Christmas Fun, Memories and Traditions!

Decorating the tree! 

Cooper was a big help!  We purposely didn't put very many bulbs at the bottom of the tree..within a couple of weeks...there were NO bulbs half way down the tree. The joys of a one year old.

Kelseyville Light Parade!

One of my favorite new traditions.  This was our 3rd year going.  I love watching the parade, and enjoying some hot coco!  Pictures were taken by Brooklyn herself.

Santa Claus came to town...

Can't go without seeing Santa Claus..and he always shows up to our ward Christmas dinner...so nice!

Once he walked in, Easton whispered in my ear, "That is Red!"  His name is Red. He is in our ward.  He still believes though.  They all do..somewhat. Brooklyn has been asking questions.  Cooper liked Santa and then Santa gave him a candy cane and then he didn't care about Santa anymore.

 Eric, Cooper, Jake and Hailey.  Cooper and Hailey are 4 months apart.  And these dads already have them dating.  Hopefully they will be little friends!

David Archuleta's Christmas Concert!

I was excited to see that David was coming to our local art center on his Christmas Tour.  The tickets were only $30 each...not too bad for a concert.  We took Brooklyn and Easton, Cooper stayed home with a sitter and slept!  It started late, well at least to me. 8:00.  He had an opener which was ok.  And then David came on at 8:30.  He sang a few fun Christmas faster songs and then a few of his pop hits.  After intermission, he sang all slow Christmas songs like Holy Night. They were beautiful.  Brooklyn enjoyed the first half, especially when he sang "Crush."  She got sleepy after intermission. Easton fell asleep after the 2nd song..no kidding.  Should have left him home with Cooper too. It was a fun night. I am glad I went at least!

Candy Trains!

We can't have Christmas without making Candy Trains...Brooklyn and Easton will make sure of that. They kept asking for weeks when the 18th was so they could make trains.  Jimmy, Victoria and their boys came down for dinner and to make trains. It was a fun night.  The kids always love this tradition!

Memories!

On the Redford side, every person writes a memory each year. It can be a memory from that year or past years.  And then Rod and Jo put them all together for us.  So we have a collection of years with all the Redford family memories. It is a great tradition!  It's our version of family history...done year by year...little by little.  Some day they will be treasures and fun to read for our grandchildren!  I love reading the memories..it's fun to get to know little things about everyone.  Here are our memories this year...

Happy Holidays From The Redfords!

Jon & Traci's Visit!

Jon & Tracie came down for Thanksgiving weekend to visit!  We were so excited to have them come and spend time with us.  We didn't take a lot of picture..which I am sad about.  But we did take a few...at least we have proof they were here! They have two boys, Carter who is 2 and Xander who is around 8 months.  Cooper and Xander had a great time playing together. Cooper actually started to play with his toys, once he say Xander doing it.

The weekend..

They arrived early Thanksgiving day, we hung out, talked, Eric and Jon worked in the shop and we let the kids play.  We had dinner around 4. It wasn't the typical Thanksgiving meal..it was steak, potatoes, salad, rolls, etc..Eric doesn't like Turkey, stuffing, gravy, etc..so he doesn't like Thanksgiving dinners...so we had what he wanted. Sadly, it didn't feel like Thanksgiving Day at all. We did celebrate Cooper's birthday though.  It was a fun birthday day!

After dinner, we headed to Lakeport and went bowling. We met another family there, it was fun. 

Thursday Night at midnight, Traci and I went to Walmart to do some Black Friday shopping.  Well...it was CRAZY! Usually our Walmart isn't that bad, since we live in no where land.  But with the store staying open and starting the sale at midnight, there were A LOT of people there and everything was gone, since everyone arrived earlier and filled there carts and waited until Midnight to checkout...not fair.  We got a few things, but I would say it wasn't worth the trip and lack of sleep.  It was fun with Traci though.

Friday morning, Traci and I woke up at 7 and went to Santa Rosa to do some real shopping at the mall. It was a lot of fun.  We got some good deals. The guys brought the kids down and met us at Costco.  We then headed to San Fran to go to the Children's Discovery Museum. We forgot our cameras, which made us sad because the view of the Golden Gate from there was amazing.  The museum wasn't so great.  First off..you have to pay $12 for anyone older than 6 months. WHAT...$12 for Cooper!  What a waste of money.  The museum was very out dated and old. It doesn't compare to the other ones I have been to in Salt Lake and San Jose.  They really need to do some updating.  The kids had fun, but the adults were bored and a bit cold because they had a lot of it outside, which is cold in San Fran.  Oh well..we went and we won't go again! Friday night we played games, yes we had to force Eric and Jon to play. But it was fun.

Saturday, we went to a baptism, hung out around the house, Eric and Jon worked in the shop, and then we went to dinner. Low key day.

Sunday, Jon and Traci headed home.  We went to church. Eric got a call during church that Jon and Traci had broken down and needed help.  So they came back, Eric tried to figure out what was wrong with there Suburban.  Monday they took it to the dealer to get fixed.  Jon and Traci headed to San Fran again by themselves to see the sights.  Tuesday they rented a car and headed home. 

It was a crazy end to their trip but we were glad to see them for an extra couple of days...not sure if they felt the same way but it was fun hanging out and getting to know Traci better.

Jon drove back with his friend that Friday and picked up their suburban.  It was a lot of driving for Jon that week..poor guy.

Thanks for visiting..come again soon!

A few random memories...

In the beginning of November, my parents came.  Well my dad came for 1 day...we drove to Sacramento to spend the day with him.  He had to perform a ring ceremony there that night, and then because of the snow had to drive straight home.  But my mom stayed for a week.  (Which was a blessing...I was still sick...it was sooooo nice to have someone here to cook for me and to take care of Cooper!)

We went to the spaghetti factory for lunch and then over to play glow in the dark mini golf.  It was fun and interesting at the same time.  Easton found one lucky token sitting on one of the games and he WON a ton of tickets...refer to the picture below...that was with ONE token. The tickets just kept coming out...

Cooper loves my office!  Well...he loves to make a HUGE mess while mommy works on the computer.  I am lucky if I can even walk into my office without stepping on stuff.  Cooper keeps us busy!

 The kids LOVE fires with daddy!  They have so much fun outside with him.  They try to get me to go out there and sit...but I use Cooper as my excuse...my real reason is the smell...I hate smelling like a fire afterwards.  I don't mind it if we are camping.  I prefer my wood stove in my house...I love to stand by it and stay warm with NO smell!  (The neighbor kids love to hang out by the fire too!)

 My sister-in-law needed a few head shots of the kids for a Christmas Gift for Grandma.  So I took a few outside one day...they are growing up so fast!

 Eric...he has been very busy working on his Mustang.  He spent HOURS sand blasting the bottom.  Looks like he has been working in the mine. I will let him do a post on his car since he knows what he is doing.

1st Birthday Boy!

Cooper's ONE!
Cooper had his first birthday on Thanksgiving day this year.  Jon and Tracie were here visiting for the holiday.  We had a small fun little celebration.  Jon took some video singing and Cooper eating the cake with his camera, however as soon as it was all done, he realized it wasn't taping anything.  Oops.  So I have lots of pictures to document the events, and no video.  So picture overload...

First things First...Candle!  No we didn't light it!

First Feel...Cooper's not sure about this.

First taste..still not sure.

Ok...I think I would rather play in it!

Daddy tried to help me eat some...didn't work too well.

Daddy even tried to show me how.

I had fun just playing!

Happy BOY all cleaned up!

Present Time!

Yippee...NEW CARSEAT! Every 1 year old's dream!

It was a fun small celebration!  Cooper was a happy little birthday boy! We love you Cooper!

Baby #4...Yep that is right!

Yes that is right...Baby #4 is coming!  Was I ready...NOOOO!  Was it a SHOCK...YES!  A good one, I guess.  It took some time to get use too.  We wanted one more but not this soon.  I still have a baby!  They will be 18 months apart.  A little close for me, I know people do it all the time.  And I guess I will too!

My blog wasn't updated for 3 months because I was SICK for 3 months!  I have never been this sick ever with a pregnancy.  It has been so different than my other 3 pregnancies.  I was exhausted, nauseous, tired, nauseous, and more tired.  I literally spent a couple of months on the couch with Cooper playing around me.  It was really hard.  I barely could eat because nothing sounded good..I mean NOTHING!  I couldn't cook.  I couldn't even stand the smell of the pantry. It was horrible.   The doctor gave me some meds..which totally saved me.  I still would get sick but NOT as much.  I could actually function more during the day. 

My first ultrasound showed a peanut...a mean a peanut.  It doesn't look like a baby to me.  It was smaller than it should be for my due date calculator.  So I had a second ultrasound a couple of weeks later and it actually looked more like a baby.  The doctor scared me because she thought maybe there was 2 babies in there..that scared me to death. I actually had a dream I had twins and it scared me to death.  So I am thankful it is just one baby! My due was changed...which wasn't cool.  I had to go back two weeks.  Which was hard to change in my mind...I thought I was 8 weeks but really only 6!  I am now ok with it.  My due date is May 23 or 24th? I can't remember what the doctor said. 

So ready or not...the final Redford Baby is on it's way!

Halloween!

Halloween this year!  The ward Halloween party was canceled, so we mainly just celebrated it on Halloween this year.  I took Cooper up to Eric's work to show off his "Awesome" costume. I LOVED It!  I also have never spent that much on a costume before. But it was sooo cute...I couldn't resist. And the quality was great too! Very Warm.

Easton was Darth Vader!

 Cooper was the Monster from Monsters Inc. SOOO CUTE! He hated the hat, it was too big for him so it kept sliding down past his eyes..which was soo cute but he didn't think so.

 Brooklyn was a fairy bat.  That said she wanted to be a bat.  Don't ask me why?

Cooper wasn't too happy to take pictures.

 My little outfit I made.  I am not sure people understood exactly what it meant. 

Easton hit the jack pot.  We all went out for about an hour Trick or Treating on the golf cart.  It was fun until Brooklyn got sick and had to go home.  So I stayed home while Easton and Eric went back out...until 9:30!  I was starting to get worried.  He got soooo much candy. They had a great time.  Brooklyn was a little jealous!

We did go to the Boo Bash in Cobb on Friday and got a free pumpkin! 

It was a fun Halloween!