New Year's Eve 12-31-10

We had a fun child-friendly New Year's Eve party at Gina's house, where we counted down to the east coast New Year. The kids had a blast running around and goofing off while the adults enjoyed drinks and appetizers.

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Great-Grandpa 12-30-10

Happy 96th birthday to Great-Grandpa!

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Legoland 12-28-10

Cecily's cousins left today, so we headed down to Legoland for our annual holiday visit. It was so crowded! We watched two shows (Let it Snow & The Big Test), and Cecily rode her favorite ride (Beetle Bounce). Of course, we had to get in our pictures with Lego Santa and reindeer, Lego Frosty the Snowman, and the world's largest Lego Christmas tree.

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Cousins 12-27-10

Christina, Doug, Emily, Hayden, and Austin came out the day after Christmas. Cecily was super excited to see her cousins. They loved opening up all their Christmas presents. Santa brought them all new Zhu Zhu Pets, so they played together with Cecily's new Zhu Zhu Pet playset. Caren also had some foam crafts and shrinky dink ornaments for them to make. That night, we made a delicious holiday meal of honey and brown sugar glazed ham, macaroni and cheese, scalloped potatoes, yams, and rolls. Everything was made from scratch except the rolls. For dessert, we made banana splits. Yum!

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Today, Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Otto had to go home. They loved spending Christmas with us and having all their grandchildren together.

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Merry Christmas 12-25-10

Merry Christmas! Santa came to our house for the very first time since we weren't travelling this year. He brought presents (pink Lego MP3 player and Zhu Zhu Pet stuff), stockings, and a brand new bear for Cecily. We opened presents in the morning with Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Otto before heading to Pasadena for lunch and to celebrate Christmas with Caren's family. Cecily was excited to hold Catherine's pet chickens and to help baby Brendan celebrate his very first Christmas.

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Christmas Eve 12-24-10

Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Otto came out to see us for Christmas. We made a delicious dinner of prime rib, creamed spinach, roasted potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. For dessert, Richard made rum balls, and we had Trader Joe's creme brulee. Cecily enjoyed tracking Santa on the computer before leaving cookies and milk out for him. She went to bed wearing matching pajamas with her dolly.

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Holiday Fun 12-23-10

We had our annual Playgroup Holiday party today. The kids enjoyed making shrinky dink ornaments and just running around like crazy since they have all been cooped up because of the rain.

Disney on Ice 12-22-10

We've had a busy Christmas break so far. Cecily and Richard made a gingerbread house, Michelle came to visit, and today we went to see Disney on Ice with some of her fellow Daisy Girl Scouts. Cecily loved it and said it felt like she was at Disneyland. Tonight, she watched an email message from Santa. Can't believe Christmas is only 3 days away!
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Meeting Brendan 12-18-10

We finally went to meet baby Brendan Lucas (delayed because of Cecily's runny nose). Richard and Caren brought dinner for Allen and Cindy. Cecily was so excited to see him, and she loved his tiny fingers and toes. Totally random but Cecily also happened to have matching pajamas with Brendan. It made an adorable picture of the new cousins.
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Pelican Pride 12-17-10

Cecily received the very special Pelican Pride award in her class this month. Her teacher also handed out awards for Perfect Attendance and Making Great Choices, which she also received. Only one other kid in her class beside Cecily got all three awards. Cecily was very proud of herself for doing so well in school.

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School Holiday Party 12-16-10

Cecily's class had their holiday party today. They started with a yummy pizza lunch from Buon Gusto. Back in the classroom, they worked on five stations: snowglobes, shrinky dink Snoopy ornaments, ice cream cone & frosting Christmas trees, reindeer food, and popsicle stick reindeer ornaments. They loved watching their Snoopy ornaments shrink in the toaster oven. We also presented Mrs. Ashley with her Christmas gift: a gift card tree with gift cards to all her favorite places (Buon Gusto, Ann Taylor Loft, Trader Joe's, Target, Regal Cinemas, Bella Terra, and See's Candies).
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Daisies & Nutcracker 12-15-10

We had our last Daisy Meeting of 2010 after school today. We brought the presents we purchased for our adopted military family to wrap. The new girls in our troop also practiced their Girl Scout Promise to earn their first Daisy patch. After our meeting, we headed to the library to watch the Nutcracker ballet. Cecily's favorite was the Sugarplum Fairy.
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Baby Brendan 12-13-10

Happy birthday,
baby Brendan!
And congratulations to Allen and Cindy!
Brendan was born at 2:18 am, weighing 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 inches long.

Boat Parade 12-12-10

We were invited once again to our friend's holiday boat parade party. We ate a delicious catered dinner of Chilean sea bass, filet mignon, and lobster ravioli. Cecily really liked the filet. The kids were entertained by Mrs. Claus and her elf as well as a face painter. After dinner and games, we headed across the street to watch the annual boat parade. This year after watching the boat parade, they took us out on their boat to cruise through the harbour and look at all the decorated houses.
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California Adventure 12-06-10

Cecily was sad that Richard had to go away on his first ever business trip to Wichita, Kansas. So after school, Caren took her to California Adventure for an afternoon of fun. They checked out Build A Bear, watched Marceline's make caramel apples, Cecily got made over into a rockstar at Disney 365, and then they headed into California Adventure for the rides and parade.
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HB Xmas Parade 12-05-10

Cecily and Caren walked in the HB Christmas Parade tonight with their Daisy Troop and the rest of the Girl Scouts in their service unit. It sprinkled off and on, but it didn't rain until the parade was finished. There was a lot of standing around and waiting before the parade started, but the girls seemed to enjoy walking in the parade.
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Happy Birthday Richard! 12-02-10

Happy birthday, Richard!
We mailed our Christmas cards, and Cecily mailed out her very first letter to Santa this afternoon. Then we headed to Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ to celebrate Richard's birthday. We all enjoyed the delicious BBQ, and Cecily made Richard a birthday card to go along with his free birthday dessert.
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Daisy Meeting 12-01-10

We had our Daisy meeting today in Cecily's first grade classroom. We started a new opening so that it can be all girl-led. The girls were in charge of taking attendance, leading the pledge and Girl Scout promise, collecting the folders, etc. Then they worked on Christmas cards for the troops overseas and made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers.
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Happy Thanksgiving 11-25-10

Happy Thanksgiving!
We celebrated our very first Thanksgiving at our own home using our lovely wedding china. Richard and Caren cooked an entire meal from scratch (except for the stuffing and rolls). Cecily even helped Caren make the cranberry sauce. We made turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans with mushrooms and bacon, rolls, yams, and gravy. For dessert, we had leftover pumpkin pie, cheesecake, and pumpkin cheesecake from parties earlier in the week. We enjoyed a nice relaxing day at home watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the football games.
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Disneyland 11-23-10

Since Cecily is out of school for Thanksgiving break, we went to Disneyland with our friends Paige and Dawn. Cecily got to see Santa and the Christmas parade again. Plus, we also got to see Princess Tiana sing during our lunch at the French Market as well as Mary Poppins and Bert dancing and singing in front of the castle. It was pretty crowded so we didn't get to go on any rides, but we still had fun.
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Hello Kitty 11-21-10

We went to our friend's Sanrio store for Hello Kitty's 50th birthday celebration. The girls got a Hello Kitty nail art on their thumbs, made a Hello Kitty shrinky dink, and took their pictures with Hello Kitty. After walking around the mall for a bit, we headed over to have dinner at Fuddrucker's.
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Soccer Party 11-20-10

Our soccer season officially came to an end with our final team party. The girls got their faces painted, made a Thanksgiving craft, and bounced in Alexsia's trampoline as the adults enjoyed a full Thanksgiving meal. We handed out the coachs' gifts (Shutterfly photobook of the season, gift card to Home Depot, and gift card to Target) and the girls' gifts (picture frames and soccer bracelets) and trophies. Caren got a Harbour View bling shirt as her team mom gift. Sad that soccer is over, but can't wait for the next season.
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Field Trip 11-18-10

The first graders took their first field trip of the school year to the Kellogg House/Centennial Heritage Museum. We were there last year for a wedding, and the grounds are beautiful. This time, we got to go inside the house, and the kids had fun doing some hands-on activities (playing with the toys, dressing up in period clothes, making butter, washing clothes, etc.). Cecily's favorite part was wearing an old-time dress from the late 1800's.

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Special Person Day 11-17-10

Cecily was excited to have Grandma come to her school for Grandparents' & Special Persons' Day. The kids sang songs for all the guests, and they showed their grandparents and special people around their classrooms.
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Happy Birthday Caren! 11-15-10

Happy birthday, Caren!
Caren volunteers on Mondays in Cecily's class, so this morning, Cecily told her teacher Mrs. Ashley that it was her mommy's birthday. Then, Mrs. Ashley had the whole first grade class sing Happy Birthday to Caren. The kids were so cute!
After Richard got home from work, we headed to Disneyland to get our new annual passes! While we were there, we saw Santa, Reindeer Pluto, real reindeer, ate a delicious turkey leg, watched the Christmas Fantasy Parade, rode Small World (awesome holiday version), and took the Monorail back out to Downtown Disney. Can't wait to have more Disney days!
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Soccer Pool Party 11-14-10

We celebrated the end of our soccer season with our first party, a pool potluck, at the Assistant Coach's house. The weather was beautiful, and the girls really enjoyed swimming in November.

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Soccer & Knott's 11-13-10

Our last soccer game was today and what a game it was!!! We finally scored our first goal and won our very first game! Cecily passed the ball to the girl that scored, so she was happy that she helped. The girls were beyond excited! What a way to end the season!
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After the game, we headed to Knott's Berry Farm to have dinner at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Restaurant. We had to wait an hour to be seated, but the food was delicious!
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Disneyland 11-12-10

We started off the day by going to South Pasadena to get our eyes checked. After our eye appointment, we had lunch with Grandma. Then we headed to Disneyland to meet up with Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Otto who were visiting for the weekend. Ann signed us in since we don't have our passes yet. Because it was Veteran's Day weekend and the first day of Christmas, it was super crowded. We did manage to go on two rides (Pirates & Haunted Mansion) and eat dinner at House of Blues in Downtown Disney.
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Legoland 11-11-10

Since we had today off of school for Veteran's Day, we took Charlize and Ann to Legoland. Ann had to work in the evening, so we didn't get to spend all day there. But the girls still had a lot of fun.
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Daisy Meeting 11-10-10

We had our second Daisy Girl Scout Meeting today at our leader's house. The girls learned about Veteran's Day, made care packages for troops in Afghanistan, wrote the soldiers letters, created pinecone turkeys to show what they are thankful for, and decorated their own caramel apples.
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Birthday Dinner 11-09-10

The moms went out for a delicious teppan dinner at Tsunami Sushi to celebrate Cheryl and Caren's birthdays.

Cindy's Baby Shower 11-07-10

We celebrated the upcoming arrival of our new nephew at Cindy and Allen's baby shower. Cecily enjoyed writing Aunt Cindy and Uncle Allen little notes on the cars, coloring a wooden bus toy, and playing on the fun playground. Allen showed us his new family car, a Subaru Forester. Now they just need to install the carseat, organize all their new baby gear, and wait for the baby to come.

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Soccer & Legoland 11-06-10

We had the first game of the day, and we played the Green Flames which happened to be our friend Hailey's team. Hailey's sister, Hannah, was excited to see Cecily. Our team lost again but had another very close goal attempt, this time by Sinead.

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After the game, we headed down to Legoland to try the new Water Park for the very first time. Cecily loved the Build-A-Raft River and the splash pools, but she was a little fearful of the slides. We did go down the orange slide together, and as you can see in the pictures, she was happy at the top and not so happy at the bottom. Richard and Caren did try out the blue slide too. That was fun, but Caren thinks it would be a little too much for Cecily. We also went on some rides in Legoland. Can't wait to come back to see the Christmas decorations!
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Emily's Birthday Party 11-03-10

We celebrated Emily's 6th birthday at her party at Frogg's Bounce House. The kids had so much fun bouncing and sliding, that they barely stopped to eat. Cecily also enjoyed playing air hockey with Nicolette.
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Happy Halloween 10-31-10

Happy Halloween!
We went to Grace Lutheran's Trunk or Treat to see two of Cecily's soccer teammates. Caitlyn's family had decorated their trunk as part of the festivities. Amy had a really creative Tooth Fairy costume. We also met up with some school friends (Jacob, Danielle, Emily, and Charlize) to get candy and bounce in the bounce houses with. Then we headed over to Laira's house for dinner and trick or treating in their neighborhood. Cecily loved that Caren was Rosetta and Richard was Terrance to match her Silvermist costume. We were a family of fairies.
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Soccer & Halloween Fun 10-30-10

The Pink Dolphins played the Pink Unicorns today. Once again, we lost 0-3, but we had a very, very close almost first goal by Sophia. Two more games left before the end of the season.

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After soccer, we hosted a Halloween party for our playgroup friends. Richard cooked up ribs for dinner (skeleton bones), and Caren made her spider crackers again. Cecily and Richard made a lovely haunted gingerbread house for decoration before our friends came over. The kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes, and they had a great time playing with Papa when Caren's parents stopped by later in the evening.
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School Halloween 10-29-10

Cecily's school had a Halloween Parade this morning. All the kids dressed up (as well as the teachers), and they got to walk in a parade to show off their costumes. After the parade, they had their monthly Pelican Pride award assembly. The parents provided our class with pizza and fruit for lunch before we had Halloween centers to celebrate (not a party, since we can only have two per school year). The kids enjoyed the ghost milk jugs, spider fingerprint story, candy math, and chocolate spider stations.

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ElecTRONica 10-28-10

We had a special opportunity to go to California Adventure and attend a meet-up to showcase their new ElecTRONica nighttime event promoting the upcoming new movie, Tron. Before the event started, we got to enjoy the rides at California Adventure. It was nice to be back since we haven't gone in so long. When we first arrived, we had to stop at Studio Disney 365 to say hi to Ann. She gave Cecily some purple hair and glitter. Can't wait to renew our annual passes in November!
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Daisy Girl Scouts 10-27-10

We had some issues with our previous Girl Scout Troop (it was a combined K and 1st grade troop). So we decided to form a new 1st grade only troop. Cecily had her first Daisy Troop meeting today. Out of the 11 girls, 5 girls were from our old Daisy Troop and 6 were new to Girl Scouts. The kids had so much fun being back in Daisies and making new friends.
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Pumpkin Carving 10-26-10

We went to a pumpkin carving party today with 8 of Cecily's friends from school (plus a couple siblings). Nicolette's mom, Bridgette, hosted at her house. The girls had so much fun digging pumpkin seeds out of their pumpkins and drawing faces to carve out. Caren scraped out 5 pumpkins and carved 2 of them. She also made peanut butter spider crackers for the kids to snack on. Cecily was so excited to see her Jack Skellington pumpkin all lit up at night!
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Olympics & Halloween 10-22-10

Today, Cecily's school was supposed to have their Greek Olympic Games and Health Fair, but it was rained out. Instead, they moved the Health Fair into Pelican Hall so the kids could still enjoy part of the events. Cecily helped carry her class banner in the "Opening Ceremonies," which took place in the front office. Inside Pelican Hall, the kids got to collect goodies from the health stations and meet the Olympic athlete who spoke at their Opening Ceremonies. She even autographed their goodie bags. Outside, they got to check out a HB fire truck and police car.
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After Richard got home from work, we headed down to Mission Viejo for a Halloween party. Caren made spooky spider cracker snacks to share. The kids did Halloween crafts and showed off their costumes. share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Up5g