CHRISTMAS WEEK!!!

We finally got back last night from all the Christmas festivities. Wow! What a week! We loved all the quality family time, all the relaxation we had, and of course all the good food we ate... I did get some runs in so I hope I avoided the extra holiday poundage? Now I'm eager to put away all our Christmas gifts, unpack, do lots of laundry, put away all the Christmas decorations, and completely organize the house! "Easy" got a ton of stuff. Now I understand when parents don't buy to much for their kids cause they get SOO much from everyone else. I'm a bit overwhelmed and don't really know where to begin? I wish I had a day to myself ("Easy" free) to just bust it all out in a day. I'd seriously drink a pot of coffee and work like a mad woman. 

We did our traditional Christmas Eve with our central coast family and then drove Christmas eve night (3 hours) to our so-cal family to spend the remainder of the time. It was a lot of traveling, but worth it to see everyone. I took advantage of the extra help at my moms and got a lot of much needed errands done. Joel took advantage and got much needed naps and football watching in. He got a lot of father and son time in as well. "Easy" really enjoyed having his daddy home for 5 days. He got used to it and whined for his daddy all morning. Poor bubs. 

SOO many pictures to share! I have enough to blog for a week, but I'm anxious to move on from Christmas and attempt to weed through to the best ones...Enjoy :)

Joel made homemade Sushi Christmas Eve! It was SCRUMPTIOUS!

Aunt Dolly holding both the cousins

Checking out the fire...

opening pressies...

CUTENESS!

New basketball net

Christmas dinner spread. Everyone minus "Easy" and my mom...

Reading "Easy" his new 3D book. He loves it!

Sitting with Uncle Donny watching cartoons.

playing at the park.

Lil' boys + Rain boots = A must!

"Easy" is ALL boy... and then some! I love him to pieces and appreciate his craziness. But man he gets exhausting. Joel says I fight it to much. Usually I'm pretty good. I don't consider myself a girlie girl anyways. I love to stay active and play sports. So it could be worse. But I'm realizing as I chase this toddler around I do need to let go of control on some things. One issue we've been having this week is rain puddles! Oh my goodness! He has been giving me a nervous breakdown. The moment those garage doors open he runs to the nearest water or mud puddle and starts stomping! He's so fast. Before I can turn around he's there. He must know it drives me nuts cause he stares at me with the sneakiest grin and giggles! I try not to scream and lose it. Its always when we have to be somewhere. So then I have to bring him back into the house and change his soaking wet shoes, socks, and pants. So not fun. 

Well, I was complaing to the husband on the phone the other day how hard its been to keep "Easy" occupied during the rainy days and about the puddle problems (he knows, he's seen it... but he thinks it funny) and Joel told me that "Easy" is a little him and he knows how he feels. hmm? From a dad's perspective he said why fight it? Get the boy some rain boots and let him stomp in as many puddles as he wants! WOW. Why haven't I thought of that? Genius! So I ran out and bought the cutest firetruck rain boots right away (which he loves). The battle is over. I put the rain boots on and then let him out. Happy boy and dry socks makes a  happy mommy! So there's a toddler tip (especially toddler boys) invest in some rain boots! Joel even said to find a rain poncho and put that on the boy and let him play in the rain and mud. Bring him home and throw him in the bath. He said "EC" would love it. I would of never thought to do that? To much mommy control and clean issues I guess. I'm working on it. Joel's such a good daddy and perfect for "Easy's" personality.

Thousand words Thursday.

A couple of days ago my Mom and I took "Easy" to Disneyland. We had a great time! We like to go a lot... especially this time of year. Disneyland at Christmas is amazing! The decorations are beautiful. She has never seen it so I was glad we fit the trip in before Christmas. (EEEK...exactly a week now!) Every time "EC" goes he gets more and more excited. He LOVES Pooh Bear so naturally his favorite ride is the Pooh Bear ride. He remembered it. When we got to Pooh's Corner he was very happy. I have WAY to many cute pictures from the day, so I'll just share the Pooh Bear experience for now. He got to meet Pooh... again. And to him that was the most amazing thing EVER! He was hilarious and super cute. He ran up and gave Pooh the biggest hug. And then he sat there forever and let Pooh rub his face. I didn't care about the long line to see pooh. My boy was in Pooh Bear heaven and they could just wait! It was so darling. 

"Easy" on the Pooh ride! I love this. I promise he wasn't scared...just very into it!

Meeting Pooh! 

For more A Thousand Words Thursday check out, Cheaper than Therapy!

Wordless Wednesday.

Our Christmas Tree! Oh my gosh...I can't even believe there is only 8 days left until Christmas!?! Its flying by way too fast.

*UPDATE*

Haha! Okay...a update is in order. He actually leaves the presents alone? SHOCKING! For some reason doesnt touch them? But the tree ornaments on the other hand is another story. This picture is deceiving. Its an ongoing battle. Time-outs actually started because of this. This picture was taken pretty early on. Now there is pretty much no ornaments on the bottom of the tree.

Totally Talented Tuesday #2

"Easy's" talent for this week is shoving everything into his ear! Ya. Great talent. Gosh, this kid! I see emergency room visit in the future? 

He's also a pretty good at coloring. Even though he gets no more crayons unsupervised. Yep...leave it to "easy" he colored a door. I've had a heck of a week with him. Meeting my Mom at Disneyland today to hopefully get some energy out of him!?!
For more Totally Talented Tuesday check out Two of a Kind, working on a full house's  blog!

Fun Saturday!

We got woken up early Saturday morning by a marching band outside our window! It was so fun. We knew the Christmas parade was today and we were taking "Easy" to it, but didn't know they would be rehearsing outside our house. It was really neat. We had our own "Jingle Bells" and other classic Christmas music that morning as we were getting ready. It was a trip! We then loaded up the boy and walked to the parade. He was amazed and so into it. At such a young age (18 months) he knew what to do. He knew to sit on the curb and watch the parade go by. He waved his flag and said "Hello" to everyone. Ugh...I really wish I could rid of that dang binky though...

I love this picture!

We met his friend Parker there. They were too cute and all boy! Both were very intrigued.

We even ran into our brother in law... love the sweater!

Such a fun morning. We put "Easy" down for his nap and he slept 3 1/2 hours! WHOO-HOO! I can get used to that. It was so nice to relax with the hubby. 

That evening the grandparents came and stayed the night to watch the boy because It was Joel's Christmas party! SOO amazing to get away childless. We NEEDED a good date night. And we had so much fun together. You need those times to reconnect and enjoy each others company. It was a good Saturday. 

Chicken Noodle Soup Crock pot style!

Yummy! After a long week I wanted something simple, healthy, and fast for dinner tonight. I love this one pot meal. And even better...in the crock pot. I'm always looking for good crock pot meals.  I like these kind of dinners on Fridays especially when I'm pretty much cooked out. I seriously threw all the ingredients in when "Easy" was taking his nap and the house smells scrumptious!

• I just bought one of those whole already roasted chickens. I pulled pieces off and threw into the crock pot (told you easy).
• 1 cup dices carrots (about 3 or 4)
• 1 cup diced celery (about 3 stalks)
• 1 cup diced onion (about a half of onion)
• couple chopped cloves of garlic
• 4 cans of chicken broth or one of those chicken broth cartons
• It called for 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, but all I had was cream of chicken soup. So I tried that. We will see how it turns out?
• salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons of fine herbs. Anything you want really.
• The last 15 minutes add 2 cups of egg noodles. You can even try already cooked rice. But the noodles help thicken it up.
• cook on high for 3-4 hours or low about 8 hours. 
• enjoy!

And BTW...I'm in a rut. HELP!  I'm searching for healthy and easy one pot meals lately. If anyone has one they want to share please do...

And I think I want this for Christmas...dutch oven.

Never used one, but I heard they're fantastic for one pot dishes? Opinions?

Thousand Words Thursday.

We've been at my Mom's the last couple of days. I was feeling worn out and starting to get sick. So my very gracious and loving husband said lets stay the night so you can get rest and help. I feel much better! I GOT TO SLEEP IN! Wow. That seems like its been ages since I've been able to do that.  So today we're staying home all day, being cozy, and cleaning.  I love these kind of days. It feels so Christmas-y! 

For more Thousand Words Thursday go to Cheaper Than Therapy. So fun!

Totally Talented Tuesday...Sugar Cookies!

"Easy" had a friend over yesterday and we decided to tackle trying to decorate sugar cookies with toddlers! HA. I imagined a HUGE mess! It wasn't that bad. It was a lot of work for me. Baking, entertaining, and cleaning...sheesh. But they did great! I was pleasantly surprised. "Easy" got the hang of it. I told him to color the cookie and he did. He was very excited and kept yelling at the cookies! He's been doing this lately (crazy kid).  When they discovered that they were edible and yummy, it quickly went from coloring to eating. We knew that would happen. That's the best part. Licking all the frosting! I love this age! 

He decorated these all by himself!

A fellow mommy blogger at Two of a kind, started this Totally Talented Tuesday. Its so much fun! Check out her site to join in or see more! 

Year and a half!

"Easy" recently turned 18 months. Crazy! I don't know how to feel about this milestone? It makes me sad how fast he is growing. Tear. At the same time, he is SOOO much fun right now! I love this age. For me the best age yet. Trying to take as much video and pictures I can. He has become my lil' bud and such a joy! So much personality. He cracks us up. He loves to get a laugh. Within this last month his language has quadrupled! He seriously will copy or at least try to mimic everything we say. He goes in parrot mode where we ask him to say words and he repeats them. Its so hilarious. I'm glad I got about a half an hour of this on video last night. He's even started to say full sentences. Funny story... You know those old bus trams that kind of look like trains? Well one drove by and Joel said, "look Easy a train" (he's way into trains right now) and "easy" said..."NOOO daddy, bus!" Hehe. So funny! He's very deliberate the way he speaks so of course it was pretty dramatic with shaking the head NOOO.... And, he has a lisp. It's freakin' adorable. I love it. We will have to see if he will grow out of it or if need to get a little help? No biggie. 

Along with this age he's become more independent and stubborn, and with that some classic toddler misbehaving. He definitely tests us. We started doing time-outs. Not sure how its going? He thinks it funny, and when I tell him "do that again you will sit in time." The stinker puts him self there on his own and smiles! oh lord! What am I going to do with this kid! Any tips on the time-out technique is greatly appreciated!

He is very active and all boy...he oozes boy! Always running, jumping, spitting (not fun), throwing, he sings (my favorite!), dances, makes sound affects with his toys, and is very animated! Sometimes I just watch him in amazement...he's amazing. So pretty much to say the least, I'm very proud of the the little boy he is becoming and love him even more then I could ever imagine!!!

We got our Christmas Tree last night! That was fun! Decorating it tonight. So Christmas pictures up soon. 

Wordless Wednesday.

My boys and their big smiles.

Thanksgiving whirlwind!

Ahhh...we're back. Its been a busy, yet nice and relaxing 4 days! Now lots of catching up to do. We had so much fun. The central coast was beautiful. I would of liked it a little bit colder...but hey? The weekend was filled with lots of family time and of course food...lots of it. Got some runs in so I feel good. Actually a little sore. hehe. "Easy" loved all his cousin time. It was chaos and wonderful! When we left "E" said "bye bye kids!" SO SWEET! I'm a bit scatter brained right now, so here's some snapshots of the weekend...

Thanksgiving dinner with most of the munchkins and "Easy" at the end.

Joel reading to the boys. They had their first cousin sleep over! So cute.

It's become a Thanksgiving tradition. We again went to the Christmas tree farm with the Delmore's to help pick out their tree. The kids love it...and "Easy" really enjoyed it this time. Its such a blast! I think we're gonna get our tree their next year? You get to pick it out and cut it down your self...if you choose? Hot chocolate, bonfires, marshmallows, and a quad train ride=fun!

Us at the Christmas Tree farm. (I love "Easy's" face here...so not into it)

Quad ride

yummy marshmallows

On Sunday we all went to the Avila pier/fish market. Such a neat place! Don't know why Joel hasn't taken me there before? It was loaded with so much sea life! We all watched the birds and sea lions in amazement and feasted on some very scrumptious fish tacos. And what a gorgeous day...

Now its officially Christmas season and I have SOOO much to do! I'm stressed.  Yay! My Mom's coming out tomorrow so we can start our baking. Oh ya...and I've received a few blog awards this past week. I will post them and give back soon. Thanks ladies!