Merry Christmas!

p.s. eli was so confused as to what was going on - all he kept saying was, "what's happening???" you can tell by the look on his face...poor guy. and jenalyn, well she thought she was the one to take the picture.

Christmas morning

we attended the Vigil Mass, so we were able to sleep in and wake up to Christmas morning...


the kiddies were excited to see all the "wish boxes" (thats what they call presents) but didnt quite know what to do with them. I unwrapped most of them and they each waited patiently for us to take it out of the package. beacause we were busy unwrapping, we couldnt get too many pics, but boy did they have fun with ALL their new toys!

Advent activity recap...

ok so it didnt go as planned. we missed a few days here and there, but oh well I made a good effort (well at least most days I did)

we never did see santa claus...
nor write him a letter...
or make a gingerbread house...
or do very many crafts...
and bummer I never had them try a candy cane (well actually I did after the fact, but no pics)...
and the other things on the list were mainly done by be with no pics to show for...

ugh - we'll try again next year.

the BIG tree at the mall

we finally headed out to the mall to see the BIG tree - and of couse I didnt take a pic of the whole thing...oh well. enjoy the pics.

because its fun to have siblings to swing with!

eli's new thing to do

its actually been for about a month now - but its hilarious! he will randomly start making a pile of stuff, just stuff he finds laying around the apt. mainly toys, but if he comes across something interesting, he'll debate, stare at it for a while, then decide its worthy enough for his pile-o-stuff...my dear and I just watch in amazement and laughter, it is too cute!

mashing the days together

since Im forever behind - I think Im just doing the days however I feel like it, sooo Ive put "gingerbread men pancakes" and "karaoke Christmas" together as one day.
first we ate pancakes, then we sang! can anybody tell what song we were singing?

Advent activites update

ok so as you can see, Ive fallen behind already! but Im not as far back as you think...heres what we're done so far:

DAY 3 - we have decored the apt.
DAY 4 - nope havent wrapped a thing
DAY 5 - read a story about Christmas
DAY 6 - too cold to visit the BIG tree at the mall (maybe this week)
DAY 7 - we did make ornaments - see heres some pics:




DAY 8 - we read a story about santa but didnt take our Christmas pics YET!
DAY 9 - no letter to santa yet
DAY 10 - havent visited santa
DAY 11 - ahh...we did make cornflake wreaths - they look terrible and totally not green enough. my mom use to make them evey Christmas growing up, and I swear hers looked so good - but hey I tried...but the kids do love them (and I made them eli-friendly)

DAY 12 & 13 - so I killed two birds with one stone - they drank hot chocolate/vanilla while I took their pics in front of the tree. jenalyn did not like her drink, but eli loved his (it was actually his rice milk warmed with a melted marshmallow inside)

still on schedule - day 1&2 done

so its only been two days but so far so good...

DAY 1 - decorate the tree!
the kiddies loved the lights. eli kept saying,"Ooo lights" and jenalyn wanted to smell them, I think she thought they were some sort of flowers. I bought all new ornaments (wooden so they cant break)and added a few of my favs at the top. and yes, they have plucked them off already. but if I tell them to put it back, they lay it gently back on the tree...it still looks bare, so Im off to get more and make more, so for now, heres a sneak peek...


DAY 2 - make a Christmas craft
we made some trees - ok so I did all the cutting and part of the gluing, jenalyn did the ornaments and stars, but both were responsible for the coloring. ta da: and I did throw in a "what shape are these?" lesson - both kiddies got the right answers: trapazoid, triangle, square, circle and star...hooray!

oh the tree on white is MY sample for them.

Advent activites...

we're gonna give 'em a whirl this year...Im sure what Ive listed will change, but at least its a list nonetheless...so here it goes:

1st - decorate Christmas tree
2nd - make a Christmas craft
3rd - decorate apt.
4th - wrap a present or two
5th - read a story about the real meaning of Chirstmas
6th - see the big tree at the mall
7th - make an ornament
8th - read a story about Santa/ take Christmas pics
9th - "write" a letter to Santa
10th - visit Santa
11th - make cornflake wreaths
12th - drink Hot Chocolate/Hot Vanilla (for eli)
13th - take pictures in front of our tree
14th - handprint craft
15th - gingerbread pancakes
16th - sing Christmas songs on our karaoke
17th - see Christmas lights
18th - watch a Christmas themed movie
19th - make a gingerbread house
20th - try a candy cane
21st - Christmas craft
22nd - wrap all presents
23rd - bake Christmas cookies
24th - read "T'was the Night Before Chirstmas"

thanksgiving 2009

just a quiet Thanksgiving, Mass with the family, lunch on the patio (away from the busy indoor party), then on to dinner at lola's.
so much to be thankful for...but most of all, these little kiddies...oh and that handsome guy I married :)

ok ok, I know its been a while...

and with the Christmas season in full swing, I have to do a quick recap of the end of November...

we went to the L.A. Zoo on Veteran's Day. the kiddies got to see all the animals they knew except for the elephant (it was closed). but they were'nt as excited as Id hope they would be. perhaps b/c all the animals do is stand there, although the monkeys were quite entertaining, so that was a plus. my dear and I felt as though we were there for hours on end, we were SOOO worn out and when I asked what time it was, he guess around 4:30pm before looking at his watch. ummm...nope. it was barely 2:30pm, and mind you we got there at 12:30pm! boy, oh boy are we getting old...so enjoy the pics