Christmas 2012

We spent Christmas at home in Florida this year. It was a strange Christmas season all around. It was in the 80's most of December, we had to have a "Lila-proof" decorated house, which included a tree on top of the dining room table, and Chris's family had a bout with stomach flu on Christmas Eve and Christmas! We were taken in by our friends, the Alvarez's on Christmas and were able to celebrate with Chris's family the day after and had a good time. I loved having Christmas on a Sunday this year because we enjoyed beautiful music and great messages. Here are some (or a lot) of our Christmas pictures:

On Christmas Eve we went to a place about 30 mins away called Christmas Card Lane where a guy completely decks out his land in Christmas lights, trees, trains, moving decorations, carolers, a snack bar and everything else. Best part...free admission!

Christmas morning. I wish I got more pictures of her with her Santa toys where Chris or I weren't holding her in our pj's. Not posting those!

(I love that in the morning, her hair makes her look like a Dr. Seuss "who")

Relaxing with a candy cane.

After church, ready to open presents!

My parents got Lila a baby doll with all the accessories. It is quite apparent that Lila is still the baby. All the accessories became hers.

Trying to get into the baby stroller.

There we go.

Baby went for a ride in Lila's new train.

My grandma got her pots and pans for her new kitchen that Chris's parents got her. She LOVES them. She puts binkies, balls, food and everything else in them and stirs it all up.

Relaxing on her new, huge, elephant pillow pet.

This is the day after Christmas right before leaving for Chris's family get together. Lila is sporting a new bow and shoes that go with a whole line of clothes I have been dying for her to have! My mom got her lots of the pieces and I am way too excited about it!

Her new kitchen!!! She is in love with it. She got a bunch of food for it too that she walks around or fills her doll stroller with. Maybe she thinks it's a shopping cart?? Whatever works.

Finally, I just had to post a picture to prove we finally got some cooler weather yesterday! Yay for having to wear a jacket. And yes, we take family outings to the putting greens. Sigh.

Merry Christmas!

I know, I know

I know it has been too long since the last post. We haven't been doing anything amazing as an excuse, but here's an update on us anyway:

Chris works, teaches most Saturdays, still putts on the fake, green putting foam in my family room (sigh), dotes on our daughter and keeps up on all things sports, cars and other manly things.

I get to play with Lila everyday, spend lots of time doing primary things, tutor every Tuesday, read good books, salivate over all the gorgeous clothes I want to buy for my daughter, try to think of fun things to do with a 1 year old and try to throw some cooking and cleaning in there.

Lila loves to play outside and throw balls in the street for me to chase, has finally learned what "stop!" means, putting an end to my near- heart attacks as she would dart into the street to chase said balls, she loves to snack and knows where the pantry is, has a sweet tooth like no other, is slightly destructive, has the cutest 4 -toothed smile I've ever seen, can't wait to dance to her favorite movie credit songs, jabbers incoherently to herself except for mom mom, dadda and her perfectly understandable and audible "no no no", has a screech that is close to ear-shattering, is desperately attached to her binkies and prefers to have at least 3 at a time to rotate, likes to walk around the house with random objects that change daily, loves to play "I'm gonna get you" (her running around the house as we chase her) and hugs her daddy like she hasn't seen him in weeks every night when he comes home. I could go on, but won't.

My friend, Jenn is getting into photography and offered to take our family's picture for free. Yes please! Here are my favorites:

Lila is a water baby. Always has been. We tried to take pictures by this beautiful fountain surrounded by flowers and iron gates but Lila had other plans. Notice her wet hair? We had to physically restrain her from climbing over the side to go swimming but she still managed to get soaked from being so close to the fountain spray and throwing her arms in. Now we know not to go near water if we want her to look at the camera.

A Little Mickey and Outside Time

Last weekend Chris was working in Orlando so Lila and I tagged along. We visited the "free" Disney World. Oh, you didn't know there was one? There isn't, but if you want the Disney ambiance without forking out a bunch of money, you can go to Downtown Disney. There are a bunch of shops, restaurants and all things Disney. We had a great time but re-confirmed that our daughter has no fear. All she wanted to do was run, dance and climb whether there were masses of people in her way or not. It was a little tiring! We went Friday night for a little bit and Sat. late afternoon and evening.

Mmm, Ghirardelli...

Brownie Sundae, chocolate filled croissant and hot chocolate. Yeah, we felt a little sick after, but it was worth it!

At night they had dance parties for kids. Lila was all about it and wowed us with some amazing dance moves. I posted a video at the bottom of the post, but she wasn't busting out her best moves by the time the camera came out and my video taking skills are pretty crummy.

Day to day Lila and I spend a lot of time outside. It is finally cooling down enough to actually enjoy being outside. Hooray!

(Loving the waves that are coming in her hair)

Howdy Partner

Lila was our sweet cowgirl for Halloween this year! She was so darn cute in her boots and pigtails. These pictures and video are from Chris's phone, so not so great but my in-laws got others I need to grab from them. Until then, at least you can see her cute costume!

Lila didn't want to walk, she wanted to run from door to door. She also wouldn't let us help carry her fun spider trick or treat bag. Even when it got so heavy she was practically dragging it. She's no fool!

No one was home but I like this video anyway!

Fabulous Days Please Stay!

I've been feeling pretty lucky with life lately and I'm hoping it stays for awhile! Here's what we've been up to:

Playing dress up, or at least from the shins down. Lila found these pink boots I was storing under her crib and has been bringing them to me ever since. She will throw them at me, sit down and hold her foot out. Then she goes stomping around the house. I didn't know it started so early...

Making funny faces. Lila's new "Ohhh" face. Pretty cute.

Taking Lila to the park. Here's the one shot of her liking the swing. She's not such a fan. Only kid I know that isn't. She mostly just likes to walk around and look at all the kids play.

Palest mexican ever. We got Lila this dress in Old Town while in San Diego. It's a section near downtown of very authentic mexican everything...food, shops, clothes, music, etc. I think she looks gorgeous in it!

Sporting some Halloween spirit.

Lila's hair fits in pig tails!!! Just barely :) I'm mostly just excited we have graduated from headbands to clips!

On Monday, Chris had half the day off for Columbus Day, so we took advantage of the fabulous weather and went to the beach at Anna Maria Island in Sarasota. It couldn't have been more perfect. We were wishing we had a beach house, really, really wishing.

What did she do with all this sand you ask?

Dumped it on Chris. Over and over again. It will take awhile to bury him at this pace, but she thought it was pretty funny.

Who doesn't want a gorgeous bird to add to the scenery?

End of a successful day.