Christmas Festivities

The day after Thanksgiving Troy & Ella went on a special Christmas outing. They headed over to Grossmont Center for breakfast with Santa, filled with candy cane shaped bagels and coffee for Dad. After that they went over to the movie theatre for a showing of The Muppet Christmas Carol. Popcorn was handed out to all the kids. This was Ella's first movie on the big screen. She had a blast and so did Daddy. 

Later that day we hung our Christmas lights and decorated the tree. All while listening to our favorite Christmas CD, It's Snowing Around the World. We ended the evening back at Grossmont Center for their Christmas Tree lighting festivities. We had our fill of complimentary hot cocoa, coffee, and other goodies. Now you will see a picture of Troy and Ella with Star Wars character. I am still trying to figure out how they are related to Christmas, strange.

 It was a great day and and a great way to get in the holiday spirit. We also learned that Ella is no longer afraid of Santa!

Gobble, Gobble

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with our dear friends. Good food, good drink, good company, what more can you ask for.

 We are so grateful for our family, our health, for wonderful friends, for the abundance that surrounds us, and so much more. We are truly blessed! 

Tea Time

My mom and I took Ella for her first tea at the Aubrey Rose Tea Room in La Mesa. It was so nice, I have been waiting to be able to do this with her. It was even more special that my Mom was there with us. My Mom and I always try to go to the Aubrey Rose, for some mother daughter time, when she visits. 

One thing that I enjoy about the Aubrey Rose is that they have a selection of antique hats, pearls and feather boa's to choose from. Sometimes I am a little hesitant to put on a hat that random people have worn, but I try not to think about that to much. Any way Ella chose a hat and a purple boa. We had tea with fruit and scones, delicious! It was a very nice afternoon together. I'm looking forward to doing it again!

Snow White & A Daisy Princess

We had a great Halloween with lots of parties, which meant Ella was able to wear more than one costume. She decided to dress up as Snow White for her school party, playgroup party , and for a Halloween birthday party. On Halloween night she dressed up as a daisy princess. She loved trick or treating with her best buds Ava and Maya. Every time she would get a treat from someone she would say," wow look mom, can I eat it!" I would reply with, "no we have to wait till we get home." Such a mean mom. When we got home the girl got to pick 3 pieces of candy each and the rest was left out for the great pumpkin. He took there candy and left them a really cool Halloween doll. I'm not sure if Ella was very excited about this because she kept asking me were the great pumpkin was, and if he took all her candy. Her are some pics of all the festivities.

Trick-or-Treating at School

Miss. Lisa's class Halloween Party

B-F-F's (High School Musical, Daisy Princess, Little Red Riding hood)

Oooo, the spooky house in our neighborhood

Daisy Princess and the Wizard (a.k.a Daddy)

Pink Tigeress!

This entry is a little late, but I wanted to show off Ella's new bike. Nanny and Papa gave her a big girl bike for her birthday. It's a Pink Tigeress Schwinn and she loves it. She is very cautious when she is riding it, very careful not go too fast. This is funny because she has a small bike that she got for her birthday last year, and she zooms all around the backyard on it. I'm sure once she gets comfortable on her big bike she will be zooming around on it as well. For now it calms my nerves that she is so cautious(for those that know Ella well, know that this is not always the case). 

       

First ride at the park!

Being Cautious

Lookin cool on my bike!

Little Moments

Our little El is officially 3 years old. When did this happen, when did my little tiny baby grow into a big girl? Don't get me wrong I am not complaining, I love this age I love that I can have conversations with her and I love being able to see the world through her eyes. But sometime I look at her and remember when she was so tiny and I just want to hold onto it forever. Then that thought makes me realize that one day I will miss this age too. And though these thoughts bring tears to my eyes, I am so grateful for them, because they remind me to savor each moment, and to be present. They give me patients when I am frustrated at her for just being a three year old. They remind me how fleeting this life really is and that it is so important to be aware of what really matters. Her laugh, her smile, when she says "mommy, I love you." snuggling together early in the morning. It's the little moments that I am privileged to be a part of. So I am doing my best to savor, to not hold on to tight, to let my little girl grow and discover who she is! 

80's flashback

I was looking through our iphoto's and came across this pic. I had to put it on the blog, just because it is so freakin cute and funny. It was taken at Auntie Mimi's house (my sister) around christmas last year. Ella's first 3-D movie with her cousin's Connor and Aidan. I love this picture, it cracks me up. Plus it has 3 of my favorite people in it! 

Baby Red Pepper Anyone?

As our summer garden is beginning to dye out, our little red pepper plant is finally producing fruit. We picked the first one a few weeks ago, and there are about 5 more ripening on the plant. This is my first time growing peppers, so I wasn't sure what to expect. For a month or two that little plant just sat there not doing much, I assume it was working on its roots. Then one day it had blossoms. Ella and I were so excited, since we weren't sure if it was going to produce anything at all. Long story short this is our first teeny tiny red bell pepper. We made a delicious coconut curry chickpea recipe and added the pepper to it. We are looking forward to eating the rest of them!

 

PS: We have about 2 dozen pablano/ancho peppers in the garden, not sure what we are going to do with them all! Any suggestions? They are SPICY!

Big Girl Bed!!

Ella has a Big Girl Bed! We converted her baby/toddler bed into a full size headboard. We put Grandma Mac's beautiful butterfly quilt on the bed, and of course completed it with a princess canopy. A perfect fit for our sweet little princesses.

Playing hide and seek (her new favorite game). When she wants to play she will say, "I'll  hide and you will seek."

It took us most of the day to rearrange her room and put it together. Once it was finished Ella laid down and took a little nap. 

Our sweet baby girl, not much of a baby anymore.

First Day of Preschool!

Miss Ella is officially a big girl! She started her first day of Preschool on Monday. She was so excited, she walked into class and immediately started playing with the toys. She is so confident and outgoing she amazes me. When I came back to pick her up at noon she told me she was not ready to leave! I guess that is a good thing, but I kind of thought she would be more excited to see me. 

I enjoyed my free time as well. I went out to breakfast with a friend and then was able to hit Trader Joe's for groceries. It's amazing how much you can get done when you are kid free. 

Ella in Mrs. Lisa's classroom

Ella and her class mates

Ava, Maya, & Ella at school

A Nice Surprise

So last week Troy was able to play in a golf tournament at Torrey Pines through work. He was so excited about this, he has always wanted to play Torrey Pines. One of the guys he was playing with is in sales and was staying at the Inn compliments of Callaway. Long story short, this guys decided not to stay in his comped room for the night and offered it to Troy. So lucky us, we were able to stay at the Inn and Torrey Pines. It was so beautiful, we brought a picnic and wine to have in the room. Ella thought it was so much fun, she loves hotels.  We walked through the golf course and checked out the coast. The following morning Miss Ella and I had room service and played at the pool. What a nice unexpected surprise! Thanks guy, and thanks Callaway.

                           

                

Santa Rosa

What a great time we had in good old Santa Rosa. We arrived on the 21st(my b-day) and spent the first night at the Hotel La Rose in railroad square. The hotel was kind enough to give us a double upgrade! Our room had a huge 4 post king sized princesses bed ( as Ella called it) with a balcony over looking the gardens. It was very nice and relaxing and right next to our favorite restaurant La Coco's were we had dinner with friends. We spent the rest of the weekend at our good friends house. They live in my dream neighborhood in a beautiful historic house, with awesome neighbors. They are so close to downtown that Troy and Hans rode there bikes their and went pub hoping one night (lucky boys). It was a really relaxing weekend, I forgot how peaceful Santa Rosa is so quiet and slow paced. I was in heaven, it was a perfect birthday! 

Here are some pics!

               

Ella with Snoopy                      Enjoying the view

                                     

Salmon Creek Beach                        Ella with Natalie & Kai                        

Lefty, greatest dog ever!

Catching Up

So I have been slaking on my blog lately. I guess we have been having to much summer fun, or else time is just passing to quickly or both. So this is what we have been up to over the last 2/3 weeks. 

• Nana and Papa came to visit from Phoenix. It was there 40th wedding anniversary so we celebrated by taking them to the races at Del Mar. No child, free food, and drinks, we were happy!

• Saturday mornings have been spent up in Encinitas. Mom goes to yoga, Dad and Ella hang out at Moonlight Beach, then Mom mossies down to the beach after class. Dad goes surfing and Mom and Ella hang out on the beach. After that its Coffee's for the drive home. We all get to do something we love and we get to be together!
  

• Ella has been helping me teach a kids yoga class every other Friday afternoon. She loves her yoga. All the girls are older than her, but she hangs with them. They are so good at including her in everything, and they seem to think she is very funny, but how could they not right! 

• Ella's really into singing and playing music. Right now her favorite song to sing is from Snow White. She walks around making big gestures with her hands and sings " Some day my prince will come." It's crazy cute, she also likes to play guitar with Daddy.

                     

• We hosted our first date night last Saturday. It went really well, all the girls had a great time. We hung out in the back yard, played musical chairs and freeze dance. Then we had mac-n-cheese with carrots and peas, and brownies for desert. The girls all played for a while, then we piled everyone in the living room for Cinderella and popcorn. It went so well, even Troy had fun! Once everyone left we realized how tiring 9 little girls can be.
• Right now we are planning for our trip to Santa Rosa. We leave on Thursday the 21st. I can't wait and neither can Ella. Her bags are packed and she is ready for her trip on the airplane. More to come on that later.  I will leave you with a great photo of bead head, and my sense of accomplishment for catching up on the blog, whew!