Hark, Rudolph the Jingle Belled Angel Drummer Boy

As family outings go, we tend to yuck it up in the car singing along to Christmas carols. And by we I mean Kiira and me. She is my little mini me and gets into things just as much as I do. She has her own favorite songs (as do I) so sometimes we tend to try to combine them which makes us laugh even more.

We piled the kids, the dog, some mittens, a hat, snacks, water and ourselves into our trusty stead aka stationwagon to go out and find the perfect Christmas tree this past weekend while "we" got into the mood with some singing.



We tried a new place in Petaluma where we could cut our own tree. Santa was there to hear what the kids wanted for Christmas and while Kiira was eager to let him know that she would like a pony and half chaps this year, Evan was not so sure of the bearded man in red.



It is hard explaining to a 5 yr old why mommy wants a tree with such and such needles because, in my opinion, the ornaments will stay on better. Or, why this tree is too short or this tree is too tall. I think we circled the entire lot looking for the least Charlie Brown tree we could find. In the end, although it looked a little rough around the edges, we welcomed our pine needled friend into the home with gaity, laughter and warmth. Evan went down for a nap, Alan fled the scene and Kiira and I decorated our little hearts out.

Kiira's first bank account

We talk alot about saving money in our house and Kiira has her own bunny bank at home where she puts money she has earned. She earns money for various chores around the house. It's a fine line between what is expected of her naturally and what she could do for "extra". So the next step was the bank. As a 5 yr old, how do you really get what a bank is? I thought maybe by seeing it she would get a better understanding.

So, Thursday after school we made a special trip to the bank where her twenty dollars is now safe and sound. As an incentive for saving, we have told her that for every dollar she deposits in the bank, we will match it.

I asked her what she was saving for and she replied, "a pony". Like mother, like daughter.

Evan counting

In the morning, while I dress, I often have Evan wanting to participate in the
process. A process which he referrs to as "go-go". This is short for, "getting gorgeous". Often, he wants to get "go-go".
So, to keep him busy while I complete the 5 minutes of "getting gorgeous" I'm allotted in the morning, I give him some bangle bracelets to play with. There are about 20 of them so it takes him awhile to put them all on.

Well, the other day while we were going through this sometimes arduous process, he walked over to me with two bracelets on and held up two fingers. Well, if I didn't just about keel over. The lessons we teach DO sink in and boy do they manifest in the strangest of places. A parental victory. Yeah!

Having a baby

Ha! I got many of you either excited or scared. No, I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about my sister, Liisa. We have nicknamed my future little niece Pineapple. Or rather, Kiira has nicknamed her this. She is due on Kiira's birthday but due to circumstances beyond our control (she is breech and now has the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck) she will be welcomed to the world via c-section on December 19 (Australia time where she will pop out). That would be our December 18 here in the US. This is forever going to screw me up of course when I need to call her on her birthday.

I told my sis that because of the nature of her position, I'm sure Liisa will remind her periodically through her life (especially the teenage years) how ass-backwards she can be (yes, thank you - you can take the girl out of upstate New York but you can't take the upstate New York out of the girl).

Holy Moly - do you believe in two weeks I'll be an auntie! Yowsa!

Holiday excitement

I have to admit, I've jumped the gun this year. The last day of November, I was decorating for Christmas. Kiira is now at an age where she loves to help as well. We put on the Christmas music (she is partial to Rudolph and the 12 days of Christmas, while I like the Little Drummer Boy) and we just decorate our little hearts out.

My favorite decoration this year was the Rudolph outfit for lilly. Who you ask is lilly? That would be our car. I'd like to say I bought if for the kids, but this would be lie. I bought it for myself. I think this is just the funniest thing ever. The red nose on the front and the antleers. I'm spreading cheer as I drive. There have been numerous pointings and several people who have stopped and rolled their window down at the light to tell me how funny they thought it was. Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!

Kiira's third horse show

Kilham Farm had a fun show this past weekend and both kiira and I got to show. Since my handy steed Orbit is pregnant, I have been riding a nice big warmblood named Rhett. He is a handsome devil and I can't help thinking about Rhett Butler.

There were no walk classes which made it a bit tricky so Kiira entered the walk/trot over cavalletis class and had our trainer, Jeff, walk her over them. He didn't even touch the reins. She did the whole course by herself, steering where she needed to go. Alas there were 18 kids in the class (nearby barns actually trucked in for the show!) and she didn't get a ribbon. This begged, of course, a parental question of when is too soon to teach the, "you can't win every time" lesson. While I am a true believer in this, my gut instinct is that she is too young. She doesn't care about what place she comes in (although she has said on numerous occasions that she likes the color of the pink ribbon), but she does like getting A ribbon. Mom had to think of somthing, and think of something FAST because she just didn't understand why she didn't get a ribbon. It was confusion. So, I whipped up.....my ribbon. Which has worked for the time being.

Rhett and I did great. We got a 3rd in our equitation under saddle class and a 2nd in our 2'-6" jumping class. We entered the 3'-0" jumping class but didn't get a ribbon. I was good with that though as I thought we had a GREAT round and was proud of our performance. 3'-0" is the highest course I've jumped him and I entered the class mostly on a whim and personal challenge. I passed.

Ice Skating

What does one do with themselves the day after Thanksgiving in the bay area you ask? Go ice skating of course. There are a plethora of places just waiting to feel that smooth steel blade slither across it's surface. Or in my case, the feel of a plump, finally useful rear end hitting that cold, tricky sheet of frozen glass. Well, not this time at least but I had some close calls!

We joined Nancy, Gideon and June and Ginger for a bit of skating. We didn't think the little kids would skate but as you can guess by the longing looks at the ice, we finally gave in. Both Ginger and Evan were naturals and neither fell nor succeeded in taking out their parents. Alan set June and Kiira up skating around pushing a big cone to help with their balance and they turned into pros by the end of the session. They'd skate for awhile with the cone and then push it aside and skate on their own. They were really good! And after our lively trip to Yerba Buena (in San Francisco) we walked up a block and had some good 'ole Mexican food at chevy's. At least the parent/child ratio was good - 4 adults to 4 children. Everyone was VERY well behaved. A pleasure all the way around.