Christmas 2011

Christmas was very special this year since we received some amazing news one week prior to the holiday. Bob (Jason's Dad) was supposed to start another round of aggressive chemo followed by a bone marrow transplant for what they thought was his cancer recurring. However after having a biopsy he found out that the growths were non cancerous and not related to his previous cancer. What a Christmas Miracle and answered prayer. Truly reminded me of the "true" miracle of Christmas. "Through him all things are possible".

Now on to the celebration...

Christmas Eve morning we headed to celebrate with Betty and Bob at their house.

Their Christmas Family tradition is to have German pancakes for breakfast. Roman loved putting all the snow on the pancakes.

Paisley sporting her new dress with Papa.

Roman was very into opening gifts this year, but didn't really care too much what they were. He would rip through the gifts and then immediately ask for another. I tried to remind him to look at what he got and say Thank You. Ha ha! So much for that one. Maybe next year.

That night we headed to Christmas Eve service at St. Matthew's and then back to our house for dinner.

Our little Angel. This little girl is filled with such joy. Loved her cute Christmas dress.

These 2 little rascals are always up to some fun and a little mischief too.

Tyler loved this toy.

Scott...how did he get so big and so cool? He is such a great cousin to Roman and Paisley.

Christmas Eve we had soup, salad and cheese zombies. Perfect comfort food for a nice and relaxing night. It was fun to exchange gifts and just be able to relax. 

The kids went to bed and Santa came.

Christmas Morning

Paisley loved her new bouncing bull

Good Morning Roman and Paisley!

This little boy loves his storybooks (as he calls them). He got Tangled and I Like Bugs. He will spend hours just going thru his books. I also started a tradition of getting both kids a Christmas book and writing a personal message in them.

Superhero Paisley in her new cape

Relaxing on the couch in between some presents. Roman tends to get a little overwhelmed with presents and too many new things, so we always need to take a little time out to just relax. Works for me since I never like opening presents. Our morning was so nice since it was just our family of 4 and we had all day to open our gifts at a very leisurely pace.

Our little Superhero loving her new popper

Best present under the tree

 Opening his stocking. Very excited with his some new hot wheels

Christmas Night we headed to Nana and Pop's house for lobster dinner and to celebrate Pop's Birthday.

A visit from the 3 wisemen

Tyler was so excited about his new scooter

This boy was wiped out from the 2 days of non-stop parties and late nights. No more naps equals pure exhaustion by the end of the night.

Couldn't be happier than to eat with Belle and the Beast.

Loves his new robe

Paisley loved all her new food for her kitchen and her new shopping cart.

It was such a special and magical Christmas holiday. I loved seeing Roman excited and even though he wasn't into Santa this year, he did get really excited for the holiday. I really try and focus on the true spirit of Christmas and enjoy all the fun that comes with it.  Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas filled with lots of joy.

2011 Family Photos

We had our family pics taken as gifts for our parents by Denae Harlow Photography. I was blown away by the beautiful photos that she got of both Roman and Paisley. I loved how natural they looked and she truly captured Roman and Paisley's personalities. Roman is in a phase where he does not like having his picture taken (I mean HATES having his picture taken), so I was hoping to get 1, maybe 2 pics. On our drive to the shoot, Jason even said this probably wasn't a good idea. However, when Denae sent us our proofs, I actually started crying. I was blown away with all the pics that she got.

We are so thankful. I would highly recommend Denae. She is wonderful to work with, so sweet with kids and has such a talent for photography.
Denae...you are amazing! Thank you for our beautiful gift.

Visit her blog here:
Denae Harlow Photography

 My absolute FAV! Makes my heart melt. 

Our Sweet Little Love

Love that smile! 

Nothing like a girl and her Daddy

This captures Roman's true spirit. A little boy so full of wonder and curiosity. 

The Sun Came Up

Roman is talking so much these days and his favorite questions to ponder are where people are going, why certain things happen and who did that. 

This morning Roman woke up at 6am, so we cuddled in bed (I tried to convince him to go back to sleep). No luck. My shutters were open and all of a sudden he realized it was getting lighter. 

Here was our conversation:

R: Ohhhhhhhh!!!! The sun goes up.

H: Who did that?

R: Roman did that.

H: How did you do that?

R: I pushed the button

H: What color is the button?

R: Blue

H: Where is the button?

R: Outside

H: I will have to be on the lookout for that one. 

On a sidenote about buttons, Roman discovered the "RED" button in the elevator. All of a sudden we are at Target and I hear a voice say, "Are you OK in there. Can I help you?" When I told Roman that we can no longer press the red button he laughs and says, "Are you OK in there." I have a feeling we may experience this again. 

My little rasc!

Love that boy.

December

I haven't blogged for a while, so here is a quick recap of December...

This little rascal has officially given up his naps. Good-bye to Mommy's 2 hour break. It has been over 2 months since he took a regular napped. It has been a very hard transition as he gets exhausted by the 5:00, but then powers thru til 8:00pm. On the random days that he will take a nap (about every 2 weeks) he then will want to stay up until 10:00pm, which obviously doesn't work. I know he takes after his Daddy and needs little sleep. Some friends have said it takes a few months for him to get adjusted and I am looking forward to that. In the meantime, I have enjoyed spending some special one on one time with him while Paisley naps in the afternoon. 

This little love is walking everywhere and so happy to be on the go. She loves being able to follow her brother everywhere. Her and Roman have even started playing together in their rooms and sometimes when I go in Roman says to me, "Mommy Go Away." (it does make me a little sad, but I'm sure this is only the beginning of kicking Mommy out of the fun). Paisley's hair is starting to grow a little, even though she has had a few "Hi Buddy!" in the last few weeks. Even though she will be wearing a dress with patent leather shoes she gets mistaken for a little boy. Jason and I can't wait to see what she looks like with a full head of hair. 

AND...both kids did not like Santa this year. Roman actually got kicked out of Santa's workshop and Paisley wouldn't sit on Santa's lap without Mommy. Better luck next year. Roman has actually told me, "No Santa, No Presents." He would rather have no presents than meet the guy in the red suit.

We are all looking forward to a fun and very Christmas celebration. 

Walker

Paisley started taking a few steps about a week before Thanksgiving. BUT she really got it on Thanksgiving and is now walking everywhere. She gets really excited and then starts trying to go really fast and usually falls down at the end. She is so proud of herself.

Christmas Tree Adventure

Today we headed out with some friends for a little adventure to The Black Road Christmas Tree Farm in Los Gatos to chop down our Christmas tree. It was such a beautiful day and we were surrounded by amazing redwoods and the beauty of nature.

There was 40 acres of trees. Jason was in search for a good one.

Jason found our tree. I'm not too picky (when it comes to trees), so I let him pick it.

This active little one just wanted to crawl and walk all over the place.

Roman was such a happy boy to be wandering around in the trees

The group of kids. Always entertaining trying to get a group shot.

Can't get enough of this little one

This was a great little adventure. I was reminded of how lucky we are to live in California.

Day in Napa

One of the best parts of living in the Bay Area is how close we are to Napa. On Friday, we wanted to get out and do something with the kids. We headed to Discovery Kingdom and found out they were closed until 2pm. Jason mentioned Napa (since we were pretty close), so we decided to take an impromptu trip to the vineyards.

We went to 2 of our favorite spots; Rombauer and Mumm. They both have some great spots for Roman to explore and we enjoyed some great Chardonnay and deli sandwiches. Is it easier to travel to Napa without kids, FOR SURE! But we had such a nice day enjoying the beautiful scenery and amazing grounds.

Roman in exploration mode

Happy boy enjoying nature

Paisley hanging with the dinos

Our favorite Napa spot

Doesn't get more gorgeous than this.

Her 1st reindeer ride