Tuesday, February 12, 2013

January, 2013

I know I say it a lot when I don't keep up on my posts, but time has flown by since the end of the year.  It feels like I blinked and we are already in the middle of February.  To catch up, I thought I would just share a few things we have been doing the past month.  

For my Dad's Christmas present, we bought two tickets to a UCLA basketball game.  They just renovated Pauley Pavilion so I knew he would love to see what they did.  The biggest changes are apparent from the outside.  Inside, they kept the same feeling, just with modern touches.  Here is a look at the Pavilion from the parking lot over-looking the football practice field.
My dad and I took a stroll around the outside before the game.  Here is a statue of the great John Wooden, and my Dad taking a picture of it.
Close to the court, there is a new gym facility for the students and staff that is amazing.  Just inside the entrance there is the "Pyramid of Success" that Wooden made famous.  
A view of the court from our seats as UCLA runs onto the court.
This cute little baby with giant head phone ear protection.
UCLA won 68 to 60 against Stanford.  After the game, we went for a stroll around some of the campus.  I absolutely love this campus.  The look of the entire campus is so collegiate and beautiful.  Here are my Dad and I with Royce Hall over my Dad's shoulder.
The same view, without us in the way.
The last pic from this day is a view of my Dad's old Fraternity House.  He always loves stopping by to see how it looks.  It has been fixed up a lot since the last time we saw it.  It looks much nicer then it used to.
We have spent a couple of our weekends at my parents house.  There is so much going on so it is nice to be able to relax every once in awhile.  Kalea is a pro at relaxing.  She is out cold on Gramma's lap with their cat Charlie snuggled up next to her.
With how crazy the past year was for us, we enjoy every minute we have together just hanging out at home.  It seems like free weekends are very rare, so we relax together when ever we can.  Kalea loves playing at home.  We finally bought some storage for all of her books and toys.  It has made it so much easier for her to play with all of her toys in turn.  One of her favorite things to do is to "ride" her new tricycle.  We push her around and chase the cats down the hall.  She is definitely a thrill seeker.  She usually has a big smile on her face and laughs as she gets pushed around.  Of course by the time I get the camera, she gives me the look you see below.
In  January we also spent a bit of time cleaning up all of our Christmas decorations.  Kalea loved the lights from the tree.
We also enjoyed building Kalea's first blanket fort one evening.  It turned into quite a fortress for Kalea and she loved it.
Here she is under the fort on her very own chair.
Another view from inside the fort.
This last month Kalea has started to pull herself up really easily.  She is getting better and better at it.  In fact, this evening she started to use the couch to cruze a little.  
Kalea loves to read.  We decided to read her bedtime story in her blanket fort on this night just for fun.  We love this story we found around Father's Day "Daddies Do It Different!"  Notice the feet crossed at the ankles.  She almost always has them like this.
One evening at my parents house, Kalea got to share an evening snack with her Grampa.  He had his popcorn and she had some puffs.  Of course, she is eyeing up his popcorn.
There wasn't too much that went on in January, we just spent some quality time together and got caught up on life.  I hope you enjoyed the update!

Monday, December 31, 2012

Christmas, 2012

 We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  Both my brother and sister were able to spend Christmas morning with us, so like Thanksgiving, we had our entire immediate family at the house for the holiday.  With every one in my family married now, who knows how many opportunities we will have to all be together like this.  I know next year we are going to try to be in New Jersey for Christmas, and hopefully we will be able to have a second child by 2 Christmases from now, so we will probably want to actually spend Christmas at home.

We definitely enjoyed the day, and especially watching Kalea take every thing in for the first time.  Here is my parents tree Christmas morning.  Santa stopped by our house and delivered a nice tricycle for Kalea since she was such a good girl this year.
Gramma and Grampa picked out a nice Kalea sized chair for her to enjoy.
Of course Santa provides a new toothbrush, and this year he even brought 2 so she can keep 1 at our house and 1 at Gramma's house.
She really enjoyed spending time with her Aunt and Uncle.  i don't know why she was doing this, but I just loved her "Home Alone" look I caught on camera.
Every one enjoying the morning together.
The stalking all hung by the chimney with care.  Including Kalea's temporary stalking nice and small in the middle.  Gramma is still working on finishing her cross-stitched version.
Kalea really enjoyed her gift from Santa.  Here she is checking it out with Uncle John.
She likes it!  Grampa pushing her back and forth.
Daddy's turn to show her the ropes on her new bike!
What a wonderful Christmas we had.  I couldn't have asked for a better day, except of course for having Mom Mom and Pop Pop there as well!  I hope everyone  had a wonderful Christmas.  We are looking forward to the new year and what surprises and changes it will bring with our family.

Grampa's Birthday and Christmas Eve

My Dad's Birthday is very close to Christmas, and because of this, he grew up very particular about how he likes to celebrate his big day.  Now with Kalea in our lives, he has someone in the family to commiserate with in having a birthday so close to a big holiday.  He now is able to share in a joyful occasion with his first grandchild.

Here is a picture of the Christmas babies spending some time together watching football.
Kalea has a brand new outfit and I decided to have her wear it for Grampa's birthday.  Here she is chasing after Charlie.
My Dad's favorite birthday cake is usually made by my mom, but she took him to dinner while we set up his birthday festivities at home.  Needless to say from this picture, the cake turned out a little funny.  At least it still tastes great!
Skyping with John and Kristin while opening birthday presents.
Happy Birthday Dad!

Now on to Christmas Eve.  Sorry Dad, I just have to since I don't have a lot of pictures from that day!

We had some time in between wrapping presents and enjoying tamales to play "So Big" with Kalea while playing with a football.
Taking a break on the kitchen floor.
On Christmas Eve, my family always opens one gift and it is a new set of Christmas pajamas.  After the pajamas, it is time to read "The Night Before Christmas."  We read it to Kalea last year, but of course she was only 2 days old, so she really didn't know what was going on.  This year, she enjoyed listening to the story while playing with a new book.  In this picture, she is actually looking at the story, but for the most part she was playing with her book.
We really love the Holidays; spending as much time as possible with our family is the most important part of the Christmas season for us.  In the end the presents don't matter, they will be forgotten with time.  I love making memories and traditions that hopefully Kalea will be able to share and pass down to her family some day in the future.  Merry Christmas Eve!