Happy New Year! and Merry Christmas :)

We're back in the swing of "normal life." The past 3 weeks were busy, but amazing! I hate that its all over. BUT, we had a super fun Christmas, an awesome 2 weeks in Texas AND we have a 1 year old! So 2012 started with a bang and hopefully that means this year is gonna be rockin :) My goal is to do a separate post for each event because I have a gazillion pictures...so hopefully this week I'll have some nights to Blog.

Christmas definitely took the cake this year. I know I've had some great Christmases, but this year, with a 2.5 year old, man oh man! It was so fun watching Raya open presents and hear all the commentary that came with it. She was full of pure excitement. Like true, "OH WOW!" and "Oh my gosh!" phrases we're coming out of her mouth left and right. It was so great. Her facial expressions and the enjoyment that was written all over her body was priceless. I've never had such a fun Christmas. We made cookies, talked about Santa, made sure to be "Nice and not Naughty." All the things you think make Christmas- yah, we probably did it. And because I'm OBSESSED with Christmas its not hard to see why I loved every minute of this season. The kids got A LOT of presents. In fact I'm pretty sure she's been opening presents for over a month, so I'm working on how to help her understand that opening presents like this doesn't happen year round. She loves opening presents. The 25 Days of Christmas was a total hit and, lucky for her, her baby brother really didn't care too much about opening any so she got to open all his too. We opened presents Christmas Eve at my Aunt's house. Then all day Christmas Day. Then had 2 more Christmases when we got to Texas, so Raya got lots of present opening opportunities :) Here's some pictures for your viewing enjoyment:

 We started Christmas morning at our house

After presents at our house we went to my Mom's (aka Santa's house ;)

 Last year Raya got a Mercedes and this year they got this! They are some lucky kids :)

He clearly was enjoying his 1st Christmas!

Coolest kids on the block

Apparently global warming is in FULL EFFECT. Its not weird to have weather like this in Cali for Christmas Day, but it was also this warm when we were in Texas! Wth?!

Christmas Dinner with Uncle B

Just a few of her presents: A princess house and sleeping bag/pillow. And headphones for her iPad. She had a great Christmas. And the next morning Kallen was enjoying them just as much :)

I was so thankful to be with family, to watch my kids enjoy 3 Christmas with all their grandparents, for beautiful weather and for beautiful children!  It was an incredible holiday season and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world :)

Disneyland!

I can't believe this is only my second post for December! Gotta do better :)
Last week we took Raya to Disneyland for the first time. It was the best day ever. Seriously! Going to Dland with a toddler is a whole different story. The whole "seeing it through a child's eye," yah that. It was amazing.

When we got there the "Big 5"-you know, Mickey, Mini, Donald, Pluto and Goofy- were all out and Raya got to meet them and take pictures. She LOVED seeing them. She's really into The Mickey Mouse club and knows all the characters. The day before Dland I asked if she wanted to go to "Mickey's House," which of course she did, so it was fun to have her wake up the next morning and tell me she was ready to go to Mickey's House.

The weather was perfect. It was sunny! A little chilly, but not bad at all. We got there about 10 and went to Fantasyland, which is where most of the kiddy rides are and all of the princess attractions. I was so excited to go on the Dumbo ride with her! But when we got to it she didn't want to go on it. At all. I begged her ;) So we made our way to A Small World. My all time favorite ride. It was pretty cool to have one of those "this is mama's favorite ride and now I can share it with my daughter" moments. She wasn't as moved as I was. But thankfully she wanted to go on it! Haha. So the first part she was fine. She was looking around and enjoying the boat ride. But about 2 minutes into she started crying a little. It was too loud for her. She really doesn't like loud things and it kinda freaked her out. Soooo, we only rode it once. Ahhhh, I couldn't help but laugh. Here I am so excited to take my daughter on this ride. This momentous moment at the Happiest Place on Earth and it all just freaked her out and made her cry. LOL! However, Kallen LOVED the ride.

Ok, but get this. So we go over to Toon Town and play around. There's a roller coaster there and as soon as Raya saw it she immediately wanted to go on it. WHAT?! Yes. I was sure she was too short to ride, but oh no, she was tall enough. I asked her if she wanted to go on it with Daddy and she said "YESSSS!" So we let her go. As my Mom and I waited for them we thought she's either going to be forever scarred or, because she's such a dare-devil, she's going to love it. Welllll, wouldn't you know, this daredevil LOVED it. So Small World makes her cry but a roller coaster is a-ok. Ah, my girl <3. After that ride we walked by the Matterhorn and she kept pointing at it and asking if we could go on that next. If you don't know Dland, the Matterhorn is one of the "scariest" and fastest rides, so she won't be going on that until she's at least 3 ;) I remember my cousin Alyson would go on some of the scariest rides when we were so little-and she always loved them. I'm guessing Raya's going to be just like her.

After a few rides we went to lunch and then got ready for the big Christmas Parade! Gentry and Kallen camped out and got us a good spot while Nana took Raya to the Disney store. Oh man, you definitely want to be with a grandparent when you visit Dland for the first time! Raya got all kinds of goodies :)

So we sit on the curb for an hour and as soon as the parade starts guess who has to go to the bathroom? Yep. Raya. Uhhhhh! So Gentry takes her and, well, it would be when she has to take the longest dump ever. LOL!!! She's going to be so mad at me some day for this. But seriously! I was freaking out because she was missing the best parade ever and Gentry's texting me that she's "kinda busy." HAHA. Luckily she finished in time to get back outside and see the whole parade. It was a really good parade too!!!

After the parade we waited around for Pluto. He was the only one we didn't get to meet in the morning, and of course the only one Raya kept asking to meet. He never came, so we went across to California Adventure land. Both kids fell asleep so my Mom stayed with them and Gentry and I got to go on a ride. After, we did dinner and headed home. I really wanted to go back to the park because it "snowed" when it was dark, but it was just too cold. I didn't bring their super warm jackets because when we parked it wasn't' that cold at all, so I left them in the car. We'll do it next time :)

This was Tower of Terror. You basically get in an elevator and it drops. Repeatedly. And then drops again and shoots you back up just to drop you again. Lord! 

It was such a fun day!!! Man, I"m so glad we went. And at Christmas time too! Disneyland is amazing during the holidays. And it wasn't even packed. It was just perfect! If you have little ones and you have the opportunity to take them to Disneyland, do it. But I'd probably wait until they're at least 2. Kallen wasn't nearly as impressed as Raya was.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a really great Thanksgiving Weekend. We went to my Mom's for Thanksgiving. It was a nice and easy afternoon with food and family. What more could you ask for? :) My Mom and brother did all the cooking. Everything was delicious! And my Dad came Thanksgiving night! So Raya was in Grandparent's Land and loving every minute of it. 

Its been a prefect holiday weekend! Now very much to report, just a bunch of pictures, of course. Kallen's 1st Thanksgiving and our first "Family of 4" Thanksgiving was just dandy ;)

Snuggling with my babies is one of the most special things I am so thankful to be able to experience. 

Kallen and I woke up early to make a quick trip to the store to make some Turkey cookies

The Turkey Cookies:

We headed to my Mom's about 1 and spent the rest of the day there

Some of the gentlemen :) My cousin Josh, Gentry and my brother, Bryce.

 And Gentry did this with Kallen. 

 And Kallen was totally cool with it ;)

My Uncle Rick and my bro

The guys watching football

Raya and Grandma

And of course, there was Thanksgiving Naps

Bryce's 1st Nap

I LOVE dressing him like a little man. God, I couldn't get enough of him in this. And he walks like a little old drunk man. Its too perfect :)

Couldn't get one of them together. Kallen was On.The.Move!

His dress pants were killing me. Like I said, I couldn't get enough of them!!

Going, going, gone...

He's so annoying

And Bryce ended it with Nap #2. LOL

My Dad and Alan flew in Thursday night and met us at our house. Raya LOVED having them at the house all day and all night. The way she says "Grandpa" and "PawPaw" is so so so cute, so I loved hearing it all weekend. 

 Nap time was a re-occurring Theme this weekend :)

On Saturday our Hogs played. We played LSU and it was a BIG game. We lost :( Pretty much got whooped. That was unfortunate. BUT I'm thinking and hoping and wishing and praying that they go to the Cotton Bowl now because we will be in Dallas the day of the bowl and we CAN GO!!! That would be so awesome...we should know next Sunday. Keep those fingers crossed! We dressed up in our Razorback gear for the game. We're true fans like that ;)

Baby Wrestle Mania was happening during the game.

And this whole holiday weekend has been Beautiful! I do love the fall weather, so this 80degree weather puts a cramp in my fall wardrobe, BUT its been absolutely gorgeous. Today we put up all of our Christmas decorations and I definitely decorated the tree in my bathing suit. It doesn't get anymore So Cal than that! (And I wasn't JUST wearing my bathing suit. LOL! That would be weird.)

And the wonderful weekend ended with one more group nap. HAHAHA. My family's going to kill me ;) But I promise, I'm not trying to embarrass anyone...I really thought it was cute!

My Dad and Alan left Saturday afternoon. Raya cried :( She kept asking if she could go to Grandpa and PawPaws house. We're going in December, so at least I could be truthful when I told her that we could soon.

The Christmas decorations are up and the house looks so festive!!! I LOVE IT! Omg. I LIVE for this time of the year. I wish the holiday season lasted like 4 months. I could keep these decorations up for so much longer. Well, as I type that I reflect on the last 2 hours of repeatedly telling Raya not to touch the tree. And even with me telling her every 30 seconds she'd still hop the baby gate and I'd find her removing ornaments. So maybe 5 weeks of these decorations will be plenty :) I do love the age Raya's at because she's just as excited as I am about the lights and Santa Claus. You just can't fake the excitement that girl exudes. I hope she too plays Mariah Carey's Christmas CD on repeat starting in October :)

Our tree looks so dinky. Lol. This is our first year with a fake one. We'll probably borrow my Mom's fake one because I have no intentions on getting a real one this year. Or ever again to be perfectly honest. And my Mom has a really full big one she said we could use. I'll keep you posted ;)

The Holiday Season is in FULL EFFECT!!!