Here he is, waiting for class to start:

Then teeing up:

The follow through:

And a proud little man:

Right before class, at home.  Then, strike a pose for practice:

Class was dark, and I turned off my flash so I wouldn’t disturb them.  The artsy look was a side effect, not the intent.

And…

And ballet class is happily next to a fabulous bakery, because you really need to replenish your calories after a grueling workout with a gigantic peanut butter chocolate chip cookie.

At the zoo

(Where Mol struck a Molly pose and looked bored and sunglassed…)

And we rode the new carousel

(Still with the movie star attitude.)A rousing game of musical chairs at the park…

Lots of game playing (while we got ready for the New Years Day Marx Brothers double feature!).

And a hike to Skull Mountain to hunt for pirate treasure.  We started with a picnic in the park…

And then a pirate treasure hunt!  Chuck created a map that was a thing of beauty and spun them a yarn about how he found it.  Then we gave the kids compasses and spyglasses and we were off…

We followed the map and found where x marked the spot, and dug.

And they did indeed find a little treasure chest filled with pirate earrings, pieces of eight, and pirate daggers.

Then for New Years weekend we went to the Getty Villa on New Years Eve

where they posed nicely for pictures

and Molly discovered her new favorite way of eating french fries: dipped in butter.  We call them Molly fries now.

You’d think we’d be exhausted by New Years day, but we had traditions to keep!  Dim Sum on one end of town and then the Marx Brothers double feature picture show…  it was an amazing vacation and we all loved every minute.  We’re all thinking 2012 is off to a fabulous start.

May it be the happiest year in memory for you all!

This was the closest to a smile we got out of Jacob before we left.  He was still all scraped up and cranky from a tumble at the park.  But it turned to smiles as soon as we got a plate of calamari in front of him.  Then we got home and wrote to Santa, about the cookies we were leaving him and Rudolph and the carrots for the other reindeer.  (We learned last year that Rudolph ate some of Santa’s cookies instead of the carrots, which delighted the kids, and the remembered that maybe we should leave cookies for Rudolph this year.)

Next we opened the traditional Christmas Eve present – the new PJ’s.  This year they came from Grandma and Grandpa and were monogrammed, fancy and cozy.  Did we mention adorable?

Yep, adorable.  Even the scratch that looks like a Hitler mustache can’t mar the cute factor.

Cute enough to eat up.They were great about going to bed, and even sleeping till almost 7.  Then Jacob couldn’t wait to look at the stockings.

Which we made short work of.  Then everyone got busy with their favorite new magazine or coloring book.

And we got ready for breakfast.  One of the breakfast items surprised Jacob:

It’s how many oranges we were able to get from the tree for juice for breakfast!

Molly gathered, Jacob squeezed.

We decided the kids were old enough to pull out nice crystal for a toast.  Not sure what we were thinking, but nothing got broken!

And directly after breakfast Jacob was ready for the presents under the tree…

Which they attacked with glee.  Thanks to all our ridiculously generous relatives, they had a ton of presents, ALL of which they adored.  I only had the camera out for some of it, so you can get an idea…

Trying on the firest present they opened: knight’s armor!

Not sure if armor goes better with pink or plaid.

More goodies…

And a pizza snack to fortify father and daughter after all the rigors of present opening.

Time to build the Legos!!!

Seriously, if Lego ever needs publicity stills, we have about 100 pictures of the kids playing adorably.

And of Molly listening to her new music box, which she adores.

Since we had another 75 degree Christmas Day, we hit the park to relax and play catch – and wade in the stream, it turned out.

As soon as we got there the kids ditched socks and shoes and hit the water.

“Hey, have you seen Sir Segramore?  He was supposed to go on a quest for me.”

“Ah there he is!”

“The dragon is that way.  Try and wake him up.  Don’t hurt him.  He’s very tired.  His name is Mongo.”  (That was actually what she said to him.)

And then home to Christmas dinner, and finishing reading Charlie and the Chocolate factory, so we can watch the movie on New Years Eve!  Hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as we did.  I already have more pictures of the post holiday festivities, and since we’re headed to the Getty Villa tomorrow, I’m sure we’ll add more and try and get those pictures up next week!

This is Mol and Jacob laughing hysterically at a joke Penelope was telling.  I have to check with Amy, and I’ll add pictures of Penelope – the kids both ADORE her, and it was so fun for them to have a cool big kid play with them.

Jacob’s first time trying on a yarmulke…

And then home to light the candles.  They were very rapt in their attention to Chuck, and really enjoyed lighting the candles each night.

The presents and gelt went over well too!

This has been the busiest holidays we’ve ever had.  AND I’ve remembered to bring the camera everywhere.  (Mostly.)  So I had to break the updates into 4 photo essays… starting with The activities leading up to the holidays…

The shot above is the kids and their friends right before their first performance of The Nutcracker.  They LOVED it and have been playing the music (yay!!!) and pretending to be Clara and the Nutcracker ever since.  I can’t wait for next year!

Then we went to a Cirque du Soleil event in Beverly Hills.  There were turtles and chocolate, activities, balloons and masks, games and more sweets.  We were all in heaven.

I didn’t get a good picture of Jacob’s elaborate long neck dinosaur balloon, but here’s Mol with her heart bracelet she asked for:

Then we went up the street to meet Santa.  It’s the first time Jacob sat with him! (Though the only time Jacob looked at the camera, Santa didn’t!)

Molly was more skeptical, and preferred to talk from a distance.  I have to say, he was the best Santa I’ve ever seen, and fantastic with the kids.

Mrs. Santa came too, and both kids gave her big hugs.

We went back to Beverly Hills later in the week to see the tree at Rodeo Drive, and the Santas were there again, and the kids were thrilled.  (Almost as thrilled as they were with their Vosges Chocolate treats we got that night…)

I realize that my plan when I was about their age was to have 10 husbands – one to work, one to take care of the kids, one to cook, one to clean, one to play with, etc., and that plans can change. But the way they both think simultaneously cracks me up, and kind of delights me…

But first things first!

An early Christmas present from the Ya-ya’s brought unexpected squeals of delight.  Molly was entranced by her appearance (and you can see Jacob ripping off his t-shirt to try on his new outfit):

And here’s the proud Patriots fan:

In fact, they love the clothes so much that they’ve invented new persona to don with the gay apparel – Jacob calls himself “Red Patriot” and Molly is “Black Bows”.

The day before the party, we had a family gingerbread house decorating session.  Jacob decorated, Molly ate the decorations.

Minutes before guests arrived, we took advantage of the kids in their holiday best (as picked by them) to sneak a couple of pictures:

Most are blurry, since we were laughing and singing and playing while we took pictures, but a couple we got.

This one is a little soft, but I love it anyway, and had to include it.

How cute is this boy?

So cute Chuck got a shot of me gazing up at him adoringly. This is my usual expression when I’m looking at the kids.  No wonder Jacob asked me if everyone knows that he’s the cutest boy in the world, and Molly kisses the mirror calling herself a “pretty, pretty little beauty”.

The groaning table…

And then this morning, before school, the kids hid under my vanity and pretended they were asleep.

When I said I’d leave for school myself if they were asleep, I got a “Just kidding!” grin.

What with two kids with double ear infections leading right into a wonderful (but crazy busy) Thanksgiving weekend with Grandma and Grandpa, which took us right to this weekend where we got the tree and decorated the house for our holiday party next weekend, there hasn’t been a free second to update anything.  But here are a couple of quick pics from Thanksgiving weekend (we have been too busy having fun lately to take many pictures!)

So here is Thanksgiving dinner,  where Molly and Mom arm wrestled for the leg…

And here’s the man of the house, carving!

Then we spent Friday at LACMA and the tar pits in the gorgeous sunshine, and came home to make the kids requested dinner – pumpkin soup.  Yum.    Saturday we were so lucky to have miraculous (even for Southern California) weather, and went to Descanso Gardens for family pictures and sunshine walks.  Jim got some gorgeous shots of the kids:

And the whole family – but you’ll have to wait to see that one on our Holiday card… headed to your mailbox shortly!  Sunday we went to the El Capitan theater for The Muppet Movie and a live show before hand singing along with Miss Piggy and Kermit.  We were all pretty much in heaven.  It even snowed in the theater.  Molly’s one question, about the decorations of presents: “Who are those for?”  Jacob’s answer: “I think the muppets, Molly.”  Ice cream and a fabulous Vietnamese dinner later and we were all home to bed.  Then all too soon, Grandma and Grandpa had to leave.  The kids are already planning their next visit!

This week we kicked into holiday high gear, ushering it in with a tree lighting (complete with an all cookie buffet which served as dinner – there were so many cookies even Molly gave up!) at the Biltmore, which will be a new family tradition.  As we were leaving, I told the kids to look at the lights at Pershing Square, and Jacob said, “Mommy, I think you are wrong.  That must be Pershing Rectangle.  One side is longer.”  He is a genius!  Then yesterday we went to an amazing show at the Disney Concert Hall – the Czech Marionette Theater show.  We all loved it, and the kids also loved the Ukranian tile painting

and puppet making that they offered as arts and crafts for the kids prior to the show.

And today we began cookie baking for our holiday party next weekend, had a playdate with a friend the kids never wanted to have end, and topped it off with getting and decorating the tree, putting out the menorah and singing carols before bed!

It was quite the day!  And we’re only getting started with all the holiday fun!

Did I mention we’ve also moved on in our bedtime reading?  We’re on a Roald Dahl kick.  We just finished The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and have started Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Bedtime is now singalongs and read aloud chapter books, and I think that Mommy enjoys it even more than the kids!  (Which is only fair, because seriously, other than that part, bedtime is a nightly struggle that is the bane of my day…)

Happy Holidays!