Eliza's New Trick

Eliza has learned a new trick.

A trick that makes her mommy worried.

A tick that we knew she would learn sometime, but were hoping it would be later rather than sooner.

When she has mastered this trick our world will change forever.

We are hoping that she doesn't master this before Christmas because there are low ornaments on the tree that would be in serious jeopardy.

Much will be changing at the Kline household very soon.

Speaking of changing . . . I think I smell something.

Disneyland at Christmas

I love Disneyland (more than I'd like to admit) and Disneyland at Christmastime is even more magical. The decorations are always so over the top and I stand in awe over them. I even made my own garlands in my house with big shiny and glittery balls in honor of the happiest place on earth. The castle looked amazing this year.

Jon was able to be home on his day off for the first time in months so we took the kids to Disneyland. We had a lot of fun and even stood in line to go on "It's a Small World" for the first time since they redid the boats. We got to see the fun light show (a couple of times) that they put onto the ride.

This is just a little taste for those of you who don't get to go all the time.


It's obviously better in person when the lights go dark all around you and then the entire building lights up with this fun display.

It was really crowded that day and I can only imagine how crowded it will be when we go on this upcoming Thursday. We didn't watch the parade (we'll be doing that this week) and focused on the rides. I love having year passes to Disneyland and will miss them when they are up in February. We'll get them again at some point during the next year, but we'll be going to Disneyland a lot while the passes are good. Call us if you want to go with us.

Cassie and I wasting time by taking pictures while waiting for Daddy and Jeremy to come over from California Adventure.

Hey look everyone - Jeremy is looking at the camera! What I'm not posting is the 20+ pictures that I took before it. :)

Didn't I marry a good looking guy?

Cookies and Icing . . .YUM!

So I've had people call to find out if I'm OK because they haven't seen anything on the blog lately. We are all find and dandy and I've got tons to catch up on, but I'll start with getting back into the swing of blogging. I've taken the pictures, but I haven't posted anything. I promise to do better about posting from now on.

Jeremy had a cookie party and invited some friends from his primary class. My wonderful mother-in-law made dozens of sugar cookies in Christmas shapes for the kids. We had so much fun! I've learned from previous cookie parties of Cassie's that each child gets their own bowl of frosting. The temptation is too great when you are five and have a plastic knife full of frosting to not shove all that sugary goodness into your mouth. In fact, if you look at Jeremy in the pictures you can see that he's indulging in icing overload.

The kids were all great and so much fun to be with. The boys lost interest in the cookies after about 6 cookies and went outside to play on our fort, but the girls were with me for the long haul. After the cookies we watched a cute Christmas movie (Santa Clause is Coming to Town) until their parents came for them.

I feel like I'm so very lucky to be able to stay at home with my kids and have the luxury of time to do fun activities for them. I want them to remember all the fun Christmas times we had and not dwell on the commercialism of the gifts.

Halloween

The spooks and the goblins were out in force this year for Halloween. Jon and I missed the kids carnival and the ward party due to the funeral so I only got to see the kids dressed up once for Halloween. Cassie was Hermione from the Harry Potter books (which she has read every single one), Jeremy was Spiderman (with big strong muscles to boot) and Eliza was a cute little pink bunny.

Jeremy and Jon carved Jeremy's Jack-o-Lantern at his school earlier in the week at the annual kindergarten "Pas and Pumpkins". Jeremy drew it all out and I was impressed with what he came up with. Cassie and Eliza did their pumpkin on Halloween afternoon (I did help Eliza with hers).

I made a fun Halloween dinner with deviled egg eyes, hot dog mummies, spiders trapped in Jello, witches brew and graveyard salad. I love doing fun dinners for the kids. Jon's mom and his aunt came over for dinner and for a little trick-or-treating and I was glad I had something fun to serve them. We love celebrating holidays at our house I it's something I hope the kids remember about our family when they grow up.

Halloween time @ Disneyland

We took the kids to Disneyland after school. I love seeing all the decoration changes that they do. I finally used my Disney credit card to get the free stroller rental in the park. It was so much easier not having to take a stroller on the tram (and Jeremy loved being allowed to sit in the stroller while Eliza was in her Baby Bjorn). We went shortly after Cassie's birthday and she got the nifty "Birthday Pin" to wear around.

Eliza fell asleep in her stroller, but when Cinderella walked by she opened her eyes just long enough to smile at her. It's always important to be nice to a princess.

A quick mommy sighting as I waited for the rest of the family to go on a ride.

Jon and Cassie went on Grizzly Rapids a couple of times. It must have felt good in the almost 90 degree heat.

Eliza entertained herself by working on her kissy noises.

I love having passes to the happiest place on earth. We go so often and I just feel lucky that we live close enough to do it.

He can see clearly now

This cute boy got tested and fitted for glasses . . .
and now sees much better.

Now maybe he'll look at the camera now that he can see it.

Felling a little left out - his sister wanted some glasses too.

Jane Rea Meyers Eliason

Grandmother on her wedding day.Jon's grandmother passed away. She was a wonderful woman and I'm so glad that I got to know her and that she was close enough for the kids to know her. She was 93. Some things I'd like to share about Grandmother.

1. She LOVED pink. She loved pink roses, handbags, bedding, clothing, lotions and basically anything you can find in any shade of pink.
2. She loved dolls. She's got a fantastic collection of dolls. Some she still has from her childhood. Beautiful porcelain dolls, paper dolls, newer dolls - all things associated with dolls.
3. She loved her family (especially the babies). One of her favorite memories that she'd share with me was when she held two great-grandchildren at the same time. One was the youngest daughter from her oldest granddaughter and one was the oldest daughter from another granddaughter. The girls are about 13 years old now, but Grandmother would still talk about that.
4. She loved her home. Until she couldn't live on her own anymore because of health reasons she lived in the same home that she lived in for more than 60 years. She had beautiful, impeccable taste and it reflected in her home decorating.
5. She was a bit of a saver. OK - that is the understatement of the century because she saved EVERYTHING. That might have been a product of the Great Depression era, but nobody knows. This weekend we found spelling tests of my mother-in-law's from about 1st or 2nd grade. They were on the top of a beautiful old steam locker trunk that was completely full of papers.
Please notice the pink casket that she picked out for herself years ago.
Her funeral was in Fresno and ALL Jon's cousins came in for it. We haven't had all the cousins together since Caroline's wedding in the summer of 2000. Although the occasion was sad it was great to see everybody. I think that everybody ended up with a great "trouble getting to Fresno" story. One flew directly from a trip to China, one had her flight delayed four times while her sister was stuck waiting for her in the airport for hours and another was tried to fly stand-by and ended up purchasing an extra set of tickets that they couldn't use. Ours was that our air conditioning broke a few hours outside of Fresno in 90 degree heat. We apparently hit a pebble that bounced into the engine and created a hole in the air conditioner. We had to drive home at night so it wouldn't be so hot in the car. It made for some interesting and sometimes desperate (and funny) phone calls the day before the funeral.

Jon and his grandmother at his graduation from USC in 1998.
The last time all three of my kids visited her. This was taken in mid-September.

These are some of my favorite shots the kids with her that I've got in digital and can upload easily.

Cassie with Grandmother in 2006Jeremy kissing her when he was two.Eliza getting a kiss from Grandmother in September

Eliza sleeping in Grandmother's arms in July.
One of the fun things during our trip was to meet Eliza's newest second-cousin.


His name is Blake Bauer and he's absolutely adorable. They are only about 6 weeks apart and I'm looking forward to seeing them grow up. I wish they lived closer together so they could play. I didn't get the shot of them laying on their backs together with his hand on her leg and her arm linked with his. It was really cute. You can't see it in the picture, but Blake's onsie has a little tie on it. They were both dressed up for the funeral. Boy Grandmother would have loved to hold these two babies together.
We'll miss you Grandmother!
Yours is a seat at the family table that can never be filled.