Thanksgiving:
This year for Thanksgiving we were supposed to go down to LA and spend the holiday with my family. Unfortunately, Bryan had to work so Hailey and I went down on our own. We spent 5 days visiting family and friends and we were a whirling dervish of activity! Hailey was SUCH a trooper, her normal routine was turned upside-down and she was still her happy, giggly self.
Kidspace and Adventureplex:
The day after Thanksgiving Hailey and I went with my mom and stepdad to Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena. They have an Early Childhood Center for kids 4 and under and Hailey had SO.MUCH.FUN! I was worried that she wouldn't really enjoy it because she still isn't walking, but once I saw how it was set up, I knew she would have a blast. There was a velcro wall, puzzles, books, magnets, and things to climb on and slide down. It was such an exciting mommy moment to watch my little girl giggling and exploring all the fun things to do there.
Since we had such a good time at Kidspace, I found a similar play center called Adventureplex closer to where my parents live. Hailey and I went the next day with my stepmom Dottie and Hailey could not get enough of the ball pit! She didn't want to go in it, but she knelt on the step and threw the balls in and out for almost an hour! I wish we had similar places here in town, but it's great to know of fun places to go when we are visiting down south.
Wedding:
Another part of our whirlwind trip for Thanksgiving was the wedding of my best friend Amy's mom, Lori. Amy and I met our freshman year of high school and I spent many, many hours hanging out at her house and every summer in Catalina with her family. Lori has been another mom to me all these years and I felt so honored to be included in her wedding day. The ceremony was so beautiful and I had so much fun with my friends and honorary family at the reception.
Straight No Chaser:
The weekend after the Thanksgiving weekend I went back to LA by myself to see Straight No Chaser with my mom. I had first heard about them through my friend April and later caught some of their show on a PBS special. My mom and I have always loved going to all different types of theater performances together so I thought it would be really fun to see this show together. Unfortunately I started feeling sick the morning of the show and almost bailed out, but I am SO glad I went. The concert was AMAZING and so much fun! My mom and I nudged each other throughout the entire show squealing, "Isn't this GREAT?!?!" and we got to meet the guys afterwards. They are soooooo nice and I couldn't believe it when one of them complemented my hair as we were telling them how much we loved their show! I really hope they come back to town in the future so I can see them again.
Christmas Party:
The sickness that started the morning of the concert turned into a full blown sinus infection the next day. When I got back to town I went to get antibiotics but I had to call in sick to work on Tuesday and spent the rest of the week feeling pretty crappy. Fortunately, I was on the mend by the weekend, just in time for our annual Christmas party! Sheesh! The party was a big success, it was the perfect size and a great mix of people. As I've mentioned in the past, we love a good theme party, so we decided to make this one an "Ugly Sweater" party. Since the girls usually like getting dressed up, we focused the competition on the men and offered a prize to the "best" worst sweater. As usual, our friends rose to the occasion and the results were HILARIOUS! My friend Nicole made a trophy and the winner won by a landslide! We had such a great time and it always feels good to put on a party that other people enjoy.
Book Obsession:
Hailey is OBSESSED with books right now! She spends hours looking at books, stacking them in piles, and making us read the same books to her 10,592 times. The other day I was reading one of her favorites, "Baby Giggles", and she started acting out all the pages! She was hilarious and I was amazed at her understanding of the words! This is one of my absolute favorite videos we have of her so far:
To quote my friend Breanne, "It's amazing we are able to survive the cuteness of our children."
Posts
