2 letters

dear katy perry,
please get off my radio.
its nothing personal.
have a good one.
suzanne

Letter 2:

dear grandmas and grandpas,
here are some pictures.
love ya!
nova

working out with mom in the morning
face painting at the childrens museum in san jose

shaving creme paint at the childrens museum---note the painting on one leg---she kept telling me, "mom! look, i am painting on one leg!" and then she would sing tangled songs.
at preschool with her friend justin--the letter was J and they went on a jungle safari....she must have a good preschool teacher.....ha!

L is for the way you...

1. Lick your fingers after we make pink pancakes and heart shaped cantaloupe for breakfast.
2. O is for Our Outing drive to the train station to decorate dad's car in sweet nova fashion...she sure knows how to dress to go out to do secret decorating.

3. V is for Very sleepy on our way to go to dad's work for a special valentine lunch.......no pictures. and for Very tired walking around downtown menlo park with dad looking at all the "princess houses"...again....no pictures

5. E is for EATING! (making rice krispie treats for dinner)
6. and more Eating "waffles" per nova's request for our "dymantic"--aka romantic dinner complete with candlelight(i know it looks like she is crying/screaming....but, she was just loosing her brain because we just lit the candles. she was so excited to eat in the dark by candlelight.....ah...the little things.....)

it sure is easy to love these people i live with!sidenote....or rather end note: i also love to watch how her outfits change as the day progressed. and that most pictures are taken with her nightgown...also....let it be known that on feb 15th, nova cried because valentines day was over..........and i tried not to laugh because it was so dang cute that she was so devastated. we may or may not still be eating heart pancakes because that is really what love is all about right. love is about doing little things for those you care about to make them really happy. here is to heart shaped pancakes until march!

3 1/2

i am a big believer in half birthdays. but i knew that because nova is three year she wouldn't get it too well. regardless, i wanted to do something anyway, so on jan 12, she was in the living room and i called her in the kitchen. i surprised her and stuck a candle in a cupcake and sang happy half year birthday to her. she about died. here is the aftermath. even as a three and a half year old, she had frosting on her cake like she was turning one. alas.....
also, i have been meaning to take some pics of nova seeing that i haven't really taken purposeful pictures of her recently. so today we headed to the park. i can't believe how big she is getting. as much as i hate her growing so fast, i love the little person that she is becoming.

pictures

december pics:

gingerbread houses: much frosting was consumed.ice skating for the first time for dan and nova---who knew we had to come to california to do that? nova loved it! and i loved that it was cold! :)

we went on a hike christmas eve---(i know! hiking in december!)with some friends in the ward. it was actually chilly, but alot of fun.
decorated cookies--i don't know if nova ate more frosting than she put on the cookies, because there was ALOT of frosting on the cookies.
rapunzel was played
birthday party for a friend at chucky cheese---that place---i don't know that i have ever been. it is major sensory overload for kids. nova had so. much. fun.
all ready to go to our new years eve party.
double princess jammies: check.
rainboots: check.
nacho and frenchy: check.
blanket: check.
she made it til 10:30 and came and declared she was ready for bed and she wanted to go home.
and now my baby is a sunbeam. i am trying to hold it together.
and of course christmas was enjoyed. can you tell?
and now life will slow down right? right? riiiii-ght.....well at any rate, here's to a brand new year!

The Fourth Annual Hope Christmas Video

It's that time of year once again. Take a break from all the wrapping (or, for those of you who haven't even bought presents yet, the anxiety of not wrapping) and enjoy the fourth installment of our Christmas tradition: The Hope Family Christmas Video 2011.

You may notice that the theme of this song seems to directly contradict the sentiments I expressed in a previous post. I think this was Suzanne's way to force me to apologize. Although this song was my idea. I prefer to say that I did this ironically. That's right, I just became the Christmas Hipster.

And yes, those atrocious Christmas sweaters made it in the video once again. Frankly, we'll probably keep using them until they fall off. Fear not, we'll wear shirts underneath.

I'm beginning to wonder why we don't do Christmas cards instead because this is way more work than sending out cards. After spending so long editing it and listening to the song of the year for the 627th time, we never even watch them again. Then again, I guess people normally don't go back over their old Christmas cards (Suzanne's mother probably just scoffed, "Well I do!")

For those of you who are new to the tradition, you can catch up on the previous installments at the following links:

Christmas Video 2010
Christmas Video 2009
Christmas Video 2008

questions/submissions

10 things i have asked myself today.

10. if i was to truly buy a car during the holidays does it come with a ginormous red bow on the top? can you buy that separate? or are they strictly for commercials? hmmmm.....i submit they should be included. and then i submit i should purchase a car in december.

9. can mariah carey give us a horrible christmas song? i submit not. here and here. so jazzy. and so easy to rock out to while making dinner. nova agrees. dan does not. but i like this song even better. sorry mariah.

8. why is mariah carey married to that guy that hosts americas got talent? i submit i don't understand. don't worry, i only thought of this for a moment.

7. is it obsessive compulsive to know how long i have to wait for the next green light at every light on the way to go get dan at the train? i submit it is--but only slightly.

6. is it strange to try to get my blinker to coordinate with the blinker in front of me while waiting for a green light? (clearly i am enjoying the california traffic.)

5. is it wierd that in this month called december i have not stepped foot in a department store? i submit that at some point in the next week i definitely will.

4. is nova ahead or behind the trend of wearing her headband like a hippie? i submit she is a tad behind, but could potentially bring it back with her sweetness.

3. could it be possible that i have mastered the chicken pot pie? i submit that i have, but am hesitant to declare myself marie calender.....yet.

2. what is the big deal with quinoa and couscous? the submission is still up in the air at this point. but i do submit i thoroughly enjoyed giving them a try.

1. will we ever get our christmas music video done? i submit that we will.

and for the grandmas who are less concerned about my random thoughts and more concerned about: WHY AREN'T YOU BLOGGING EVERYDAY????? WITH PICTURES OF NOVA????
this is for you.

nova with her representation of who-ville out of pie crust. (don't worry, i didn't actually use that pie crust after she had so lovingly worked with it.)nova and her mask she made. complete with hair accessories.
and nova and myself after she did my hair. i'm tellin ya, the headband hippie look is a good one. nova is totally stuck on it right now.





feet in the sand in december. we quite like it.


nova and mr. claus. (please note the hippie headband.) she loved him and was so excited she nearly lost control of her bladder. almost. luckily her good friend hazel saved her place in line. phew. nova and hazel at the san fransisco zoo. they had such a blast. they had more fun playing on the hippo statue, the staircase and the water fountain than actually looking at the animals, but they had a good time nonetheless. all the way home nova kept saying, "that was really fun huh mom."

we also attended a representation of bethlehem with our friends the stokers. it was crazy! they had roman soldiers, sand on the ground, booths set up to die fabric, make bracelets, taste wine, (skipped that one....) and they acted out the story. nova loved it. thanks for the invite stokers. they even had an angel come out of the top of a building singing. the angel.
and nova bundled up on the way over. it actually does in fact get a little chilly here people. a little. our blood is thinning but i will never admit that again.

A Controversial Opinion

I must first point out that this is Dan because I am about to voice an opinion that seems to be in the minority. In fact, it's an opinion that draws incredulous looks and indignant snorts. So prepare yourself.

Ready? Here it is:



That's right. That's me expressing the unpopular opinion that December at the beach is infinitely preferable to December in the mountains and snow. Just wait, I haven't gotten sacrilegious yet. I would rather have Christmas morning with a view of the beach than with a view of snow-covered mountains.

Disown me if you must, but there you have it. The only white Christmas I want is sea-foam white (er, off-white to green, depending on the beach of course).

I had always kinda suspected I felt that way. I enjoyed the beach in Madagascar as much as anyone could without touching the water. Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at Half Moon Bay, and while we quietly watched the sunset over the ocean, I came to the realization that I won't miss the snow. In fact, I am ecstatic that I won't see a snowflake this year. I tremble with joy at the thought that I won't have to shovel a single sidewalk or pay for hip-reconstruction after an unfortunate encounter with an ice patch.

I'm content to let the sand exfoliate my feet ... even though I'm still not clear on what this exfoliation stuff is and why it's desirable. Regardless, I have it. Envy me, ladies.

To be fair, I've never had many reasons to truly love the snow. I don't ski; I don't snowboard; I've never even been ice skating. Hockey, is cool, I guess, but I don't play it. One of my most frightened moments as a child involved a chunk of frozen snow and a broken window. And my snowball manufacturing skills are woefully inadequate. I have yet to achieve more than an uncertain draw in a snowball fight, and that was with a third-grader ... two years ago.

Don't get me wrong. There are things I like about snow. It's beautiful right after a snowfall, when everything is swathed in a glowing blanket of white. Snow days were the holy grail of our youth. We prayed for those harder than we prayed for peace on earth, good will toward men. Actually, I can't recall praying for world peace as a child. We prayed for snow days harder than we prayed to win our next game of Pogs.

I do love sledding and snowmobiling. I've almost died doing both, but that doesn't take away from the fun of it. Nevertheless, we rarely get in more than one good sledding session in a single year, and I haven't been snowmobiling since I was 16. So it hardly seems worth it to endure months of snow-bound agony for a few hours of fun.

So enjoy your snow; you can have my portion. Send me your photos of lawns blanketed in shimmering white and I'll compliment you, honestly. I'll also be grateful I didn't have to witness it in person. Oh, and if we do come visit, I'll hound you incessantly about scheduling a monster sledding day. But other than that, I'll stay inside with some hot cocoa for the rest of our visit.

I know I'm mostly alone in this opinion. Please don't be offended. I'm completely okay with you enjoying your mountainous driveways and near-collisions with other harried drivers skidding around on the slush, constantly accusing everyone else of not knowing how to drive in the snow.

But if you get a chance, come on over and we'll spend some quality time with our feet in the sand, listening to the crashing waves.

It's magic.

And it's addictive. We'll see if you don't change your tune. C'mon, who doesn't want to spend a December like this: