Damon's Holiday Party

Damon's holiday party was at a cute restaurant in Sebastopol and this year kiddos were invited which made it easier for us in terms of childcare.

This picture is blurry, but outside the location there is an old railway car and the restaurant itself is also out of old railroad cars. It is a neat concept and the evening was a great success.

Of course, I brought a ton of items to keep C occupied.  She loved the food and chatting with the other kiddos, especially two boys that recently visited Legoland :)

December Birthday Parties

We had a few birthday parties in December, starting with Lily's at My Gym.  It was great to attend a party at My Gym before C's own party there to get her more excited. Since we don't frequent the gym for classes, I always get concerned she won't be excited for her parties.  Lily's party was frozen theme and we had a great time playing.  It was also awesome that Damon was able to attend with us :)

We also celebrated Shasta's 10th birthday on December 6th.  Hard to believe that my first puppy is 70 years in human years :(  Her grey hair is out of control (just like mine) and she is grumpy in her old age (just like me), but she is still full of joy for life, happy to go on walks and bark at all the dogs in the neighborhood.  Thankfully she is still very healthy so it really seems crazy that she is 10 already.  I started my blog when we went to Idaho to pick her up....crazy how things have changed :) Here is our first post with her - sweet little puppy!

To celebrate we headed to Swirl Time yogurt and sat outside in the cold December weather.  

We also went to C's first school birthday party.  it was really nice seeing the kiddos and parents outside of the school environment and her teacher even came by.  I was super impressed!  C's kinder class is a really sweet group of kids and all the parents get along without drama which I guess isn't the norm? (per her teacher - which makes me sad!) 

A December Day of Celebrations

The first weekend of December was a weekend of celebrations including a wine tasting day with the Workrite HR team in Healdsburg at Kokomo.  I love that winery and highly recommend their wines and winery :)

Plus their new tasting room is really pretty :)

Afterwards I met up with the rest of the family at my parents house to celebrate my grandma's birthday and their 69th wedding anniversary.

The following picture makes me sad....things have changed so much since it was taken and both of my grandparents look so different.  Getting old just sucks - you know that it is going to happen, but it doesn't make it any easier.

We decided to take a minute to attempt some photos on my parents staircase - which was a requirement before all high school dances :)

December School Days

It is so great seeing C's writing and sentence structure improving with school - so fun!

It is always a good day when we get to see Ryanne :)

On this day we picked up James from school and enjoyed a few minutes playing on his awesome play structure.

James was very excited to share his pokemon book with his friends after school - its hard holding onto big ticket items in your backpack all day long.

We did a little bowling and enjoyed the new fancy screens that even included a personalized picture!

Whenever Damon is on C's campus we make sure he walks through her classroom to check out her artwork - she always gets excited to share the details of her school life with him.  I am in the classroom a ton, so I am not as exciting for her :)

Not sure the meaning on this one, but it was taped to our slider door for a few weeks.

Selfie in the classroom before winter break!  

Gary Allan :)

Damon, Meredith, Josh and I were able to go see Gary Allan at the LBC - we have seen him almost 10 times and just love all the memories of his concerts.  It was a fun (and late) date night with my Damon and friends. 

The band still sounded great and they did lots of their same stage antics, although he has certainly aged since the first time we saw :)

There are always a few songs that make me cry...and this time was no exception.

On our way out the bandmate with the kilt was signing autographs....I was excited to get a picture of him.  I tried to take a selfie with him in the background but it was a disaster :)