Gillian's 2nd Birthday Party

Our friends Kelly and Tyler had a get together at their house to celebrate their daughter's 2nd birthday. Here's Kayla and Nicky hiding inside Gillian's new tree trunk pop-up tent.

A little Ring-Around-The-Rosy action.

I don't know what this scooter thing was, but the kids sure had fun riding it around.

Kayla, Gillian, and Owen playing quietly in the toy room.

Then they decided to start a band.

Nothing's better than birthday cake and ice cream! Yummy!

Gillian got frosting all over her pretty purple dress so she changed into something more comfortable before opening presents.

Everyone enjoyed playing with all of Gillian's new toys.

Thanks for inviting us. We had so much fun!

Sunday Playdate With Connor

First, we had breakfast at Michele's house and rode big wheels.

Then we went to the Living Desert to see the animals! This time, Kayla was most interested in seeing the snakes. She likes to imitate them and make slithering sounds.

Here is Connor's favorite, the choo choo trains!

Playing the conga drums while taking a juice break.

Silly kids cared more about climbing onto the statues than looking at the real animals!

Someone wasn't ready to leave yet, hence the frown.

So we promised to go see the choo choo trains one more time.

More Pictures of Paw-Paw's Visit

Devin and I don't get to have a date night very often, so we took advantage of my mom being in town. Here we are on our way out the door! We decided to go to Fantasy Springs Casino where we could do it all in one place. We started out the evening watching part of the San Diego Chargers game at the bar. Then we had a nice dinner at POM. Of course you can't go to a casino and not gamble, right? So we blew $25 playing slot machines just to say we did. No jackpots for us, but we still had fun. Next, we played a couple games of bowling. Then we ended the night sharing a peanut butter brownie sundae.

Kayla loves Christmas lights! So the first weekend of December, we went to check out "Candy Cane Lane." There's a street in Cathedral City where almost every house on the block puts up elaborate Christmas lights and decorations every year. It's pretty awesome! Unfortunately, these pictures don't do it justice.

At one house, they had a complete Santa's workshop display inside their garage.

Kayla was excited to see this house because of Mickey Mouse, her favorite!

It was my favorite house as well because these people are Chargers fans too! You can also see Dora in the background, Kayla's other favorite character.

And here's a beautiful Nativity scene to reminds us of what Christmas is all about!

Kayla was so in awe of all the lights, it was hard to get her to leave.

Kayla had so much fun hanging out with Paw-Paw. Thanks for coming to visit!

Thanksgiving Day

We started out the morning with a big breakfast. Of course, Kayla was in the kitchen cooking too!

After watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, we got in the holiday spirit. Devin put the Christmas lights up and got some of our decorations out.

Then we went to Nicole's house for dinner. Connor was nice enough to share his trains with Kayla.

Just Having Fun

Devin recently taught Kayla how to play games on X-Box 360.

We've lived in Indio for 5 years now and we've never been to Shield's Date Garden. It's only a block away, so we finally went inside to have lunch at the new cafe. I had their famous date shake and it was so good! As you can see, Kayla liked it too and didn't want to give it back!

She loves to push "Baby" all around the house.

Since Kayla is so fascinated with cooking, Devin finally put together the kitchen set she got for her birthday. She's been playing with it everyday!

Last Day at Planet Paris Daycare

Even though Devin hasn't been working, we continued to take Kayla to daycare two days a week so she could socialize and learn with other kids her age. But now, Kim has decided not to continue to run her daycare after December. So since we were already going to take two weeks off while my mom was down here for Thanksgiving, we decided to just let the 18th be her last day. We'll look into taking her to a new daycare in January.

It was very sad for me knowing that this was the last time she was going to see her friends. She has known them since she was 4 months old.

Giving Mimi (short for Milan) a goodbye hug.

Thanks Myles for being such a great pal and sharing your toys!

We're going to miss going to Kim's house!

Little Kitchen Aid

Anytime we are in the kitchen cooking, Kayla is always right there watching our every move. The moment you turn your head, she's on her step stool and stealing something off the counter! Sometimes it's because she wants us to play chase, but most of the time it's because she just wants to help. Here she is helping Devin bake cookies.

What ingredient goes in next Daddy?

While you think about it, I'm just going to sample these butterscotch chips and make sure their good!

Saturday Morning Biker Club

Kayla and Connor cruising Michele's driveway on their Big Wheels!

It's A Plane!

Last Saturday, we went to the Jacqueline Cochran Airport in Thermal for a free air show!

Kayla likes airplanes, just like her Daddy.




Then on Sunday, it was free admission at the Palm Springs Air Museum! The exhibits were in honor of the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II.





This is just a lovely view from the museum of the runway at the beautiful Palm Springs Airport.