Five Years

David is five years old and as active as ever!

He loves to climb anything and everything including the fridge, doorjambs, rocks, trees, and people.

He likes books and hearing stories.

His favorite places to play right now are outside, especially when it's rainy or snowy, and in the pillows and cushions from the couches.

He likes being silly and making silly faces.

Legos, little dinosaurs, and his bike are some of his favorite toys.

David likes to help make food or with any project.

 David is fun and sweet and full of energy.

David's Birthday

We had lots of fun celebrating with David on his birthday. He requested pizza with strawberries for dinner and a strawberry cake with strawberries for dessert. On the cake, we decided to put a dinosaur building a snowman.

He was very excited to open his presents.

Sunny Day Hike

New Year's Eve

We returned to Dad and Mom's house for the NYE party.

Natalie and I enjoyed making our traditional muddy buddies together.

We watched the ball drop east coast time, but even that felt late to stay up. 

We stayed for a few days enjoying time with Mom and Dad while Joshua did some work in town. David got to try out his new bat and tee, and we had fun playing baseball together.

We ended up cutting our trip short when Mary, Hannah, and I got fevers on Friday which turned out to be from the flu.

Staff Reunion Retreat

We had our first annual summer staff reunion retreat the weekend between Christmas and New Years. It was a great time to reconnect and enjoy seeing some of the staff from last summer.

Christmas

Christmas began on Monday morning with Christmas breakfast and presents in front of our tree.

We drove to Modesto later in the morning. David brought along his new baseball glove and ball so he could play catch with Joshua.

We had a charcuterie board for Christmas Eve lunch.

The kids went to O'Brien's with Dave and Joshua for some last minute shopping before dinner with Joy and the kids. They had fun riding in the firetruck.

Photo: Heather

 We finished off the celebration with Christmas lunch, gifts, and dinner at Mom and Dad's house, along with the annual tradition of picking ornaments made by Dad.

Feeling Festive

We made a weekend trip to Modesto to watch Solace and Amari in the Nutcracker. The kids got to put their bells on the Christmas tree when we arrived.

We enjoyed watching Solace and Amari perform.

Back at home, we made shortbread cookies.

One day while we were out for a walk, we stopped to talk to Katie and Joel, and Katie invited the kids to jump in the pile of leaves they were raking up.

 Painting Christmas ornaments.

George's Falls Trail

The outdoor ed team, along with some chainsaw work by the maintenance team, cleared the George's Falls trail. This was exciting because it's one of my favorite trails in the area, but it had gotten overgrown to the point of being difficult to find and follow. We went out one afternoon to see the progress and helped clear sticks and needles off the trail.

We loved getting to help with the project.

After it was cleared, we hiked all the way out to George's Falls. It was a long hike for the kids and ended up getting pretty chilly in the forest, but we made it all the way to the falls and back and had a good time. It was so fun to be on the trail again.

Christmas Tree Hunt

We trekked through the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree.

The kids and I had a mini tree hunt to find little trees the following day.

We brought the tree in and put the lights on, and it looked so pretty and festive.

 We borrowed a bunch of Christmas picture books from Heather.