Christmas Break is here!

Today was my last day at school until the new year! School starts again in 3 weeks, on the 12th, so I'm looking forward to having some time to rest and clean the house....and update the blog.... and clean out some boxes....send some Christmas cards...buy some Christmas presents... and play with Katie.... and visit with Nana and Papa when they get here...


Wow, I'm getting tired just thinking about it all. I might need a vacation from the vacation.

(But I'm not complaining)

Advent Calendar

Mommy: "Katie, what happens when we open all of the boxes?"
Katie: "Santa Claus comes!"

Mommy: "Then what?"
Katie: "Then Nana and Papa and cousins come!"

Katie: "Then Baby Brother comes......and then it's my BIRTHDAY!"


Nice to know that she's got the next 6 months all planned out.

Festival of Lights

Katie and her parents drove down to the Los Angeles Zoo area, where they put up a stretch of Christmas lights along Griffith Park Drive near the zoo. Our friends invited us to go and see the lights. It's usually one of those events that people wait hours in their cars to drive past the lights, and the display is less than one mile long. We went on a weekend where they closed the road to traffic and only opened it to foot traffic. The weather was pleasant and it was a nice visit with friends.

You can see more information and pictures of the displays here: http://www.dwplightfestival.com/2008/html/guide.htm

Snow Day!

Our development organized a Snow Day this week. They trucked in (stop laughing) snow and dumped it on a small portion of our park. It was Katie's first time touching snow and she liked it a lot. She didn't like it when her hands got wet and cold, and she didn't like wearing her gloves, but she liked making snowballs and throwing them at us!

Some kids even brought their sleds, though there wasn't much room to use them. Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance in the club house, and Katie wanted to go and see them. They will even pose for pictures with your little ones. Katie waited patiently in line to get to the Jolly Ol' Guy, but when it was her turn, she refused to go near him, not less get on his lap for a photo. Maybe next year.

We walked up to the playground next and played for a while on the slides and ran up and down the hills. It was a little strange to go from playing on snow to playing in the sunshine on the slides!

New words

This week, Katie's new words are "applepuss" and "arwen-wear". An applepuss has 8 legs and lives in the sea, and arwen-wear is what you wear "under" your clothes! "Muk" is that white liquid from a cow. I'm not sure what her accent sounds like, but it sure is cute!

We also went to Disneyland again this weekend since they've decorated for Christmas. Katie rode on Dumbo (a favorite). But the real test was the Christmas parade. When I asked her who will be in the parade, Katie said "Santa Claus"! I guess Mickey, Minnie and the ducks are in second place this year after Santa Claus.

She loved seeing Goofy and Donald Duck on their floats, but the Genie and Beast scared her enough to hide her face in her stroller. And the Princesses are always a favorite.

We stayed late enough to watch the fireworks display, and Katie handled the loud "booms" pretty well. She wasn't too impressed with the show, and was asleep in her carseat within minutes.

In Target this week, Katie saw the Christmas tree displays and said "I miss Christmas". I don't know how she even remembers it from last year!

Rock Star

Katie loves her guitar and her microphone! You can even hear her version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star near the end".

Super Bunny!

Katie came up with the name herself. Her towel is actually a duck, but hey, who cares when she's so cute?

Cinderella

Katie was playing around in her Cinderella dress up outfit (with blinky shoes!), but the dress was too long. The solution? Chip clips!

Halloween

I was concerned that Katie wouldn't be into dressing up and Halloween this year. She was pretty upset and scared over all the black ghosts and goblins and decorations. We couldn't go near the party/costume store during the entire month of October.

Katie even had a few nightmares and bad dreams this month. First it was dreams about monsters eating her (when I asked her to describe the monster, she said "Cookie Monster"). Later it was about alligators eating her.

So we tried to keep this holiday a little more low key than past Halloweens. Katie said "no" whenever I asked her what she wanted to dress up as for Halloween, so we improvised this year. She has dress-up butterfly wings, "fluffy shoes", magic wand...all in pink. Problem solved! She was a butterfly-fairy-girl and loved it!

She even borrowed some of the pirate bling from our pumpkin and tried to wear it herself!

Daddy came home early from work to take Katie trick or treating. She didn't understand why it wasn't ok to walk into people's houses once they opened the door. She really loved it when she realized that every house gave her candy - CANDY! Her little goodie bag got pretty full...and she always said "thank you". She was very protective of her candy when she got back home and other children knocked on our door. "No give my candy away, Daddy!". She was well-adored by the entire neighborhood and had a great night!

After Halloween, Daddy took Katie to the Disney store for the mark-downs on costumes for next year, and Katie happily picked out a Cinderella dress and light up shoes.

She didn't understand that the next day wasn't Halloween too...or the next day... or the next day...

Long Beach Pumpkin Patch

Katie loved her local pumpkin patch...until she saw cousins' pumpkin patch in long beach. Imagine a traveling carnival that sells pumpkins and you're pretty close to the pumpkin patch in Long Beach. Katie rode a pony for the first time ever, she fed a goat, rode a train, flew in a elephant, and "bumped boats" with Antonio. I don't think that she ever wanted to leave!

Pumpkin Patch, Disneyland, and making Mommy breakfast

Katie loved the Pumpkin Patch in our neighborhood. Petting zoo, ponies, pumpkins, big haystack pyramid and tractor pull train ride - what's not to like?

Katie and her friend Petra went to Disneyland before Petra turned 3. They had all kinds of fun on the Dumbo ride and the train ride. The girls really enjoy playing around together!

Katie loved helping Daddy make blueberry pancakes for Mommy. "Mommy likes bue-berries! I no like bue-berries!"

September cuteness! September stayed warm enough for swimming and lots of playing with friends!

Emerging Artist

Katie drew an actual face with her sidewalk chalk the other day. It included eyes and ears. We asked her who it was and she said "Papa"!

Random Cuteness

Just some cute pictures from over the past couple of weeks.

Swings

Katie has always loved the swings at the playground. Tim installed a hanging swing on our front porch a month or so ago. If she's not swinging, she's spinning around making herself dizzy somewhere! She'll even swing if we hold her in a bag! And it's always better with friends!

Hiding and Art

Katie was so excited to find a new way to ride in her stroller! I can't believe that she fits!!

Katie's art is advancing too - so artistic! You can see the greatness in it- right?

Fake Grass

When we were in Oceanside, they had a putting green that was covered in astroturf. Everyone laughed when we admitted that our backyard has been covered in astroturf too. We made the change when our grass kept dying out. No amount of seed and watering can survive in weeks of 100+ temps. Katie was dragging dirt everywhere, so Tim bought the least expensive version he could find. For under $100, our "outdoor carpet" has kept the dirt down, the weeds at bay, and it feels kinda nice under your toes (as long as you water it down before you step on it in the hot hot heat).

Ok, it is a little florescent in color, but we're not trying to fool anyone!

Oceanside with Family

Kate and Anissa spent this week in Oceanside, CA with Kate's Godparents. I have to say that I think that they are the BEST Godparents ever! They rented a condo in Oceanside and invited us to join them. That already makes them pretty spectacular! The condo was right on the beach, and Katie really liked playing in the surf and sand.

We also joined them for the San Diego zoo, where Katie decided that she really liked bears, though she pronounces them "Bay-airs". We convinced them to come with us to Legoland. Cedar Point is way better. Legoland is like a Junior Cedar Point - geared only for the 3 - 11 crowd. It was kind of cool to see all of the Legoland towns.

But mostly we got a chance to visit and "be" at the beach. Katie slept in a big bed (with rails or course) and did just fine. The "God"family watched more Blues Clues than any relative should have to (even if they like us). And all of us can spot a "purple tree" a mile away.

Danny and Kate became pretty good buddies and Danny drew her plenty of pictures and helped with puzzles and books ("If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" was a big favorite).

Tim came down over the weekend and the boys all went to San Diego Padres game.

It was a great vacation getaway. Next time we'll superglue Katie to the restaurant chairs so she can't wander during dinner.