Choo Choo Turns 1!

I can't believe Tasha is a whole year old! We had a casual party with our family to celebrate.

Tasha with Grandma Shel and Auntie Kelly

Practicing her latest trick, walking! She took her first steps 2 weeks ago and does 3 or 4 back and forth to Todd and I. She still prefers crawling but is working on mastering her walking skills. Grandma Shell made cupcakes which were not a problem for this 1 year old. She jumped right in and ate most of the cake. She also did pretty well with her birthday hat and let us get our pictures before she ripped it off.

Another hat to torment Tasha. This time from Auntie Kelly. Its adorable and perfect for this chilly weather we've been having. Thanks everyone for making Tasha's birthday special!

Christmas

We had ourselves a busy little Christmas. In the morning my dad, Gabriel, Kelly, my brother John & his daughter came to visit, we had brunch with Todd's family and dinner with my mom, Dave, Kelly and our friends The Santos'.

Here's Tasha on Christmas. First in the morning and then hanging out on a box. She wasn't very into opening presents this year so her big sister helped her, but she was very cheerful.

Dave gave Todd the most awesome present this year. A clock made from wrenches and spark plugs all welded to a brake rotor. He even sealed it up in a box so Todd had to unscrew it to open it. It will look great hanging in the shop for sure.

Grandpa Joe with his youngest son and granddaughters Ela and Zoey.

For some reason Ela thought the bows belonged on her pretty face. Here she is with her "twirly sparkly" dresses from Grandpa Dave. They are beautiful and were promptly worn for the rest of the night. We had a wonderful Christmas, it was great to spend so much time with friends and family and remember the birth of our Savior.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with Todd's family this year.

First we had dinner at Ruby's on the pier in Oceanside.

Family pier shot. Check out the beautiful sunset! Just another December day in San Diego.

After dinner we took the kids to the playground where Mimi got to hear Tasha laugh for real for the first time. Since she is normally such a serious child we get pretty excited when she laughs. After opening presents at Joy's we went home to get the kids in bed. Ela put out treats for Santa and his reindeer and made sure I put her blanket "pretty side up" so Santa could see it. Although she was exhausted she had trouble falling asleep. She told me she couldn't sleep because her eyes kept popping open, she even gave me a demonstration. Adorable.

Its Christmas Time

To get festive, the "Mishamaries" helped us decorate our tree and Ela put the star on top. She was super excited and had been asking when Thanksgiving would be over so we could do it. I think she thinks Thanksgiving symbolizes Christmas tree decorating so maybe next year we'll tell her about the pilgrims and indians.
We also went to Escondido Center for the Arts festival with some friends. Todd has been helping Tasha learn to walk and here she actually looks happy about it. Normally she's so happy crawling she will fall to her knees dramatically when we try to get her to walk.

An artist set up a blanket fort that the kids could play in. They loved it and played for a long time in there until we finally lured them out with cookies. Dean and Ela decorating cookies. Everywhere we went someone had a basket of cookies and was handing them out. It seemed to be the theme of the evening which was fine with me.

Can you believe this was Ela's first snow encounter? I felt kind of bad since it was really just a pile of ice but she thought it was cool and was a natural snow ball thrower. Ela also saw Santa and this time she was ready. She told him she wanted a princess doll and anything with princesses on it. It was a fun evening and it is definitely beginning to feel a lot like Christmas to me.

Tide Pool Time

We took the girls to the Encinitas Tide pools this weekend. Ela was super excited until we got there and she realized we had to walk around and look for the "creatures".

The giant crab we found.

We actually found a few starfish. There was a group of 3; small, medium and large and they kept crawling around. Ela was not afraid to touch them either. Although she was not a fan of the anenome, they were too "yucky".

Todd on the other hand couldn't get enough of poking the anenome. We had so much fun and it was another beautiful day in December in San Diego.

Vegas Baby

Last weekend we took a last minute trip to Vegas (or Begas as E calls it) to visit my sister in law and her family. It was a great little break from reality and so much fun spending time with our family.

Tasha was ready as soon as I opened the suitcase. If only she knew then that it meant her spending 4 hours in the dreaded carseat.

We visited the Hoover Dam where the "dam" jokes never got old. We wanted to get a treat but the "dam" ice cream was a rip off.

The M&M factory was a hit with the kids. Although Ela could go anywhere with her cousins and have a blast she loves them so much.

The mermaid in the aquarium at Silverton was by far the biggest hit. The kids were mesmorized and anytime we asked them what they wanted to do they'd answer "see the mermaid!" Even Tasha got in on the fun and put her little hands on the glass to say hi.

No trip to Vegas would be complete without a visit to Santa Claus. Luckily he was visiting his home at The Bass Pro Shops. Ela told him she didn't know what she wanted for Christmas but Tasha told him she wanted off of his lap!

Halloween Time

Halloween lasted all weekend this year. Ela attended a Halloween/Birthday party as Cinderella then changed into a beautiful butterfly for our church Trunk or treat that night.

Our spooky family. Todd found this mask at his shop and went with it (how and why it got there we don't know).
Ela does not enjoy pumpkin carving due to the "stinky guts" so she used bling instead. Gathering eggs with uncle Cory in her Cinderella dress. Afterwards we trick or treated in his neighborhood and collected lots of candy. Ela did such a great job saying trick or treat and thank you and had no time for any other chit chat. Tasha was so "stinkin" cute people kept trying to give her candy too.

The skunk and the Zebra. Isn't that one of Aesop's fables?

Ela dancing with Gpa Dave and Tasha with Ggma Jerre. We're so glad they could come visit and help Trick or Treat!

Pumpkin Patch Party

We went to a pumpkin patch in Rancho Bernardo this year with friends. The weather of course was the same it is every year we visit a pumpkin patch, sunny and hot but we still had lots of fun.

Ela is showing us exactly how she feels about all the staged photos.
All the kids on the hay ride.

Picking a pumpkin from an actual patch. We usually pick our pumpkins from a box at Ralphs so this was really cool. We finally got a good picture of Ela smiling and Tasha saying "hi."

Rasberries for Breakfast

This is how baby speaks these days =) Ela is pretty cute too.

First Day of School...Sniff Sniff

For the last few weeks Ela has been telling everyone (Vons checkers, bank tellers, strangers on the street...) that she starts school on Tuesday September 7th! She woke up ready to go, picked out her outfit and wolfed down her breakfast. She asked every minute if it was time to go until I finally took her. We got there 15 minutes early and she waited with her little face pressed against the glass door eager to learn. She had surprisingly little to say about the whole experience when I picked her up but I know she had fun because she is already asking when she can go back. She did remember Miss Hamburger (Amber) though.

Ela found her cubby and posed very patiently while I took pictures. It was definitely harder for me to leave than I had expected. I will admit I kind of choked up a little. My little girl is so grown up!

Labor Day Pier Swim 2010

Some of Todd's family does the annual Oceanside Labor Day Pier Swim and this year Todd manned up and took the challenge. He shaved his head and beautiful beard and swam 1.5 miles in the freezing, choppy, 58 degree ocean. The girls and I were more than happy to cheer him on from the shore. He made great time and did not require a lifeguard rescue so we were proud. Out of respect I will refrain from posting any pictures of him in his purple swim cap. I should also mention that after the swim he played 3 games of beach volleyball, did 1 hour of stand up paddleboard and helped a friend work on his car. He is Ironman.

The group. Everyone swam except us girls and Uncle Tim who played photographer. Way to go Papa Frank for getting first in his age group again!

Choo choo

For some reason I call Tasha all sorts of weird names, choo choo being one of them. This week she really became my little choo choo when she started crawling around. She usually walks with one foot and crawls with the other but the girl can really move! She also pulls herself up on everything and does a cute windsurfing stance. Love those cheeks!

Kings Canyon 2010

The tradition continues!

Ela and Parker. We see him only once a year but I think a romance may be blossoming.
Hammock time. Shortly after this Ela walked through the entire camp saying she didn't want to be "Daddy's daughter anymore!" because he stopped swinging her. It was quite a scene.

Entertaining themselves. Such a miracle.

Nothing says camping like a bath in a Rubbermaid tub. Everyone had lots of fun at our annual camping trip and we can't wait until next year.

Rollin with the homies

Tasha was not a big fan of her stroller until she realized she can sit forward and chew on the seat in front of her.

She has also discovered that it is the perfect spot to get a great grip on Ela's hair when she's riding in front of her.

The Del Mar Fair 2010

The theme of the fair this year "Taste the Fun" and man did we taste it. Todd came with us for the first time since the dark days when he and I worked there 7 years ago. We ate, shopped, ate, rode rides, played a game, ate, watched the pig races, got to go behind the scenes in the Ag building and pet the animals, ate, watched the truck race and did I mention ate?

The beginning of the food fest. Our menu consisted of a footlong sausage, chili cheese waffle fries, 1/2 cinnamon roll, a cheesecake taster, fried zucchini nachos, a deep fried klondike bar, a vanilla ice cream cone and lots of lemonade . Can you say "ROLAIDS spells Releif." Ela and I on the roller coaster she requested. It actually whipped around pretty quickly, my old joints didn't feel so good afterwards but she is quite the adrenaline junkie.
Winning the dart balloon game. Her prize was a little stuffed horse that she loves and now takes everywhere.
The giant slide in the big kid section of the rides. I thought she would be scared but as soon as she stood up she was jumping frantically shouting again! She also rode the carousel, a kiddie rollercoaster and ferris wheel.

Fast asleep mid bite of churro. The perfect way to end a wonderful day at the fair.

Is Shrek missing a baby?

We might have her...

Also,
Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

Princesses on Parade

The children's theater in town is performing Cinderella this month and held a Princess Party this weekend. It was great because I used it as bribery for weeks and Ela had the time of her life!

Here she is chatting up Cinderella. Some girls were shy but not our little princess. She totally treated her like one of her little friends and addressed her as Cinderella everytime she spoke to her ie. Cinderella! That girl is calling you! or Cinderella! I have to go now.
Here she is with her ladies in waiting. They all thought she was the cutest even when she was bossing them around.
Dancing with a cookie (which also made an appearance in the first photo) to Auntie Princess Jenna's beautiful harp music.

My favorite part. Fast asleep still holding her balloon and fake cell phone probably still talking to Dean.