Ringing in the New Year

Our Friends the Mitchell's invited us over for New Year's Eve. The kids made hats and balloon animals, we played games, did glow sticks and sparklers. We danced and made s'mores and just had fun being together. Emma fell asleep 30 minutes after her normal bedtime but Allison made it to midnight.Thanks for a great night Mitchell Family and all of our other party friends I think 2012 is going to be an amazing year.

A Visit and a Drive

My parents came to visit for a few days after Christmas. We loved having them and we had a great time while they were here but I was always forgetting my camera so their visit is not well documented.

Grandma snuggling with Emma in my new Wing back chair (thanks Mom and Dad!)

While my parents were here we went to the Gourd farm. It is about 60 miles away, the last nine miles may have been the longest in my life. It was so winding that it was almost sickening but I think it was worth it. There were so many gourds of all shapes and sizes.

We bought some pre-cut gourds to make fairy house. I think they look magical and the girls love playing with their fairies in them.

Christmastime Fun

We walked down to the waterfront to watch the boat parade.

It is hard to get good pictures of the lights but here are a few ok ones.

Christmas Morning!

I didn't want to pay $30 for the tree snowglobes at Anthropologie so I made my own. Have I mentioned I love Mason Jars? Well I do!

Apparently we need more children to fill out our reenactment of the nativity. Allison was a wonderful Mary and Emma was a very active baby Jesus. :)

A few more adventures...

Mae Hinton got married and I was lucky enough to help with her awesome reception. My friend Ruth put so much work into making this reception absolutely perfect. Someday I will be as awesome as Ruth...seriously she made 150 mini pies talk about above and beyond! Not to mention the bouquets, soups, decorations, etc.

I was able to chaperon Allison's field trip to Duke Ellington 's Nutcracker. It was at the Balboa Theatre which is simply beautiful.

My Aunt and Uncle came to visit and they took us on the harbor cruise. It happened to be during the American Cup so we got a close up view of all the amazing boats. Also the big pirate ships that are usually docked were out for their once a year voyage into the open water...it was very cool to see them sailing. The sunset by the Coronado bridge was breathtaking. Thanks Wendy and Dave for the fun afternoon.

We Love to Party!

Emma's little friend Scout had an awesome Carnival party.

Allison planned her very own girls night. They watched a movie, ate pizza, decorated cookies, and painted nails. She even invited to of my friends...they were so sweet to come and paint nails.

We were invited to help cheer on the Susan G Komen 3-day walkers. Alli's friend lives on the walking route and they hand out pink lemonade every year. It was so fun to support the walkers and I loved how some of them stopped to take pictures of the kids they thought they were so adorable.

Tea with Tangled

I had Groupon credit so the girls got to have Tea with Tangled for $5...best $5 I have spent in awhile. They loved dressing up and getting their hair done. Tangled read stories and taught them manners it was super cute.

Fall Highlights

My friend Jenni came to Huntington Beach on vacation and I made the drive up there to have lunch with her. It was so fun to catch up and enjoy each others company.

Love the view from the top of our building. We had lots of great rainbows this year.

Veteran's Day parade.

The chalk artist were amazing at the Little Italy Festa.

Cabrillo Monument

Halloween Fun...a bit late.

The girls had fun joking around with the pumpkin guts.

Apple/pear Picking and pumpkin picking in Julian...it was in the eighties and did not feel anything like fall.

Fall Festival at Allison's school. I made the picture booths and bean bag toss. Allison's class did the recycled scarecrow to be auctioned off.

The Last Three Months

Yes, I know it is shocking to see a new post here. Sorry it has been so long but I was busy living life and the blog didn't make my top ten "must get done" list. The following is a glimpse of our lives for the past couple months.

Emma had to patch for two weeks to help with her Amblyopia. The doctor was shocked at the progress her eye made in only two weeks and she should be fine with just glasses from now on. It is really amazing how fast their little bodies can fix themselves.

We mad a trip to the children' hospital to say hi to Ronald and get Allison's ears checked out. She has been complaining they hurt all the time but several doctors said they were perfectly fine. She also pulls on her nose to pop her ears a lot. The specialist said she just has large tonsils and adenoids and when its allergy season (which it always is in San Diego) then it can cause inflamation and ear pain. They gave her nose spray which seemed to help.

I finally put doilies on my throw pillows. I just love doilies!

Just a cute picture of Emma, she loves to pose.

When Grandma came to visit we went out to eat at old town.

We played at the zoo.

We listened to conference, the girls were so great.

I sewed Allison a new purse.

Emma has been drawing all the time, she is getting pretty good.

The building next door was attacked by a giant bug!....just kidding. We were up in a vacant Unit with Ben and this cool bug was on the window so I took a picture. My camera angle just added to the awesomeness (yes, that is a word!)