Christmas Traditions

Being "great with child" this season, we stayed close to home and tried out our own family traditions. Uncle Steve was here on a business break and was game for all the festivities. We made gingerbread cookies (with Red Hots and sprinkles, of course), Tom recited the Christmas story scripture chapters by memory, Jared illustrated the Christmas story with felt cut-outs, we cooked a delicious ham-and-all-the-trimmings dinner, Jared and I made and folded the "Christmas Napkins" (complete with candy canes -- maybe we won't do that with a hungry 3 year old next time), and had fun getting ready for Santa. In the morning, Jared didn't realize there were presents out in the living room -- he woke early and walked right by them to read books on the couch (thank goodness) so we just took him back to his room and told him it was Christmas and did a "re-take". These Star Wars figurines in his little stocking were a big hit. His pirate presents will wait until his birthday since he had no interest in anything else after seeing his stocking loot. I definitely believe in small stockings.

Next year, I want to remember to do the Pajama Tradition, where we all get a new set of pajamas for the year and open those on Christmas Eve.

Why Kathryn doesn't go to the mall

On December 22nd, my first rainy-day "mall" outing of the season, we lasted all of 25 minutes. Here is Jared's "Food Court Injury". He was so excited to see his cousins there. Jared and Kayden were literally running in tight circles around each other, laughing and giggling when BAM! He didn't look where he was going and ran face-first into the sharp edge of a wooden chair, busting a hole in his lip and bruising the underside pretty good. It was bleeding a lot, of course, and looked a little gaping, so we quickly took him to the Kaiser building where we met Tom who could give a pre-diagnosis before we went in to the doctor. The good news is by then, after 15 minutes of direct pressure, the bleeding had stopped and it was obvious it wouldn't need a stitch, so we went home and had a popsicle. Jared did not cry much, but the sad look on his face on the way home... I don't think we're meant to hang out at the mall. The park is safer.

Mommies Love Their Babies

I have clear memories of something Mom would do when we watched movies or TV shows together. When there was a touching moment on screen (usually a tear-jerker moment), Mom would lean over, hug us and say, "Mommies love their babies!" And kiss our heads. We would roll our eyes and say, "Moooommmm!" But...it looks like the next generation will hear that a lot, too! And secretly they like it.

We love grandma & grandpa!

We loved having Mom and Dad here in California for Corbin's baptism. Any extra moments we could spend with them were thoroughly enjoyed. Here is Jared enthusiastically kissing Grandma Stephanie's cheek -- he wouldn't let go! We love and appreciate them both so much.



P.S. Another "Thank you" for the new crock-pot, mom! We are enjoying homemade split pea soup today. Mmm.

California Winters

December 12th
Jared with friends at Altisima Park. I'm amazed that he is (A) looking at the camera, and (B) is smiling naturally. Trips to the park are never to be underestimated in value...

Quick baby Pearson update

As of this morning, I'm 3 cm dialated, 70% effaced and, in the doctor's words, she "would be surprised if I made it through another week pregnant". All very encouraging words for us parents hoping for a 2008 delivery. The size estimate is 7 lbs. with another pound or so expected to add on by the time of birth -- but keep in mind the estimate was made by poking and prodding my tummy and guessing, so who really knows? Of course, Baby Vuka (aka baby banana) may have other plans, but everything still feels and looks on track for a good-sized healthy little girl. That's the best gift.

Latest Picture from the Mission

Dear family,
Nancy Henrie, the mother of Elder Henrie who is serving in the Baytown area with Kenneth, emailed me and let me know "our boys" are in the same mission and that Kenneth is in several photos her son sent to her. She was so nice! She sent some digital photos of Kenneth's district for our family to enjoy. She has a blog for Elder Henrie we're invited to look at, too, http://natehenrie.blogspot.com/ Kenneth mentioned the car accident in an earlier letter - and there are pictures of that, too. We might see more of Kenneth in the Henries' blog in the future.

I'M ENGAGED!!

I know you all know, but I thought I'd make it official and post it on the family blog. Cyrus and I are engaged! The date is still being decided, but we are leaning toward May 22nd. It's Memorial Day weekend so it might make it easier to have everyone come out. We're going to get married in the Nauvoo temple on the 22nd and then have a reception in Champaign on the 23rd. Here are some pictures of the hike Cyrus and I went on where he totally surprised me at the top with a proposal.

Corbin's Baptism!

We are so proud of Corbin and were happy to celebrate his big day with lots of family and friends. Here are some of our favorite pictures (from Marcia's downloads - thanks!). We're sure more are coming...it was a good day!

2nd week of December...

Kara Morrow Family GIVES TO Kathryn Pearson Family
Kirk Price Family GIVES TO Kara Morrow Family
Kathryn Pearson Family GIVES TO Krystle Thiel Family
Krystle Thiel Family GIVES TO Kendra
Kendra GIVES TO Kirk Price Family
Missionary Kenneth GIVES a letter to us all
Everyone GIVES TO Missionary Kenneth, Mom & Dad

Shasta and Shasta

I don't know how Tom and I escaped photos of ourselves, but here are the ones we have of Jared and Kara's family from the annual "Follow the Star" nativity pagent and creche exhibit, which was even more beautiful than ever this year. They added a fantastic idea this time - a "find it" game. A half-sheet of paper with 8 photos of different creche details for children (or adults) to find amongst the hundreds of creche scenes. Corbin was the perfect age for that and it kept the hoards of kids distracted while their parents enjoyed the displays.


Jared kept himself entertained by jumping (well, skip-hopping) over that rope...

Kara's family at the creche exhibit.

Jared's horse, Shasta, meeting his namesake, "the Real Shasta". The Real Shasta is a donkey - we met her last year at this same nativity and 2-year-old Jared went home and promptly re-named his stuffed horse Shasta. He sleeps with this horse in his bed every night. We were hoping to see the Real Shasta again this year so we brought Jared's horse along just in case - and got this precious photo of Jared introducing his horse to the donkey. On the way to the church building, Jared said, "I want to show my Shasta to the real Shasta because she will think my horse is very pretty."

Shower hosted by Jan

Jan Lam hosted a great baby shower the day after Thanksgiving - scrumptious lunch at Buca di Beppo's in the hilariously decorated "Pope Room". Friends from high school, college, neighbors and new friends came. Fun time!



Kendra is training the baby up early for school brand loyalty.

First sister shower with the three of us. It's not complete without Krystle - we miss you!

Kendra won the "Baby Animal Names" game. We all know what a baby fox is called now...do you know what a baby swan is called? Or a baby dolphin?

Kara knew the most details about me, the pregnancy and the baby - she won that game!

Thanksgivings in SoCal 2008

California Thanksgiving feasts of 2008!

November catch-up

Voting
Church baby shower
Thanksgiving & Kendra's visit
Jan's shower
Twilight
Pearson parents' mission ends
4 weeks from baby

Halloween!

Hi Family,
I'm finally posting Halloween pictures (since it is almost Thanksgiving...). So for this year I decided to be Princess Peach from Super Mario Brothers, and it worked out because I talked Cyrus into being Mario!

Name Swap for Christmas

So you don't have to search your emails....Here is the Christmas Name Swap for 2008. One family (kids included) gives to another family (kids included) with a whole-family gift. Or, if you really, really want to do a single gift for the individual family members, that's fine. Start prepping your "wish lists" because you KNOW you're going to get a call from your sibling asking what you could really use this year. We want to get you something useful that you want! :)

Kara Morrow Family GIVES TO Kathryn Pearson Family
Kirk Price Family GIVES TO Kara Morrow Family
Kathryn Pearson Family GIVES TO Krystle Thiel Family
Krystle Thiel Family GIVES TO Kendra
Kendra GIVES TO Kirk Price Family
Missionary Kenneth GIVES a letter to us all
Everyone GIVES TO Missionary Kenneth, Mom & Dad

Mystery, Inc.

Pictured from Left to Right: Velma, Freddie, Daphne, Shaggy (the doll) and Scooby-Doo.

The girls looked pretty good in the afternoon but as the evening went on they were looking a little worse for wear. Shaggy used to have hair but Claire tore that off right away, however he did keep his whiskers. Quite a few people thought Daryn was a bomber pilot... her "wig" looked more like a pilot helmet than hair. What do you think? Does she pass for Velma?

Claire definitely had a better idea of what Halloween was about this year. She was putting those candies in the bag without hestitaion. Trunk-or-Treat was a lot of fun and she ran around with the other kiddos on the church stage. And then on Halloween, we just drove around visiting families in our ward and Riverside's employees. We had our first real Thiel pumpkin... Claire was pretty grossed out but she liked to wave hi and bye to the jack-o-lantern in the end.