California Dreamin'

Well here the girls and I are in California. Northern California. El Dorado Hills to be exact! We arrived a little over a week ago and the time has really flown by. I was very, very nervous to take both kids by myself on an airplane. I have done it many, many times with just Calli and it got easier as she got older. Well now she is a dream on the flights. All I have to do is pop a movie in the DVD player or get out her coloring book and she is happy. She also likes a snack once in awhile (thanks Southwest for the great peanuts you provide on a three hour flight, they really fill us up!) and has to use the bathroom a couple times, but she is really easy. She was not the one I was worried about. I was worried about having an eight-month-old on a crowded airplane. And it really was crowded! Our flight out of San Antonio was completely full. And me, not knowing the ins and outs of the stupid new Southwest boarding system that caters to the business class and could care less about families, thought I would get to preboard with my kids like every other airline allows. But no. They have changed it so familes board between their A and B levels (I believe A goes up to 60 people). Well stupid me had an A18 boarding pass, but by the time I got on the plane there were people in every row. So I felt terrible as I made my way to the back and had to sit next to someone who was probably thinking "I hope she doesn't choose these seats". The flight was about three-and-a-half hours long to LAX. Serena ended up falling asleep in my arms for a good forty-five minutes while Calli watched a movie, so that was nice. She started to get very antsy toward the end, but overall never cried and did very well. I was relieved that our next flight was only an hour or so, but at the same time I didn't really want to get on another plane; I just wanted to be there! I went to the desk to get a tag for our stroller and after helping with that, the very helpful gentleman asked if I was pregnant. I told him yes and he handed me a special preboard pass reserved for disabled people. Apparently being pregnant makes you "temporarily disabled" in the eyes of the airlines and I was so glad to receive one of the passes! It is so much easier to get on the plane first and get my kids settled without holding up a long line of people. Plus this flight was not completely full so we got a whole row of three seats to ourselves, score! It took about an hour and we finally made it into the Sacramento airport. I survived my first flight alone with two kids! I am so glad that I will have Richard to help on the flights back because it wasn't easy. I also have learned that I will not be flying alone with three kids when this new little one gets here. No way no how!

So our last week has been filled with a few adventures and lots of Christmas shopping. I actually got 99.9% of my shopping done the other day and will finish up the rest when we head to the mall to meet Santa on Christmas Eve (it's tradition!).

My family cuts down a Christmas tree every year. We go to a farm and spend forever walking around trying to find that perfect tree and then finally cut it down ourselves. I have many childhood photos of me holding a saw or us looking at trees. It doesn't feel like Christmas unless we do it ourselves. What is a fake tree?? Anti-Christmas of course! So on Monday we decided to head east to get ourselves a tree. We were all prepared for lots of mud as usual and for it to be very cold. Since we've been here it has yet to get out of the 40s during the day, which is the coldest visit I can remember. Don't get me wrong though, I have been loving it! It doesn't really feel like the holidays to me until it is cold out and the back and forth weather I had been witnessing and now seeing in Texas makes me glad I am not there (helllllllo headaches and colds!). Anyhow, we set off on our journey to pick out the perfect Christmas tree, Serena's first. As we were heading just outside Placerville, about thirty minutes from my parents' house, we started to see bits of snow lining the roads. As we made our way into Camino, the city we were going to get our tree, the yards and houses were filled with snow! These places are on the way up to Lake Tahoe, but I had never seen that amount of snow so close to us. The driveway we wanted to go in was covered in snow and we soon realized all the farms were closed because of the weather. We made the best of it though and pulled over to the side of the road so Calli could play in her FIRST snow. She had a blast throwing snowballs with Grandpa James and Auntie Brittany and building her first (small) snowman. When it was time to go because our toes were starting to fall off, she protested and didn't want to leave. We are heading up to the REAL snow next week in Tahoe so we assured her she would be back and build BIGGER and BETTER snowmen. Since we weren't able to get our tree at a farm we had to stop at a lot (the horror!) and pick out a pre-cut one. We figured we had such a great adventure trying to get a tree that it more than made up for the fact that we had to buy one off a lot.

So that was our amazing Christmas tree adventure! Unfortunately, stupid STUPID person that I am, I forgot my camera, so we only have our memories of this trip. We decorated our tree two nights later and Calli loved hanging a few ornaments toward the bottom. With our angel on the top, it looks so beautiful!

On Wednesday my mom and I went out for our Christmas shopping adventure. My dad so nicely volunteered to watch the kids so we could go out. Our first stop was the big Galleria Mall to go to the Disney Store. They were having tons of sales and lots of things at 50% off and I pretty much finished Calli in just one shot. We also went to a few more stores at the mall before getting hungry and having to go to my FAVORITE restaurant, Chevys, for lunch. They have the BEST and FRESHEST chips and salsa anywhere. Even living in south Texas I have yet to find a place that rivals Chevys for the best chips and salsa. I can fill up on just those for my meal and often do before the food comes out. So after a big lunch we headed to another mall not far away and continued our shopping. I got a few things for Serena and completely finished Calli. In fact, I finished almost all of my shopping that day and it was a great feeling. Being pregnant with two kids this year has not made Christmas shopping all that fun for me. Usually I love it. I've also found people not quite as in the Christmas spirit this year and perhaps it is because of the floundering economy. I am still in it though so MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So now it is Monday, we have been here for ten days and are awaiting Richard's flight getting in today. Calli is so looking forward to seeing her daddy. We all are of course, but she is the most excited. I am happy to get a little help at night because Serena has not been sleeping the best. She has caught a cold and so her sleeping patterns are a little messed up. It's hard to be the only one here to get up with her all night and then have to wake up really early to care for her as well.

So that has been what is going on with us. We are just enjoying spending time with family and getting ready for the holidays. I am so excited for Serena's first Christmas and for the kids to open their presents on Christmas morning. I am sure there will be lots of pictures to come of all of that :)