California McMillans

As tradition, we went to church on Christmas Eve with Heather's family and then went to Mary's Pizza Shack after.  It took an hour to get our food but it was good. The kids woke up real early but we told them to go back to bed until 7:00.  Then we went down and opened presents.  Parker was real into opening the boxes and less into their contents.  Tyler was the most grateful for what he got.  I got Heidi a robe from Victoria's Secret but she had also gotten herself a robe.  Bah.  Scott was most excited about a case for his phone.  Kira liked her art supply box and Blake's favorite gift was his lego creations thing. In the afternoon we went to Heather's house for din-din. They got a hot tub which is pretty sweet. These tubes were some kind of gladiator game in which you charged each other and tried to knock the other down.  I plowed Scott pretty good and he went down. Heather and Jason are great hosts. In Concord was this heavily

I love talking to people about homeschooling because everyone has different perspectives and does it for their own personal reasons.  Everyone has their own methods that work for them.  One thing that I have learned is to adapt and adjust and figure out what works for you.  A lot of it is trial and error, giving it time and figuring out what works, what your child likes to learn and how he likes to learn.  It is hard to adjust from the traditional view of school to the plethora of ways of homeschooling.  I started to homeschool to help Blake emotionally. He was never happy and I wanted more than anything for him to be happy.  There are times when I feel like we can do so much more academically but then I take a step back and realize that emotional stability takes time, energy and effort.  Playing tennis, walking around and going on lunch dates is emotional happiness. When I feel like I need to do more, I remember how far he has come emotionally.  For the most part, he is happy.  He st

We had a great time in Utah.  We left after work on Tuesday and made great timing.  I was able to sleep in the car from about 7pm-10 so felt well rested when I had to drive.  It has become tradition to go to Boomers the day after Thanksgiving but it was supposed to rain so we went the day before.  It was fun but not everyone could make it which was a bummer.  The kids had a great time with their cousins which is always the best part.  Parker got so frustrated with the mini golf because he could never hit the ball but had a great time once he found a hole that shot out at a lower course.  He did it over and over and over again and was entertained while everyone else golfed.  Thank goodness nobody else was on the course. The next day we had Thanksgiving with Danny's parents and David and Juliann.  Most of his siblings spend the holiday with the other side of the family which is kind of a bummer for us but oh well.  It was great being with David and Juliann and their sweet kids.

Our City and entire county had two weeks of horrible smoke from the devastating Paradise Fire.  A fire swept through the entire town of Paradise, an area about 3 hours north killing 88 people and essentially destroying the entire town.  Almost everyone knows someone who has been affected by the fire.  It was hard to process we live in a time when so many people can die from a fire. I just assumed that with technology and advancements that wouldn't happen.  It is devastating.  So sad to see videos of people trying to flee.  There were minimal roads to evacuate, not enough time and poor communication.  The Chico Stake and church leaders sent a letter reiterating the importance of these natural disasters in areas where we all live and to be prepared.  I can't help but think that these are signs of the times.  Earthquakes, natural disasters, etc.  It is amazing to see communities rally together to help those in need.  This is what our sky looked like for about 2 weeks.  Certain da

Kira had her 3rd grade Brentwood Musical.  It is a really cute musical all about Brentwood.  She had the opportunity to be the engineer and did such a great job.  She decided to put on make-up (brown/black eyeshadow) that made her look dirty from working on the railroad.  She is so independent and confident.  We are so proud of her.  She did a great job getting up in front of the entire school and performing.  Probably the highlight of the play for me came after when she was taking a picture with her friend and saw another friend watching and making sure she included her in the photo.  I think the most important quality any child can have is being inclusive and kind so I am so proud of her for that!  Sometimes I worry about that with her because she is so confident and girls can be exclusive.  She has always had 1-2 friends all dependent on the class she in and try to talk to her about being friends with everyone and including everyone. 

Scott and Tyler are in Scouts.  I really like the program and am grateful they get to do it.  I am excited about the new program the church is coming out with to replace scouts because I know that it will be inspired and totally amazing whatever it is. On Wednesday after school we go to Tyler's scout leaders home to work on scouts.  She lives on this amazing property she has converted into a "scout land".  Tyler gets to learn all about outdoor living, safety, emergency prep, fires, etc by amazing leaders and in this beautiful setting that is about 10 minutes away. My other kids get to roam around and enjoy the outdoors in this little oasis. Whenever I am there I am in awe of how lucky we are and how grateful I am.  I decided to take pictures this past week so I wouldn't forget a little slice of their childhood.  Swinging, playing, zip-lining, watching the chickens and horses. Parker almost crashed into the tree at the end of the zipline when a kid decided to accel