CalTrain Holiday Train

In early December, we went to see a special CalTrain Holiday Train. They decorate one of the trains with a bunch of holiday lights, and then they have some Marines, a small band, some singers, as well as bunch of characters like Frosty, Rudolph, a gingerbread man, elves, and of course Santa Claus, ride the train. Then they ask people to donate toys to the Toys for Tots drive. Although it was raining that day, we had a good time and would go back again another year.

Cecilia and Chad with the engineer. Cecilia LOVED getting to see the train up close and to see the engineer!

Our family. I love that Grant is more interested in looking at Cecilia and not the camera. This is a common sight here. Grant loves his big sister!

We met the Marleys to watch the train. Johnny, Evelyn, and Shayla are our neighbors and Shayla and Cecilia are best friends.

Christmas lights

In December we drove down to Los Gatos to see the big display of holiday lights again this year. We timed it well and ended up not having to wait in line, which is good as Grant screamed most of the way down there, until he fell asleep. We all enjoyed looking at the lights and here are a few pictures of them. 

In December we drove down to Los Gatos to see the big display of holiday lights again this year. We timed it well and ended up not having to wait in line, which is good as Grant screamed most of the way down there, until he fell asleep. We all enjoyed looking at the lights and here are a few pictures of them. 

Later that night, we got out our old strings of Christmas lights and let the kids play with them for a bit.

Santa Photos

Here are the photos with Santa this past year.

Grant tries some new foods

Grant tries butternut squash for the first time on 12/3/12.

Grant tries bananas for the first time on 12/8/12.

Grant eats yogurt on 1/26/13.

Some videos from the past 2 months

We have gotten pretty far behind on posting videos and pictures. Here are a few videos from the past 2 months to start to catch up a bit.

Grant giggles and laughs after his bath on 12/6/12.

Grant jumps in his jumper while Cecilia watches and plays on 12/10/12.

Grant jumps in his jumper on 1/12/13.

Cecilia and Grant play and laugh together on 1/16/13. A funny Cecilia quote, "Every time I laugh, I laugh"

Grant and Daddy play together on 1/28/13.

Grant watches the camera on 1/28/13.

Planning the garden

The garden is a planned affair this year. I bought some landscaping timber and rebared it into the ground. The soil is fertilized with bone meal and kelp meal. Soon we'll be planting!

Harvesting Mustard Greens

We're gonna try sautéeing these mustard greens for dinner... When Cecilia, Laura, and I tried them raw they were pretty dang spicy! Hope they're better a bit wilted and covered in butter. Dr. Oz says they're a superfood after all. ;)

Today's Cecilia Communion Quote

With a huge grin on her face: "I want a Christ too!"

Sent from my iPhone

Fun Daddy Daughter Day

We all got up around noon today: the kids because they're sick and me because I decided to watch Schindler's List last night.

After Laura made us eggs and toast, Cecilia and I worked outside, getting the garden ready. We pulled out weeds, mixed the compost, and took a taste of the mustard plant. The greens are so bright green that we thought it would be tasty. Soon both Cecilia and I were spitting in the yard, panting "spicy!!!"

Then we tried the cilantro and Cecilia actually said it was delicious. :)

Then Cecilia and I went to OSH to buy some bone meal and kelp to fix the nutrient profile of our soil. We stopped at Popeyes to grab lunch for everyone.

After lunch, Cecilia slept for a bit, and then we all went to the park.

To cap the day off, Cecilia and I went to Home Depot to buy gravel, landscaping timber, rebars, spikes, and shelves.

As we checked out, Cecilia pointed at our cart and said "That's a rebar, Daddy." An employee walked over "Did she just say rebar?" Kids are sponges!

After this long day, Cecilia and Grant bathed together for expediency and they both fell asleep quickly.

Sent from my iPhone

Cecilia playing with a remote control car

Cecilia Quotes

On seeing me drink a rare beer. "When I'm a boy I can drink that!"

On seeing the whirlpool in the drain: Pointing, "Daddy! A potato!"

On seeing the whirlpool another night: "Daddy! A tomato!"

On seeing it tonight: "Daddy! A tornado! You don't have to be scared, Daddy. It's just a tornado."

Sent from my iPhone

Cecilia working on her letters

She's been able to make a T, O, and lowercase i for a while, but for funsies we started on A. Her A's look almost like a P but they're pretty decent!

Potty Training Adventures

Over Christmas, both grandmas were trying, with some limited success, to get Cecilia to start using the potty.  We didn't seem to be making much progress, but now Cecilia's really got the hang of it!  She wakes up with mostly dry diapers and then says "I have to go pee!" and runs to the potty.

Tonight she even ran to the potty and pooped!  We're almost there!

A choice quote: "Daddy, I pooped!  Come look at it!  It's really the best poop I ever seen!"

Oh a thing! Can I eat it?

Got a Nest thermostat!

The Nest arrived tonight so I quickly took the old thermostat off the wall and got started.

I was super impressed by the unboxing experience. The mount has a built-in level. And it came with a nice little screwdriver too.

It doesn't look that level in the photos, though, does it? :)

After I got another hole drilled, the wires connected, and placed the optional wall cover over all the holes and marks left by the old thermostat, it connected to wifi and then downloaded updates for 30 minutes or more...

But now it's awesome! It even has a proximity sensor so it knows if you're not in the house and enters away mode.

And you can control it from the Internet or your phone.

Little guy sitting and playing

He's gotten so big!