Arch Rock

We took a drive as a family, which is becoming a favorite around here.  It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day here.  So, we took a drive out past Bodega.  The scenery was just stunning!

The cliffs, and rocks, and waves, and birds.....

 ...and flowers

 ...and of course-slugs!

We almost stepped on this Ginormous, slimy, slug!!

Dalaina loved it!

The above picture shows Arch Rock---beautiful spot!  I got the picture right when the waves were crashing upon the rock!  It was quite the hike down, which we did not take today.

My gang~~~ I love 'em!

Gifts

The great thing about living on the opposite coast from your family is that Christmas lasts for more than a day!!  The girls get gifts from the cousins, the Grandma's, and Auntie April:)

GG sent them their very own princess Snuggies!!!!!!  They just love them. And, Dalaina was delighted to get her very own craft scissors--(at the age of four!)

 Faith was also delighted to get her very own garden kit---compelte with the tackle box to the watering can! She was so happy:)

 Gram sent them new coats for the cold days---perfect for this year and next!

Thanks everyone! ...until next Christmas

We took 2 weeks off from homeschool in December to make memories and messes!  We enjoyed the Wii---it is hilarious to watch the girls play these games:)

This was the first year that I didn't make our traditional Christmas casserole the night before--but, it worked out just fine!  We also baked a birthday cake.  The girls wanted a white cake and red icing- purity and blood:)

This was first year that we had the girls but gifts for each other and it was an awesome experience!  They loved shopping for each other and it was so nice to see them open the gifts and just love them!

The mess part came with baking 14 dozen cookies---what fun!  This was the first year I baked sooooo much-and different cookies:) However, I felt like something new!   Coconut maccaroons, snickerdoodles, peanutbutter blossoms, sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin, and chocolate chip.....shared with friends and family:)

We had great fun celebrationg or Savior's birth in December!!!!

Holiday Cheer

We decided to go for another real tree this year---not only that, we went to the tree farm and cut it down ourselves!  It was fun to wak among all of the trees in search for or perfect tree:)

The girls were excited to get the tree decorated--and Grandma was here to watch!

We have also been doing holiday cookie baking--which is my favorite:)

This was the first year that we have gone Christmas caroling!  We went to a convalescent home down the street with our school.   Their tree in the lobby was just beautiful--it became our holiday pic this year!

Here is our group singing there hearts out:)

After that, we headed over to our church for our school Christmas party.  The girls had a tea party--fingerfoods, tea, cocoa, cakes, crafts, story time, fun with friends and just plain fun!  Complete with an adorable pink tree!!

The older girls played games with the yonger girls which was great!

The crowd pleaser was the candy cane hot chocolate~ so yummy!

Dalaina was very careful with the real tea cups and pots and creamer!

She had a great time, as did all of the girls:)

We decorated sugar cookie cutouts-there were some serious artists there!

We made paper snowflakes:)

The children learned the story of the candy cane and were able to make some out of pipe cleaners:)

Overall, it was an amazing day!