Four Christmases: Part 3

hAfter two days in a row of opening presents, I don't think Savannah was surprised at all when we packed up the car with luggage and more presents (and I mean literally packed the car) and headed to Travis' parent's house in Riverbank which is just outside of Modesto. Savannah was thrilled that Bailey came with us since he was going to stay at Travis' parents while we were in LA. We weren't so thrilled though - it's only less than an hour and a half away, but we were ready to throw him out the window (or let him jump like he has before...) by the time we arrived. He gets so excited to go places that he can't contain himself and whines with every breath, not to mention the fact that although we leash him in the back, he doesn't sit still for second. Okay, enough venting...we did all arrive together and in one piece though with a little less sanity.

After dinner we got dressed up and went to a local church for their Christmas Eve service.

After we got back it was time for Presents Round 3. We all got nice things, but of course our little Santa got spoiled most of all. And trust me, but this time, she was a pro at ripping off that paper!

A final fun one of Savannah "showing us her teeth." We did get some cute smiles!

Four Christmases: Part 2

No matter what we did on Christmas day, I grew up always opening presents at home with just our family on Christmas morning. Every year that I remember, we would then pack up the car and drive to my Aunt and Uncle’s house in the Bay Area for another round of presents and dinner with the extended family on my mom’s side. For the past five Christmases that we’ve been married (with the exception of the Christmas Travis celebrated in Afghanistan!) we’ve tried to keep that same tradition of family presents at home on Christmas morning. This year though, since we were going to be at Travis’ parent’s on Christmas Eve and then driving straight to LA on Christmas morning, we had to do our “Christmas morning” a few days early.

Savannah had fun opening her stocking of full of books, little stuffed animals, stickers, and socks (you gotta love Target and their dollar section!)

We knew that the grandparents and other relatives were going to absolutely spoil her, so we bought a 5-in-1 gift this year for Savannah and not much else. I assembled and wrapped them all separately, so it looked like she had more presents than anybody else!

She loved the new pack & play, bouncy seat, stroller, diaper bag/changing pad, and activity gym she got for her babies (which is actually now uses much more for her other favorite stuffed animals like her pink froggy and Grinch much more than for her dolls – who knew!)

Four Christmases: Part 1

Like all of you I’m sure, we have to juggle multiple holiday gatherings with multiple families. We switch off Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve and Christmas with Travis’ family; one year we’ll do Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve with one set of parents and Christmas morning and day with the other, and the next year we’ll switch. It sounds pretty easy, but somehow since Christmas involves presents, it gets infinitely more complicated. Add in relatives in Los Angeles, and you somehow get four “Christmases.”

This is Christmas 2008 Part 1 of 4…

This year, everybody on my side of the family was going to be at my aunt and uncle’s house in Beverly Hills, we decided it would be a pointless waste of space to drive all the presents for my parents down to LA, exchange them, open them, and then drive them all the way back home. So, several days before Christmas we went to my parents house for dinner and had our first “Christmas” of the year.

Savannah of course had to “help” everyone open their gifts.

Everyone got great things, but I think Savannah was most thrilled about her new dress-up clothes: a pink fluffy tutu, and a purple princess dress complete with a purple feather boa, and a silver crown, clip-on dangley earrings, and purple “high-heeled” Ariel shoes. Fancy!

Candy Cane Lane

Keeping to our usual tradition, we headed out to see the lights at Dovewood Court, AKA Candy Cane Lane. (This was in December – yes, I’m still trying to catch up – it will happen eventually…) It was COLD, but Savannah loved it as much as she did last year. The pictures didn’t turn out too well, but you get the idea.

This one looks like we’re on fire – but it’s cute.

This shot of the three of us turned out much better than last year’s…

…which we titled “Why You Should Never Ask a Stranger to Take a Picture for You (And Then Believe Them When They Say it Turned Out Well).”

Tree Search

Yes, I do know that it is almost Valentine's Day, but I warned you about getting a little Christmas in February! In my effort to catch up on all the blogging I missed while feeling pukey, this is going to be the first of several upcoming posts about the Christmas season - there's no way I can skip the most photo-filled time of year!

This year we decided to resume a tradition that we've skipped since Savannah's been born. I grew up cutting down a tree in Apple Hill every year, and Travis and I have only done it once together since we've been married. We figured Savannah was old enough to really enjoy and participate in the experience, so we headed up the hill in search of the perfect tree. After doing a drive-by of several tree farms, we ended up stopping at one with the commercial draw - pony and train rides.

When I asked Savannah which "horsie" she wanted to ride on, of course she picked the only non-pony of the bunch. I fully expected the girl to ignore her request and put her on the tiny little pony, but no, she swung Savannah up onto the back of the big full-sized horse and off they went, no seat belt or anything. Luckily, Travis and I were able to walk along on either side of her waiting to catch her before she fell the 5 feet to the ground. She hung on tight though and never budged an inch. I think she could have ridden around that little corral 20 times.

After prying her off the horse, we headed off to find our tree.

We had fun despite the fact that we spent quite a while trying to identify the different types of trees in an effort to save $20. Luckily, we picked the right one, though at the end we decided we didn't care, we just wanted to pick a tree...

Though Savannah almost cried when we cut it down and it fell over the reassurance that the tree was coming home with us, and the promise of a train ride, cheered her up. It was a fun day! More Christmas posts to come...

Gingerman Cookies

My mom got Savannah a copy of the classic gingerbread man book where the gingerbread man jumps out of the oven and spends the entire story running away from people and animals that are trying to eat him. He always yells, “You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!”…that is, until he does gets caught and then eaten at the end of the story. It’s another one of those classic “kid” stories (Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel…) that seems cute and innocent, but is actually pretty gruesome when you really think about it. But of course Savannah loves it, and so my mom decided to make gingerbread cookies one day when Savannah was over.

Apparently it took a little while for her to get over the fact that there was flour on her hands. This girl does not like to get dirty! We haven't been camping with her yet, but somehow I don't think Travis got the little outdoorsy girl he would have liked.

The Sacramento Zoo -- Where the Wild Things Are Not

We went with Grandma Karen to the Sacramento Zoo for the day and had fun despite the lack of many of the actual animals. Is it just us, or do they always seem to be sleeping or having their habitat remodeled whenever you’re there? Savannah did have fun watching the monkeys and they had an area where kids could touch a snake and a turtle. And of course there’s always the playground area. We probably could have gone to the local park for free and she would have had just as much fun (and we may have seen more animals…)! We really want to go back to the San Diego Zoo, or maybe plan a trip to visit Auntie Ashley in San Francisco and visit the zoo there.

Two Potatoes and a Lemon

Savannah loves cooking dinner for us in her little kitchen. She delivers it complete with plates, silverware, “tea,” and a sing-songy “Dinner’s ready!” The food is always HOT and must be described as such and blown on so that it’s cool enough to eat. For the longest time, as in weeks and weeks, she cooked the same food every day – two potatoes and a lemon. Yes, you read that right. Please don’t ask me why, out of a entire tub of a wide variety of plastic food, she choose those three items, especially since she hates potatoes. The inner workings of the mind of a two-year-old is a sheer mystery.

Thankfully, my parents gave her a plastic dessert set for Christmas, so lately we’ve been “eating” lots of birthday cake. Amazingly, my birthday seems to happen a lot more frequently than it used to…

Potty Drama

We’ve kind of started potty training, but not much progress has been made; Savannah just doesn’t want to sit on the potty. She has gone twice and both times was excited to get M&M’s, but lately she refuses to even try. I’m not pushing it – I don’t think she’s quite ready yet anyway since she only tells me when she’s going or after she’s already gone, and never before. I’m sure I’ll be writing more about the potty saga in the future!

Hmmmm, maybe could it be that she has the wrong idea about the purpose of the potty?

I really do have a reason!

I know, I know, it’s been over two months since I’ve posted anything, and I’m sure that nobody even checks for updates anymore, but I swear I have a good excuse…

Yes, that little blob is what you think it is! #2 is on his or her way. I was seven weeks at the time of that ultrasound, and at this point our little lemon (earlier, the baby’s size was compared to different types of beans, but now we’re finally into the fruits, veggies, and other assorted food items…) is 14 weeks along. I am due August 3rd, a mere 6 months away! Exhaustion and nausea have put blogging on the back burner; I have been existing in bare-minimum mode for a couple of months now. All my extra energy has gone into work, minimal cleaning, laundry, and trying to get something, anything made for dinner. I’ve learned that there’s definitely no comparing pregnancy #1 with pregnancy #2 – with Savannah, I was very predictably nauseous every evening until the day I hit 12 weeks, but this time it’s anything but predictable. I may be sick in the morning, though it’s mostly been in the evening, or I may be sick all day or not at all. I will spare you the glorious details, but let’s just say that I never threw up with Savannah, and that’s been a little different this time around too… And, at 14 weeks, not much has changed. I just keep telling myself that this won’t last forever (and I’m praying that that’s really true!). So, am I forgiven for not blogging? I can share some puking stories if I need to to make my case. We’ve done a lot over the last 2 months, so I’ll do my best to update you with pictures and minimal captions, which I’m sure is what you care most about anyway! This will the the first of several “update” posts until I get all caught up. So just beware, you’re going to be getting a little Christmas in February!
Anyway, here we go...