Christmas Party #2

Starting at the top.

Here she goes...

going....

going....

All done.

Of course after the snow we had to have hot cocoa.

Our 2nd party of the day was at the church we attend. They had a bunch of activities set up for the kids to do including a snow hill. All of you that actually get snow will think this is pretty funny. They have a truck that is loaded with snow and then the kids climb up and the stairs and then slide down. Lauren had a great time. My goal this winter is to take her up to the mountains and see real snow. I am sure she will love playing in the snow and really sliding down a hill.

It was a fun night and our church did a really job with it. We have another party tomorrow with snow so Lauren is looking forward to that one.

Christmas Party #1

The group of girls (with just one missing)

The Christmas season is in full swing. I thought I was busy with Christmas events before Lauren entered my life but now it is just crazy. This weekend we have 3 Christmas parties, as well as dance lessons, and church. Then to top it off Lauren was picked to be "Star of the Week" in her class. That means that we also have to make a poster all about Lauren.

The first party we went to this weekend was with a group of friends that all meet when our girls were 2 years old and all attending Little Gym. None of us go to Little Gym anymore but we have remained friends. The moms get together about every other month and we try to get the kids together about that often also. We were missing one family but it is always fun to get together with this group of people.

We really had a lot for the kids to do. We had arts and crafts, games, read them stories, decorated cookies and of course we did a gift exchange with another family. It was a very nice time and when we left there we went home changed and headed for party number 2.

New Cousin

Jacob Mathew

Sammie kissing her new little brother.

Lauren holding her new cousin.

Lauren and Jacob

Getting ready for our first holiday party

All ready to go to the Christmas Party. (Lauren wanted to wear some makeup so bad. I put on a bit of glittery eye shadow. The light really reflects it so it seems like she has a lot on but it was hardly noticeable.)

Last Saturday (Nov. 29) Lauren's new cousin was born. His name is Jacob Mathew. He has had us all worried and praying hard for him this past week. When Jacob was born he was making grunting sounds and they thought that he had fluid in this lungs. They did and x-ray and they then discovered that he has some heart problems. He spent the first week of his life in ICU where they ran a lot of tests. They are still trying to figure out all the is wrong and what they can do about it. Usually people with type of heart problem don't find out about it until they are older and something has happened. It still might be something that is life threatening but we are praying and hoping that Jacob will be able to live a long and healthy life.

On Friday the doctors felt there was no reason he could not go home until they had all the test results. We are all so happy that he is now home with his parents and big sister. Lauren and I went over to see him and bring his family some dinners for the next few days.

Lauren was so excited to finally get to see him. I was also excited. We had only seen him through a little window last Saturday so it was nice to finally get to hold him and give him a big kiss. At first Lauren did not want to hold him but she finally said that she would and I was able to get a few pictures. He is a cutie and was really good when we were there. My brother and sister in law look pretty tired. They said he was up all night last night and so they have had little sleep.

After we left my brother's house we went to our first holiday party of the year. It was was at one of my co-workers. Lauren was one of only 2 kids there but she had a great time. Her and the other little girl got along really well and had a great time playing. I can't believe that Christmas is in less then 3 weeks. I have so much more to do!!

Winter Vacation - Disneyland (day 2)

Toontown AGAIN!!

Decorating cookies.

It is the end of the night and the castle is all lit up!

The second day at Disney was just as fun. We did a lot of rides and of course spent time in Toontown. We walked around Disney and discovered some fun activities. In one part they had cookie decorating and a magic show. Lauren thought that was great. They also had the turkey that President Bush just "pardoned" at Thanksgiving. I guess they all go to Disneyland to spend the rest of their life.

That night we watched the parade and the fireworks were much better. The castle was so pretty all lit up after the fireworks.

I would recommend Disney at Christmas time to everyone. The good thing was that is was not that busy and none of the rides had a wait of more then 15 minutes. We are going again this summer with some good friends and I think the waits are going to be a lot longer. We have been so lucky each time we have gone with the crowds.

Winter Vacation - Characters (Day 2)

Lauren walking down the street with Pluto and Goofy.

Lauren and Minnie

Lauren and Mickey

Lauren and Goofy

Lauren and Chip and Dale

Lauren and Pluto

Lauren and Donald

Lauren was so excited the second day when we walked in Disneyland. There was all the characters ready to have hugs and have pictures taken. Lauren had to have her picture taken with each one. She did not want to meet any of the princesses but all she talked about was Mickey and Minnie and etc. Last year it was princesses all the time and this time she did not even want to go to where the princesses hang out.

I love the first picture of Lauren and Pluto. Pluto is her favorite and she was so happy when he took her hand and walked across the street with his hand in hers. She thought that was so great and talked about it all day.

I love the Christmas outfits on each of the characters, they looked so fun.

Winter Vacation - Disneyland (day 1)

Lauren in Toontown

Lauren with Santa

Toontown

Pluto's bed in Toontown

High School Musical parade.

Lauren and Mickey

Lauren and Minnie

Dinner with Goofy.

Lauren and Jasmine

Dinner with Goofy banging pots and pans.

On our second day of our vacation we went to Disneyland. This was our second time at Disneyland. It was quite something to see Disneyland all decorated for the Holidays. Everything looked so pretty and fun.

Lauren's favorite part of Disneyland is Toontown. She could have spent all day there. That is the first place she wanted to go when we got to Disneyland. She loves to play in the houses and all the cars and other things they have there. She won't go on the rides in Toontown but she will spend hours there if she could. Usually after about an hour or so I am ready to leave and I have to pull her out of there.

We went on a few rides. One of them was It's a Small World. They just finished refurbishing it and on top of that it was totally decorated for Christmas. It was fun and our first time on that ride. Last time we were at Disneyland they had it closed to decorate it for Christmas.

We also got to visit Santa and a few of the Disney characters. The best part of the day was the Goofy Dinner. That was so much fun. It is great to have the characters come to the table. I think we had about 6 different characters at the dinner. At one part of the dinner, Goofy comes out with a bunch of pots and pans and starts to make a much of noise. The kids then join in and they have a great time. Lauren was a bit concerned about this because she thought it might really make some people mad who were having dinner and she did not think they would like all the noise.

Another part of the day that Lauren thought was pretty fun was the High School Musical parade. Lauren got picked to join the dancers in the parade. She thought that was so fun and had a great time.

We stayed for the fireworks which were interesting. Since it was very foggy that night you could not see the fireworks. The sky would just light up in different colors. Lauren still liked it. It was a great first day.

Winter Vacation - Sea World

I love this picture of Lauren. She was so happy that we took a vacation that was just the two of us. There were so many times she told me "today is the best day I have ever had". It was fun to share this time with her.

The weather was great. A little foggy in the morning but by mid morning it was clear and a great day.

This was the Clyde and Seamore Christmas Show. Lauren thought it was really funny. We have been to Sea World at least once in the past four years. They have not changed the shows in all that time. I know the shows pretty much by heart now but Lauren still loves to watch them.

Lauren with the seals

Sea World had a great Christmas tree. It was really something to see.

Last year Lauren and I went to Disneyland during Halloween time. It was so fun to see Disney decorated for Halloween. I thought that if they decorate that much for Halloween, they must do a great job for Christmas. So, I planned a trip for Lauren and I to go to Disney during the Holidays. I also thought it would be a great start to Christmas.

I decided to start the vacation in San Diego. I did that because we had free tickets to Sea World. This summer if you bought a ticket for Sea World you could come one more day during the rest of the year for free. So since we were headed over to California I thought we would just start at Sea World and use the free tickets.

Lauren loves Sea World. It was all decorated for the holidays and they even had a few special holiday shows. Lauren's favorite show continues to be the Dog and Cat show however she is starting to like the dolphin show a lot. We had a great day and it was a fun way to start our winter vacation.

It is always fun to go on vacation and we did have a good time, there was a bit of a dark cloud over our vacation. My brother and his wife had their second child, Jacob, on Saturday morning (12:04 am). We stopped by to see him before we headed over to California. However, Jacob was not in Diane's room so we only got to see him through the nursery window. He was having problems with feeding and was making some grunting sounds and they thought he might have some fluid in his lungs. Well, while we were on vacation, the doctor continued to be concerned when things did not clear up and they decided to move him to a hospital with a special children's unit. He is now in ICU. He has some heart problems that has kept him there for now. Brian and Diane hope to be able to bring him home this weekend but he will still have some problems that they will need to deal. If he does not improve then he might need a heart transplant. Keep him in your prayers.