Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent with the Kesterson Family. We had a blast watching the kids open gifts, exchanging gifts, and eating Chippino. Janice made each of the grandkids a stocking and Beau even received shoe shocks which Kate was mesmerized by. With the new additions, Kate and Beau, the family number is now up to 14. WOW! Can't wait to see how many there will be of us next year. Whitney? Kaeli? ... up for having some babies? Kelly?... maybe make it an even 4?

White Family Christmas

This past Saturday was the annual White Family Christmas (aka Joel's mom's family). This year Joel's cousin Janie and her husband Josh hosted the celebration at their house in Ripon. Brave Souls! The kids exchanged gifts, while the adults donated money to the Modesto Gospel Mission.

It was a little more mellow than usual, but then again a few family members were absent. It sure doesn't feel like Christmas without Aunt Cathy and Aunt Pat. And there were a few cousins missing as well. Below is a picture of those cousins present.

But there were a few memorable moments. After dinner the men suited up and headed out for a late night football game. Uncle Carl didn't want to be left behind, so he too suited up, knee brace and all.

Beau and Kate stayed behind for some cousin bonding. Beau's already leaning on Kate for support. Maybe one day he can return the favor.

Trainer Tips

As you know, I'm a fan of The Biggest Loser. On the episodes they have "trainer tips", where the trainers offer advice on a healthy living and workouts. One tip was to use the new ziplock steam bags for cooking veggies quickly. Since having Beau has left me with so little time to cook, these bags have become my new best friend - although I use the glad brand (they were on sale). Sunday I cut up all my veggies for the entire week and put them in ziplock bags. Each day I get into my stash and steam a handful for my daily dose of veggies. It works great. I even made fish in the bags one night for dinner. It took me a whopping 5 minutes to cook our entire meal. If you're pressed for time, I highly suggest getting some steam bags. It's much better for you than going out to Micky D's.

Rehab

Hello my name is Vanessa and I'm a TV-aholic. Here's a run down of all the shows I watch.

1. Grey's Anatomy
2. The Amazing Race
3. One Tree Hill
4. House
5. How I Met Your Mother
6. New Adventures of Old Christine
7. The Starter Wife
8. Ugly Betty
9. The Office
10. Project Runway
11. American Idol
12. So You Think You Can Dance
13. Ellen
14. Regis and Kelly
15. The Soup
16. Monk
17. Chuck
18. The Biggest Loser
19. Til' Death (although this show hasn't been on in a while - maybe the network cut it)

There may be more, but those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. As a result of me watching so much TV, Joel believes my morals are going downhill, so he's told me I need to cut out a few shows. I guess me cutting out America's Next Top Model this season wasn't enough. So I'm saying goodbye to The Starter Wife and The New Adventures of Old Christine. I know that's only 2, but at least it's a start. Goodbye shows, you'll be missed!

Daddy and Me (and Gigi)

While Joel was feeding Beau, Gigi decided to

stop in for some daddy time as well.

3 Months

Sunday Beau turned 3 months. As of 3 months, he's sleeping through the night - in his own room, laughing, smiling (although he's pretty stingy with his smiles), talking (baby babble), and has starting growing back hair on top of his head, while losing it in the back. At least it's not the other way around. I know we live in Oakdale and all, but I draw the line at "Business in the front, Party in the back".

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

It's official. I've finally entered the final stage of postpartum. Or at least I hope this is the final stage - what more can possibly happen. I'm losing my hair. It's coming out in globs. I'm finding it all over the house; the bathroom, my pillow, the shower and even poor Beau. He likes to take hold of my hair and not let go.

Soon, I'll match Beau's 1 month old look with his balding old man hair style.

Proud to be an American

Marius (our cousin-in-law) is originally from Romania, but has made his home here in America with his wife (Joel's cousin Ami) and son. After much studying and what I can only imagine to be a stressful experience, he's finally made it official and has passed his immigration test.

Welcome to team Red, White and Blue! We're so proud of you!

Roll Over

Beau first rolled over, from his back to tummy, his second week of life. And although this has been hard to duplicate (he's so sporadic), he's mastered rolling over from his tummy to back.

Progressive Dinner 2008

Yesterday we had our annual Kesterson Progressive Christmas Dinner. We started out at Joel's cousin's house where his Aunt Susie provided appetizers and yummy pomegranate cocktails. Beau decided he'd rather sleep in Aunt Kaeli's arms than eat appetizers.

Then we headed off to Joel's Gram's house for the main course. Beef Stroganoff! and no, it wasn't the hamburger helper kind that Whitney (our sister in law) is used to having.

And finally we ended up at Joel's parents house for dessert and our White Elephant gift exchange. Janice put out quite a spread of desserts...plates of cookies, cheesecake, pumpkin roll (courtesy of Kaeli), and some mini cakes (I think that's what they were). YUMMY!

We did learn two things during the While Elephant gift exchange. Joel's dad Bob received his dose of "Born Gay"-helping him to slip right out of the closet, and Joel informed us that only in Oakdale - The Cowboy Capitol of the World - can you have a "ball" at the "Oakdale Testicle Festival."

Reading Circle

Aunt Christa came over to visit with Beau for a few days. While she was here, she and Beau had reading time. Actually Beau did most of the reading...