We'll start off with our 2011 Christmas card. Do you love it or what? After my semi-stressing about what we should wear and if they would come out nice or not - turns out I had nothing to worry about. I absolutely love this photo, even if Katelyn is not looking at the camera. Next week's post I'll post the remainder of the photos.
The week before Christmas started (for us) on Thursday, December 22nd. That was the day Tyler got to have a lucky day off from school (Katelyn still went though) and hang out with myself, my parents and his cousin Adam who was visiting from Texas. Our original plan was to go to the Great Park and ride the Hot Air Balloon, but as luck would have it, it was extremely windy that morning and the balloon was closed. Darn. The boys got to play light sabers though!
Instead of the promised Hot Air Balloon ride, we did something just as fun! We went to visit my grandmother in her assisted living home in Norwalk. Ok, probably not as fun for the kids, but it was good to see her. We went out to eat lunch at Denny's too. (Side adventure: When I got up to cut Tyler's pancakes, my chair fell over from the weight of my heavy bag off to the side. Of course I didn't notice and I sat down and took QUITE a tumble. Later I found quite a few dark bruises on me - one right below my wrist and a huge one on my thigh! Even 2 weeks later I'm still sore when I sit down. I think my butt took most of the impact!)
Here's my grandmother with Adam and Tyler. Aren't Tyler's smiles getting more natural?
That afternoon I took Katelyn on a playdate with Grayson, a friend from school. Grayson's mom is Ann, and I see great things in our future together. I am quite jealous that she is 7 months pregnant though. Katelyn and Grayson don't really play together in school (he's part time also) most likely because Katelyn has quite a dominant personality and Grayson is more laid back and quiet. But this was only our 2nd playdate, so there's time! We went to Pretend City.
That night after dinner we had an impromptu Christmas Light outing. BOY it was cold. I even had Katelyn wrapped up in a furry blanket as we walked around. I found this impressive street of lights nearby in Tustin and it really put us in the Christmas spirit!
Here's a short clip of Tyler running around looking at some of the Xmas lights:
This was a cool Yo Gabba Gabba lawn ornament. Katelyn saw it and kept saying "Gabba gabba!" Tyler really likes Imagination Movers, this show on the Disney Channel. Katelyn does too! There's a lot of singing and dancing and thinking in the show. I'm considering taking them to a live show in March - they'll be nearby in Long Beach!
Brrrr it was cold.
Friday was the kids' last day in school before the holiday break. Will took the day off and we went and saw the first morning showing of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Can't even remember the last time we saw a movie in a movie theater. Afterward we checked out the new Mitsua supermarket that opened up in our neighborhood and their Ramen for lunch. It was a wonderful day to ourselves!
Saturday - Christmas Eve! We decided to make the most of our Knott's Berry Farm annual passes and headed to the park one last time. We got there bright and early and parked in the 2 hour FREE restaurant parking. We've learned the last couple times that we never stay longer than 2 hours. And plus I love that it's FREE. We had a great morning - hit just about every ride in Camp Snoopy before leaving after about an hour. Katelyn got to go on all the rides, except the mini rollercoaster (she did not like that she couldn't go on it!)
Katelyn didn't want to take a picture with Snoopy so I sneakily backed her stroller up next to him. She figured it out quick and snapped the front sun shade down on her stroller a second after Will snapped this picture!
After naps, we headed over to Will's parents place in Rosemead. Katelyn had woken up super grumpy from her nap and screamed bloody murder as we got her dressed. She is such a drama queen! Here she is with Will's mom, and then some group photos from that night.
We took a few pictures of the kids with the lighted Christmas tree once we got home that night. They are so cute and adorable together!
Tyler and his gingerbread house from school.
Tyler and his letter to Santa! It's hard to read here but he basically says that, at home, he cleans with mommy and does his Kumon. And also that he doesn't know what he wants for Christmas so please just bring me toys Santa. Hah!
Christmas morning! Will and I assembled Katelyn's play kitchen the night before and did last minute packing. I also went through their presents and decided that we had purchased too many and put some in the "return to store" pile. Seriously, they don't need that many presents. They were super cute together.
Painfully cute. They are so sweet to each other (most of the time...) Katelyn was SO excited about her kitchen. Ridiculously so. For a week after this morning, she'd see the kitchen each morning and exclaim "KITCHEN!?" Like she was surprised that it was still here! She'll grab my hand and pull me to the living room and say "lunch?" because she wants to make me lunch. Heehee.
Tyler's favorite present was anything Lego Star Wars related. This included Lego sets and books. He was excited to "help" open all of Katelyn's gifts too. :)
Look how cute Katelyn's ornament from school was this year! I like that they used her school photo instead of a random not-so-cute one.
Random video, but Katelyn and Tyler watched this cartoon (3rd and Bird I think?) that they were saying "Santa, Santa... Ho Ho Ho!". So then whenever I said "Santa, Santa..." and Katelyn would follow up with ".. Ho Ho Ho!"
After opening presents at home, we headed up to Hacienda Heights to meet up with the whole family. The whole gang is here! We started out with lunch at a nearby Asian Buffet place (which I think, was actually the name of the restaurant?) Katelyn and Leah had a mini reunion, and enjoyed their soft serve ice cream. YUM.
KK and Annie! Annie is so great with little girls!
Katelyn showed her cousins how to play Tea Party on the iPad.
The boys were all kept busy with their electronics.
Quick picture with my nephew Baby Landon!
Katelyn was trying out my sister's mini video player and was interested in trying out the ear buds. They did confuse her a bit though.
The girls knocked out on the drive back to my parents' place. Tyler sat in the minivan with his cousins, and Leah sat in his carseat. Unfortunately Katelyn totally wouldn't nap once we put her in a pack'n'play in my old bedroom. Ugh. Warning sirens were going off in my head - Katelyn without a nap is quite... challenging!
The cousins all opened some Christmas presents and Katelyn was excited with her Hello Kitty presents, but even more with playing with Tyler's new Legos! She is so into Legos that she has her own little tin box that she carries around with her own Legos!
Video of Tyler picking and eating a tangerine from my parents' backyard. Yum!
Later that afternoon we took our 2011 Family Photo. 17 people, how chaotic was that going to be? We set up for the photo in the front porch of my parents' house.
Juice break before photo op!
This was really cute. Andy was popping rose petals and Katelyn was trying to learn how to do it. Look how cute she is with the little rose petal on her fist!
We started out with the grandparents and the grandkids. Katelyn was starting to get kind of fussy since she was napless, and didn't want to sit. She seemed content holding onto this huge Thai guava from my parents' back yard though. But then she dropped it. This was her sad face when she dropped it. How sad is that!
Some photos of my little family with my parents.
My mom, with her daughters, and our kids!
This was the best one of my parents with the grandkids. Katelyn is at least appeased with her guava, but definitely not looking too happy...
Group photo!!
I put a filter and edge on it through my Camera+ app. What do you think? More fancy, right?
Are these repeats? I can't remember. I sorted through over 2,000 photos from this week alone from 4 different DSLR cameras (ours and each one of my brother and sisters!)
Look at my cutie patootie baby nephew Landon! He's only 4 months old!
The kids were getting in some cardio before dinner.
Dinner hot pot is served! We fed the older kids first and then they played around while we ate and drank.
Nick Jr is an awesome channel. I wish we had it!
This was funny, Tyler traded my iPad with Ryan for their Kindle. They were both really interested in playing new games. No one asked my permission! Hah!
Annie and Tyler were so cute, they get along really well and Tyler loves playing with her. Aside from one, uh, argument between them, they had a great time playing together.
KK and Grandpa!
Crazy Katelyn is coming out. She gets more and more crazy as its gets later, especially without a nap!
Trying out the massage chair after getting a nice warn bath.
Light saber battle!
Whew, got home pretty late Sunday night. It was a hard night, K must have been really over stimulated because she was up every 15 minutes or so crying sadly. We did not get a lot of sleep that night at all. It should have been a clue as to what the rest of the week was going to be like.
Monday morning - 26th - we headed out bright and early to the Discovery Science Center to see their Star Wars exhibit. Perfect timing since the kids love Star Wars!
We even rode in a replica of the Millennium Falcon. It sounded much more exciting than it was...
...which was pretty much a small room made to look like a cockpit. Doesn't Tyler look excited?
The inside looks even dinkier with a flashed photo!
Will got to ride a little hovercraft in the exhibit. I couldn't get Tyler to try it out.
Darth Vader!
After the exhibit we headed to their outdoor area for the kids to run around and play around.
Katelyn is such a copycat!
We did a quick lunch at In'n'Out and then the kids all came back to our place. Katelyn did get in a nap though, thank goodness. The kids had a good time playing together in the afternoon before we headed back up to Hacienda Heights. Whew!
More Lego playing for Katelyn!
Tuesday. I'm not too sure what we did this morning. My sisters came over earlier and the kids played and went to the park.
Tyler had a "yeehaw!" moment on the seesaw with Annie - he's waving his hat like he's riding a bull!
Since Leah and Katelyn were still napping, Grace/Ken headed out first with their kids and Tyler to Medieval Times to check in and get good seating. Look how cute the kids are in the backseat (illegally driving without carseats!).
They all passed out pretty quick though!
We headed up a little later to meet up with the rest of the group. Katelyn and Leah really liked their Medieval Times crowns!
Tyler was really into Medieval Times. He watched really intently and kept asking which knight was the good guy and which was the bad guy. It's funny how into it you can get when you're cheering for your knight. I think I might have lost my voice a little from all the cheering. Unfortunately, our blue knight didn't win.
.. but he did throw his flower to Katelyn! She was so excited to get it! When Annie asked later if the flower was Katelyn's, I told her Yes, the blue knight had thrown it to Katelyn. Annie thought about it for a second and said "He must have thought she was cute." Why Yes I believe so! :)
We had great second row seats, and our party of 14 (not counting Leah/Katelyn/Landon) perfectly filled a full row.
It was about 7pm when we finished the show and we all headed back to our place in Irvine. Yay! Grace had brought Lego Rock Band for the Wii. Wow I am still really bad. Katelyn liked copying Kareen with the guitars.
how sweet is Katelyn with my dad?
Saying good night to baby Landon before they leave.
Look at that little smile!
Our Christmas lights on our house! Wanted to throw this picture in there before we took down the lights for the year.
Wednesday. Headed to my parents' place in the morning again and then we all went to the Schabarum Park, the local huge regional park. More photo ops!
Whew, what a week! It was pretty non stop family fun from Saturday to Wednesday. It was wonderful seeing everyone together and I sure wish everyone lived closer. It might make these get togethers for holidays not so super special - but that's better, isn't it? Sigh. I've given up on it happening! Katelyn/Tyler will only have Landon and his siblings to play with. They'll be way older. Waah!
Next post - New Years Eve! Will and I actually have babysitters this year (my parents) and will go out to celebrate. Our first time out since Tyler was born in 2007!
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