Santa sightings...are sometimes scary.

Carson and Katelynn met Santa twice this year. Katelynn had the same reaction both times, she sat on his lap and smiled until she realized that Mommy was standing in front of her. She slowly looked up at the bearded man and her big pouty lip came out followed quickly by tears and crying. Carson figured out quickly that you get candy after meeting Santa, so now if you inquire about what he will ask Santa for, he says, " Candy cane, Santa."

All smiles while waiting to meet Jolly Ol' St. Nick.

Katelynn just realized that she was sitting on Santa's lap!

Christmas Cookies...Yummy!

Carson had a fun playdate last week when his friend from church, Riley came over to decorate cookies. The boys did a great job overloading their cookies with sprinkles, colored sugar and frosting. Yummy! Carson and Riley decorating christmas cookies

(or just eating frosting and licking the sprinkles shaker)

Riley enjoying his first bite of cookie after the hard work

of decorating was done.

Carson found it was more fun putting the frosting his mouth,

than it was on the cookies!

Decorating for Christimas

Decorating the house was a bit of a challenge this year, but was also a lot of fun. Katelynn tried to empty boxes and eat the packaging. ( I tell people that she is our "Little Goat" since she seeks out paper from across the room to go and munch on) Carson liked picking out ornaments and choosing the perfect branch to hang them on (The poor tree struggles to hold all of Carson's decorations on just two of it's little branches) Carson had a lot of fun this year choosing decorations and placing them on the tree.

Katelynn showing off our decorations in the front yard.

Every object in Carson's world becomes a race track.

Katelynn checking out a box of decorations.

Oh Christmas Tree...

The Mitchell Family with their tiny tree.
Always smiling, Katelynn enjoying the brisk, winter air at the tree lot.

Carson had fun this year picking out the best tree for the family.

Daddy's New Job.

Paul got a new job! His previous employer, Mervyn's that moved us from Seattle to the Bay Area declared bankruptcy and closed their corporate offices within 5 months of us moving to California. Paul began his job hunt and was fortunate enough to get an offer from, Superba, a large neckwear manufacturer in Los Angeles. Paul started his job as Director of Merchandising within 2 days of accepting the job. He is staying with friends and family during the week and commuting back to the Bay Area on the weekends for the next month. So, for the time being, as Carson would say, "Daddy L.A."

Katelynn's First Thanksgiving.

Katleynn helped herself to Carson's appeitzers and had her first taste of Ritz crackers.

Yummy! Carson digging into his thanksgiving feast.

Katelynn enjoyed fruit puffs and a tiny taste of turkey.

Thanksgiving this year was a quiet day at home, just the four of us. We watched the parade in the morning, and football in the afternoon. Joanna made a turkey breast with all the yummy side dishes, and we enjoyed having a feast with our little family sitting at the table together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you have a great turkey day, filled with family and fun! We have many things to be thankful for this year, but our greatest blessing is having such wonderful family and friends.

With love and thanks,

The Mitchell Family

Going home.

Carson mailing his postcards from our hotel.

Katelynn liked having her own seat on the way home and took a long nap.

Carson was exhausted and slept on the plane too!

The North Shore

We spent our last day of vacation on the North Shore. We started off with shave ice at Masimoto's, then were on our way to snorkel at Waimea Bay. We quickly changed plans since there had been a sighting of an 8 foot long shark the day before! We went to a tide pool area that we found out later was called, "Sharks Cove." Later, we checked out the surf at Pipeline and Sunset. What a great day! Pipeline Beach on the North Shore.

Shark sighting sign at Wiamea Beach. There was a helicopter out all day, flying back and forth along the shoreline, looking for sharks.

Carson looking for a crab that scurried under the rock.

Katelynn enjoying shave ice. (She had mostly ice, without the syrup, but she still loved it!)

Grandad Schulz's 80th Birthday!

We went to Hawaii to celebrate Grandad's birthday. It was so much fun to have a party with all of the family in his honor. Grandad was touched to have us there to celebrate with him.

A Three Hour Tour...

We were very fortunate to be able to get a private tour of Coconut Island. It is the location of Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and was the actual island that was featured in the opening scenes of Gilligan's Island. The property and views were breathtakingly beautiful. Carson loved seeing the sharks and fish.

Surfin' USA

Teeny Wahine Katelynn loved standing on the surfboard and laughed the whole time!

Surfers lining up, waiting for a wave in Waikiki.

Surfer Carson was a little scared, but had a good time on Grandpa Tom's surfboard.

When the band is away...Carson will play.

Our first evening in Hawaii we were enjoying the live entertainment in the courtyard of our hotel. Carson was dancing to the Hawaiian tunes and playing his drums (a stick broken in two on the banister above the sidewalk) The band was watching him as they played and as they went on break offered for Carson to come over and play the bongos. (Only in Hawaii, are they laid back enough to let a toddler pound on their instruments) Carson played the drums with Grandpa Tom by his side, while many tourists snapped his picture. He got a great round of applause from the hotel guests when his performance was over.

Hawaiian Halloween

Katelynn celebrated her first Halloween in Hawaii. We walked up and down the street in Waikiki and trick or treated in the stores. We went in everything from the ABC Stores to Godiva (which by the way was handing out Snickers). Nana, Grandpa Tom and Jason joined us. Carson tried to eat all the candy as soon as it was handed to him and Katelynn fell asleep early in the evening.

Pumpkin carvin' time

Carson enjoyed carving his pumpkin and Mommy enjoyed having a helper to get the "goo" out of the inside. Joanna likes the Halloween tradition, but hates the pumpkin guts. Paul dislikes the smell so much that he stayed in the house for the whole cleaning/carving time. After Carson cleaned out the pumpkin, he told mommy where to put "eyes"...."nose"....."mouth"...( He also asked for ears, but we pretended not to hear that request)

Pumpkin festivities

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Big Girl in her Crib

Last week, Katelynn started to pull herself up to her knees when she was in her crib. We quickly realized that we needed to lower her bed. She was happy to help Mommy fix her crib. We lowered it one knotch, thinking that she would be safe inside. This week, she started standing in her crib! We are not ready for her to be standing up yet. So, I guess after we get back from vacation, we will lower her bed again!

Poor Reggie

Katelynn has started crawling! Poor Reggie now has two kids to deal with. Katelynn tries to grab Reggie's shiny tags and he just lays there and enjoys the attention. On this occasion, she tried to climb over his head and got stuck halfway. She teetered and tottered for a little bit before she was able to make it over her "doggy climber toy"

Look Mommy...Clouds!

It has been almost 6 months since we moved from Seattle. I think Carson has already forgotten much of his birth city. I was in the kitchen one morning and he called me outside, frantically pointing to the sky. I thought there must be a plane or large bird, but no...he wanted to show me the clouds in the sky. How soon we forget...

Swinging in the park

Katelynn had her first time in the swings. We stopped by the park one quiet afternoon and had the whole place to ourselves.

Katelynn loved the swings and giggled the whole time. It reminded me of Carson's first time swinging at Lincoln Park in Seattle. The kids had a great time together.

The Blue Angels

Grandpa Mitch, Grandma Gretchen and Auntie Shannie came up for a visit. It was Fleet Week in San Francisco, so we went into the city for the day. It was another beautiful day in SF, warm and clear. Carson loved watching the planes dive and twist in the air, so we were excited for him to see the Blue Angels. But, he fell asleep! He slept through the entire hour long, loud airshow. Katelynn was really good and only got scared with one "fly-over".