Christmas

On Christmas Eve our good friends, the Van Doeselaars, came over for dinner and to exchange gifts. Rena was in Indonesia, but her husband, Scott, and 2 boys were able to come. Nick and Ethan exchanged Star Wars transformers, Ryan got a book, and Mia a sleeping bag.

Mia on her rocking horse...she really jams!
Nick opened some presents early; this gift is from Aunt Viki, my sister with 10 or 20 horses (I lost count) This is a Star Wars book from Babcia.
Nick gave us a book his kindergarten class created for the parents for Christmas this year. Each child was given a topic and was told to describe what it meant to him or her and to draw a picture. Nick's topic was "family".
Nick writes "Family is having a Mom and Dad and people who love you". He drew a picture of our family and our house. This was absolutley my favorite gift.

Nick and Daddy tracking Santa on Norad's website.

John putting together Mia's play kitchen.

On Christmas morning Nick came into our room at about 9am. He had already checked downstairs to see if Santa had already come...and he had. We quickly woke up Mia and went downstairs to check it out.Mia and her new"doGIEEEEE!" (this is her favorite word).


Mia playing with her new kitchen Mia on her new scooter...she will have to grow into this one.
Nick playing behind his new telescope.

My friend, Lyn, came over later in the day for a late lunch. It was so nice of her to bring over an entire lunch with turkey, stuffing, etc. All we had to do was heat it up. Thanks Lyn!! We usually see each other once a year for one of the holidays. We played games and she showed us her pictures from Africa and Antartica. She loves to travel, and will be going to Vietnam in January...I am so jealous...I love Vietnam. It was great to see her. Again, I was not good about taking pictures. I think Nick took this one of her computer (you can see only her hand).

We had a wonderful Christmas...the best part was visiting with family and friends. And we appreciate the gifts!! Thank you!! And of course, a big thanks to Santa and his elves at the North Pole.

Trip to San Diego

We took a short trip to San Diego to visit some good friends, relax, and hang out by the pool. We arrived late in the day after going to a birthday party for one of Nick's friends, so we went to Thuy's place for a couple of hours. Thuy and Steve are pregnant with their first child after a couple of years and several rounds of IVF. We are so happy for them...they will be great parents. They know the sex of the baby but prefer to keep it a secret...although we just know it is a boy. We are definitely buying blue. Did I mention how ecstatic we are for them? Thuy looks great!

We were able to spend most of our second day with Leslie, my best friend from college, and her husband and kids. We had a great time chatting and catching up while the kids played. Every time we see each other, which is once or twice a year, it seems as though no time has passed. We always enjoy our time together. I wasn't great about taking pictures...I didn't even get a picture of Leslie...only her husband and kids.

I was able to take lots of pictures of John, Nick, and Mia around the hotel and in the pool.

Nick's Tae Kwon Do Christmas Party

Nick received a trophy at his TKD Christmas party for receiving 200 stars. Students receive stars for doing very well in TKD class, bringing in books they have read, for tournament trophies or medals, good report cards, or any other achievements.

Mia had a great time running around.

Mia is 18 months old!

Mia just had her 18 month appointment. I can't believe she has been with us for 6 months. Time flies.
At 18 months Mia:
-weighs 20 lbs and 1 ounce
-is 30 and 1/2 inches tall
-is able to sign all of the words we have taught her
-can say a couple dozen words, and the list keeps growing
-pretty much understands everything we say and can follow commands
-is a little helper...she loves to clean, put laundry away, and carry her frog bag to the car
-still sleeps 12 hours every night without waking, and now takes one nap of about 3 to 4 hours (can you believe this?!)
-she loves playing with her brother and having friends over to play with her
-is fairly outgoing...she really isn't shy at all
-doesn't really walk anymore...she runs everywhere with arms waving in the air
-is a very happy little girl and we adore her

We are so glad to have Mia as part of our lives....she adds so much happiness to our family. She has changed so much in the last 6 months...she is a completely different little girl. She loves dogs, riding on her rocking horse, sitting in her Wiggles chair to read her books, and playing with her brother. She also loves being on her Daddy's shoulders, going out to eat, and playing outside with her push car, play tractor, play house, and slide. She is such a joy!!

Mia's First Christmas Tree

Every year we go to the Home Depot parking lot (isn't this romantic) to pick out a Christmas tree. We always take a family picture with our tree and put it in a picture frame ornament (I couldn't find the one for last year though...I think I was preoccupied with our trying to get Mia home). Here are the pictures from this year's event. Many times when I kneel down to get a picture of Mia she imitates me. She is so cute in these pictures. Unfortunately, shortly afterwards, she was knocked down by a man carrying a tree. She is so small that she is not easily seen by others...especially a night. After I picked her up and she stopped crying, I let her down again. And then it quickly happened again. The second time she was covered in mud. She was okay though. I didn't let her down again.

Decorating the tree: