Christmas Highlights

Christmas this year was a whirlwind of relatives, food, and gifts. Here are a few of my favorite moments from all our gatherings.

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve was spent at my parents house with all of my sisters and the rest of the California family. Caityn and Sean got to open a couple of presents.

Caityn showing off her new Sleeping Beauty walking horse.

Getting tickles from Aunt Kelly

Sean was happy all evening to just walk around and smile for the camera

Four generations on one couch. My dad had spray painted his hair and beard white to make himself look like Santa. Caityn wasn't too happy about that.

Sean loves to say "cheese" for the camera now. He never lets go of his blankie!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was just the four of us opening gifts from Santa. The kids loved all the good stuff they got. After opening all the gifts, Abel made a yummy pancake-egg-sausage breakfast that the kids gobbled up.

Caityn trying out her new pink scooter.

"I love my new car!!!"

New games!

Sean is learning how to use a fork and a plate. Not doing so well here, but loving his breakfast!

Loving her syrupy breakfast too!

Christmas Night

After a morning of pancakes and playing, the kids went down for a nap, and then we headed back to my parents house for Christmas dinner with my immediate family. Of course there were even MORE presents to open!

Sean taking a ride on his new bouncy zebra

Caityn loved her new box of princess dresses!

So the theme of this year's Christmas for Sean is toys that make noise, with a heavy emphasis on Little People. For Caityn, the theme was definitely princesses, with a heavy emphasis on Sleeping Beauty. Now we are thick in the middle of round two of Christmas vacation with Abel's parents in town. And next week, we head to DISNEYLAND!!! We made reservations for breakfast with the princesses. Caityn will be in princess heaven. Sean will just be in food heaven!

Instructions

Using the magic wand, tap the horse on the head once to make it walk. Tap twice to make the head and tail move.

OR....

Just beat the heck out of the horse until something happens!


Oh...and check out Sean walking in the background!!

Spreading a little holiday cheer

Don't these two look like they are full of holiday spirit?

I have been having a hard time getting into the holiday mood this year. Besides the gifts for the kids, I have only gotten about 1 1/2 gifts, and those were bought online! They haven't arrived yet, so I haven't wrapped anything yet. So, if you are someone who usually gets a gift from me... sorry :(. It's been so hard with these two little monsters to try and get anything accomplished. On Thursday, I thought I would head out to the mall to try and get some Christmas shopping done. I had only two stores that I really needed to get to, and thought I would browse around for awhile. Caityn wanted to go to McDonald's for lunch, which was fine with me.

Well, at the first store, there was some cosmetic displays near the cashiers. After I paid for my gift, I turned and saw that Sean was gnawing on a bottle of lotion and Caityn had painted her face with what I can only guess was dark gray liquid eye shadow. I should have taken a picture, but I was mortified! I rushed out of the store as people were staring at my daughter with the dark splotches on her face and quickly wiped her face. One more store to go to and I reminded Caityn that she needed to behave or else we wouldn't go to McDonald's for lunch. Inside the second store, she proceeded to run up and down the aisles, hide under the clothing racks, and start screaming that she wanted chicken nuggets. Well...we had ravioli for lunch.

Here are a few photos that help put me into a better holiday mood :)

Picking out our Christmas tree

Eating Christmas ornaments

Caityn hanging the angel on top of the tree

Sean looking proud of the work he and Caityn did hanging ornaments on the bottom of the tree

It's Snoopy!

Our little gingerbread house all lit up

Rock Stars!

On Wed afternoon, I took Caityn to meet some of her girlfriends at a cute little girls salon, It's All About the Girl. The girls had the hair and nails done and glitter and lip gloss applied. Caityn's friends Caylin and Kaylee (it's a tongue twister when these three get together) wanted to be rock stars, so Caityn got the same makeover too. After the makeover, the girls got to sing Twinkle, Twinkle and the ABC song in the karaoke room. It was too cute! My camera battery died half way through the event, so I only managed to get a few good pics. Caityn had a great time...until Santa showed up to watch the girls sing! She snuck off the stage and hid under the table until he left. I heard little Kaylee ask Caityn, "Caity, are you afraid of Santa?" Maybe next year she'll like him!

Preschool Pictures

Last month Caityn had her preschool photo taken, and we just got the pictures back on Wed. On picture day, I didn't even bother to dress her up because I figured there was no way she was going to let some strange man take her picture. I planned to only order the class photo, because we had Amber taking photos anyway. Well, not only did they get her to sit still for a photo, but she smiled too! So I ended up ordering it.

She is really starting to like preschool, even more than before. After Thanksgiving, she even stopped crying when I drop her off. About a week ago, Abel dropped her off for the first time. I asked him if she cried, and he said, "She didn't even look back!" Wow! What a difference! Now she runs in to see her teachers and friends as soon as the gate opens. And she is so proud of all her artwork. One of the teachers told me that she is now the unofficial sticker-hander-outer for the kids learning to use the potty. Teacher's pet!

She smiled!

Caityn was the only girl in class to smile! Even with the scary preschool director sitting right behind her. This woman always has eye shadow to match her outfit!

Disco Dancers

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

'Tis the Season...

...for getting SICK!!! I think we are back from our nearly week long stomach virus. I realized it's been a while since the last post, but Sean got sick Tues night and then each one of us caught it, so with all the sick laundry to do there hasn't been much time for blog posting. Kind of put a downer on all the fun activities we had planned last week, but now we're back!

Last night, despite the threat of downpour and all of us still recovering from our illness, we bravely took the kids out to downtown Kensington to see the same Santa that Caityn visited her first two Christmases. I was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, Caityn wouldn't cry this year. We had been hyping up the whole tell Santa what you want thing. I kept asking her what she was going to ask for...a pink seatbelt car (powerwheels) that she had tested out at Toys R Us. I think she was more fascinated by the seatbelt than the fact that the car actually moved. Good thing she never did get a chance to ask for that because Santa is not bringing that this year. Although, someday I would like to get her a Powerwheels. I always wanted one as a kid too.

I didn't get a chance to take a picture with my own camera. They had a "professional" photographer there who charged a $10 sittting fee with Santa and they are supposed to email the photo to us. Haven't gotten the email yet, but I can tell you that the photo will look something like this:


and this:
times 2!!

Here is a photo I took looking at our neighbors very impressive light display on our walk back home in the sprinkles. Sean is always holding his blankie in his mouth like a dog!


Now, if the weather cooperates tonight, maybe we'll go see the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights. I miss it every year and I really want to go see it! Also on our list of holiday to do traditions is going down to the local Home Depot parking lot and selecting a fine pine from the pile of dying dried out trees all tied up in twine. I can see my country-born friends cringing at the thought of such a city-born tradition.

Family Photos

Thanks to our good friend Amber of Life Art Photography, we were able to get some really good family photos taken last month. Here are a few of my favorites.

Christmas is coming...

...so I entered for a chance to win this great prize from Cinnamon Sticks. Christmas gifts for everyone!

Captain Danger!

Man...boys sure are different than girls! Sean is learning how to climb and get onto chairs, but he doesn't really know how to get down yet.

Captain Danger throws his head back to see if Mommy freaks out. Notice the table behind him is still intact.

Next, he stands up and sees what happens if he rocks the chair back and forth.

Well...this is how his adventure ends.

This is not the first this that has been damaged or broken since Sean came into the scene. Stay tuned for Captain Danger's next big adventure.

Click...Take a pic!

Ugh...I have that little song from Go Diego Go! in my head along with tons of other little songs. We watch way too much Dora and Diego these days. But here are the latest photos taken of my little couch potatoes. I'm excited I finally got photos of them together, and now Caityn has decided that she LIKES having her pictures taken.

Friday Flashback

As I start planning for our first trip to Disneyland with the kids in January, I'm remembering the last time I was there. It was December 2004 when my sisters and I had the rare opportunity to dine at the famous Club 33 in New Orleans Square. I didn't realize at the time what a special treat it was. I wish I had taken better pictures, but here is a glimpse into the exclusive restaurant if you've never had the chance to see it from the inside.

The unmarked door next to the Blue Bayou is the entrance. You ring a little doorbell and tell them your reservation name.

Kerry and Kelly inside the restaurant

Breean and I near the windows that overlook the main sidewalk near the lagoon.

Posing with Mickey and Pluto

The glamorous ladies room

Kerry checks out the fancy toilets

The last time I was at Disneyland I was so sick of the crowds and the heat (it was December!) that I swore I wouldn't go back until I had kids of my own. Well now that I DO have kids, I'm getting kind of excited to go back with them. Hopefully it won't be too crowded this time.