December FUN ....

We kept the FUN going after our trip to Sea World with a full and fun month of December. Here is what all we were up to ....

Cole, my almost 2 year old, LOVES his pacifiers. I think I will "try" to start breaking this once we are back east .... maybe right before the baby. We'll see. He chews on them constantly, so I am also constantly BUYING new ones - "biting" pacifiers is an expensive habit :-)

Since we only have 1 vehicle right now, Chris has had to take it to work with him a lot because of the layout of Camp Pendleton, so the boys and I have been at home doing LOTS of arts and crafts. Here we are one morning making snow men and Christmas trees ....



I had to post this and "brag" a little bit, I guess .... BUT mainly I just wanted it documented for my sake. This is the first time Jake wrote him name - all by himself - unprompted :-) I think once he was finished, I talked him through polishing off the "K", but all in all - he did it by himself, and I was pretty proud :-)
These next few pictures are from an afternoon at the beach .... near sunset .... trying to snap a Christmas photo :-) Totally biased, I know .... but doesn't get much cuter than these faces!!






Chris had a couple of weeks in December where he was working some long hours ... and he came home one night to THIS and snapped a picture. It made me laugh. I'm not sure if it's funnier that we are all passed out .... or that they are BOTH all up IN MY SPACE :-)
Jake w/ Santa. As we were walking up to see Santa, Cole kept saying "no no no no no no" over and over, so I couldn't put him through it. Jake, on the other hand, told him more of the things he wanted for Christmas .... and made sure Santa gave him a candy cane on his way out :-) We were hoping that Santa would live up to Jake's expectations on Christmas morning. We joked that we were going to put a note in his stocking that read, "if Santa didn't bring it, ask your grandmothers" :-)
One night, we headed to Palm Springs to eat at California Pizza Kitchen and go to the Living Desert, which had Zoo Lights at night at Christmastime. They have over hundreds of thousands of lights .... way cool. Here we are riding the carousel :-)

After riding the train, they played on the haystacks.... climbing to the top!
Cole was close behind, of course :-)
Our version of Angry Birds. Thankfully, Mommy and Daddy bought a real game of Angry Birds for Jake for Christmas - and it has been quite the hit!
I made a gingerbread train with the boys one day .... I'm kind of brave .... and it was only kind of crazy, BUT way more fun than CRAZY!!!!


LOTS OF SILLINESS!!!



Cole pretty much only wanted to eat the candy. Period.

Not too shabby :-)
We ended the "project" by them tilting their heads back, and I squirted icing into their mouths. Yep, I was the cool mom at that moment :-)
Playing with the animals that Gram sent from Sudan! BIG HIT!!!!
Getting a haircut - finally :-) Although, I still kept their hair a little long. Plus, it's the California way!! Train table fun while waiting .....
Jake picked to sit in the jet ....


Cole picked the car - and actually sat still and did so well. This place was a HUGE hit for the boys, but you definitely pay for the "experience" :-) Worth it, though!




Making a life-size gingerbread house!! First, to color it ....








Have fun while Daddy was putting it together :-)


Love these 2 :-)


Let me just say the gingerbread house was worth the $25 even though it didn't last too long in our house. You can only imagine that it became a wrestling ring after a while, BUT .... it served its purpose :-) 2011 surely was a December to remember .... lots and lots of memories :-)

*(make sure you hit older posts to see the Sea World post, if you want)*