Holiday recap

And now for a December recap post.  We had a super busy, but really fun holiday season and I can't believe its already over.  But it's always nice to get back to our regularly scheduled programming and that begins today (well sort of, Scott doesn't go back til tomorrow so I decided Owen could play hooky today so we could all ease back into it)

So back at the beginning of December my friend Sandy informed me that her daughter would be singing with her theater group at the bookstore across the street.  Well Owen just loves him some Jade and it worked out that he and I could go watch.  It was crowded but really sweet, and once he spotted Jade he was mesmerized.  Fortunately we got to meet up with her for a few minutes after the performance and Owen even agreed to a picture.

I give you "first love":

I can't even.   Its so cute!  He just thinks she's the best thing since sliced bread.  I actually made the joke of the above picture that the only other thing he looks at like that is food.  HA!

I was way late on attempting Christmas card pictures, but it was fun to take them nonetheless, especially since its the one time of year I get to comb the boys hair.  

So now i'm just going to over post, but I just think they're the cutest.

Love when the laugh with each other:

Holiday baking in our chonies of course.

We were working on peppermint and oreo ice cream so I put the boys to work crushing candy and cookies with real tools.

School was a blur, christmas crafts and parties galore.  Glad these two have each other through it all.  This day they were "playing" dreidel - which basically became the two of them hoarding all the plastic treasure.

A week or so before school let out for the break Scott's class took a field trip to see our local production of the nutcracker.  He thought it was ok and the whole thing pretty much peaked at the one sword fight seen and went down hill from there.  At the end of the first act it "snowed" on stage, I thought Scott would be excited and pointed it out to him.  He said, "Its fake mom."  I spent half the second act with my friend's daughter on my lap who couldn't decide which ballerina outfit she liked the best and was completely into the whole production - so different.

He and I decided to try out ice skating afterwards...now that was a hit. 

It took a little while to get our ice legs on, but it definitely turned out to be our highlight of the day.

By the end he wasn't even holding the walls!!!

We headed over to see Santa a few days later.  Scott asked for the lego death star and Owen asked for a diamond.  Owen also pointed out we did not get our candy cane this year - Santa fail.

A few weeks ago we went to a free "birds of prey" day in the santa monica mountains.  The boys loved it and each received a bag of bird seed.  Owen had really hoped to hand feed it to the birds (owls, hawks, eagles....um no) so our compromise was to come home and make bird feeders from pinecones.  Ordinarily our neighborhood is loaded with pinecones, but on this day we walked all over the park and found nothing.  So the next day I picked up some delicious cinnamon scented whole foods the next and brought them home where we proceeded to cover them in organic sunbutter (owen is allergic to peanuts), making the most expensive homemade bird feeders to ever exist.

More fun in the leaves as I attempted a nice Christmas picture:

Picture overload, I know.

The week school let our was full of all kinds of fun.  One day (my work day in the classroom) Santa visited (and remembered candy canes, Scott took an extra for his brother!) and we made gingerbread houses.

It was also the day of Scott's holiday concert.  The combined kindergarten classes sang what I thought was going to be one cute holiday song that they had been practicing all year.  Turns out they sang every song they had learned in music all year.  After they were made to sit behind the 8th grade choir who performed for the first 20 minutes and were expected to not fidget....poor planning by the music teacher. 

It turned out cute and I captured a great sneeze by Scott.

Post concert my girlfriends and I took all the kids to sharkey's for lunch.  It was crazy but fun.  Love my tribe.

Gingerbread house masterpiece.

Early morning shot of our tree.  So peaceful.  I still think our house is at its prettiest during the holidays.

Christmas break officially began when Grandpa and Gerri and Grandma and Gpa got to town to celebrate.  Grandma and I kicked off the weekend with some "happy hour" wine tasting on friday followed by a fun BBQ feast on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night we headed to the Staves' Family Christmas party - this year: Cowboy themed!!

Aww my little cow poke.

Full family band to play all the Christmas classics.  They were amazing!

The following week we started enjoying long, relaxed mornings in our jams, lots of bike rides and soccer at the park and a few fun outings.

Tuesday we headed to the Santa Barbara Zoo for the first time in ages.

We had so much fun and it was almost like going to a brand new zoo since it had been so long since we had been.  Thanks for the pass Auntie, we can't wait to go back!

Baby boy hatching from the egg:

Hanging out in the egg together:

I'm amazed I could get it (and mostly back out) of that thing!

Lounging

Brothers on the zoo train

Our kids our so grown up that we don't even have to ride next to them anymore (cue tears)

And a big high five from the gorilla

On the way home I may have requested a stop at Lucky Llama for matcha lattes and acai bowls, thankful for such an accommodating husband!! ; )

Before we knew it, it was Christmas eve and time for a marathon cookie baking session.  I tried these paleo thumbprint cookies for the first time and they were a huge success (at least for me), I also made Owen friendly chocolate chip and Santa (Brian) friendly chocolate chip (or "normal" as some would call them).

Campbell family Christmas Eve.

This could have been our most magical Christmases so far.  The boys could NOT fall asleep because of excitement.  Every time we went in to check on them Scott would insist he heard sleigh bells.  Owen eventually crashed but Scott was up til at least 11.  We definitely wanted to freeze time, they were just too excited!

Santa was finally able to get to work and thankfully no one woke up til around 7:30 so we got some nice sleep in between.

My lighting was absolutely terrible in these pictures but you get the idea, Christmas morning magic, magnatiles, scooters and boogie boards galore. And I think Brian might have gotten some better shots with the good camera.

Scott couldn't get through stockings before insisting that Owen open the gift Scott had chosen for him.  Owen wanted a lego watch so badly and that was what Scott chose to get him.  It was such a sweet brotherly moment.  And Owen was delighted.

Santa did not disappoint on the diamond request....Owen got a bag full.

The rest of the day was spent building lego creations, eating and finally heading to Mimi and Papa's for some more Christmas fun.  And it was such a whirlwind I don't think I got any pictures the rest of the day.

A day or two later we headed to Malibu Seafood with Grandpa and Gerri.  It was freezing but fun and as always the yummiest eats!

Sillies

Can't go wrong with a Pacific coast sunset anytime of year.

The next day we decided it was time for the kids to try bowling. 

It was so cute and fun!

Scott got the hang of it pretty quick.

Owen usually needed a little extra help so that his ball would make it to the end of the lane.

A day or two before New Years Eve we met up with Mimi and Papa and Mimi's sister and the kids at an amazing park in Ojai and then went to dinner.  These little nuggets are all just growing up way too fast.

New Years Eve we headed over to the Daniels' for the second year in a row.  Its been such a great, simple way to ring in the new year.  No pressure, super easy and fun for everyone! Thanks for having us all again Daniels!

Just taking a break from eating to celebrate.  Always eating.

Happy NY New Years.  Now off to bed with you!  And for the record the adults made it til 1:00 - CA time.  Party people!!!!

We calculated that this was our 13th New Years spent together (although some weren't together due to Brian's old travel schedule and always working the Rose parade).  Wouldn't ever wish for any other date by my side!

Happy 2016 friends!