Christmas in Camelot

Ryan's dad has been calling Angel's Camp "Camelot" since they first started staying up there (before they owned a house there).  So here is our Christmas stay in "Camelot"!  Everyone was up at Gammi's house by 1:00 and we started our festivities.  First on the list - presents!

Kyson loved Grandma Reese's present to him.....a new bike!

And in case you're wondering, he also loves his new muscle shirt. And he's been working out so he can show off his muscles.  He flexes often to check and make sure they are hardening up.  Although the first time he gave his biceps a little squeeze, he proclaimed them "a little squishy."  He was not deterred.  He gave a few more squeezes until made contact with some that were "weely hard."  His elbow.  I didn't have the heart to tell him the difference between muscle and bone.  I just told him he must be super strong.

And Gammi did her Christmas shopping at the American Girl Doll store.  Shayli and her baby now have matching jammies!  Actually, all the girls have pajamas that match their dolls pajama's.  It's really quite cute.

New books!  Kendri loves to read so this was perfect for her.  She has 140 AR points for reading in school.  She's leading her class with points.  I'm pretty sure the 2nd place person has 50.  What can I say, she takes after her mother!

Kaitlyn and Kyson were Ipad buddies during our little vacation.  It's so fun to have cousins that like each other!

Kyson also requested this shaving set for Christmas.  Is it just me, does he seem eager to grow up??  At any rate I don't think I've seen anything cuter than when I sneak in and catch him "shaving".  He was doing it all by himself where no one would seem him.  In fact, I didn't even know he had used it until he told me he'd been "shaving".  I asked him where (meaning location) and he told me his tummy.  Evidently his tummy is hairier than his chin.

 And here is Gammi's new nursery.  This has been talked about for years and it's finally here!  It was the attic before and now it's a Peter Pan nursery. (Don't mind the mess.  Or the sleeping form in the background.)  We love it.

And on a side note, while presents and parties are fun during Christmas, I tried really hard to get our little family to think of why we had Christmas.  One of the things we did through the month of December was try to think of things we could do for others.  We called this our "presents for Jesus".  I sent an alarm on my phone for every night at 6:00 so we could talk about what we did for the day and what we had done for others.  And while it was mostly small little things, it was a great reminder of what Christmas is all about. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We woke up bright and early Christmas morning!  Actually Kendri came into our bedroom around 6:30 and we sent her back to bed to wait until some of the other kids woke up.  (I'm pretty sure they had some help waking up.)  By 7 we were up and headed downstairs to see what Christmas goodies awaited! 

Santa came! (Barely.  I may or may not have cancelled Christmas the week before. The kids spent Christmas Eve cleaning the house hoping Santa was still taking notes.)

At our house, we are planning on having to defend ourselves with nerf guns.  Hence the reason there are about 10 of them lying around. Actually, we have had some pretty serious enemy lines drawn around here. And a few snipers in training. Kendri got her first nerf gun this year and she's ready for action!

And Ryan likes to match the Christmas tree.....

And what is Christmas without something Giants??

We opened our presents and then packed our bags and headed up to Angels Camp for a few days with family.  Stay tuned!

Sharks Game

 This last month Ryan was able to score 4 tickets to the Sharks vs Avalanche hockey game.  Originally he was going to take 2 of the kids and me.  But then we were in the dilemma of which 2 kids got to go. In the end I sacrificed my ticket and sent the three oldest.  Shayli and I did some last minute Christmas shopping (it was Dec 23).  Shayli cried and cried about getting left out but I fixed that with a big bag of Reese's peanut butter cups.  It soothed both of us. ;)

Everyone really enjoyed the fights game they watched.  Lexi was lucky enough to get a puck handed to her.  And then Kyson took it upon himself to get the attention of the "ice cleaner".  (I have no idea what they are called, but the guy who cleans the ice during time outs or half time.  I didn't go to the game so I don't even know how often he shows up?)  Anywhoo, Kyson called the "ice cleaner" guy over and managed to get a puck out of him so they both came home with a souvenir.  When I asked Kendri where hers was, she told me she really wanted one but thought it would be rude to ask for one.  Little Miss Manners.  So if you think all we did was party in December, you would be right!

Nativity

We have a friend in our ward that takes it upon herself to do a little nativity video every Christmas.  She invites the primary and any friends to participate.  This was our first year of doing it.  Kyson was a shephard, Shayli was a lamb, Kendri was THE angel, and Lexi was a wiseman (much to her dismay.  She really wanted to be Mary.  Of course she did. But too bad so sad.)

The video turned out beautifully and we had a great time making it.

And if you look close in the picture below you can find my little (or big) wiseman.  (She's on the right side wearing the red.)

And it wouldn't feel like Christmas unless we had our annual sugar cookie party. Man, those cookies our good.  I dare say I'm salivating just looking at them!

Nutcracker

 Ryan took the girls to the Nutcracker this year......and boy, was it exciting! From what I gather, the fact that it was on Friday the 13th seemed to really shake things up bit.  They went with a group of friends and family and started the night off by getting separated at the Bart station.  A few of the kids and one adult managed to get on the train before the doors closed......and then it was adios.  (Thank goodness at least one adult scooted on!) The others watched the train pull away without them!  Kendri was one of the 3 kids that got on and she said she was a little worried (I think there may have been some sniffles involved).  But then they started to play a game and she was fine after that.

They managed to regroup in San Francisco and it was off to the ballet!  During the first half of the show, the fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate.  After hanging around outside for 30 minutes or so, they let them come back in.  I think someone was playing a prank.

But even with the added excitement, the kids all had a great time! It's a fun tradition.

There was obviously some time to kill during the evacuation........great time for picture taking!

Happy Thanksgiving

We spent a few days up in Angels Camp celebrating Thanksgiving.  Who wants to make it a one day holiday anyway??  We played card games, went on hikes, watched movies and just relaxed.  Here we are teaching the older girls how to play Skip-bo.  It was a hit!

These are our little hiking buddies.  They did a great job making it to the "waterfall".  Except there hasn't been any rain so there wasn't really a waterfall. How disappointing!

Oh well.  Happy Thanksgiving!  Gobble, gobble!

Happy birthday to Moi!

I turned 34 this year!  I dare say I cross into my mid 30's next year.....how did that happen??  I woke up to these little schweetie-schweetie's making me breakfast first thing in the morning.  I had no idea what they were up to!  They surprised me by bringing up a banana pancake just as I was getting up.  For it being a school day, they sure were on top of things!  

Later that afternoon I was surprised to see my nephew Reese show up at the door with an envelope for me.  Apparently the spa was awaiting me and my tense muscles.  Really, it was the best massage ever and my poor shoulders needed a good work over!  After that I headed to my "surprise dinner".  The family was waiting for me at Texas Roadhouse where we partied!  Because I was showered with gifts and desserts at the restaurant, I saved my angel food cake for the following day when I could actually enjoy it!  

And unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the cake.  Oh well.  Here's to another year!  

Happy Halloween!

We decided to be a family of superheroes this year for Halloween.  It took weeks to come to that conclusion.  Weeks.  And even then we didn't have everyone on board.  Which is why we also have a ninja.  I assume ninja's are superheros in their own way.

This was the first year the kids were able to wear costumes to school.  The kids had a blast and it took me back to my childhood memories when we would have a costume parade at Parkview elementary.  This is Kendri during her costume parade!  It was fun to see all the kids in their costumes.

And here is Shayli on Halloween night.  We were ready to trick or treat by 5:30.  That's what we are used to. Start early and end early and everyone is happy.   But this year we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  We kept looking outside for trick or treaters and they were no where to be found!  Finally when it was dark they started to come out.

We joined the cousins over in Redbridge to trick or treat for the rest of the night.  We came home with bags of candy. And here was our pumpkin carving......a little out of order, but oh well!

Happy Birthday Pa!

The fun thing about living closer to family is all the parties we get to have!  Rodger had a birthday in October and the grand-kids showered him with gifts.  He loved every minute of it!

Happy Birthday Pa!

Pumpkin Patch

We made it to the pumpkin patch early this year. We were invited to join some friends on a Monday evening for FHE.  It was great because we had the place to ourselves!  It's one of those places that have lots of activities.  We were able to have some fun races on the bike track.

And we walked through the pumpkin patch.  We weren't quite ready to go pumpkin picking just yet.....

And who can resist these cutouts??

Say cheese!

It may not look like it, but Shayli was a fierce competitor on the trike.  After I started standing on the back and pushing.  We made great time!

Happy Fall!

Kyson's Football and Bribery

Flag football is officially underway.  Kyson is playing on the 4-6 year old team with his cousin Carson.  They are having a blast.....I think.  Okay I'll admit it, there are days when Kyson does not want to go to practice.  And there are practices that I have to threaten him with the unimaginable to make him get off the playground and go back and listen to his coaches.  But overall, I'd say it's an improvement from T-ball. (Something I like to think of as Torture-ball.)

 Anyhoo, Kyson's team has been doing awesome and actually winning all of their games.  Which is a nice change for this Reese family.  I'm pretty sure we've never been on the winning team.  For any of our sports.  It's kinda fun.  And takes me back to my competitive days and reminds me why I like to win. ;)

Kyson has scored two touchdowns so far.  He loves it.  He feels special.  And it's exciting for us as the parents!  He's the littlest and youngest on the team so it's fun to watch him outrun (barely!) the boys chasing him.

The other day Kyson came to me with a fistful of money and shoved it in my face.

"Here, mommy.  Take my money."

me: "I don't want your money.  I have my own. You keep that in your piggy bank."

Kyson: "No, really mama.  I want you to have it.  All of it."

me: "I'm not taking your money."

Kyson: "YES! I want you to.  I owe you money."

Me: "For what?"

Kyson: "For my badness.  I owe you money for my badness.  Because I've been bad."

Me thinking: Hmmm.  He's right.  Maybe I should take his money and teach him a lesson. "Okay fine. Give me your money."

Kyson nodding his head solemnly: "Yeah mama.  Take it.  And I have more.  LOTS more.  For when I'm bad again."

Me, starting to realize where this was going: "Ahem.  Kyson (insert meaningful mother stare down) You know you can't be bad on purpose and then just give me money.  It doesn't work that way.  You can't pay your way out of trouble."

Kyson, eyes darting around.  "Ummm, yeah."

I still took the money.  Someone needs to teach that boy a lesson and I hope this one sticks.  But probably not.  Orneryness is hard to get rid of.......just ask his dad.  ;)

Roommate Reunion

When I was in college, I lived with a group of girls that were awesome! That's all I can say about it.  And we (I'm including myself in the "awesome" category because this is my blog and I can) are still awesome so we decided to have a long overdue get-together! There were 12 of us who managed to get apartments right next to each other after we moved out of the dorms.

We stayed in a cabin in Heber (thanks Steph!) and basically had a blast! I cannot remember having that much fun in a long, long time. We left the kids at home and put our 2 days to work . We started the weekend by revisiting our stomping grounds......Elms, anyone?

We even had the audacity to knock on the doors and explore our old apartments.  A big shout-out to the girls who currently live there and actually let us in!?! Especially the ones who told us we were so cool.  And I'm not making that up, I promise ;)

We squeezed a ton of stuff into a short amount time including: a surprise baby shower, a trip to the Olympic park where we zip  lined and rode the Alpine slide, shopping at the outlets, lots of crafting/sewing, and some late night off-roading!

This is Amber.  Those are my feet. We got stuck half way down because of a scared little boy.  Way to ruin my speed!  Just kidding.  They let us go again.  But then we traded it in for the big zip line since the line was so long.

  Lunch at the Brick Oven!

We have a cosmetologist in the house! Jamie did our nails and cut my hair. We called it a "rustic hair cut."

 The dresses above are a pattern another super talented roommate designed (she designed the pattern and fabric).  I made the dresses for the American Girl Dolls and they turned out super cute.  We also went back to the dorms and thanks to EFY, we were able to sneak in and see all our old rooms.  What a trip down memory lane! We are already planning the next one!