Christmas: part 4

The day after Christmas we went up to Blake's grandparents house. They haven't seen Bella a lot this year so I am glad that we got to take her up.

Isabella and Wito

Isabella, Blake and Wita

Showing off her Dora dance moves. This is the dance that makes the babies giggle and sadly I knew the words better than her. =(

Blake and his sister

Christmas: part 3*

Christmas morning!

Santa has come and gone and the stockings are filled and there are presents left under the tree. Isabella woke up at 4:45 (sadly this happens often, not just because it was Christmas) and we managed to kind of get her to go back to bed till 6 and then let her watch a movie till 7. We knew not everyone wanted to get up before the sun. Then it was time to see what Santa left in the stocking. Grammie also did stockings so she got 2! Then Auntie Trisha, Bobo (Kevin) and Kilee game over and it was time to open presents.

New ballerina ornament for our little dancer



Unwrapping presents. Looking a little tired baby.

New bike from grammie and grampie. She was so excited when she saw it that she went under the dinning room table and smacked her head on the way out. Of course with a pretty new bike in front of her she could feel no pain.

Playing our new Wii (Blake's mom and Jeffery got it for us, yay!).

We had breakfast with Grandma Candy Guy and Grandma James and did the present thing with them. I made some yummy (very fattening) breakfast items that I was quite proud of. After the Grandmas left we got Bella to go down for a mini nap before heading to Nana and Papas. We had Christmas dinner there and did some more presents. Have I mentioned that this child got more presents than a toy store?

Trying on part of her new jammie set. She got a lot of jammies this year which she really needed.


Playing in the big bag that her shopping cart from Nana and Papa came in. She is my favorite present. =)



An actual picture where she is looking and with me. You wouldn't believe how many I have with her not looking. I would estimate about a million.



Bella and her Nana.

Finally is was time to go home and crash. Which we all did.

* I know it seems crazy to break Christmas down into all these posts but it makes it easier on me and thats what I'm all about.

Christmas: part 2

The next day, Christmas Eve, we went to Blake's sisters. Blake's mom and Jeffery were here and we had dinner, presents and decorated cookies for Santa. Bella was really starting to get into the whole opening presents thing and started to become a little greedy about it. When you're three I guess the concept of other people having presents is lost on you.

Hanging out with a mound of presents. Are they all for me?

Gorgeous girls waiting for some dinner.



Modeling the new jacket from Grandma.

Yummy frosting! Maryssa chatting away on the phone again. (kidding, she was talking to her great grandpa)

Christmas: part one

We survived. Just barely. As much as I loved Christmas I am very glad it has come to an end. For us it was 4 straight days of parties, excessive food and way too many presents. Isabella is on overload from it all and it isn't doing much for her three year old melt downs. We did have a great holiday and are very lucky to have so many people who wanted to spend the holidays with us.

Our whirlwind adventure began with Grandma Keriths on the 23rd.

My little family:

Kilee (with her weird expression) hanging out with grampie and grammie

What a lovely little group.

Playing on the floor waiting for grandmas train to come around.

My 101 in 1001

So I haven't been great about keeping up with this. I think its a great idea though and if I'm able to accomplish a lot of whats on here I would be thrilled. There have been a few things I've done or are working on so here it goes:

3. Have three weekends away

Blake and I went to Disneyland for my birthday weekend. I already posted about this one so nothing new here.

8. Take Isabella to three kids places shes never been before

When we were in Las Vegas we all went to a children's museum that was a lot fun for Bella. I'm going to have to try to find one around here to take her to.

For her birthday Isabella got a pass to Legoland for the year (Thanks Grandma Kerith) and Blake and I got passes for my birthday so we all got to go. We took her and she loved it. I don't think that she really understood that what she was seeing was made out of Legos but the rides were fun.

35. Get a new car

Last week we got a new car. Well lets be honest a very used car that is new to us. I don't care though what it is or how old because it just feels so good to have two cars and both of us driving. (For those that do care its a Ford Explorer and its red) Not having two cars and drivers for 8 months was really hard. I should post a picture but I don't feel like going out and taking one right now so you will just have to imagine it.

65. Watch 50 movies I've never seen before

I have really lost count with this one. Lets see what I can remember: Harry Potter 6, New Moon, Adventureland, The Proposal, The Blind Side, Inkhart, Tinkerbell 2 (hey it counts), The Ugly Truth, Gamer (which I hated), A Time to Kill, Iron Man, Bride Wars, 17 Again. I know theres a lot more but I can't think of them now.

66. Read 50 books in a year.

I read the whole Sookie Stackhouse series so far which is nine books. Summer sisters.

68. Cook/bake 10 things I've never made before

For Thanksgiving I made Blake a pumpkin cheesecake

With Katrina serving as my hand model.

I also made this for Thanksgiving but can't really count it has cooking or baking. Its just so cute so I had to share.

For moms birthday I made her a key lime pie

71. Post a photo I've taken for critique on a photography forum

I did it and got the critique I was expecting which is a sign that at least I know what I'm doing wrong. Thats a start right?

72. Go to ten restaurants I've never been to

Blake and I went to Ruby Tuesdays which I had never been to. Getting him to try any new place is a struggle so I'm going to have trouble with this category.

When we went to Vegas we went to Joe's Crab Shack (which given my disgust of sea food I've never gone to before). They did have other things to eat there which was good and it was fun for Bella with the staff dancing and balloon animals.

89. Adopt a family for Christmas

This one I'm very excited about. Each member of our family picked a child through the Salvation Army/JCPennys Adopt an Angel program. Blake got a 5 year old little boy and I got a 3 year old little girl. It is so great knowing that we are helping out kids that don't have all of the wonderful things that are little girl has. We all did it so we ended up having 7 kids that we got presents for this year.

91. Enroll Bella in a class

I've already posted about this one. Bella's in dance class! She has class tomorrow actually and as always is very excited about it. We just paid the fee for her dance recital which is in the summer. They should be measuring her for the costume soon.