Time for snow!

Thanks to Megan for spreading the word about the Holiday Celebration in Old Pasadena on Friday. They were bringing in snow for the kids to play with, doing crafts and had live reindeer, plus train and trolley rides. I thought it sounded like fun, so I made sure we got home in time from our travels. Even though we got home by 1:30, the kids wanted to see Sam, so we met him for lunch, then I had to go to Trader Joe's to get milk and other necessities that we were out of. By the time we got home it was 3:30 and the celebration started at 4pm. Despite how exhausted I was--I had already mentioned to Sammy that we would be going to the snow and he was so excited so I couldn't cancel on him.

I wanted to get there at the beginning when the snow was fresh, so I dressed them warmly and we headed out. I drove even though it was walking distance--it would have been about 3-4 miles roundtrip and I wasn't up for walking that at this point. I was lucky enough to find parking 2 blocks away. YAY me! (If you know how Old Town is, you know what an accomplishment that is!)

It was about 4:15 and it was already mobbed! The snow was already packed in like ice, so it was hard to get enough to even make a snowball, but the kids managed to make a few little ones and had fun experiencing their first "snow".

This is when we first got there.
I love how they are just looking at it--not quite sure what to make of it.

It's cold...

Brrrrr...
YAY for gloves!!
Now this is more fun!!
Here is a view of just half of the people--you can see there was hardly any room to move around and really get into the snow.
REINDEER!
They had this little train to ride for free (a rarity!), but you can see it only has three train cars and there were about 50 people waiting to ride it. I wasn't going to wait in line for 45 minutes...sorry kiddos!

The craft tables were mobbed, so we skipped that too. We only stayed about an hour since I was tired and wanted to get the kids to bed early. It was still a fun outing for the kids--I'd like to go to some real snow that you could actually do snow angels and make a snowman in sometime soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I took the kids out to my parents house on Wednesday since Samuel was scheduled to work all week. Despite the fact that it took over 3 hours to get there (usually takes 90 minutes...gotta love LA traffic), we had a fun time.

We went straight to Mark and Mariann's for dinner--the kids had a blast playing with their cousins, Ira and Emma.

And Hannah was loving her interactive baby doll (i.e. new cousin, Sean). I know she is going to think our new baby is a real dolly just for her.

My brother Mark made a delicious batch of brownies

Thanksgiving was full of lots of yummy food--all my faves: sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes w/gravy and mom's famous orange rolls. There was also this cranberry-apple dessert that was so delicious. I was too stuffed to have it after dinner, so I took some home and ate it tonight. So good!!!

Thanksgiving dinner (at the adult table--I didn't get a pic of the kids table)

Even though compared to Sammy, Hannah is a great eater. She wouldn't eat anything we were serving, so she had goldfish. She was happy to share them with Emma.

After dinner we all relaxed. Grandpa's chair is a favorite for reading...the phone book apparently...
...or just hanging out
(no comment on what a cow I am--my excuse is that I am 28 weeks pregnant)
And Hannah always loves to raid Grandma's jewelry box

We left Friday morning to be sure and get home for the Old Pasadena Holiday Celebration that evening...plus, the kids were missing Daddy. Hope everyone had a great holiday!!

Activities for the week

I've been a slacker blogger lately as you can tell by my lack of posts.

Last weekend our ward did a Relief Society Super Saturday Enrichment activity where we made lots of crafty things and got a chance to hang out. My mom wanted to make some of the crafts too, so she and my dad came by for the day. It was perfect--my mom and I got to hang out with our friends and chat, and my dad was sweet enough to take Sammy and Hannah to lunch and then home to play rather than stay all day in nursery at church.

I made this awesome Family Home Evening board. I still have to put pictures in the little frames to hang on the nails to show whose turn it is, but it may be a while before that gets done.

And these fun ornaments that actually turned out better than I thought they would. I made an absolute mess making them!

It was really smoky here over the weekend due to all the fires in So Cal. Sunday was the absolute worst day so we stayed inside all day after church. The air Monday seemed a bit better, so we ventured out to Costco and lunch with my parents.

Since the weather has finally cooled down to the 80s instead of the 90s, I decided to head out to Travel Town on Wednesday since we haven't been there in FOREVER! Several of our friends were able to meet up as well and we had a great time....

playing in the trains...

playing in the dirt...

just hanging out...

playing with the train table while the moms chatted...

(thanks to April and Dana for letting me steal a few of these pics off their blogs)

We finished the outing with lunch at In-N-Out (yummy) and I expected Hannah to fall asleep on the way home, but no such luck. The one good thing about her giving up her naps is that she goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30 and is sound asleep within 15-20 minutes. YAY!

Today we went to the park in the late afternoon. I am so loving Vina Vieja, the local dog park, so that has definitely been our new park of choice.

Hannah took a ride on Sammy's bike and had a blast! Hint, hint to Santa...

I just had to capture this moment. They were lying on the grass talking about the clouds and watching the airplanes and helicopters go by. You'd be surprised how many we see in an afternoon at the park. Today we saw 4 helicopters and 3 planes.

Lucy and Owen arrived later in the afternoon to play for a bit. The kids decided to race.

Sammy even convinced Dana to join in the race.

And this was so sweet. Hannah was upset and sulking about something...I can't even remember what it was now and Lucy went over to sit with her and help her feel better. It must have worked because just a minute or two later she was all smiles again. Sheesh--if she is this moody now, how am I ever going to survive the teenage years?

I am so glad the weather is finally a bit cooler so we can get out and do stuff. I refuse to be out in 90 degree weather, 6 months pregnant...in NOVEMBER!!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here. It seems like the days are just flying by and the holidays will be here before I know it and then the baby will be here. These last 13 weeks are really going to go fast.

Trader Joe's Tuesday: Wheat Crisps Baked Wheat Crackers

While these aren't the most exciting TJ's item I have blogged about--I love these! Yes, they are basically Wheat Thins, but I think they have a crisper texture and better taste...AND are only $1.69 a box.

Also, they have no preservatives and are "reduced guilt" so they are less fattening than Wheat Thins. Check them out!

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend that continued pretty much into today.

On Friday Sammy had a play date with one of his classmates from school. His friend is a little rambunctious, so I figured the park was a better option than our house. Unfortunately, the temperature was in the 90s, so we only lasted about an hour there. I decided to take them home and let Sam deal with them since he was off work and Hannah and I met Dana and Co. at In-N-Out for lunch. We got home and the first thing Sam said to me was "when is he going home?" I guess that play date was over.

Saturday we had a birthday party to go to for one of Sammy and Hannah's friends from church. It was lots of fun and they did a fabulous job incorporating a pirate theme.

The bounce house was a huge pirate ship

Sammy had a great time climbing

Hannah took a little longer to warm up to it (there were a lot of older kids who kept knocking her down), but she finally had some fun

Sammy found his friend Adam from church to jump withThere was a treasure chest full of necklaces, bracelets and other goodies

Hannah kept going back for more jewelry

There was a pirate who put on a show with his 5 parrots

Hannah had fun playing a ring toss game with one of the pirate ships

Monday we headed down to San Diego to the Wild Animal Park with my parents and my nephew Jon. The kids had great time--they love hanging out with Jon.

We went on the tram tour and I couldn't believe how many giraffes there were. This is just a handful of them. They were saying that they had 7 babies this spring. So cute!

It seems we always have to hit the play areas at the zoo. Don't you love traveling all the way to San Diego to play on the playground?

I can't complain--they had fun!

There were lots of ducks to feed...

More fun with Jon

Jon and Hannah (I think he's had his fill of cousins for a while)They had these fun lily pads that you could jump on that teetered a bit.

Today I spent the morning recuperating from all the walking at the Wild Animal Park and running errands. We went to the Arboretum (again) in the late afternoon. I'll let Dana do the blogging on that one. She always documents so well! I'm glad we are back to our regular schedule of school tomorrow.