happy christmas!!

well, it seems like the Christmas season is coming to an an end... people are taking down their decorations and now the focus is on the new year ahead. so... i thought: its a good time to reflect on my Christmas season, which, by the way, was a wonderful one : )

we all went out and looked at lights one night. there's a really rad house in livermore. i like the lights on their trees:

and, of course, deacon Dave's:

i did A LOT of baking this holiday season. i mean, i LOVE to bake stuff all the time, but around Christmas time... well, i basically go nuts. he he he. with the help of the kids and my ma, altogether we made sugar cookies, pecan tassies, russian tea cakes, spritz cookies, angel candy, sponge candy, and fudge. good god! mom had a couple of parties for bunco and bridge so a lot of the goodies got wiped out then. and i shared a lot of my edible creations with friends. the sponge candy was a big hit with kurt and brandi.. brandi's mom even asked for the recipe and made a batch for her family x-mas party. woot! hopefully everyone got to sample something that i made this year : )

some classic x-mas cookies

this is my "angel" candy. i guess it has a lot of different names... sponge candy, honeycomb. anyways, its one of my favorite's (and la's too!)

every year on Christmas eve one of my neighbors lines our entire street with luminaries. they've been doing it for at least 5 years or so. they set out the luminaries at around 7 pm. they line both sides of our entire street and set them a few feet apart. light them at around 9pm. and they stay lit until around midnight. its really awesome and i look forward to it every year! here's a picture (a craptastic picture) but it gives you an idea of how the luminaries are set up.

here's clay when he opened his x mas present from his grandparents in alaska. he got a new PSP. its a star wars one. its white and has darth vader on the back. its pretty rad. clay was so stoked! he literally fell to the floor when he opened the box!
Christmas morning. clay had woken up around 3 am. i told him, "no way, dude. its too early." so he went back to bed and got up around 7. so the whole fam woke up and opened presents. as usual, my parents went a little overboard with the gifts for the kids. but the kids were so thankful for everything they got and that made me so happy!
chloe got a mini build a bear machine. we made the bears, then named them and played with them. she was so proud that she actually made some stuffed animals!
all in all, it was a fabulous Christmas season... spent with family and friends and filled with lots of love : )

hey june, clay says "thanks for the polliwogs!!"

clayton was super stoked to get some polliwogs

we spent a lot of time tonight just sitting and watching the polliwogs swim around. it was so cool! clay would point out the little strands of poo coming out of their butts.... i, on the other hand, showed clay that you can see their little hearts beating through their see-thru bodies... clay thought that was WAY cool. thanks again, juniper... you're awesome!

girls looooove bowling!!

the girlies went bowling! we had gone out ice skating the night before, so chloe was kind of a bear. but other that that, i think we all had a pretty fun time : )

a picture is worth a thousand words...

chloe drew this picture last night. she draws pictures all the time... mostly of dogs and cats and mommy, ofcourse. but this time she drew a picture of her daddy. she asked me if daddy could come over and see the picture she had drawn for him. well, her daddy moved back to finland (again) a month ago. i tried to explain to chloe that her daddy lives in finland right now and its a long long ways away and that you have to take a really long airplane ride to get there..... but chloe just looked at me with her big blue eyes and said, "well, can he just come over to my house for a little while so i can show him my picture? Then he can go back to finish?" (finish is what chloe calls finland)
as soon as chloe said that it took all the strength inside me to not start crying. but i had to be strong... for my baby girl. i told her that we can take a picture of her drawing and send it to her daddy over the computer. still unable to grasp the fact that her daddy is gone, chloe asked me again if daddy could come see her picture... i grabbed my camera and told her to hold up her drawing and i'd take her picture. i took it. then showed it to her.... (she LOVES seeing pictures right after i take them)... then we emailed the picture to her dad. i gave her a big, long hug and told her i loved her.... then we watched pete's dragon together.

feliz navidad!

i got the pleasure of going to school with chloe today. it was a "funday" at gingerbread preschool and we got to make gingerbread houses!

the kids had a little performance for all the parents:

... what do ya think... is chloe a natural drummer or what? ha ha ha

here she is with her buddy

circle time
time for some frosting!!
chloe and kaylie
her masterpiece


this picture is hell of funny to me. my daughter looks hell of psyched! ha ha

a rainy day? lets go bowling!

chloe and i went bowling yesterday. she cracked me up the entire time. she definitely has her own technique. ha ha ha. we shared some nachos with extra cheese and had a rad time together. see what i mean?
she had lots of fun with the air blower thing...
our stylish bowling shoes... im wearing the ones that i, um, "borrowed" from granada bowl..

a buildup of blogs

so... ive been hoarding my blogs and keeping them all to myself. he he he

now its time to share : )
they're in no particular order, sorry.

bless you, child...

today while i was being a kick-ass yard duty, a little boy, who is in second grade, approached me in the lunch area and asked me, " Are you a teenager?"

"No," i replied. "Why would you think that?"

"Cause, " he said. "You look like a teenager."

Smiling profusely because of the enormous compliment this kid had just given me, i said to this little boy," Would you believe me if i told you that i have a son who goes to this school and is in fourth grade?"

The little boy's jaw dropped open for a second but then he said to me," No way. my mom looks way older than you and im only in second grade."

i couldnt help but laugh out loud.

" Whats your name, son?" i asked him.

"Miles," he replied.

"Miles, " i said to him. "You just made my day."

: ) he he

mi familia

lori took some pics of the sewall clan over thanksgiving. she did an awesome job! here's some of my favorite's:

we're a good-looking bunch, arent we?

my mom and pop. been married for 29 years. my mom kept cracking up when lori was trying to take pictures... i havent seen her laugh that much in a while. it was rad.


my little bro. he's going off to Thailand in january. he's the best uncle in the whole world. im gonna miss him. a lot.


this is one of my favorite pics cause it was a real moment. clay was actually holding chloe in his arms and cuddling with her....

rake 'em

fun with leaves...

chloe being a squirrel

yes, my child is laying in the gutter. ha ha ha
toss em up!!!