Tree time

OK...so I'm a little behind but keeping things in order here I thought I'd post these tree photos.

We went to our usual tree spot to pick out our tree. It was pouring rain so the tractor/hay ride wasn't running which was a bummer for Cameron. Somehow every year he ends up driving the tractor so when it was closed he probably would have rather come back another day. But we were there so we tromped around in the rain and mud and found ourselves the perfect tree.

Running into Santa was a huge plus, he gave out huge candy canes.
Finding some shelter under the trees.
Every year we walk over looking for a choose & cut and end up getting a pre-cut from the barn. We still have to go through the motions though. We ended up getting a great tree. I will show you some pics in the next post. Christmas, here we come!

Gobble Gobble

Well beings that Christmas is 2 days away, I figured I'd better wish everyone a Happy late Thanksgiving. With some early snowfall we made a last minute trip to Tahoe to get some skiing in over the holiday. Here we are hanging out between runs (see even Thanksgiving football on in the background).

This is the first year we have all 4 been able to ski together. It is so cool going on the runs with the boys. Poor Eddie gets held back but its worth every green run he does before we know it they will be out skiing us.
Coopers first "official" lift. He did great getting on and off and the boys had so much fun skiing together.
So, not a bad way to spend Thanksgiving although if we ever do it again we will skip the Thanksgiving dinner buffet and just order a pizza. There is something about filling up on stuffing from a buffet that just isn't right. :)

The Happiest Place on Earth!

Wow...I think I finally figured this out. I hope you enjoy this slideshow of our Disneyland trip. It's a bit long so before you start you may want to pop some popcorn and slip your slippers on...get comfy & enjoy!

Happy Birthday Cameron

Cameron celebrated his 9th Birthday the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We started the day heading home from a last minute ski trip to Tahoe for Thanksgiving. A surprise snow storm changed our original plans so we spent the holiday in Tahoe and came home on Cameron's birthday. I posted these pictures in the wrong order so we'll start with the evening first.

Cameron's favorite gift. He had been talking about this for about a month. Lucky we came through with it, nothing else seemed to matter.
The happy look when he discovered his gift....worth every penny of it.
Cracking up at a "gag" gift we got him. Once again worth every cent!
A little pose in the snow after breakfast. Can you tell we got a bit distracted while coloring? haha
On our way into his Birthday breakfast.
He couldn't have asked for a better spot to pose for a birthday picture. He'd been wanting to climb on this thing for days.

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY CAMERON. xo

Wow

We went on a little vacation last week. More on that in the next post, I'm trying to sort through all the pictures and make it a good one. It was so awesome to fly right out of Santa Rosa @ the Charles M. Schultz (you know the Peanuts Cartoon guy) airport, about 20 minutes from our house. We had never done that before and it was so beautiful to see Sonoma County from the sky.

Coming in for a landing on our return flight. AMAZING!

Approaching the airport.

A nice shot of the Golden Gate, San Francisco & Alcatraz (Becky - Holly would appreciate this one :-) )

The Golden Gate Bridge & Grandma Sylvia's house on the way out of town.

Yes, seeing it from the sky was just a reminder why we feel so lucky to live in Sonoma County. I am going to be working away to get a good vacation post up in the next few days....can't wait to share!

A Little Sunshine

We had a visit from the sunshine state. My step-mom, Carol came out from Florida and spent the weekend with us. My sister, Becky and cousin Ethan came out from Sacramento and we all had a blast hanging out. We haven't seen each other in a few years (she came to visit when we were in Mississippi). It was so fun catching up with each other and just hanging out!

We had to do a golf cart ride and run down to get from fresh eggs from one of our neighbors
A fun dinner in Occidental - I think we ate anyway. Homestyle Italian food. (Her meatballs are better :) - Carol we are cooking next time!)
A quick hello with Billy as he headed out to work
Whale watching in Bodega Bay. We saw several. It was really cool as they normally aren't in this bay.
A fun dinner @ Billy's work.

It was so great to spend time together. I guess it's our turn to head that way next time. Glad you came out Carol!

Happy Halloween

We hope you all had a fun Halloween. The boys had a good time. They had a Halloween parade and party at school on Friday. That was the kick-off the the Halloween fun. We went to a cool pumpkin patch on Saturday a friend has been telling me about. It is on a dairy farm. They do hay rides, have a corn maze, lots of farm animals to visit, a great jack-o-lantern pumpkin selection, great edible pumpkin selection, sell their cheese & ice cream and have a potato garden where you dig-up your own potatoes to buy by the pound.

They loved racing up this hay stack
the newest jack-o-lantern posing with his buddies
hay ride
Cameron said milking this cow felt "strange"
Ready to get some candy. We went for about an hour they counted candy and got 54 pieces. Not bad!

The boys also made and decorated cakes for a carnival at their school. They did a great job decorating. Their cakes were a hit when we dropped them off.

Let the Holiday Season Begin!

Toothless

Cooper had a skateboard injury about a year & a half ago that knocked his front 4 teeth loose. At the time we thought we were gonna have to pull all of them. Luckily they hardened back up but the dentist warned us that since there was nerve damage he could have problems in the future with them. Well a few days ago he started complaining of a tooth ache. He has a high tolerance for pain so we knew it must be bad. We called the dentist and he said get in here right now...so off we went but not before a quick picture

luckily we got that last toothful smile above because within minutes of being at the dentist he was on the table getting prepped for extraction
he was such a trooper, didn't shed a tear. Even the dentist was impressed. His tooth was abscessed so it was a good thing we went in. Now he and Cameron both have the same front tooth missing.
Just in time for Halloween, a jack-o-lantern pose showing off the new missing tooth. Cooper was pretty excited to share his tooth and story with his class so having the tooth fairy take it just didn't seem like an option. He decided to leave a note instead.
Guess what? It worked! He got to keep his tooth and got $5. Yup, $5 - I know a lot more than we got as kids but inflation you know.

11 years

We had our 11 year wedding anniversary on the 16th. We had a great time spending the day together and having dinner at the restaurant we had our first "official" date together on 5/31/97. It's pretty cool to be sharing an 11 year anniversary. Happy Anniversary to us! :)

A quick dinner shot taken by a woman who happened to be having her like 21st anniversary

Us ready for our date.

Where have we been???

Wow...it's been a while. How time flies. It all comes at once and it's been a whirlwind. The kids started school and I started back to work the same day (I am on the school schedule), along with that we started soccer season. This is the first year both boys are playing which meant 4 games a week. So between school, soccer, homework and work you can see why it's been a while.

Today marks the end of the 2010 soccer season. The games got rained out (oh darn) but that doesn't stop the parties. We had a brunch potluck this morning for Cooper's team and are headed to a pizza party this afternoon for Cameron. They both loved the season. They had the same coaches - a husband & wife team with kids the same ages as Cameron & Cooper. They both had lots of their classmates on their teams and loved playing. Cooper was a huge goal scorer and often made several goals in each game. Cameron 's skill improved greatly this season and he had a few goals of his own. His age group is very competitive and the games were VERY exciting. Sometimes us parents thought we were more tired than the kids after the games because we'd get so into it. Cameron's team took 3rd place in a big tournament- (we had 7 games that week)- it was such an awesome win for them. They were sort-of the underdogs going into it and taking 3rd was a huge accomplishment.

Third place... feeling good

Cooper after his exhibition game

Cameron taking control of the ball

Cooper going for it

I hope to be more up to date with photos & such as we love being able to share this stuff with you.

It's official....

...school has started. Cooper started Kindergarten and Cameron is in 3rd grade. It has been a smooth transition for both of them. They both got the teachers they were hoping for and have been loving every day. They both have said on more than one occasion "today was the best day ever!" Cooper has 4 kids from his preschool in his class and 3 from his soccer team - it helps to have friends when you are moving to big boy school. Cameron is in class with several of his dodge ball buddies and 3 guys from his soccer team, so not only did they get the lucky teacher pick but have lots of friends in class too.

A little pose in the first day outfits.

The new backpacks.

This years "bell" picture (last year is below). Our third annual. They both have grown but Cameron just seems like a big kid now!

It's so cool having them at the same school - I mean really, not only does it make drop-off & pick-up much more convenient but they get to play on the playground together before school and see each other throughout the day. Their classrooms are across the grass from each other - it couldn't be better. It makes it a little easier on me knowing Cameron can keep his eye out for his little brother. We are looking forward to a fun school year - we'll keep you posted.

End of the Summer Fun

We made time for a quick last minute get-away before school started at the KOA in Willits. There is not much better than the Willits KOA. You can catch the Skunk train right out of the campsite (it runs from Willits to Fort Bragg - a beautiful route - unfortunately we didn't have time this trip but hope to do it next time). Besides the train the place is full of fun family activities more to do in the 1 1/2 days we were there. Like the 5cent beer pictured above that Eddie found...that was a score!! :)

This amazing play structure with obstacles & tubes for days...

a limbo contest - complete with Eddie as a pole holder & Cooper as a contestant

a hula hoop contest Cooper & I entered....damn if we just had our hoops from home we may have won :)...

a petting zoo...

a fishing trip for the boys...

and Cameron caught one all on his own. Even if Eddie warned him being quiet & patient would be hard for him...

a beautiful hike...

still on the trail...

a little water play with dad...

and a bit of relaxing with mom. Yes, our campsite had a private hot-tub! Now that's what we call camping. A much needed trip even if it was short...(oh...we even played pee-wee golf I'm not sure why none of those pix loaded). Soon..back to reality - school & work. Maybe the routine will feel good?! We booked another trip for October - that place was a blast!