Travelling to Cool, and onto Fairfield for xmas.....

After 3 days in Redding, we travelled a few hours to my parents house in Cool, CA! (Sadly though, I made a BIG camera boo boo and accidentally deleted the photos we took there....So sorry!!). But we did spend 3 great days in Cool and my parents/sister babysat one night so Mike and I could have our first dinner/movie night together since he's been back, so that was fantastic!! We got our Chevy's restaurant fix since they don't have any around us down our way!

Then we left for Mike's mom's house in Fairfield to spend a few days with the rest of his family for Christmas! Abby's favorite part of the trip was playing with Grandma Smith's talking/dancing snowmen everyday!!!! She couldn't get enough of those singing plush toys! By the last day she actually figured out how to turn them on repeatedly all by herself.

Christmas morning at the Grandma Smith's. The whole gang (9 adults & 8 kids) were there to open gifts and eat ourselves crazy with the wonderful goodies!!

Abby has new fake food to cook up at home! She loved her cousin's fake kitchen they had with all the bells and whistles, so I thought it would be a good start for her to play with the food first! She loves stirring the pots with her spatula and stacking everything!

I found Abby on the couch one day intentionally trying to wrap Grandma Smith's snowman in the blanket, as if she was putting him to bed....Too cute!

Abby had her first ride in an electronic store toy on our trip! We had to make a quick stop at BabiesRUs, and she got to ride both toys!! At first it was enjoyable, but then Dumbo got a little wobbly and freaked her out a bit! Fun nonetheless & cheaper than Disneyland!! Awwww.....This is what happens when you get no sleep on vacation (she must be more aware of her surroundings now, because she was not her normal good-sleeping self this trip!). We had to buy this cute little headrest for her for the trip home because her floppy head kept preventing her from sleeping long distances in the car! Success!!!! The car ride home was SOOO much more enjoyable, and she looked so cute and comfy in her new neck pillow!

More Redding, CA pics.....

Kyle & Stefan

Mike got to hold Stefan a few times too!! Trying to get him ready for baby #2....LOL!!!

This is what cute Stefan did most of our visit!!! Such a sweet little thing!

Awww....Ethne convinced Mike & I to play the game "Pretty Pretty Princess" with her one day! And this is how it looks when its over!! She won, hence the crown on her head!! We had a great time laughing as we put earrings on Uncle Mike!!

Cousins!!! So great to have family around!
The mommies and the babies!!

Visit up North!

We had a fabulous visit up to Northern California last week to visit both of our families!

Our trek started off up to Redding at Mike's brother Kyle's house to visit his family and new baby Stefan!! Abby had a great time playing with her cousins Ryane & Ethne, and of course we all enjoyed holding 3-month-old Stefan for the first time! Awww...Relaxing on the couch....

Keeping Abby happy!
Swinging on the cousin's swingset in Redding....burrr it was cold!Our little snow bunny!!! She was testing to see if her tongue would stick to the plastic play equipment....luckily it did not!

Abby meets a bar of soap....

No this is not a dentist tooth mold.....This is what happens when your child gets ahold of the soap in the bath tub and takes a bite!

Building blocks....

Abby has had a basket of soft blocks sitting in the living room for weeks and hasn't touched them. Today I caught her pulling them out and stacking them all on her own! I was shocked to see from afar that she had managed to get them 3-blocks high all by herself! Maybe she'll be an architect!!! LOL

Meeting Santa....

As you can see by Abby's expressions, meeting Santa didn't go over so well. In fact she was quite terrified and screamed the whole time.....we couldn't help ourselves but laugh along with it all!! And capture it too of course!! She must have known she is going to be raised Jewish.....and was in the wrong place!!

Navy Santa....

Well, its that time of year......and the squadron administration puts on a childrens holiday party annually at the hangar on base. There was a bouncy house, food, games for the kids, packing bubbles taped to the floor for the kids to run over and pop, santa (of course), and a table full of toys for each child to choose from. It was a lot of fun....here are some memories. Oh, and did I mention that Santa rode in on an E2 Plane??!!!

Santa riding in on the E2!
Meeting a snowman with daddy.

Showing off her "My Little Pony" toy selection

She even got her own name tag! Thats a first!!

Abby goes bananas!!!!

Okay, I know she's over a year old, but she has NEVER liked bananas. FINALLY she has taken a liking to them, and I decided to let her hold it herself today, and it was too cute not to get a photo of!

More Toy Box Fun

And yes, her hair is getting long....very long in the front. No, we're not going for the rockstar look, I'm just lazy.....Bangs to be cut soon!

Our Icee Girl!!

We stopped at the exchange on base today and had a coupon for a free icee! Abby was hooked! Mike had to tear it away from her, then we got to smile at her red teeth!! And she insisted on holding it herself like a big girl after the first few sips. Too cute.

Choo Choo!!

We visited the Simi mall today and got a chance to ride the mini train that rides through the shops!

Sippy cup wars!

Our friend Jack came over to play yesterday, and I got the cutest photos of them sharing their drink, I just had to post them. That is the challenging thing having them together, is sharing snacks and sippy cups! Their cup is never good enough! They always want the other persons cup!!

See!! Jack was already eyeballing her blue cup....

Then he got it!!!! Silly Jack.....Abby just watched
Abby says....."no, you can have my cup, but not me!!!"

"Here, try the cup again!!"

"Awww soooo goood!!!"

Sicky baby....

Our cute little monster was sick again last week, but seems to have snapped out of it now! It was a full week worth of ickies, coughs and fever, but she's better now and thats what counts! Here are a few shots of her last week while she was feeling yucky, and a few playing with daddy when she started feeling better!

Holding her Eeyore lovey very tight all week while she was sick...he helped make her better!!

Roxy was around all week to help make sure Abby had a friend.....awwww

Playing with daddy and Elmo! Trying to put Elmo in the mailbox!!
Daddy's hand coming through the mailbox!!! Surprise!!!