Seeing Santa

 

We went to a Holiday Boutique at Coronado Elementary school when who should appear??  At first Joelle wasn't sure she wanted to talk to Santa, I think the lure of baked goods won out.  When she had had her cupcake, she was ready.  They had a very nice talk about what she wanted for Christmas and to my surprise, she wants a basketball.  I guess it was a good thing that she had her talk with Santa!

Family

 The best part of going to Steve's holiday party is being able to spend time with his family!  We were able to spend a lot of time with our nephews Dorian and AJ.  David had a great time hanging with his older cousins. 

Joelle had a great time playing with Kylia.  The girls sang songs and enjoyed each others company while Steve and I were at the party.  It is so nice that Joelle has a little cousin to play with.  The girls got along really well.

Cousin Jennifer came to visit us on Sunday at Grandma's house for Sunday dinner.  She moved to Colorado last year and just recently moved back to Cali so we hadn't been able to see her in awhile.  It was wonderful having time to talk and catch up. 

And of course there was Grandma.  Joelle loves going to Grandma's house.  She gets to sleep in Grandma's bed and thinks she is big stuff.  Whenever we are there she also likes to have tea parties.  Auntie Marie makes hot cocoa for the tea and use cookies as our crumpets.  Joelle is the hostess and she pours the "tea".  Auntie Marie taught her how to hold her pinkie out while she sips too!!  It was a wonderful weekend.  I can't wait to do it again. 

Carving the Night Away

Opps, a little late with this one:)

2011 Holiday Party

 We stayed at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood.  This is the view from our window!! 

 It was a gorgeous view at night.

 This was a nice little shot station that was set up at the party. The food was amazing.  Wolfgang Puck catering does the party and they do such a wonderful job!!

 We are so lucky that Steve's company really treats us well for the holidays.  It is so nice to have a night out and be able to enjoy all the food, friends and drinks. 

There was also a flip book photo station that was set up.  You stand in front of the computer and then it takes photos of you for 7 seconds.  They cut up the photos and make a flip book.  There were all kinds of silly props as well, Santa hats, antlers and that sort of thing.  It is a nice little memento. 

Deck the Tree

 I like to try to get the Christmas decorations up over Thanksgiving weekend.  Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't!  This year the big kids were with their mom for Thanksgiving.  I still got all the decorations up, but the tree was bare for 4 days!  I was so happy when they got back to our house and we could finally put the ornaments on the tree.  Joelle was so excited, she kept asking when David and Megan were going to come so we could put the "hangers" on the tree.  I explained to her that they aren't hangers, they are ornaments.  And she would say, no mom, I want to put the "hangers" on the tree.  I finally got her to understand that "hangers" were ornaments!!

 Megan is putting up the sacred Santa ornament.  My mom got me that me ornament many years ago and there is a matching snowman.  When David and Megan were younger, they used to fight over who got to put those on the tree because they were the biggest ornaments. 

The finished product.  I love sitting this room watching TV with the lights from the tree the only lights on. 

Mr. Turkey

A little ditty that Joelle learned at school:) 

Misc.

So it has been a while since my last post.... Not too much is happening right now, but here are a few funny tidbits:
Joelle has a the puzzle mats for her room and she has figured out how to make a cube out of them.  She likes to make the cube and put a toy in it and tell you she has a present for you.  The other day she was crying in the living room and when I asked her what was wrong she said, "I can't make a present for you mom."  She was having trouble getting the cube together and was so distraught that she couldn't give me a present:) 
We were leaving to go to Megan's soccer game and Joelle picked a pair of shoes that were a size too small.  She told me they were tight and we took them off and off we went.  About 5 minutes later in the car she told me she wanted to give her shoes to Makenna.  She said they were too small for her, but they would fit Makenna. 
Megan scored her first goal of the soccer season today!  And then she scored her second.  It was a great day for her.
Joelle has learned the meaning of the word mean.  Of course, everything I do that she doesn't like is now mean.  When she is getting scolded for not listening she will tell me to stop being mean to her.  How oh how can you reason with a 3 year old that you're not being mean, just expecting her to listen?
For everything that Joelle does that makes me cringe, she does 10 that make my heart swell with love and adoration.