Christmas 2011
Our Christmas Extravaganza came and went so quickly. It was a busy but fun time! We were on the road for all of Christmas week with 5 family celebrations in 5 cities and 800+ miles of car travel. With two preschoolers and a pregnant momma, that was quite a feat!
We started out by going to Grandma Betty and Grandpa Bill's house in Waterford. Andy & I enjoyed our time and the kids did too!
We stayed the night and had a great Christmas Eve dinner with the Boyd side of the family. It was especially nice to spend some time with Great Grandpa Bill and hear about his experiences in WWII.
The cousins loved playing together and I was happy that the kids got to spend some time with the family.
Next, we had our own family celebration at home in San Jose. Bettie got a new CD player so that she can play her own music whenever she likes. Oh boy does she love this! She knew how to work it right away and plays her favorite CDs everyday (Music Together, 50 Silly Songs, Kids Express Train). Quade got a die-cast metal, battery operated Thomas. He has been asking for a "Thomas that goes all by himself" and loves watching Thomas pull the other cars around his tracks.
Then we had my family's celebration in San Francisco. Can you tell what a great time the kids had tearing up the house with their cousin? The adults got to hang out and chat for *hours* while the kids played on their own. Did I mention that they kept themselves occupied for hours? It was pretty much awesome!
One of our favorite annual celebrations is at Bonny Doon. The whole Sturtevant family comes from all over the world to celebrate this special time together. It's such a joyous time and it's wonderful to have the family all together. Great Grammy Sturtevant gave us the beginnings of her autobiography. It was fascinating learning many of the details of her early life and having them in writing is just incredible.
We enjoyed a yummy, all gluten-free meal, presents for the kids and lots of fun cousin time!
I couldn't resist posting pictures of Bettie & Quade in their matching outfits. Aren't they adorable? I'm afraid my days of matchy-matchy clothes are coming to a close as I got a bit of push-back from both Bettie & Quade this year. I talked them into wearing these outfits by calling them "Pingu" and "Pinga" (favorite cartoon penguins) costumes.
Last but not least was Grandpa Mike and Grandma Dorothy's celebration in Sonora. With all of that exposure, travel, no naps & late bedtimes, Bettie got very sick. Our poor little one had a double ear infection plus a virus and was such a trooper even though she was ill! We weren't sure if we would make it to Sonora, but we did. We had such a relaxing time with Grandma & Grandpa once we got there.
Andy's brother and sister and their families are such a blast to be around.
The kids got to spend quality time with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Dorothy going for walks, playing ping-pong (read: throwing pp balls at each other), enjoying their cousins and new presents of course!
We started out by going to Grandma Betty and Grandpa Bill's house in Waterford. Andy & I enjoyed our time and the kids did too!
We stayed the night and had a great Christmas Eve dinner with the Boyd side of the family. It was especially nice to spend some time with Great Grandpa Bill and hear about his experiences in WWII.
The cousins loved playing together and I was happy that the kids got to spend some time with the family.
Next, we had our own family celebration at home in San Jose. Bettie got a new CD player so that she can play her own music whenever she likes. Oh boy does she love this! She knew how to work it right away and plays her favorite CDs everyday (Music Together, 50 Silly Songs, Kids Express Train). Quade got a die-cast metal, battery operated Thomas. He has been asking for a "Thomas that goes all by himself" and loves watching Thomas pull the other cars around his tracks.
Then we had my family's celebration in San Francisco. Can you tell what a great time the kids had tearing up the house with their cousin? The adults got to hang out and chat for *hours* while the kids played on their own. Did I mention that they kept themselves occupied for hours? It was pretty much awesome!
One of our favorite annual celebrations is at Bonny Doon. The whole Sturtevant family comes from all over the world to celebrate this special time together. It's such a joyous time and it's wonderful to have the family all together. Great Grammy Sturtevant gave us the beginnings of her autobiography. It was fascinating learning many of the details of her early life and having them in writing is just incredible.
We enjoyed a yummy, all gluten-free meal, presents for the kids and lots of fun cousin time!
I couldn't resist posting pictures of Bettie & Quade in their matching outfits. Aren't they adorable? I'm afraid my days of matchy-matchy clothes are coming to a close as I got a bit of push-back from both Bettie & Quade this year. I talked them into wearing these outfits by calling them "Pingu" and "Pinga" (favorite cartoon penguins) costumes.
Last but not least was Grandpa Mike and Grandma Dorothy's celebration in Sonora. With all of that exposure, travel, no naps & late bedtimes, Bettie got very sick. Our poor little one had a double ear infection plus a virus and was such a trooper even though she was ill! We weren't sure if we would make it to Sonora, but we did. We had such a relaxing time with Grandma & Grandpa once we got there.
Andy's brother and sister and their families are such a blast to be around.
The kids got to spend quality time with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Dorothy going for walks, playing ping-pong (read: throwing pp balls at each other), enjoying their cousins and new presents of course!
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