Good Greif Charlie Brown

This year, for the first time ever, Taylor and I decided we were going to go out and chop down our very own Christmas tree. We obtained a permit in October, and this past weekend trekked the entire family out into the woods to find us "the perfect tree."  When we got there, we all got out of the car and began hiking to find the best one in Prescott National Forrest (aka: the pine-less forest.)

A few minutes into walking, Lucy had to go to the bathroom. I tried to help her pee in a squat, but she refused. She kept telling me, "No, I go in the Potty!" until she had an accident in her pants. So Taylor and the kids trudged ahead, looking for the perfect tree. Lucy and I returned to the warm car where she could play naked. A few minutes after being in the car, Abby emerged of the woods. Her feet were too cold to keep going. (She has outgrown her boots, and I refuse to get another pair until after Christmas. Her tennis shoes were not cutting it in the snow. :) Maybe 10 minutes after that Parker ran out of the woods.

"Parker," I asked, "did you find a tree?" "Not yet," he replied. "It was getting too steep for me. So I came back." So Parker climbed in the car with us. The kids played in the warm car, while I tried to get Christmas music to come through on my phone---to no avail.

Some time after that, I decided I probably should go out and look for Taylor. What if he needed help. So I left the car, locked the kids in, and started trudging to see what was going on. As I did, I found Taylor hauling this god-awful tree behind him. "It was the best there was," he said. One whole side of the tree was bare. "I figured we could put the bare side against the wall, and maybe no one will notice." We both started laughing and hauled it to the car.

Once decorated, it was apparent how bare the poor tree really was. The star hangs off to one side, and the ornaments look like a really bad attempt to make our tree look pretty. Taylor and I discussed whether or not we will do this again. I think we decided that we will. It was fun, and besides, a Charlie B. tree fits our little family quite well. Merry Christmas Charlie Brown! 

Snow Days

Unlike most stay at home moms... I HEART Snowdays. Sure it means driving on our road will be absolute HELL for the next week, but there is nothing like waking up and looking out our window. Its purely breath taking. It might even make the constant driving back and forth between town, worth it.

I love watching the kids get excited, and go outside to make snow-angels. I love to watch them try to build a snow man in our tiny Prescott snow. I love making them hot chocolate when they come inside frozen because they ran out dressed improperly, only to defrost and to run back out with better clothes on and smiles on their faces. Right now I am hoping that we will have another snow day tomorrow.

Halloween

I have been horrible on blogging this year. It seems since I started working (albeit only a few hours a week) and we moved into our house, my blog has suffered greatly. I want to keep it up, so one day I can have it printed as a family journal. Hopefully, I will be better in the coming year.

So to backtrack....we spent another Halloween enjoying the hoopla only found on Mount Vernon in Prescott. Abby was a pirate, Parker a skeleton, and Lucy was Cinderella. We survived the chaos, with only losing the boys (in the crowd of hundreds of costumed kids) for only a couple of minutes. :)

Vacation

Its SO hard to come back from vacation.  I can still smell the candy shops on main-street of Disneyland and see those huge colorful lollypops in my minds eye. Ahhh........Great....now I'm drooling.

Cousins Preslee, Cash, and Tag were able to join us for the first part of the trip, making our holiday even more fun.

 Disneyland was incredible. The kids were in heaven since they were finally tall enough (not Lucy) to ride the "cool" rides. Favorite rides for Abby and Parker included Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. We rode those A LOT. Lucy set the record for most rides on "the pooh ride." She probably rode it at least 15 times during the trip. That is all she wanted to do with an occasional tea cup ride thrown in. Grandma Jan is now a pooh ride expert!

 Karen and Cousin Cole also stopped in for some Disneyland action. It was so good to see them.What a red-headed cutie!

California Adventure has an animation area, where the animators teach you how to draw different characters. Of course Abby loved this. When we were done and compared our sketches hers was undoubtedly the best. Again....where did this talent come from????

 

Ran into Ann, David, and Jack at Disneyland. Seriously, what were the odds that we ended up on the same log together unintentionally. They are wonderful people.

 

And my favorite....Lucy decided to potty train herself on the trip. Hey... when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Jake the Cat

When we were looking at houses....oh, I dont know....six months or so ago...we went to a foreclosed house that had a really cute red barn. And in that really cute red barn, lived a really nice black cat. And my really cute 5 year old son, fell in love with that cat, so much so that we went back many, many, times to feed it. But then the house sold. We contemplated stealing the nice cat for our saddened son, but decided that probably wasn't the right thing to do. So we promised our cute five year old, that when we get a house of our own, he could have a barn cat just like the one in the cute red barn.

Well six months or so later, we moved into our new house, and that five year old did NOT forget our promise. In fact he reminded us of it. So we agreed we would go to the humane society, and adopt an OUTDOOR ONLY kitten the day after we moved in. So we did. And that five-year old loved his orange tabby more than any boy could love a pet.

Soon after we adopted the kitten we noticed that there was a large hawk who lived in the tree in our backyard. (Remember, we had only lived in our house a day or so.) A large, red hawk....who would love to eat the nice little kitten for a snack. So the outdoor kitten soon became an indoor kitten. One that sleeps on our beds, and sits on our laps. Now I have a litter box in my laundry room, and cat toys on the floor. How did this happen????

 

Meet Jake the cat, (aka: Jakey) who weaseled his way into this family.  He allows two-year-olds to carry him around (even by the tail.) He likes it when our dog wrestles with him. He doesn't mind when certain 7 year olds dress him up, or a 5 year old makes him stay in his fort. My kids are obsessed with him, and I cant believe I am saying this...but I sort of like him too.