Professor Pennypickle's Workshop

Excited that grandma was off of work the week after Christmas, we decided to get together and do something fun with the kids together.  My mom had found this cute little children's museum in Temecula called Pennypickle's Workshop and I jumped at the idea of trying it out.

The idea of this museum is that Professor Pennypickle is an inventor and so you are entering into his workshop to find all of his special inventions.  It was such a cute idea and so wonderfully decorated inside of this small children's museum.  Makenna had fun going into the different rooms to discover new inventions, although she did get bored pretty quickly and just wanted to run to the next area instead of investing much time in one place.  That could have been because some rooms didn't have as many things to do as we had anticipated, that some of the items were broken, or that she was just too excited.

She did enjoy climbing into the basket of the hot air balloon and pretending to steer.

Building a "house" out of blocks and then turning on the earthquake machine to see if her house would survive.  I think she just really enjoyed seeing all of the blocks fall down.  I think possibly this means she shouldn't be an architect:-)

The room that she had been wanting to see the most was the music room.  She enjoyed sitting and singing her heart out while pushing on the keys of the grand piano.  Unfortunately the keys to the piano didn't work much, but that didn't deter her performance.

But, the area that she liked the most was the basement because she could go in and out of the tunneled area and enjoyed the freedom of being able to escape by herself for a few seconds before popping back out to see us.

It would definitely be a nice place to go often if you lived close to the area, but to drive a while to get there isn't something we would do often.  Not that we didn't have fun; we did.  We finished off the day with a yummy lunch at Pat & Oscar's and the kids zonked out on the way home and my mom and I had time to just talk.  Fun day!!

"Princess" Bear was Born

In my haste of trying to get caught up on my blogging I forgot an event.  This is what happens when I have different pictures on two different cameras.  So, rewind with me to the beginning of December 2012:-)

My mom and Jim had told Makenna that for her birthday they were going to take her to Build-A-Bear.  Makenna didn't really understand what she was going to get to do or see until we were actually there, even though I tried as best as I could to prepare and get her excited for it.  Unfortunately, on our 30 minute drive out to get there she fell asleep in the car and she is what you call a slow-to-wake child.  She was pretty grumpy but we decided that my mom, Jim, Alycia (my sister), and Scott (my brother-in-law) were all there so we were going to do it anyways and hopefully she would snap out of it as soon as she saw all of the excitement.  We met the four adults outside and already she was in a better mood...phew!  Then when we went inside we explained to her that she got to choose one stuffed animal and immediately she saw the pink bear and was sold; don't even try to sway her decision.

Then we explained that next she would get to put a sound in the bear if she wanted to.  She decided not to put a sound in it because she wanted to be able to sleep with her new bear and didn't want it to wake her up with a noise...so no sound.

Next step was to stuff her bear.  The only problem was that she was already attached to the bear and really didn't understand why she needed to give it to the lady to put stuffing in it.  We tried to explain to the slow-to-wake child that she would be more soft and cuddly that way and finally persuaded her that the nice lady was just going to put stuffing in it to make it fluffy and then would give her right back.

I don't think she was totally sold but she did relinquish her death grip on the bear and gave it to the lady while grandma and her patiently watched.

Then she was asked to choose a heart (of course she chose pink) and did all kind of things like wave it in the air, wave it down low, and give it a kiss...I don't remember the exact wording but it was cute and Makenna played along.  The heart was then placed into the bear and the bear was stitched up.

We went over to the area that you can "bathe" the bear and brush their fur.  She decided that her bear didn't need a bath but that she would brush the bear a little since there was a pink brush available for her to use.  Then she found some pink underwear for the bear that she thought she must have.

Now Makenna was really getting into this whole idea and at a good time because it was now time to dress the bear.  And since she is a child that knows what she wants, she told us that she wanted a pink outfit for the bear (can you tell the kid likes pink:-).  So we searched around until she found a pink Aurora princess dress with a matching crown.  Again, as soon as she found it she was set on that outfit and nothing else would compare.  I love that she is so definitive and knows what she wants (well...most of the time it is good).  Then to look for shoes.  She fell in love with some sparkle boots...guess what color they were...PINK!!  And then to accessorize she had to have a pink purse and pink sunglasses to go with her pink, pink, pink outfit.

She and grandma decided that maybe she also needed a more casual outfit so she got another little pink skirt outfit to go on the bear too.  She went over to the dressing room station and got her bear all dressed up in her princess finery.

We filled out information on the computer and she decided that a good name for her new bear was "Princess".  Upon checkout she was given a special house (aka. box) to put her bear in and the birth certificate for her bear.  She had a great time and it was so cute to see how much she loved that gift.  Now, several months later she is still so in love with Princess and takes  her to bed with her nearly every night.  That was the perfect idea for a gift from grandma and papa.  You made one little girl very happy!!

Happy New Year 2013

New Years Eve Party

We began our New Years Eve by going over to my mom and Jim's house for a party.  They had so many amazing things to snack on.  My mom always does a terrific job finding new appetizers and delicious foods to try.  I brought along some hourly countdown bags for the kids to participate with during the party to keep them entertained (I love the ideas I get from Pinterest!!).  I decided that it would be a good idea to have something since we had 3 toddler/preschool kids and 3 babies at the party.  As it turned out, Makenna and her friend Brielle ended up playing upstairs with the quints dolls most of the time anyways so the bags were mostly unused.  After a little while the girls came back downstairs and we did open up one of the bags to make a special New Years hats and decorated them.  Wyatt showed up around that time too and so all three of the toddler/preschool aged kids made hats.

Kyler enjoyed playing with his little buddies Benjie and Teagan too.  Although he was only just figuring out how to get onto his hands and knees and rock while his friends could move around by crawling very well (good motivation).

We all celebrated with the East Coast midnight ball drop so that we didn't have to stay up late with the little ones.  Unfortunately, we didn't look for the ball drop television program early enough so we only saw the very end celebration, but the kids really didn't care.  We gave them musical instruments and they shook those noisy things to their heart's content.

Next year we will make sure to have the program on earlier so that we can see the ball drop and do the "official" count down.  Most of us headed home at that point to put our tired kiddos to bed.  Plus, we had an early morning wake-up for the Rose Parade.

Rose Parade

Since I had taken Makenna last year to the Rose Parade and she had so much fun, I wanted to make sure that we were able to go again this year.  This year it was my mom, Makenna, Kyler, and I that went to the parade.  We woke up early and drove down to the parade area.  We were really lucky and got a "close" parking spot; that is, closer that we had ever parked before.  That made it especially nice since we were having to carry lots of stuff and the kids (Ok...one kid could walk on her own but the other had to be held).  We arrived there later than we usually do so we had to go further down the parade route to find a place to set up our chairs, but we did finally find a spot.  Then we waited and waited for the parade to begin.  Makenna passed the time by playing on grandma's iPhone.

During this time we did have one total stranger come up to us and ask if they could hold Kyler so they could get a picture with him...to which my response was a quick NO!!  I do have to admit he did look pretty cute in his totally warm bear outfit.

It was cold out there, but not as bad as we thought that it would be and by the end of the parade we were even able to take off our coats and bear outfit:-)  Kyler was the most fascinated by the bands at the parade and Makenna liked the floats, horses, color guard, and the sanitation crew picking up the horse messes:-)  We weren't as impresed by the floats this year, but I am sure that the economy plays a role in that.  As the parade was close to ending we packed up our stuff and started heading back to the car before we had to walk along with the sea of people.  We had to coax/drag Makenna back to the car because she was so overly tired and just wanted to be held on our walk back but unfortunately our arms were too full to meet that request.  Our drive home was LONG...well let me restate that...our drive to get onto the freeway was LONG:-)  I think it took us about an hour to just get onto the freeway although it did allow the kids time to get in a 2-hour nap which was much needed.  And since we always jump at the opportunity to hang out with family and friends we went back to our house for a party which had already begun.

New Years Day Party

Toby had to set up the party on his own because I didn't anticipate that we would be so late getting back home.  We had some friends and family over to play board games, hang out, and watch the Rose Bowl  game on television.  Makenna loved playing with her cousins, as usual.  And Kyler was all about showing off how he could get on his hands and knees and rock.

The food worked out perfectly too because in addition to the snacks that we had planned for the party, my mom brought over all of the leftover food from her party the night before, which was way better then any of the stuff we had:-)  Makenna thoroughly enjoyed the desserts (And will totally hate me later for posting this picture).

Kyler, as at every party, went to sleep early from the over stimulation and the busyness of the two days.  Around 7pm we said good-bye to everyone and went to bed a little while later exhausted.  So much partying and so much fun!!

Christmas Extravaganza 2012

Wanna-Be Gingerbread House

We began our Christmas festivities with making a gingerbread house.  It wasn't really made out of gingerbread so I guess we should call it a wanna-be gingerbread house made out of graham crackers.  Anyways, I figured Makenna was old enough to be excited to make a gingerbread house so we set out to make one.  I used frosting to "glue" together all of the graham crackers and then we started decorating.

After we finished our candy masterpiece, we didn't get a picture because it collapsed:-)  Makenna was really upset that the masterpiece fell down after all of our hard work, but she got over the disappointment quickly when she found out that it just meant that we got to eat it.  And let me tell you, she thoroughly enjoyed it:-)

Christmas Eve

We get to host the Christmas Eve party for Toby's family now and have a great time doing so.  A few family members were able to come over early too and so we got to play some board games before dinner and it was wonderful.  We always have a delicious meal that everyone contributes to.  I will say that Renee's brussel sprouts and Clint and Zandra's shepherd's pie were the hit of the party.  The kids always have fun playing with all of their cousins.

Kyler had so much fun watching everyone and being held by relatives that he forgot that he needed to go down for a nap and so he was extra sleepy.

Then we had gift opening and the kids got lots of new clothes and fun toys.

Among Makenna's favorite toys was the cleaning set that she likes to use with the high heels (because that it totally how I clean the house...hehe) and the play vanity set.  Makenna even used her cleaning set to help clean up after the party.  Then we opened up Kyler's gifts for him since he had been so exhausted and had gone to bed really early.  Then was dessert time.

Everyone went home and Makenna opened up her new pajamas (as is our tradition), put out cookies and carrots, and went to sleep dreaming of what she would get from Santa.

Christmas Day

The kids surprisingly slept in a really long time (7:30am) on Christmas morning.  So my mom and Jim were at our house before both kids were awake.  We opened up our stocking gifts.

And while we opened them Makenna kept saying "It's my new ______!!" to everything.  We said she sounded like the announcer on the Price-Is-Right:-)  Then we opened up Santa gifts. Makenna had really been wanting her own glass tea set and Santa delivered along with a My Pal Scout puppy for Kyler.

Makenna was so excited about her Santa gift and exclaimed "It's my very own tea set!!"  Kyler thoroughly enjoyed his puppy dog too and thought it was pretty fun that it said his name and sang songs.  Then it was time for our delicious breakfast casserole, coffee cake, and the reading of the the Christmas story read by all of the adults.

Next it was time to open up the presents under the tree.  Kyler had fun pulling tissue paper out of the gifts, but lost interest after just a few.  He didn't really understand why he was supposed to be more fascinated with the gifts than the wrapping they came in; or rather eating the wrapping.

It was still really fun to watch his excitement on his first Christmas.

Makenna had fun opening all of her gifts too and wanted to play with every toy after she opened it.  She still doesn't quite understand that we open all of the gifts first and then choose which one we want to play with.

And again Kyler was exhausted from the events of the day so far and fell asleep before he and Makenna could finish opening their gifts.

After gifts we lazed around and got Makenna down for her nap too.  Then we got dressed and ready to go over to my mom and Jim's house for our dinner celebration with my family.

(Aren't they so adorable?)

We had another delicious meal; fun playing with aunties, uncles, grandma, and papa.  And then we had fun opening LOTS more gifts.

The kids were getting very sleepy by this time but we had one more fun festivity to attend before we called it a day.

We headed over to my aunt and uncle's house that live just 10 minutes away from us and were able to see all of their family and some of the rest of my extended family.  My aunt always makes the most delicious desserts that we really look forward to and thoroughly enjoy.  It was fun being able to introduce a lot of my relatives to Kyler for the first time.  And Makenna had a wonderful time playing with her second cousin that is a little less than a year younger than her.  After that we drove home sleepy, happy, with full tummies, and with many wonderful Christmas memories.