caden was really excited. Kree, David, and Talicee came down from Utah to celebrate with Caden, and also with Danica (mentioned below). Calee and Tony were there, as well as my parents, Mari and Roger. Kree's cousin, Jenny, and her husband Patrick Dumas showed up with two of their kids, Stone and Skylar, which was really nice, because we haven't seen them in a very long time. We also got to see our good friends, Kandi and Giovanni Scattolon, and their two daughters, Claire and Aurora. Our Primary president, Janeen Redd, and Stake Primary counselor, Katrina Fritter, and Bishop Roland Fritter were also in attendance. I was sad that the rest of my family didn't come.
I was so scatter-brained that day that I forgot to bring an extra pair of underwear for Caden and some towels. Thankfully, Brother Hattori was able to call his wife to bring a pair of their son's underwear for Caden to borrow. Thanks Bro. Hattori! All went well with the baptism. David and Tony were the witnesses, and Tevye baptized Caden, who chose not to plug his nose when he went under the water (but it didn't seem to bother him). It took Tevye and Caden a little longer to rejoin the group since they had to drip-dry, which unfortunately meant that we had to listen to the pianist play the same three hymns over and over again- the only songs she practice. Even though it was killing me to not go over to the piano and take over, I felt empathetic towards her, because I have been in that position before when I first started playing piano in church. It takes a lot of courage to perform in front of other people when you are not comfortable with playing. After the baptism, we visited with our friends and family in the Relief Society room for a while, and then some of us headed over to McDonald's- Caden's choice.

Talicee, David, Kree, Calee, me, Tevye, Danica, Mari, Roger, Ryan, and Amanda (Ryan's wife)

Caden, Vance

On Sunday, we blessed Danica. Tevye gave the blessing, and David, Ryan Wilson, and the bishop stood in the circle. Thankfully, Danica did not cry during the prayer, which she should have, because it was time for her to eat.

Her outfit was made up of a dress that Kree bought for her in Greece, even before we knew we were going to have a girl; a sweater and hat set that my mom bought a long time ago in hopes of having a granddaughter; and a little pearl bracelet that Kree gave her. The dress was too big, so I busted out my sewing skills and made it work.

I am so grateful that Tevye is a worthy priesthood holder. My heart was filled with joy to see my oldest son be happy to follow Christ's example and my husband be able to baptize him. I am also appreciative of having Danica as part of our family. She is so sweet, and I know that she will teach me many things, as Caden and Vance do. Thank you to our family and friends who showed their support and love this weekend. And thank you to those whose thoughts were with us, even if the distance kept us apart.

Halloween

Caden, Danica, and I surprised Vance at school on Halloween by showing up in time to see him march in their parade. He was really excited to see us. Even though we could only stay for a few minutes, it was important to me to make sure that I was there to support him. Vance seemed to have a good time.

That night, I stayed home with Danica while Tevye took the boys to find a neighborhood to trick-or-treat in. Caden didn't even want to go, but we made him. Our kids really haven't done the traditional trick-or-treating before, because we just did the trunk-or-treats in the church parking lots. They were only gone for about an hour or so, but they managed to get a lot of candy in that short amount of time. Vance and Caden had fun.

Tevye and I have lived in our condo for about ten years now, and during those ten years, we have never had a trick-or-treater- not one! Maybe they are too lazy to climb the stairs. I used to buy candy just in case someone would come, but Tevye made me stop that a few years ago. I think that we just threw out some candy from three years ago.