Itsy Bitsy Spider

A Very Merry Christmas

Opening her first gift
Candy Cane smiles
Dollhouse with Nana

Daddy and baby Camryn

I had a horse like this when I was young. His name was Star and I rode him for hours every day. Grace now has a "star" of her own thanks to Papa.

Cami loves her Auntie Ashley

I hope you and your loved ones had a very Merry Christmas 2010! We went to church & my parent's house on Christmas Eve, spent Christmas morning at our house, and Christmas evening with Mike's family. The whole two-day celebration was so much fun but the best part was seeing Grace so excited about Santa coming, filling stockings, bringing presents, and leaving cookies and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. She was so full of wonder, joy & magic this year. All four of us were spoiled with such wonderful gifts and we were just so happy to spend good times with our families and eachother...to celebrate Jesus's birthday :)

The Nutcracker

Before the Nutcracker

Last weekened we saw the Nutracker Ballet at the Irvine Barclay Theatre with Nana, Grandma and Auntie Ash. Grace loved it so much & I was so impressed with the dancers and the amazing costumes. She is really into Clara and got this cute ornament at the ballet as a memory of our big night out. She also got some new ballet shoes and clothes this week (she starts a new dance class Jan 3rd) so it's been a ballet theme around our house.

Grace's Ornament

G made this ornament at school today for Mike and I. I LOVE it!

Mike was putting her to bed the other night and she was almost asleep when she popped-up and said "Daddy.......I really love Chick fil a!". How silly is she! Good thing we're having Chick fil a tonight for dinner :)

Christmas at GiGi's

We had a little Christmas lunch at GiGi's (great grandma's) house yesterday. It was the first time she met Camryn! GiGi gave the girls gifts so Grace opened them. She got a tutu outfit and Cami got a talking puppy. Nana helped pick out the girls' gifts since GiGi doesn't get out of the house much these days. It's amazing she can still live on her own with just a little help at 94. Grace also tried Lefsa for the first time, which is a Norweigan flatbread that is a "tradition" on my dad's side of our family during the holidays. Yum!

Now to Cami: She is 2.5 months old already. Time is flying and she is growing just as quickly. She smiles constantly and is beginning to coo and laugh. She just discovered her hands and is a sweet little girl. She only gets up once during the night which is sooooo nice for Mike and I. Poor thing has her first cold now too, courtesy of her sister, who came down with a nasty cold on Monday. I'm hoping they are both gone by Christmas at least.

5 miles!!!

Yes, I actually ran 5 miles on Sunday evening. I think the last time I ran 5 miles straight was almost 2 years ago...so I was very proud of myself.

Christmas Brunch

We went to our annual 'Christmas Children's Brunch' with Nana and Papa at Big Canyon on Sunday. It's great because there are lots of activites for the kids and a beautiful brunch for the adults :) They had a reindeer, face painting, the Grinch story, cookie decorating and pictures with Santa. I don't have a copy of our family picture with Santa, but I snapped one of the whole family minus me. The face painter painted pink earings on Grace's ears so she felt very fancy!

Christmas Playdate

On Saturday we had a Christmas playdate at Sophie and Ethan's house. The kids had a ball decorating cupcakes, doing Christmas crafts and playing. I had fun catching up with my friends while Cami slept pretty much the whole time we were there :)

Nativity Scene

This is my new favorite Christmas decoration. It's a hand-carved nativity scene my mom brought back for us from Israel. All the little pieces can be moved around. She also got one for herself and my brother. I love it....the true meaning of Christmas....and Grace loves it too.

We got our Christmas tree last night and Grace and I started decorating it early this morning. We're going to finish it up and put presents underneath it today after she gets home from school. She is SOOOOO excited about Christmas this year. It's so awesome to see as a parent and reminds me of my childhood Christmases, all the magic of the season. She even had her breakfast by the tree this morning :) Camryn just sat in her chair and looked at the lights and ornaments...she's so good. We have some fun Christmas actitivites planned over the next couple weeks, the Nutcraker, brunch at Big Canyon, the boat parade, etc.

Visiting Santa at South Coast Plaza Today

The North Pole in Laguna Niguel?

Daddy, Cami Cakes and Papa. It's Papa's birthday today too!

Rudolph and BlitzenMy big 2-month old, such a sweetie :)

Yumm, cookies

"I'm not so sure about you Santa". (But they parted friends, yeahhhh)

Best friends and the little bro

Yes. Grandma, Grandpa, Kristyn, Sophie, Ethan, Grandma Retta and Aunt Maggie joined us. We visited Santa, made crafts, decorated a cookie, watched a puppet show, saw reindeer, got our face painted, played games and drank hot cocoa....what else could a little girl ask for (besides a pink ball from Santa!)? It was a fun holiDAY! And tonight we get to celebrate Papa's birthday with a yummy Italian dinner.

Mission Accomplished!

I just finished my first Nike Challenge goal of running 30 miles in 3.5 weeks. I'm so excited to be back in the running game. Now how many more goals do I need to acccomplish to loose the rest of this baby belly (ha ha ha)? Maybe a couple more months :)

On a separate note: Tomorrow is a big day, Cami will be 2 months old, whoo hooo!!!

Cami Cakes

Grace

Grace was wearing her big ladybug wings tonight and watching a show on You Tube and she looks at me and says:

G: Mommy I have to go potty (gets up and runs to the bathroom).
Me: OK. Do you want me to take off your ladybug wings?
G: No.
Me: Well how are you going to go potty?
G: I'm going to put my butt on the toilet seat.

Duhhhhh mommy :)

Pumpkin Crunch

So GOOD that its worth the extra workout and it's super easy to make.

1 box yellow cake mix (betty crocker super moist)
16 oz. packed pumpkin
12 oz. evaporated milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup melted butter

Mix together pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, spice and salt. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle cake mix over top of mixture. Top with pecans. Drizzle with melted butter. Bake at 350 degrees 50-55 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! We are so thankful for our family and friends this year. I am especially thankful for my mom and Mike's mom because they have helped me so much with the girls during the past couple months. I am also thankful for a husband who takes care of the baby every night so I can go to sleep early with Grace. It makes such a difference for my sanity! We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with both our families at my mom & dad's house last night. I made a dessert called Pumpkin Crunch which turned out pretty darn good :) I'll have to post the recipe because it's so delicious and unique. I also took some time yesterday to shoot some pics of the girls (above).

Camryn's Doctor Appointment

Camryn had a doctor's appointment today. It was her first round of shots and I just cringed when she got those darn shots. It's so hard to see your baby in pain. Luckily it was over quickly and Grace helped distract her. We have been so busy lately I've been neglecting taking pictures, but there will be some nice photo opps this Thanksgiving week. Back to the doctor's appointment.....Cami is a big girl. She is growing much faster than Grace's pace. Her stats are as follows:

Weight: 12 lbs, 9 oz - 85% percentile
Height: 23.5 inches - 84% percentile
HC: 15.5 - 47th percentile

On a completely different note Grace and I have been playing a fun game at night during bedtime. We each tell eachother our "favorite part of the day" and "least favorite part of the day". For the best part, sometimes she says something really sweet like "being with you mommy" or sometime it turns out to be funny like "eating my cookie after lunch". I love coming-up with silly things like this for us to do. She is such a little sweetie!

Cami's First Friend Gavin

Today we had a lunch date at CPK with Cami's first friend....Gavin. Gavin is one month older than Cami & he's a cutie. Although they both slept through it, I can tell they are going to get along just great. It was also a good chance for the girls (Grace and Audrey, 3 mths apart) to get together and we're looking forward to going to the Spectrum next Wednesday so the girls can ride the carousel. Here are the girls with"their babies".....

Running Shoes...

The cobwebs have been dusted off!!
I went on my first run today in almost a year and it felt great. Actually, I should be honest - it was more of a slow jog - but I didn't walk. 2.9 miles. I'm doing the Nike Running Challenge with monthly distance goals AND Mike & Kristyn and I are signing-up for the Dana Point 10k in March 2011. Skinny jeans, here I come....slowly but surely...because it's a marathon, not a sprint :)

Grace's 3rd B-Day Party

Chuck E Cheese here we come! Today was Grace's 3rd birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. We had about 16 kids come celebrate with us and Grace had a blast. She was very excited about her pink princess cake and loved playing the games and eating pizza with her friends. Cami missed out on the action and stayed home with Nana and Papa. Next year she'll be invited. We took this opportunity to get a good family photo :)

Grace

Photos of the Week: Two Little Blessings - How Lucky am I?!

Cami is 1 month old

Cami is one month old today! My first thought is....wow, we survived the first month. It has been exciting, totally hectic juggling the two, hard adjusting to lack of sleep and so fun...all at the same time. She has grown so much during the past four weeks and is no longer fitting into her newborn clothes. She is just about to graduate to the #1 diaper and gives us the most amazing smiles that make it soooooooo worth the journey. Some nights (like last night) are really good (she only woke up once) and others are not so good (waking every 2 hours to eat). Hopefully they will only get better, and more consistent, from here. Cami doesn't like her pacifier, she seems more content than Grace was when she's awake, but she definitely has her fussy moments each day & has a huge issue with gas - tooting all the time. Mike is really good at calming her down. Today was the first day I took both girls on an outing besides to the doctor's office or to take G back and forth to school and the drive thru Starbucks. We went to Joann's and I think I only started to sweat twice (ha ha ha), but the rest of the trip was not too bad. Good thing Joann's is about 1 minute from my house. Happy 1 month birthday baby girl!!

Grace Turns 3!

Grace turned 3 yesterday. She is such a big girl now and had the best birthday. We gave her a bike in the morning before Mike went to work, which she rode all day; had a pizza party with Nana and Papa for lunch and celebrated with Mike's parents at our house that evening. She got all kinds of great gifts like a new sandbox, and American Girl baby doll, dance lessons, a jewelry box, Disney princess loot, a Tinkerbell tea set and more! What a lucky litle girl. It was a day full of pink -- Grace's favorite color. Happy Birthday to our first baby who is sweet, sassy, silly, super outgoing, totally girly, FULL of personality, beautiful, fun & full of life. We love you Gracie girl!!! It feels like just yesterday that you were the tiny size of your little sister and we brought you home from the hospital. How time flies...

It's Halloween 2010!!

Daddy & Minnie getting ready to trick or treat

Madeleine, Grace and Priya at the pre-trick-or-treating pizza party

Grace with little Nola & her favorite next door neighbors Jordan & Reagen

Grace and Cami

Daddy making pink pancakes for Halloween breakfast (we had no orange food coloring)