Three Christmasses

We are in Hillsboro, Oregon, right now, staying with Nana and Boopa and enjoying new baby cousin Sawyer. Caden and Finn are both *finally* getting over their colds (in Finn's case, an ear infection that sent him and Dada to the urgent care clinic the day after Christmas), and we just had a delicious dinner of black cod. Yesterday, we celebrated the third of our three Christmasses, with the Brackens and Probsts.

But, we should start at the beginning, with Christmas #1, at home in Irvine. A video clip of the boys coming downstairs on Christmas morning was featured in the previous post. Here are a few more images of the morning's activities. 

A 10:30 shuttle took us to LAX for our flight north to Portland. 

We met up with Auntie Sally at PDX and drove down to Corvallis, where we "knocked" on Ama and Adad's door by singing Christmas carols. Santa had visited at Ama and Adad's house, so stockings were waiting for everyone there, too. The next morning, we celebrated Christmas #2, exchanging and opening gifts from the Sorte side of the family. 

Other fun activities in Corvallis included archery, lunch at American Dream Pizza, a gathering with the extended Sorte family, and Ama's wonderful cooking. 

We spent an extra day in Corvallis to give Finn and Caden extra time to get better before heading up to Hillsboro on the 29th. That evening, we celebrated Christmas #3 and met baby cousin Sawyer for the first time. 

Christmas morning

Caden and Finn ventured downstairs on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought the previous night:

Ready for Christmas

We have been wrapping up teaching (Dada), manuscript writing (Mama and Dada), school (Caden), and presents (Mama, Dada, and Caden). Finn likes to see what's going on when presents are being wrapped, but his involvement usually includes unrolling the wrapping paper tubes or making a beeline for the (forbidden and therefore desirable) stairs so as to make Mama or Dada pay attention to him instead of the task at hand. Finn definitely enjoys the decor, lights, and excitement of the season. 

A week ago, on Sunday afternoon, after Caden's recital, Caden and his Bear Scout Den headed over to the Ocean Institute in Dana Point to tour a replica of a 19th Century sailing ship from the area. Finn slept through the tour, so Mama enjoyed the view from the car while Dada and Caden checked out the tide pools, aquarium tanks, and ship. 

Later that evening, we headed over to our friends' place to enjoy pizza and decorate gingerbread trains. Finn really liked the frosting and cookies. 

We also finished decorating our tree that day - what a busy day!

On Tuesday, Mama and Dada spent the day holiday shopping. At Hanna Andersson, we found the perfect jammies and hat for our little tomten.

On Friday morning, Mama and Dada went to school with Caden to help out with his class holiday party. It was really fun to see him interacting with his classmates. In the picture, you can see the candy locomotive that he built as a "craft" and the wrapped gift he is ready to exchange in the book swap. 

On Sunday, we hosted a solstice open house at our place. It was great fun for all! Finn was super excited by the food and especially the thundering herds of roaming kids. Inspired by the fun lights we saw last week at Sherman Gardens, Mama even ordered a spinning light projector (think, disco ball), and sparkles of red, green, and blue now dance around our foyer.

Piano recital

Today, Caden and the other students in his piano studio performed in their semi-annual piano recital. Caden played all three of his pieces - two solos and a duet - very well.

Here is a clip of his duet of "Yo Ho" from "Pirates of the Caribbean":

Gardens and Santa sightings

On Saturday, we immersed ourselves in holiday cheer. We tried to find a Christmas tree last Thursday, even picking the boys up early to do so, but ended up totally discouraged. We were determined to find a nice tree today. 

But first, we had pancakes for breakfast then walked over to the neighborhood holiday bazaar. It was great, with the high school acapella group providing musical entertainment, fun crafts for the kids, and lots of neat and creative crafts. 

After the bazaar, we headed over to Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach. Not only did they have a great selection of trees, but Santa was there:

After pictures and chats with Santa - bet you can't guess what Caden requested for Christmas - we checked out the trees. Caden picked out a great one:

We loaded up the tree and returned home just in time for Caden to practice his duet for tomorrow's piano recital. Then, after a quick dinner, we headed back down to Corona del Mar to go to the "Night of 1,000 Lights" at Sherman Gardens. Santa was there, too - he really gets around this time of year - and the place was beautifully decorated. 

Then, we returned home and started decorating our tree and house for the holidays. Finn even "helped" a bit:

Happy holidays!

Holiday dance

Here is a clip of our little dancing boy: