Weekend fun...

I'm finally caught up to the timing of this weeked. Last night, our next door neighbor organized a group of kids to go Christmas caroling. They do this every year but this was our first year of participating. Maddie and I went over to join the fun while Mike and William went Christmas shopping. What a great group of kids and families. Such fun! Unfortunately only a few families on the block were actually home to enjoy the caroling. We still enjoyed walking around the neighborhood in the 70 degree weather. We are sure in for a surprise when we land in Minneapolis on Tuesday. It's going to be coooooold. But until than, mini heat wave for Southern California. Crazy to think it's Christmas week. This afternoon we went to the Duck's game. We actually invited a couple of the neighbor families last minute to join us and it was a nice, mellow time. Not that I didn't have a million other things I should be doing... but it was fun and a nice diversion to the lists of things to do. Maddie, Chandler and McKenzie had their picture taken with the "Santa Duck!" Maddie wasn't so sure at first but worked up the nerve to jump in with her friends. She's such a scaredy cat sometimes!

Sonja and Baby Lucas came over to the game as well. This was Baby Lucas's first hockey game. Doesn't it look like he loved it? Big future fan, I can tell. Isn't he just dreamy? Seriously, he's such a cutie and such a gem. He slept the whole time. Fun times. Ok, I have to get back to the packing now... I'm determined to be organized and ready for our Minnesota Christmas vacation!

Mary

Maddie was selected to be Mary in her Christmas Pageant this year. Her preschool puts on the cutest little program filled with costumes, singing and story telling. Maddie was the best Mary I've ever seen! She was so cute. She actually got a bit nervous before and wasn't sure she wanted to participate but she pulled herself together and to my surprise, came proudly walking into the church dressed as Mary. So, so cute. The biggest performance of Maddie's life so far and I was her only fan in the audience. It was a bummer because Mike could not make the 8:30am performance due to a scheduling conflict with work and Grandma and Grandpa, who are always there to support, were traveling out of the country. I gave Maddie my biggest smile and waves from the audience and I will never grow tired of the sweet, genuine, proud smiles I get back from her. These moments are truly some of the greatest in motherhood. The program was such a great way to celebrate the birth of Christ, the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas decorations!

This month has flown by and I can hardly believe we leave for Minnesota on Tuesday! I knew once we hit Thanksgiving that Christmas would be here before I knew it and I thought I was getting a jump start on the holiday preparations but here we are, the weekend before Christmas and I still have to hit the mall tomorrow for a few last gifts to buy and I just got my Christmas cards in the mail TODAY. Ahhhh...the joy of Christmas. But really, it's been a great couple of weeks. We got our tree the first weekend in December and Maddie had a great time decorating it. She was actually a terrific help to me... unlike William who we had to keep busy with some Wubbzy watching so he didn't break too many ornaments. We had a few casualties before we even got decorating. Oh well....nothing a little crazy glue didn't fix. The tree this year is a beauty! Mikos was actually much more on top of things than me (surprise, surprise) and he got all of the holiday lights on outside the weekend before Thanksgiving! He was the first (well, second) on the block and all of our next door neighbors really thanked him for that (hint of sacrasm). They really look great and as usual, the kids love them! We added a couple new members to our outdoor lawn family... a tiny snowman and a flamingo with Santa hat (my choice). What fun!

The Big Date!

Maddie and Mikos had a big date tonight! They went to the Daddy/Daughter Holiday Dinner and Dance with their Indian Princess Tribe. It was so cute. Maddie was SO excited! Mike was in Chicago for work this week and changed his flight to make it back in time to go to the dinner. He flew in at 4:00, was home to pick Maddie up at 4:45 and they were off! It all started at 5:00 with pictures which I can't wait to see. Maddie was so excited to wear her new fancy dress. We started getting ready at 3:30 and did some fun, girly primping that is what I'm sure to be the first of many primping sessions I hope to have with Maddie as she grows up. Such fun! She looked so beautiful and of course, Mikos looked pretty handsome too.

William was a little bummed to be left behind. He doesn't totally understand it all except that he knows he's not going with dad but we had our own date tonight. William and I actually had a DOUBLE date with Sonja and Russel (and baby Lucas). We went to Islands for dinner! Yum. Cheers to date night and cheers to this Christmas season!!

Sunday morning donut run

William loves donuts. Maddie's never been a big fan but William on the other hand, he loves them. Mikos and Wil ran down to the donut shop early Sunday morning before church for some tasty treats and fresh coffee. Williams' favorite are ones with "tinkles" on top. Yum!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year: Yummy food. Tasty wine. Special mini pumpkin pies prepared by Sonja just for William and Maddie. Beautifully set tables- one for the adults and one just for Maddie and Wil. Delicious turkey dinner prepared with love by Papa. Desserts to die for made by Sonja. 75 degree weather. Lots of family. A few friends too. Lots of fun. Lots of love.

Disneyland Madness

In retrospect, I'm not sure what we were thinking but the week before Thanksgiving, Friday night after a long work week, we decided to head over to Disneyland for a little impromptu fun. It was a chilly night and I remember saying to Maddie that maybe the park would be empty and we could jump on lots of rides with no lines. Boy were we wrong! The park was PACKED! I guess everyone else had the same idea we had to take advantage of our annual passes. I think it was especially busy as well because of the holiday fireworks and "snow" show. Despite the craziness of the night and the fact that Maddie refused to go on Small World Ride, we had a good time. I won't even get into the fact that we ended the night with a trip to the ER...I've almost happily forgotten that aspect of the crazy night!

Thanksgiving Program...take 2

The Friday before the week of Thanksgiving, we were lucky enough to attend Maddie's Thanksgiving Program and subsequent Thanksgiving Feast on the Preschool playground. The pictures from inside the church didn't come out very well but I don't think I will ever tire of these adorable performances. Maddie's class dressed as pilgrims this year. They made their own hats and I'll let you decide for yourself but I think Maddie is the most beautiful pilgrim ever! What a happy and proud smile.Maddie was so excited to have us in the audience. It was so cute to see her file into the church and immediately scour the crowd searching for us and than the look on her face when she finds us waving franticly and proudly...awe...we are so lucky to be her parents. So lucky. I am loving these times so, so much. Stayed tuned as the Christmas program is riiiiight around the corner. :)

Rollerskating?

Maddie and Mike went ROLLERSKATING yesterday afternoon! It was a planned Indian Princess activity and Maddie was thrilled to see her new friend Ashley there with her dad. When Mike told me they were going rollerskating, I just started laughing. How cute but I have to say I expressed concern (ie. a little teasing) to Mike and told him not to be falling and breaking his back. Maddie had never been rollerskating before and frankly, I'm not sure that Mike had either! I hear Maddie was a bit of a handful at first. She was frusterated because she couldn't do it as well as her friend could but after a little practice, Mike said she started to do ok. Overall, they had a really good time. Maddie says she wants rollerskates for Christmas now so she can practice in the cul-de-sac at home. I think she's got a bit of a competative edge in her. Wonder where she gets that from?

William loves CATS!

I think William is the animal lover in our family...or at least we know he's the cat lover in the family. This is a collection of photos I've snapped over the last month or so. It seems everytime I turn around Wil is "loving" on our cat Lou. I have to remind him frequently to be gentle with Lou but he really does just seem to love her. Lou, ironically enough, doesn't mind all of the affection she gets from William. She's always been the cat that actually comes around the kids and never minds when they get a little rough with their handling.
I just LOVE this little guy! As crazy as he can be and as much of a two and a half year old he is, I think he's the cutest thing ever and I love him so!

Birthday parties galore!

Maddie has had a very busy schedule the last couple of weekends. We've had back-t0-back birthday parties for the last two weekends in a row and one Sunday, we had 2 birthday parties on the same day! Maddie and I left the house at 11:20 and didn't get home until 4:45 that night. We were exhausted but Maddie wouldn't miss a party for the world. We went to a party where they had build-a-bear come to their house and all the kids got to stuff their own bear and pick out an outfit too! Maddie picked out a hawaiian dress. It was really cute. They also made their own pizza's at that party which Maddie enjoyed but of course, did not eat. I wondered as I saw her loading her pizza up with mushrooms and peppers??? We also went to a fun party at Hullabaloos Clubhouse where the kids got their faces painted, had fun in the karayoke room and got sweaty running around the indoor playground. We also hit up a party last Saturday at Pump-It-Up. That was a blast of course... lots of bouncing and goofing with her friends! I think the birthday party horizon is a bit flat for a couple of weeks. Maddie can not wait for her party in January! She keeps asking me, "Mom, when is it MY birthday?"

Trick-or-Treat

Halloween just seems to get more fun each year! Maddie and William had such a great time trick-or-treating. They got right into it and were so cute running up to each door, ringing the doorbell and yelling "trick-or-treat" in their cute little voices. Such great fun. William was the cutest pirate I've ever seen and Maddie was a be-a-u-tiful butterfly! We had the whole family over for a lasagne dinner and to enjoy the evening with the kids. Both sets of Grandparents were there and Aunt Sonja and Maddie and Wil's new baby cousin Lucas! It was such a fun, fun night. I can't wait for next year!!!

Pumpkin carving

Grandma Jeanne and Papa Mick came for the Halloween weekend. They flew in on Thursday afternooon and Maddie and William were so excited to see them! It was great having Halloween fall on a Saturday this year. We carved our pumpkins late Saturday morning and it proved to be a family affair.

Maddie enjoyed taking the pumpkin guts out......and William helped Papa Mick pull out the pumpkin seeds that we roasted the next day.

I appreciated Mikos taking charge of the creative duties of carving.

The end product... one mean looking pumpkin with a scar face (William's) and one happy pumpkin (Maddie's) with a heart nose!