It's a Christmas miracle!

During our Thanksgiving celebration in Orange County with Hop and Mop, we succeeded in getting a photo of all eight Raley grandchildren -- in matching Christmas jammies, no less!

This ambitious feat was accomplished using one secret weapon: jellybeans! I don't think I need to tell you whose (genius) idea that was.

From left to right: Molly (18 mo), Joey (5), Megan (5), Mary (4 mo),

Annie (2.5), Bridget (4), Tessa (2.5) and Clara (4)

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

The month of December has been busy here, with trimming the tree, decorating the house, sending out Christmas cards, wrapping presents, seeing a wiggly little girl perform in her Christmas pageant, watching an excited little boy launch into Christmas break with a fun-filled holiday party, and, of course, making time to visit Santa! Phew!

We had lots of helpers with selecting the tree this year, and the ornaments were hung with care by two little elves while a third performed gymnastics for the crowd.

We rode on the Holiday Train of Lights from Sunol through Niles Canyon with friends, and will definitely be back for more trips in years to come! We enjoyed the gorgeous old train cars, holiday lights, hot chocolate, wine, and best of all, managed to snag a car that had aquamarine leather couches, swivel armchairs and its own bar!

Clara made a splash at her preschool Christmas pageant, with over-the-top, energetic arm movements to accompany all the songs. She even threw in some nose-picking, just to thoroughly charm everybody in the audience.

We wrapped up our pre-Christmas festivities with a visit to Santa at St. Ignatius, where we also got to meet up with the Stecher and Cecchin cousins, as well as other faculty kids and grandkids. Thanks to Grandpa Cecchin and Aunt Meredith for organizing this annual event!

From our family to yours, we wish you the merriest of holidays!!

Storyteller

Joey wrote his first story three nights ago while I was busy making dinner, and this former English major couldn't be prouder!

I love every aspect of his first effort, including (especially?) the crossed-out letters, the misspellings ("sum" and "hav"), and the five year-old grammar ("the bug singed and singed and sing").

Most of all, though, I love his sweet determination to complete this task -- all by himself! Head bent over his lined paper, laboring at the dining room table, he worked at this project for at least a half hour, and was so proud of his effort that he immediately taped it up on his bedoom wall.

Apparently, our at-home reading lessons are paying off (we've completed 85 of 100 lessons). Now, we just need to work on the run-on sentences!

Missing Maui

With fall leaves on the ground, and winter temps starting to descend on Moraga, we made a family getaway in November to Maui, and spent ten fabulous days enjoying tropical sunshine and warm ocean water.

We were thrilled to bring along another adult -- Grandma Cecchin -- to even out our adult : child ratio,  and we also added to the fun by meeting up with Tim's brother Jeff and his wife Sarah, and four year-old cousin Marco. Finally, we convinced our friends Mark and Christine DeWeese to plan their family vacation at the same time! With a combined five kids in the entourage, no one was at a loss for a playmate, and the adults even got a couple of nighttime breaks, thanks to Grandma!

We loved every minute of our five days at Wailea (at the Marriott Wailea Beach), and followed it up with another five days at the Westin Villas in Kaanapaali. Both resorts offered beach access and plenty of kiddie fun in the way of slides, pirate ships, and wading pools. The kids lived in their swimsuits for ten days, and proved that they can't wait for the swim season to start up again! They even took up surfing, along with their very tentative parents!

The highs of the trip included taking an outrigger canoe out to sea at Kihei Beach in search of turtles (and finding at least a dozen, many of which swam directly beneath our small canoe), taking surfing lessons for two days and watching Joey fall in love with the sport, receiving our very first visit from the Tooth Fairy in our hotel room, and enjoying a lot of "unscheduled" beach and pool time with the kids, watching them explore, swim, and make new friends.

Of course, every trip has its lows, and we'll never forget temporarily losing Clara when she made her way from the kids' pool to the beach -- fearlessly solo. Just as we were on the verge of calling on hotel security for help, "Fireman Mark" found her playing by herself at the water's edge. Yikes!

We also might have erased all of the relaxation from the trip with our stressful flight home, when Molly was THAT baby for at least two and a half hours.

Overall, though, we're so thankful for the time off from work and home pressures, and the chance to make these memories as a family! Without further ado, here's a slideshow of our time away...