Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve went the way that it usually does....
-rushing around the get ready
-trying to get a good picture of Ayden next to the tree as quickly as we can...we were not successful this year -then, we headed to my grandparents for dinner with the family where we tried to get a family picture and were a little more successful than at home

I didn't expect Ayden to eat the potato dumplings that we always have on Christmas Eve, so I packed him a PB&J. He thought it was hilarious that his lunch box was at his seat.

After church, it was time for presents!!

It was the year of the musical instruments...

the best part about this guitar is that it is quiet!

he's actually got some harmonica skills!

Daddy trying out the "floop" (as Ayden calls it)

Ayden's Christmas Program

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Ayden's preschool had the cutest little Christmas program. Ken and I were laughing because the number of songs went way beyond Ayden's attention span. At least he sang, unlike the girls next to him.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday I turned 30 ...and the fact that I have almost no pictures to show for our busy day must be a sign that I'm getting old and losing my memory! We went out to a late lunch with my dad & step-mom, then bowling, and back to our house for pizza and brownies! It was pretty laid-back, but we had fun. The only pictures I have are from my phone because I forgot to bring my camera to the bowling alley. I don't really have an excuse for not having pictures at home, I just didn't think about it, I guess.

Ayden loved bowling - had this little routine that he would do every time it was his turn - set the ball down, spread out his legs, then roll the ball back and forth and count (sometimes to 3, sometimes to 10), then push the ball as far as he could. It's been a while since I'd been bowling - they were able to raise and lower the bumpers just for Ayden, which was pretty cool!

"Gingerbread" House

I brought home a bunch of stuff for making graham cracker "gingerbread" houses that we had left over at work, so I helped Ayden make one. He was very good and very patient about letting the frosting harden and not eating the candy. It was so fun to see him use his imagination and make different parts of the house. Daddy even helped out a little bit by making a car for his road. This was definitley the first of what will become an annual Christmas-time tradition!

Holiday Baking

Ayden helped me with a little baking. His favorite part was crushing the candy canes for the peppermint bark, and of course, licking the spatula!

Christmas prep

We scored some free tickets to "Breakfast with Santa" on Saturday morning, so Ayden and I went to check it out. While we waited in line to see Santa, he found some things to occupy his time.He was so excited to see Santa, and asked for a red car. He was disappointed, though, that he didn't get to take a present home that day.Later that day, we put the ornaments on the tree. It was so fun because this is the first time Ayden really understands all of the Christmas stuff.His fake grumpy faceWe woke up on Monday morning to snow...yes, snow in the Sacramento Valley! Apparently, it was coming down pretty hard at about 2am, but by the time we got up and looked outside at 6am, the rain had melted most of it. There was a lot more snow in Rocklin where I work and near Ayden's school. The snow on the grass in front of my classroom didn't all melt away until about 10am. These pictures are of our backyard.

Ayden was helping me make pizza for dinner and he remembered that he got a chef's hat for his birthday. He ran and put it on, but it kept falling over his eyes...mostly because he kept pulling it down.

Busy Busy Busy

Well, I'm not sure what happened to the month of November. It seems like I blinked, and then it was over. Much of the month was consumed by me engrossed in report cards and conferences. Even though we were super busy, we don't have very many pictures to show for it.

On Veteran's Day, we went to a little zoo nearby.

Ayden was not thrilled with me trying to get a picture.

Especially since these were wandering around, distracting him.

This is about as good as a picture gets these days...

And of course, we enjoyed Thanksgiving too. We actually had 3 Thanksgivings, but only took pictures at my Grandparent's house on Thanksgiving Day. We had our annual girls shopping trip on Black Friday. Then, on Saturday, we headed to my dad's house for the Groom/Vaccarezza Thanksgiving. We finished of the weekend with leftovers at Matthew & Dominique's house on Sunday. We had a wonderful four days filled with family, fun, and lots of food!Ken's mom and brother drove up to spend the holiday with my side of the family. After a delicious meal, we played some games and of course, had to check out the ads for Black Friday.