Thanksgiving in Beaumont

This was our year to go to Beaumont for thanksgiving. We were there long enough to get to see a lot of people which was nice because we are usually rushed when we are there.

The trip there looked like this...




Getting ready for Thanksgiving at the Kolander's.




Across the street from the Kolander's house we found goats, turkeys, roosters, etc.




William loved feeding the goats!




William also really loved Madison!




On Friday we went to our friends David and April's daughters 1st birthday party. Isn't Adeline gorgeous!










Caroline and Will Scoggin




Kevin and Sammy throwing the football at Adeline's party. (Sammy is the one who introduced Kevin and I. :). )



Celebrating Kenneth's 62nd birthday at Carrabas.



Kenneth with his kids and grand kids.

Our Christmas lights

Just a glimpse at our outdoor decorations this year.

Santa Mickey is back and William loves giving him hugs and high fives.

Terrible twos and the Cookie meltdown

William hit his terrible twos head on this week. It's as if he woke up Monday morning and flipped a switch. It's been a long week. Every.single.day this week has involved us having to leave somewhere (store, park, etc) because William was throwing an all-out tantrum (usually involving him refusing to wear shoes).

This one was one of my favorites. We were checking out at Target and William was screaming, kicking and crying because he wanted a cookie from the bakery. Please notice he is holding a cookie. I tried explaining that to him but he was too far gone and logic didn't prevail. It was fun explaining to everyone around us that he was screaming for a cookie even though he was holding one. (He better be awesome to me when he's an adult.)

Amazing snow powder

Today we got out the amazing snow powder that you add water to and it's becomes cold and fluffy like snow.

One word: disaster.

The kids loved it.






They drove cars in it.



And then William started throwing it at Caroline and putting it in her hair.





At this point, I had to stop taking pictures and get ahold of the situation...which I was about 5 minutes late doing. Oops.

Introducing Charlie

At my work Christmas party last night, we played the white elephant gift exchange.

This is what we brought...



And this is what we "won"...



This is our new pet Charlie and the kids are thrilled! (Please say a prayer that Charlie's life is longer than our last fish, Dorothy.)

Caroline's school picture

I love this picture if Caroline! She looks so happy!

Caroline's 7 yr well check

We had a great 7 year check up for Caroline. No issues and no shots!

She weighs 58 lbs and is 50 inches tall. She is in the 80th percentile for height and weight.

Here she is at her appointment rocking the paper gown.

Saturday fun at Home Depot

On Saturday morning, we were headed to the park butane a quick trip through the Taco cabana parking lot for breakfast tacos to take. He saw a bunch of people in the Home Depot parking lot and decided to check it out. Good thing we did! It was kids craft day and they were making and painting wooden airplanes. Then there was face painting. And then two fire trucks came and the kids were able to climb all over them. And then...a helicopter landed in the parking lot. I was beside myself with excitement and the kids were thrilled. Needless to say, we had such a fun and unexpected morning in the Home Depot parking lot!

Napa!

A little glimpse into our Napa trip


Schramberg - Sparkling wine with tours through the caves where they store the wine to age. It was amazing! Side note: the girl drinking in the picture on the right ended up breaking her glass during our very quiet tasting...we laughed. :)

Opus One
Looking out from the front porch of Opus One
Self-portrait at Opus One.

Robert Mondavi





Sequoia Grove - Worker working in the vines. It was a neat, small winery where we spent a lot of time talking to one of the workers at the bar. She was from England and had a lot of great stories. Downtown Joe's Brewery - because we really needed a break from wine!