Christmas

We continued the tradition of Christmas Eve at Gigi's (Grandma) house. The children were willing participants in this years Nativity. Jesse was not so much, but we still stripped him down into a swaddling diaper as the baby Jesus. He would make an appereance now and then, usually off cue, and decided it was a better use of his time to scavenger for cookies while there was no competition and little supervision. Hey, at least he was quiet.

Santa paid a visit to the children before making his big nightly run. Blake and Cece got new lightsabers (spring loaded so they shoot up on their own) and Jesse got a Slinky Dog (which has a spring in it too, I sense a theme... not really).

Well, after they party, Santa found our house. There was some question whether he would make it since the kids had forgetten that they had to be nice:)

Rebecca found a new love in checking out Christmas lights this year. We had fun except for the problem she and I have in climate control. I have it too cold, she too hot. If only I could drive the car from the outside that would be something. Or perhaps with the next car we will get seat heaters!

As you can see, Jesse was his normal, smiley self. BTW, Dad is very happy he is now officially nursery age. I can finally go and hear a lesson.



Jesse still hasn't learned the ropes when it comes to this present opening thing. Big Sis and Bro Bro were happy to help show him the way. I have a feeling next year he will not be as willing to receive the help.


This picture looked easier than it was. Jesse isn't one for standing still for long. It was new act of speed and entertainment for the parents to get this shot.

Blake and Cece were very happy to get there Leapster game systems. Dad when out and bought a recharger kit since Blake blew through the first set of batteries in a little over 24 hours.


Cece was very pleased to see she got her Arial bike. She wanted to know what those things were on the side of the handlebars.

A couple of hours later she was showing the excitement had not worn off.

Darth Jesse

Rebecca had to call me at work to ask what it is with boys and their sticks and swords. She said Jesse was busy carrying around two lightsabers most of the day. When I got home, he would hand me one of them and want to have saber fights.

The other kids get into it as well. As you can tell, Cece gets into it as well, guess it is not just for boys. As in any game, "...there has to be a winner and a loser." - ACE Ventura.

Looks like Cece was the loser this time. I think Blake caught her with a fake to the head and moved in for a body slash.

Christmas Lights

Some friends told us about a block of houses in Rocklin (another town like Folsom on the other side of Sacramento) where pretty much everybody on the block does lights and most of them go the extra mile. One of my favorites, one that I forgot to get a picture, was Santa getting arrested by CSI Rocklin because he was drinking too much Cocoa and ran into their roof. There is a lot of Disney themed homes as you can see from the pictures below which may it really fun for the kids to walk around. It is getting a little cold here in No Cal (in comparison to So Cal) with balmy temperatures tonight at 40 degrees, so the kids were a little bundled up. There is a steady supply of traffic pretty much every night with buses and at one point we saw five limos driving through. We talked with some home owners that say that when you sell a house there you have to disclose the amount of traffic you get during the holidays.
Here is Blake in front of one of Rebecca's favorite nativity scenes.

Here is Cece in with her favorite Princess, Arial!

I think Cecilee wants to be a model for new cars, she does this so naturally here!

Here is Rebecca's favorite. This display was placed inside the owner's third car garage and they had little lights with stars twinkling. The owner can just close the garage at night to keep it safe.

Blake is next to his alter ego, Dash.

Little J Man was mezmorized by the Santa display, but was very glad that he was safely located on Daddy's back.

School Photos

Since I started the Blog, Rebecca thought that I might as well add our kids preschool photos. The photographer was really good with them. There is no way any amount of bribs, threats, teddy bears, stickers, candy or other tactics we could have used as a parent would have gotten us photos like these.

Here are Blake's pre Faux Hawk.

I particularly liked these two. It reminds me of some prom photos for pre-schoolers :)

Photo Cleanup

Well, it has been a while since I organized our photos, so I spent the last 2 ½ hours doing that. I realize some of you have seen our family more recently than others, but I thought I would throw a few pics out there. I tried to e-mail, but it was too big for the e-mail service, so I decided to start a blog. So now you can come visit it more often.



Blake had his first year of soccer this year. It took some time, but I finally teased him so many times about styling his hair into a faux hawk, that he wouldn’t wear his hair any other way. I think he looks like a regular soccer hooligan, too bad he played like one too. I never thought 5-year-old soccer could be so riveting! Oh the suspense of it all. Blake did as well as any first year soccer player, he liked to watch what others were doing and didn’t know where the ball was half the time, but occasionally the ball ran into his leg. I guess the blind squirrel really does find a nut every now and then. He is also becoming more the ladies man. All the younger girls keep putting the moves on him, like this cute blonde at the Christmas party. She kept trying to hold his hand at the party, she is in his carpool. Blake does already have a type, he does prefer blondes. So who knows, in 18 years you could see the announcement of their nuptials.



Unfortunately, both Blake and I received the gift of food poisoning at the ward party. Cece didn’t have much luck either when she put her top tooth through her bottom lip just before we left for the party. Just the month before, Blake had to get three staples in his head due to an inch gash caused by a pony ride gone awry by the babysitter. At least now we get free babysitting.






You can tell from the Cheerleader shot, that we have a real girlie on our hands. Last week she came to me real sad because after a thorough search she had realized that she could not find either of her two skirts anywhere. She sadly told me, “Mommy hid my skirts.” I looked at Rebecca who looked at my and quietly nodded, but said she didn’t tell her she was doing that. Cecilee will pretty much find any excuse to wear a skirt or dress, no matter how cold. If they look the slightest bit clean, then you have a real battle of wills. Sounds like Mom might have met her match. I didn’t think I would have to get between Mother and Daughter issues until teenage years. No wonder I spotted some gray in my hair last month!


Then there is Little Man, J Man, JJ; he has many nick names. Jesse sure took his time getting mobile, but boy is he there now. He is easily our busiest of the three. At 16 months he climbed into the kids electronic Jeep and started driving it around. All the ornaments on the tree are about three feet up. As you can tell he was Jack Jack for Halloween. Rebecca got him to wear the mask by Peer or better said, Sibling Pessure. She put it on while he was looking into the mirror and had the other kids clapping. Also, you might be able to tell, that he has an affinity to water. At his 1 year birthday, he was sticking his face into the water fountain jets at the park. Next summer should be fun at the pool.


Well, I know this is a long update, but I don’t always get to this pics and when I do, I figure it is a good time for an update. I know Rebecca keeps in touch, but I don’t really know what she discusses. Just last week I found out that one of our good friends is 8 months pregnant.