Merry Christmas!

Another Christmas has come and gone. I look at these pictures and videos and can't help but wonder how this holiday season will change in the years to come. Mark and I were talking about how these are the golden years of Christmas, when it is "super fun" because the kids are young enough to still believe in the "magic" and their excitement is just awesome. It's a small window of time and once again, I feel myself wishing I could stop the clock.

Christmas day was amazing and relaxing and fun. After the stress of preparation for over a month, it was so nice to just sit back and enjoy the day, and witness our own family traditions start to take shape.

We took the kids to 5:00 Mass on Christmas Eve and as I suspected, Maddie was not going to make it through the whole thing. About 15 minutes into the service, Maddie and I left in hopes that Daddy and Jacob could at least enjoy the rest of the message. When we all got home that night, we let Jacob and Maddie open a few of their gifts from friends and family.

I love this next series of pictures. Jacob has a collection of the stuffed characters from the Toy Story movie. When he opened "Ham" (from Grandma and Grandpa), I couldn't believe his excitement!! Look at his face!





Maddie got an awesome UT shirt that said "Texas cheerleader in training". Mommy loved it!!



This is how the house looked after Santa delivered all of his gifts. :)



On Christmas morning, we had to wake Jacob up! This is very rare folks. He's usually up before the crack of dawn every morning. Last year when we were in Texas, he came running down the stairs at 6:15 in the morning, before his clock had turned green (letting him know he can get out of bed). I was expecting more of the same this year but this kid wanted to sleep! Maddie, however, was up at 6 am so we decided to wake Jacob up too. This was his "waking up" face.



You can tell he's not really jumping out of bed to see what Santa brought him!



Still taking it all in.





Maddie loves her new chair from Pottery Barn Kids that Nanny and Papa bought her! She's always loved sitting in Jacob's so we are excited she has one of her own.



Thank you also to Nanny and Papa for Jacob's new Leapster Explorer!



Maddie and her new kitchen appliances from Santa



This picture cracks me up because Maddie has a piece of wrapping paper that she was pretending to blow her nose in. It's true what they say -- the little ones are more excited about the paper and boxes!



Sweet girl and her new princess toy



And all she wanted to do was play with our camera



But she did love the Dora dollhouse



As did Jacob!



But the "Rocket Mater and Lightning McQueen" were huge hits with him





She actually doesn't do much "sitting" in her new chair



One of my funny gifts to Mark. His friends refer to him as "Captain America" so when I saw this shirt at Old Navy, I had to get it.



The mini trampoline is a BIG hit with both kids. Jacob calls it a "trampozine". Cracks me up every time.





This kid loves socks. So Santa brought him a set of 9 pairs of socks with Toy Story and Cars on them



Giving baby sister some adorable shirts from Gymboree that Santa brought her



The destruction after a mere hour





And the exhaustion that immediately followed :)



Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you had as great of a day as we did!

Andy Z

When we moved back to Belmont in August, I started hearing about an entertainer by the name of "Andy Z". One of Jacob's dear friends, Sheri, is in love with Andy Z and her mommy has posted pictures of her on Facebook going to see Andy Z at different venues. While at Ellie and Annabel's house, we witnessed the 2 girls dancing and singing to the Andy Z CD playing in the stereo. And I had a mother at The Little Gym telling me we should take Jacob to go see Andy Z sometime. I remember thinking "who the heck is this guy and why does he have a cult-like following in Belmont/San Carlos?!"

So, you can imagine my excitement when Jacob was recently invited to his pre-school friend Gavin's 4th birthday party and I saw that the invitation said "featuring Andy Z". He must have quite the fan base if parents can simply write "featuring Andy Z" and everyone is supposed to know what they are talking about. Six months ago, I would have received that invitation and thought "what in the world does that mean?" So finally, I was going to see what this Andy Z character was all about.

Well, I wasn't disappointed. He's a goofy guy in a tie dye shirt (always a tie dye shirt) and a guitar. He comes with a bag of surprises including different hats and puppets and such and each of his songs has an interactive element so the kids can dance and sing along. I tell you what, I've never seen one man so effortlessly grab 25 kids' attention and make them do what he wants them to do! It was amazing!

Andy Z, will you be my nanny?

A couple of videos from the party (Jacob is in the red shirt on the left in this first video)



Any activity that involves running around like a lunatic, Jacob is a fan of



Thank you, Andy Z, for entertaining kids up and down the Bay Area Peninsula. It truly was delightful!

A new milestone for Jacob!

Jacob has been practicing a new skill for weeks. No, MONTHS. His frustration level has reached all kinds of new heights while trying to conquer this task.

Learning to write is not an easy job my friends.

But, with patience (and much determination), we are quite proud that Jacob can proficiently write his own name! But nevermind our pride. Check out his!



This is the first piece of paper we have with his own hand written name on it, so I will be keeping this tucked away in a safe place! He wrote his name first on the top and then we asked him to write it again to get it on video, which is why there are 2 lines. We are so incredibly excited!!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year"

Spiced apple cider + a gazillion Christmas lights = happy family.

We joined Matt, Jaemie and the kids for a stroll down Eucalyptus street. For those of you who don't remember, this street is famous for it's Christmas lights. When we moved here in 2008, we actually looked at a house for sale on this street and part of the agreement, literally, is that you will participate in keeping this Christmas lighting tradition going when you own a home there. Believe it or not, the houses on this street sell for a premium, merely because they belong to a special club that spends thousands of dollars on their electric bill each year! Good for them. And for us.

Unfortunately, they didn't bring in snow this year like they did in 2008, but it was still pretty fantastic and the kids loved it!

It's hard to capture how spectacular the lights are with a camera. I tried a few different settings but really couldn't get a good, representative shot.



I couldn't believe they had this jeep rigged up the way that they did to act as Santa's sleigh!



Owen and Jacob with Santa and the Grinch



About a week before this, I drove the kids down the street during the day and the people who owned this home were working on this tree and roping it to the house so that it didn't fall over! This is a massive tree, folks.



See, I told you a gazillion lights



Jacob and Owen enjoying the scenery



It was past Maddie's bedtime, but she was a trooper!

Random cuteness

Maddie is picking up more words and gestures everyday and she already understands so much of what we say. If we are running around playing and I say "Maddie, go get a book", she'll run in her room, grab a book off the shelf and plop down in my lap so I can read it to her. She LOVES books all of a sudden and it's becoming my favorite activity to do with her. Jacob was the same way at this age.

She also loves to mimic you. We were in the fabric store the other day and I was looking over a million options for fabric and I had my index finger on my chin (why do we do this anyway? I realize I do it a lot when I'm thinking), and I look down and she's concentrating hard on the fabric I was looking at with her little index finger on her chin. I started DYING laughing. She's too stinkin' cute!

Pretending she's on a cell phone is one of her favorite tricks. You can find her like this many times during the day:



She's also doing great identifying her body parts. It's hard to catch her in a mood where she wants to sit still long enough to point them out (which is why I'm interrogating her while she's eating).



And this is just absolute cuteness:

It's a Miracle

Jaemie casually mentions to me at the gym today that they were going to go to the mall to see Santa and would we like to join them after Maddie's nap? Sure, I say, and I'll just get the kids dressed up for the heck of it "just in case" we can get them on Santa's lap without someone ending up in tears.

Imagine my shock when we get there and we are only the 2nd people in line so we get in quickly, Jacob plops right on Santa's lap and starts telling him what he wants for Christmas (which, by the way, is anything Toy Story/Thomas/Lightning McQueen related) and with hesitation, I sit Maddie on Santa's lap next to Jacob. She didn't even wince. We started playing peek-a-boo behind the camera and they both loved it so much, they were all smiles the whole time!

I swear I didn't sell my soul to the devil for this picture.

But if the devil had offered, I just may have.

Because really. How fantastic is this photo??!!



Before I sat Maddie down in Santa's lap, they took a couple of photos of just Jacob and Santa. I wish I had even known they did this, because I would have asked them to take a couple of Maddie alone with Santa too. Don't worry, I'm still counting my blessings and feel lucky for the wonderful photos we did get!

Baby BFFs

Maddie LOVES him.

How can you NOT with that face? He's got pretty cool parents too.

Photography lesson #2: Expect nothing

Once again, the pressure is on to take the perfect photograph for our holiday cards. You'd think by now I'd realize that the "perfect photo" does not exist (especially one with all 4 of us included) and that the perfection lies in the "imperfections". I'm working on that. Yet still, on a daily basis, I have this aching need to get outside and snap photos of my angels, so that I can capture the magic they bring to our lives, to deliver right to your mailbox. This is one of my downfalls...these great expectations.

The day after Thanksgiving was amazing. It was cool and clear and after a slew of rain, we welcomed the sunshine. After the kids woke up from their naps, I immediately said "let's go to the city and take pictures near the bridge." Instead of laughing in my face, Mark surprisingly jumped on board and we were on our way. I packed toys, snacks, jackets...seemingly everything we'd need. Guess what I forgot? The sun goes down EARLY these days -- and Chrissy Field near the Golden Gate bridge is surrounded by hills of trees, blocking the low sun, even though it hasn't set yet. The light was off, the temps were chilly, and the kids were...well, being kids. They didn't want to have anything to do with the camera, or smiling for one, and both were running in different directions.

Still, it is a memory etched in our brains of the day we played under the Golden Gate bridge. And even though the 4 of us aren't present in any 1 picture, we captured some light and some smiles along the way.







Maddie's need to run full speed into the ocean was NOT to be underestimated









Even 3 members of the family was hard to capture -- but this one surprised me. If only Jacob was looking up.



Her smile kills me in this photo



Mark and I were throwing the ball back and forth to each other to keep her attention



I'm playing with the "soft" setting here



Jacob found a stick. Give the kid a big stick and he's happy for hours.



I had to include this picture even though it is frustratingly (is that a word?) blurry. Her little tiny self in front of this ginormous (now, I know that's not a word) bridge. Nothing is much cuter than that.



And by far, my favorite photo of the day...is quite possibly my favorite photo of the year. Jacob was shoveling sand and then throwing it in the air. Over and over again. I can't get over his facial expression, his posture, and most specifically, his HAND. Good lord, it brings me to tears every time. How funny is HE?!



Don't be surprised if you see any of these photos appear on your Christmas card this year. Since only 5 of you read this blog, I don't mind spoiling the surprise for you. But, then again, I may still be attempting the "perfect photo" and those cards may never make it in the mail. :)

Photography lesson #1: Know your subject

For some reason, Jacob seems to think that when a camera is present, he needs to make this face:



And this one:



When I tell him, "Jacob, why are you making that face?! Just look natural!", he does this:



Oh, for the love, seriously? Taking pictures of my children requires an amount of patience that I don't even think Mother Teresa can say she has.

So, instead, I reminded Jacob of an old story when Max said "Hi Dinosaur!" to him at school. And I got this:



Much better. And then I started saying all kinds of silly things like "Hi Hippo!". And I got this:



And "Hi Alligator!" got this:



I guess I should stick with almost-4-year-old humor. Apparently it works like a charm!

But I can't underestimate the willingness of an almost 4-year-old to pose. This was totally unprompted:



And this one too:



And I had to tell him 100 times not to chew on his sweater. But it does make for quite a cute photo:



Then I let them play. I should just let them play all the time and forget about getting good close up photos. Because this one is pretty darn cute too.