Christmas with Friends

We had a wonderful pre-Christmas dinner with our good friends and the kiddos. We really missed our SB family while we were away last year and Connor especially missed his buddies. So we were thrilled to be home to celebrate with friends. 

I asked Marina to take a few pictures for me and as you will see all of the blurry ones I took and all the ones that look crisp and beautiful are by Marina. THANK YOU MARINA!

I love love love setting the table.

You cannot go wrong with glitter and burlap.

The Christmas Sangria was a huge hit.

We snacked on yummy appetizers. Pictured above are the goat cheese, caramelized onion philo cups. 

The kids making silly faces before they dove into the hot chocolate bar . . . complete with whipcream, red and green sprinkles, candy canes, marshmallows and M&M's.  

 I just love that face!

 We were so happy to have these 2 (almost 3) special ladies with us :)

 

I was hoping the adults could eat dinner while the kids watched a movie. It worked like magic once we found the right movie . . .  silence.  

Movie time.

buddies

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After dinner the kids did a gift exchange.

 

The dads . . .  really really good dads.

Here is Chris reading The Night Before Christmas to the group. Then the cutest thing happened, Connor whispered to Chris that he wanted to read something too. 

Here is Connor reading When Santa Lost His Ho Ho Ho. 

It was so sweet listening to Connor read to the group.

We are very proud of you Connor. You are getting to be a good little reader.

So cute.

Jessy, Bella and Sammy

2 cool cats

Goodbyes are easier when your guests are sticking out their tongues. Hee hee

A very merry Christmas indeed. 

Jessica Sloan Stone 2 year 3 months

At 2 years 3 months Jessica is starting to let a few words trickle out but only when she feels like it. Currently she can say the following words: Mama, Dada, BaBa (that is what she calls Connor), more, down, me, baby, happy, go, pease (please), hi, bye bye, ball and yes which really sounds like yase.

She-

loves music and dancing.

is very strong... she can hang from the monkey bars with one hand! 

likes to "help" in the kitchen.

likes to play legos and football with dad and Connor.

loves horses and asked Santa for a rocking horse.

finds our Elf on the shelf multiple times a day.

occasionally poops on the potty.

likes to eat: rice, pasta, avocado, apples, crackers, cheese sticks, toast with peanut butter, scrambled eggs, cereal bars, cereal and other carbs. 

Whenever she gets the slightest boo boo she asks for ice and will hold it on her ouchey for all of 2 seconds before excitedly smiling and showing you she's all better. She really is a tough girl... in fact in the last month she has tumbled down a full flight of stairs and fallen off a donkey both times she recovered in less than a minute. 

Jessy knows all of her body parts, we go over them daily: hands, fingers, arms, eyes, nose, feet, neck, wrist, ankles, knees etc. She loves it!

Jessy also has a naughty side... on ocasion she will hit Connor out of no where or out of anger, she often sticks her tough out at him and spends plenty of time in "Time Outs". 

She is super silly and loves to make people laugh and once she has done something funny she will keep doing it over and over to keep you laughing.

Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week was packed with fun, family and friends. 

 Chris and I attended one of our favorite annual holiday parties . . . the Paskin's pre-Thanksgiving Feast. Thank you Sarah and Mike for a wonderful time and for your friendship.

I love these ladies and I'm super Thankful for each of them!

The Friday before Thanksgiving we had a special sleep over date with Reese for her 6th birthday. We did glitter crafts, watched a movie and had cupcakes. Then Connor made her do math review while they were going to bed . . . not sure she really enjoyed that part of the evening. HA! 

Then Grandma arrive the following afternoon. Connor was over the moon to see her. He didn't even wait for her to get out of the car to give her a big hug.

Jessy was pretty enamored with the blow up Santa at Kmart. 

We may see him on our lawn next year . . . who knows :)

We had beautiful sunrises and sunsets all week. This was sunrise one morning that week.

Grandma came to school and took a little tour of Connor's classroom and met Connor's teacher Mrs.Zink.

Happy Christmas shoppers :)

Jessica is definitely following in brother's footsteps and becoming quite a builder.

Uncle Terry and his fiancee Jennifer joined us for dinner and games and a bit of dancing. :)

Connor at the dentist getting a few fillings :(

This is a smile with his face numb . . . I was very nervous his face would stay like this. Fortunately it did not!

Hopefully we will not need any more fillings. EVER!

 And Thanksgiving Day! I was very happy with my table... simple and elegant. I am loving our new place in SB and have been having a blast decorating it for the holidays. Yay holiday season!!!!

Love this picture of Grandma and the family. I may be bias but they are pretty darn cute! xxoo

Happy Thanksgiving

Every year Chris cooks the Turkey, I am so grateful he does it because I know I don't want to ;)

Thanks love! One of the million reasons I am Thankful for Chris! 

 Happy boy and happy grandma.

 

My cute little princess. 

I love her eyes in this pic. Jessy girl you are too cute.

Mommy and Jessy. 

The day after Thanksgiving we went tree shopping and found 2 absolutely perfect trees. One for the kids and one for mommy. 

One afternoon we walked Grandma to the bluffs to see the sea. It was a gorgeous walk however the way back was a bit of a disaster because Jessy had quite a tantrum most of the walk back to the house. . . that is the risk you take going on a long walk with a 2 year old. 

I love the light in this pic.

Being with Grandma makes my kids so happy. I hope we get to see her lots this year! 

Jessy and Grandma saying goodbye before Dad and Connor drove her to Burbank for her flight home. We miss you already Grandma.

Sunday we spent the day enjoying the amazing weather swimming at the club. Dec 1 and the temps were mid 70's. Awesome. 

Did I say yet how happy we are to be back in S.B.! 

Feeling extremely grateful for good friends, family, health, California weather and a simple life.