Advent Calendar summary

Now that Christmas is over I can confidently say that the Advent Calendar I made was a complete success. It took a few days for the idea to catch on but as soon as it did every morning Caleb wanted to go see what was in "today's pocket". I admit that the activities weren't totally out of the norm or outrageous but it did force me to make sure I had prepped in advance and actually follow through. Towards the end Caleb knew how many more days there was until Christmas by counting the number of pockets left. Now that it's done he wants another calendar. I told him we have to wait until next year.

Chocolate fondue night

Bake and decorate cookies

Decorate a gingerbread house

First night of Hanukkah

Visit Santa

Christmas Pajamas Done!

There were a couple of minor setbacks in finishing the Christmas pajamas. Jamie claimed that the pant legs on his pajamas were too wide and he wanted me to take them in. I asked my sewing instructor for help and she said to just cut off the side seam and re-sew. I also had to redo the waistline. When Jamie tried it on after the alterations he said it bunched up too much in the crotch area. (I guess I cut off too much at the waistline). So basically I had to reorder fabric and start over on his pajamas. (anyone interested in a pair of blue snowflake pajama pants?) Even though I got the fabric in early December I put off making the pajamas until yesterday and just finished.

Another thing that was sort of hard to find was plain white long sleeved shirts for the boys. I went to Kohl's and easily found one for me and Jamie but in the kids section no such luck. That's when I turned to trusty and reliable Amazon.

I'm very happy with my first set of family Christmas pajamas. It'll be fun to pick out new fabric each year. 

Christmas trees cut out ready to be Heat n Bonded on the shirts

Lucas' finished set

Nutcracker

A highlight of the Fours program at Caleb's preschool is the Nutcracker performance. The four year olds practice for a month. They learn about the Nutcracker music, story, and dance. I wondered what the four year olds would do on stage.

I went to the dress rehearsal and contemplated just dropping Caleb off and waiting for the actual performance to see the whole thing. I am so glad I didn't! During the rehearsal I brought my camera and flip video camera. I was able to video Caleb's performance while sitting in the middle of the third row. Had I not done that, I would not have seen his face from where we had seats during the evening performance.

The whole performance was about 40 minutes and really was amazing. Amazing to watch 100+ four and five year olds get on stage, follow direction, and not get distracted. Towards the end instead of kids going off stage at the end of their part, they were left on stage to sit and watch quietly. I can't imagine the amount of patience the teachers have but I can certainly imagine how proud they must have been watching their students perform. I certainly was a proud mama!

The video is 2.5 minutes long and a bit shaky since I was trying to also take pictures with my camera while videotaping.

To culminate the performance, the school got group tickets to see the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker performance. Jamie and I decided to buy tickets to watch it with him. We were worried he wouldn't last half of show but we left about 10 minutes before it ended. We thought he wanted to leave and when we got in the lobby he sort of complained that he wanted to stay. It was interesting to notice that he was familiar with the story and music. He perked up when he heard the music that he danced to and also when he saw the toy soldier and mice fighting scene. Overall I think it was a lovely first theater experience.I hope he enjoys going to more.

War Memorial Opera House

French Laundry

Miracles do happen during the Christmas season. Jamie somehow made a 6:00pm reservation at the French Laundry a mere 3 days in advance.

I must admit that the restaurant is a bit on the formal side which is sooo not our style. Men had to wear jackets and there were no jeans allowed. At one point the gentleman at the next table was asked to put his jacket back on.

I wouldn't say I was blown away by any one dish but I could definitely have had bigger portions of some of the courses. We loved the lobster and crab with white truffles. White truffles are good. And Jamie has added raclette to his list of cheeses he loves. I will also not be forgiven for eating all of the Kaluga caviar before Jamie got a chance to try it. It was a delicious meal. If you can go, you should. It really doesn't disappoint and you quickly will get over the sticker shock of the bill.

Advent Calendar

I had wanted to buy this Advent calendar from Pottery Barn but then I got the "brilliant" idea of making it myself. I Googled, sought out opinions, and then made a plan. I bought 5" squares of assorted Christmas fabric online. The most tedious part of the whole project was tracing the numbers on Heat N Bond paper, cutting them out, and then adhering them to the squares. I also did the tracing and cutting twice. The first set of numbers I had were too skinny. When I laid them out on the squares they didn't stand out enough. I had to go back and find a new chunkier font. I think the part I was most nervous about was drawing the tree but I think it came out cute. The most cumbersome (and dangerous!) part was sewing the pockets onto the tree because there were tons of pins and I had to maneuver the whole thing through the machine. I pricked myself A LOT and a couple of times drew blood. The tree is about 4 feet tall (not including the stump and star) and 3 feet wide. In order to give it some thickness I inserted a layer of batting. The next thing I had to figure out was how to hang it. I got some dowels and used more felt to make some loops. I found this tutorial online that helped me figure it all out. Now it was down to the final phase - sewing all around the tree (right sides together) and turning it inside out. My topstitching skills need some improvement. The bottom part got tricky since I included a tree stump. From afar it looks pretty good. Get too close and you'll see how much of a beginner sewer I really am. :)

While making the tree I looked up ideas for what to put in the pockets. I didn't want them all to be little toys or candy. A majority of the pockets were filled with activities like decorate the Christmas tree, chocolate fondue night, visit Santa Clause, shop for toys to donate to a charity, etc etc. I am looking forward to doing this activity with the boys and I hope they like it too. I think next year I'll include little ornaments in the pocket so they can decorate a small kid tree or something.

laid out my squares on top of green felt

numbers on the pockets

made a pattern

Pockets not sewn on but it's definitely coming together

Added a layer of quilter's batting to the backside

Added loops for the dowels

My mini hacksaw to cut down the dowels to size

Attached screw eyes to dowels

 

Testing out the screw eyes

All done and ready to be filled

Loophole

Whenever we're in a parking lot I always say to Lucas and Caleb "Hold hands, we're in a parking lot" Sometimes I have to give Lucas a choice to either hold hands or be carried. And as much as I don't want to carry him I have to because he can be a squirmy little kid and try to run away from me.

Today I picked him up from preschool and as we were just about to get to the parking lot I said "hold hands.." and he held his OWN hands together and said to me "I am holding hands" and when I tried to hold his arm he tried to squirm away from me and declared "I am holding hands!" I guess in two year old logic-speak "holding hands" means he can hold his own hands and walk across a parking lot by himself. Do I really have to spell it out for him and say "Hold MY hand?"

The other day Caleb had a fever and so I gave him some Advil. Lucas said "I'm sick too" and he proceeded to fake cough and say "See I'm sick, I need medicine".

It really is true.... the second kid is opposite from the first.

Beginning Sewing 2

So I decided to take another Beginning Sewing class because I wanted to learn how to make the bag that I originally set out to do.

Originally I was going to have a cotton lining but then thought it be better to have something wipeable so I found a coated fabric(I think it's PUL). I still have enough of the coated fabric leftover to make a lunch tote or something small. While in class the teacher asked if I plan on adding batting. I hadn't thought about it since the original pattern was for a bag that can be folded up to put in your purse. I decided to get this foam type batting so that my bag had structure and could stand on it's own. I'm really pleased with the end result.

my new bag with button closure

polka dotted lining

Christmas pajamas

One of the perks of making our Christmas pajamas was being able to pick out fabric. Jamie said he wanted to be involved in picking one since he did not like the print of last year's. Here's what he chose. The fabric arrived pretty fast and after having finished my Beginning Sewing pajamas I thought I'd start early on our Christmas ones and try to make Lucas' pants first. I found this tutorial online. If I messed up at least it wasn't too much fabric. But it was so easy! One down three more to go!

Lucas' pj pants

Halloween 2012

October was filled with lots of Halloween activities. Pumpkin patches, Halloween crafts, and costumes. This year the boys picked out their own costume. Caleb chose to be a doctor and Lucas chose to be Diego from the show Go Diego Go. As it turned out Lucas' costume was a bit of an ordeal.

The first chance they got to wear their costumes was for a Halloween birthday party. Lucas' didn't like wearing his costume at all and insisted on taking it off. Since Diego's "costume" consisted of a blue T-shirt, blue shorts, and vest I figured I could make put my beginning sewer skills to good use and make a vest. That costume was worn only once for Parent Observation. On Halloween he didn't want to wear either Diego costume so I dressed him up in his Frank Gore football jersey and had him try to carry a small football.

During the day, we went to Caleb's preschool "Enchanted House". It's a maze with different displays - some were related to books (like Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are) and others were games. The kids were given prizes at each display. It was totally cute and more than I expected. After that we went to downtown Los Altos for a trick or treating event. Lucas may not have been into wearing a costume but he quickly got into the trick or treating.

On Halloween night, we decided to trick or treat on a street in Los Altos. One of the houses on the street built an elaborate pirate themed display. By now Lucas knew how to trick or treat like a pro. Once he got his candy and said thank you he turned and ran toward the next house. I had to slow him down or else he would run into the dark street. He also had no problem running toward the door pushing his way in front of other kids. Today he mentioned he wanted to go trick or treating again. I told him he has to wait another year for Halloween. Thank goodness... Halloween was pretty exhausting.

Scrubs and doctor coat

Trick or treating in downtown Los Altos

Enchanted House at Children's House

So hard to get these two to take a good picture

Halloween event during California Ave Farmer's Market.

At least he kept the vest on longer than the costume we bought at the store.

scary and happy pumpkins

Beginning Sewing

On the first night of my Beginning Sewing class our instructor taught us how to make a ruffle and put in an elastic band. She then told us to pick out a pattern. The choices were a skirt, pajama set, and a tote bag. I picked the tote bag thinking that it was the easiest of all three choices. Our homework for the week was to purchase fabric, trace the pattern, and cut your fabric. When I got home and told Jamie he berated me for picking the tote bag and reminded me that my goal was to make our Christmas matching pajamas. So I had to go back to the store to get the pattern. There were 3 more three hour sessions and it took all that time to sew a pajama set. I never realized that a top consisted of so many pieces. (1 back, 2 front pieces, 1 collar, 2 sleeves). I am now in awe of the contestants on Project Runway. The pants were way easier and didn't take as long as the top. In the end I am happy with how it turned out considering it was my first time.

Lucas snapshot 2.5yo

My lil pumpkin

My baby is officially 2.5 years old. In a nutshell Lucas is independent, stubborn, and has a mind of his own. He loves his big brother and pretty much copies everything Caleb does. Since he's been a toddler bed and able to get in and out of bed so easily it's a battle at bedtime and naptime. He comes out of his room a hundred times before finally going to bed. Lately he's taken a liking to replying "One second" whenever we ask him to do something. He's still quick to throwing a tantrum but luckily can still be distracted. His tantrums have been less and I think it's because his vocabulary is growing. When I drop him off at preschool he gives me a kiss and says bye without a backward glance. And when I pick him up he is excited to see me and says that he misses me. He has no fear in the water and when his swim teacher tells him to swim to the island he lunges forward with no hesitation.

Random tidbits:

1. His favorite tv shows are Team Umizoomi and Go Diego Go
2. Loves to wear his Crocs and pajamas
3. He calls clothes pajamas
4. When he wakes up he opens his door and when he sees me he shouts "I wake up!"
5. He still likes to suck down baby food pouches.
6. He will try just about any food but if he doesn't like it he will spit it out and say "I not like it"

Every day Lucas says something that is either cute, funny or something that makes us shake our heads. He has a lot of spunk and we love him so much.

Halloween story

The one thing I love about Caleb's new preschool is the emails the teachers send that give us an indication of what goes on at school. Here's the email that was sent today:

Dear Parents, 

We had a great day at school today!  The children worked on a story as a large group with each child adding a sentence.  I told the children that you may want to read it with them at home.  Each child should be able to tell you what part they added.  Not all children chose to contribute, but might have graciously said "No thank you" when it came to their turn. 

October Group Story:

Once there was a spooky house.  The spooky house had ghosts, witches and goblins.  There were spooky bats in there and five little pumpkins.  The people were scared because there was a fire breathing dragon in there that had sharp teeth and was covered in spider webs.  Three people walked up to the spooky house.  They saw a spider and a monster came.  The dragon knocked on the door.  There was a girl who got scared by the giant spiders.  The spider was turned into an apple.  The apple turned into a prince when somebody kissed it.  There was a skeleton who took his head off and became a dinosaur.  The prince and the dinosaur became friends.  A super hero came and fought the dinosaur.  The dinosaur won and then he ran away.  Then the super hero beat the dinosaur but the dinosaur kicks out the super hero.  Then a vampire and a Dracula came to beat the dinosaur.  The fire truck came to save everyone.  The end.

You have to love how 4 and 5 year olds process stories!

Have a great weekend,

Katie, Madeleine and Sophia

 

I asked Caleb if he contributed to the story and he said yes. I asked him what did he say. He said "The people were scared." I am so glad that he contributed. It makes me think he's just a totally different person in school.

Carpinteria

 

I was lucky enough to be invited to a 40th birthday celebration at a BEAUTIFUL beach house in Carpinteria. It was a weekend filled with lots of drinking, food, and hanging out. My partner in crime for the weekend sums it up best in her blog post. I was too busy trying to enjoy my kid/hubby free weekend that I did not take one single picture. I did however have enough alcohol that I woke up one morning with a headache.

A sweet and funny part of the weekend consisted of the birthday guy handing out custom t-shirts to all the guests. I love my pink "I love sausage" shirt! It makes me laugh. Thanks to the S family for a FABULOUS weekend. Next time I'll know better and bring stretchy lounge pants and leave the workout clothes at home.

Bad guy

As is the case with a lot of 2.5 year olds, his favorite word seems to be no.

My Mommy

For whatever reason sometimes Lucas gets a little possessive of me. It's kind of funny until....

...someone gets hurt.

Water Wiggler and Goby

We really wanted the boys to learn how to swim. It's such a long process and commitment but we felt like we had to since we have a pool in the backyard. I signed them up at the JCC in May and was lucky to find a session that the boys could simultaneously take lessons. Since Lucas is only 2 I had to be in the pool with him in the Water Baby class. The majority of Lucas' first lesson was spent crying and clinging to me. He really didn't like the water in his eyes. I was a bit traumatized at the first lesson too since one of the first things I had to do was shove his head underwater and push him toward the teacher. At about the third lesson he quit crying so much and I got better at letting him try to swim to me before grabbing him to safety. In mid August or so the teacher suggested that Lucas was able to move on to the Water Wiggler class which meant I didn't have to be in the pool with him. I was hesitant at making the move but there were signs that NOT being in the pool with him was probably more beneficial. Basically when it was his turn with the teacher he performed better. I think when I'm there he tends to cling and/or play around. So far he's been in the Water Wiggler class two weeks and doing great. He is so comfortable in the water it scares me. He's not afraid to put his face in the water. At the last Water Baby class when he jumped into the pool I seriously had to reach far down in the pool to bring him back up. Today during his lesson he was gently pushed into the pool and had to swim to the edge and was able to do it. It was really cool to watch.

Since Caleb's lesson was at the same time as Lucas I could never watch him to see how he was doing. All I could tell was that he enjoyed his lesson and was getting really comfortable in the water. Towards the end of August at about the same time I was going to register Caleb up for the next session, his teacher said he could move up a level to Goby (he was a Frog). And now that Caleb goes to preschool 5 mornings a week I had to find him an afternoon lesson time. I brought him to his first Goby lesson and got to watch him in the pool. He is really comfortable putting his face in the water and getting better at kicking. I don't think he's at the point where he can swim unassisted but hopefully he'll get there soon (ie by January when we go to Cancun - I know that's wishful thinking!)

With both of them so comfortable in the water it just makes me MORE nervous! All the more reason why they need swimming lessons.

Lucas' first Ouch Report

It took Lucas 3 weeks of preschool to get his first Ouch Report. It only took Caleb 2 weeks. Does this mean I have clumsy kids?

Machine Basics

My grandma used to sew. She used to make some of her clothes. When I was little she made me and my sisters pajamas. I've always thought sewing is so useful and so I thought about taking some lessons. From my search I found Eddie's Quilting Bee. I was required to take a Machine Basics class if I wanted to take any of their beginning sewing classes. The first part of the class was going over the sewing machine and basic operation and some of it's features. Then the instructor gave us a piece of paper with a maze that we had to follow. After she approved your work, we picked a fabric kit to make a pillow case. We then learned how to spool a bobbin and thread the machine. After that, we got started on sewing the little pillow case. I was surprised at how many people were in the class (12)  including four 8 year olds.

My paper maze

My first stich!

Completed pillow case

I also signed up for their Beginning Sewing class. One of my goals is to be able to make family pajamas for Christmas this year. We'll see how that goes!

Toddler Bed

Lucas figured out how to climb out of his crib about a week ago. I was advised that it was time to convert the crib into a toddler bed. It's the first time I've converted the crib. We never converted it for Caleb since he went straight to a double bed. Seeing the toddler bed makes me a little sad. Lucas is definitely no baby. He is a kid who talks, runs, climbs, has an opinion, and definitely has a lot of spunk. So far he seems to like the bed. Let's hope he sleeps in it well tonight!

Showing us why we needed to convert to a toddler bed

One last time in the crib. We asked him to pretend he was sleeping.

It looks so different!

Big bro checking out the toddler bed

Lucas' First Day of Preschool

Jamie and I decided to start Lucas in the two's program at the same preschool Caleb started at. We felt like he could benefit from some structure and socialization. It's only four hours a day for two days a week. When we got inside his classroom, he went straight towards the fire truck hats and put one on. He gave one to Jamie and me to put on as well. We thought he was doing well so we said our goodbyes and was almost out the door when I heard "Mommy!". I thought "uh oh" but he came over to us and just wanted another kiss goodbye.

When I picked him up I asked one of the teachers if he asked about us after we had gone. She said no he was too busy playing. I asked him what he did at school and he said "I don't know." I asked did he like school and he said "yes." Thanks goodness.