Christmas Letter

Our Christmas letter for family we sent out this year:

We hope this letter finds you in good health and happy times.

We’re up here in Oregon enjoying our second full winter. Last winter, as the locals tell us, was longer, but with more breaks within the rain. They also told us that the snow we had last year (up to 9 inches in one day) was a fluke storm, once in 10 years kind of storm. But, so far, we’ve had a bunch of snow this year too. There were 3 “snow” days last week where schools and businesses were closed. Venice was already out of school, so she didn’t miss any school. And Xander, who’s only going Tuesdays and Thursdays, only missed one day. But, we still felt a bit “stuck” and caught a bit of cabin fever. Chris finally decided to get some studded tires on our jeep and we were finally able to get out and about. Even if the snow doesn’t come back next winter, the ice in the hills always seems to come and if we want to take any winter ski trips, the studded tires will come in handy. So, we’re doing great and enjoying the fun of sledding down our street, making snowmen, snowballs and the white beauty of it all. We definitely enjoy this much more than the heat we left behind in Rocklin.

Venice is now in first grade and enjoying her class, friends and her teacher. She is growing up so very fast. Getting taller and smarter every day. While she finds some of the subjects in class “boring”, perhaps they are easy for her, she is finding other growing experiences challenging, like fearing being laughed at for chapped lips! So, she’s still doing a ton of learning in all aspects at school! She has a lot of interests and is finally ready to try an extracurricular activity. We allowed her to pick one, and she picked ice skating. Lessons start in January and we’re all very excited for her.

Xander is having his first school experience this year. We have him in pre-school with his cousin Teiya. This has been great for both of them. He has shown to be a caring cousin and has helped Teiya with her difficult transition into the school atmosphere. He plays with her, makes her pictures and keeps her company which helps her brave her fears of being away from her mom. Teiya has also helped Xander. He has his days where he just loves school, but there are times when he isn’t as excited to go, and knowing she’s there helps him be brave too. For the most part, he loves everything they do at school. He’s a big “parallel” player and school is helping him find more friends and how to relate to someone other than a bossy big sister! He is a very active boy and Diana is eager to get him involved in something. Perhaps gymnastics in the new year.

Chris worked most of the year as a contractor finding work to keep us afloat. A few months ago, one of his contracts asked him to become an employee. After thinking about it for a long time, he decided to accept their offer. The job has been great and he really enjoys working with the people running the small start up. He is the VP of Engineering and has gotten their website up and running from scratch, something he’s been wanting to do for a long time. So, when you get a chance and need to find a hotel for travel, check out http://dealbase.com for some great deals and to see what he’s been working on for the last few months. When he’s not working on the computer, he’s hiking with the family, trail running, or on his bike (road and mountain). Our lifestyle here in Eugene has changed from the past and has allowed him to get out and about more often, which he loves.

Diana likes to talk about how she’s busy doing nothing. But at a closer look, she is busy doing lots of activities. This new school year has been an adjustment for her. She thought she’d have a lot more free time with both kids in school this year. However, it’s a lot of driving back and forth. And three hours without Xander isn’t that much. When Xander’s in school on Thursdays, Diana volunteer’s in Venice’s classroom, helping the kids with their reading skills. On Tuesdays, she either runs “kid free” errands, household projects or updating her websites. Sometimes, trying to balance some personal time in there too, she goes out to breakfast with other moms, reads a book (for the first time in years!), or takes a nap ☺ She is also active on the PTO at Venice’s school, a first for her. This year, Diana has also dived into another hobby, Cake Decorating. She took several classes at the local store in learning different decorating techniques. Not sure a professional future is in store, she still enjoys making new creations for family and friends and blogging about it. She is also starting to ramp up her photography, talking about going into business with her dad in portraiture work. She has also started exercising again, doing something called CrossFit. The early mornings are a killer, but her growing strength is energizing. Oh, and she takes care of Venice and Xander too! Her websites include:
http://madfrosting.com
http://baileynagai.com/bnfamily
http://reelhighlights.com
http://momswest.com
just to name a few. Check out the second one, http://baileynagai.com/bnfamily/ to see up to date photos of the family. She tries to keep this as current as possible.
So, as you can see the family has been settling into Oregonian life nicely. We love our house, and our new backyard (we remodeled the yard last spring) with it’s new play structure and sandbox. Diana has joined a MOMS club here and has made some great friends and has found them a great support circle for her. We are meeting new neighbors as the days pass, so it’s nice to walk the neighborhood and be able to say “hi” as well as call a friend and walk to a playdate. The kids are both making friends through school and having great new experiences. We are grateful for the fact that we were able to move when we did, and that it has proved to be a positive change for us all.

We are excited for the new year and what it brings! We hope you are finding as much peace in your life as we have in ours and that you have a great holiday season.

Love,
Chris, Diana, Venice and Xander

Beanbag Bites The Dust

We had to take a favorite beanbag to the dump. It had been through so much. It had been handed down from Venice to Xander. He used it everyday in his room! To read books, jump into off of this bed, and more.

However, it finally met its match when Venice took some scissors to it. She told me that she asked Xander if she could cut it and he said it was ok. Somehow this was supposed to make it ok.

Beans everywhere... bye bye beanbag! You may laugh now.

Holidays with Granny and Jiichan

So Xander and Venice cut out shapes for cookies. I knew I was going to be gone, so I had purchased sugar cookie dough. Well, it tastes a lot better than my recipe, as Venice quickly noticed when she nibbled on the bits and pieces...They made reindeer, trees, snowmen and stars....While I baked them, they played with the car set Xander had brought. Also Venice helped light some candles for atmosphere.

But.....this dough was different in another way and it puffed up and out...so the shapes of all but the tree were mangled. Fortunately the kids didn't care....After Casey and Teiya arrived we divided the cookies up and they all decorated them. Casey and Venice are most inventive and care about what they are doing. For Xander and Teiya, it is all about getting enuf icing on the cookie so they can put the jimmies on...and eat them. They worked hard on these misshapen creatures.

We also did the volcano as I had replenished my supply of food colors. We had 3 pretty good 'blows'.....the kids still seem pretty fascinated with the volcano....It can only do 3 blows at any one time...then I dump the stuff out that is in it and it is good to go for 3 more.

Teiya came to me in the middle of the day asking for rice (this is her secret code for wanting treats, specifically M&M's) I gave her a bowl which she downed and then asked with a smile for a treat. Since I didn't have any M&M's, I gave her a few chocolate chips which she was fine with.

Casey and Venice watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer....Venice handled the remote and fast forwarded thru the commercials.
I think that Venice and Xander watched the Grinch earlier....

Towards the end of the day, Venice and Casey were playing with all the small creatures, angels, and carolers that I have as decoration and making up their stories together....Teiya played the piana (note, every song she plays is in perfect rhythm altho the notes are not exactly right....She played and commanded Xander to dance....and he did.....round and round, foot up in the air, joyfully. For whatever reason, he and Teiya felt that the pretend groceries and plastic foods that we have had to be part of the dancing....Then Xander played and she danced. She leaped and spun and Xander plunked away. Later I read the Star Wars cutout book to Xander and Teiya. Xander was totally involved in the book and tried to see all the different parts. Teiya was mildly interested, but she did know the characters and Xander was just learning them. He went thru the book several times. Teiya got bored and went over to Casey and Venice and asked them if she could play with them. They incorporated her easily into their game of pretend. One of the pages of the book has a cutout of several groupings of various figures and they are numbered. So he would find number 1 and read who they were....the numbers were not normal numbers but he could figure out the 1 to 7 that was there and then he began counting them in spanish.

a nice day was had by all
Granny

I Smell California

Today was a "burning day" in our town, so one of our neighbors burned, what seemed like EVERYTHING, for 2-3 days straight. The smoke blew directly through our house. Ugh ugh ugh. One time, when entering the garage (where the smell was the worst), Xander says, "I can smell California from here." I looked at him and wondered. He elaborated, "I can smell Morro Bay from here." Ahhh... the campfires we have when camping at Morro Bay. Yes. This is what our house smells like.