Happy new year!

We went out for our 11th anniversary last night. We had a nice time at Bistro 33 here in Davis, which was refurbished by someone from Sacramento who has a few restaurants there. It is in a building that used to be the City Hall before they built a new one.

Earlier yesterday I went to Berkeley to visit my mother who had foot surgery for a neuroma on Thursday. She is doing all right and recovering.

School and work start again on Tuesday. The kids have been enjoying their time off. It has been cold though so we haven't been able to spend as much time as usual outdoors. We did take a bike ride today, and Owen and Dan are off playing baseball right now with some friends. We have been to the library many many times. Douglas and I just went and got another 25 books or so ... I think that makes about 75 in this week alone.

Xmas

Poor Owen came down with the stomach flu on Christmas eve. He threw up, had diarrhea, etc. No fun. Luckily the last bout came around 12:45 that night and by Christmas morning he was fine. It made for a fitful night's sleep for his parents, however.

We had a great Christmas. The kids very much enjoyed their loot. The new bikes were big hits, and Owen is really excited about his new guitar. They are also really enjoying the books and toys sent by their grandparents (thanks!).

Today it is raining. I took the kids to the library and took out 25 books (we must really help their circulation figures) and we baked a pumpkin pie. Our Seattle friends, Beth and Jay, will be coming over for dinner tonight, which should be fun. We haven't seen them in quite a while.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas lights

We went to Sacramento on Wednesday night to see the fantastic Xmas light display in the neighborhood behind UC Davis Medical Center. Unfortunately these pictures don't do it justice, but they're the best our Coolpix can do.

SuperSanta - the kids thought this one was pretty cool. Some artist!








Igloo, lights, etc.









Hard to tell from this picture, but the lights were in rainbow stripes.











Remember the abominable snow monster from the Rudolph Christmas special?










Dan and boys checking out some lights.

Countdown

Every morning Owen wants to know the date so he can figure out how many days until Christmas. So far he is doing quite well with the counting. And of course it gets easier the closer we get.

He went to his friend Andrew's house yesterday and apparently they played well together except that they got in a minor dispute about whether or not children use wheelchairs. Owen remembered having used one in the hospital the day he injured his foot and we had to get it X-rayed. Andrew thought that only teenagers and adults used them. It is funny what random things they get into their heads.

It is cold here - has been down to around 30 at night and we have had a frost. It is supposed to warm up a bit though and perhaps bring some rain. The mountains are low on snow - they usually have 1-2 feet at Tahoe by this time of year but right now only have about 6 inches.

Visiting

Our friends Harla and James, who left Davis for UC San Diego this summer, are in town visiting James's parents so we got to see them last night. Their son Lucas is Owen's age - they were in preschool together - and their younger one Jay is a bit older than Douglas. Everyone had fun together, and we had pizza from Village Bakery. Yum.

Magic

Our DVD player, which was a cheap one we bought a year or so ago, had not been working for quite a while. This weekend I got the idea to unplug it and plug it in again. Now it works. Mysterious! This gave Dan and me the opportunity to watch "Talladega Nights," which was not quite as good as we might have hoped.

We had a pretty quiet weekend. It was colder than usual (30s-50s). Owen and I went to the skate park in town with a couple of friends on Saturday and he and his friend rode their scooters around a bit, then went and got some hot chocolate at a downtown cafe.

Yesterday we did various errands. Douglas loves going to the library (which we do at least once a week and often twice), partly because he gets to use the library computers, which have a lot of kids' games - he can watch "The Cat in the Hat" or "Magic Schoolbus Dinosaurs" or that kind of thing while I run around picking out books.

Friday night Dan worked late and the kids and I drove around town a bit and saw some Christmas lights. There were some decent ones, but it doesn't begin to compare to Dyker Heights in Brooklyn.

So far, so good

Things seem to have gone well at school for Owen for the past few days so I am hoping it was a temporary problem.

The possible-school-closing saga continues and it looks like the school board will likely not make a decision this school year. The task force will be giving their final recommendations to the Board in mid-February, which doesn't really leave enough time for them to make any major decisions considering that kindergarten registration for the following year begins in March. There are a lot of decisions to be made if they decide to open or close anything - such as drawing new boundary lines, etc. So we are doubtful anything will happen for another year.

We got a Xmas card from Dan's cousin, who has 5 kids under the age of 6 and whose husband will be in Iraq for the next 13-14 months. Poor thing.

1st grade goings-on

There is a boy in Owen's class who is sort of a mean kid and has been bullying some of the other kids, and early this week Owen and another friend got drawn in and started participating in some of the teasing behaviors. I met with the teacher along with the mothers of boy 3 and the victim and we have been working hard to get it to stop. Yesterday went a lot better after our discussion - there were no negative behaviors. I hope today does as well. The parents of the ringleader have blown it all off to a large degree and think "boys will be boys." This boy was sent to the principal's office yesterday and had a talk with her along with his father so I hope that might help things. Ugh. School gets out tomorrow for a couple of weeks so hopefully that will give everyone a chance to cool down.

...And the finished product

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Silveyville

Here are a few pictures from the Xmas tree farm.

Riding behind Santa on the "sleigh"












Hmm, do you think we should pick this one?









Owen raising cap in greetings













Douglas riding horseback










Dan and me riding on the sleigh

The tree has entered the building

We went to the Silveyville Christmas Tree Farm in Dixon yesterday afternoon after the rain stopped to get a tree. Silveyville is fun - agritourism at its corniest. Santa was there driving a sleigh (tractor sort of thing with a metal reindeer on the front) so we got a sleigh ride around the property, and had hot cider and hot chocolate and popcorn. Douglas decided to sit down in the mud, which was not the best idea. We wandered around the farm and eventually chose a tree, which Dan valiantly cut down, then we lashed it to the top of our car and drove as carefully as possible down I-80, making plans as to what we would do if it fell off. (We drove most of the way on back roads rather than 80, though.) Thankfully, it made it home safely and is now up in the corner of the living room and decorated. We have loads of pictures but the camera battery died so I need to recharge it and then I can post them.

On Saturday night we went to a Krismakkuh party at our friends' in Sacramento, which was fun, and earlier that day Owen and I and a couple of friends went to a dopey children's movie called "Unaccompanied Minors" about some kids getting stuck in an airport over Christmas. The best part of that was that it featured Rob Corddry and Lewis Black (Tarheel alum).

Violet

Violet seems to be recovering from the tail surgery pretty well. She has the collar on but seems to be leaving the end of her tail alone. We wish Douglas would leave her alone, but so far no luck on that one.

Owen made us laugh on Sunday night. Dan had taped a Giants football game and was watching it a bit with the kids while I was making dinner, and fast-forwarding through the ads. Owen said, "But Daddy, the football players need a break. If you fast-forward through the commercials, they won't get one!"

I took the kids to have their picture taken yesterday, so hopefully we will be able to get some pics out with xmas cards one of these days. I haven't actually gotten around to buying any cards yet though...

Last night we registered Owen for Little League. He's moving over to Farm this year which will actually involve outs, a pitching machine, a hard ball and more or less regular baseball rules, which is a big change from tee ball. The big leagues. He does pretty well with a pitching machine nowadays so I think he will be fine.

Weekend fun

We went to Berkeley again on Sat. for our little friend Liam's 3rd birthday party. A good time was had by all, particularly given the delicious train-shaped cakes that Alisa made. Kudos! (The picture at left is from the Williams Sonoma website, but this is approximately what they looked like.)

Yesterday we had a pretty quiet day. Finally we had someone over to do some of the odds and ends that needed fixing since the stuccoing, such as putting up our outside light and downspouts. Owen's friend Justin came over, which was fun, and I went to see Stranger Than Fiction in the evening, which was pretty good.

Xmas parade

Along with my friend Anne, I took the kids to the Davis "Holiday Parade" last night. It was fun. In Davis, the parade is something you participate in rather than something you watch. Everyone gathers at the co-op and you can pick up glow sticks or candles (Owen used his first candle). Then Santa on a lit-up fire engine starts off the parade, followed by the UC Davis Aggies Marching Band-uh, and then everyone joins in and walks downtown (a few blocks away) to a square where the city tree is. The mayor, Sue Greenwald, said a few words and then they lit the tree. A good time was had by all. We met Dan down there and all had some pizza and went home to crash.

We were lucky this year - it was clear. The past few years it has rained on the day of the Christmas parade.

Violet had her tail surgery yesterday. They took off the end of the tail. She did very well and is at home recuperating, with a bandage on her tail and the silly plastic collar on to keep her from chewing it. She seems a little aggravated but overall seems to be doing fine.