A Whole Lot of Firsts!

So I have been more than a little neglectful with this blog. I'm not even sure if anyone reads it or not, but still, I should at least update it once in a while! This post is aptly titled as we had our First California Thanksgiving, our First Christmas ever not in New York at our childhood homes, First bike for Grace and First day of school for Grace.


The last time I blogged, we were just settling into our new house. It is now 2 months later and we are officially settled in and really loving the house. Since I last wrote, my parents visited and spent 2 weeks which was really fun, we did some sightseeing (San Fran, Golden Gate, Carmel and Pebble Beach to name a few) and lots of things around the house and the yard.

A week after they left we had our first California Thanksgiving which was very relaxed and fun. I did all of the cooking and we all lived to tell about it which is good and shocking - I even made homemade apple pie!

In December we spent a great deal of time and agonizing and visiting trying to find a nursery school that really fit Grace where we think she could thrive (more on this in a few paragraphs!).

We also prepared for our First Christmas with just the 4 of us. In the past Chris and I have always traveled to New York for Christmas to be with family no matter where we lived, but that all stopped this year. I was prepared to be really sad and lonely, but I realized that I had my family right with me, Chris and our two girls. It really showed me that Christmas isn't about where you live, or if it is a "white" Christmas, it is about being with family, and I was lucky enough to have that - just in reduced numbers this year!

A few days before Christmas we were thrilled to have Chris's sister Courtney and her fiance Tom visit. They were on their way to LA to spend Christmas with Tom's family and graciously flew out of their way to visit us and in the process got stranded en route. Regardless, we had a fun time with them and visited some local wineries (we have 30 wineries about 20 minutes away).

We had a nice low key Christmas and enjoyed the upper 50's weather and bright sunny skies! The girls had a great Christmas, Santa brought them just what they wanted and we spent Christmas Day playing with toys and hanging out together. The girls got a good mix of books, crafts, doll clothes and toys. Santa was good to Chris and I too - he brought us a Wii!

 


Chris had the week after Christmas off which was great family time and we used it to work outside, go to playgrounds and start our family biking! This leads us into another First - Grace's first big girl bike (with training wheels) and we got Emma a bike seat that attaches to Chris's bike so we can all go together. This area is rich in outdoor activities including biking due to the great weather year round so we want to take full advantage of it when we live here.



We had a quiet New Year's Eve at home and geared up for another exciting year at Casa de Pooler! Today was our final big First in this blog. Grace went to her first day of nursery school today. After much searching, we decided on a small, private, Christian academy that teaches children from pre-school through 8th grade. We found it provided the best atmosphere and mix of fun and education that we were looking for. Grace really enjoyed her first day at school and adjusted very well. I, on the other hand, had a hard time letting go, but I know deep down this is the best thing for her and she needs to grow and become her own person.

So, this sums up our last couple of months. I hope and plan to be a bit better at updating the blog more regularly - maybe that should be a New Year's Resolution!

May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
- Psalm 20:4