Christmas Eve 2009

On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with the Graces. We especially loved having a visit from the Vegas chapter of the family, Jeff and Julie! Lizzie could not have been more happy to have both her boys home and together for the holidays! You could tell how special that was for her.

That's why this family photo goes first in the blog post! Out of order from the sequence of events, yes! But definitely earns prime position at the top of the post.

The afternoon started with some cocktails and conversation...

And a little chess play with Papa!
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Then, off to dinner at McKenna's.

Julie and Lori

Jeff and Lizzie

Marzie and Ryan

Charlie and Gigi

Julie and Jeff

A close up of the lovebirds :-)

Papa and Lori

Me and my hubby!

Keeping the kids busy!

Being carried out to the car by Uncle Jeff is always a nice treat.
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A little rip and tear session came next in the night...

Julie helping Char-Char

Crazy-faced Ryan showing off her missing tooth.

Marzie getting a little love from Charlie.

Papa loved his gift from Julie.

Lizzie got some new sneaks from Steve... standard!!!

Christmas Eve gifts revealed: jammies, slippers, and hats.

Encore:
"And a partridge in a pear tree!"
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Final event of the night is preparing for Santa's visit...

First you leave reindeer food on the lawn (the reindeer get hungry too you know!)

And then you need to leave cookies and milk by the fireplace for Santa!

Off to bed little ladies! Tomorrow is a big day!

Graceful Caroling

On December 23rd, the girls and I headed up to Pasadena for an evening of Caroling. The girls planned a fun concert for the Graces singing their favorite Christmas tunes. Everyone gathered at Marzie's place for hot cocoa, apple cider, and yummy treats. The girls sang 6 Christmas carols plus a solo by Ryan ("Angels Might be Listening") and a solo by Charlie ("Feliz Navidad"). The finale was "The 12 Days of Christmas" with all the hand movements.
They were pretty cute.

Katie and the girls enjoying a little Christmas conversation.

Charlie enjoying her new mermaid toy (and apparently some chocolate... look at that face!)

Ryan opened this butterfly puzzle the next morning and got it finished in no time. She loved it.

A chess board was definitely on Ryan's Christmas list.

And Marzie got the girls a "Twas the night before Christmas" book complete with an audio tape recording of the story read by Marzie herself. Everyone was so impressed.

A little mingling is always fun.

We just couldn't get silly Ryan to take a serious picture.

"And a par-tridge in a pear tree"
(The best part of the night was the finale song, for sure!)

A Visit to Santa

Merry Christmas

Ryan - 5 1/2 years old

Charlie - 4 years old

McGaugh Holiday Celebrations

This post is a little out of order... just trying to catch up from the whirl wind of activity in the last week!
On the last day of school before Christmas break, the girls had some exciting activities in their classrooms. Charlie had snow day and Ryan had a gingerbread bread making party.

Charlie with her buddies, Ava and Hannah

The whole class posing by the snowman.

Trying to get a close up during the group picture.

Charlie LOVED the sled run the best! We have been involved in several snow days over the years at pre-school but this one was definitely the best. There were three separate stations that the classes rotated through (this being one of them).

At Ryan's class party, the room mom (in red) presented Mrs. Baker (in black) with our class Christmas present. She cried. So cute. You can see the back of Ryan in the red sweater and jean skirt.

Ryan's boyfriend (errrr, I mean "friend"). His name is Dylan.

Here is Ryan's gingerbread house.

What a great start to our holiday season!

A Day in San Diego

The girls and I went down to San Diego to visit my best friend from college, Jenn, and her family. As always, we had a fantastic, relaxing time. We don't get to see each other very often but every time I say, "I wish we did this more!"

Charlie, Holden, and Ryan at lunch.
(We left baby Cash at home with Daddy.)

After lunch, we ran around by the giant Christmas tree. Charlie and Holden are two peas in a pod. Whatever Holden does...

...Charlie does too!

A big milestone happened on this trip! Ryan was wonderful with Jenn's dog Houston! She played near him. She told Charlie not to worry. Trey and Jenn even taught Ryan how to have Houston do tricks. Look at my big girl! Isn't this fantastic?

More tricks for Ryan but Little Miss Charlie...

... stayed far, far away!

Oh man, you should have seen these two together. They picked up right where they left off last time!

Happy Holidays Friend!

The Nutcracker

Our dear friends, Kristina and Kendall Scott, treated Ryan and me to a showing of the ballet, The Nutcracker. We loved it. What a great story and the dancing was wonderful. I have never seen a ballet before so what a treat!

Ryan and Kendall posing outside of the Long Beach Performing Arts Center.

Aren't they cute together?

I love downtown Long Beach. When I was teaching, my school was right down the street from the Performing Arts Center so we had several field trips there over the years. It was fun to be back.

Kristina and Kendall had some great connections. It was awesome. We got to be part of the VIP section at intermission. The girls loved the fancy treatment. And then we got to go back stage after the show to meet the cast and see all of the props. What a treat.

Apparently, three of the cast members in these pictures were on the show, "So You Think You Can Dance?" Kristina and Kendall were big fans of this show because they knew one of the dancers so meeting them was an extra special treat for Kendall. Ryan was along for the ride but loved every minute.

The Russian Dancer ensemble was Mommy's favorite.

This is the Mouse King.

The Nutcracker.

This is Kendall's friend. She played the dew drop fairy. She was amazing.
We had a great day.
Thanks Scott Family!