Sleeping Babes

Below, Bear fell asleep while mommy was shopping.  

Looks like this guy was taking a cat nap. 

 Brother being silly, slept the night in the doll crib.

Dishonorable Mention

Here is Bear's drawing- on the house.

He also loves picking and eating daddy's strawberries

(most of the time that is ok, he is learning to only pick the red ones)

Awards

 I received the OPA award the past two semesters,

through lots of hard work (mom and me).

Mom had trouble finding me in the crowd 

with "Simon" in front of me.

Recognizing my little sister...

Don't want to forget quite an honorable mention that while Lilli was "4"

she learned how to swim without floaties.

(Here we are in January swimming at Nana's pool)

 She also learned how to ride a bike without training wheels.

 But got a few bruises in the process.

Lilli's 5th Birthday

 Lilli had kind of a memorable birthday this year because I

came down with the flu 3 days before her scheduled party.

The night I came home from school sick she was already at Nana's

so she got to celebrate on Thurs with Nana and Pops.

Friday with Aunt Shannie. 

She came home Saturday and celebrated with just our family at Rainforest Cafe.

(After which mom and Bear got the flu)

(Then daddy Sunday)

(Finally Lilli got it Monday)

and we were all back healthy one week later.

She did get to celebrate a month later 

(a little too close to my birthday)

and got a fun rainbow unicorn pinata.

Friends for dinner

 Lucas and Evi came over for spaghetti.

Milanie and I are having a nice snack.

Projects

Here are some of the fun things we have been doing

 while bored on Christmas break.

 Marshmallopolis

 Lil and her friend.

The Days after Christmas

We love living in California!

The day after Christmas it was 85 degrees and

we convinced mom to let us get out the slip & slide.

Then it got windy and we got to try out

our kites that we had been waiting a long time to fly.

Bear complicated things a little.

Traditions

We added a few new traditions this year, including visiting the

Operation Christmas Child Distribution Center

it was neat to see where our boxes go all around the 

world to bless others.

 We also visited a live nativity,

they even had a camel.

Lil got her to go see her first ballet

The Nutcracker.

Christmas Eve

 Tita Ema was our photographer at Christmas Eve

and she gave us cool gifts and wonderful food too (sorry, not pictured).

 Reading the reason for the season...JESUS.

 Story at Bear's level.

We got some super cool gifts: jewelry making, cool boots, toys and a start of a college fund.

Playing Trains

With Bear, playing trains is an everyday thing for us.

Here is a skit of "Diesel 10 chasing Thomas".

So we were all excited for him that Lola and Opa & 

Nana and Pops got Bear a train for each of their houses for Bear to play with.

Bear loved crashing Thomas with Pops!