Decorating our Home for Christmas

The stockings have been hung over the couch with great care in hopes that St. Nicholas will soon visit there. The boys have monster-sized stockings that absolutely dwarf those from our childhoods. Grandma got a bit carried away with the size of Einar's when she made it for his first Christmas and so when I made Soren's this week I matched the size so as not to fuel any stocking envy arguments in the future.

This is Soren's new stocking. On Friday we went over to my friend Marianne's and had a day of stocking making. The red and blue felt is recycled from 3 old stockings that she wasn't using anymore and the brown is from an old curtain she had in her linen closet. All my sewing skills (yes, Mom and Tor I do think that I must have learned something all those years ago even though I still am prone to winging it.) came back to me and I came up with this fabulous stocking for Soren. It has inspired me to bust out my own sewing machine that I got at a garage sale this summer.

Our decorated tree. Einar was my tree decorating helper and we didn't break a single ornament! He was very careful unwrapping the ornaments, making sure that they had a hook, and handing them over to me to hang.

Hamming it up for the camera as he unwrapped another ornament.

Fantasmic! and the Fifth Tooth

Two guys totally sacked out in our bed. I think I'll go join them (or at least carry one back to his own bed so I can have my pillow back).
Einar in front of the Alaska Airlines plane that we flew home.

While waiting for Jared to pick us up at the Long Beach Airport after we returned from Seattle, a nice man offered to take our picture as we were sitting on the curb. We're even wearing festive colors.

Soren's Sock Monkey costume got some more use in Seattle as an extra warm layer.

Hanging out with Far Mor. Can you tell that Soren loves his grandparents?

Bundling up for some Northwest November weather instead of San Clemente sunshine.

Soren's first amoxycillin for an ear infection that came on while we were in Seattle. We brought the California Crud up with us and promptly got Grandma, Uncle Tor, Auntie Jess, Grandpa, and Jared sick and we are all still struggling to get back to normal. I am truly sorry for spreading this one around.

The four of us after a yummy dim sum lunch at the House of Hong in Seattle--an Ogle family trip to Seattle necessity.

Soren and Poppa goofing off together.

Having a Taco Time lunch with cousins Annie and Cyrus after a fabulous morning of swimming at the Mountlake Terrace swimming pool.

No pictures from today (don't worry, I'll post some from the past couple of weeks for your visual enjoyment). Today I forgot to put the memory card back into the camera when we left this morning and then again when I came home to get it, the water bottles, and a pb & j sandwich for Einar. However, Jared is right that we probably can survive a trip to Disneyland without a camera.

Today was the last Sunday that we could go during the holiday season before our blackout days. Even though we've had a pretty busy weekend and none of us are the picture of health (still trying to beat the crud) we went as a family and had a marvelous time. I have heard that when you are sick and have had a lot going on, it's a good idea to have some down time or things won't be so much fun, but there is always tomorrow, right? I have a feeling that we are raising a couple of party animals.

The place is all decorated for the holidays with lights, snow that falls in the evenings in front of It's a Small World, and even though we go frequently there is always some thing new for us to see and do. This afternoon we went to the Aladdin show in California Adventure. It's a Broadway style show and was great fun. Jared also convinced me to ride the Hollywood Tower of Terror too--you have to be 40inches to ride this thing, but there is NO way that Einar will be riding on it anytime soon! We saw parts of two parades and the fireworks and the Fantasmic show which is truly Fantastic. I'm not sure if I'll ever get Einar over to that Island to play again after seeing the super scary dragon appear on it's shore and all of the other scary stuff but it sure was cool.

Soren was also gnawing a bit more than normal these past couple of days and his fifth tooth appeared today! It's on his bottom left and has popped itself out of his gums. I hope that means that he will sleep well tonight.

Happy Holidays

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Dear Santa

Dear Santa Claus,

How are you? The Amtrak is BIGGER than the Polar Express. I think you ride on the Metrolink. Do you ride trains every day? I've been on the Metrolink and Amtrak trains and a long time ago I rode Thomas with my friends Jacob and Molly.

I've met you before. Do you remember me from San Juan Capistrano? My name is Einar and I am 3 years old. I've been good this year and Mom agrees.

I would like a Sante Fe train with some people and a passenger coach for Christmas. Some trucks like Mack the truck and Mr. the King truck and the Chick Hicks truck. My Pinto horse would like a truck and trailer to drive around. Nothing else.

Thank you and Please,

Einar Ogle, age 3.5

We think it's still summer here...

Yes, this is outside in the middle of November. Einar in particular was a bit cold until he became more excited about the prospect of painting pudding all over (especially his tongue). However, I must note that this past week we did have temperatures in the mid 80's around here. My friend Marianne invited us over this afternoon for body painting and we just couldn't resist the chance to try it. Once the kids were done, they spent some time in the bathtub. I got to cross one more thing off of my to-do list the day before a big trip: a clean Einar.


Other new and exciting adventures include Jared teaching the boys how to make a fort out of our couch cushions. You can see that they even got the cushion off of my nursing chair.

Soren is keeping his eyes on what is going on so that he can be a part of it.

Last Friday night we went to the 233rd Marine Corps Birthday Ball with Jared's Battalion. We got all dolled up--new dress, hot rollers, even make-up. We had a good time and weren't in any danger of falling asleep like one of our table companions did in the following picture:


This is the Marines in the ceremony presenting the cake and having the oldest Marine and the youngest Marine eat the first pieces. This year Jared escaped being the oldest one there to eat the cake because there was a guy in his late 70's who was in attendance. Last year since the ball was only for his company instead of an entire battalion, that honor fell to him.

Can you believe these pictures were taken in the Walmart Parking lot? We've been having gorgeous sunsets this past week!

AARG!! It's the dreaded Food Beard, the pirate.

It's the dreaded pirate Food Beard prior to gorging himself at dinner time at Disneyland. Also, having a great time hanging out with the group for Kathleen's birthday.There's always time to play drums, and make other loud noises, around the house.
Blocks from Uncle Tor and Aunt Jess are fun! Watch out, that road looks bumpy!Yumm-baa! and they even taste like they're food-safe.

Halloween Fun

On the day before Halloween, Einar's preschool had a Halloween Parade for the kids first thing in the morning. The two classes lined up and then paraded around the courtyard three times so that we could all get some good pictures. Einar might look like he is just a plain simple brown horse, but he went as a "Circle of Life Pony." Those are his words. I think he wanted to be a horse and then started reading the Lion King book a bit and just incorporated them together. He did mention that he wanted to be Mufasa about two days prior to Halloween, but thankfully embraced his horse costume. Notice he's about a head taller than the princess behind him.

This year I finally had some help with pumpkin carving. He wasn't into scraping out the insides and he was a bit too eager to wield a knife, but he did stick around with me at the table to help with input on the final product. We went for the "make it look like Soren" design. Two teeth on top, two teeth on the bottom and some sizable ears completed the look. Instead of fire this year, I went with the glowstick option.


Halloween Frenzy.


The crew before heading out for trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Einar is at the far left and Soren the Sock Monkey is being held by Balto the Wolf Girl.

Little sock monkey got to ride with dad all night. Notice that Jared is wearing short sleeves. It was in the low 70's that night and our Circle of Life Pony practically had heat stroke by the time we'd finished two streets!

There hasn't been much to report on this week and regrettably I've been living in the house of sick and haven't felt much like blogging. Einar came down with a crud on Sunday night and has been kept out of school all week and Soren caught it as well. Soren hasn't been as sick as Einar, but he has been oozing snot all week. Yuck, see it isn't even fun to read about!

Out of the Worry Woods

He did it! Soren gained 1lb 10oz in the last 2 weeks and is now on the weight chart again! Can you see how proud of himself he is? I don't think he'll be looking back any time soon and I'm happy that I don't have to go to the doctor with him for another 2 months.

Guest Photographer

Well, I've had Jared publish a post once in awhile, but today I'm debuting my newest photographer: Einar. Last Saturday he and I walked down to our neighborhood clubhouse to see the annual Ocean Hills Dog Show. This was our third time at the event! Each year on the weekend before Halloween this show is held and a variety of neighborhood dogs show up in costume to frolic with each other and compete in best trick competitions and best costume. It's always kind of a hoot to see and there are usually snacks. This year there weren't too many dogs and the costumes weren't all that elaborate, but we had a good time anyway. Einar took the pictures, except the one of him holding the little dog. The owners were very encouraging and helped Einar remember how to approach dogs and scratch them.

Food, Fangs, and Forward Motion

Wow, it's been a big work week for Soren. He just got his fourth tooth. Food is still his top priority and he is now enjoying rice, sweet potatoes, squash, applesauce, bananas, carrots, and yogurt. Tonight he tried out his new mesh feeder first with a banana and then with some apple pieces and loved it. Definitely kept him busy while the rest of us enjoyed our dinner too. I fed him before we sat down for dinner tonight since he was so hungry and when I ran out food in the first bowl, he broke down into angry tears. He settled down when another bowl of food was offered. From a couple of those pictures you can understand why one of Soren's many nicknames is Food Beard, the dreaded Pirate.

He also is now crawling and can move across the room! Last night we all were on the floor encouraging him to make it over to us. He still prefers carpet for his top speeds, but he's getting faster every day.

The Cowboy and His Posse Go Shopping

Last night we all went shopping in search of a dress for me to wear to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball that is coming up in November. Why take your whole family to go dress shopping, you ask? I think because Jared is afraid that I might be gone half a day or more if I head out to do alone at the mall and that baby of ours still wants to see mom more often than not. So we decided to make it a family outing and it worked exceptionally well.

When I told Einar to go get dressed since we were going to go shopping and I wasn't going to take him in his pajamas he came back naked and holding his horse costume. (He's going to be a horse for Halloween). Well, it's really not cold enough to be parading around town in a horse costume since the Santa Ana winds are blowing and the temperature has been in the upper 70s all week. If it were cooler, he might have been able to get away with it since it is October and he's 3years old, but I decided to steer him away from the horse costume and instead encouraged him to wear his cowboy suit. That idea went over splendidly and we went shopping with a very happy cowboy who liked the sound that his boots made when he walked.

So while I looked at dresses, I either had the cowboy with me in the dressing room since he likes to offer his opinions, or he was hanging out with Jared and Soren in the mall. In the long run I did find two dresses and I'm still trying to make a decision, but I no longer have to worry about going to the ball naked or in my bathrobe.
His T-shirt says "Tough Guys Wear Pink."