The Adventures of Greg, Vivi, Grace & Annika: December 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas 2008 in Arrowhead

Welcome to a glimpse of the Porter Campbell Strickland McFadden Venick (!) Christmas celebration, wonderfully hosted by Jen and Shane at their home in Lake Arrowhead.

Merry Christmas from our Family to Yours!

One of several highlights this year is that for the first time Zach has a boy cousin, and in fact he has two! Here's Campbell playing ball while celebrating his first Christmas with cousin Zach.

Santa showed up jolly as usual with gifts for the kids...

...Grace was so happy with Santa's gift...

Then Santa had a surprise for us all!

Lake Arrowhead was blessed with over three feet of snow, which made for the perfect wintry Christmas setting, made driving fun and every trip outside an adventure!

Uncle Mike and I agreed to a sledding duel for speed accuracy and distance...guess who won?

Mike has created a record of baby Campbell's first time on the sled.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

A special thanks to Larry and Linda for hosting a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner at their home in Lake Arrowhead. We arrived Wednesday evening through dense foggy conditions that shifted to hail and sleet that blanketed the mountain with a white substance that easily passed as snow for the kids. For our families I believe there is nothing more enjoyable than watching Olivia, Zach and Grace come together and play as cousins - reminiscent of the days Jennifer and I would bond with Kristen and Kelly as kids.

Linda can orchestrate a Thanksgiving meal with the best of them; we Porters are so blessed to have merged our Thanksgiving tradition with the Stricklands. This year, Larry and Linda arranged a photographer to take a family portrait - great idea - and Shane got the boys involved in a 9 on 9 flag football game - my ribs are killing me so next time I'm up for golf! Honestly though, V, Grace and I love our time with Jen, Shane, Livvy and Zach, and are already looking forward to Christmas in the mountains!

To all: If you have a favorite moment from the 2008 Thanksgiving holiday, please share it with us as a comment. And be well!

Grace Quotes

10/9/10 "Daddy, how do you spell "Wackadoodle Wackasmoodle"? "Sure, why?" "That's the name of my new book!"

4/23/10 "First we go to Circle and then second we dance. Then we go to Circle, do our journal, reading, - I'm not including my workbook yet - then we do our workbook, and then we have Snack, then one of my teachers Ms. Abria comes." "What do you do with her?" "Nothing. And then we go to Circle, and then we go outside and play. And then we eat lunch. And then we go inside, sing a song - that's the one we're doing for Mother's Day - so don't tell Mom - oh yeah and then we go outside and play until our parents pick us up. I don't have music today, do I? Oh, Friday, I just have library - because there is a library at my school. "

4/18/10 Demi: "Oh Grace, you look beautifuller than a fairy!"

9/12/09 "Daddy, what is under the road?" "Dirt." "What is under the dirt?" "More dirt" "What is under more dirt?" "Rock." "What is under rock, hot lava?" "Yep!" "Yikes!"

9/12/09 "Daddy, do policemen pull over policemen?" "No." "Then who delivers the mailman's mail?"

9/8/09 Grace's first day of kindergarten was a smashing success..."we didn't have to do ANYTHING HARD!"

8/11 "Mommy, how about you and Daddy eat what you want to eat, and I'll eat a happy meal."

7/25 Olivia: "When Grace is 8 and I can drive we're going to have a cousin and me weekend. We gonna go and do all kinds of girl things together."

6/25/09 - Zach: "Pirates never sleep...they fight all night!"

6/2/09 "Daddy, when Demi and I are grownups, Damon will still be a teenager!"

5/23/09 Tracy, while she's putting Allegra age 2.5, to bed while beach camping: "It's OK Alegra, that's just the sound of motorcycles." Allegra: "They're called Harleys, Mom."

2/15/09 "If I don't cry can I have a Happy Meal?"

2/12/09 "They all know how James Bond likes his drink!"

2/4/09 "Daddy I don't like hawks." "Why, Grace?" "Hawks eat fairies!"

10/6/08 "Daddy can we call Amelia to see if she can play and if she can't play can we call Haley to see if she can play and if she can't play can we call Demi to see if she can play and if she can't play can we play cars?" "Sure." "Yay!"

Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas 2008 in Arrowhead

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008