Holiday Style

Question of the day: what is your holiday decorating style? I was pondering that recently as there are so many options available now. Classic red and green? Jewel tones? All silver and gold? Eclectic? Traditional? Modern?

Our look - I think - is *nature inspired.* Red and green with lots of pine cones, candles, and some rustic and vintage-y touches.

Tell me a story...game night

Last night was Game night at the R household. We made it to Thanksgiving having a nice family dinner every night and it was awesome! I really saw how wonderful it is to have this time to connect every day with all three of us being present. Physically and mentally. I loved how much Miss P and I looked forward to the ritual every evening. E looked forward to good food! (on nights that I managed to get it together.) The part that resonated the most for me, was not the nourishment (although my healthy voice tells me that should be more important), BUT the laughter is was really got me. And most of the laughter came from the activities we did after dinner. Particularly on Monday, family game night.

There is something about being silly and laughing. And I think for kids to see their parents in that light. Parents who are often reminding them to brush their teeth and pick up their toys.

Last night E was coming off a two day bout with the flu, so I pulled out a low-key game. Eeboo (love them) Tell me a story cards. You grab a selection of cards, that feature the same characters, and take turns randomly choosing a card and building a story together, based on the pictures you see. It is so cute to hear Miss P's dramatic storytelling voice. Such an easy game to play on a night when you have low energy, and a good literacy builder too (says the kindergarten teacher)!

photo shoot!

So our awesome friend Hilary of Pulling Curls fame did a photo shoot for us the day after Thanksgiving. What a hero. Naturally, Miss P looks good in every shot, but I'm a bit of a wild card. (Yikes - cleavage. Yikes - chipmunk cheeks). Now, to decide on Holiday Cards....


Sadly, I didn't get all of our holiday decorations up in time. In hindsight, I can imagine some uber cute shots of us surrounded by poinsettias.




Love the brick!
Now, this is us!

Happy Thanksgiving

Today we started a new tradition - participating in the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot! Let me tell you, it was a b-l-a-s-t. After some deliberation about the best event(s), the three of us walked the 5K together. Miss P did 22 laps at her school Turkey Trot, so we figured she could do it (if we kicked her behind a little, or bribed). We did a bit of both. I had a couple of prizes stashed in our backpack to hand out at each mile marker, to keep her going. Here we are, before the event, which by the way, had 15,000 participants and raised about $400,000 for Second Harvest food bank.

And above is us after the event. When asked if she enjoyed it, P said, "Hey, I got a shirt, face painting (at the kidsfest after), and a stuffed animal (her prize). Yeah, I enjoyed it!"

Downtown San Jose was totally closed down for the event. It was a cold, but sunny morning.
We ran into a few of our good friends, including S above, who did the 10K and is quite the runner. : )
Here's another partner in crime, J, there with her kiddos and sister. We've done a marathon and half marathon together.

We also saw my good friend Linda and her family. Today, I am so thankful for health and my fantastic family and friends. The event sure kicked off this holiday with a tone of hope and happiness. I hope everyone is having a joyful Thanksgiving.

New Direction (and not a Glee reference)

I am happy to see an old favorite blog resurface....Hemstitch and Hydrangea is now Signature Style! I found H & H a couple of years ago and loved the author's writing and classy look. She stopped blogging due to some major life changes and I just learned that she came back about two months ago.

In reading about her return, I started thinking about how I love the idea of a 'signature' style. SS refers to Signature Style as something you love that makes you 'tick.' In this post, another blogger, DALS talks about having a signature dish, something people remember, something that keeps people wanting more.

I'm still mulling this over. But....I've been thinking about my blog lately. Initially, Life is What You Make it, was basically a mom blog, that also focused on positive thinking and creating the life you want. I'm still pretty positive, but eventually the blog became mostly a journal about life with Miss P, along with other miscellaneous stuff - fashion, fitness, attempts at cooking, and crazy classroom stories.

Being a teacher is definitely my calling. Although I am always tweaking and learning, I definitely feel 'in my groove,' in the classroom. I come alive there. Yet in this blog, I've been yearning to find my own 'niche' beyond the standard mom blog (although nothing is wrong with the standard mom blog; my favorite blogs fall in this category.)

Recently, I feel like I may have found my blog's new slant. You may have noticed it in the tweaking I've done lately. I'm hoping to give Life is What You Make it a face lift and a little more structure. It will still be a lot about our family's life, but I want to share my ideas in general for having fun with your child(ren). Ideas for creative, active play. Ideas designed to help nurture your relationship with your little ones, and most of all have FUN together. As a kindergarten teacher and mom, this is what I am mostly about.

While I see tons of blogs about cooking, decorating, and every other hobby and interest out there, I don't see any that are just about having FUN with your children. Particularly that are attractive to look at and entertaining to read. I hope to be this blog. :)

On our reading list

I meant to wait until after Thanksgiving....but we couldn't wait! We are halfway through Holly! Miss P and I will try to s-t-r-e-t-ch the other two out a bit!

Thanksgiving Plans

It's beginning to look a lot like....Thanksgiving!

I am starting to get excited for the holidays.

Work has been kicking my butt lately, to put it simply and plainly. This has made our household be a little persnickety about the holidays - a sacred time to relax and enjoy. One of my SILs made it her mission to get us all together for Turkey day. Here is what she had to contend with;

*families living in three different areas. Our contention: "No travel." (I am now nicknaming husband "No Travel E").

*one member that wanted a home cooked meal

*no one with a big enough house in the right location or interest in hosting the group

*one family needing a suitable spot for a little one to take a good nap

*another family needing a space for little ones to blow off steam, play and be noisy

*some members wanting to see certain relatives

*other members wanting to avoid certain relatives

and so on...

What we settled on:
Our little family is doing the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot, and DVRing the Macy's parade. We will come home with Starbucks to watch said parade, have breakfast and then get stylish. Later we meet the rest of the fam at California Cafe in Los Gatos for 2:30 "linner" reservations. We have some possibilities in mind for afterward, including possibly going to see Tangled.

The next day we will 'deck the halls.' What about you? Anyone going to a restaurant? I'm "cooking up" (ha ha) more plans and will share soon....