First Annual "Casual Christmas at the Houghtons"

Last night, we took the girls up to Pasadena to ring in the season with a little holiday cheer. (Well, actually a lot of holiday cheer for mommy, if you know what I mean) What started out to be a night of quick hellos at each of the family's homes to drop off Christmas presents turned into one big party at Jim and Casey's house. We had so much fun (I had a little too much fun) that we decided to make this an annual festivity! We all dressed in our sweats, the girls in their jammies, and ordered in pizza... it could not have been more perfect!

~~~~~~~~~~

First we mingled...

Then we ate pizza...
(Notice that Casey brought out the nice Spode Christmas dishes for our "Casual Christmas" and even trusted the toddlers to use them. Mind you that these are the same toddlers that wrote all over the walls the last time they visited. Lots of trust and love in the Houghton household, I'd say!)

Then we watched Santa drive by in the fire engine...

Then we exchanged some gifts...
(The princess castle doll house was the hit of the evening!)

And, finally we ended with a family picture...

We are already looking forward to next year!

Star of the Week

In addition to all the craziness of Christmas, Ryan was also chosen as the star of the week recently! This is a very special time for every child in the class and a little hectic on the moms. As the parent (aka Mom) of the "Star of the Week" you have to put together a poster of pictures from your child's life, fill in a poem about your child's personality, decorate a bag, and let your child fill it with all her favorite things. Doesn't sound so bad until you then have to bring it back to school in the pouring rain! Haha! Here are a couple of pictures of my "star's" poster!

Teddy Bear School Christmas Show

Ryan's preschool had their annual Christmas show on Friday. Ryan was so cute and animated during all the songs. Can you find her in the picture below?

Here is Ryan with her friend Azia!

A picture with our singing star!

A Getaway for Mommy and Daddy

Earlier this month, Steve and I went to San Francisco for a little "grown up" time! You certainly can't see all of San Francisco in one weekend, so we'll certainly go back... but we did do lots of "touristy" things while we were there!

Our hotel was across the street from the Yerba Buena Gardens. This waterfall was one of the many, many beautiful views that we had from our room.

Alcatraz was one of the highlights of the weekend.

The prison was really interesting. Steve especially loved the narrated tour using the headphones.

What he didn't like is his wife trying to be the ultimate tourist. All the "Take my picture honey!" comments really drove him crazy.

Here's another one of those tourist pictures. But the funny thing here is that I thought this was a unique diner that had my name... Turns out, they are as common as Denny's up there. Oh well, I still don't get to see my name often like this.

Here is the happy couple enjoying a walk in the park. Ahhhhh!

My... how they've grown...

Our little princesses are growing up so fast it seems. Here are the pictures that we have used in the last three years on our Christmas cards. I can't believe they are getting so big.


Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Christmas Gifts Come Early!!

The girls LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to get things in the mail. In the last week or so, they have gotten two great packages. First, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Tim sent them two wonderful Christmas books. The pop up book in the pictures below has been a favorite new bedtime book. Does anyone know how long it takes to read "The 12 Days of Christmas" in pop up style to toddlers??? Well... let's just say the bedtime story time has been starting much, much earlier lately. Haha... they love every minute of it (I'm loving it too, I had forgotten most of the words). Thanks Ginny and Tim!

And then, Aunt Casey and Uncle Jim "Bubba" sent the girls musical instruments! Steve and I can not thank themenough for this wonderfully loud pastime. We will be sure to send ALL the instruments with them the next time they come to your house so that you can see (and hear) how much they enjoy them! Haha! I'm getting a kick out of it because the girls and I each pick an instrument and play them for daddy until he can't take it anymore. We love to push his buttons. That's what he gets for being the only boy in a house of all girls!!
Thanks Casey and Jim!


And then finally... the best part of all was playing with the "snow" in our living room.

Ryan made a snow angel...

And Charlie tried to make one too...
(not quite yet little one)

Thank you Aunt Ginny, Uncle Tim, Aunt Casey, and Bubba! You guys are too good to our girls. It was a wonderful surprise and they are loving every minute of it. xoxo
P.S. I hope you are able to post now, I'm now sure what happened last time. Let me know if you can't again.

Enchanted

Thursday, we joined Michelle and Carson at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood to watch Disney's Enchanted movie. It was awesome! Well, to be more specific... the movie was cute but the whole Enchanted experience was absolutely incredible! Disney sure knows how to put on a production!

I took a picture of Ryan in front of Kermit the Frog's star.

Ryan "posed" in front of the box office for a photo opp!

When the movie was over, we were ushered to the huge auditorium to meet all the princesses and experience many parts from the movie ourselves. Upon entering, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle greeted us in the "ballroom".

Ryan met and talked to Princess Giselle from the movie. Since we saw the 10 am show, there were hardly any other kids around to share the experience.

Ryan had an especially long talk with Ariel. She asked specifically about Flounder and King Triton. The Little Mermaid was very gracious to give her all the answers she was looking for. P.S. We had to go back and visit her twice.

Ryan and Carson posed with Snow White. The two girls had so much fun together. They are totally growing up. You should have seen them in the theater sitting next to each other eating their popcorn! Too cute.
(I bought this new camera and I am having a terrible time getting decent photos... Sorry! Plus, my battery died! Michelle took some pics too and said she'd send them to me. When I get those, I'll add some to the post.)

Besides the princesses, a bounce house, a room to dress up as princesses, an arcade, a climbing wall, and craft stations... there was also a place where you could have your make up done just like a princess! Shhh... don't tell daddy but both girls got very glittery make up to dance around like princesses.

Breakfast Time!!

This moment just sort of speaks for itself!

Hoping everyone is enjoying their Sunday! We certainly are!

Thanksgiving: Part 2

On Friday, all the Kudrons came over for another Thanksgiving feast. I have to apologize for not getting very many pictures. I'm really sad to not have gotten a picture of baby Cameron. He is getting so big and cute!
~~
The girls got to have their very own "kid" table this year complete with squirrel plates and a centerpiece that Ryan made at preschool. They did a great job saying grace at the table before they began eating.

Charlie says, "Cheeeeeeese!"

Charlie snuggled up next to Uncle Mike. It was cute to watch them.

The girls had some very thorough art time. The "art" ended up all over their arms, legs, clothes, and the floor!

A Houghton Thanksgiving

Jim and Casey Houghton graciously invited us to join their wonderful family for Thanksgiving dinner. There was lots of laughter and good stories to be told! We had a great time getting to know everyone better. Here is the beautiful table Casey set for the festivities...

Casey and Roger are working hard in the kitchen!

Ryan went around the room and got a picture with most of the guests! She LOVED it! Here is Ryan with Lindy...

With Grammy...

With Laurie...

And with Jim and Charlie...

Charlie, on the other hand, had some different ideas in getting attention (One of those ideas almost had us hiring a painter for the walls in the hallway- whoooops!) ...

Dinnertime was a success. The girls thought their turkey dinner was delicious (and all the grown up did too!)

Godmommy Katie got out all her childhood Barbies for the girls to play with! My favorite was the one wearing the legwarmers!

And finally, the girls started to settle down for the evening!

Thank you so much for having us Houghtons!
We had a wonderful time!