Over the meadow and through the woods....

Our drive from California to Oregon was pretty uneventful. We let some people borrow our car jack for their flat and were smooth sailing until about 10 minutes from my parents house. After we arrived it started to really snow, and snow, and snow...around 12 inches on top of the few already here.

Shannon loving on Whiteney

The girls watching the snow.....so precious :)

Lauren wearing Grandma Lee's old snow hat and drinking hot cocoa after our first day of sledding.

Shannon and Uncle Adam

The girls with Scott and my mom

Lauren and Grandpa Scott

Shannon and Daniel (can you tell he LOVES to be cold :)

Today we lost power for 4 hours so to pass time I shoveled snow and the girls and I made paper snowflakes for the windows. :) We will see what else is in store with more snow on the way!

Christmas Book Exchange

Monday after school we headed over the the Mattiessen house for the kiddie book exchange. The kids had a fun time frosting (more homemade) sugar cookies and reading their new books.

All 11 kids!

Laney showing a book to Phoebe and Evan

Shannon looking at her new Cinderella book.

Lauren's 5th Birthday: Part 2

On Monday Lauren celebrated her birthday at preschool, so along with the season's sugar train tradition we made pink cupcakes. I felt better knowing they were at least mini-sized and homemade even though with all the baking the last few weekends I am baked as well :)

Lauren standing proud with her birthday crown.

Lauren's 5th Birthday: Part 1

Since we are going to be in Oregon for Lauren and Daniel's birthday we had Lauren's friend party a few weeks early. Over the summer while looking through a magazine we came across a candyland cake which Lauren decided right then and there that would be her birthday cake! (Not sure what I was thinking showing that to her) but made for a fun themed candyland party!

Gumdrop Guessing Game

Lauren with her gingerbread creation

Gingerbread forest station

Musical Chairs Candyland Style. After each elimiation the kids were able to try one of the treats from the candyland board (licorice, peanuts or brittle, and peppermint sticks).

Shannon between both Delaney's and Tyler

Caleb, Maddy, Shannon, Tyler, and Kaitie

Darcy, Tyler, and Patricia

Lauren's Preschool Christmas Performance

Tonight was Lauren's preschool Christmas performance. Her class sang "Oh Christmas Tree" in full costume. They were absolutely adorable :)

The kids had to be there 30 minutes early so the little Christmas trees were pretty squirmy and hot by the time it started.
Towards the end of the performance Lauren took off her costume and finished the concert without it :)

After the performance Shannon gave roses to her girls (Lauren and Laney) for a job well done...

...and to celebrate we stopped by TCBY for what else but pink ice cream!

Tis the season...

Time to breathe after a long weekend. Daniel was out of town all week for work. Friday I baked cake and cookies for Lauren's school Christmas Bazar. Saturday worked a few hours there, took the girls to their friend Evan's star wars birthday party, picked up Daniel and went to the parade!

Attending the Lincoln Christmas parade has been a tradition we have enjoyed since moving to California. This year they decided to start the parade an hour earlier to take advantage of more daylight. It was fun but different than years past.

The girls with the Belleza boys and Maddie waiting for the parade to start.

Mark and Kaitie

Darcy and I

Here is a picture from a night parade in 2005...can you feel their excitement?

We also take a drive by Lauren's most favorite Christmas house in town...

Daniel's parents were also in Sacramento for a Christmas party so we enjoyed their company Sunday-Monday.

Daniel's aunt and uncle also drove up from Reno to see Steve and Kathy. Barb made her famous almond rocha and us girls helped sample her batch :) Another fun filled weekend with friends and family :)

Crafty Little Mama

So Lauren has a new talent.....basket making! All by herself she created 3 baskets using tape and paper.
Here are the girls showing Grandpa Mike Lauren's creations.

Giving Thanks

We have so much to be thankful for this year~health, happiness, friends, and family. We spent Thanksgiving at home in California celebrating with my dad and Daniel's aunt Barb and uncle Harold.

Some traditions include making a thankful tree, reading books on giving thanks and making homemade pumpkin pie the night before.

My mom had a great idea to cook the mashed potatoes a few hours early and put them in a crockpot on keep warm which saved alot of last minute hassle even though I managed to have a headache off and on the entire day (the cook always forgets to drink her water :)

For once someone else taking a picture...of course it was my dad~we both always have our cameras ready! :)
Lauren's Thankgiving art pieces from school.


After our Thanksgiving feast we decided to make room for pie by taking a walk to the nearby park and playing in the leaves.

Shannon is being saved by uncle Harold as aunt Barb chased her around they playground.

After the park we enjoyed some pie and relaxed

My dad and the girls

Pilgrim Lauren

A few days before Thanksgiving Lauren turned into an almost full time cat....it made for an interesting holiday :)

Happy Thanksgiving! We are thankful for and love you all!