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!!