A little bit of December...

Days seem to be flying be.
And I just seem to be trying to survive December this year.
Why do I feel like it gets worse every year?
Each year December seems to feel a bit more busy.
Each year it seems to be a bit more expensive.
And each year I seem to just count down the days until January.
Sounds scroog'ish I know.  
But there's just something about January...
always brings a clean slate to start the year fresh.  

Here's just a few pics from some of our December happenings...

 On December 1st our elf Oscar arrived from the North Pole.
He brought the girls new pajamas, and a four pack of classic Christmas dvds.  (Thank you Oscar! Those movies have bought me some time when I needed a "babysitter" to get stuff done.)

 We caught Oscar working on the BSU puzzle that my mil gave us when we were in Boise.  

And one night Oscar stuck sticky bows all over our kitchen!

"There's always time for a bow!"  I love that quote from Arthur's Christmas.  Please tell me you've seen it.  Such a cute Christmas movie!

 Hannah wrote this letter one day and asked Oscar to please bring it to Santa Clause.  

 This past Thursday I hosted a night of cocoa and caroling for Hannah's Daisy Scout troop.  
I made a big batch of hot chocolate, and put it in the crockpot.

 And set out cookies, and marshmallows, and cream, and all the fixings for a cup of cocoa.  Our troop leader found those cute reindeer antler headbands at the 99 cents store, and jingle bell necklaces for the girls.

The leader and I and our kids passed out fliers in my neighborhood on Tuesday asking our neighbors for any canned goods or food items they could spare to donate to our local Settlement House.

 The night wound up being so fun!  The girls loved the cocoa and treats.  And we had so much fun singing Christmas carols to the neighbors.  I might have even gotten teary eyed at one house as the kids answered their door to our caroling, and ran to get the rest of their family, and they all stood in their doorway arm in arm, smiling while listening to our girls (and us moms) sing Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  So fun.  And we wound up receiving way more donations than I had guessed!  We filled two red wagons and two strollers! The wagons were piled so high with donations, and teetering with every step we took that they looked like the Grinch's sleigh.  The girls enjoyed it and it wound up being a really fun time.

I have been working a few more hours than I usually do each week. This last week was extrememly busy, and come Saturday morning I was all out of energy.  We lounged around most of the day in our pajamas.

 I thought it was so cute to look up and see Hananh playing with Claire's hair.  But it truly only lasted about 30 seconds before one of them screamed, and the moment was over.

Once Mr. H got home from work we headed out to Yorba Linda to my Grandma's house.  Her neighborhood on the lake was having their annual boat parade so she was hosting a party.

 My Mom made those darling ear warmers for the girls and brought them over that morning so they could have something festive and warm to wear to the party.

On our way out the door Claire said to Mr. Hass, "So, Nana is not going to be there at Grandma GG's right Dad?"
And with a somber smile he replied, "Right Claire."
So Claire, still probably not quite understanding where Nana went, and what happens in the afterlife, said "because she is still buried right Dad?"
And he said "Well, because she is in heaven."
And Claire said, "Right.  I know.  Because she can't come because she's in heaven with God."

It made me sad.
And it made me wish our sweet Nana would be there.
But it also made me smile because my Clairey, who's only 5, has precious memories of her Great Great Grandmother, that I pray she will remember forever.  

 Me and my sis.

The party was so much fun.
My Grandma is always the perfect hostess.
We had so much yummy food.
So many delicious libations!
I enjoyed a delicious dirty martini with homemade blue cheese stuffed green olives.
Best olives ever!
And later there were Irish coffees.
And lots of laughs.
Lots of fun.
And you know what they say,
it's all fun and games until someone falls into the lake.

What?  
That's not what they say?
Oh.
Well, that's how it ended for us.  
I was in the bathroom and as I came out I heard everyone shouting "Hannah fell in the lake!"
So of course panicked I rushed outside, and thankfully saw my daughter alive and well, on dry land.  
But drenched and soaking wet from head to toe!
I guess the kids were all on the end of the dock waving to Grandma's boat Lady Di as it was coming back in and somehow Hannah tripped over a cord and went straight into the lake.
Mr. H was right there to pull her out to safety.
Hannah was fine, just a little embarrassed.

She didn't mind warming up in Grandma GG's fancy tub one bit though.
And she decided she'd like to add a flat screen tv in her bathroom to her Christmas list.
Hahahahaha.
A little dip in the lake in December didn't get this girl down.
Thank you for such a fun time Grandma GG!

That's all from me for now.
I'm off to wrap a few presents.
Ok, really I'm off to drive through Miguel's Jr.   ;)

Nana

On September 8, my family's sweet sweet Nana left this world to join a better one.

I am so grateful to have had my Nana be in my life for so long.

I am so grateful that my daughters had the chance to really know their great great grandmother.

I really hope that they will remember Nana.

The girls say that they are probably going to live long enough so that they will get as wrinkly as Nana too.  

 Nana with 7 month old Claire

This is newborn Hannah in Nana's arms.  Five generations of women.

This photo was just a few weeks ago at my Uncle John's house where we gathered to celebrate Nana's 99th birthday.

99!

What an incredible journey she has been on.

The things she has seen.

We will miss you every day Nana.

We promise we'll "be sweet".

And until we meet again,

Tootalloo Nana.

Tootalloo.

Celebrating Nana's 98th!!!

On Sunday afternoon my family got together to celebrate Nana's 98th birthday!

 See her there on the boat next to my Grandma?
At 98 she can still walk down the dock and hop onto the boat for a lake cruise.
Well, alright maybe she doesn't actually hop, but you know what I mean. ;)

 Mr. H and I arrived a little early with the girls so that we could take them over to the clubhouse pool to swim.
My Grandma lives in the neatest community in Yorba Linda and the pool area is so fun.
There is a large family pool, a shallow wading pool, a spa, an adult only pool and spa, sand volleyball courts, tennis courts, picnic tables, and fun things to do just about every way you look.

 That's Mr. H's finger in that picture there.  Good one Mr. H.  Good one. Just for that I'm posting this picture nice and large...

My man and my pink striped beach bag on his shoulder.
It's a good look.

Back at Grandma's house, the party was just getting started.
Grandma even had The Margarita Man come for Nana.
(Funny story about that, The Margarita Man is a self serve blended margarita machine.  Hannah,the curious and ever observant child that she is, noticed said margarita machine.  I guess to her it looked like a version of the Icee machines they see at Target, so she got herself a cup, pulled down that margarita man's handle, and got herself a taste.  Who knows where Mr. H and I were but we did not see this.  My sister saw Hannah walking around with her "red solo cup" and got really worried.  She didn't know how full her cup originally had been, or even worse, how many margaritas Hannah had already had...!  Turns out, she just filled it enough to taste it, and hardly had any.  But when all the adults got a good laugh out of it poor Hannah was so embarrassed.  She snuck up to my Grandma's bathroom and was in there crying for 20 minutes.  My poor girl.  Nobody likes to be laughed at.  And I can't blame her one bit for wanting to get a taste from that fancy looking slushy machine.  Lesson learned. For all of us.)

Later on when both girls were out for a boat ride, Mr. H and I decided to brush up on our kayaking skills.
Only as I hopped into the kayak I was attacked by two very large and scary looking spiders.

 As you can see I was about to fall into the lake trying to escape their spidery bites.
But my sweet cousin Kelly who surprised everyone (I haven't seen Kelly in years but she came down for Nana's party) came to my rescue and she clobbered those spiders with somebody's flip flop.

Thanks Kelly! I might have drowned without you there!

Mr. Hass put that shot on instagram and wrote #shedoesntknowistoppedpaddling

Ha.  Funny guy.

Mr. H posts some good ones on IG if you want to follow him, you can find him @ jacobhass

And for those who have said you can't find me, my IG name is @ gennerallyspeaking.



 Isn't this a pretty picture of my sister?
I love how the rays are shining right on her.
After this picture I asked Mr. H to get a picture of her and I.
Well.
I handed him my camera and that guy just started shooting a million frames per second before we were even ready.
So the pictures leading up to the picture where we are "ready" are actually pretty funny.
I will save those for another time.

 My girls were happy to "help" Nana open her presents.

 I just love all of these photos of Nana.
Nana is so special to each and every one of us in the family.
She amazes me every time I see her.

 That one makes my heart melt.

 My Dad sitting by my cousin Chad, pointing at the boat asking me if I want to set up for a group picture there.
Since it was such a milestone birthday for our Nana, and since almost all of us were together that day,
we had to take a group picture.
We set up a makeshift tripod using a table and some books, and did the best we could.



 I really love this goofy shot, but Claire got lost behind Nana's hat, and my cousin Nick somehow disappeared back there too.

It was such a great day together.
Everyone enjoyed each other, and we all especially enjoyed visiting with our sweet Nana.

Nana we love you so!
And in honor of your own famous saying,
I will sign off tonight with the words 

"Be Sweet."