Twas a most delightful Christmas!

What a wonderful Christmas week it was!!

Trimming the tree was a glorious experience. From the moment we bought our house I knew where our tree was going. It was so much fun to see it actually go up.

Curly's room even got a little holiday cheer
Seeing the lights with Abbie and Alex
Apparently the husband had a bouncy horse when he was just a little thing and he played on it for hours. The husband's parents decided Curly needed one as well, Curly vehemently agreed!! You know a kid likes a present when she hugs it.
Christmas Eve PJs make the gift opening experience even better
Christmas day we decided to take a short drive up to the mountains and play in the snow.
Dad and Curly in their "fort"
I sure love these guys!!

And to top it all off, a little gingerbread house made by mom and Curly.

Counting down the days untill next year!

Most definitely, the happiest place on earth!

I've always kind-of loathed Disneyland because of the long line and millions of people. It turns out all I needed was a little girl to turn my thinking around. We went a few weeks ago, during the height of Christmas decorations, lights and Christmas music blaring on the speakers, and it was so fantastic!!

In front of "It's a small world", the best ride of the day (according to mom)!

OK, I have to admit, I got kind-of dizzy just watching them on the tea cups. I'm glad dad is willing to do all the "crazy" rides with Curly.
Dumbo, Curly's favorite ride.
This face sums up the day perfectly. We all had a blast and we might even be purchasing a season pass for next year. I never thought that would happen :)

Matching leg-warmers

Thanksgiving in Oregon

Thanksgiving in Oregon was such a blast. We got to see Grandpas and Grandmas, and good friends. Thanks to everyone who provided such wonderful hospitality!!!

Riding with Grandpa driving on the motorcycle....

She is SO fearless!! Stay tuned for an exciting video of all the fun. Thanks Dad and mom N for the great Thanksgiving meal!

After Turkey day we headed up to mom and dad R's where we went hiking at a favorite childhood destination, Silver Creek Falls.
Of course we couldn't go on the long hike with Curly, but we walked past one fall. Here we are under the fall, it's obviously a little wet. My cute little sis, came prepared with a snow cap, smart thinking. My California body was having a very hard time getting accustom to the cold Oregon weather.

Again, Curly and her new "smile", love it.

Sadly we didn't get any pics with our friends; just a good excuse to go back and visit. Or have them come to CA... hint, hint!!

New rain jacket, new "smile"

The fall weather is now upon us; so Curly had to try out her new rain jacket and pose with her new "smile". Funny girl!

Maui, Hawaii

I must say, I heart Hawaii...

Curly on the plane; what a trooper for the 5 hour flight!

All dressed up for the Luau

Cousin Aubrey
Oh, why does it have to be so beautiful there?!?
The bride (Andrea, the husband's sis) and groom (Derek); the reason why we were in Hawaii!! Thanks guysDad and Curly at the wedding

The Hula Girl provided a great snorkeling trip

Ben (Nate's brother), Becca (Ben's wife), Me and the husband getting ready to board the Hula Girl
A cool pic by Ben
The snorkeling trip was so amazing. We swam with turtles, eels, an octopus, and oodles of cool fish.
Just before we got to Honolua Bay we spotted a HUGE pod of dolphins, including a baby who decided to show off by flipping around in the air as we sailed passed, awesome!!
Unfortunately, we didn't eat any shaved ice or get a Puka Dog so I guess we just have to go back. Oh, Hawaii, I will see you soon!

BTW, all cool pictures provided by Ben and Becca

Coolest thing EVER!

The hubby and I are saving our pennies for the Retail DNA Test for Christmas next year. It was named by TIME magazine as the invention of the year. All you do is spit in it, send it off to the lab and they e-mail you your predisposition for more than 90 traits and conditions ranging from baldness to blindness, all for a mere $400. HOW COOL IS THAT!!

Brilliant

The hubby is one smart papa! They both had a great time. Curly kept saying, "moi", "moi" (more, more)

Thanks dad for giving me a 30 minute break!

Halloween; a week of fun!

Wow, I never knew Halloween could be so much fun and so exhausting!!

Monday - costume parade with church group

Tuesday - story time and dress up at the library

Thursday - dress up and trick or treating at "school"

Friday - costume parade and trick or treating in the cute town of Sierra Madre

trunk or treating at church

trick or treating at the house

At school with friends

Sweet tattoo

Goofy glasses and a goofy face Quite the stash, too bad she'll only get about 2% of it. Sorry kid, dad will take care of the rest. Luckily she got to eat all the candy she could eat that night.

Crankster

Curly has been having her share of crankster episodes lately like a lot of 2yr olds probably do. As she was crying/ complaining in her favorite cry spot under the desk, I thought I'd tape it and show her how silly she is, since she loves to watch videos of herself. I caught just the tail end. You can tell just the thought of watching the video calmed her down and she was trying not to smile in the end. Even though she's doing her best to perfect the cranky routine, she is still a super sweet little girl most of the time and we wouldn't trade her for anything.

just a walk to the park

No significance to this post other than she's growing up so fast and is the sweetest little thing.

Long Beach Aquarium

Most Saturdays Curly and I have to keep ourselves busy to stay out of Dad's way while he is getting stuff done on the house. It's hard to hang around the house because she so desperately wants to be with Dad and "help" him with everything he's working on; so we are forced to explore our little neck of the woods we call home. This weekend we decided to visit the aquarium.

It was the weekend before Halloween so there was free face painting and Curly was so excited to have it done despite the fact we had to wait in line for over 30 min.
Best picture!!

And of course this was her favorite part of the entire day, playing with all the little trinkets at the gift store.

Happy Birthday (belated)

Our little girl's 2nd birthday was a few weeks ago and I'm sad to report that we didn't really get any pictures of the momentous event, we mostly took videos. I did want to include one picture of her and her new big girl bed, the one present she got from us. We tired 6 or so months ago to transition into a toddler bed to no avail. This time we knew there was no going back, even though we liked the idea of keeping her confinded to a crib she couldn't get out of. There have been a few set backs but for the most part she has really taken to her new sleeping arangments.

Thanks to everyone who made Curly's birthday so special!!

Curly's first field trip

We have the wonderful opportunity to participate in a parent ed class funded by a local City college; the class meets every Thursday for 3 hours and is totally free (I still can't believe it). The other moms who are in the class are fantastic, especially my friend Jocelyn who introduced us to the program, and Curly loves all the kids.

Here are the pictures of our field trip to the fire station this morning.

Curly and Abbie in front of the antique fire truck. I must mention that Abbie is Curly's first real friend and Curly is constantly saying her name. Anytime I mention going somewhere for the day she always asks, Abbie, Abbie?, hoping that Abbie will somehow be involved in the day's activities.

Walking through the fire truck and being lifted out by the fireman
They tried to explain to the kids that you shouldn't be scared of the firemen; they are there to help you. They didn't need to do too much explaining to Curly, she was totally on board!! I think we might have a sucker for a man in uniform :)
Here she is practicing her Stop, Drop and Roll.
Because she was willing to volunteer for the Stop, Drop and Roll she got a special hat; you can tell she's very proud.

Curly and fireman Eric at the pole

Some of the kids in her class with fireman Johnny