Christmas Program

Garrett's school Christmas program was held during the day which made it a little challenge to get to, but I took a period off and wouldn't miss it! They sang 6 songs and it was over.  Thank goodness it was short and sweet because it was cold!  Our poor child looked like a ragamuffin!  His gel didn't hold his fo-hawk.  It was cute. 

Continued Tradition

We normally put our tree up right after Thanksgiving, but since we were scheduled to move the first week of December we had to hold off.  On our calendar for December we put a tree on the day we would finally put the tree up so Garrett would stop asking when it would go up.  He was then of course on the countdown to the day.  The night prior to our big move my Mom and I put the tree up so that the next night it would be all ready for decorating...the boys favorite job. 

Keeping with our tradition of exchaning ornaments Garrett got a Cars 2 one and Gannon's was the Polar Express Bell.  Dave got me a wine cork one and I got him a "Two peas in a pod'.  A fun tradition, but our collection is gettig quite large!  Gannon did LOTS of decorating on the first two feet of the tree, it was loaded!  It was nice to have a big spot in the living room for the tree and a ceiling high enough for our topper to go on. 

Hi Neighbor...can I borrow your phone!

On our first morning in the new house the boys and I went through our normal morning load the car routine.  I locked the door to the house because our alarm hadn't been installed yet! I also load all our lunches, coats, and bags in the passenger seat and decided since it was so cold I would start the car by leaning over the center and warm it up. I had already opened the door to Gannon's side and the boys got in.  Garrett now knows how to buckle himself in so he was in his seat doing that while I got Gannon buckled in his.  I closed the door and went around to get in....locked! Cell phone in the car, boys in the car, car is running, and door to the house is locked! Oh and the spare key is still at the old house.  PANIC! What do I do?  Of course we hadn't met any of our neighbors because we literally moved in the day prior.  I scanned the houses on the street and spotted a good one.  Christmas lights on the house, nice cars in the driveway, and I ran down and rang the door bell.  I heard dogs barking so I figured someone was there...poor guy was sleeping! Still in a panic I quickly explained and asked to borrow his phone.  I called Dave to call Onstar, which I'm thankful we pay for, and he of course just rattled off the number and hung up! Now crying I ask the poor neighbor if I can take his phone to my house to check on the boys while I call Onstar.  FREAK! He just said, "oh yeah whatever you need" what else would you tell a crying stranger at 7 in the morning!?! Onstar was awesome and had the doors open in less that a quick minute and I returned the phone!  Matt then introduced himself and said he and his girlfriend Jaime had moved in the month prior if we ever needed anything!

WOW the entire process was less that 6 minutes, but I was in a great panic hoping the boys wouldn't cry.  Thankfully they didn't even seem to realize what was going on.  Off to school we went....

Yes, We Moved Again!

We have moved yet another time! We loved our old neighborhood, but I wasn't a fan of the school it meant Garrett and soon Gannon would attend for Kindergarten.  After researching the schools with the best API scores (academic performance index) (see what teaching makes you do!) we had a few options, private school or move!  After much stress (on my part of course) and many discussions we decided we would look at three areas to move to.  Two were in Merced and one in Atwater.  I was of course leaning more toward being in Merced! I started looking over the summer and kept an eye out for a house that we could stay in for a least a few years.  We wanted a 4 bedroom for sure, 3 just wasn't enough and really wanted to be able to get all our stuff out of storage and back with us.  I knew Dave would be happier in a new house so we were then limited to two neighborhoods. 

I found a house right before we left on vacation for Thanksgiving and we managed to see the inside prior to leaving.  It took a few days of back and forth with the management company to close a deal with a two year lease...I don't want Garrett to start Kindergarten and have to move 4 months later.  We would like to stay until we decide if we are staying in Merced for long term or buying in the future.  I'm really in no rush to do all that again!

We love our new house and new neighborhood. 

Wheels on the Bus

Thank you YouTube for entertaining my son for hours on end with Wheels on the Bus videos! Seriously I don't know how he even got started on this, I'm guessing Dad showed him once.  He loves to sit at the computer and what Wheels on the Bus videos...and there are tons of them.  It didn't take him long to discover that we have a touch screen computer.  Next thing you know he at the computer clicking away from one video to another.  Ha Ha! He does have his favorites one, but seriously there are tons of them.

Thanksgiving Trip Highlights

A few highlights from our Thanksgiving week camping trip in SLO are, a movie date with Taylor and boys to see a Christmas Elf movie, Papa Dave was able to visit for a few days too, Taylor and I went on a sister dinner/Melodrama date to see The Holiday Extravaganza, Taylor camped with us one night, gotta have a vacuum picture!, and nothing better than Papa piggy back rides.  Dave took me shoe shopping from an early Christmas presents - new running shoes and pants.  I squeezed in a 4.25 morning run one day and a night at the gym with Toni and Shannon. All in all it was a fun event filled week. 

A Crafty Afternoon

After visiting Santa we walked up the street to a local pottery place.  I thought it would be fun to have the boys paint a project...and it was.  Taylor made a pretty plate, Garrett made a plate, and Gannon and Garrett made a ginger bread ornament.  I think the boys piece had about 5 layers of color, but hey they had fun.  We had to do something while Daddy and Papa were golfing!