So much snow

 California has been in a severe drought for several years.  The past five ski seasons we have been consistently disappointed by the lack of snow.  Our first year wasn't great and some years have been downright depressing, but this year is making up for it.

In fact, there is so much snow and such intense weather, we have to carefully time our trips so we don't get stuck on the road (which has happened before).  On Friday, I pulled the kids out of school early and we made the drive up to Tahoe.  It took longer than usual with chain control and slow driving, but we got there a little after six p.m.  The house was buried in snow.  We needed to shovel the driveway to get the car in, but I had to get in the house to get the garage open for the shovels.  Here's the staircase I needed to climb.  I couldn't see where to put my feet and with every step I sunk into snow up to my waist.  Then I found out that I had the wrong key.  I had to make my way back to the road to get the right key from my car and try again.

 The second time I was successful and we started shoveling.  Here's Tom hard at work.

 Between the snowy conditions and the traffic, it took a long time to get to the mountain on Saturday.  Once we were there, the kids were excited to head out.  It was Serafina's first ski day of the season.

 They had a great time in the powder until 1pm, when I finished my yoga class and Tom dropped them off so he could go back out for some solo skiing.

 These guys earned some hot chocolate.

 Since there was a blizzard due to arrive Saturday night, we decided to head back home before it hit.  That meant we had spent less than 24 hours in Tahoe this trip, but for these happy skiers it was worth it.  The drive home was slow but we were in no rush since we had Sunday to sleep in and recover.  

My friend Lizzy had her third baby girl on January 12th and named her Halle.  I made her a little hat last week and it fits her nicely.  It was the first time I had crocheted in a while.  

A sail boat on the 100th day with leg warmers

Serafina has been learning about transportation at school.  They've covered buses, trains, light rail and more.  They also did a lesson on boats and she was assigned homework to make a sail boat.  Of course, Leo had to make one too.  

Here they are working on the boats over the weekend.  

She took it school today and she was very proud of it.

When I was helping in the classroom I saw some of the other boats the kids brought in.  Without throwing accusations around, I'm not sure the kids made these.

The kids did some hot air balloon art.

Leo celebrated 100 days at school but he didn't get a chance to share his 100 day collection yet.

I made Serafina some leg warmers and she wore them to dance class today.

A few pictures

Serafina carpooled to school in the back of a Tesla on Friday.  

 I made her doll a dress.

 The yarn is not only ugly, but scratchy too.  The doll doesn't complain though.

 We played in the park with Max and Felix today.

Paige Elizabeth has arrived

My dear friend Cara had her third baby girl yesterday.  Her name is Paige Elizabeth.  Though I don't believe she's actually named after me, I'll let myself believe it is so.  Haha.

I got to see her second baby the day she was born, and I met Paige today.  It's amazing how tiny a newborn looks when you haven't seen one in a while.  I held her for a long time and she was so light and just slept and slept.  Cara asked me if it made me want another baby.  For a split second, I might have a twinge of desire because Paige was so soft and cute.  But every other second of the day, my answer is a huge HELL NO!  Like right now, I know there is a 90% chance I will sleep uninterrupted tonight and no one will need my boobs to survive.  Ahhh...paradise.

But still...pretty darn cute.

Speaking of cute, I made her this Momma and Baby koala bears a little while back and gave it to her mom when we went out to dinner.  Tom said it looks like it's a two-headed creature, but it's really a baby on the mommy's back.

And speaking of creatures, here are my creatures showing off their hand creatures that we made with left-over Valentine googlie eyes.  They finished making all the Valentines for their classes so they were rewarded with lollipops.  

Santa and a unicorn

 Santa and a unicorn isn't the name of my upcoming holiday children's book (though maybe it should be), but rather two of my recent crochet creations.

This little Santa door hanger is a housewarming gift for our Thanksgiving day hosts.

 I'm pretty happy with how he turned out.

I made this unicorn for Serafina.  I told myself a while back I wasn't going to make anything else for my kids, because they go completely unappreciated and get lost in the heaps of other stuff animals and toys.  But then I checked out a pattern book from the library and this unicorn was in it, and I couldn't resist.  

She was so excited when I gave it to her but now it is at the bottom of the mountain of stuff in her bed.  Oh well.  I might dig it out and put it in my bed instead.  It's really darn cute.  

 Serafina has become even more clingy and possessive than usual.  She's like a creepy high school boyfriend.  She wants to know where I am all the time.  She walks around the house asking "where are you, mommy?" with her voice becoming increasingly panicked.  She insists on sitting in my lap or right next to me.  No one else is allowed to hug me or sit with me.  She tells me she loves me a lot, which is very sweet, but she's beginning to smother me a bit.  Hopefully she eases up soon since I can't exactly break up with her.

4th Annual Halloween Party

This is an important event. It's not an elaborate event and most of the time, not much happens. But it's one of the three times a year (along with the Christmas cookie exchange and the Easter Egg hunt) that we gather with our friends that have been together since our first babies were actually babies. We usually do potluck - easy stuff, a bucket of chicken always makes an appearance. And for the Halloween party, it's all about pictures in the costumes. Once we are all assembled, we stick the kids in their costumes and try to snap at least one decent shot. After it's clear the kids won't tolerate one second more, we put them back in their real clothes (can't let them mess up their costumes when there are more dress up events this week).  We also hand out little treats because it's Halloween, after all.

Here's Leo looking in the bathroom mirror as I put his make up on.

Vampire!

Little ladybug sucking down a juice box.

Doug was a beekeeper.  Here he is prepping his outfit.  This was what he requested for his costume this year and his mom assembled it complete with little bees.

Riley as Tinkerbell, Serafina and Leo.

It is completely impossible to get all the kids in one picture and looking at the camera.  It doesn't matter how much candy you promise them.  Trust me, we tried.

Left to right: Addison as that princess from Brave that I can't be bothered to look up right now, Sophia as Cinderella, Elisa as a bunny, Doug, Riley, Serafina, Leo and Maia as the bee (to go with her brother the beekeeper).

Here's a shot where you can see Max in the middle.  I think he was a raccoon.

Katie wasn't feeling that great to start with, but she got extra moody during picture time and wouldn't take part.  She looked really cute though dressed a cow.  Here she is clinging to her mom's leg.

My kids.

Addison and Sophia, partners in princess-ing.

Lined up to trick-or-treat.  Sophia, Katie and Elisa left earlier since they are still on the mend after a family-wide cold battle.

Here I am passing out treats.

Katie with Max and Maia.

Cara distributing treats.

Tom was nice enough to join us and he took the trick-or-treating pictures.  He was really tired when we got home and he couldn't figure out why.  I told him it is exhausting to be around all those little bodies even if it's only for a couple hours.  There are a lot of kids.  

It also happens to be Doug's fifth birthday today.  They had a special family outing yesterday and today he got gifts from his friends.  We brought him some Legos; I asked his mom's permission first since it isn't always a welcome addition to your home if you haven't already be inundated with the tiny bricks.  She assured me his grandma had already bought him some, so she was grudgingly accepting Legos in their lives.  I couldn't very well bring Doug his present when I still owed Max his woefully overdue first birthday present.  I made sure I finished it up in time.  It was a lot of work, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  I took the picture next to Matchbox car to give a little perspective on his size.

Happy 2nd birthday, Maia!

Little Maia is two years old today. She is probably one of the most sweet natured kid I've ever met. I seriously doubt she'll get the "terrible twos".

 Her mom posted this picture on Facebook to celebrate her little girl. That ridiculous hat she's wearing? I made it. It was a cute earflap hat, but I wanted to take it to the next level and added the biggest flower possible. It was my first crochet flower. I knew her mom would appreciate its charm.

Elisa turns one

Elisa turned one last week and today we celebrated her birthday at the park. She is the youngest of three girls so I made her three little birds in a nest.

The pattern said to sew the birds into the nest, but that didn't seem like very much fun, so I decided to sew on some velcro and make them removable.

Here's Leo's hand giving a little perspective of their size.

Here she is opening the gift.

After some playing and lunch, we gathered to sing happy birthday and eat cupcakes.

A happy birthday girl despite that goofy birthday hat her mom clipped to her head.

The kids were excited to eat cupcakes.

Once Serafina ate all the frosting off the top, she handed off the cake part and wanted another one.  She wasn't granted that wish.

We were at "Ant Park" with the unusual teeter-totter, but since there was no dad there to help, Leo and Katie did not experience a whole lot of movement.