Christmas 2012

We had Christmas at home this year and loved it.  Jack and Hazel are at a wonderful age.  We were able to soak up the magic of the season looking at lights, decorating sugar cookies and gingerbread houses, talking about Jesus, and wondering about Santa. 

 

Hazel's preschool group learned a few Christmas songs to perform at a nursing home.  They made cards to give out to the cute grandmas and grandpas we went to visit. 

 On Christmas Eve I told the kids Santa had to wait until they were asleep before he could come bring their presents.  Hazel flung herself into bed and proclaimed as her head hit the pillow, "I'm already asleep!"  And, to my amazement, she and Jack really did go right to sleep without a peep. 

The big Christmas Morning Reveal: 

I love the look on Hazel's face!

 

 Hazel got a dollhouse.  A neighbor gave the house to us a couple of years ago and it's been in our garage ever since.  It was unpainted and had marker scribbles all over it.  We spent several nights fixing it up.  Todd painted it and put in real flooring (carpet and linoleum) and I mod podged scrapbook paper on the walls. 

 Jack got a train set.  He has set it up and played with it several times every single day for the past week. 

 I made a play tent for the kids, following this tutorial.  It was harder than it sounded and didn't turn out perfectly, but it works and the kids like it.  I wish we had enough space to have it set up all the time instead of having to store it when they're not using it. 

 We have enjoyed our Tree of All Trees so much.  We are hoping we'll have another Christmas with vaulted ceilings someday so we can repeat this year's magnificence. 

 We took the tree down today.  It was bittersweet.  We knew it had to happen sometime, and better before the baby comes than after, but no one wanted to say goodbye to it.  Our living room feels so empty now.  We got creative with the ornament removal, but had to finish the job with the tree laying on the floor. 

 

Todd's birthday was the day after Christmas.  He got his grandma's raspberry dessert instead of cake. 

 

We went to the Oakland Zoo on New Year's Eve.  It was fun to show the kids real animals we've been learning about through books and videos, like lions and tigers, hyenas, elephants, cockroaches, poisonous frogs, bats, and snakes.  

  

I'll leave you with a little Bonner family treasure.  Hazel saw Jungle Book for the first time a couple of months ago, and has been obsessed since with pretending to be Mowgli.  At least once a day, she starts laughing and throws all her clothes off except her panties.  Jack has also gotten into it the past couple of weeks and now comes up to me lifting his shirt up, asking me to take his clothes off so he can be "naked" or "Mowgli" as well.  Usually, Todd and I are Baghira or Ka, or perhaps Sher Khan.  There have been a couple of times that Todd has joined in with the madness and become a third Mowgli.  I think it's gut-busting hilarious. 

Happy Birthday Hazel!

 Hazel's fourth birthday was on Saturday, December 1st.  Todd had drill that weekend, and Hazel's savvy enough with a calendar by now that we couldn't get away with pretending December 1st was a different day.  After a lot of thought, we decided to explain our situation to her and suggest we celebrate her birthday the following Saturday instead.  She was all for it.  I love that she cared more about having her dad with her than she did about celebrating on the actual day she was born. 

We still took care to make the 1st a significant day.  I still called her "birthday girl" and gave her extra attention.  I made homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, per request. 

She went to a friend's birthday party, and I wasn't sure how she would take that.  Other than one sad revelation after the party that she had felt like her friend was opening all of her presents, she took it like a trooper, running and playing, eating cake and having a ball with all the kids.  It was a superhero party, and I let her wear her favorite dress-up dress along with her cape and mask.  She was pretty stoked about it. 

When we got home from the party, Hazel wanted to ride bikes, and I said she could.  That in itself is huge.  We haven't been biking much the last few weeks because we've had visitors and rain, and I'm so big it's uncomfortable for me to corral Jack on Hazel's path and try to keep up with them. 

That night, we got burgers for dinner and had a movie night at the house before bed.  And that's all it took to make this little firecracker feel extra loved even though her dad was gone. 

Yesterday (Saturday, December 8th) then became Hazel's "birthday."  Todd's sisters Laura and Beany were visiting for the weekend, and they made Hazel feel like they had come just for her. 

 

Hazel woke up to streamers and balloons at her door and a pile of presents on the table.  We had blueberry muffins and sausage for breakfast (and steak for dinner).  

 Hazel had her first birthday party and invited a handful of her best buddies.  We were so glad they could all come.  I was especially touched by the handmade cards several of the kids made to go along with their presents.  Lots of love! 

The party had a dress-up theme, since that is Hazel's top obsession.  I made capes and masks for the boys and tutus and necklaces for the girls.  They were on and off throughout the whole party, but everyone took theirs home.  Hazel never even put her tutu on, but I can't really blame her, as she's more of a gown girl anyway, and she had just received several new additions to her dress-up collection that she wanted to sport. 

 We did a few crafts (that only the girls were interested in) and played a few games: musical chairs; balloon hot potato; Duck, Duck, Goose; freeze dance; Simon Says.  Everyone was happy to just run free and play with our toys, which was a relief, because we finished our planned activities twenty minutes before the end of the party!  Times like these, man, they make me wish we had a backyard! 

 Everyone had sweet moves for freeze dance, but I've got to say Nova had the most heart. 

 The cake was ... a step down from last years'.  It was very child-driven, so maybe that's why it turned out soooo much less cute than I had imagined, but maybe Hazel will remember and love it more for that.  I tried to be fancy and add some purple swirly detailing to the frosting, and Hazel got excited and thought it made it look like water.  Hence, she insisted that her featured princesses were all swimming.  Face down. 

 Note the double dress-ups you can see in this picture.  New Nana dress on top of new Jasmine dress-up. 

 

Todd was an incredible party runner.  He led out in most of the games, played with the boys when all the girls were busy coloring, and had the entire crew entranced by his dramatic storybook reading.  (You should have heard the silly voice he used to sing Down By the Bay!)  

 Our major worry for the party was lighting.  We got notice about a week ahead that our power company was shutting down our electricity to work on the power lines right at the same time we were having the party.  We borrowed a camping lantern from Jefferson's family, and Aunt Erika brought one with her from Oakland.  The lights were on and off throughout the morning, so we didn't sit in darkness the whole time, but it did make for some interesting ambiance.  Actually, not a single kid mentioned it, so I don't think they even noticed, but the adults sure did! 

Erika

Julena

 The Aunts did a great job of loving on Jack so he didn't feel ignored or bored or left out.  He got lots of love this weekend. 

Laura

 We sure are thankful Hazel (aka the little fireball) is a part of our family.  She is wild and creative, smart, curious, imaginative, energetic, and funny.  We love you, Hazel! 

Thanksgiving and The Tree of All Trees

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year.  Somehow we lucked out and became a hub, and two of Todd's sisters and their families came to us.  We loved it!

I made cranberry sauce from scratch and must say it was sooooo much better than the canned stuff (that nobody really eats).  And it was easy.  Dissolve one cup of sugar in one cup of orange juice, then add 12 ounces of fresh cranberries and stir on medium for 10-12 minutes.  Chill and serve.  Voila!  I was spreading this stuff on my rolls, it was so good!

Erika and Steve came down from Oakland and were gracious enough to hang out with the kids during dinner.

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Missy and Burke and their four girls drove out from Utah and stayed with us for the weekend.  We loved it!

Missy was disappointed that we didn't go Black Friday shopping the next morning, but we had a bigger fish to fry.  Tree hunting!  Todd has been talking for the past 12 months about this year's tree.  We've got vaulted ceilings and he wanted to use up every single inch of space possible.  I agreed, based on an understanding that the tree could be as tall as he wanted, but couldn't be so wide that it took up half our living room.  We went to the Four Winds tree farm with three measurements in mind: height (at least 14 feet), width from trunk to outer branches, and width of the trunk itself (to ensure it fit in our tree stand).

I am thrilled to report that we were most successful!  Our tree is amazing.  Final stats: 13'2", and it scratched the ceiling on the way up.  Todd had to stand on his toes on the top of a ladder to put lights and ornaments on the top portion.  It is the tree of all trees.

My kids loved having "the cousins" over to play.  I actually got lonely for Hazel.  She's usually my constant shadow, but while Missy's girls were here, I barely heard from her.  She loved constantly having a playmate and can't wait to see them again.  

movie night

Saturday we went to Half Moon Bay for some beach time.  We played in the sand for a while, and then headed over to the tide pools at low tide.  It was hands-down the warmest, sunniest day I've ever experienced at HMB.  It was perfect!

Hazel loved sticking her fingers in the sea anemone and feeling it suck on her.  

Jacko found a starfish.

We had fun staying up late with Missy and Burke every night, playing games and talking.  Burke challenged Todd to try to break an egg by pushing only on the ends.  Who knew eggs were actually terrifically strong?  Try it!

Chicago

Last weekend I went to Chicago to visit my sister Emily.  Just me.  Todd and the kids stayed home.  That was strange for me.  I've never left them all before.  It was nice to spend the plane ride reading and listening to my iPod, but more so, it was a gift to be able to spend three happy days trying to focus on my sister.  She and I were the very best of friends as kids, and I cherish the little time I get now to be in her presence. 

water taxi with Sears (now Willis) Tower in the background

authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza - yum!

the "El"

Emily and her husband Doug

 We went to the Field Museum, which is huge, and had two hours to see what we wanted.  Emily and Doug let me choose any exhibits I was interested in, and all I wanted to see was the stuff I wished I could show Hazel.  We spent all our time checking out dinosaur bones, mummies, and African animals.  Haz could have spent a week inside that place! 

T-rex skeleton

real mummified human - check out the peeled back layers!

We had just learned about skeletons in preschool and seen a picture like this of a snake with all its ribs. 

Cloud Gate, aka the Bean

We had a blast playing MASH for all our single siblings.  Ha ha!

We toured the Skydeck of the Willis Tower and got to stand on this glass outjutting 103 stories in the air.  

Thanks for letting me visit, Emily and Doug!  I had a wonderful time.