Beach Boy Fans

The kiddos love the Beach Boys. It all started with a surfing CD my mom had in her car. They would dance away in their car seats. Now whenever Kate hears a Beach Boyesque song she yells, "It's the Beach Boys!" and starts dancin' away!

My mom got them their very own Beach Boy CD for Christmas. They love it!

Christmas Lyrics Gone Wrong

Kate hasn't been able to quite get the words right for "Deck the Halls" so she just makes them up. This is what she sang today.

See the Christmas tree a poppy
Fa la la la la la la la la
See the freezing thing a doo doo
Fa la la la la la la la la

Christmas Morning

The adults in the house were all awake, breakfast was mostly prepared, ham in the oven. Finally we all got impatient, went in and woke Kate up. I wonder how many years longer we will have that luxury.





Opening presents from Grammy and Pap' Dale



New dress-ups to add to daily repertoire.





Scarf I made for me mum.



Jonas is barely keeping it together while mom fights with the stupid packaging.



Jonas was exhausted after many, many laps through the tunnels.



This toy is one of Jonas' favorites. Unfortunate for Kate because it is hers.

Christmas Goodies

Kate stayed up late making treats with Grandma.

She loved it, especially because they were made with marshmallows.

For those of you interested in the recipe here it is:

Melt together

1 package (1 lb) caramels
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup (2 cubes) of butter

Use a skewer and dip the marshmallow in the caramel and then roll in rice crispies.

Better than Prozac

Coming back from Thanksgiving was a little rough. We decided to sooth our lonely hearts by going to Disneyland again. It makes living here quite a bit more bearable.

The lights were magnificent.



Small World re-opened after almost a year of being closed. It is all decked out in Holiday cheer. (and new boats to accommodate our nation's increasing average weight)



Inside Small World



Jonas couldn't go on the cars last time. This time he passed the height requirement thanks to extra thick soled sneakers.



Kate went on Splash Mountain 3 times!





Maaaaaa!

Festivities at Big Thunder Ranch. Kate was next to Clarabelle in a hot potato game. They got to be good buddies.



At the end of the game the kids got a Pluto hug and a sticker.

Fantabulous Pictures

Cousin Makayla took these pictures at my mom's house. I can't get over how amazing they are. I wish she could follow us everywhere we went chronicling our lives in digital artistry.

You can see more of her awesome pics on her blog.

Talent I Didn't Inherit

I decided to ration out the Thanksgiving pictures so I would have more to write about and you would have something fun to look at each day.

This is one of my mom's many amazing talents I didn't inherit.

I cannot put Kate's hair in anything fancier than ponytails. I try and try and mostly I just end up with a rats nest and a ticked off 3 year old.

Thanks. Turkey. Tradition.

We spent Thanksgiving at my mom's this year. It was amazing as always. Full of great traditions, tasty comfort foods, and family.

Each year my family writes a note/list of things they are thankful for and puts it in the ceramic turkey (pictured above next to my mom). Before the meal we read all of the notes.

This is Kate's note:

I am thankful for Mom, Dad, Jonas and Brighton.
I am thankful for everybody that is my friend.
I am thankful for everything that I have saw.
I am thankful for Gus and Prince.
I am thankful for all the rides at Disneyland.
Thank you God. I am thankful for God.
I am thankful for Cinderella because she loves me.

Jonas's note:

I am thankful for a comfy crib and a bottle of milk.
I am thankful for Binky, sometimes I need two.
I am thankful for unattended sodas, which I love to sneak.
I am thankful for my lightening speed and long arms which are perfect for snatching.
I am thankful for balls because I love to throw.
I am thankful that Kate leaves her food where I can reach it.
I am thankful for "Ma" and "Da" and sometimes Kate.

"Grandma's Feather Bed"?



Cousin Brighton, a little too much turkey and fun.

Quick Family Pic

Prince Phillip

Several months ago I purchased a tadpole kit from the toy store. You had to send in a post card to the little tadpole farm and they would send you your live "froglet". We finally are at a permanent address, so a couple of weeks ago Kate and I walked to the mailbox so she could send her postcard.



The other day I decided to check the mail. I hadn't checked it in a few days because I am lazy. (The mail is not delivered to the house. The box is down the street) I opened the box and there was the little froggy package. Apparently our mail carrier can't read. Plastered on every side of the box was, "LIVE TADPOLE DO NOT LEAVE IN MAILBOX." I frantically pulled apart the box and pulled out a little baggy with "Yay! A living tadpole!"

His name is Prince Phillip and he has now lived 7 times longer than any of our previous aquatic pets.

BFF!

Kate and her best friend Ella.

Disneyland Day 3

Sorry it has taken me a while to get these pictures up. Every time I sat down to do it, I was too tired to think.

We started out day three with the princesses. I thought the line wouldn't be too long first thing in the a.m., but I was mistaken. At least it wasn't as long as Tinkerbell.

At some point in this conversation Cinderella told Kate that she loved her. Later that night as we struggled to weave through the parade crowd, Kate was having a melt down because we weren't going to watch the parade. Through her tears she cried out, "But Cinderella loves me!"

Cinderella may love Jonas, but he does not love her.

We spent a good share of the day at California Adventure.
We got to see a lot of characters without having to wait in horrid lines.

"Handy Manny, I can't breath!"

Family photo without wet boob! However I do have another disclaimer. We forgot our toiletries bag at home. The entire trip I had no makeup, no flat iron, no hair goop!

"Mickey, your face feels kinda weird."

We went to the Play House Disney live show. We got to sit in the front row. Kate absolutely loved it. Kate got chosen to hold the sign. She was so excited. The lady would point to the sign and the crowd would yell the word. She pointed to play, crowd yelled "Play!" She pointed to house and Kate started running toward us. The crowd laughed.

Why am I standing like that and what is Kate looking at? At least Minnie looks good.

Disneyland Princess hoody $34, Christmas Minnie Mouse $15,
a magical weekend and a quiet drive home priceless.

Disneyland Day 2

We got to Disneyland bright and early the second day. John still has puffy sleepy eyes.

"Pull Jonas! I think we almost have it!" I can't spell the sound Jonas is making.



"Dad! Help!"



"Get me out! How come Kate gets to go on the ride and I have to stay here?"



"Anybody home?"



Oh, man! We are in trouble when this lady killer grows up.



We got Kate an autograph book and a princess pen. She loved getting the characters to sign her book. We waited in line probably an hour just to see the fairies. At first I was not too thrilled about Disney's new method of meeting characters, but it turned out to be a wonderful experience for Kate because she got to spend some quality one-on-one time with the characters rather than having me shove her up to the front for a picture and then having some other pushy mom shove her our of the way.





In every picture I took of Kate getting an autograph her hand is on her hip like this.



Could have been an okay family shot with Mickey if Jonas hadn't dumped water on me while we were waiting in line.