Tyler meets Santa! (Week 127)

Happy Holidays everyone!  The countdown begins until Christmas break - just one more week of work until Holiday shutdown - yippee! We've been prepping Tyler for any encounters with Santa this Christmas season - reminding him that Santa brings Thomas presents to good little boys who listen to their parents and use the potty!  This is Tyler's first year (kind of?) understanding the whole concept of Santa, so hopefull we'll be able to use it to our advantage! hehe!

To start off, heres'a Christmas picture with my girls!  We've decided to switch our Happy Hours at restaurants to eating in!  Mariam and her husband are in the midst of closing on their new home (in Irvine! YAY!) which is super exciting, and I also need to start thinking of the extra expenses that having another child is going to incur!  Love my girls!

Tyler has a crush on Trina.  No joke.  I bet he's still dreaming about the time they spent together in the Bahamas.  On the drive home from school, Will told Tyler that Aunt Trina was at our home and he freaked out!  By the time they got home and I went to get Tyler out of the car, he was trying his hardest to get out of his carseat, and could barely contain himself as I took off his jacket and shoes!  The rest of the night was full of Aunt Trina hugs and kisses and insisting that Trina play with him and his trains.

The next night Will and I were heading to a holiday party and Trina was awesome enough to watch Tyler for us.  All day Tyler was so excited and well behaved as I dangled the fact that Aunt Trina was going to come play with him if he was a good boy!  It was hilarious!  Tyler and I were upstairs when Trina arrived and when Tyler heard her voice calling he looked completely excited and couldn't wait to run downstairs!  Needless to say, he had no problem with mom/dad leaving [repeat of the Bahamas: byebye maba - addressing Will and I in one word and not even looking up!)]. 

The holiday party was a lot of fun - it was for Tyler's school where Will is on the Board of Directors.  I can't remember the last time Will and I actually had a date night!  Seriously, no clue.  The party was at ridicuously huge and beautiful home in Tustin Ranch Estates.  The wife is the head of the Board, and there were pictures in the house of her and her husband with President Bush and Vice President Cheney.  Craziness!  Here's Will and I in their foyer - the tree had a little train circling it!

It was a great opportunity to get to know more of the teachers at Tyler's school (the party was for the teachers, staff and Board only).  They had casino games set up and we had a great time playing BlackJack.  Everyone starts out with $500 play money and the top three winners of the night actually get prizes.  Guess who won first? Yours truly!  I don't mess around with BlackJack! haha!  Highlight of the night  - my grand prize was a 3 day 2 night stay at home owner's Newport Beach cottage!  Wow! I was thinking maybe like a Starbucks gift card or something... they don't mess around!  Needless to say, I was super stoked.  Also, we got a really cool white elephant gift as well - a toothpaste dispenser!  AHH!  Seriously, I kid you not, I had JUST been looking at one at Bed Bath and Beyond the other day.  I love things that clear up my counterspace!  What a great night!  And to top it off, Trina kept us updated with texts about how great Tyler was being and how easy bathing/putting him to bed was!  Ahhh - Trina is INDEED the Tyler-Whisperer.  At this rate, when the new baby comes and Trina babysits - Tyler won't even notice that mom/dad aren't home!

The next morning the weather was nicer and we headed to Pretend City.  It's been a couple months since went when they had just opened, and it was nice to see that they had some new things.  The best part of being a member there is that they have a 'members only' 9-10am hour which its nice and not crowded.  My favorite!  Here's Tyler in a new firetruck!

Oooh this was my favorite new thing - an incubator and little chicks!  Super cute!

As always, Tyler loved the tool section.  His hand-eye coordination is getting better too - he's been working on buttoning the little buttons on his pajamas.  Not quite there yet - but on his way...

Here's a cute video of Tyler playing hopscotch at Pretend City.  He kind of gets the idea...

And another short video of Tyler shopping at the grocery store at Pretend City.  He's pretty excited about picking out items, yelling out what they are, and bringing them to the cash register!

After Pretend City, we headed over to the Irvine Spectrum.  I haven't been there in so long!  I had seen online that Santa would be at Nordstroms that morning - ooh, maybe today would be the day!  We got there a bit early to avoid a line, but I did notice that the kids there were dressed really spiffy.  Oops.  Tyler was just in a long sleeved shirt and jeans...which was quickly getting covered with lychee jelly juice.  Oops.  Thank goodness I had brought along a cute little vest for him!  Totally random, we bumped into Tyler's buddy Kaden and his family!  Some things are just fate - totally not planned - and somehow even parked next to their car in the parking lot.  Tyler and Kaden had a good time running around the store - they are so hyper when they're together!

Tyler with Santa! Seriously, this was a BIG deal for us...considering how things went last Christmas (think kicking and screaming). I think a lot of it had to do with Tyler thinking that Santa was going to bring him Thomas the Train toys! He was a little nervous at first but then sat on Santa's lap without any problems. It was funny though, you could tell he was a little scared - he had a pasted on smile and when Santa talked to him he just kept looking at the camera and would nod his head a little bit. Heehee!

Here's Tyler and his buddy Kaden!

And a short video of Tyler and Kaden sitting with Santa.  You can see Tyler's responses to Santa's questions - very small head nods with a pasted on smile.  I can imagine him thinking "...just keep smiling and I'll get choo-choo presents for Christmas..."

Afterwards we had lunch at Johnny Rockets.  Hm - not too much of a fan of their kids menu - super fried choices.  On the other hand, I did get a Strawberry Shake! YUM!  I found out that they no longer give you that extra cup on the side for the shakes - what a ripoff!

And we'll end the post with some silly pictures of Tyler!  This ballpopper of his will NEVER get old.  Here he is dancing to the music from it!

And cracking up as the air blows in his face.  I would say this is, hands down, the most used toy that Tyler has.  He's loved it ever since he was a baby!

And here's Tyler watching Glee!  He loves that show and gets so engrossed in it!  Funny random moment:  Tyler was pretending to take pictures (between two chopsticks...I know, very imaginative?) and he'll always "Say Cheese Mama!" and I'll put up a goofy smile with my eyes closed.  This time though, he stopped, looked at me and said "open your eyes!".  HAHA!  This is what we've been saying to Tyler lately for his pictures - he smiles so big that I can't see his eyes. Looks like he's catching on. :)

Have a good week everyone! Yay it's almost Christmas break!