Christmas...and the rest of December

Here is a quick recap of our last month. It was a busy one!

We decorated a gingerbread house one night. Emma did a great job carefully putting the candy on.

Matthew enjoyed eating the candy

After we got the roof all decorated we realized the frosting holding the walls together had never dried. It was a mess! We hurried and melted some sugar and put it back together again.

Not professional, but considering Emma did most of the work, I think she did a good job.

The weekend before Christmas we had a Who party with Jon's family. We had a Who feast with roast beast and who pudding, played games, and watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". It was a fun night.

Before leaving Danville we had to go check out this house. It is completely covered in lights and big, tacky inflatables. Every year he adds one more thing to it.

My family came on the 23rd and stayed for almost a week. We had a great visit and I'm so glad they decided to come. Some of the highlights of their trip were

Cuddling with grandma and grandpa

lots of movie watching

Spending Christmas Eve with Jon's family. We ate dinner, had a white elephant gift exchange, and acted out the nativity. Lots of fun!

Christmas morning! We had great plans to have the video camera going so we could see the kids when they came out. However, Emma quietly came out of her room and into the living room. We didn't know she was even awake until we heard her yell "Oh look, it's my bike!" Oh well, maybe next year.

Emma very neatly spread all of her presents out

He would have been happy with just the candy!

We got the kids a potato head silly suitcase that came with several different potato head pieces. This made me laugh.

Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus riding in the airplane. Emma did this all on her own!

Emma LOVES her bike. As soon as we finished opening presents we went out so she could ride it.

The family came over a little later in the morning and opened their presents.

After they were done we went to the park. While there my brother took Matthew down the slide on his lap and Matthew ended up with a sprained ankle (again!) His foot got caught between my brother's leg and the slide and twisted. This exact same thing happened 2 months ago when I took him down the slide. So...poor kid! He's started walking on it again, so hopefully it will be healed soon.
One tired little boy!

The day after Christmas we took my family to see San Francisco. Our first stop was Alamo Square Park to see the Painted Ladies and let the kids play on the playground.

Our next stop was the Cable Car Museum. This really is such a fun little museum (and it's free!)

From the Cable Car Museum we drove down Lombard Street and then went to Pier 39 for some lunch and shopping.

Our family and my mom and brother ate at Bubba Gumps while everyone else went to the Hard Rock Cafe.

They have this fun little display outside Bubba Gumps (the shoes, suitcase, and box of chocolates)

Our next stop was the Golden Gate Bridge, where apparently the whole state of California was. I think we spent more time trying to find a parking spot than we did walking on the bridge! By this time, it was starting to rain so we didn't stay long.

Our last stop was Baker Beach, but because of the rain we only stayed for a few minutes before we headed back home. It was a busy, fun packed day!

Sunday we drove up to the temple to see the lights. There was a lot of traffic and by the time we got there it was late, windy, and COLD, so we ended up staying in the visitors center most of the time.

My family left Monday morning to head down to Disneyland. It was sad to see them go, but we're glad they came for as long as they did.

Daddy daughter bike ride

Monday Jon's parents took the kids overnight so Jon and I could have a little getaway. We took BART into the city and met up with Jon's brother and his wife to go ice skating in Union Square. We haven't been in several years, but it was so fun.

Tuesday morning we signed a lease for this house! We are moving!!! And we can't wait. Jon's commute will be much shorter, it has a large backyard, the garage, fruit trees, and 4 bedrooms. We are excited to make it our own.