Ethan had his preschool holiday performance this week and it was just about the cutest thing! He had been practicing with his class and at home for weeks and was so proud. The whole concert lasted about 3 minutes but our little Ethan was so excited (and a bit nervous) to sing and we couldn't have been prouder!

Holiday Activities

Three weeks since my last post and there is so much to share. We've been busy getting into the holiday spirit over the past few weeks, putting up lights on the house, decorating the tree, dusting off the menorah, going to holiday festivals and finishing up holiday shopping! Whew, are the holidays over yet? Ethan is full into the Holiday spirit this year and is very excited for Hanukkah and Christmas. He seems to have a love/scared relationship with Santa, he wants to see him but when given the chance does not want to go anywhere near him. It is so funny, the kid will walk on water to get away from Santa if he thinks he is coming too close. .We've tried to explain to him that Santa is the one who gives him presents but doesn't work.
Eli has started using the bumbo and although is not totally sitting up, does a pretty good job. He loves it and just sits there with his eyes glued to Ethan. Eli is just getting over a fairly serious skin infection that he was placed on antibiotics for and finally it is all cleared up. Unfortunately, being on the penicillin wreaked havoc on any sleep progress that he had made so after 10 days of newborn-like sleeping we are getting back on track now that he is finished the penicillin.

Best Buddies
A few weekends ago, Ladera had a winter festival at one of the local parks where they brought in drum roll....real snow for all the CA kids. Ethan enjoyed it and ran around like a crazy man. They also had a little hill for the kids to sled down. After some convincing, Ethan finally agreed to go down and loved it. It just makes me laugh to see all the kids loving the snow and knowing that they think it is this magical thing, just wait until they have to shovel it for hours!

The funny part is that after Ethan frolicked in the snow he went over the the park to ride the swings. Only in California!

This was the first year that Ethan was able to get involved and decorate the tree. It was so much fun and such a nice family activity. It made me think about all the years down the road that Ethan and Eli will be decorating the tree and the holiday traditions that we are creating for a lifetime!

We also had our 2nd annual Red Rail holiday party. It was a blast but definitely crazier than last year's party as there are FOUR new babies to the group this year and next year there will be 2 more! We had a nice time eating pizza and watching the kids exchange gifts.

Last weekend, Bryan and I took the kids to the Irvine Park Railroad Christmas event. The entire national park is decorated with lights and you ride on a train through the park to go to the North Pole to visit Santa. Again, Ethan wanted nothing to do with Santa once we got there but it was all for the experience right? I have to say that after living in Southern California for just under 2 years, my blood has totally thinned as I was freezing on the train. Given it was 50 degrees and there was a cold wind but back on the east coast, a 50 degree night in December would be considered balmy!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Meme and Poppa Don as well as Uncle Ben, Aunt Karen and cousins Oliver and Mason next week. They arrive on Tuesday night and no doubt it will be a crazy fun-filled week with all the cousins. It will be the first time in a long time that the Phillips/Stern family has all been together so it is truly a special time and makes it even more special to be able to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas together!