Santa was here!

I guess our kids were good this year because Santa visited our house. Thankfully, we didn't get to realize this till almost 8 a.m. :D I planned on having cinnamon rolls to tie us over till we made breakfast and I was wondering how I was going to not share with Alyssa but she made it easy! We enjoyed them all before she woke up.

The kids opened their stockings and Alyssa quickly remembered the joy of opening presents. Dad stayed Christmas Eve night so that we could have a relaxing morning and not have to wait for him to drive up from Morgan Hill.

Looking good Tyler!

Dad and I made our traditional holiday breakfast (eggs benedict) and finally, after 13 years, Tyler has decided that he enjoys them as well. I can't remember when this tradition started because I know that I was little but we have made them every holiday (the main four) for as long as I can remember unless we go out for brunch. Interestly enough, I love them so much I only have them four times a year and if we go out to eat. Not sure why I don't make them on any other morning. Speaking of traditions, I recieved the Evelskiver pancake pan for Christmas and I used it this morning to make yummy litlle Danish pancakes. I have to admit it was fun to do and I think my family enjoyed them. I know this little pan will prove to be quite useful considering the possibilities are endless.

Alyssa was thrilled and immediately asked us if she could put on Ariel necklace. She does love her jewerly! Today, we put in her Alyssa CD and she was so excited to hear her name on the CD all 50 times! Her Hannah doll finally got a highchair which is great considering it has been 2 years since she received the doll. Her babyhood lasted a long time! Tyler's big present was the Wii accessories (we are too cheap to buy the Wii console, maybe next year ; ) ) and stuff for school. Frankly, I wanted him to stop using my printer so Santa bought one for his computer. Thank you Santa!

Buddy Joe amazingly knew that I was getting tired of ready Percival the Beautiful Butterfly every day for nap so he bought her 3 new books. They were instantly a hit however she now wants a Unicorn. (Hint to Santa for 2008).

Hope you all enjoyed some holiday magic of your own yesterday!

Christmas Eve service

Cute pictures of Alyssa and Melissa's daughter, Lyle. They go to school together and have such a great time playing. I love watching them interact together. Actually, all the kids are prettty cute at playing.

Christmas Eve

We started the afternoon making Sugar cookies for Santa. We bought Alyssa the learning tower for in the kitchen (instead of using a chair because I worry constantly about her falling out) and now she wants to use it for everything. Of course, I love her help (most of the time) and so it works perfectly.

After making the cookies we had to let them cool so that we could frost them! Alyssa has never had frosting (from me) so it was interesting watching her try not to get dirty and then I told her about how it would taste. She didn't mind getting her hands 'dirty' nor did she ask for a napkin.

Then of course, the sprinkles... (Santa is VERY lucky this year!)

The finished product.

and we couldn't forget the reindeer's food...aka homemade Chex mix (Thanks Grandma!).

A visit with Santa

We had such a wonderful visit with Santa last week. It started off with Alyssa running into Santa's arms and ended up with Santa showing the kids his reindeer's ears on the roof of the Mall. I looked up and sure enough, there were antlers peeking over the roof and was visible because of the huge sun windows on the top of the roof. Very cool! This was great because it helped my story of having to make something for the reindeer. :D

We arrived home to post the pictures and we couldn't find them anywhere. They must have fallen out of the stroller when it tipped over. Ugh.

Thankfully, Santa didn't have to leave early (Christmas Eve) to prepare for his midnight ride so we got into to see Santa again. Only this time Alyssa was bashful and wouldn't sit on Santa's lap! This is coming from the same little girl that ran and jumped into his arms just two days earlier. She was okay sitting on Tyler's lap and then with the bribe of Madeleine's she finally accepted Santa's leg. Only, then we couldn't see Santa! Rob said Santa needed a step stool to sit on so that we could see him. ; )

Christmas cards are in the mail...

We had a lot of fun shooting pictures for the Christmas cards today...

Dance Recital...or what should have been

Okay, so we all were excited to watch Alyssa and her classmates perform for us today and instead we got to see her incredibly shy and completely against doing any of the activities or dance moves. I think I bribed her every way possible and still nothing. Needless to say, I was devasted and pretty pissed at the studio for not letting us know that her beloved teacher called in sick.

We did manage to get some cute shots of her.

Looking totally uncomfortable because Ms. Brooke was not there. :( Ms. Amanda had to literally help her do things that she has been doing on her own for months. At least she did it, I think this is the only thing she did. Oh wait, she did the freeze dance in the dark...probably because Ms. Amanda couldn't see her. ; )


Reason for this smile??? Dance class is over.

Oh, and the funny thing was we went to get Tyler's glasses and they had this big mirror and the entire time that we were there Alyssa danced and shook her booty in front of that mirror. Where oh where was my camera???

Alyssa's first Christmas (or any other kind) Concert!

Before the concert...
That's our girl, only one doing the hand motions!
She looks a little demonesque with her eyes like that but she is still our little cutie!

The nursery at our Church has been preparing all the kids for their annual Christmas concert. Throughout the entire 6 week process Alyssa has been very interested in singing on stage (never really knew what that meant) and she would practice her songs and movements all the time. We have a few friends with kids her age that were already declaring that they weren't going to sing on stage and I was a little worried. Yes she is a ham but that is in the comfort of our own home. She gladly put on her Angel costume and then wanted it off. So many kids were crying about it backstage that is was freaking her out a bit. I took her to the cafe in the lobby where we snacked on a muffin and talked about it. Right before they were going to take them back and line them up I dropped her off and she again, gladly put on her Angel costume. Next thing we knew here comes her class of Angels (girls) and Lambs (boys). We excitedly searched for her and there she was with a big smile on her face. She was lined up with the other kids, found us, and gave us a wave and a smile. So exciting because there was our little girl, on stage!

Sadly, she decided to pick her nose through the entire first performance (okay the length of the performance was only 7 or so minutes) so we stayed for the 2nd performance to get that one on tape. Luckily we did because our Angel was so precious, singing her songs out loud, doing the hand motions, and even waving to us. It was wonderful and so precious to watch her. She literally ran off stage towards me and was full of excitement for herself. I have a feeling that there will be many more stage appearances in her future.

I will burn a copy of her CD after we attend tomorrow's little dance recital at her dance class. We are also very excited about that too!

17 week check up

Alyssa and I went to check on our little brother and all is good. We did the AFP screening and results should be back in 1-2 weeks. Dr. Graven used the dopplar to hear the heart beat and she asked Alyssa if she hears the heartbeat and Alyssa said that all she heard is noise. In her defense, it is pretty staticky (sp) unless you know what you are listening for and apparently Alyssa does not. I weighed Alyssa and she still weighs 32 pounds and in fact, might have dropped a little bit considering she had all her clothes on.

A little update on Baby Hunt. He is about 5 ounces and around 7 inches long. Our scan last week showed a perfect little baby where he was crossing his legs and rubbing his forehead and possibly sucking his thumb. It seems so strange to think that that little guy that we saw doing all the sumersaults and twists is only 7 inches. He has about 14 inches to go! His sense of hearing is developing which means Alyssa and I have to refrain from calling him a 'her'. I did buy him a blue blanket though!

Our next appt is January 10th and it is the big one. They are going to tell us what his measurements are and what they expect him to be at birth, in terms of size. They were 14 ounces off with Alyssa so I am quite interested. I really don't think I will have another big one considering how small I am. In fact, my Doctor said that she hopes to see me showing at the next appt. So do I!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Dad came to help us decorate the tree and put the all important Angel atop the tree. Alyssa was really into decorating the tree this year and marveled and most of the ornaments that she picked up. She insisted on putting them all in one spot so we did have to help with that and by helping her I mean, redo it once she left the tree's side. Daddy turned on the lights after we were all done and she clapped with joy. She said it was 'beautiful!".

Christmas tree hunting

We went on our annual trip to the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. Okay, so the mountains were only a 15 minute drive from our house but we did drive to the moutains. In fact, the street is called Bear Mountain Street aka Christmas Tree Lane during the holiday season.

My mom was visiting for Thanksgiving and so we took her along with us. The Marino family also shared in our tradition this year and it proved to be a beautiful sunny California Day. After our yearly battle of what kind of tree we will get (Rob-the kind with half its branches missing and me-the beautiful kind with a luscious look) this year (I won) the kids and Rob set off to find that perfect tree. We first entered the area where they are all at and we all liked the first one we saw but we had to make sure so we hiked all around and through the trees only to come back to the original tree. We must have really liked it! Now the girls sat back to watch in amazement as the boys got down to business. We didn't hear the timber like the Loggers yelled but it was good enough for Alyssa, my mom, and myself.

With the bulk of our business done we found ourselves a nice grassy spot and ate our lunch. It was a great day! Just think, next year we will have a little 6 month old with us. What fun!