Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, we sure did! The whole family was together at my parent's house and we had a blast just eating, drinking and watching either football or Shrek 2 (not always at Emmy's request...)

Christmas Eve Dinner. Emmy insisted we all wear her animal hats at dinner. Dad sported the necklace Emmy made him the whole day. I thought it looked especially wonderful with the turtle neck and the hat just completed the look. Ha!








Some family pics. Josh is a professional at taking self portraits.





Cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for his reindeer!




Christmas morning was a blast!



One of her favorites gifts, her earmuffs.

Almost 3

I can’t believe Emmy will be 3 in just 2 months! Time just keeps flying by, it is crazy. She is moving up to the next group at daycare starting in January. She’ll be hanging with the 3-4 year olds, what a big girl! Each group is named after a bird and when they move the “fly up”. She told me yesterday that she is flying up to the Robins soon but “not until I am 3 though. I am still 2”

Last night when she was getting dressed after her bath she looked at me and said “Mama, you are my best friend”. It was the sweetest thing ever and I feel so lucky to have such an amazing daughter who is my best friend too :)

I am so looking forward to Christmas and having a week off of work. Wahoo!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

I finally had a chance to post some pictures from our trip to Pine Mountain! It was definitely a trek getting up there but we had lots of fun. Emmy was a complete angel traveling, I think she was better behaved than me. We had to take multiple shuttles, trams, rent a car, etc., and she was so good the whole time. All in all it took us 8 hours to get there which is a lot considering we flew and we didn't leave the state! I think she felt like such a big girl, she loved every minute.

Once we finally got to pine Mountain, she slept in a big girl bed again no problem. She had so much fun with her cousins, following all the older ones around. I really think she needs a big brother....

How could I resist buying her a hard shell, princess, rolling suitcase? She pulled it around like she was some sort of world traveler.



So excited to be on the plane :) She only asked to go to the bathroom once and wanted to go to the "big one". When I told her this was the only one she held it the whole way.



Grandma and Grandpa gave Emmy a treasure chest full of princess dresses!



Emmy and Nixon eating their cheerios



Grandma!



I think Emmy was the most excited to see Dylan. He is so good with her.



Emmy had a ball playing with the leaves!






She thought it was the funniest thing ever to throw them at Dylan. He took it well!



Busted! Little bugger, stealing some frosting from the gingerbread train.



Mayhem! Of course Josh was the center of it all.






Cousin Julia, who could pass for Emmy's sister. They even have the same funny look for the picture!



Our sweet rental car - the Crown Victoria. All we needed was a light to throw on the top of the car and a badge.



I guess we should not have been surprised when Emmy refused to sit on the tram but had to stand up and hold the poll like everyone else. I can't wait to take her on the subway in NY :)

The Hotel Del in Coronado

Yesterday was a beautiful day so we bundled up and headed over to the Hotel Del only to quickly realize it was going to be about 70 degrees outside! We enjoyed an awesome brunch and then went ice skating on the beach! I am not there are too many other places in the world where you can ice skate on the beach. Emmy wasn't too into it but gave it a good try. I haven't been ice skating in over 10 years and you forgot how slippery it is! Especially since there was a layer of water on it since it was so hot. We must have been quite a site trying to stay on our feet ourselves and hold Emmy who was all over the place :) We gave it a good try but decided to head to the beach instead. These are the days that make me feel really to lucky to live here. What a day!

Emmy insisted on drinking her water out of a mug. It looked like the kids was drinking a cup of coffee!



Checking out the rink



Look at the beautiful ocean behind us



















The water is never too cold for her to put her toes in

Santa

Last weekend's picture with Santa. Actually turned our pretty good considering she was not a happy camper when she saw him!

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!