It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas, Cont.

Sam and Allie after dinner.  
The elves took this family picture. Sam is actually looking at the camera and smiling.  This is a huge feat!  Apparently I liked this picture so much I uploaded it twice.  

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Tonight we went to dinner with Santa on a train.  It was a great time.  Santa was really sweet to Sam and Allie.  It was a great night.  Bapa is in town for Christmas, we all had a lot of fun.
This was Sam's face when Santa was talking to him.  He was so amazed by the whole night (at first), by the end Sam was done.  
Santa showed Sam and Allie his special watch that shows what time it is at the North Pole.  
Our family before dinner.  It was pretty funny that Santa kept ordering Jason around.  He told him to get the camera ready, he told him to hurry and eat his dinner so he can be ready to take pictures.  You should have seen how fast Jason scarfed down the food after that.  
This picture was actually taken the night before at the Boat Parade of Lights at Ventura Harbor.  I dressed me and the kids like we were going to Antartica.  I guess I forgot we live in Southern California and it never gets that cold.  It was another fun night.  Sam is really excited for Christmas this year.  He keeps saying all he wants is a camera and moon sand. (The moon sand part is kind of funny because he has two containers of moon sand already that he hardly ever plays with, but he insists that is what he wants.)

Happy 30th Birthday Jason!

Last Wednesday was Jason's 30th birthday!  I think Jason was having a little bit of a hard time with the passing of his 20's, so of course the loving, supportive wife I am, I rubbed it in as much as I could (of course I know in 6 months I will be getting the playful ribbing back 10 fold).  We went out to dinner with the family on Wednesday night.  Last night Nora came over and watched the kids for us while we went out to dinner with a group of friends to celebrate.  We went to a local Teppen Japanese place called Cho Cho Sans.  We had a good time.  It was a fun night to celebrate a really neat man!  Happy 30th Birthday Jason!  

Happy Half Birthday Allie

This is Allie yesterday, the day before her half birthday, but I had to take a picture.  This bow will make her Aunt Ashley proud!  

Allie recently has shown a strong desire for a sippy cup.  Yesterday I gave her one, and she of course, attacked it.  The first picture is what happened when I took the sippy cup away.  She is our little drama queen. 


I always have to have a picture of Sam as well.  He really is a great big brother.  He's not that into having his picture taken anymore.  
To celebrate Allie's 6 month birthday we went to the mall to get their pictures taken.  We had a great time, although after getting pictures Sam threw a little fit.  I think 27 years ago they called them a "Nikki fit,"  they need a new name.  Holiday cards will be in the mail soon.  

Santa Time!

This afternoon Sam, Allie and I went to the mall to visit Santa.  It's become a tradition of Sam and I's to visit Santa on the Sunday after Thanksgiving (or the Monday after).  Sam is so excited this year.  He took his pictures of the past two years to show Santa.  We are getting excited for Christmas around here.   Hopefully we will get all the decorations, tree and lights up by next Sunday.  We haven't been home for Christmas for the past two years so we haven't decorated since we lived in Utah, I'm excited to see what treasures my 9 boxes of Christmas decoration have that haven't been opened in so long!  

More Thanksgiving

Last Monday we packed up the car and drove out to Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving with family.  We arrived Monday afternoon and had a wonderful time with my mom, Mike and Sean. We kept Sam and Sean very busy going from one fun place, Amazing Jake's one night, a big indoor climbing place the next, to another.  Thanksgiving morning we woke up early and took Sean, Sam and Allie out to Red Mountain park to watch My mom and Aunt Sandy run in a 10K Turkey Trot.  They did so good, I am so proud of them.  It was fun to see.  I got to talk to my Aunt Charli in the morning, we sure wish we could have been in Utah to enjoy her turkey too. We enjoyed the rest of Thanksgiving morning and afternoon hanging out with the family before we headed out to North Phoenix to see Jason's family.  It was a great Thanksgiving week.  

I am Thankful for so many things this past year.  We have been so blessed and are so grateful for so many things I don't think I can even begin, or else I'd never stop.  

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving in Phoenix

Thanksgiving evening we traveled to the other end of Phoenix to see Jason's family.  We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with all of the Shapiro family, including some cousins who we haven't seen since before Sam was born (a lot can happen in 4 years).  I got to visit with Karen and Keith on Friday morning and see their beautiful baby girl.  Then we went to the Phoenix Children's Museum.  Wow, what an amazing place.  Sam had such a great time.  He has been talking about it non-stop.  We will have to go back next time we are in town.  Saturday morning we had a great brunch with Mar Mar and Uncle Dick.  Then we packed our little family in our little car and headed home.  The drive took us longer than we expected, but we made it home in time to say one last good bye to our good friends who are moving to Branson Missouri.  

Good Night

Just two last pictures I wanted to share.  Allie is sleeping and Jason took Sam to the local high school football game.  I am going to go enjoy the rest of my night.  Good night...

Allie attacks bowl

I already posted about how much Allie loves her new rice cereal, but I had to share these pictures of her literally attacking the bowl last night.  She is such a funny little girl.  This morning after her cereal she started squealing and I could tell she wanted to attack the bowl again, when I didn't let her she started crying.  She's not spoiled.  

S-A-M

Sometimes I let Sam play on the computer by himself while I cook dinner (or whatever other chore I'm doing close by).  The other day he was playing on pbskids.org (he navagates that site pretty well) he called me over to look at what he named his super hero.  I looked at the screen and saw he typed SAM.  I said, did you do that by yourself?  How did you do that?  He said, "Mom I found the S the A and the M, all the letters are right there."  I had to take a picture.  I thought that was pretty good for a three year old.  

Weekend with Nama, Papa Mike and Sean

We had a great weekend last weekend when Nama (my mom) and Papa Mike and Sean came into town.  Sean and Sam play really well together, and I got some much needed "primping" time.  I actually got my hair done for the first time since February.  I cut it pretty short and got it colored a little darker.  (Sorry no pictures this time, apparently I only take the pictures.)  For those of you who knew me when I was 5 months old, probably are having a little bit of a flash back looking at the bottom picture of Allie and my mom.  It was a great weekend!  

Allie's First Meal and The Zoo

This weekend we had a great time with BaPa in town (My dad).  We went to the zoo, the Santa Monica Pier, and lots of parks.  Sam stayed the night with Bapa in his hotel.  He had so much fun packing his bag and saying bye to Jason and I.  

We started Allie on solid foods Saturday.  She attacked the spoon and grabbed the bowl and tried to eat the rice cereal straight from the bowl.  It was so cute.  I guess she was ready.  Sam got to feed his baby sister, and he was so cute about it.  

Happy Halloween!  I know, it's Halloween Night, and I'm not posting any pictures of Halloween.  Guess What, I forgot my camera!  Hopefully someone will email me pictures of tonight's festivities and I will post them then.  I did add pictures from the last week.  We had a great time at the pumpkin patch last week with Jason's family.  Today I got to go to Sam's school and volunteer.  I did a craft with the kids, and I read the whole class a story.  It really took me back to my teaching days.  Sam enjoyed having me in class with him.  When I came back to pick him up, I had a surprise with me Bapa!  (My dad).  We got ready and went out to our friends house for the trick-or-treating fun!  Sam was much more brave this year, he only cried at one costume.  You guessed it, the little girl who dressed as a cute clown.  Sam was Scooby Doo so I had to go with a family theme (see how many years that works), Allie was a puppy, or rather a girl "Scrappy Doo."  She is pretty scrappy.  She fell asleep in her stroller the second we walked down the street and slept the whole time.  They both fell asleep in the car on the ride home.  Hopefully I will have pictures to post from tonight soon.  I really can't believe I forgot my camera.  Good night, and Happy Halloween!