christmas at mom's

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures with my parents while we were visiting! And the only pictures of my dad are of the back of his head.

Auntie Emy brought Disney Monopoly to play with the kids.

Emy, Grandma Plyer and me

the baby house

Whenever we visit California, the kids love to play in Corinne's house. We lived there for a few years--mostly when they were all babies, so they call it The Baby House. One of the things we found in the closet in the girls' old bedroom was my wedding dress. Gracie begged to try it on.

...and then Lily asked

...and then I tried. In case you're wondering--no, it didn't fit.

grandma silva

We had a great visit with my Grandma in Alameda while visiting family in California for Christmas. The kids lovingly call her their Spanish Great Grandma.

california here we come!

I'm trying to play catch up here on my blog. It seems I didn't post but a few times during the month of December.

Our trip down to California was about an 18 hour drive, so we stopped half-way in Bend, OR, and stayed in a little cabin at KOA.

Gracie's bed (on the top bunk!)

Phil and the boys playing their Club Penguin card game before bedtime

Caleb

Here are a couple of pictures of Caleb singing in our church's Children's Christmas program. Sorry about the strange color. I guess the spotlights and super zoom setting on my camera don't get along very well.

pink tutus and nutcrackers

Gracie

Lily

Lily

Gracie

new beds

The girls have new beds! Phil was able to convert their toddler beds into longer big-girl beds before we headed down to California for Christmas. The ladder goes up to the boys' loft area.

Under construction

We had fun decorating with new quilts and wall decals.

Gracie's bed

Reading before bedtime

And here's a picture of the four kids reading before bed. Phil did such a good job utilizing the space in their bedroom!

belated christmas greetings

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We were very blessed to be able to spend Christmas down in California this year. It was so good to see both of our families again and to enjoy some California sunshine. I'm going to download all of my pictures as soon as we get unpacked, and I'll be sure to post them sometime this weekend.

Have a Happy New Year!

hi-YAH!

We signed the boys up for Taekwondo. They were so excited to get their uniforms tonight.

I figure this ought to go over well with our girls. I can just see and hear it now...lots of practicing and LOTS of screaming and tattling.

ballet class

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls in their ballet class.

I didn't know Lily was this flexible!

ballet

The girls start ballet class tomorrow.

I'm just as giddy as they are.

I loved watching them twirl around the living room tonight in their little outfits.

And I smell their new pink ballet slippers every chance I get.

Oh to be a little girl again!

a princess party

The girls had a sweet little princess party last week.

We decorated princess crowns...

painted jewelry boxes...

opened presents...

and ate pink and purple cupcakes.