Placerville Parade

Hello everyone .... I've got some serious power-blogging to do.  I have no less that 6 or 7 things to post.  The kids and I have been busy, busy, busy with Christmas stuff.  I love this time of year.  We love driving around and looking at Christmas lights, listening to Christmas music and watching all of the Christmas programs.  I've wrapped all of the gifts I have but still have several more to buy.  The kids love to help me wrap and they insist that I call them elves.  M's actually getting pretty good at wrapping.  Of course, they fight over who gets to take the gift over and put it under the tree.

Brian worked last weekend so I was looking for something for us to do and found a Christmas Parade in Placerville which is about an hour away in the foothills.  I packed a lunch, some hot cocoa, a blanket to sit on and out we went.  What I didn't prepare for was how cold it was going to be!!!!  Brrrrrrrr, was it cold.  I think it was 28 degrees when we got in the car to go home.  We had hail several times so I found a place to sit that had some cover.  I dressed the kids fairly warmly but not warmly enough.  I forgot hats and gloves (I'm not sure what I was thinking).  They each had hood on their jackets but their little hands were just freezing.  I bundled them up as much as I could and cuddled them but after about 1 1/2 hours K was crying that she wanted to go home.  She'd had enough and quickly fell asleep on the way home.  M wanted to stay longer because they were throwing tons of candy and he was having a blast running out to get it with another little boy at the parade. 

K belted out Rudolph the Red-Nosed Raindeer for everyone to hear ... and danced.

Let the parade begin.  I love the bag-pipes.

M with his new spiffy jacket on. 

Yummy hot cocoa.  M didn't drink any of it.  He said it was too hot ... he's such a pansy when it comes to things like that.

I tried to get them to get close for a photo but they wouldn't get any closer!!

Cutie.

Can you see the hail coming down.  M thought it was soooo cool.

Looking out for the next float.

Funny story.  After I got home from taking M to school, I realized that I took him with my shirt on inside out ... I got a good chuckle out of that.  A little later in the morning, I discovered even my underwear was inside out ... I don't know what was going on with me this morning.  Tired, I guess.

It's such a rainy day here.  Thank goodness, K's not scared of the rain anymore ... as long as I leave her radio on.  The kids and I spent about 1 1/2 hours at the bookstore after school today.  M said he didn't want to go but once we got there, I couldn't get him out.  We read and read and read. 

Yahooooo, Dyan comes to visit tomorrow.  I can't wait to see her.  Fun times, I'm sure.