Celebrating Christmas

Since we were headed up to Fresno for Christmas, we celebrated Christmas as a family of four on the 23rd before heading to church (hence the button down shirts).

Elijah was super excited about presents this year; he kept wanting to help me wrap in hopes of catching a glimpse of one of his presents

We started with a reading of Luke 2 and Matthew 2 before opening stockings.

Then some time to color in the new books while I finished getting breakfast ready:

Christmas breakfast! Downside to celebrating early: it isn't time yet to light the white Christ candle.

Elijah's requested present (he said I could choose any others)--he wanted a red diesel engine without a face that could carry the counting bears and was bigger than his wooden engines

Josiah's train

Putting the presents together!

We had a lovely morning together before church. Then it was time to finish packing and drive up to Fresno for more Christmas festivities!

The boys' presents reflected their shared interests; while we carefully chose what went to which boy, most could have been easily and happily swapped. The theme of the year was transportation with an emphasis on trains (surprise, surprise!).

Christmas Tree!

Both boys were excited about the tree!

Elijah liked putting the ornaments up as high as he could reach

Decorating a Christmas tree is hard work: after every ornament or so, Elijah needed a drink of egg nog. Josiah, of course, refused egg nog because it is not water.

Our decorated tree! Elijah is showcasing the beloved ornament of the year: a train engine from Miss C.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The boys started the day off with playdough while I made waffles:

I originally made brown playdough so that the boys could use feathers and googly eyes to make turkeys, but it makes great dirt for their trucks!

My beautiful fall windows--we did most of it at preschool last week.

Super easy and fun: just leaves and contact paper

Post-breakfast project

Pre-dinner turkey snack

We spent a quiet morning and afternoon with daddy, which was wonderful after all the long, long work days that Dustin has been putting in.

Then we headed to my parents for a delicious Thanksgiving dinner!

Grandpa got a new Thomas train and coaches for his track--the boys loved it!

Elijah spent the whole evening out at the track, quite pleased to be able to manage the controls. It took him a while to decide to come in for pumpkin pie.

Decorating turkey cookies. Elijah was too fast for me to get a picture--must go quickly in order to return to the train!

Elijah fell asleep on the drive home, but as I was tucking him in, he awoke just enough to tell me, "I didn't know they'd have a Thomas train." What a lovely day!

Cranberry Play

So much to post, too little time/motivation. I'll post beautiful Hawaii pictures soon, but in the meantime, here's what we played with last night:

Cranberries float! It doesn't get much more exciting than that, and they were happy through all of dinner prep time. Elijah, in an effort to keep us on our toes about his food preferences, tried and liked the tart cranberries.

In a tight place

And Josiah's attempt at imitation

Camping, Day 3

Labor Day morning, it was time to pack and head to the Sequoia grove. First, more dirt play, though.

Only half the group joined us for a walk through the amazing Sequoia grove. So big and beautiful!

Then our picnic lunch was cut short by bees (it's hard to eat and keep bees away from two kids). So we headed back down the mountain. Josiah loved the drive down--he oohed and aahed and applauded all the way until we got to the boring foothills.

Camping, Day 2

After a cold and not particularly restful night (but then who goes camping with two little ones anticipating sleep?), it was time to resume the work of digging.

The big agenda item for the day was a five-mile hike up to a fire tower with a beautiful panoramic view of the mountains.

Theoretically, you could drive up a "well-maintained" road to the trail head. Well-maintained it was not, although an SUV could make it fine. Corollas and Camrys, not so much. So we parked along the road and hiked the mile to the trail head.

Pretty view along the way

Look! We made it to the trail head! Now we're all hungry and in need of lunch.

Elijah (slowly) hiked the whole mile to the trail head while Josiah rode in a carrier on Dustin's back. Josiah and Dustin arrived at our picnic spot long before Elijah and me. I missed the moment where Josiah allegedly kicked a little dog in the face who surprised him by running up to him. Self-preservation instincts, apparently.

Apparently carrying a 25+ pound weight on my back is all I was able to manage on our hike up the mountain--no pictures to share.

After hiking two miles on the actual trail, it was time to take stock of the crew. Faster, fitter hikers chose to finish the trail (the last half mile went down and then up, up, up) and enjoy the view from the fire tower. Dustin foraged ahead while Elijah, Josiah, and I slowly, slowly, slowly made our way down the mountain with the help of friends. The others finished the trail and caught up with us before we made it back down.


Pictures of the view from the top:

The driver of the one big vehicle on the trip graciously piled the kids and parents in to drive us back to our car parked right before the big ditch.

Mileage totals:
Elijah: 2 miles
Dustin: 6 miles (3.5-4 with kid on back)
Katie: 5 miles (4 with kid on back)
Not bad for our biggest attempted hike yet as a family of four.

The hike was followed by more of the favorite activity of the trip: