Christmas Part Two 12-29-17

We had one day to put our Christmas tree up and decorate before Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Otto came to celebrate Christmas with us. Willow got to meet her other doggie cousin, Rusty, and they enjoyed going on walks together. http://pix.sfly.com/vB1Z7J

Christmas 12-25-17

We packed up and left bright and early on Christmas eve to head up to the bay area, arriving at Clement's new house right around lunch time. Willow got to meet her doggie cousins: Bowser & Lumi as well as Stewie & Brian. That night, we enjoyed Clement's prime rib Christmas eve dinner with the family. http://pix.sfly.com/bjr58h

Since we stayed at Clement's house while Allen & Cindy stayed at a hotel and their parents stayed at Uncle Danny's house, we were able to enjoy a quiet Christmas morning without all the craziness. We opened our stockings and presents before Clement and Lujia even came downstairs. Cecily really enjoyed her Christmas breakfast ramen that Clement made.

Once everyone arrived, we took some pictures and opened presents. Caren got everyone matching socks as well (all the girls got reindeer, half the guys got Christmas dogs and the other half got Woody with Christmas trees). So of course we had to take a fun sock photo! Afterwards, we headed out to dim sum for Christmas lunch. Then we were up bright and early the day after Christmas to head home. http://pix.sfly.com/07kO9B

Ornament Exchange 12-23-17

Christmas break came late this year, but we still squeezed in a holiday ornament exchange party for Cecily and her friends. It was fun to bring her playgroup friends, school friends, neighbor friends, soccer friends, and ivivva friend all together. http://pix.sfly.com/Z7rHj1

Puppy Training & Holiday Party 12-22-17

Cecily and Caren started puppy training at Petsmart on Wednesday nights. It was fun for Willow to meet other dogs and learn some things. http://pix.sfly.com/tPs-K2

Friday night, Trish hosted a holiday party at her new home. Caren was excited to finally see it. http://pix.sfly.com/NHaK57

Santa & Soccer Party 12-16-17

On our way to our end of the season soccer party, we stopped to see Santa at the Huntington Harbour Mall. The party was at Stonefire Grill, and we had a nice little area out on the patio. Caren gave each girl a frame with their action shot picture on one side and team photo on the back. She also gave the coaches a frame with their parent/daughter photo and a soccer nutcracker ornament. Each coach also got signed pictures from the girls. http://pix.sfly.com/V15sf3

Candyland Dance 12-14-17

As part of ASB, Cecily helped put on the Candyland school dance for Marine View. She helped set up and worked the snack station. She loved taking pictures in the photobooth with her new ASB friends. http://pix.sfly.com/Do1KNB

Holiday Cotillion 12-13-17

Tonight was the Holiday Cotillion. The room was so festive and we took some nice photos in front of the tree in the lobby. http://pix.sfly.com/rXf0g3

Movies & Girl Scouts 12-11-17

Cecily met up with her soccer friends Janae, Grace, and Sam (fall team girls who also made the all-star team with her) at Bella Terra to see the movie "Wonder." Before heading into the theater, they took their picture with Santa. After the movie, they grabbed milkshakes and fries at Johnny Rockets. Then Cecily went to the Girl Scout service unit meeting for their mother/daughter crafts and cocoa night. http://pix.sfly.com/FWPWMj

Pancake Breakfast & Boat Parade 12-10-17

Our Girl Scout Troop put on a pancake breakfast with Santa at CUMC to earn money towards their New York Bridging trip. Some of us helped set up the day before on Saturday and were there from 6 am until noon on Sunday. The girls cooked and served breakfast (chocolate chip/blueberry/plain pancakes with sausages) as well as sold crafts (snowman ornaments and cork Christmas trees). Kevin ended up being Santa as Bridgette's dad could not make it down. People seemed to enjoy the breakfast, and one man even told Caren that the Girl Scouts put on a better pancake breakfast than the Boy Scouts! http://pix.sfly.com/0HtkPn

Later that evening, we headed over to Kelly's CarsLand Boat Parade Party. We enjoyed dinner while watching the Huntington Harbour Boat Parade, then took a boat ride around the harbour to see the lights on the homes. http://pix.sfly.com/XR_yiX

Ava's Birthday Party 12-09-17

Happy 14th Birthday, Ava! Cecily had fun celebrating at her movie theater party. They watched Coco and enjoyed treats. Later in the day, we took Willow to see Santa at Petsmart. http://pix.sfly.com/wpnkpQ

MV Fundraiser 12-08-17

Today was the Step-It-Up Fundraiser day for the kids at Marine View. They got to play on all the inflatables and eat Kona Ice. The kids had a fun day. http://pix.sfly.com/x1_MEn

Girl Scouts 12-04-17

After school, we had our Girl Scout meeting. The girls worked on making the crafts they were going to sell at our upcoming Pancake Breakfast. The cork Christmas trees and snowman ornaments turned out really cute! http://pix.sfly.com/tBSSpO

Soccer Area Play-Offs 12-03-17

We were up bright and early for our first game today against Region 117 Coach Gould. It was a tough game even though we had lots of shots on goal, and we ended in a 0-0 tie. After the game, we made a quick run to Roasting Water for the girls to grab drinks. http://pix.sfly.com/XBqDiE

After all the games, we ended up in the consolation round playing for 3rd/4th place against Region 56 Coach Polizzotto. Now this was a stressful game! Both teams played hard, ending in a tie after overtime. This meant we had to do penalty kicks. We both went through the first round of 5 kicks per team, ending in another tie. Going into the second round of kicks, the other team went first and missed their shot. Erica, our assistant coach's daughter, scored her penalty kick which won the game for our team and put us in 3rd place! http://pix.sfly.com/sVnZV6

Soccer & Richard's Birthday 12-02-17

Happy Birthday to Richard! He spent the day coaching soccer at the area play-offs. Our first game of the day was against Region 517 Coach Velasco. They seemed to be an entirely different team than we played in the regular season, and they won 4-1. http://pix.sfly.com/gZRujg

In between our games, we stayed at the field and had lunch together. Shari organized lunch from Raising Cane's, which we enjoyed chicken fingers, coleslaw, and Texas toast. Our second game was against Region 5 Coach Seck. The girls played great and won 3-0.

We ended the day with the Region 143 Volunteer Appreciation Night. We went with the Connes but couldn't stay long as we both had 8 am games the next morning. Caren was excited to win a raffle basket which she brought home for Cecily. http://pix.sfly.com/pEyzhg