Christmas: Part Two

We just wrapped up a fantastic 4 day holiday weekend. We were all spoiled and ate entirely too much. But that's what it's all about, right? ;) Here are a few of my favorite pictures:The celebration started on Christmas Eve morning where we indulged in some homemade pumpkin pancakes (with fresh berries and whipped cream because calories do not count on holidays), turkey sausage, fresh OJ and mimosas. It was so good we decided to do it again on Christmas morning.
Christmas Eve dinner was again a indulgence: steak, lobster, fingerling potatoes and asparagus. Zoe loved the lobster - and the lemon butter sauce. She is obsessed with sauces and dips much like me.
Once the kids were in bed, Francis worked on putting together Zoe's amazing dollhouse. He worked hard into the night while I kicked my feet up on the couch and promptly passed out :)
Christmas morning was so fun. Watching Zoe open her presents was definitely the highlight of the weekend. I can't wait until both kids are old enough to get excited for Christmas morning!

Train Set:

Fake food set:

And the awesome dollhouse! This 3 story house has a mini toilet that makes flushing sounds, a light that turns on, a working mini piano and a deck. Spoiled, anyone?

Even Maya got spoiled!

Grandpa Joseph, Natalie, Max , Hannah and Nadia stopped by to exchange presents later in the day. Aunt Natalie stayed for dinner and gave her niece and nephew lots of love :)

Maddox chilled for most of the weekend and seemed content napping and playing on his play mat.I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday!!

Christmas: Part One

We celebrated Christmas early with my parents this year and, although it went by way too fast, we all had a great time. We kicked off the weekend by going to Zoe's daycare Christmas party where Santa made some time out of his busy schedule to drop off gifts for the kids. Zoe surprisingly ran right up to Santa and sat on his lap. But once there she didn't smile once.

Santa encouraged grandparents to sit on his lap as well (along with the moms...he was a bit of a creeper). This picture cracks me up.

Hanging out in Little Piggie's backyard:

Zoe and one of her BFF's, Charlotte:
Our little man will be joining the rest of the kids in late February!

We decided to make dinner easy this year and rather than cooking we decided to go have a nice dinner out on the town. We had an amazing dinner at Cafe Stella - definitely our new favorite spot.

It was amaaaazing to have built in entertainment for Zoe at dinner time :)

Hanging out before dinner:

We opened presents earlier in the day and Zoe clearly had the most presents under the tree - she must have been a very good girl this year to be so spoiled.

Maya was a good girl too :)

We rounded off the weekend with a walk on the beach - love this southern California weather!

I guess this sand isn't so good after all.

Learning to write her name in the sand.

Merry (early) Christmas everyone!

2011 Christmas Tree

It's that time of year again - Christmas tree time! Here are some pictures of us at the tree lot. Zoe insisted that I carry her. I am getting some serious arm workouts carrying both of these kids at once!

Zoe's hair was clearly doing its own thing this day.

I swear Maddox is somewhere in there.

Zoe adding the finishing touches with her daddy's help :)

Now if only I can figure out a way to get her to stop taking all the ornaments off and hiding them!

And we HAD to get a cute little tree for the kids' room. Zoe put all the ornaments on and we made a garland made out of her beads. How cute is this thing???

2 Months!

It's hard to believe that our little man is already 2 months old! He got a raving review at his checkup from Dr Roseman despite screaming his head off when getting his shots. Poor guy. He is smiling and doing his baby talk more and more each day...I wonder what his first word will be. Mama?

(This is his "hey ladies" photo)

(and his goofy smile - love it!)

Here are his latest stats:
Weight: 11 lbs 6 oz (50th percentile)
Height: 22.75" (50th percentile)

He weighs 7 oz less and is a half inch taller compared to Zoe at 2 months.

Happy 2 month birthday, Maddox!!

Snow Leopard Festival

This past Sunday was Santa Barbara Zoo's annual Snow Leopard Festival when the zoo brings in an ice making movie crew to make snow. There was supposedly 80 tons of snow brought for animals to play with, so we can all build snowmen, have snowball fights and sled. They even had an "ice-less" skating rink which looked pretty lame to me but still had a long line to get into so some people obviously thought it was pretty cool. The giraffes didn't seem too impressed with the snow.

As annual pass members we were able to get in a hour earlier, which is really not much to brag about since everyone who has a kid in SB has an annual pass. But it did make a difference for the long sledding line. Zoe was able to go sledding 3 times and she loved each time more than the last. We can't wait to take her to the snow and spend a whole day sledding! Here is a video of her sledding down the huge (haha) hill:

Zoe with her first snowball - she didn't seem to mind the cold at all.

Turkey Day 2011

We spent Thanksgiving in Fresno this year over at Jeanne and Tom's place. We had a fantastic time - it was almost like a mini vacation with everyone wanting to take care of Maddox and entertain Zoe :) Although it was a bit bittersweet since, after over 30+ years, Jeanne and Tom have sold their house and this was the last Thanksgiving they will host there. I wish I would have taken more pictures - I missed a lot of people.

Zoe with Auntie NatalieMaddox with Auntie Shannon:

Maya had the best time running around the huge yard, chasing squirrels. She cornered one up a tree and was so proud of herself. Poor squirrel.
We also celebrated Tom and Great Grandma Alice's birthdays while we were there. Here are some pictures of the great grandkids with G-G-Ma Alice:

Cousins!
Carson, Cooper, Jakob, Zoe, McKenzie and Maddox

Making s'mores outside in the cold - Zoe and Carson chased each other around the yard for most of the time. So cute!

Keeping Maddox warm in his wrap by the fire:

Big sister and little bro

Happy Holidays!