Christmas Morning Fun

I don't know how Santa fits these huge toys into his bag but he sure did make two little Grace girls happy. The school bus was for Charlie and the car for Ryan. But both girls loved it all and began "sharing" from the beginning.

Ryan says, "Look what Santa brought for you Charla!"

Can't you just imagine these two girls at 16 and 17, "Hey boys, come ride with me and my sister! We just ditched first period!"

It took awhile before either girl even noticed that there were OTHER toys that Santa brought!

SANTA GOT CAUGHT IN THE ACT!!

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

Of course, until Mommy and Daddy heard some strange noises from the living room. We peeked around the corner and caught Santa Claus right in the act!
We snapped a few pictures to prove it.

Christmas Eve with the Kudrons

Christmas Eve started out a whirlwind of activity for the weekend to come. Nonna, Grandpa, Mike, Nancy, and cousin Katie came over to celebrate with us. I cooked my first turkey and was a little overwhelmed so the camera did get much action for this one. The girls played wonderfully together. Even "Charla" as both Katie and Ryan called her consistently throughout the night. For the first time in a very long time, Steve and I both felt like we got to enjoy all of the adult conversation during dinner. We opened presents after dinner and then let the girls change into their jammies while playing a little longer. You will see that the hit present of the night was Ryan and Katie's matching pink electric guitars. Rock out girls!

Preschool Crafts

Friday was Ryan's last day of preschool for two weeks and she brought home so many fun crafts she made this month. Actually, she has been bringing them home throughout the month too but Friday she gave us three handmade ornaments as our gift. She got to pick where they were to go on the tree.

Here is daddy putting Ryan's handmade angel on top of our tree. (We later decided to take it down because we think it's probably flammable. We told Ryan we would leave it out for Santa to put back up and that way we would know he was here. I hope Santa doesn't forget.)

"Ring in the Holidays"

That was the name of Ryan's Christmas show at her preschool. Gigi and Godmommy Katie drove down to join Steve, Charlie and me at the show. We met up at our house and took the "bus" over to the school. Ryan was so cute yelling through the auditorium after EVERY song saying, "Hi Charlie, Charlie, Charlie." I think we were the only ones that knew what she was saying but we got a kick out of it every time. She also did shout outs to all the rest of us too. And boy was she a ham! So animated with her facial expressions and her hands. Nobody else was doing hand movements to the songs but that didn't stop Ryan. Right there in the front row for everyone to see. So glad that we took the video camera to this one! Many, many priceless moments.

Charlie feeding her "baby"

No special event here. Charlie and I were just home alone the other day and as I was busy doing laundry, she was playing really well by herself. From a few feet back I was observing her for awhile taking such loving care of her "baby." She put her in the play carseat, carried her around, hugged her, kissed her, and even fed her from her very own bottle. I couldn't tear myself away to go get the camera until the very end. The pictures I snapped don't quite capture the moment but it was too precious to skip.

Making gingerbread houses sounded like a ton of fun...

... until you bring 2 year olds to do it! Ha-Ha! Michelle and I decided to take Carson and Ryan (Charlie is still much too young) to Downtown Disney to make gingerbread houses. Without going into too much detail, it was one of those days that... hmmm.... how do I put this lightly... was tiring. The girls had a good time though so it was all worth it. I will have to say, the highlight of the day for me was watching Ryan's reaction to Santa Claus (her first encounter ever). She loved him. He was across the room and she instantly stood on my lap and yelled at the top of her lungs to him. "HI SANTA!! HO-HO-HO!! HI SANTA!! HO-HO-HO!!" And when the opportunity came, Ryan sat on Santa's lap without any hesitation and told him proudly that she would "like a green or white car for Christmas."

Carson and Michelle busy building their house.

We call these kind of days "Special Ryan and Mommy Days"

You can just see the delight in this child's eyes. She was so excited to meet Santa.

Charlie's learning how to be a "big girl"

And who is she learning from? None other than the "big girl" herself! First skill to master like her big sister: sitting on the couch all by herself. Here is the attempt...

And she's up...

And now proudly hanging out on the couch just like one of the girls!

Second skill to master: sitting at the kitchen counter to eat her meal just like her big sister...

And here she is with big sister showing her the ropes (and mommy is even closer by to prevent a nasty fall)...

Giving Thanks

Sorry for the delay in posts. The holiday season has gotten the best of me and I haven't been on the computer much. We spent the day at Mike and Nancy's house. It was very relaxing. Great food, great fun.

The Graces trying to get a family photo.

Katie and Ryan playing on Katie's "big girl" bed.

Nonna trying to get a photo for her Christmas card. As you can tell, Charlie wasn't cooperating!

Wow! A year has passed...

There has been a whole lot of picture taking around here lately so I apologize for not updating the blog any sooner. The girls and I are all fighting colds right now and it reminded me of last Christmas when we missed all of our holiday events. So even though the camera is currently gathering cob webs, here are a few pics from the holiday season last year. Hopefully we can all get this out of our system before Christmas comes knocking this year. Can you believe how much they have grown??? Hoping each of you is staying healthy. Take care.

The Corn Feast

Today Ryan had her big "Corn Feast" at preschool. To set the scene, all the children have been learning Thanksgiving songs all month, making crafts, and preparing for this big day. All the parents show up with their camcorders and cameras and "oo" and "ah" as the children parade around in their costumes, sing songs, and then indulge into the corn feast. The actually corn feast was explained to the parents in a flyer last week as " the children will try different food made from corn." So, I figured they would have things like cornbread, creamed corn, corn tortillas, etc. I was very impressed that they were going to get all of these toddlers to eat all of these "new" foods (because I for one know that MY toddler doesn't like to try new foods). Well, I assumed wrong... the "corn feast" was actually a cute bag filled with corn snacks: popcorn, corn chips, corn pops, candy corn, corn chex, etc. Very CREATIVE I thought. Now I understand how they were going to get all those toddlers to eat "corn" food. Well done Teddy Bear School! Here are some pics from the event...

Charlie got in on the fun too. I could only hold her back for so long! (p.s. Erin, check out Charlie's outfit! It looks so darn cute on her. I wish I had gotten a better pic of it!)

A Visit to the Desert

Last weekend, the girls and I went to visit my Nonna and Grandpa out at their house in the desert. We all had a great time except that we had to leave early because Ryan was sick. But in the 24 hours that we were there, we managed to fit in alot of fun activities. We went swimming, we went out to eat, we BBQ'd, and we went to the mall to play in the playground there and the rides. But with all that I think the girls had the most fun with the big green ball (an exercise ball) and the foam blocks. But a 103 degree temperature and 2 cooling down baths kept our trip shorter than we had planned for. Thanks for having us Nonna and Grandpa and sorry it was so short...

Pictures from Gigi's and Papa's House

This afternoon we headed up to Pasadena for the afternoon. We were so grateful to be able to drop the girls off at Aunt Casey and Uncle Jim's house while Steve and I went to a very important "meeting" with our friends. THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!! Casey and Jim took the girls to the school nearby to play, they had a picnic in the backyard and they played with all their toys. When we came back to pick up the girls, we stayed a while to chat and watch the girls play a little longer. After we left their house, we cruised by Gigi and Papa's house to say hello. We assumed the girls would be asleep by the time we drove the half mile it took to get from Casey and Jim's to Gigi and Papa's (seriously we thought they would be from being pooped from all the playing) but they weren't so we got out and played a little longer. We continued our fun day playing on the front lawn of Gigi and Papa's house. (I apologize to you Casey and Jim but I didn't think to get out my camera when we were at your house but remembered to get it out later) Anyway, here are a few pics of the girls just "hangin' out" with their grandparents...

A Day at Play

On Saturday Steve joined Ryan Smith for the USC game so it was just me and the girls hanging out at home. It was a little cool outside so we put our sweatshirts on and ventured out into the backyard to have a some afternoon fun. Here are some pics from our play time...

Ryan is teaching Charlie how to work the "Sit-n-Spin." Besides making sure she didn't fall off and knock her head onto the concrete, I'd say she did a pretty good job.

Charlie trying to be like her big sister. If Ryan got on a toy or played with a toy, Charlie was right behind her ready to try it too.

Charlie going to get some groceries from Ryan's "Shopping Store." She picked up some much needed items for the household: a leaf, a lemon, a rock, and a ball.

Ryan focused on her tricycle "bling." All she needs now are some spinning rims and she good to go.

Friday Playdate

Friday we had a playdate with Colleen and Aidan and Michelle and Carson. We haven't had a playdate for about a month or so and it's amazing how much they are changing and growing up. It was truly obvious how independent they are all getting. They really played well together (and separately). Each one found a favorite toy and played quite contently on his or her own and then would transition nicely to playing with the others. It was a nice relaxing afternoon.