Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

For Christmas I would like

an Xbox 360.

Games for my DS.

Legos. A big set not the small ones.

A wii.

A large trampoline for the backyard.

A tetherball set.

Thanks,

Joey (Age 11)

(On the way upstairs to bed, Joey was overheard saying to his cousin Matthew

"Oh man, I should have written that down!)

*****

Dear Santa,

I don't need anything for Christmas. I just want to have a Merry Christmas.

I love you!

Love, Adriana (Age 8)

*****

Dear Santa,

I should ask you how are you doing before I say what I want.

How are you? I want a Barbie.

Love,

Christiana (Age 6)

*****

Isaac just wanted Santa's Cookies.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Dare I, Really?

Not without help. No, I would not attempt to take another family photo including all four children without help. It has been two years since the last incident:

Christmas 2006

Did I say incident?

Hmm...well, incedentally (or not) I was actually pleased with the results.

Please keep all talk of lighting and clarity to yourself.

Success for me was declared the minute I realized that all had survived the photo shoot without physical harm.

I neither make nor imply the same claim about our emotional well-being.

It took 2 hours to take that photo. Each of the four children pictured (and their mother) (behind the camera) had cried real tears before we were through. What makes me smile (now) is that they all look so peaceful and loving and innocent in the photo.

I vowed never to subject my family to motherly photographic abuse in that way ever again.

The thought of using a professional photographer for a nice Christmas family photo did occur to me. It just didn't occur to me in October, when it was 95 degrees outside (when I should have been thinking Christmas photo shoot?), so that I could have the pictures back in time for the holidays.

Enter Diane. (My SIL)

Oh Diane, I do so love you.

She (what?!) volunteered (you read correctly) to try to capture a snapshot of our family to send out with our cards this year.

Christmas 2008

We were not good clients.

We were late. We wiggled. We whined. We chased ducks.

It got a little dark outside. That's not Diane's fault.

Still, we have a snapshot and nobody cried. I must therefore declare this another successful photographic experience.

I call it "When all else fails, let your children climb trees".

Thank you, Diane.

And thank heaven.

P.S. If you'd like a Christmas card from us, we need your address. If you don't want to be left out, please email it to us even if you think we already have it.

The End.

'Tis The Season

" Ball!"

(Only, not really. )


Actually, I swept that up.

Again.




Isaac lost interest and moved on to other things...

Christmas Lights (And the ridiculousness we are willing to go through for them.)

I am not sure exactly how tall my house is. What I AM sure of, is that it is significantly taller than any ladder I am willing to climb.

Problem: Tall House + Short Ladder + 1 Girl Deathly Afraid of Heights anyway, who is married to a man she would rather not watch fall to his death or dismemberment while indulging her vision of a home trimmed with twinkling white icicles = No Christmas lights.

No way! There had to be a solution.

As it turned out, some of our neighbors with similarly tall houses felt the same way. Only they were more creative than I. And more generous with their time and energy.

The Solution:

They called themselves the Power Ranch Christmas Elves. They drove this monster of a machine through our neighborhood, right onto our driveway, and they had those Christmas lights up in no time.

***

They did this all weekend long for any neighbor willing to pitch in (nominally) to cover the weekend rent of said machine just so they could hang their own lights.

Here my unscathed husband and little Isaac wave goodbye to our elves as they head a few doors down the street to spread more Christmas cheer.

***

There is nothing left to worry about except how we are going to get those dang things down.

Turkey Thumbs vs. Cranberries

Once the turkey hits the tupperware, the Montoyas (US!) and the Thomsens (Our neighbors) hit the soccer fields for some of our annual Turkey Bowl action.

Their family versus our family.

It doesn't matter how old you are.

It doesn't matter how young you are.

(Unless you are Jaren or Isaac, because we are going to want to play with the fu-ball too,

and we know you will not give it back to us if we pass it to you.)

You must play.

And if you don't, then phooey on you! Paul tries to prevent injury.

Only, even this stretch could not help him from bruising his ribs when he dove over one of the Thomsen boys going out for an interception.

Can you say die-hard?

Not Cute.

I put on my best game face.

Okay, so it needs a little work.

Our Team - The Cranberries

We had to borrow a few Thomsens this year because of our smaller Montoya showing (and because a few of our best up and coming players are still in diapers), but we were ready to play.

C'mon Montoyas - we need more of you next year!

The Dads lay down the rules.

Joey takes 5 while we set up the cones,

and Isaac lets us know he is ready to play if we need him.

We play until we are pooped.

Turkey Thumbs -1 and Cranberries -1

That's right, a tie.

We all had a good time, and we're too tired for overtime.

Thanksgiving

Food and Family.

Tell me, what could possibly be better than taking my two most favorite things and squishing as much of them as possible into one day?

This is thanksgiving.

The Turkey & Roast

Waking up at 5:45 is typically not my idea of a good time, but here I make an exception - there is a turkey to prepare, and, I actually think this is fun. The sick truth is that it doesn't matter what time I set my alarm clock to wake me, every Thanksgiving I will wake up some random number of minutes earlier than my clock is scheduled to go off just because I can't wait to get started. A Pretty Place for the Turkey

Christmas Carols are already playing on the radio, and everyone else is just waking up, and I am just making happy in the kitchen dressing up all the tables and cooking.

Next thing you know, the Stephen & Diane Montoyas show up with Diane's fabulicious potatoes and apple crisp, Mom and Gramps put ice-cream in the freezer and Martinelli's on the table, the Durrant family walks in with warm rolls and we have ourselves quite a dinner.

Our Feast

Stephen's mad-carving skills.

I credit him for the beautiful turkey slices on everyone's plates. I also credit him for the beautiful turkey which he graciously contributed our wonderful meal.

And we thought having a dentist in the family just meant beautiful teeth for everyone. Wrong. This year it meant his bonus turkey for everyone too.

What I love... the food, the family, the friends, the relaxation...

And the Cottles - finally caught up with us and joined us for games and leftovers.

A little Texas Hold-Em'

And a little wondering if we are being watched...

So much fun!

Montoya Kids' Annual Pumpkin Pie Party!

One of my fond childhood memories was gathering with my cousins at Thanksgiving time and baking pumpkin pies with my Aunt every year. As we grew older, this turned into a little competition between the cousins as to who would turn out the best pie of the year. Now, in grown-up land, the tradition continues... Only now, I am the Aunt!

Here's how things went down at my house on Wednesday.

Some of the girls armed and ready.

The boys

prepare

to smack down.

Some action shots

require no words.

Don't mess with the older kids station.

There is some serious baking going on here.

The proud bakers head off for a little R&R while the pies hit the oven.

The End Product

The Coveted Trophy

Funny back story about the trophy:
It was intended to read "Master Pie Chef of the Year".
As I left the trophy shop with the trophy in the bag a couple of years ago, it never occurred to me to double check the spelling. (Perhaps it was presumptuous of me to operate under the assumption that certain skillsets accompany those who operate engraving devices.)
We could have made due with a "Master Pie Chief" were it not for that darned
"i before e except after c" rule.
I am sure the trophy shop crew would be more than happy to correct the problem if I bothered to take the trophy back to the shop (especially since they marked the bottom with their business information - forever giving credit where credit is due), but now we are all attached to it just the way it is.
It makes us laugh.


And the winner is...Bella!





2008 Montoya Family Master Pie Cheif

Last year's winner respectfully congratulates this year's Master.

The Epilogue:

Hostess with the Mostest

(Yeah, mostest dishes.)
Admit it, you're jealous.

B - Boys!

Shoot! When we do birthdays in this family, we do birthdays!

Joey and Isaac AND Gramps all had their birthdays in a two week time frame, so we decided to have a boys' birthday bash.

Three boys. Three cakes. Lots of fun!

Gramps gets the "aged to perfection" award for turning 89!

Joey comes in second place at age 11. I simply can't wrap my mind around the fact that I have an eleven year old son... especially since I am only 23.

Isaac is trying to get rid of his "baby" rap by turning two. TWO. This is also mind boggling since I just had him yesterday.

You might think that this takes care of our birthday boys for the year, but you would be wrong about that. Paul turns 40, the BIG 4-0 tomorrow, and if you thought THIS was a party...well... you just WAIT!

We Didn't Go Rollerskating...

If I tell my kids we are going to do something, then barring divine intervention, we are going to do it. When I told my kids I'd take them rollerskating the last day of fall break, they had every reason to believe me. I believed me. I had every intention of following through...until... well, I had a better idea...

Because I just can't resist a few unnecessary moments of wailing and gnashing of teeth I broke the bad news first: "I'm afraid we have a little change of plans today, and there is no possible way I will be able to take you rollerskating..."

The wailing and gnashing and body thrashing began.

Then the good news:

"...Your dad and I thought we might enjoy a weekend at Disneyland instead, and I just don't see any way we could make it back in time to skate today if we leave this morning."

Strangely, the wailing continued a moment longer than expected while the information reached the place in the brain capable of stopping all the funny business. (I second guessed my decision to play this unfriendly joke on my children.) Eventually, there were cheers in the house, and I was forgiven for renigging on the skating trip.

We had a fabulous weekend!

A couple of my favorite moments:

Isaac enjoyed the carousel. He really enjoyed the carousel.

We almost brought the carousel home with us.

Isaac spotted Buzz Lightyear walking by.

He was determined to follow Buzz.

Paul and the big kids were riding Space Mountain so Christiana, Isaac and I got in line for a photo op with our favorite space ranger. When we got to the front of the line Isaac realized the the "real" Buzz was significantly HUGER than he anticipated, and he took off running... so Christiana smiled quickly and we decided a blurry picture was just fine.

A couple of my favorite characters:

The cheeky Cheshire Cat



Jack Skellington

I don't know why, I just like him.




More fun:

The best view of the parade...

We'll just have to go skating another day.