New Year's Eve Party

Happy New Year. To celebrate New Year's Eve we went to the Pump It Up New Year Celebration from 4-6pm.

We got party hats, noise makers and finished the evening with sparkling apple juice.

I did my best to keep up with the kids on the slides, bounce houses and rock climbing. Two hours at this place is a good workout!

It was lots of fun to play like a kid!

Connor, Ryan and I all climbed the rock, but the kids didn't get too high before they got scared.
Hopefully the boys got pooped out enough and will have a good night sleep.

Best wishes to everyone in 2010.

California Academy of Sciences

On Wednesday, 12/30, Connor and Ryan went to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco with Cody, Tyler, Uncle Tom, Grandma, Grandpa and Dad.

A few months back, the boys were learning about dinosaurs at school and have been asking to go to a museum to see dinosaur bones, at the Academy the did see some bones. It amazes me that they remembered that they could see dinosaur bones at a museum.

When they arrived, they got to see the penguins getting fed and the African Hall. Then the boys had fun running outside on one of the hills.

After lunch they went and saw the swamp and the white alligator. The boys also got to visit and touch see life in the Discovery Tidepool. Ryan was excited to be able to touch a starfish.

They went through the rain forest and saw a number of the exhibits including some butterflies. At the end of the day here is a cute shot of the four boys riding a bronze turtle. (take my word for it, there is a turtle under there.)

Celebrating Christmas in Arroyo Grande

On Christmas afternoon, we drove down to Arroyo Grande to celebrate Christmas again. We had fun opening more presents.

On Saturday, Great Grandma, Great Uncle Dennis and Great Aunt Sheila came over for dinner.

Santa came to our house!

I guess we were good this year, because Santa came to our house. He at all the cookies and milk we left for him.

The little ones awoke just before 8am this morning to see what Santa left for them. They were so excited. They thought it was funny that Santa left so many toys that their stockings fell down! Here is a video of Connor and Ryan's reaction this morning when they saw that Santa came. (view video at http://daneya.blogspot.com/)

Santa brought zhu zhu hamsters. This was one of the most popular toys this year. I didn't know what they were before Santa brought them, but the kids love the hamsters!

After they opened their presents, they noticed that Santa left the fireplace doors open, so they closed it for him.
Santa was good to us this year. It was a fun and magical morning!

Christmas Eve festivities

It was a busy Christmas Eve today. We spent the morning at Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose.

We found the Gemini Crickets Twin Club tree. Connor and Ryan helped to make the ornaments that were used to decorate this tree.

The boys loved watching this train go around the tracks.

Christmas in the Park was a fun and festive way to spend the day.

Once we got back home, the boys finished decorating their cookies and delivered them to neighbors and friends.

And, we didn't forget to leave the milk and cookies out for Santa. In the picture below Connor write "For Santa" so Santa knows the cookies and milk are for him.

Now we are ready for Santa to arrive.

Christmas Eve Ramblings

The boys were so excited this morning that Santa is coming tonight. Here are some of their ramblings about Santa and Christmas.

To view video, you must go to http://daneya.blogspot.com/

Playdate

On Tuesday, Ed got to spend some quality time with the boys since preschool is closed for Christmas and I was working. He scheduled a playdate with David and Bryan (and Joe, their dad). Here is a picture of the four boys enjoying a sunny December day at the park.

Christmas in Rohnert Park

The weekend before Christmas was spent in Rohnert Park celebrating with Grandma, Grandpa, Great Grandmas, Aunt, Uncle and Cousins.

Now that Tyler is getting older, it is fun to watch all four boys play together.
Grandma made cookies with the kids. Everyone had their turn in rolling out the dough, cutting out the shapes, and decorating.

Four kids decorating cookies isn't the cleanest of activities, but it sure is fun. Connor and Ryan especially liked eating the dough.
Here is Connor, proud of his finished cookie.
Connor and Ryan were so excited to open their presents. They were so animated with excitement for everything they opened, even the clothes!
On our way home on Monday we stopped to say good-bye to Mutti and Great Grandma.
It was raining that day, and Connor and Ryan were excited to find a worm in Mutti's yard. They watched it until it crawled in the grass.
It was a big one!
Great Grandma had knee surgery, so she is in a recovery center getting physical therapy to build up her strength to walk.

Christmas at the office

My office got a bit crazy this year for Christmas. It all started with a simple cubicle decorating contest in which the winner got $100 gift card. It grew with groups competing and trying to out do each other, so they added prizes for best group also. Below is my cube isle at work. We chose the these 12 days of Christmas and each cube was decorated like that day on the outside.

This is another isle in accounting. They decorated their row with the theme of under the Christmas tree.


Connor and Ryan came to my office and were excited to see the "coconut tree."


Lynne in our accounting group decorated her cube like a house.

This one is our accounting intern's cube.

This is my cube. I won first prize! The boys let me borrow their trains and they went all around my desk and floor. I used packing peanuts for snow and wrapping paper for wallpaper.

I even had a fireplace with stocking hung and pictures on the mantle.

Here is a video of my cube.

Here is a group picture of some of us accountants.

It was ugly holiday sweater day, but I didn't have one, so I went with ugly holiday outfit.

It is definitely festive in our office this year!