Story Time This Week

We went to story time at the Lark Library again today. We are meeting lots of new people at the library and have fun listening to the stories and doing the crafts. Today we got to make this cool Santa. The library also gave out Christmas presents to all the kids. It was too rainy today to go to the park after story time, it has rained so much that the drainage ditch behind our house is almost full! We hope it stops raining soon or we might be facing some flooding.

We have been very busy getting ready for Christmas. We leave next week for our trip to Kansas. Annabelle can't wait to see Sitti & Papa and all her Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents & friends again! I'm just hoping the plane trip is quick & uneventful!

Annabelle's Santa Visit

Annabelle visited with Santa in the mall. I was so proud that she didn't cry this year! She walked right up to Santa, jumped up on his lap & told him she wants a swimmer puppy and all her Daddy's presents because he has been naughty and he gets a box of rocks! Santa thought this was very funny and told Annabelle he will "special deliver" the box of rocks for her Daddy.

More Professional Pics of us

Professional Pics

Here are our professional Christmas and 3 yr. pics. I think they turned out pretty well this time considering Annabelle has cried the last 3 times I took her to have photos taken. I was so relieved that she let us get some pics of her this time!

Our First Gingerbread House

Today Annabelle & I made our first gingerbread house. We started with a kit and I made some additional icing and added some more candy (as you can tell, we had lots of candy!). Annabelle had a good time decorating her gingerbread house. Our Christmas tree is up too, it's loaded with ornaments this year, I think we might need a bigger tree next year!

Fruit Trees

Some pics of the fruit trees. Lemons, grapefruit & oranges are ripe this time of year!

Turkey Time - Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving was a success! I cooked a turkey, pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, potato casserole & dinner rolls. Everything was delicious and we had a very nice first Thanksgiving in the Valley. I am most thankful for my wonderful husband & little girl!

And...The Cake

Annabelle is 3!

Loving the Zhu Zhu

Annabelle kissing her new Zhu Zhu Hamster, she says he's her favorite gift! Haha!

More pics from Friday

Here are some more pics from Friday's celebration fun. Annabelle has been receiving packages in the mail almost everday this week! Thanks everyone for thinking of her on her special day! We love (& MISS) you all!

Art/Science Museum & Pizza Party

Friday we went to the Art/Science Museum for an early 3rd Birthday celebration for Annabelle. Annabelle had a great time at the Museum, so much to play with & do. After the Museum we had a pizza party at our house. It was lots of fun! We'll have another party on Sunday (Annabelle's Birthday) with just our family! It's hard to believe Annabelle is already 3!

Projects...

So, I haven't posted much on the blog lately. I'm trying to gear up for Annabelle's birthday on Sunday. So far I've made her a "#3" T-Shirt and a "Yo Gabba Gabba" theme tutu (with all the colors of the Yo Gabba Gabba characters). I think together they make a pretty fabulous 3rd birthday outfit :) Annabelle is definitely ready for her Birthday & she wants me to make her a "Brobee" cake - so now I'm looking for Brobee cake ideas (I have no idea how I'm gonna pull this one off!).

I've also been on a quest for "Zhu Zhu" pets since my neighbor showed us the one she purchased for her little girl, Zhu Zhu pets are supposed to be the top toy for Christmas this year. They are just tiny mechanical hamsters that run around (but don't poop, smell bad, or make the mess of a real hamster). After searching for them for a couple weeks I finally found them on Saturday at Wal-Mart, I picked up four of the little guys to give out as gifts at Christmas. When I got up to the register the cashier told me I couldn't purchase them because they were "recalled"...I couldn't believe it! So, I came home and looked online, the Zhu Zhu's weren't recalled, Wal-Mart was just not supposed to put them out on the shelves until Sunday because they were in the sale ad. So, on Sunday, I trekked back to Wal-Mart (not my favorite place to go) and was able to purchase two of the little hamster guys & my Mom (THANK YOU SITI) was able to pick up four at her local store. So now I think we are set for Christmas! Unless I decide to sell the little guys on ebay for a profit :) ...

Rylan's Halloween Costume

Leslie sent us this CUTE photo of Rylan dressed as a monkey for Halloween. Rylan is walking now! We can't wait to see him again at Christmas!

Proof of the Disqualification...

Well, here's photo proof of Justin's disqualification from the Writer Fall Festival Pumpkin Carving Contest. It clearly states in the rules that you cannot use power tools. Annabelle & I won the contest once again this year. We are undefeated once again!

Yo Gabba Gabba Halloween!

Annabelle & Daddy dressed up as Yo Gabba Gabba characters for Halloween. They dressed like this for trick or treating & then Annabelle changed into her Dorothy costume when she got home (the Brobee costume was a little too hot for this weather). Annabelle was so excited that Daddy decided to dress like DJ Lance Rock (I made the costume), they had a great time going around our neighborhood trick or treating. All the little kids loved Justin's costume & the older people were a little confused by it. Lots of people took pictures of him. We had a really fun Halloween!

Halloween in the Valley

Our First Halloween in the Valley was lots of fun. Annabelle had a great time carving pumpkins, decorating & trick or treating with her Daddy while I stayed home & handed out candy to all the kids. We had over 350 trick or treaters & we probably could've had more but we ran out of candy so we turned out our lights around 9 p.m. Our neighborhood was jam packed with trick or treaters all night long, it was really an amazing site. The weather was fabulous so we sat in lawn chairs on our front porch handing out the candy.