New Hope

This morning Kailani and I decided to check out a church in the area that some of the stroller strides moms go to. We've been wanting to try church for a while, but it's not something I wanted to try out on my own. We've gone to Becky's church a few times, but it's not close enough to our house to make it a regular thing. The Pastor was outside the church when we arrived and he knew right away that we were new. He introduced himself and asked how we heard about the church. When I told him who recommened us, he took me right to her inside the church.
Kailani went into the Sunday school room for her grade level and I sat in church with the other moms. After the service, when I picked Kailani up from her classroom, she was so excited about what she had learned about. She got to smell real frankincense and mur. She drew a picture and of course, included Baby Jesus. When we got home, she told Zachary that he has to go to church next time because it's so much fun.
Here are the pictures Kailani drew/colored that she is so proud of.

Getting Outdoors

Today we spent some time at the park. The kids had a chance to run around and be outside.

This afternoon the kids both got hair cuts. Kailani wanted a "grown up" hair cut. I'm not sure where that came from, but she got all of her hair cut off!

Lego Craze

Jason has always been into building Legos, but recently got back into it with a few new sets. There is a Lego store at the mall now, so we've made several trips there lately. The kids really enjoy building Legos with Jason. Kailani is good enough at building now that she can build her sets on her own. She got five Lego sets for Christmas and has built all of them already!

Merry Christmas!

Although it was tough for the kids to wait until Daddy got home at 9:30, they didn't touch any of the Santa presents (except the stockings). For just about every present they opened they said," this is what I always wanted!" It was so much fun watching them open their presents this year.
We saved our present for last. The kids each opened a suit case with a Disney t-shirt and giftcard inside. We'll be heading to Disneyworld in Florida on Monday. Jason's parents are meeting us there, but we kept that part a surprise. We're looking forward to the trip.

Waiting patiently for Daddy to get home!

 Zachary was so excited about the sweat bands! He would have us tape toilet paper around his arms and legs so it would look like sweat bands. Now he has the real thing:)

 They both got Dream Lights!

 Zachary, the football player! It has pads and everything.

 Lani got her very own camera. It will come in handy for our trip.

 All Zachary wanted was a dog Dream Light and a motorcycle.

Excited for our upcoming trip!

For dinner tonight we decided to forego the  traditional ham dinner and head out for Japanese. We got to watch our dinner being cooked on a grill in front of us. The kids had a great time and ate all of their food!

Christmas Eve

The kids woke up to find the elf for the last time this year. She left a note to stay goodbye to the kids and little stockings with ornaments inside. They were so excited!
This morning we started off the day with a memorial walk with Stroller Strides. We walked for 26 minutes to honor the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy. We thought the rain would hold off, but it started to rain before we even made it to the park. We had a nice walk in the rain!
We headed to Becky's house this afternoon to exchange gifts with the kids. We had dinner and then went to a candle light service at church. The kids all sat in the church with us and enjoyed holding the candles.
Unfortunately, Jason is on duty today, so I'll be in charge of everything tonight. He'll be home sometime after 9am tomorrow morning. Kailani said she is not going to open any presents until Jason comes home. I hope I can hold them off until he gets home.

Snow World

Today we decided to spend the day at Sea World. Military get in free once per year, and believe it or not, we haven't gone at all this year. In fact, the last time we were there was December 23, 2011; one year ago today.
The kids were excited to play in the snow, although we weren't prepared for the cold so we couldn't make too many snow balls.
We went on rides, saw lots of animals, and had a great time hanging together as a family. The kids decorated Christmas cookies and drank hot chocolate. We watched The Polar Express in 4D. The kids are getting very anxious for Christmas.

Winter Gala

This afternoon was Zachary's Winter Gala at KinderCare. He was a total HAM! He was the loudest of the kids singing. He did such a great job. I took a video, but I can't figure out how to upload it yet.

Kailani also had a talent show and fashion show tonight through the YMCA program. She did such a great job, but I only took video. While the kids were getting changed into their talent show outfits, they emcee called kids from the audience up to the stage to dance. Zachary went straight up and danced to Gagnam Style! I hope I can figure out how to upload a video because it's hilarious. He is definitely not as shy as his sister.

Colors of Winter

Today I took off early from work and headed to Kailani's school to watch her Colors of Winter performance. Because of all of the rain we've had lately, they were not able to do the schoolwide performance outside. Each grade level performed separately in the auditorium. It took about 5 minutes for the first grade to perform their song; and that was it! The parents were able to go back to the classrooms and take pictures. Since there was still some time left in the school day, Jason and I took advantage of the time to get some last minute Christmas shopping done. We are completely finished. I took the day off tomorrow, so I think I will spend the time alone wrapping presents.

Stacked

Although we had expected to get our Christmas shopping done on Friday, we still had to run out today. We got side tracked at the Lego store and Jason got another project to work on with the kids. After a busy morning shopping, we headed to our new favorite place to eat...Stacked! Each table has an ipad for ordering your food. The kids are amazed by the ipad, but the food is excellent too. They have stack-your-own desserts too...ice cream cookie sandwiches; you pick the cookies and the ice cream. Today Kailani decided to get a shake instead of an ice cream sandwich. Kailani was super excited because we ran into her teacher at Stacked:)

Busy Bees

Jason had duty today, so we kept ourselves busy as bees.
First, we had breakfast with Santa at the Murphy Canyon Rec Center (military). The food was good and the kids were excited to see Santa. We didn't even know that Santa was going to give the kids gifts. Zachary got a remote control car and Kailani got a Littlest Petshop animal. Jaylynn's dance class performed during breakfast. Zachary talked Uncle George into holding him on his shoulders so he could see better:)

After breakfast we headed to pick up some more toys through Operation Homefront, an organization that supports the military. The kids each got to pick out one big toy and four small toys. Zachary's big toy was a toolbox full of tools and Kailani's was a Polly Pocket car. They made out on toys today!
On the way home, we stopped at the Otay Ranch Mall for the Elf Academy. The kids each got to make a craft. Once they made the craft, they were able to receive the Elf Academy certificate signed by Santa and Rudolph. The each got a Nestle Tollhouse cookie a juice box, and a stuffed reindeer.

We had just enough time to stop home and relax for about two hours before heading to our next adventure. Zachary took some time to build his Lego from his advent calendar. Just like daddy, his tongue comes out when he concentrates!

We marched in the La Mesa Christmas parade with the Stroller Strides group. The lady who owns the Chula Vista Stroller Strides franchise just bought the La Mesa franchise, so they were promoting the business in the parade. We decorated the strollers and sang songs and we walked. Kailani and Jaylynn held the Stroller Strides sign at the front of our group and Makenzi gave out candy canes to kids watching the parade. The kids had a great time.

Letters to Santa

Tonight we headed out to the mall to finish up our Christmas shopping. The kids got side tracked in Macy's where they had a desk set up to write letters to Santa. The kids each wrote a letter and mailed it!

Up in Flames

This morning as we were leaving for school we heard sirens. Zachary and I watched as the fire truck passed on the busy street next to our cul de sac. Kailani said she saw smoke. At first I didn't see the smoke, but as I walked around the car, I saw a cloud of black smoke and heard crackling. I looked around the corner from our house and the neighbor's car was in flames!
Since we couldn't leave the house, we decided to watch. The fire truck arrived and the fire fighters started to put out the fire. We decided to go back in the house to relax for a few minutes. As we were leaving to walk Kailani to school, the fire truck was pulling away. Zachary waved to the fire fighters and they stopped the truck. A fire fighter got out and gave both kids junior fire fighter hats. The kids were so excited. When Zachary and I got back to the house, the area was cleaned up and we were able to head out to school. Never a dull moment...

Getting in the Chick-fil-A Spirit

Tonight we headed to Chick-fil-A for our weekly dinner and kids night. The kids made the cutest Chick-fil-A ornaments to decorate our tree with:) They love our Tuesday nights at Chick-fil-A!

Visit from an Elf

The kids have been asking for an elf to come visit them. My Facebook newsfeed has been flooded with pictures of elves in other households. I had been holding back on buying the Elf on the Shelf set, but couldn't hold out any longer. I stopped and picked one up today and she "appeared" under the Christmas tree while the kids were taking a bath. We read the story that came with her before bed. The kids are very excited to have an elf to watch over them. They are looking forward to seeing where she ends up in the morning.

Visit with Santa

Today the kids got to see Santa twice! We got out of the house pretty early to go have breakfast at Chick-fil-A. Santa was there this morning taking pictures. The kids told him what they want for Christmas. Santa Cow was on his way, but we couldn't stay because we were heading to Lowe's to make a gingerbread house.

After Lowe's we went straight to the Harley Davidson store for the annual USO Santa Store event. Kailani got to shop for Jason and I for Christmas. Zachary will get to shop next year; you have to be 4 years old. We had a BBQ lunch. The kids visited with Santa again and each got a present. We had a great time.

On the way home, we stopped to pick out our Christmas tree. We got a small one to put on top of the toy box in the living room. We think this might stop Holiday from chewing the ornaments over night. We'll see how it goes. We didn't put any ornaments on the tree yet. We're going to see if it's still standing in the morning:)

Winter Craft Festival

Today was Kailani's winter craft festival at school. She really enjoys art, so she had a blast.