My Magical Weekend

I just know I am going to jinx the mood in the household by saying it, but this weekend has been absolutely wonderful. The kids are getting along splendidly, we saw the Nutcracker yesterday as a family, and we decorated gingerbread houses today. No offense to the extended family, but it's waaaaaaay easier to build gingerbread houses with two kids instead of eight (or however many there were around the table last year).

We also went to a puppet show today at the local library. We promoted it at the house as a special activity for Norah, and she was mildly excited about it. More intrigued than excited, I think. Toby's opinion was "I like action, Mom, not puppets!"

They both ended up getting a huge kick out of the show, which was a re-telling of the boy who cried wolf. I let Toby play chess with another kid (who also wasn't interested in watching the show), while Norah and I chose our seat. About 3 minutes into the show Toby slinks up and slides into a seat in the row ahead of us, near some of his buddies. I don't think he was intending on having a good time, but he was laughing right along with the rest of the kids. Norah was sitting on my lap, and at one point she laughed so hard I was worried about my lap staying dry. (No accidents to report, thankfully.)

With the trauma we experienced on Friday watching the news surrounding the school shooting in CT we were wondering how to approach the subject of such an awful tragedy with the kids. We have found solace and comfort in each other, some quiet Christmas music, and home-y activities preparing our hearts for the coming of the King. Our hearts and prayers are with the families who will be forever changed.

My First Nutcracker Ballet

Toby, Norah, and I got to experience our first Nutcracker Ballet last night. (Apparently the philosopher grew up seeing the Nutcracker every year at, like, the National Ballet or something fancy like that. Not really, but he has seen it before.)

We all dressed up and took in the performance on opening night. They did a great job! Norah got a new holiday outfit, and Toby got a new pair of pants (not jeans or scooby pants!!) and we went out and painted the town red. Kind of. We were all tuckered out after the performance so we came home and went straight to bed, but it was really fun to go out and see the locals. Both Toby and Norah had classmates in the performance. It's definitely something we'd do again next year! And if anyone's out here visiting the weekend of the Nutcracker we'll be sure to take you along!

My flu shot: attempt number 3

I've been meaning to get flu shots for everyone in the family for a while.
Today marked my third attempt -- I've learned a lot about how the planets need to align to get two kids and myself flu shots (we generally leave the philosopher to his own devices to get a flu shot, as his time is somewhat flexible).
Anyways, Norah got her flu shot today (the pediatric office didn't have any flu mist--maybe I've make a bad choice of pediatric offices).
She had to get the shot in her thigh, and we all had a good giggle when we discovered that she was wearing a pair of Toby's underwear!
We'll have to go back to the doctor's office for Toby to get his shot. Chances are pretty good he won't be wearing any of Norah's underwear.

My Boy Adds to the Nativity

Toby added a few characters to our nativity set tonight. They blend in really well, so I didn't see them until way after Toby had gone to bed.

My Failed Photo Session

We took some pictures of the kids playing together at Mission Ranch last month. The weather was great, the light was clear, and the participants were... willing to goof off more than sit nicely and smile.

But they had fun. 

 

 

 

 

And the drinks were lovely too!

 

My Pacific Sunset

It gets dark before 5:00 here these days, as it does everywhere else, I know. But there's something magical about watching the sun dip below the ocean's horizon in the evening. Something that a picture can't capture, but I still try sometimes.
:o)

(November)
From Mission Ranch, looking over Toby's school's garden

(November)
From Carmel Beach

(November)
From Nepenthe restaurant in Big Sur

(October)
From Carmel Beach
(Everyone else was out to watch the 10-minute sunset,
 and then we all got in our cars and drove off to where ever we were headed.)

(July)
One of our first sunsets from Carmel Beach

My Big Sur guided adventure

Drive south down Highway 1 from our house and you'll see some of the most beautiful scenery.
We took an afternoon to drive to Big Sur and caught the sunset over dinner at Nepenthe.
It was just georgeous!
(Small side note: I hate heights, so I wouldn't go near the edge. They were looking at Bixby Bridge.) 

My kite-flying and hole-digging kids enjoy the beach

These pictures were taken over a month ago, at Carmel beach. My mom came out for a week and we spent one whole afternoon at the beach. It was windy, and the waves were huge, but the kids don't seem to care. They had a ton of fun. We arrived at the beach around 2 and stayed through sunset. There was a deep hole by the water, so we decided to stay there and Toby got right to work digging some more. He spent about 2 hours in there. He also met a dog that would try to catch the sand that Toby threw out of the hole. It was very entertaining.

Toby found a friend who liked to chase the wet sand Toby threw.

Norah flew her kite for a long while. My mom helped her out (Can you believe my mom has never flown a kite by herself before? We fixed that.). The funniest thing about this video, and these pictures, is that my mom and I are fully clothed and still cold, and Norah is running around like a crazy person in her swim suit.