Christmas Train

Christmas Train POV from David Chng on Vimeo.

Thanks Grandpa Al and Grandma Cindy for the vintage K-Line train set.  We had fun setting it all up and learning about electricity too!  Love, Alex

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Day brought beautiful weather, so we took full advantage of it and visited Crown Beach in Alameda, visited the Bertains, went out for sushi and then took in the fabulous lights along Thompson Ave in Alameda (aka Christmas Tree Lane).  It was a fun day with some seashell collecting, bird watching, fun with friends, great food and lots of really neat light displays.  Not a traditional Christmas Eve, but very fun.

Gingerbread House Party!

The Bertain and Chng families had a fun gingerbread house party tonight, complete with delish food from Vientian Cafe in our old 'hood, courtesy of the Bertains.  The kiddos had fun playing and then gingerbread house decorating and we all had a fun time drinking wine and chatting, as always.  Thank you to Trader Joe's for the easy to put together little A frame gingerbread houses, complete with everything we needed and without too much extra candy for the boys to eat ;-)  There was a bit of finger licking goodness going on, but they did a great job and had some milk to wash all of the sugar down.  The little sisters were good observers and chose to eat dried cranberries for most of the activity, rather than decorating.  I can guarantee that next year they will be right in the thick of it, however.  Thanks Bertain family!

Nurtury Christmas Program

Alex had his final Christmas program at Nurtury this morning.  I was helping the kiddos get into their angel robes and halos, so I snapped a few quick shots before the program.  Otherwise, cameras are not allowed during the program, as the school hires professional photographers to take the photos and then the parents have access to them as well as a video once they have processed everything.  The program was so cute, of course and I forgot my Kleenex at home this year...darn!  Of course, that didn't stop me from tearing up anyway!

Cousins

 Having a tea party

 Serving Matthew some tea

 Shall we play with Legos?

I love Legoland!

Gingerbread Houses at School

On Wednesday, Alex's class made gingerbread houses and Julia and I went in to help out.  The kids had alot of fun and as you can see there was a lot of licking the glue (frosting)...ha!

Santa in Practice

Apparently, Santa has already arrived at our house...oh, wait, that's just Alex.  Ha!  He had the full Santa skit going on this morning.  I was told that the tiger was chosen to be in front, because he had a pinkish nose and that was closest to Rudolph's red nose.  Love this kid!

The Nutcracker

So, as is always the case, Alex is obsessed about the Nutcracker.  We went to see a production of it last week and of course, as usual, he is especially obsessed with the battle between the Nutcracker and the King Mouse/Rat.  That scene has now been re-enacted more times than I can count.  It probably didn't help that I then took them to a puppet show of it yesterday and found a book at the library bookstore which has a nice version of the story as well.

Tonight, at dinnertime, he burst out, "oh, I have a GREAT idea.  We can put on a Nutcracker show."  So, I'm thinking, yes, we could....we have quite a few times in the past week, we will re-enact it once again after dinner.  He proceeds to say "you know how the people on Lynwood put on a Halloween show?"  Yes, there are neighbors down the street who actually put on a live Halloween show every year in their garage...strange, but true.  "We can put on a Nutcracker show this Christmas!!"  So, he thinks that it would be a good idea to actually perform the Nutcracker out in the driveway for the neighborhood.  So much for being shy!

So, now the casting of this show has begun.  So far, this is the lineup:

Alex:  soldier nutcracker and Uncle Drosselmeyer
Julia:  Clara and one of the sugar plum fairies
Me:  sugar plum fairy
Daddy:  King Mouse/Rat
Xena:  Fritz, the brother
Uncle Ming:  Soldier
Auntie Fiona:  sugar plum fairy/dancer
Matthew:  sugar plum fairy
Chinese tea dancers:  Mommy, Auntie Fiona, Matthew and Julia
Candy canes:  Alex, Julia, Matthew
Arabian coffee:  Mommy, Alex and Julia

So, be prepared Uncle Ming and Auntie Fiona and you too, Matthew.....we might be performing in the driveway on Christmas ;-)

The Little Builder

 Not sure if the fizzy water is going to work on top of those sardines, Mimi!

Julia always manages to keep herself occupied while I prep stuff in the kitchen.  These photos from a few weeks back show her creation one day.  She took items from one of the lower cabinets and decided to build with them.  I was quite impressed with her ability.

The Anglerfish

I'm willing to bet money that you have never seen an anglerfish as cute as this one!!

More Lights!

Thanks to our neighbors, Ray and Gina, for providing exciting entertainment for Miss Julia every night starting around five o'clock.  David and Alex put our Christmas lights up last weekend and Julia loves to go out and see those every night, but they have now been trumped by Ray and Gina's display, which clearly has been perfected over the past thirty years.  It is hard to see from the photo, but it includes lit snowmen, moving reindeer, lots of blinking lights of all colors and all kinds of other fun stuff.  Every evening she catches a glimpse of our lights in the front, which go on a bit earlier, and then runs over to the window in the living room to see if their lights are on.  I have now placed the stepstool in front of the window, so she has her own viewing platform, sans someone holding on to her.  Just wait until we take her down the street to Lynwood, where they really go all out for Christmas...oh my!

Singin' in the Rain

The kiddos were insistent on going out in the rain today.  After a few days of raining, who wouldn't?  I ordered the tiniest rain boots possible for Julia and yet they still don't fit, so she gets to wear some of Alex's old shoes which are semi-weatherproof until those little feet get a bit bigger.  They had alot of fun splashing, until Julia fell over.  All is well, I'm sure she would be out there again now, given the opportunity!