New Years Eve

We rang in the new year with an intimate celebration at home, just the three of us. Since we're naturally night-owls, we didn't have a problem staying up for the countdown. =) We had a mini Mexican feast to go along with our margaritas. Michael had some sparkling cider and wanted to play "cider flip-cup". He's gotten really good at flipping the cup; perhaps we'll officially take the flip-cup title for "Family of the Year"! Haha.

We had party hats, noise makers and party poppers to celebrate the new year! This was our best new years yet as a family. I have a feeling that 2012 will be a very good year for all of us.

Ready to party!!

Happy New Year!

Friends Christmas at the Park

We celebrated Christmas with the friends at a park near Kelly's house.  We practically had the park all to ourselves, which was great since we had all our presents lying around while the kids played in the sand and play structure.

It's time for presents! They all listened and got in line for a picture first!

What did you get Michael?!

A numbers dry-erase book! Michael enjoyed this so much, he wrote in it and traced numbers all night!

A new golf set!!

Christmas Morning & Day

Michael naturally sleeps and wakes up late, and that hour may be considered "sleeping in" to most people. It works out kinda nice for us on Christmas morning though. We opened our presents and got ready to spend the day at Grandpa and Nana's house.

Michael opened his stuffed-stocking and found a bunch of goodies

Finally a NEW mobigo game! He's practically mastered all the ones he has. Plus, they're nowhere to be found. =(

I know this is a baby toy, but Michael loves to play sports...and I thought it would be fun to play with in the shower.

Then it was off to Nana's house...

Thank you, Ethan and Emily for the Sports umbrella, raincoat and rainboot set!

The cousins!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael and I weren't feeling too great since we both caught a cold a few days back, so we went home and took a nap. By the time we returned, everyone was already packing up to go home, and that's why there are hardly any Christmas photos. Thank you all for the wonderful gifts.

Christmas Eve

My side of the family always starts the Christmas festivities on the Eve and parties into the wee hours of Christmas Day.  That's probably why Christmas Day is always so chill for us. My aunt got a nice promotion and generously decided to have our party of about 60+ people catered with Mediterranean food. It was so delicious! There was so much food; we didn't mind taking leftovers home!

This year, we spent at least an hour taking family photos. And at least another hour doing the cousins gift-exchange of 28 participants! We always describe or say something nice about the person we drew, then we guess who that person is. Almost always, something funny is said because we're all dying of laughter and dry mouth when we're done. Then, we're off to opening presents, tons of presents!  Once the living room is cleared of gifts, we throw money off the 2nd floor, and we all jump for it.  Hundreds and hundreds of one-dollar bills are thrown! Michael is big enough to understand the concept, so he jumped in on the fun, and scored $10! Not too bad for my little two-year old. The night was still young at this point, and we topped it off with more games.

Dark lighting but so cute! Michael is a sweet little cake pop lover!

The little cousins had their gift exchange. Kaleo gave Michael a Toy Story bowling set. Thank you!

The little cousins and an uncle.

My family - Michael was too busy playing with his new bowling set

The guy cousins!

Always Something New for us at DCA

Everytime we head to Disneyland, Michael requests that we go to California Adventures instead. I think he's over the lines and rides at Disneyland and would much rather go on new adventures. So we started off at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, a first for us.

Some of these net-like bridges had holes bigger than Michael's foot!

It wasn't a good picture day...that or the photographer needs some serious lessons. lol

Michael loved watching and participating in the Toy Story Soldier Drumming Show. This too was a first for us.

Michael wasn't in the mood for any rides but Toy Story, but it seems like everyone in the park was in line for that ride. So we decided to hit up a third new attraction for us, the Muppet Show in 3D. We sat front row, and Michael really enjoyed it!

 

Daddy's Friends' Christmas Party

We hosted the second annual Christmas party for Jason's best buds at our house.  The group has gotten so big that we really have no choice but to have it at a house. I still can't believe we fit 14 adults and 10 kids comfortably in our cozy house. We had a homemade Italian-themed dinner. The kids did a great job playing with each other, crafting, dancing & playing on the Wii; whereas the dads drank and watched a UFC fight.

Dave, Ben, James, Mike, Jason, Garrett

Time for presents!  Emily got Michael new sports-themed rainboots!

He LOVED them!

Zachary, Dylan, Jacob, Wiley, Michael, Gavin, Denise, Adelyn, Logan and Sophia

Birthdays at Seascape

Abbie and Luke celebrated their birthdays at Seascape with a mermaid/pirate theme. We all had so much fun!  Michael loved throwing foam balls at a dog-mouth target, Jason kept shooting everyone with an air ball gun, and I tried dodging the balls by hiding in the corner. After working up a sweat, we enjoyed some yummy pizza from Pepz and cupcakes by Emily.

Happy Birthday, Abbie and Luke!

He was a little shy to go down the slide, but once he did, he couldn't stop!

So happy!

Jason was there shooting away

And he barely missed us with that shot

Dylan's 7th Birthday

Dylan invited all his friends to celebrate his 7th birthday at Pump it Up. It's so close to our house, literally 2 minutes away, that we don't finish hearing a full song on the radio.  All the kids had a blast, and so did the dads!  The dads took over the basketball bounce house, decided to play dodgeball...and made all the kids evacuate! It was so funny.  Thanks for having us at your party Dylan!

The Birthday Boy, Dylan! He was happy deep down inside...

His hands are really that big!

Michael was busy hanging with the dads and playing dodgeball, so I photographed Wiley, Denise and Adelyn sliding down the gigantic slide.

Pizza Time!

The kids! I love how they all looked at the camera...they must've been hungry.