Kaya's Homecoming

Last night, Kira and I drove down to Sacramento to pick up Kaya. Kara had to rent a car and drive up from Ridgecrest because she had jury duty on New Year's Eve. Crazy huh! Anyway Kaya came along for some company in the car and so the boys could enjoy the T.V. at Grandma K's. I understand the only movies playing all week were Bug's Life and Fairytopia.

As Kara and Kaya were getting close, Kara said "Kaya, we are almost there to see your mom." Kaya very enthusiastically said " I can smell her breath." Wow! I had no idea that my breath was that distinctive. Pretty funny. To my defense though, Kara said the song playing was saying something about "I can feel your breath..." And since Kaya is definitely into repeating let's hope that explains it. Anyway, I have started some laundry and swept my kitchen floor. Back to work, I am now officially on mom duty again. But it is great, I definately missed that little girl while she was gone. The boys will be back later in the week. I am easing back into my job slowly.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Fun and Surprises

We had a great holiday filled with family and lots of fun. We started off celebrations on Christmas Eve morning by heading up to Eli's parents to celebrate together. The kids all had a great time playing and enjoying their cousins. Now that my kids are getting bigger and are able to be playing on their own a little bit, I was able to get involved in some of the board games that usually get pulled out after dinner. It was very fun. We had to leave before it got to late because the celebrations were not yet over for my family.

We were hosting the Christmas Eve dinner at our house when we got home. My parents and Kara and Eric were at our house all day getting ready for that. I'd say when you're hosting at your house, making plans to be somewhere else and having some one else do the work is a great non-stress way to go. My grandpa and The Coupe family were there. This picture of the grandkids under the tree is not really complete without the Rush family and my brother Chris. Many more people here and we would cover up the tree. We exchanged gifts with one another and played with our toys. About 11 o'clock my kids finally went to bed. It was a pretty late night. We had a lot of mess to clean up and put away, before Santa was able to come visit.

The kids were up about 7:30. It is fun to be in control of when the presents get opened. We always had to go wake up our parents, let Dad get some coffee and then they would be ready. Now it is Eli and I that get to do the stalling and sure enough, they have to go gently wake up their dad, go peek at the presents without touching, wait for the coffee and wait for the go signal. Canaan wondered where the stockings went because they were hanging in the front room and then in the morning they were gone. He was pleased to see that they had just been moved to the back room for more space. Kaya said "There are presents in my boot."

When we all couldn't stand it any longer we gave the go ahead and paper started flying. Later Eli asked Ethan to open the window and let in some light. To the kids surprise Santa had left a trampoline in the back yard. They ran out to jump on it, even though it was covered in ice. It was a great morning. Later in the day we went down to visit Grandad and Grandmom Blachly. We had a lovely dinner there with them and fun spending the day together. Eli, Kira and I left Ethan, Canaan and Kaya there with my parents who took them home for a little vacation.

It is pretty quiet here at my house, which explains this nice long post in the middle of the day. Usually I am interrupted many times and it is not completed until late that night. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.