California Christmas, Part 2

Christmas morning! We used Grandma's stockings for the boys to open gifts we brought along. Then Chris & Gretchen & boys, plus Chris' dad John came over for the big present time and a nice brunch.

 

 

Ollie with the cat we gave him that's similar to Wade's beloved Kitty a.k.a. Meow-Meow.

 

The boys crowded around the busy board Phil & Abby made and Mom & Dad got for the boys.

 

The next day we went over to Balboa Island to spend some time with Jim's friend Rick and his kids. Nice to catch up with them!

 

Garrett and John and just a few weeks apart, and had fun playing together.

 

Afterward, we met Mom and Dad at the Crab Cooker! The boys ate tons of bread and a little fish and we all had a nice time. :)

 

The next day we had a nice relaxing time with Grammy and Poppa. The boys enjoyed the grand/great-grand toys, we had a delicious meal prepared by Grammy, and had a nice time sitting in the sun on the back patio chatting while the boys dug in the dirt and brought old guavas over to Poppa for him to slice open and show them.

 

Mom made a lot of nice food for me/us! This was yellow squash "chips" to make a nacho plate.

 

It was great to be back at Granada! Garrett read a scripture passage up in front during the kids time. Wyatt also went up and enjoyed that. Wade really wanted to "read" the hymnal and have me read it to him so I sang one of the songs for him, which he liked.

 

So great to catch up with so many people, including Jana & Dave and their 4 kids visiting from MN!

 

Afterward, Jim took the boys for the afternoon and evening since they were a little sick, and I went down to Uncle Tom's for Cox Christmas with Mom & Dad. We stopped at Smashburger and Redondo Beach on the way down - so fun! And, I couldn't resist taking a picture of this guy with his cart and flag ETC....this is just so "L.A." to me! :) Never a dull moment with so many different kinds of people to watch!

 

Phil & Abby invited us over for some backyard play. It was so fun! They have a great backyard and the boys got to help with the compost pile, dig holes, use a real small saw, and swing!

California Christmas - Part One

 ...And it was off to California for a much-needed break, help while I recovered, and lots of fun! We stopped in Las Vegas for one night on the way and liked our hotel with swans in the lobby, and a great breakfast included.

 

Wade got to sleep in a big bed with lots pillows around him!

 

 

 

 

First In-n-Out stop!

 Ahhh...so nice to be home in good ol' Whittier, at the old homeplace with Mom and Dad, and even Gretchen, Chris and the boys next door! This year Wade and Lars really interacted and enjoyed playing together.

 

Cute Ollie was getting around everywhere either crawling or with a cute beginner walk.

 

Anders came out and hugged the boys and they immediately started playing. Checking out the mailbox...

 

Playing in Grandma & Grandpa's backyard.

 

Doing fishy faces with Grandpa was fun!

 

Wade drinks his ice cream "soup." :)

 

Wyatt had fun putting this package together for me and even wrote some words on it (some of his first!)

 

I think it says, "Our Mom." :)

 

Here he drew a silly picture.

 

We checked out the best beach weather day - the day after we got there and got right down to Mother's Beach. It was nice to be in calm waters with the boys, and Jim did a lot of digging while I relaxed and read The Blue Sapphire.

 

There were some nice kids who came up and politely asked if they could join us, and we had fun with them. Afterward, talking to their mom, we found out they were also from Colorado, just as happy as us to be missing the snow storm!

 

Family picture time while we were all gussied up for Christmas Eve.

 

 

So fun to be at Grammy & Poppa's for Christmas Eve! We got the kids dressed up and they recited a few lines for a little Christmas play.

 

Little Rose was a cute baby Jesus. :)

 

Aunt Gretchen got a Happy Birthday Jesus cake for the kids - so fun!

 

Uncle Kirk holds Wade...

 

The boys have picked up on my Dad's "naughty" tradition of creating wrapping paper balls and throwing them at people... ;-)