1. Avery’s basketball game.“Grandma, look at my new shoes!” Apparently the bottoms are the cool part.A vocal and wiggly Carson loves to be snuggled.And crawl away.
2. Sophia’s basketball game.
3. Sophia’s indoor soccer.
4. Sophia’s second basketball game. Lenin and Uncle Jeff are the coaches.Cousin Lauren helped with Carson while Thais worked the snack bar.

I took Sophia for her ukulele lesson this afternoon. We were early so she wanted to go look for the friendly cat who followed us one afternoon several months ago. I thought this was a long shot, we don’t even know which house the cat belongs to. Up one side of the streetand down the other. I told her any smart cat would be inside where it was warm.And then …Success!!

The Christmas lights came down this morning, the roses were pruned midday … time to mow under the walnut trees.And if there were more daylight hours available, he would have found something else to do.

We had brunch at Justin’s house.A nativity scene to play with.Going for a ride in Grandma’s new Walnut Wagon.Another way to transport onesself.Sophia read to her brother, Bill O’Reilly’s book Give Please a Chance.While Mom and Uncle Justin discussed a landscape design plan,Sophia and Avery investigated a dirt pile.

At Leah (Lenin’s sister) and Jeff’s. Cousins! Avery has his hand on Leo’s head, Sophia is open-mouthed, Cameron is wearing a hat, and Lauren and Jeffery are to the right.Prime rib for dinner!Cousins Jeffery and Christian check to see who’s taller.

It’s ok to have a little ice cream for breakfast.And lick a gingerbread house.We went to a nearby Goodwill store to find a 100% wool sweater to make mittens and we ran into a commercial being filmed inside the store.Playing hide-and-seek with the neighbors!

Going to Maisie Jane’s in Chico is an annual trip for Justin. This year I was invited to go along … yay!Another of Justin’s favorite stops:Lunch at Sierra Nevada Brewery:In the space above the gift shop, you can see a collection of Santas begun in the 1980s by Karen Gosner, Mrs Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.Days like today are so special. Thank you Justin for inviting me to go along!

Making friends with the people in the pew behind us.Carson loves it when you blow raspberries on his neck.The Del Castillo row.TK and Kindergarten classes:Second grade:Avery was also part of the Nativity scene:The closing number was a rousing rendition of Go Tell it on the Mountain.

Cousin Lauren came over to make snow globes. She was really good with the hot glue gun.Avery found a small stegosaurus for his snow globe but then went back to more important things. Note the Play Dough dinosaur foot nearby.This was also delivery day for a Christmas dress I made for Sophia.Layers of nylon chiffon, netting and tulle for the skirt – a new sewing experience for me.Carson is really good at crawling now.

Last week, I had to go to Joann’s after Sophia’s soccer practice. I am a total weakling when it comes to buying crafts for them to make. Sophia chose a gingerbread house made from foam pieces. Avery chose sugar cookies decorated with trolls. Today after school we made the cookies.Sophia took everything out of the box – which made 10 cookies, but there were 12 edible decals. “Grandma, can I eat one? There are two extra.” Maybe break off a piece of the decal and see how it tastes. It tasted liked frosting and one decal disappeared.Sophia was so much help. She knew where everything was in the kitchen.Sophia thought Avery’s choice of a craft from Joann’s was perfect because she actually got to do it.Avery had been absorbed in the iPad, but did show up when it was time to frost and decorate the cookies.He frosted one, decorated it, ate it, and left. Sophia described it as “One. And done.”A very successful project.