Ginger Bread 101

This is our first attempt at making a gingerbread house. I found a great recipe @food network called Gingerbread 101 and it's pretty tasty. Lola helped cut out the shapes and Daddy helped sand them to be straight once they were baked. Then mom worked on the decorating. It's a lot harder than it looks.... This was fun to practice on and we learned a lot but we're determined to make a more ... uh lets say Magical one.

Church Christmas Dinner

Our church held a Christmas dinner and ornament decorating night. It was fun to spend a night in fellowship during this wonderful time of year. The kids were supposed to use the ornaments they made to decorate the church's tree, but Lola wanted to take her candy cane home. So we have it on her tree here at the house. This is one of her little friends from Sunday school.

Snow in California

We actually were able to play in snow just a few miles down the road..How is that possible you may be wondering... well, it was artificial snow, but snow none the less. Lola was really excited to see it and touch it. It was a tiny little patch the city made up for the kids to play on. They also had the history museum open and Lola pretended she was riding a stage coach. She kept wanting to close the flap.

submitting her request

All I want for Christmas is a PINK CAR.... she tells Santa. She stood up with him and chatted for a minute or two and then was convinced to sit on his lap to take a picture.

Our big Girl

Not much to say about this, but man our little girl is growing so quick!

Our big Girl

Not much to say about this, but man our little girl is growing so quick!

Happy Mini Thanksgiving

Since we didn't actually cook on Thanksgiving we were all going through Thanksgiving leftover withdrawls. So we made a turkey breast and some stuffing balls and some green bean casserole and a pecan pie. It was just enough to help us make it to the next Holiday feast.

homemade Christmas

For Christmas we're trying to make a lot of her Christmas presents. We're building her a kitchen and to go along with it one night we made some clay food. Here's a preview.

San Diego Zoo!

The day following the feast we were at the most beautiful zoo any of us had ever seen, the San Diego Zoo. We loved seeing the Pandas. Lola loved riding on the sky gondola, Mommy not so much. We didn't see everything but what we saw was nice. How many people can say they've seen a Panda? ( Which by the way are on loan from China)

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we drove down to LA to visit Great Great Aunt Betty and her family. It was beautiful weather and Lola enjoyed a dip in the Pacific Ocean before dinner. She was enjoyed running up and down the beach barefooted too. 

Painting Princess

Art has become a regular part of our afternoon routine. Since Doll rarely naps we find some quiet activities help Mom to regain her thoughts for the day.

Pirate Boat!

How cool it was to go aboard the Pirate Boat! It was the boat they used in the Pirates of the Caribbean , it was the intercepter they stole from the british. They said that it takes 13 people to run all of the ropes. It was soo cool.. Did I mention that it was cool?... Anyways. Lola thought we were there to tour ALL of the boats at the Harbor. She was glad to visit the Pirate boat, but wanted to go on the one with cat prowling too.

Farmers Market

At last we made it to the Farmers Market downtown on one of the wharfs. We had so much fun taking in the sights and smells of a truly great Farmers Market. We stopped for a photo with this famous spider statue too.

Going to the movies

Lola has a new favorite Friday afternoon treat. Going to the movies with Daddy. She went to see the New Madagascar several weeks in  a row until Bolt came out. She's getting sooo grown up...... They have their little routine. Get the tickets, Buy some popcorn and a lemonade, Settle into their seats and snack through the previews. When the show starts she hands Daddy the popcorn bag, with a 'HERE Daddy' and watches the movie..... This photo has her two latest stuffed pets, Mittens and Bolt. How fun it is to give her simple pleasures like taking in a Matinee.

fine motor skills

Lola is so amazing... One thing she has been working on is using scissors. She has plastic scissors to cut her playdough. She rolls out little worms or spaghetti. then opens and shuts them. Nice Job! There are so many other amazing things this little doll does but we actually have a picture of this one. :)

Eric comes for a fall visit

Lola had so much fun with her brother Eric while he visited. She didn't want mom to read her any stories just bubba! It was very sweet. We enjoyed a visit to the zoo, and Napa, and downtown of course.

Science Academy

We went to the new/old Science academy with one of Lola's girlfriends. They had a rainforest, and an aquarium. They had an example of a green roof.... that was actually a grass and flower roof. It was so cool to see the bees collecting pollen off of it. Another cool thing they had was an albino crocodile. It was so white. Lola was even able to pet some sea stars and urchins.

Making some Pasta

Lola was helping Daddy cook some homemade pasta. She was so excited to roll it out and then help spin it through the noodle press. She especially loved to eat it!

Beautiful Day at the zoo

We went to the zoo (yes, again) and Lola found it hilarious that the turtle appeared to be stuck in the mud. She talked about it for a week. She thought that he needed to take a bubble bath. & of course, here she is tree huggin. She started doing that soon after we moved to CA.

Music school

Monterrey for the Weekend

We escaped to Monterrey for the weekend. It was fun to walk on the beach at sunset. And it was especially cool to wake up and see the sea otters swimming below our window in the ocean. :) 

We took Lola to the aquarium. She really liked the jellyfish and the sharks. Mom and Dad decided that next time we will have to hire a sitter so we can see the exhibits at a nonLola pace. 

Pumpkin carving

We had a little help scooping out the pumpkin 'yuckies' as Lola puts it. She wanted to use the spoon and not touch it. Our pumpkins turned out pretty good. We had a cat on one and a witch, bat, and rat combo on the other.

Happy Halloween!

Lola as Elmo

At our playdate, the little girl had an elmo costume that Lola was very thrilled to try on. She didn't leave it on for long but luckily mommy captured it for all times on camera!

Pumpkin spice cake

My neighbor & I whipped up this tasty pumpkin cake that we then decorated with fondant. It is so fun using fondant. It makes us feel like pros. I think it turned out wonderful. We used a kitkat for the stem. We took this cake to our girls playdate.

3 little monkeys jumping on the bed!

The only piece of furniture Doll is allowed to jump on is her bed. So naturally when the boys came for a playdate they all end up doing just that:) We had a fun time collecting fall leaves for a nature collage. Lola did a great job sharing her toys even her Thomas train.

beef pot pie

Our first attempt at making a pot pie turned out Delicious! We rolled out the pie crust from scratch and added cheese and garlic to it. Oh man.... looking forward to trying a chicken one.

costume party @ church

We had so much fun going to the Church's Halloween Costume Party. They had pumpkin bowling, cookie decorating, playdough fun, donut eating off a string, stained glass window treats and food of course.

Boooo At the zzzzzoooooo

We had a fun afternoon at the zoo watching Ms Lola wear her Red Riding Hood Costume. She carried around her brother's old 'wolf'', which was really a coyote. She kept saying "What big eyes you have." We did the scavenger hunt to collect stamps from different zoo exhibits.  How strange it will be to go trick or treating without the snow....

Zoo playdate

We had a fun playdate at the zoo with our little girlfriend.  We learned that meerkats like to eat scorpions. It was a pretty toasty fall day. Lola looked so cute on this turtle.

pumpkin farm hmb

We had sooo much fun at the pumpkin farm. We took our neighbors too. There were pony rides, hay rides, train rides, hay mazes, petting zoo AND of course PuMpKiNs! Lola picked out a really sweet one. We could have spent the whole day playing there.

Look at my Shoes!

Here's momma's doll trying on some high heels. The amazing part is watching her actually walk in them.

Sleeping Beauty

Sleep tight my little doll