Sun Dec 01 2013 16:11 The End of NaNoBlogMo: Looks like I legitimately forgot to blog yesterday! Oops. The last day of the month, too.

We had some fun activities on Saturday. We went to the temple to see the nativity they had set up, and went to Panera with a gift card, and got some cupcakes. Then, we took the kids to see Despicable Me 2 at the dollar theater. Sienna actually sat through almost all of it. We all enjoyed the movie.

Not a very exciting blog entry to wrap up my NaNoBlogMo Month, but whatever. I blogged mo'.

Mon Dec 02 2013 20:46 Random Thoughts: Because John is out of town.

The kids argued over who got to go first at the dentist.

I wrote on my hand for the first time in forever. So old school, but I couldn't take a note on my phone because I was talking on it! Also old school. I don't use the "phone" feature much.

Sienna got her first paying gig. More on that soon, hopefully.

We had egg rolls for dinner and I remembered when we ate egg rolls for lunch in India when we went indoor camping because it was the closest thing to hot dogs I could find.

Wed Dec 04 2013 22:41 Lego Santa: Last night the kids and I had a fun semi-Christmasy outing. We went to South Coast Plaza to do the free monthly build at the Lego Store. We had to wait in line forever, but it was a fun little thing for Maggie to do. Then we waited in a much shorter line to visit with Santa. The kids loved it. It's not a cheap cheesy Santa, but a lovely little village and he was great. Even Sienna was enthralled, though not enough to let me put her down. They also have a big Christmas train display.

Afterwards we went to dinner at IKEA since it was nearby, there was traffic going our direction, and it was kids eat free. We got home late, especially having gone straight from school-shopping-soccer, but it was a good time.

Speaking of Lego and Christmas, Leonard sent Maggie another Lego Advent Calendar this year. It's her third one and this year is Star Wars. The kids are loving it!

Sat Dec 07 2013 20:03 Gift from Grandma: Dalton tried to guess what Grandma was getting him for Christmas (or, as he says, "Grandpa and Grandpa".) Here are some of his guesses.

puzzle
Nerf gun
wagon
pokey ball
doctor toys
bed stuffed animal (a stuffed bed...)

(1) Sat Dec 07 2013 20:04 Knock, Knock:
Me: knock knock
Dalton: who's there?
Me: who.
Dalton: who who?
Me: Maggie, there's an owl at the door!
Maggie: gasp! Where? Where??!?!? No, where is it? Why are you laughing?

Mon Dec 09 2013 12:42 Lights and Music: Sienna has learned a few more signs. She learned "change" as in changing a diaper. She also knows "music", as it's reinforced quite a bit weekly watching the choristers at church.

She is very interested in outdoor Christmas light displays.

Mon Dec 16 2013 11:41 First Sleepover: On Saturday, John and I went to see Catching Fire (which was great). A friend brought her daughter over and watched the kids for us. When we got home, the three kids were asleep in Maggie and Dalton's room with the latch on the door so we couldn't get in. We had to pound on the door and yell for 10 minutes before Maggie woke up enough to open the latch. (Sienna, of course, was much easier to wake up.) She was upset and it took her several minutes to get it open. John immediately got a screwdriver and took the latch off, though we've never had a problem with it before.

The next morning, Maggie didn't remember a thing.

Wed Dec 18 2013 21:34 First Grade is Hard: Today at school, Maggie won a no-homework pass. When her clip is all the way up on blue, she can start earning wise owl tickets that can be put in the class treasure box drawing, or put into raffle buckets in the library. The No Homework pass was one of the library raffle buckets. Her name was announced by the principal over the PA with the other winners today.

She told me: I heard some older kids saying that the no homework pass was bad. But then the homework started getting hard and I was freaking out so I put some wise owl tickets in that jar and I won!

Sat Dec 21 2013 11:54 The Best Christmas Party Ever: We went to an amazing Christmas party last night. We felt pretty special just to get an invite, but it was so fun. Here's the round-up.

For the kids:
bouncy house
velcro climbing wall
video game bus
baskets full of chips
cookie decorating
rainbow loom
gift exchange
treasure hunt
Despicable Me 2 on repeat
hired adult supervision

Yes, we live somewhere that kids can play outdoors in a bouncy house or open 3 car garage until 10:30pm in bare feet. I think this was the best part. The kids' favorite part was the bouncy house, and I love that we could just leave them be to play with their friends and do as they pleased in the kids area.

For the adults:
White elephant. The rule of the game was anything you left there would be returned to your porch tenfold the next day. The first thing we opened was a picture of a piano. An actual piano they wanted us to take home. LUCKILY, someone else actually wanted the piano, because I would not have been surprised to see an entire band on our porch this morning otherwise.
Lots of food. Everyone brought an appetizer or dessert and there were prizes. The cheese ball snowman Dalton and I made won third place! They also had a hot chocolate bar, a s'mores bar, drinks everywhere, so much food and so delicious
Lots of friends! We didn't know most of the people there. But there were still plenty of people to talk to. And the kids had an amazing time.

It was seriously a great time. The kids, including Sienna, were up until 10:45 and no one seems the worse for wear.

Mon Dec 23 2013 19:16 Maggie Grows Up: We had dinner with the entire family at Dad's care center tonight, followed by family pictures. Dalton started throwing up on the way there, slept in the car for 45 minutes, then curled on a chair for the rest of the time.

Maggie was shocked to learn that Ember is 14, Erin is 40 and Ember is taller! When Erin left Maggie said, "Bye 40 year old aunt whose daughter is taller than her!"

Also Tyler asked, "when can we call her Margaret?"

Maggie sat herself between her older cousins for dinner and had some older cousin conversation, but she also enjoyed plenty of giggly time with Kyli.

We stocked up in hand me down snow clothes in all sizes that will do for our three kids. Tomorrow is play in the snow day.

Tue Dec 24 2013 15:48 Asleep, Asleep: Since I'm sitting in the car at dad's care center with a sleeping boy (again) I figure I might as well write something.

We're so glad we bought plane tickets to Utah. It was nice not to dread the drive the night before, nor the drive home the entire time here. The kids were good on the airplane, though they kept asking John if we were there yet. Nice little practice trip of our trip to Europe soon.

On Sunday night we went to Temple Square. We took TRAX, saw the lights and watched part of a concert Jodi was participating in. We also ran into a sister missionary serving from Bangalore. Sister Serah was in the primary with me. So fun to see her.

The only other thing we've really done was visit dad. Most of which time I have officially spent in the car. Susan and I cooked today. Between us we made clam chowder, cheese ball, jello jigglers, pumpkin roll and John made a big tray of fresh berries. Were ready for the big Holbrook Christmas party after the visit with Dad.

Sun Dec 29 2013 13:44 Boo, Utah: I composed in my head a long complainy post about Utah, but I think I can sum it up in three words and move past the whine: Cold, Sick, Dry.

I am so glad to be back in California. My skin is so happy.

Oh, one more complaint. Utah hair. The kind caused by static, not excessive hairspray use. Not a good look on Sienna.

Sun Dec 29 2013 21:44 On the Bright Side: Ok, I have ONE nice thing to say about Utah. Sienna fell down the steep stairs at John's parents' house and now our stairs seem like not a big deal. Hurray for baby-gate-freedom!

(Of course this has nothing to do with Utah in general, and there were other good things of our trip, but those will pretty much be covered in picture form on the other blog. And are mostly family.)