Happy New Year

for our first day of 2010, we spent most of the day hanging out at lake san antonio. the weather in santa maria was overcast, but at the lake it was beautiful. david took the kids out on the boat to go fishing, while the rest of us hung out around the campfire. i called david and he came by and took me and my mom for a quick ride around the lake.  we had yummy hamburgers cooked on the fire, the kids played monopoly in the motor home while the grownup's sat around the fire telling funny stories. it was the perfect way to start the new year.

thanks again auntie jody

as you can see, miles was in desperate need of a haircut. he's had a few trims, but none of them were very good. auntie jody was in town, so we hit her up for a cut. we looked up some cuts on the internet, basically we went with the sort on the sides longer on the top so he can do a "faux" hawk.  jody did such a great job, and miles was very happy with the results. it's nice to be able to see miles' beautiful eyes again.  love you auntie jody xoxox

we had a wonderful day...

we had a wonderful christmas this year, despite the fact that david was very tired and sick. we opened gifts christmas morning, after santa made a visit. he left lots of fun things for both kids. he also left some "magic" footsteps... very cool.  we then headed down to nana's for dinner with her and to open more gifts. it was a short, but nice visit. when we came home from there, we went over to papa and sam sam's to have another yummy dinner and open MORE gifts. needless to say, the kids had a wonderful time and  were VERY happy with everything the received. as much as i am happy christmas is over, i am even more happy that my children had a happy and healthy christmas. i am blessed with the two most amazing kids, and that is more than i could EVER ask for.

merry christmas to all...

and to all a goodnight...

teacher gift...

miles' teacher is always commenting on what a good artist miles is.  i was racking my brain for what to get mr. g for christmas, and then it came to me.  i'll have miles paint him a picture. when i told miles the idea, he loved it. he said "i'll paint something from nature because mr. grigsby loves nature." he sketched it out on paper first. then he pencilled it on the canvas and finally he painted it. i loved it, and i can't wait to see if mr. g liked it too.

it's feeling a little more like christmas...

as many of you know, miles has been opening his advent calendar everyday, and each day there is a different christmas themed activity to do. today's activity was to go look at the christmas lights. my friend ann and her son joined us. we started in arroyo grande having dinner at gina's italian restaurant very, very yummy. then we headed to this amazing house that my friend joanna told me about. the house's lights are synchronized to the music on a radio station you tune into when you get to the house. we stayed there for at least 15-20 minutes. we would get ready to leave and then another song would come on and we'd think it was better than the previous.  AWESOME is the only way to describe it. we then headed back to santa maria to look at more lights. the kids drank hot cocoa and enjoyed commenting on all the cool lights we saw. this is a tradition i started with miles when he was just a baby, and i am so glad we have continued it with maisy. she kept pointing and saying "lights pretty". a very enjoyable night and a goo way to start christmas vacation!

O.I.O

back home in cambridge, massachusetts, we have a saying O.I.C. (only in cambridge).  we use this phrase when we see something ridiculous or unusual. so when i saw this, i had to take a picture and start a new phrase... O.I.O (only in orcutt).  how many of you have ever seen the UPS guys riding a bike with a trailer delivering packages? for some reason, it makes it seem a bit more like christmas to me. not sure why, but it definitely puts a smile on my face.