Christmas Day and More

Christmas Day is so much more fun with kids. I realized on Christmas morning, that I didn't ask for, think about, or care about anything I was getting for Christmas. I was just excited to see the magic in my girls eyes. And, they were spoiled....

Here is the look on Aubrey's face when she ran up the stairs and saw the tree and all the presents. I could barely keep up. Both my girls were up by 6 am (I wish this was just Christmas excitement, but that is normal), but we had to keep them downstairs and entertained for about an hour until Zach woke up. Aubrey had time for her excitement to build.

 Between two birthdays and Christmas, these girls do not need any more toys! I have been secretly donating their old toys, and seem to have managed to keep things under control. January is cleaning out the house month. I'm on a roll (or rampage if you ask Steven.)

The rest of Christmas day was perfect. Playing with toys, sledding (so fun), naps, going out for Chinese Food, and then visiting my grandparents house with my extended family. 

We then spent the few days after Christmas continuing to have one of the best trips to Canada ever. Very successful Boxing Day shopping trip, hot tubbing, swimming at the Leisure Center, visits with old friends. It was all great.

Until the last two days when ALL ten(yes every single person) got really sick. That was miserable. The kids were coughing and gross. I spent all day in bed with a high fever and chills. Super yucky. 

The last day was the worst. Steven and I were both so sick, and just barely managed to throw our stuff into our bags for the plane ride home. We flew home on New Year's Eve and were supposed to have a quick, direct flight and be home by 4 pm. Ha!

Our plane was delayed 5 hours. We spent plenty of time entertaining the girls in the airport, all the food I packed ran out, Cora SCREAMED bloody murder for the first half hour of the flight, etc. I do not have a good history flying with kids :)

We finally arrived home at 9 pm on New Years Eve. We had a classy New Year's dinner of McDonalds (only place open), and sickly managed to get the girls to bed. Happy New Year! At least Steven thought ahead and ordered sparkling cider with Google Shopping Express. 

We are now feeling better and back in the swing of things, but those few days were rough. It was almost a fitting end to 2013 because 2013 was such a hard year for our family health-wise. Here's to a healthier new year! I love getting organized, setting goals, and cleaning up life after the craziness of the holidays.

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve with my family. Steven took this picture showing the view out my parents window on Christmas Eve. I love my home, and I really love the snow at Christmastime.

The long-standing Peterson family tradition has always been to go ice skating around the lake on Christmas Eve. I have been excited to take my girls, and we were lucky that it wasn't too cold for Christmas. Trent and my dad made Aubrey's day by "going fast." She thought it was so much fun. 

Trent is such a good uncle to my girls. He played with Aubrey, took her skating and sledding, and would get Cora up from her afternoon nap every day. Cora doesn't like everybody, but she loved Trent. It was really sweet.

Steven and Cora were troopers during skating, since they weren't able to do much. Steven walked around pushing Cora in the stroller on the ice. She didn't cry and he didn't fall, so we will call it a success. 

And, this is actually the only picture we took with my whole family.  

The rest of Christmas Eve was spent going to the Nativity pageant, opening Christmas pajamas, family dinner, games, and a big video chat with Steven's family. 

That video chat was quite the feat. Steven's family is all over the world right now. We did the video chat at 8:30 pm Calgary time, which was 7:30 pm in Las Vegas(Tyler's family) and Portland(Jeremy's family). That was 4:30 am on Christmas day in Germany (Jason, Lisa, and Steven's parents), and 10:30 am in the Philppines (Kimmy). We are grateful for technology that allows family to be together, even when far apart.

Cora's Birthday/Christmas Sunday

December 22 was a big day: Cora's birthday and Christmas Sunday! Sometimes I feel really bad that both of my girls have Christmas birthdays. But, if they ever complain, I'll just remind them that they both came six weeks early, so I couldn't plan that!

We had a great birthday for my little one-year old. She loved to open her presents and eat/play with her cake.

I was surprised that she didn't eat more of the cake. Cora LOVES to eat. But, she mostly squished it, played with it, and made everybody laugh by throwing it on the floor. She had a great time.

We tried to get a photo of all three cousins matching by the Christmas tree, but Aubrey was not very co-operative. Who knew three-year olds could be so moody? At least the birthday girl was happy.

I'm so lucky to be a mom to those two sweet little girls. Cora is a beautiful girl with a big heart, and I'm glad we were able to celebrate her birthday with so much family around. There are positives to Christmas birthdays, because if we were at home, it would just be our little family.

This is my favorite birthday picture. I love that big grin.

Snow

We are here in Canada, celebrating Christmas with my family, and it has been great. The only thing I wanted for Christmas was for my whole family to be healthy! Cora is finishing her ear infection antibiotics, and Aubrey is dealing with a cough, but other than that, we are healthy. I'll take it, and I am grateful.

Our family were complete slackers and did not do a Christmas card this year. We have it for a 2014 goal, but Merry Christmas from the Foote Family!

Since moving to California three years ago, we have not been around snow at all. Aubrey has seen snow in books and talked about snow, but never actually experienced it. So, of course the first thing we did when we arrived last Friday was go play in the SNOW!

All bundled up, ready to go... Aubrey is similar to Randy on a Christmas Story- "I can't put my arms down!" And, I just can't get over how cute Cora is in that little hat.

Aubrey thought throwing snowballs was pretty great. She also fulfilled her dream of making a snowman.

I'm glad that my girls can experience some of the fun of snow. I'm afraid we have turned into wimps after spending three years with Bay Area weather.

More Canada pictures to come!

Cora is ONE!!!

I can't believe that it has been a year since all of this happened, and I met my sweet little Cora for the first time.

Cora is truly a joy and I can not imagine my life, or our family without her. She has gone from a calm, sleepy newborn, to a wiggly, happy beautiful little girl.

Here are a few things she is up to at ONE:

Finally got her consistently sleeping past 6 am. Months of 5:30 am wake-up calls were brutal. She never wakes up in the middle of the night, but that early rising was tough. We are at about 6:30 am now and I can live with that. 

She loves to eat! She eats everything, and her eating skills are impressive. 

The past month has been a hard one sick wise. She had a double ear infection that made her just miserable. Then literally the day after I took her in to get her ears checked to make sure that was gone, she got sick again.  Another ear infection. So we are on antibiotics round two, and hoping for a healthier next couple of months. 

SO close to walking! She stands pretty well and can get herself into a standing position. She takes a few steps at a time, so I think that full-on walking will be coming in the next few weeks. 

Says mama, dada, yeah, and hi (with a cute, little wave). Lots of random gibberish. 

Loves to cuddle and snuggle and be loved. 

Does not like when I leave her sight. Even if I do manage to sneak away, I always hear, "mama mama" as she comes down the hall looking for me. I'm definitely her favorite person, and I love it. 

Thinks her sister is hilarious and LOVES when she plays with her. She is also a typical younger sibling, always trying to get Aubrey's attention. Usually she does this by pulling Aubrey's hair, which gets her attention, but not the kind she wants :)

We LOVE our Cora. Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Here is Cora's first year of life in five minutes. What a year it has been!

CluedIn

Last night was Steven's LinkedIn Christmas party. Again, LinkedIn does not disappoint. The party was held in San Francisco at the new Exploratorium. The new museum is over pier 15 and the views are incredible.

We were really excited because since Steven's accident, we have been on like.... 2 dates. Pretty sad. But, much thanks to Stephanie and Jimmy for watching the girls. And, getting ready to go out is much different than before I had kids. I'm getting pretty good at multi-tasking...

The party was titled, "CluedIn" like the game clue. They had a murder mystery, dancing, drinks, food, photobooths, and all the exhibits were open which was really fun. I felt a little fancy. I ate sushi, used chopsticks, and had a beet salad. But... I wasn't feeling fancy enough to try the kale and potato smoothies. I try to feed my family healthy food, but that is crossing a line.

Driving in San Francisco was as always not fun. We left at 6:30 and didn't get to the party until 8:00. But, once we were there we had a great time. I love spending time with Steven. We had our first date NINE years ago, and he is still my best friend.

I wonder what the next nine years will bring? 

Aubrey's Party

Today we had Aubrey's "Teddy Bear Picnic" birthday party. I can't believe she is almost three. Due to the fact that my poor girls both have Christmas birthdays, we had her party a few weeks before her actual birthday. She was SO excited.

Waiting around this morning for her friends to show up was pretty hard.

And... I seriously don't know how moms do complete "Pinterest style" birthday parties. I threw up a few decorations, planned some games, favors, and food, and just that was completely exhausting! Mostly because when you throw a toddler birthday party, you have well... your kids around "helping" with everything.

 Cora is a pretty cute little helper.

But, it was all worth it because Aubrey was really happy. She loved her party and she loves her friends. She was allowed to invite four little friends, and they all came. She also invited Stephanie. Stephanie is actually my friend, but Aubrey is in love with her.

We had teddy bear shaped food, teddy bear coloring, parachute games, story time, dancing, presents, and cake. The kids were all really good.

Steven was the official photographer, but he was there. He was also such a help with decorating and keeping the kids occupied in the back while I finished the food this morning. 

Blowing out the candles.

The best part was seeing the look of joy on Aubrey's face.

And now... I need a nap.