Trying to pee-pee on the potty chair. Unfortunately, the potty training isn't going so well. We sit her on the chair, but nothing happens. Then she tells us later after she's gone. Playing outside in the backyard and enjoying the 70's weather we've been having lately.
Eating finger-licking-good Mickey Mouse pancakes with hot maple syrup, sliced bananas, and whipped cream! Yum!
It was another beautiful day in paradise! The weather was so nice, we spent most of the day playing in the backyard. Kayla loves bubbles, especially the new bubbles from Santa. They're really colorful and they smell like mint chip ice cream!
Kayla wasn't tired of chasing bubbles, but Devin and I got tired of blowing them. So finally we taught her how to blow bubbles!
Our neighbor across the street is moving. So she brought over a bunch of kids stuff for Kayla that she didn't want to take with her, including this wagon.
I took the Monday after Christmas off, just because I had vacation time to use up. After two days of lounging around the house and eating everything in sight, I insisted that we go out and do something fun as a family. So we went to our favorite place, the Living Desert! Kayla never gets tired of going to look at the choo choo trains and animals. Plus, she just loves this sand dune exhibit inside the new Discovery Center. It was a beautiful day out. In fact, we even started to get too warm. We were dressed prepared for winter and it turned out to be like 70 degrees. Kayla loves to pet the goats.
That was fun, but exhausting! Time to take a nap on the way home.
Kayla knows who Santa Clause is, but she doesn't quite understand the whole concept yet. I asked Devin to record her as we walked out to the living room first thing Christmas morning to capture her reaction when she saw all of the stockings stuffed with presents, but she was more excited about the fireplace being lit!
Hmmm. What else did Santa bring me? A Dora sippy cup! Awesome! Now, onto the big presents.
Wow! More food for her kitchen set!
Still, opening more presents...
It took a long time for her to open all her presents. Not because there were that many of them, but because she wanted to play with each item for a while before moving on to opening the next one. She really liked the Weebles Treehouse from Paw-Paw.
While Kayla was playing with her new toys, Devin and I went into the kitchen to cook breakfast and squeeze fresh orange juice. When it was time to eat, Kayla was missing. We looked all over the house. Then I heard noise coming from inside her new Dora playhut. So I grabbed the camera, aimed it through the tunnel and took this picture. And guess what she was doing in there?
Stuffing her face with chocolate! Oops, I thought I'd picked up all the treats from Santa and put them away. Apparently, I left a couple of Lindt truffles on the table and my little elf found them!
Devin's mom started a new tradition last year that we all really enjoy! So starting on December 13th, we get to open one gift each day until Christmas. She gets really creative and many of them are homemade like popcorn balls, lollypops, pancake mix and jam, and even Christmas pillow cases! Here's Kayla playing with some of the decorative Christmas cutouts from Grandma Evi. She even sewed jammies for all 15 grandkids! Kayla was eager to model off her new nightgown for the camera on Christmas Eve. I'm sure you can't help but notice the lovely shiner on Kayla's face. That's what happens when you run around on tile floors without grippy socks! When she fell, her cheek landed on the corner of a Christmas present that was poking out from under the tree. I guess I should be grateful that this is the worst "owie" she's gotten in her 27 months of life.
This year, I had visions of a beautiful outdoor family portrait for our Christmas card! I knew the perfect place that would have the perfect background, but no! Devin wouldn't cooperate so, once again, we took it at home in front of our Christmas tree. Here are a few of the pictures that didn't make the cut.
This was the second year we went to the holiday lights festival. Of course the first thing we stopped to look at was the choo-choo trains. They're even more fun to watch at night! And now, Kayla and Connor have matching monkey "backpacks"! (I know some people think kid leashes are mean, but Kayla likes it way better than being stuck in a stroller!) Silly rabbit! I don't know what I was thinking, but this was the only display I snapped a photo of. Which is too bad because it seemed like there were even more lights than last year.
Here's Kayla and Connor climbing up the "sand dune" inside the new Discovery Center.
And Kayla sliding back down the sand dune.
Merry-go-round or carousel? Call it what you want, they're still super fun to ride!
Kayla turned 3 on 9/07/11 and Devin and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on 10/21/11. We love living in Southern California, especially the desert. We get to enjoy sunshine and blue skies almost every day of the year!
