Merry Christmas...

I'm just sitting downstairs watching all the boys play Castle Crashers (one of many video games) downstairs and just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I'm a more than a little sad that my parents will not be able to join us this weekend, but I'd much rather have them be safe and sound then even attempt to drive over the pass in all this snow. We'll miss you and I hope you two have a wonderful time. I'll still get to see my brother, Kyle and together we'll go see my grandma, who's visiting my cousin and their new baby, on Friday or Saturday... hopefully the weather will cooperate so we can drive up the hill. Anyways, I wish you all safe travels and a very wonderful weekend. Merry Christmas everybody!

Abby's Birthday - Take Two...

On Sunday we had another little party in honor of Abby's 1st birthday. I don't know how she managed to get not only one, but two parties in before Christmas, but she did. It was just Ben's family, so nothing too crazy, just a quiet night with cupcakes and presents. It was nice. Ben still had to convince little Abby that cupcakes are not evil... I don't think she likes the frosting. :)

Frosting is the only part Lizzie would eat... I mean lick.

Snow Day...

So here are some pictures of some fun in the snow around here. I still can't get over the fact that there's so much snow here. In all my childhood living here I don't ever remember ever having this much... and it's really not that much compared to most places (we're all excited about around 12 inch of it). I think everyone that lives around here is slightly tired of it and is eagerly waiting for it all to melt away, while Ben and I think it's the coolest looking Christmas ever! ;) Ben and Lizzie have been outside multiple times each day we've been here, Lizzie lasts for about a half an hour and then she's done, shivering... I'm ccccccold, mommy, so ccccold. The two of them and Uncle Steve made a makeshift sled out some camping mat and a garbage bag, it was so incredibly ghetto. Ben was totally fine with it too, that is until he saw the neighbor kids with their really cool tricked out sleds... it was all over then.

Snow Angels! Don't you love her shoes? The poor girl doesn't have any boots (we live in LA), so her feet have plastic over them! :)

Our Trip to Grandma's House...

Well, we managed to make it all the way up to Seattle on Thursday. It was a rather long day... as is any day when you travel with little kids. Ben and I woke up at 5am so we'd have time to finish some last minute packing, transfer the carseats and get everyone ready before our flight at 9:50am. It was an interesting morning, our flight from Burbank was delayed 45 minutes because we didn't have a pilot and then when we arrived in Oakland we were delayed another 4ish hours because the airport in Seattle was shut down for a little while and then reopend with only one runway. I found it rather ironic that we were stuck in a place that we use to call home. If the delay had been any longer Ben and I would have been totally fine with that... we really wanted to ditch the airport and go see some of our friends there anyways. The girls did really well, for the most part anyways. Abby slept the whole time on the first flight and then Lizzie did the same on the second one, it was a nice trade off. When we arrived in Seattle there was snow everywhere. Ben and I couldn't remember the last time we had seen snow and it was Lizzie's very first time. She thought it was pretty neat, Abby does not like it at all though, it's way too cold for her, that's my little California girl. It's so strange to see it so snowy up here, normally it never happens... it's a very nice treat. I'm more than a little cold though... I think I've been in California for way too long too.

Abby sleeping in Ben's lap on the plane... it will probably be one of the last times she gets to fly without a seat.

Lizzie fast asleep with Abby's feet in her face!

Playing on grandpa's deck out in the snow the night we arrived.

Abby and I stayed indoors where it was nice and warm

That is until Ben wanted her to join in on the fun

Happy Birthday Abby!

So today is Abigail's birthday and I'm so glad she won't remember a thing. Poor girl... it certainly was a less than stellar day to have a birthday on. She was awoken early to go to her well baby check-up first thing this morning and all went well. Abby weighed in at almost 25lb -24lbs 8oz, 30 1/2 cm long and her head circumference is 46cm, still in the top 95% of everything! Abby also had to get four shots this morning. I'm not a big fan of shot day in general (don't really know anybody who is), but it made it so much worse that it was her actual birthday, and the rest of the day we've been so busy running last minute errands and packing before we leave tomorrow that we haven't really done anything special. I feel kind of bad for her, but then again she doesn't even know that it's her birthday and after having all those shots, she was asleep for a huge part of the afternoon plus it's freezing outside (well, really only 44 degrees, but that's really,really cold down here), so we couldn't have gone anywhere anyways.

We did however throw her a little party last weekend to celebrate though, so we're not that awful of parents! On Sunday some of our friends came over and we had coffee, hot chocolate and chocolate cupcakes. And of course lots of presents for her to open. It was great practice for Christmas morning... Lizzie ended up doing most of the work, but Abby would point to which one she wanted to open next. The kids were all running around like crazy, it's especially crazy when my girls and Shannon's girls get together... that combination is slightly insane. :) I really hope we didn't scare Nate and Candace too bad, they're expecting their first in April and it just happens to be a girl. We all managed to survive the afternoon and everyone took the most wonderful naps afterwards. Happy Birthday Abbers, we love you!

Ben had a nice save with the flame there. Abby thought it was pretty neat and almost burned her fingers.

I can't believe Ben had to convince her that a cupcake is a fantastic food to eat... this is the girl who will eat absolutely anything, yet it took her forever to take a couple bites of a cupcake.

Lizzie showing off her sparklies

She finally got the hang of it!

Poor Abby she didn't even get to play with her toys after they were opened. The girls had to try them all out first to make sure they were cool I guess.

Insomniac's Holiday Party...

Last night Ben's work threw their big year end bash/holiday party in Hollywood. The party was just blocks away from Mann's Old Chinese Theater at a mansion/estate that dates all the way back to 1907. The place was pretty sweet... it definitely had that old school Hollywood vibe with the huge palm trees, and big, bulby, white string lights everywhere. I would totally love to go back there during the daylight hours and see a bit more of the place and walk around it's huge gardens. I always forget just how close we live to downtown Los Angeles and the whole Hollywood scene.

This year the party's entertainment was gambling... nothing real, all with fake money, but you could win prizes at the end of the night if you had enough winnings... which we didn't, apparently $1500 wasn't enough to stake a claim at any of those prizes... I guess you truly had to be a high roller. They had a craps table, roulette, blackjack and 24 Texas Hold'em. A buffet of fancy, Hollywood style comfort food which included lobster macaroni and cheese, little mini chicken and veggie pot pies, mini thin crust pizzas (which were by far everybody's favorite), some potato, squashy thing and it truly wouldn't be Hollywood without some sushi. There were also waiters going around with hor'dourves of all sorts of fun stuff from grilled cheese to tuna tartar, all the way to lobster corn dogs... sounds gross, but it was the best thing there. It's true what they say... everything is better deep fried and on a stick. :) And of course it wouldn't be an official Insomniac party without an open bar. There was also a dessert and coffee bar, which we ate dinner so late into the evening we didn't really feel like dessert. Ben and I were at the poker table for the vast majority of the night acting like complete idiots, laughing our heads off and having a blast. It truly was a fun evening with some great friends that we have there. Can't wait until next years party! ;)

Here's a picture of the place so you can have some reference... I obviously didn't take it since we were there when it was dark! The place is called Wattle's Mansion, just in case you wanted to know.

Ben losing all our "money" at the poker table... he had quite a stack of chips going there for awhile.

Dennis was our dealer for the night (in the white shirt), he was really cool and made the whole experience a ton of fun. All of us at the table were totally awful at playing poker and had no ideal what the official rules were. The whole night he was giving us some great tips and advice if we were ever to play for real.

Haircut Day...

Just some cute pictures I thought I'd share after Lizzie got her hair cut last week. They always do something fun with her hair after it's cut, this time it was pigtail braids, last time it was double french braids with red ribbons. I have yet to figure out why she'll sit still for the hairdresser to do something with her hair, but outright refuses to let mommy do anything... go figure. No ribbons or flowers this time, I guess Lizzie wanted to keep it simple. She had these in her hair for 2 or 3 days, we found out her hair holds a curl really well cause it was crazy curly when they came out!

Deck the Halls...

This past Saturday, I guess that would make it yesterday, we decorated our house for the holidays. It took some convincing to get Ben excited about putting up stuff that he'll only get to enjoy for a little less than two weeks before we take our trip up to Seattle, but he eventually came to and even turned on some Christmas music (with words even) that's a big deal for him... he still banned the kiddie Christmas cd Heidi got for Lizzie though.

The start of our advent calendar

I really don't know why Lizzie's standing in the corner...
I think she's just trying to get out of Ben's way.

This was the first time Lizzie was really into hanging ornaments...
all four of them and most of mine too.

Abby hiding out under the kitchen table.
She was either there or on Heidi's lap the whole time we decorated.

Somebody didn't like the christmas tree.
Apparently it's not much fun to play with... it poked her back.