Christmas Eve 2008

Where to start? We have had such a fun week! Christmas Eve was one of the highlights of our Christmas vacation.

It started off with a tradition that I hope we get rid of soon (when we have more time in December... or the rest of the year)- SHOPPING on Christmas Eve! We were a few of the last customers in Target as they started closing the registers. Hopefully as part of my New Years resolutions for 2009 I can somehow get a brain transplant that makes me more organized and less of a holiday shopping procrastinator!


Next we helped decorate the Smith family Christmas tree. Since we didn't get to have a tree in Cali this year, it was fun to start a new tradition and all help decorate the tree at my parent's house on Christmas Eve. It was especially nice to have Scott, Cat & Jessie celebrating with us too!

Andrew liked eating the ornaments, climbing up the stairs, and playing with Grandpa instead.

We also carried on the Smith family tradition of playing UNO, eating lots of treats and cheese & crackers, and wrapping up Secret Santa gifts. Once it got late enough for Santa to drop off presents, we jumped in our Lexus bubble car sleigh and headed off to help him do some delivering.

Uh Oh! Is that Cat kissing Santa??!!

Santa & his helpers

Jess was the fastest and most creative as she rang doorbells,
ran, and threw herself on top of Cat & I as we sped off.

We also started a new tradition (which will hopefully carry on) of visiting the Holdman Christmas light display in Lindon, UT. It was definitely an experience we will never forget! Check out the website here.

Jess got out and danced in the snow to the music and choreographed light displays...

We ended the night with my favorite Smith family tradition of sharing Christmas stories and reading in the Bible about the first Christmas. Jessie shared an abridged version of "The Polar Express" (with her own commentary that kept us awake).


I shared this cute story by President Monson called "A Christmas Dress for Ellen." I probably would've gotten sentimental as I was reading... but the name of one of the characters, Ingeborg, kept making me crack up. I don't know why (other than b/c I was really overtired).

Scott, Cat & Kev all shared Christmas stories from their missions and then we all headed up to bed so that Santa would have time to come and visit. It was such a special Christmas Eve!
I am so grateful for the birth of Christ and this wonderful time of year!! We have been so busy back in Cali this month that I haven't felt like we've really had an opportunity to have the Christmas spirit around. It has been so nice to be with family this week and remember all of the blessings we've been given.

For Sale!

After way too many nights of 4am bedtimes, our condo is finally done (for the most part) and listed. Check it out here.

All we want for Christmas is for someone to buy it :) Merry Christmas!!

Working Weekend

We spent all Friday night and Saturday packing more things up to ship off to storage. Who knew we had SO MUCH STUFF hiding in our closets?! It was a very exciting weekend. ;)



Andrew loved pushing the boxes around. It kept him entertained forever! (always my favorite sort of games :))


His favorite part of Saturday was watching Jeremy & Kevin carry the boxes outside to load up the truck. I had to hold him back bc he kept trying to crawl out the door and follow them.



The best parts of our weekend were going to the mall with some of the young women from church (I had do some secret santa shopping and they were great advisors)... and heading up to the Oakland Temple tonight to hear the Oliphant Sisters perform. They go to our church and have awesome voices- one is 10 and the other is 13. I am always amazed when they start singing because it is so beautiful! It was another perfect Christmas moment, despite the torrential rain!


Only 4 more days til Christmas!! Can't wait!!

Moving on up

The little man has finally reached high enough status to earn his own room in our condo (without boxes, desks, bookcases, dust, remodeling supplies, etc.). :) He doesn't know what to do with all of the space!



But I am definitely having fun using up all his new closet storage and he LOVES the new mirror in his room!! All of his current clothes fit in his little dresser, which is perfect for me. The room's not totally done, but it is so cool that he has his own space now.


My next goal is to find some fun vintage baseball posters for the wall. After almost 10 months, I'm loving FINALLY being able to decorate his little nursery!! When Andrew asks why we didn't have a Christmas tree or decorations for his first Christmas, we'll just tell him his mom was a little bit behind... maybe I'll decorate for Christmas in July instead :)

Loving the Green Dragon

The Green Dragon puppet is Andrew's favorite character in the Baby Einstein movies.


His reaction is hysterical when the puppet comes on screen. Here are a few moments I caught on video today.

What did we ever do without them?

After a day of having knobs and handles on our kitchen cabinets, we're already wondering, "how did we do without knobs and handles for 3 years?" They are so useful... and I think they make the kitchen look prettier too.

Here are pics of the beautiful bronze knobs and handles that Kevin stayed up really LATE installing last night.

From Kevin's height

From Kristina's height

My job in the remodeling process is to serve as the positive reinforcer, treat maker, quality control checker (which is easy when you have a very meticulous husband!), and family historian (aka: blogger).



Tonight we're adding a closet and reorganizing Andrew's room. He's fast asleep in the pack n'play in our room. Cookies are baking and I'm cleaning out the kitchen cabinets, packing some stuff up, and occasionally grabbing a tool to hand to Kevin. :) Tomorrow night we'll paint, which should be loads of fun!

In other news, Andrew decided to let us know that he was tired of hanging out in his rocker... and just crawled off it with the seat attached to his behind. It's pretty funny to see him trying to crawl around with the rocker getting pulled along too!

Why buy a dog when you've got an Andrew?

This is some footage of our playdate today with some cute dogs and some of Andrew's little friends. Andrew definitely LOVED the dogs... maybe a little too much? By the time we left, the dogs were hiding. :)

Andrew liked crawling around after the dogs, petting them and pulling their tails, and trying to copy their barking. It was very entertaining. Kevin is already trying to convince me that Andrew needs a dog for Christmas. (that will NOT be happening anytime soon, but I am so glad he loves dogs) :)

Following the dogs around

The dogs weren't sure what to make of a barking kid chasing after them...
they are used to being the ones who are chasing after people





Here's Katharine trying to show Andrew how to "gently" pet the dog so that he won't get attacked... Andrew wasn't too interested. His way was working well to get their attention :)





Taking a break with Aila after all the doggy chasing



Kailee could not take her eyes off the camera!
I think she'll be ready for a modeling career sometime soon :)

Thanks Katharine, Kailee, Lorna & Aila for the fun afternoon!!
(PS- Frank, the cookies & zucchini bread were delicious!! You're super dad)

Google Holiday Party 2008

Although this year's party could not in any way compare with last year's holiday party, Kevin & I had a lot of fun spending some time together and going out on a date without the little man on Saturday night.


Some great things about the party this year included:
1) No 1 hr wait to get parked in the parking lot

2) No bus ride from the parking lot to the party

3) Time to chit chat with people from Kevin's team (last year it was so huge we couldn't find anyone)

Kevin's team (minus a few people who didn't make the party)

4) Cute photobooths where we could take tons of pictures without paying a cent (we're not too original with our poses... but we had a good time trying)

5) A yummy chocolate fountain and IT'S-IT ice cream sandwiches (plus some real food... but we all know that I usually just care about dessert :))!

6) Google "business" casual dress = Kevin could wear jeans :)

It was a fun night!

Bed Head

This was my favorite hairstyle last week after one of Andrew's naps. I'm sure there are many people that wish they could get as much volume as he did (without any hair products). :)

Christmas by the Bay

This year we decide to start a new family tradition and go up to San Francisco to check out the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations. It definitely helped us get in the Christmas spirit and we had a lot of fun!

We started off with a trip to Union Square to check out the decorations at Macys and see the big Christmas tree.


The Macys windows were nothing like the ones in NYC, but it was fun to see the little puppies and kittens that they are trying to find homes for... and the window decorations were very unique.

Buskirk family in front of the Union Square Christmas tree

Kev & Andrew checking out the puppies in the Macys windows

Kristina & Andrew hanging out in chilly Union Square (we always manage to pose next to the trash cans :))


Next we headed to Ghirardelli Square to check out the Christmas decorations and tree and introduce Andrew to a delicious chocolate fudge ice cream sundae.

Waiting patiently for our sundae

mmm... looks GOOD!

Excited to dig in!

Relaxing after eating the WHOLE sundae and some really rich hot cocoa

It was the perfect night and a great new family tradition to start! Andrew was such a super kid and had so much fun flirting with all the ladies he met at Ghirardelli... and then he slept the whole ride home! I already can't wait for next year's trip!