Santa Claus

And of course our favorite part of Sleigh bells is visiting Santa.

Ronan was totally skeptical (as all children should be) of Santa and the only way he even tolerated it was because Nora was right there with him. Nora, on the other hand, was so excited to see Santa. She sat right down on his lap and went to work, listing off everything she could think of to ask for Christmas.

Christmas Tree

We went to Sleigh bells again this year to cut down our Christmas tree. We went on Saturday, the day after returning home from California.

We kept telling Nora that she could pick out the tree and she kept finding little trees. Then she would say things like, "This tree is for my playroom," or "This tree is for my bedroom." I'm not sure why she didn't want a bigger tree.

My favorite part of Christmas is choosing our tree and holding the kids up next to it and yelling, "Tree Topper!" This year was no exception.

It's always a very dramatic scene to bring the tree into the house and set it up.

Nora had to try on the tree skirt, of course.

Our Christmas tree (also known as a very attractive hazard).

Family

These are some random family pictures we took while we were in Visalia.

Maeve, Nora, Roo, Kelly, Ronan, and Melissa.

Me, Ronan, and Melissa.

Ronan and U.B. (Uncle Bob).

Ronan and Roo.

Pappy, Ronan, and Uncle Sean.

Let's Eat!

For as long as I can remember, my parents have hosted Thanksgiving for my dad's family. In recent years it's the only time I see my extended family and I always look forward to visiting with my aunts and uncles.

Cheers!

Ronan spent most of the week in this chair at the bar in my mom's kitchen. He loved watching all the cooking and tasting all the food. My dream kitchen would have a bar like this where I could just line up the kids and feed them!

Kevin and my dad said grace. Most of the family had already started eating.

The Cousins Arrive!

We had been telling Nora for weeks that her cousins would be at Nana's house for Thanksgiving. She was so excited to meet everyone and kept saying that her and Mary Kate would be "like this," while criss crossing her fingers. She actually became quick friends with Maeve and was at her side her minute of the trip.
Nora's cousins are really my cousins. My Aunt Katie and Uncle Mike, who live in Chicago try to make it out to Thanksgiving at my parent's house every year. I love looking forward to seeing everyone and it was so much fun to watch all the children play. Maeve is seven, Kevin is six, and Mary Kate is four. These kids are pretty amazing for many reasons. They were well behaved, kind and of course, adorable.

Nora really wanted to sleep with the cousins, but she really had a hard time following the rules and never actually was able to spend the night with them.

It was so cute to see Ronan and Kevin together. Growing up with so many sisters it's great to have a few little boys running around the Russell house.

There was no lack of snuggles with so many children in the house.

We managed to do a few projects during the week. The cousins loved beading with Nora.

Both Maeve and Kevin are great readers and I think Nora was pretty impressed that a child could read.

We tried to get a few shots of all the kids right before we left. Ronan loved all the attention from the older kids.

Mary Kate and Kevin in the Thanksgiving Day play that the kids put on for all the adults.

Nana Snuggles

One of the things that worried me about having children and living so far away from our families is that my children wouldn't grow up with their grandparents. I had nothing to worry about, because my children LOVE their grandparents. From the moment we walked in the door at my parent's house, my kids were snuggling up with their Nana. My mom loves every minute she spends with the kids.

Is there anything better than snuggles?

Visalia's Biggest Park

Visalia has an amazing park that we look forward to visiting when we are in town. It's made up of three large play areas with fantastic playground equipment. The kids love playing on all the different slides, swings and climbing structures.

Ronan loved trying to walk on the balance beam in the Western town playground.

Another great thing about this park is that they have two areas for toddlers. It's great to let Ronan play on equipment and not have to climb up and down everything with him.

Nora has been going through a climbing phase and these stumps were the perfect thing for her.

Here she is on the climbing wall. She didn't really like it very much.

Distance Reunion

While we were in Paso I contacted another friend from our freshmen year cross country team that lived in the area. We were so excited that Mindy was going to be able to meet up with us. It was great to catch up with everyone.

Dinner in Paso

I can't believe we actually pulled it off and were able to meet in Paso! It's been ten years since we all met at Sonoma State. I have the greatest friends and we had a great time on Saturday night at dinner.
Just the girls: Jessica, Emily, Kelly, Katie, Leslie, and of course, Nora.

Emily had presents for the kids to open during dinner. Nora loves her new Princesses.

Ronan playing with fire.

Nora loves snuggling with Katie Moon.

Here is everyone at dinner. I love that other people are holding my kids.

Castle Wine Tasting

On our way back to Paso, we stopped at a winery to meet up with my friends. The winery looked like a castle and Nora loved it!

The Paso Robles wine country is beautiful.

Cayucos

We snuck in a trip to Cayucos while we were visiting my friends in Paso Robles. While they were all wine tasting, we were playing in the sand. It was a beautiful day and there were about 50 surfers in the water. You can't really visit Cayucos without walking on the pier and swinging in the swings.

It was hard to keep both kids out of the water and sand out of their mouths, especially when there is coffee involved.