December

December was pretty well documented in pictures, so get ready!

We launched our Christmas festivities with our annual North Pole Breakfast. I love this tradition. Snowflake the Christmas elf always shows up and we have a pancake breakfast. I usually get the kids some Christmas socks and bring out their Christmas pillowcases and Santa hats. It's a fun little tradition we've been since we lived in Utah.

We spent December participating in the LDS church's Light the World initiative. It was a lot of fun to get the kids involved in service.

Here are some of the things that we did for that:

We made banana bread to give away to friends.

We donated glasses to help others to see.

We made Christmas cards for sick kids.

James carried a backpack full of canned food to donate to his school's food drive.

We wrote letters to the lonely, gave hot chocolate to the homeless, donated shoes, and helped each other clean our rooms.

We donated toys to kids in need.

For every act of service, the kids added a star to this tree. By the end of December it was covered in stars!

In December we took a trip to a Christmas tree farm in Half Moon Bay. It was a lot of fun! The kids played in a bouncy house (their favorite), rode ponies, fed animals, and ran around like crazy. It was a beautiful sunny day.

Amelia's pony was not interested in giving pony rides. It kept turning around and was quite difficult. But she didn't seem to notice so I guess it didn't matter.

James was disappointed that his pony wasn't a little more adventurous. He said that he would have preferred a bucking bronco. Of course.

Amelia insisted on feeding the goats one piece of goat feed at a time. Eventually the goats got sick of this and they snatched the entire cup from her hands. I'm pretty sure they ate the cup.

This year we stayed home for Christmas, so I made a big deal of the kids buying presents for each other and they both did a great job of wrapping them! It was fun to watch their excitement in giving to each other. Amelia was so excited that as soon as we got home from our shopping trip, she ran up to James and exclaimed, "James! I got you cars! Are you so excited!" Astonishingly, James didn't even hear her and was trying to guess what she got him. 

Each year we buy a new Hallmark ornament. It's a tradition that my parents started the first year they were married. They have been putting a new Hallmark ornament on their tree for 36 years now! This year we chose a little lighthouse because we visited so many lighthouses in 2016.

 And of course we did some holiday baking! We made persimmon cookies like Grandmom used to make, divinity like Grandma Willardson used to make, and we held an impromptu cookie day via video chat with my sisters. We also made a little village of gingerbread houses. I should've weighed myself before Christmas to see how bad the damage was.

When I was growing up our family would always go for Christmas lights drives. We always take our kids and this year we found this great house! They really go all out. As long as we are here in the Bay Area, I'm sure we will be going back!

Another tradition that I loved when I was growing up that I've passed down to my kids is the chalkboard countdown! I remember we would all take turns writing on the chalkboard and it was basically the most exciting thing EVER.

And of course, we took the kids to see Santa. Amelia wasn't afraid at all. James asked for a Hatchimal and Amelia asked for a pink kitty toy. Santa obliged.

And this just made me laugh. Whenever Paul took charge of the Elf on the Shelf I was always in for a surprise. Usually a surprise that required clorox wipes to clean up.

Amelia looked forward to her Christmas tracing pages each day.

Unfortunately, Paul and I caught colds two days before Christmas and were as sick as can be on Christmas Eve. We had a quick little family "party" where we ate all the traditional Willardson family Christmas foods and played some games, did a small gift exchange and the kids opened their Christmas pajamas. I had the hardest time getting them to go to sleep and I was soooooo tired and sick, but look at their cute faces? #worthit

Hatchimals sold out in October. I was not prepared. Instead I spent the whole month of November tracking nowinstock.com, sending Paul to stores, and checking online inventories. Eventually I stood in line with Rosi to get this little guy. James was a very happy boy Christmas morning. 

And then after a nice long Christmas break of recovery and rest, we had our last meal at The Habit Burger before starting our New Year's Diet. 

It was a wonderful month filled with many memories that I hope the kids will cherish someday.

November

November whizzed by so quickly! I spent a majority of the month prepping for Rosi and Roy's Thanksgiving visit, and constantly stalking Hatchimals (this year's completely overly-priced hottest toy) inventories of every store I could think of. James finished playing Fall Ball (Little League Baseball). He LOVES baseball.

Rosi and Roy joined us for Thanksgiving. I forgot to take pictures of the food, but it was delicious.

James always dons the family crest for Heritage Day at school. He's proud of his Scottish roots.

Keeping clothes on the natives is quite the difficult task

When Roy and Rosi were here we visited Carmel-by-the-Sea. All the shops are so charming , but we especially loved this tiny little gnome cottage/candy store.

We also took the scenic 17 mile drive. This beach right next to pebble beach golf course is incredible. The sand is so white. Roy was positive the sand was imported. 

James wanted to run into the ocean. I said no way. Instead he and Roy chased each other around the beach with random sea weeds and shells.

Amelia wanted hehr pictures taken by The Lone Cypress. Unfortunately, she's too short. It's back there somewhere.

Trying to get a picture of these two seems impossible most days. They are crazy!

Rosi bought this game only to find out that it was too competitive for us Willardsons. So James and Roy played. Roy is too nice. 

Local cuisine. $15 corn dogs. Or something like that...

And of course, when family visits you must stop off at the Golden Gate bridge!

October

In October Amelia contracted at least 3 different illnesses. She's awesome that way. After having a really gross stomach bug for two weeks, she got a cold, promptly followed by a case of walking pneumonia. Poor kid has had a really rough Fall.

James got his school pictures taken and got a game ball. He LOVES baseball.

 We went to a Fall Festival and the kids had a lot of fun. They each got to pick out a pumpkin and carve it. I think Paul and I did the majority of the work.

Amelia was very proud of her Elsa "tattoo."

Our theme for Halloween was "When I Grow Up." So, naturally, James was a scientist. With green hair, because it's his dream to have green hair when he grows up.

And sweet Amelia was Doc McStuffins. I made their lab coats and Paul took James out trick-or-treating while sick little Amelia stayed home and watched I Love Lucy episodes with me. For some reason whenever my kids are sick, they want to watch I Love Lucy.

That was our October!

Sunset Beach & Labor Day

We went camping for Labor Day again this year. Last year we went to a great campground in Uvas Canyon, but I've been dying for a beach camp experience. Of course, it was much different than my experiences with beach camping in Southern California, but it was still a lot of fun.

 September in NorCal can be chilly. I thought it was going to be colder than it actually was, but at least we were prepared!

 All the pictures I took of him looked like this :)

 After a fun night of camping and a delicious breakfast, we headed to the beach! On our way down we saw at least two dorsal fins. Luckily we had only planned on beach-combing anyway.

Sunset Beach is full of sand dollars! James found quite a few.

Amelia just liked running and trying to scare me with getting too close to the shark infested waters.

The view is quite stunning. The beach is surrounded by large agricultural farms full of lettuces and strawberries. It's quite different from Southern California, but a fun adventure.

Anyone who knows Paul knows he's a sucker for pie. So before heading home we went to Gizdich Ranch. It's a very cute apple farm with amazing pies. Like, seriously the best pie I've ever had.

It was a very relaxing weekend and we got some much-needed r&r! Now it's back to the grind of life.