Celebrating the holiday season

We've been busy enjoying the Christmas season! We've done all the things you say you always want to do but never end up doing. Friday night we went to dinner (Emmy requested we eat at a restaurant) and then headed up to Del Mar to see the Holiday of Lights. Emmy is really into Christmas Lights so loved it. Saturday morning Finn invited Emmy to his school for a breakfast with Santa. We attempted to sit on Santa's lap, I'll have the picture soon, should be interesting :) Last night we went to Balboa Park with literally 300,000 people for the December Nights. We parked 2 miles from the park and it was freezing (to our standards) but we had a blast. We rode the train and carousal at night and met up with Ava to go on some more rides. Fun, busy weekend! Next weekend we are going to attempt to go ice skating at the Hotel Del. Wish us luck :)

Buddies



Josh takes the best family portraits (mom - yes I will send you one)



Riding the train! Yes, she is wearing my scarf again and let me tell you, we received quite a few comments :)







The girls rode the rides all by themselves and giggled the whole time, it was the cutest thing ever.

Finally some pictures!

Emmy's new obsession is doing puzzles. She is really good too, finds all the corners first, then the edges and knows to look for colors. I am amazed.





Yo Gabba Gabba!!







Following in Auntie Julie's footsteps?



More puzzles...





Emmy's buddy who she refers to as "My Lucy".



Decorating the tree!

Updates

I have been taking pictures these past few weeks but something is up with the camera and I can’t download them onto the computer. So no pics but updates to share!

Two weekends ago my brother surprised us and got us tickets to Yo Gabba Gabba. Emmy doesn’t watch the show a lot but LOVES the music, listens to it in the car all the time. Such a fun show. We finished off the night with a little greek food for dinner – Monkey’s favorite. She has now been to Sesame Street Live, Disney on ice (3 times), the circus and now Yo Gabba Gabba twice! The best part? We only paid to go to 2 of those shows.

Thanksgiving up at my parent’s house was nice and relaxing. Drive was not too bad considering Emmy was awake for about 2 hours of it. No DVD players in our car – we sang Christmas songs :) It is amazing how you can remember the words to songs you haven’t sung in like 20 years.

It would not be a holiday or trip to Westlake without a surprise visit from my brother! We definitely suspected he could be there but he plays it off very well and is very convincing about his “alternative plans”. He scared the crap out of Emmy when he literally jumped out from behind the couch! Ha ha. He is going to have to fly home for every holiday since we now expect it.

Emmy slept in a big girl bed at my parent’s house! She has been sleeping in the pack and play which is ridiculous because she does not fit at all. My mom made her up the cutest bed with a princess guard rail, princess long body pillow, animals, etc. It was so cute and she actually slept in it! I was amazed! She didn’t got off it until we can and got her. She can see us in our room from the bed so I woke up one morning to “Mommy. Mommy. I don’t want to nap anymore” But she stayed on that bed. I am sure you are all thinking that we’ll probably put her in a big bed at home now. NOPE! She loves her crib still and we are not taking her out until we have to ;)

Hopefully pictures to come soon!

Today was dance class!

Emmy showing us a few of her new moves.

Flights are Booked

For all of you who will be attending the Christmas celebration in Pine Mountain this year - so will we! :)

Today

I had today off of work and am LOVING IT! There is nothing like spending the day with monkey and having a 3 day weekend. We went to Sea World (with every other kid who did not have school today) and had a blast as usual. We checked out the penguins, polar bears, whales, turtles and seals but spent most of the time in Sesame Street Land. She loves going on the rides and we of course had to wait for all her buddies to show up and dance. Watching the look on her face when she sees Elmo never gets old.... Today she wanted to hug Elmo. We've tried this before and she gets scared and hides behind me. Well, today I think she would have hung out with them all day! So cute.

The Season had Begun

The cold/flu season that is... I have been sick with a cold/cough for weeks now and Emmy had a terrible cold/flu last week with a nasty cough and to top it off pink eye AGAIN. After 6 days, the poor thing finally seems to be herself again. Today she actually got to go outside for a little while before it rained. Yes, it has actually been cold and rainy! I love it! Today I roasted chickens :)

Before she went outside I told her she had to wear a jacket, but she will only wear sweaters. Fine. Then i suggested she wear her scarf. She came out with one of my fancy scarves. Whatever, at least it kept her warm! She is seriously 2 going on 20. The other day she yelled for me to roll the window up because it was making her hair all crazy.