Happy New Year!

A few New Year's Eves ago, Chad and I tried to list all of the New Year's Eves that we'd spent together, and figure out how, and with whom, we'd spent each one. It was a challenge, let me tell you. Go ahead, try it. How many New Year's Eves can you account for?

Some of them were easy - like NYE 2000-2001, when we were just days away from becoming parents, and stayed at home waiting for contractions. Some countdowns have been shouted out around bonfires in Nova Scotia (four hours ahead of everyone in California, and an hour ahead of the ball dropping in Times Square), and some years we've been asleep before midnight (regardless of time zone).

Last year, our New Year's Eve was spent laughing hysterically at Marcella and Matt's house, with all of Chad's favorite people from Davis. Not all of the Davis gang was in town this year, but, as luck would have it, Marcella and Matt were available to ring in 2012 with us.
Unbelievably, none of the kids showed any signs of slowing down, and all eight of us screeched and squawked and screamed together as the clock struck twelve. (Or, more accurately, as they started playing Auld Lang Syne on the radio, even though it was still 11:59 according to Matt's phone...)Now that we know the kids can make it to midnight (and beyond), the possibilities for future celebrations are endless!
Bring it on, 2012!

Yay Monterey

With so much leisure time before school starts up again, we figured that a quick road trip was in order. We took off yesterday for a fab day at the (always incredible) (seriously, everyone should go there) Monterey Bay Aquarium. The kids wanted to pose in this funny little fishy alcove, even though you can't really tell that it has anything to do with the aquarium. But there are definitely fish in that bubbly, planty water behind them. Take my word for it.
This one is obviously an aquarium pic, because who else has glowing blue jellyfish tanks?
The place was nutso crowded though. So glad to not be claustrophobic. If I were, I'd just have to live without close-up aquatic invertebrate experiences like this.

We spent the night at the Otter Inn (which gets Clara's hard-to-win seal of approval), and then hit the beach in the morning. Cue pics of kids running in the sand.....I just can't help myself....
Oh ya, and we dined last night with our CPK gift certificates! Woohoo! Hello, roasted vegetable salad. You complete me.

New Toys

Clara, the entrepreneur, worked all morning setting up an awesome Mini-Market (literally), owned and operated by her two dolls, Gracie and Jenny. The prices were very reasonable, and the store was meticulously organized by food group. The horse wasn't for sale.
Trevor, the amateur geologist, set to work digging for (fool's) gold in his new mining kit. The kit claims that it will take hours or even days to extract all of the nuggets, so Trevor put in about two hours of hammering and chipping and brushing today. No gold yet.

Lego Time

Trevor now has enough Lego to keep him building all day, every day, until the end of break. Today he got to work on the Black Pearl, the one thing he had hoped for more than anything else. Santa rocks.
Trevor rocks, too. Nice building, Manny!

Merry!

Santa was here.We had a wonderful day of smiles and coffee and unwrapping and taking new scooters for a spin, and talking to family far away.
We had a wonderful evening of food and laughter and unwrapping, and talking to family close by.
Merry, merry Christmas!

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

Well, here we are. Christmas Eve. The kids are nutty with excitement, and we've all had such a magical week of gearing up for the big day. What a happy December this has been. We've had about a month of non-stop (yay!) Christmas tunes, and there was so much time for fun, for taking it all in.

I hit a home run with Christmas Eve jammies this year. I defy you to find more adorable kids anywhere on the planet.
We played a rousing game of Scattergories, got everything all set up for Santa, tracked him on NORAD for a bit, and then it was time for Clara and Trevor to say their goodnights.As a kid, I always wanted to get to bed early on Christmas Eve, so that Santa would come. As an adult, I wish I could stay up all night. Does this really have to end tomorrow?

Green!

Here I go again with the theme of, "Man, am I ever on top of the whole Christmas thing this year!", but how amazing is it that I finished my stocking with more than 36 hours to spare? And now, every Christmas, it will actually look like a family of four lives here.
And speaking of green, we've got enough spritz cookies to keep Santa happy, along with several elves.

Ikea etc

We got it into our heads that we'd like a round area rug to go in front of the fireplace for cozy floor lounging, and we found the perfect one at (where else?) Ikea. It's really the only place to go if you need a rug, want some new picture frames, or crave lingonberry jam. Or maybe you just want to ride around in a warehouse. So go nuts. Get your farfegnugen on.The rug was put to use right away, in a new hotel that sprung up in our front room.But, sadly, we can't get the thing to sit flat, so we're going to return it. It's defective. :( How do you say, "defective" in Swedish?

But it made a nice hotel rug for a day, and let me just say how thrilled I was that this hotel game kept the kids so occupied that I had time to make some new jammies for the Kevster.
And, wouldn't you know it, my stocking is almost ready to be hung by the chimney with care.
Every single person who celebrates Christmas should have a whole week off beforehand to do silly things like sew pajamas for dolls. It should be the law.

Tons of Holidaying

It's so super-Christmassy around here that Bing Crosby would write a song about us if he were around.

It was Puppy Chow Day, for one. Making and delivering. Which we did last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.
Add to that the fact that we're still in Kevin Heaven. The kids made him a million new finger-knit scarves, and they let him move into the gingerbread house.
And my knitting continues. Last year I finished Chad's stocking, and the kids got theirs two years ago, so I'm happy to finally be working on one for little ol' me! And look at this gorgeous green!
Cap off the night with a trip to Deacon Dave's house of crazy lights and creepy mannequins, and you've got the makings of a perfect day before the day before the day before the day before Christmas.

Kevin!!!!!! (A long story about a short guy)

Today was a HUGE day in our family. GIGANTIC.
KEVIN IS BACK!!!!!!!!!The excitement of this day demands a backstory:

When Trevor was not quite two, he got a Cabbage Patch Newborn for Christmas. See the shiny box under the tree? December 25, 2005. And this is the moment when Trevor and Kevin met:I don't think he was called Kevin right away. But he looked an awful lot like Trevor, and they shared the same birthday (according to the Cabbage Patch birth certificate). Toddler Trevor was excited.

For the next couple of years, Kevin was played with from time to time. His popularity was on par with a bunch of other dolls and stuffed animals that lived in big piles in Trevor's room.
And then, about three years ago, something changed. Kevin developed a personality. A weird voice. A life story. He became a character that could be played by either Trevor or Clara, who also happen to be his dad and aunt. And he started to become part of our everyday life.

He went camping with us.
He joined us on trips to the beach.

He hung out at home.
Some things you might want to know about Kevin:

• His favorite number is 26.
• He is five years old, but he claims to be 26.
• He runs several businesses, including, but not limited to: Kevin Eleven, Air Kevin, Kevin Cruise, and Kevin Cars.
• He loves Katy Perry, and hopes to marry her someday.
• He thinks that the Jonas Brothers are twins, so he's reminded of them any time he sees the word, "twins".
• He once saw a street called "Twin Creeks", so now any water references also make him think of the Jonas Brothers.
• He likes to sing, and has written several songs.
• He has a girlfriend named Kevinina.
• He has a sister named Meredith (pictured above).
• He still wears diapers, even at age 5 (or 26).
• His best friend is Sky Nockels, who was written up in Highlights Magazine for adopting a white rhino named Imara at a zoo in South Dakota.
• He pronounces "magazine", "magazine-uh".
• He's the richest person in the world, and he has "infinity money".
• He thinks his grandpa doesn't like him.

Kevin's hair is a mess, his face and body are dirty, and his voice is rather grating, especially when he's upset, but he is a member of the family. Life wouldn't be the same without him.

So you can imagine how worried we all were when, back in early September, we couldn't find Kevin anywhere. We keep a relatively tidy house, and there are only so many places you can look. We searched all of the toy baskets, the dress-up bin, behind chairs and under blankets, inside cabinets and closets and under couches and beds. No dice. We even started looking in places we knew he could never be. Boxes in the garage, piles of wood scraps, bushes in the backyard. Nothing.

I looked back through photos and found that these were the last pictures I had of Kevin, taken on August 23rd. Trevor was playing some sort of game where Kevin was a prisoner.
We looked and hoped for several weeks, until Chad and I figured there was no hope we'd ever see Kevin again. We had a horrible, sinking feeling that Kevin might have accidentally ended up in a bag of stuff that had gone to the Goodwill. It was painful to imagine it.

Through all of this time, Kevin was kept alive by Clara and Trevor. They still had conversations with Kevin. Clara made him friendship bracelets. Trevor put gifts under the tree from Kevin to "Antie". Kevin kept right on singing, and drawing, and managing his many businesses.

I tried desperately to find a replacement Kevin on ebay, knowing full well that the real Kevin was irreplaceable. I even bought a big Cabbage Patch boy, and tried to convince Trev that we could pretend Kevin had grown up. It didn't go over well. There's only one Kevin.

***Okay, so, as I write this all out, it does seem maybe a bit over the top. A bit wacky. But it is what it is.***

Then, today, I was knitting. Working on my Christmas stocking. And Trev decided that he wanted to do some knitting as well. So he went and took out the little knitting basket that Clara got for Christmas a few years back. And we all heard him scream, "I FOUND KEVIN!!!!!!!!" Three of the best words I've ever heard.
Poor Kev was trapped in a knitting basket for the better part of four months (Trevor thinks perhaps he was using the basket as an aircraft carrier, on which Kevin was a passenger).
And now he's back. Kevin is back.
We love you, Kevin. You are the best Christmas present ever.