Vitamin Sea

At the start of this Christmas Break, we sure enjoyed the blessing of having multiple pastors on staff again!  Dave does not have to preach the Old Years or New Years service this year and found himself with a rare lighter week.  He was pretty excited for a change of scenery so we planned this little Central Coast getaway.  Surf pounding, wildlife encounters, and the fresh salty sea air is always therapeutic, so even though this trip was short, it was recharging!

We stayed in a central location and hit a wide variety of stops in San Simeon, Cambria, Paso Robles, SLO, Morro Bay and Los Osos.  First stop was the Elephant Seal Rookery at Piedras Blancas.  This is one of only two places on our state's coast where tens of thousands of elephant seals stop on their migration each year.  Isn't that instinct amazing?  Why this beach and not the one next door?  Right now it's the season for the humongous bulls to come and claim their territory, fighting each other for dominance before the females start arriving in a few weeks.  This was hilarious and fascinating to watch.  What a strange creation the elephant seal is!  It looks, sounds, and moves so odd!

Mostly the seals just lay on the beach looking dead, but every few minutes there was movement and battle and great bellowing!  Delia made this funny video when we couldn't stop giggling about the jiggly way they flop around or the sign warning us "Caution! They're faster than you think".  

Our second day of getaway was 100% rain all day.  So my plans for hiking and tidepooling were kinda shot.  We bundled up in raincoats and braved a few scenic stops at Montano de Oro State Park...

But, mostly this day was spent in San Luis Obispo, where we roamed through the cute boutiques and cafes, browsed bookshops, and toured the iconic mission.

Dave does not have to preach any of the sermons this weekend, but he did have a funeral come up, so on our last day he was feeling the call to head back and get to work.  It was also his birthday!  The rain cleared, making this day our warmest and sunniest.  A wonderful breakfast at the darling, local cafe and a few hours at the beach watching otters, seals and sand pipers playing finished off our little Vitamin Sea Vacation!  A birthday that has otters in it is always a good birthday. :)

Merry Christmas 2022

We always put our tree and decorations up the day after Thanksgiving. This year, Ella was headed off to her own Friendsgiving Feast on that day, though, and asked us to wait because it would be the last time she was home to help decorate and that hit hard!  Yes, we know she'll come home from college for holiday breaks, but the reality of all the big and small routines we've grown used to shifting to an Ella-less version next year is a mind-blowing reality.  So here are a few of our old, and a few new, Christmas traditions.  Pictures taken and descriptions written with the perspective of next year possibly looking quite different.

Sinterklass made his annual visit!  Sint sure enjoyed having a Dorm Wishlist to shop off of this year and brought Ella things like a bath caddy, shoe organizer, and her favorite Pampered Chef spatula that she's threatened to take with her from my kitchen! ;)

As mentioned, Ella and 4 of her friends decided to join the Oratorio Society this season to sing in the Messiah.  They practiced hard and sounded amazing!  The first time you hear all four of the voice parts come together in one perfect, powerful sound, it gives you the chills!  Ella sings soprano and made us laugh after practices saying, "I don't know what Handel had against sopranos!" The Hallelujah Chorus, especially, had her section reaching for the highest notes!

I enjoyed our annual Preschool staff Christmas lunch. These fun ladies outside of the classroom plus Mexican food plus a Secret Santa gift exchange always equals a good time!

Fun dress up days for the last week of school made our days merry and bright!  Delia actually won the prize for Best Dressed for a character from a Christmas movie (she's the narwhale from Elf!)  

My class showing off all our Christmas (or normal, or Halloween! :) socks!

Ella enjoyed a work party as well and this is what that looks like when you work in a climbing gym!  Funny story, she brought a big bag of Ghirardelli chocolates as her grab bag and had a hard time unloading it because none of her co-workers eat junk food!  She's been so blessed at this job!  Running birthday parties and teaching kids to climb is straight up fun and the weekend shifts fit perfectly into her busy schedule.  The owners are friends of mine (I taught their kids) and they both messaged me after the party to say how much they loved getting to visit with Ella, how amazing and smart and sweet she is.

A 20 year tradition now is Dave reading our Sunday School kids a Christmas story on the night of their big program.  The Sunday School crowd has grown to over 100 and it's always sweet to watch them all attentively listening to Pastor Dave's story (perhaps they're so calm because they wore themselves out singing "GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN!!" with all their might?).  Fun this year was Ella joining him to expressively read a part!

You guys, I had some incredible gifts this year!  You already saw Brittany's surprise.  This is what Heather and Andrew custom built me-- a stable for the Willow Tree Nativity pieces I've been collecting!  New favorite Christmas decoration for sure!! Ella has asked me to write this into our will for her. Haha!

Delia's been loving the ceramics class she takes at school for art credit.  She comes home with some really cool pieces!  This Christmas she made this darling ornament, with hearts for where we live and where Ella will most likely live next year.

Ella's gift was delivered to me via code!  I had to answer the clues and then her laptop directed me where to look for it.  How cool are my kids?

As always, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts and Uncles were so sweet and generous to our kids!  Ella mostly got items off that Dorm Wishlist and the enthusiasm for things like comforters, shelving systems, and towels was high!  When you cheer for towels, does that mean you're an actual adult?

Delia delighted us with her many faces and noises when she opened his six clues and learned her big gift is a date with Uncle Kyle to see the show currently residing in her #1 spot-- Six!  It's playing in San Francisco the weekend he'll be visiting for Pride & Prejudice and couldn't have worked out more ideally!  

The gifts I was most excited to give this year were this SO COOL Office LEGO set and Pride & Prejudice themed sweatshirts.

After present-opening this Christmas Eve we enjoyed a delicious feast together.  Each thing on the menu is a favorite of one of us (twice-baked potatoes/Ella, cranberry salad/Delia, roasted veggies/Dave, steaks on the Traeger/me).  

Some snuggles and family time were also a part of this special Christmas Eve!

We're soaking up all the quality time together this year, we wish the same for you!  Hope this season is full of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love as well!  Blessings to you all this Christmas!

The Covert Photoshoot

This year a teacher I taught with 3 years ago returned.  She left to have a baby and now her baby is preschool-aged, so she's back on staff as my partner again!  I love her and it's been one of the best years of teaching getting to work with her again.  Not only is Brittany a great partner, she's also a talented photographer, doing some professional picture taking on the side. (Yep, when she's not raising a 3 year old or teaching!  Seriously, she's awesome.)  Totally without my knowledge, she got my girls' numbers and pulled off this incredible photoshoot surprise as her Christmas gift to me!  I got the gift today and am cracking up at the sneaky pieces I'm just now putting together.  Like the "extra play practice" Ella said had been called after school.  The new black shirt she said she needed to buy "for the Messiah".  The makeup bags that oddly went to school one day so my girls could "give the middle school drama kids a makeup tutorial."  Or my favorite-- the phones that were intentionally left at school, so I couldn't track them!  :)

I will treasure these photos and how perfectly Brittany captured the beauty, joy, and friendship of the girls in this sweet stage of life.  Buuuuut, I will now have an eye on my sneaky daughters who proved to be way too good at disappearing for a few hours!  Haha!

A Fall with Friends

Though you wouldn't know it from the silent blog, life has been full and busy through October and November!  Delia gives me regular reminders to write a new post! :)

I'll start with some small talk about the weather.  Our weather did its usual thing this year-- staying triple-digit hot late into the season, until one day it got dramatically cold for a few days!  I think the drastic drop in temp made our color-changing leaves extra beautiful this year.  Around Thanksgiving time is when we get the best color.  It always feels late, but it's always worth the wait.

Halloween weekend was busy for us, so the costumes were figured out at the last minute.  Delia threw this together and cracked us up!

Lots to be thankful for this year!  We thank God especially for the people he has brought into our lives this year-- for my reunion with an old teaching partner who I love, for the new church staff who have been such a blessing to Dave and our church, for new high school friends for the girls, and...for another who I will write about at a later time. ;)  We felt the Lord bless and keep us as we celebrated his goodness this season.  Thanksgiving in preschool is a sweet time.  One of my mom friends sent me this, showing I made their family's Thankful Pumpkin!  Thanksgiving Day was lovely for our family!  One of our new pastors preached, and then we shared a fabulous feast and a day of fellowship and games with some dear friends.

(When you are so in sync with your co-teachers that you unintentionally dress alike!)

But, mostly fall was full of friends!  Every weekend square on our calendar had some group activity written on it.  Ella learned to shoot rifles and handguns at a Harvest Party in her friend's orchard/barn (above).  She proved to be a good markswoman!  Delia donned pink with her friends for a football game (below).

Both girls hosted parties at our house.  Ella held a "Presentation Party" where everyone came with a Power Point slide show answering a goofy question she handed out in advance.  Topics like "Which of my friends would survive a zombie apocalypse" or "Predicting my friends' futures" or "My friends' arch-nemeses".  Dave and I hung out and enjoyed laughing hard with this creative, hilarious, super smart bunch!

Delia hosted a Friendsgiving Dip Party.  Everyone brought their favorite dip to share, with fondue as the dessert.  They too played silly games and filled my home with laughter.

Bowling dates, birthday sleepovers, a night of praise and worship in the cozy barn of one of Delia's friends, and Ella spending each Sunday through the month of November practicing the Messiah with the friends she decided to sing it with were a few of the other opportunities to connect this month!

Probably my favorite time of the day is after dinner-- when the girls sit down together at the dining room table to work on their homework with a mug of hot chocolate.  I'm washing dinner dishes and making the next day's lunches, we're playing "Crazy DJ" with Alexa, and we're laughing about the day's events, chatting about life, and dreaming about the future.  These sweet, everyday moments are numbered, I know, so I'm trying to take them in and cherish them.

Our biggest news this fall is that our March play is already cast!  It's a favorite: Pride and Prejudice!  When the girls auditioned, they had to fill out an application/contract stating what other commitments they had, etc.  When asked to identify what role they most were interested in, Ella wrote a whole page essay on her love for her all time favorite literary heroine, Elizabeth Bennet.   Annd...she landed the part!  This will be such a phenomenal way for Ella to end her high school drama career!  We're pretty delighted the Delia gets to play her SISTER, Kitty!  The cast is a fun one, and though practices won't start for a while, they are already working on their many lines and group texting about what fun off-stage shenanigans they plan. (A little documentary about the making of?  An in-character appearance on a float in our annual Almond Blossom parade??)  We can't wait to watch this one come together!