The second week of our Christmas Vacation...

Well sort of... I am gonna start with the Sunday of Liam's baptism, just after the festivities.

After Liam's baptism at the church we headed over to my mom's house for some sandwiches and presents for the newest little member of God's family.



Liam, however, thought he would be better off taking a nap with his Oma...

So I opened his presents.

Then we left my families house and headed over to Owen's parents house. Shortly after we got there we all headed out to Clark Park again.

For a little while we all just stood there...



Then we got down to business and started feeding the ducks!



After we went through the 4 loaves of cheap white bread from the 99 cent store we got to the business of playing.



Eventually it got to dark to see the playground equipment. It was time for the park to close, so we loaded up into the van's and headed out. The Ramirez family headed home... The Bailey Families headed out to dinner.

The next day we headed out to Exhibition Park in Los Angeles.

We first went to the Natural History Museum. We expected it to cost a small fortune cause our group was so big... we were wrong! Turns out Active Duty Military and their group gets in for FREE!



We saw Dino bones...



We did arts and crafts...



We saw some truly quality taxidermy...



We got to see some real paleontologists at work in the "Dino Lab"



And we got to see some Mayan treasures.

Then we headed out of the Natural history museum and enjoyed some corn on a stick and ice cream!



Liam, whom by this time had finally recovered from the flu, enjoyed the heck out of being able to crawl around in the grass...



On a completely sidetracked note...



Isn't it beautiful how much Owen's parents still love each other after more than 35 years?!

Next we headed over to the Science Museum.



This is our whole group!

The Science Museum is technically free... but they do recommend that you make a donation... but nobody will give you a hard time if you don't!

In the Science Museum we all enjoyed learning about how stone arches work...



The kids played under the arches for a little while...



Then Dadzilla struck!





Finally we went outside to see how many kids it would take to pull up a truck off the floor using leverage...



Turns out it takes more kids than The Ramirez's and we have!

After all that we headed back to the Bailey house and called it a night.

On Tuesday we went to my parents house again.

Mom gave the kids their stocking, since for some reason that had never happened on Christmas Eve.

Liam finally got to open his presents since he was no longer sick...



He thought ripping off all that paper was awesome!

Then it was decided that it was time to eat the gingerbread house that Mom and Alexander had made together.



The next day was the 30th... Annie came out again and while we waited for my cousin Rachel to drive up from Chula Vista, Carole told the kids the story of the Blue Willow Plate.



Once Rachel got there we went out to lunch at a restaurant called Life Plaza. They serve primarily Asian cuisine.



Mikaela tried desperately hard to use chopsticks like the adults.



Rachel thought that that was so awesome that she had to Facebook it from right there! (She also Facebooked when Alexander sang all the lyrics to La Vie Boheme too!)

After lunch we had the most awesome shaved ice and ice cream sundae ever! You don't believe me?



I told you.

After lunch and dessert we headed over to hang out and have a Monty Python night with Jan Williams, Neal's mom...

While the guys and Annie watched Flying Circus episodes I attempted to teach my cousin to crochet. I am sad that there are no pictures of that...

The next day was Owen's birthday.... which I guess really does deserve it's own post... so I guess I will have to continue this later!

Liam's Baptism

The next thing we did on our trip was to have Liam Baptised on the 27th. Pastor Dannenbring baptized my sister, He married my parents, He confirmed Me, Orion and Rachel and now he has baptized all 4 of my children.



Orion and Rachel were the God Parents. Orion is all 4 of the kids Godfather... Rachel is Mikaela and Liam's Godmother. Orion's ex is technically Alexander and Aeddons Godmother... but I don't think she really wants the job anymore.....



So there you have it. Liam is a baptized Member of God's family, via the Lutheran Church.

I left you hanging.

I left you hanging right in the middle of our Christmas trip back home to California. I am sorry. Something kind of life changing happened since the last time I posted. I will finish up Christmas vacation.... then I will tell you why I disappeared. I am still trying to wrap my head around it!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Christmas Eve was fun filled. My mom hosted the evening at her house again.(She does every year that we go home.)



She was in constant motion all night and in all honesty this is the best picture that I got of her...

As always she cooked a fantastic meal with turkey and gravy and potatoes and all the other holiday fixings. Of course I missed eating with everyone cause I was outside finishing up my last Christmas present.



That is Carole's Hemlock Ring Blanket. I didn't give it to her till Christmas.

Speaking of Carole, both Don and Carole attended my mom's Christmas Eve dinner. I always feel a little bad about that because they always accept my parents invitation... but NEVER once have they come to Don and Caroles on Christmas.... Although they do come whenever they have a birthday party for Owen... So maybe that evens out.

Anyways.

After dinner there was presents.

The Nellesens and Orion gave us their presents. Orions were some of the coolest.... Well ok. The present he gave Aeddon was Aeddons coolest present.



And the one he gave Mikaela was her favorite...



A baby stroller for all her babies to take walks in. Of course her big brothers broke her new stroller before it even made it home... so we will be replacing it asap.

My mom and dad gave Alexander his favorite gift of the night...



A talking Bumblebee from the Transformers movies. He loves it SO MUCH. His next favorite gift is totally the Magnetix that his dad and I gave him for Christmas though...

If you are noticing a lack of Liam again, that is because during all of the festivities he slept off the worst day of his flu. Starting Christmas morning he began to recover. It was a Christmas Miracle for sure!

Back to Christmas Eve!

After the kids had opened most of their presents Don and Carole announced that they had brought my presents with them. They pretended to bring them because they knew that I was planning on attending church with my parents on Christmas morning, but the truth of it was that I had spent the night before sleeping in the van cause I refused to go back into the house until someone apologized for the attack Jaclyn fest that happened two nights before. So they brought my presents to my parents house where they knew that I would open them.

Of course my favorite gift of the night was from Alexander.



He and Papa spent all week out in the garage making me that cross from scratch. They made it, shaped it, sanded it, and decorated it together. They even put a coat of stain on it. I love it and as soon as I actually finish unloading the van, it will be getting hung up in the front entryway.

The funniest gift of the night was given to me by Owen. Why was it funny you ask?



I giggled too.

Owen also received many fine gifts. He got several movies he wanted and Under the Dome, the Latest Stephen King novel.



After presents we wrapped up the festivities. Owens parents headed home and the rest of us got dressed up and went to the candle light Christmas Eve service at Christ Lutheran. It was beautiful as always.

Then we headed back to Owen's parents house for the evening. Every one went inside and went to bed. Except for me. I slept in the van again. Let it be stated for the record that I am incredibly stubborn.

Christmas Morning arrived. It was chill outside, but overall it was another beautiful Southern California Christmas. That of course means that it was sunny.

First thing in the morning Owen brought out Liam so that I could nurse him. After I gave him back to Owen I headed out for Christmas morning service. It was beautiful. I hadn't been to a Christmas morning service since Alexander was born.

I thought that while I was gone that Owen and the kids would be opening Christmas presents. I was wrong. They waited for me thinking that I would come into the house to watch them. They were wrong. I stayed in the van in front of the neighbors house and read the book Owen had just given me for Christmas from cover to cover!

Then I dozed off. The next thing I knew it was evening. Owen was standing next to the van with Kester in tow. They climbed into the van and Kester and I talked about what had happened. Then he apologized for the way things were handled (which was all I wanted.) and asked me to come in for dinner. He assured me that his whole family wanted me to come in. So I got out of the car and went in for Christmas dinner. After that the night was pretty calm.

The next day we were supposed to go to Disneyland. That didn't end up happening since the money we were going to use on tickets ended up buying us 4 new tires a week before we were supposed to head south. The tires literally split open on the van!

Anyways. So we didn't go to Disneyland after all. Instead we spent the day hanging out with Malea and her daughter Emma. We even took Emma to the park with us so that the other grown-ups could clean up the mess from Christmas. It was a fun and relaxed day (which Liam slept through most of, although this was the last day he spent most of asleep on the trip!)

Until bedtime. We had gotten so wrapped up in hanging out that we completely forgot to put the kids to bed at a reasonable hour. This caused Mikaela to have a raging fit which ended like this:



Yes, she is in fact sleeping standing up with her face rested in my cleavage. It was to funny to not take pictures!



This is how Aeddon crashed out on the couch after refusing to go to bed at all. It was awesome.

Alexander of course didn't go to bed till we did. Which caused pictures like this one to be taken:



Overall the Christmas festivities were a huge success and the day of rest was much needed before the excitement that occurred over the next few days...

A Chronological look at what I have been up to since the last time I blogged...

At the advice of several people.... most of whom read my blog via facebook, not here on blogger..... I am going to start at the beginning of where I last blogged and work my way through. This might get broken up into more than one post if I start to realize that it is going to be crazy long.....

The last thing I blogged was that Aeddon had turned 4....

Around that same time Owen did something that just about ripped my heart in two. See he was feeding Liam (or the Moose to most...) and his phone got a text. I thought I would be nice since he was elbow deep in baby food and read it to him. It was from an ex-girlfriend that I have spent the last several months begging him to stop all contact with. At the end of her text was the phrase "I Love You."

I Love You? That is not something you text to just a friend. Love you or love ya or luv ya, Maybe.... but fully typing out I love you made me curious. So I read his text inbox and then his text outbox. In those two things I found that they were full on Sexting.... and that he had asked her to take three days off of work and hang out with him on a work related trip he was going to have to take for three days.

Yeah. I about died. I made him call her on speakerphone and tell her that he would never speak to her again. Then I made him delete her from our lives.







So vacation for us started off on a rough foot. It is hard to act happy and excited to see everyone when you are dying inside..... Of course I could have just acted how I felt, but that wouldnt have been fair to my parents or to his.


Then we left for California on the 18th. As we usually do we drove straight through in one big go. No stopping to sleep. 1100 miles in one big trip of insanity.

We are hard core like that.

While we were there we stayed at Owens parents house. The one room they had for us was way to small to fit all 6 of us, so Liam and I slept in that room and Owen slept in the living room on air mattresses with the rest of the kids.



That picture has Owen, Mikaela, Aeddon and Alexander in it. Can you find them all?

Anyways. While we were there we packed in as much fun as we could.



Owen's dad, Don, was silly...



Owen's mom, Carole, tried to contain her mirth...



Owen's brother, Kester, made silly faces while cooking obscene amounts of various types of dessert breads.

That was just the first day!

The next day we went to see my parents.



Dad worked in the garage/workshop with Alexander making me a christmas present.



My mom prepared for the youth groups progressive dinner.



Mikaela got to put the Angel on the family tree.



She also got to play dress-up with all of my sister, Rachel's, pink stuff.



Rachel was constantly fussing with her make-up. I think she was nervous about all her friends being at the house with "the other Bailey's Circus".

My brother wisely hid from the teen invasion...



Aeddon, who was still wiped from the trip, sucked on the countertop and watched the chaos unfold. Later that night he set a napkin on fire and set it on the kitchen table to see what happened. My dad was not amused, but handled himself beautifully. It was our fault really for leaving the candles lit after dinner....

Have you noticed the lack of Liam in the post so far? Well that is because the first few days we were there he slept constantly cause he was cutting his top two front teeth at one time. Then the third day we were there he started having flu like symptoms. He then spent the rest of the time until Christmas Day pretty much sleeping through the flu. I got him his flu shot. He still got the flu. Thank God Owen is a Medic and knew what to look for to keep Liam safe. Otherwise we probably would have spent most of the trip in the ER with Liam!

The third day that we were there Don and Carole took us to the hsi lai buddest temple near there home.



They liked my children so much there that they let them into one of the sacred gardens so that I could take their pictures. I didnt even ask! They offered!





After our visit at the temple Owen, Kester, Annie and I went to Rose Hills to see Neal and the boys. We cleaned up their headstones cause the recent rain had made them muddy. Owen played "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd. We all took some time to contemplate what christmas would have been like if they were still here.

The biggest miracle of that part of the day was that Kester let me take his picture. Voluntarily.



This might be my favorite picture from the whole trip.

The fourth day (or third whole day) of our trip was spent with my parents. Rachel and my dad took Owen and Mikaela and Aeddon shopping. They bought my moms christmas presents.



My mom and Alexander made a gingerbread house.



I think it turned out great.

The next day was Wednesday and should have been spent with Owen's family. That didnt happen though because of a SERIOUS MISUNDERSTANDING that got way out of hand.

Instead we went to Clark Park with my sister.




The next day was christmas Eve. I think that I will give christmas Eve and Christmas their own post as this one has gotten quite long.