New Year's Eve...

Was Christmas all over again.

And of course True loves opening presents...
And Brave and True had the perfect gift for their Grumpy! And of course, we (my Benny) had some fun gifts to give out...

Ryan got all different kids of oranges (oranges are his favorite)...
Reinna got some organic apples (for some reason she is fascinated with organic things)...
RJ got a couple of grapples, yes grapples... genetically engineered grape tasting apples!!!

And mom and dad got some tropical fruit because they are soon going to Hawaii!!!

Then we rang in the New Year, as we quickly paused from our game of Cranium... that game is so fun!

All the way from Korea...

Brave had to meet someone special...
We got a visit from Auntie Linda. I'm sure it was a uber short trip for Lin because as I write this, she is on her way back to what has been her home for the past 5 months and we have another 5 months until she returns. And while she was here, we did what Lin and I do best... talk. Not just regular inside voice, but when we get together for some reason the volume is at its highest point and we talk really loud! And there was so much to talk about!!!
Finally, Lin was brave enough to try some of our food... and yes, you can eat a buffalo!!!
Why does it look like Lin and John are on their honeymoon? Could it be a sign?!!
Now, it looks like they are in heaven...
And we all got lots of goodies from Korea... we love it! And thanks to John and Lin we will have to go to the movies. We never go because it is too expensive, besides my birthday and watching the movie Bella... the last time we went to the movies on a date was Spiderman... the first one!!!

This time we didn't blubber like crazy like last time, and John wasn't left wondering what to do with crying girls, but I think it helped that we thought in our head we might see each other one more time before she left. But to my dismay, we were not able to bid one last adieu. Hopefully, these next few months will go fast, as I am sure it will seeing there are already so many activities (hint: joel and armenia). Until then, Brave and True will miss their Auntie Linda.

Our little Christmas...

We had our first little Christmas in our new house. We saved a present for each person to open when it was just us and we had our own family time. We were still exhausted from the prior day's journey, so we didn't cook, but just ordered sushi...
I think Brave was eyeing our food...
And of course, True handed out presents...
And of course, Brave chewed on the presents...
And of course, Benny captured the memory hunting...
And of course, True opened the presents...
And of course, she got a practical gift...
And a fun one from etsy...
Benny got some special things as well...
Another gift was that Brave rolled over for the first time...
And like Frances wrote about praising God for material blessings... I praise God because I got a new lens from Benny for Christmas! I so have lens lust and I love my new Nikkor 50mm prime lens (though it looks wimpy next to my 18-200mm zoom lens)!!! It is a lot more work to take pictures, but it forces me to practice using aperture and shutter speed more, but is has such a low f-stop and works better in low light... I love it!!!

Praise God for His birth and the opportunities to make memories with family and friends. And thank you Lord for Brave's first Christmas!!!

California, Here We Come!!!

We bid our farewells until next time and then we got on the road to California...

The first three hours True was crying like crazy, but I would give her some food and she would stop for a bit and then start up again. We were bewildered on why she was crying because she doesn't normally cry in the car. Well, Ben thought maybe she was hot, so I turned around to take off her sweater and when I reach for her right arm, I pull it and then that is when I noticed it was stuck on the door pull... somehow she must have reached for it to play and then got her right, middle finger stuck underneath... pobrecita!!! Her middle finger had this huge dent in it and she was crying when I moved it or even touched it. I felt so bad... I couldn't see her finger, so I didn't know. I gave her an ice pack to put her swollen finger on and then she calmed down. And after 3 hours of crying she finally went to sleep...

She was so tired from crying.
So after her nap, we stopped to feed Brave, change them, and let True out of the car.


Of course, Brave is still sucking on Sophie la girafe...

So it normally takes 19 hours to drive from SA to California, and we usually stop overnight somewhere and then get on the road again... but we were afraid if we stopped we wouldn't be able to sleep because True would wake up in the middle of the night and not go back to sleep for 3 hours because she doesn't know how to sleep in the same room as us (that is what happened at the Nepo wedding). So, we thought if we were able, we would drive straight (only if we felt alert and safe enough). We were ready to stop and sleep if we felt we were endangering our family, but praise God He gave us the strength and sustanence to make it straight home...

So after a few stops to feed Brave and change them and get True out of the car... after going through 3 states... after seeing the sun come up and then down... after me driving for an hour and a half to give Benny a break and get us into California... after a seem to not work green tea from Starbucks and a double shot espresso from a gas station... after almost 20 hours later... Benny got us back home in California, but only by God's grace!!!

We are finally home...

Last day...

And of course we had to go to China Sea and continue on the Bratcher tradition...

True ate really, really well there...
Then, we visited with another good buddy of Benny's, Ernest. Ernest had the coolest looking room, I fell in love with his chalkboard...



Then, we went home to hang out and spend time together...
Brave really likes her Sophie la girafe, her little friend all the way from France...


We always have such a good time in SA when we are here. It really is a big city with a small town feel. Time here always goes too fast...

California, here we come!!!

Let's get to work...

We wanted to make sure to do things to help around the house and also get a head start in packing the car...
Benny looked like the fiddler of the roof...

And some of my vintage goodies, but my favorites are hiding in that box...
Our Christmas presents that need to be packed into the car...
And Benny is such a good packer that he fit most of our Christmas presents into one of our vintage goodies...

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

It was a beautiful Christmas day in San Antonio. The weather was a bit crisp, but the sun was shining and we were ready to enjoy the day...




True waiting and wanting to open presents...
They really love each other.
Brave in her red vintage dress that I found before True was born. True's Christmas dress last year was a vintage one too... I guess I started a new tradition for my girls.
And finally, the moment we were all waiting for... Santa Claus couldn't make it, so he sent Baby Claus and Santita...
Santita playing with the tree, getting ready to hand out presents...



And thanks to Aun-tia Suzi, Brave and True are going to college... YEAH BABY!!!


And of course, a gourmet dinner was served thanks to the family chef, my Benny! Before dinner was served, Benny took time to read from scripture the beginnings of Christmas. We should never take the Christ out of Christmas...

Merry Christmas everyone!!!