Baltimore Trip

Braydon and I flew out to Baltimore to surprise Aunt Wee and cousin Dylan with Aunt Kimmie and cousin Mishy to throw baby Colton a shower.  It was a LONG journey out since there were huge winter storms and they cancelled all the flights out to Baltimore.  But we weren't going to let a storm get in our way of visiting the Steeles!  We found an alternate route through Phoenix and then an overnight in Nashville with Aunt Kimmie and then a flight out to Baltimore in the morning.  After a 30 hour journey with my buddy Braydon, lots of lego building and movies (lost luggage too!), we arrived at the Farm in Baltimore.  We had the best time playing in the snow and hanging out on the beautiful snow covered farm!

Braydon ran out and yelled SURPRISE!  And Wee Wee and Dylan were so happy!

The Farm is soooo pretty in the Winter!

The kids love playing in the snow.

We bought Amish butter at this special Amish grocery store.

And threw a great shower for Baby Colton!

When we got home, Siena grabbed the Amish butter from the suitcase and took a big bite!  My girl loves her butter!

Video games with Daddy

We got the Lego Batman video game and Brady & daddy love playing it together.  It cracks me up watching them because Braydon has the funniest commentary and his character basically just stands there or he will continuously jump into the water or fall off a cliff.

The San Diego Zoo

We decided to spend a Saturday at the San Diego Zoo.  Siena had never been and she is obsessed with Monkeys so we thought we'd take her to see some.  They LOVED all the animals.  Siena would point and yell "Mom!  Dad!  Puppy!" to every animal she saw.  Braydon would look at the map and tell us which animal he wanted to see next, a giraffe, zebra or lion.   Siena of course loved the Monkeys best and Braydon said he loved the Sea Otter best.  

Future Rockette

Siena LOVES to dance so I thought I'd enroll her in ballet and tap at Carlsbad Dance Centre.  The class is all 20 month olds to 2 1/2 year olds called Tutus and Tots.  The first half of the class she sat there staring at everyone studying them and wondering what the heck they were doing.  She finally warmed up at the end and got REALLY into it.  The teacher said she was a really good marcher :)  I know she's going to love it!

Young Entrepreneur

Braydon loves getting new toys and asks every day if we can go to Toys R Us.  His Daddy and I told him that he has too many toys and needs to play with the ones he already has and we don't have room for anymore.  A lightbulb went off in his head and he said "Mommy, lets have a garage sale.  I'll get the toys I don't want and sell them to kids and then I can get a new toy!"  So we went through his toys and chose the ones he didn't play with anymore, made a sign and he stood in the garage with his bag of toys yelling "Hey kids!  Toys for sale!"  Unfortunately it was 7am on a Thursday so we didn't get a lot of buyers, actually we got zero...but "A" for effort!

San Diego winter beach days

I see where the term "Sunshine Tax" comes from.  WHile the rest of the country is experiencing the "Polar Vortex" (record low temps), we are experiencing what we joke around calling the "Solar Vortex".  It's been warm sunny days and beautiful sunsets.  I've been taking the kids on jogs on the beach and one of the days Braydon's girlfriend Sophia met us to play.  

The Greene family visits!

The Greene's came to visit us during their Winter break.  Siena and Braydon LOVE their cousins!  Siena would stalk Jake, chasing after him wherever he went and if he left the room would yell "JAAAKEY!!!"  She would tell him to sit and plop down on his lap.  Siena would also yell "Mimmie" which is Kimmie with an M.  They also loved cousin Jesse of course too.  We had beach days, Pizza nights, ice cream and lots of fun together!  It's been a few weeks since they've left and Siena stills runs into the room they stayed in yelling their names.  

New Years Day at the beach

We rung in the first day of 2014 at the beach.  I feel so fortunate to have two sweet and loving kids and a wonderful husband.  I have a feeling 2014 will be a great year!  I hope to focus on my family and take the time to watch more sunsets.