SNOW!!

We met some friends at the park on Christmas Eve Eve and what to our wondering eyes had appeared?! SNOW!! Lily and Ben were so excited! Ben wouldn't touch it at first. He said, "too cold!" That's my little L.A. baby.

P.S. I overheard someone working there say that it was $3000 worth of ice. Where it came from remains a mysterious Christmas miracle.

Eventually, Ben "warmed up" to it.

The Captain!

Sand Sledding

We went sledding on the sand berm in Playa with Shanon, Kai and Ava. We had a great morning playing in the sand, watching the waves crash, saw some sea lions and left perfectly exhausted. It was a great way to start the week of Christmas!

(The extra kid is Kai's friend Mason)

Bobby Fisher

Lily asked Matt over and over to teach her how to play chess. He finally gave in and they played an entire game. I overheard some hilarious comments, but my favorite one was:

Matt: Now how are you going to protect your queen?

Lily: I'll just put my hand over it.

WPNS Christmas Party '09

Lily and I went to the party on our own this year. Ben got sick the night before, so Matt stayed home with him. Lily ate nothing, made beautiful crafts, sang carols and danced with her favorite little man. :)

Lily and Emma sing their little hearts out

Ahhhh, Dominic. Not only is he a sweet little guy, but he can dance too!

Lily told Santa, "I'll bring my brother's home because he barfed."

Ho Ho & Candy Cane Lane

Santa came to our neighborhood riding in a fire truck. It was pretty much the best day of Ben's life. Anytime we'd mention Santa or the North Pole after that, Ben would say, "NO! Hoho ride Papa truck!" Lily talked about Santa a lot, so we heard about the Hoho-Papa truck pretty much constantly.

Lily was into the elf's ears.

Ben's wildest dreams come true.

This is my brother Brian in Ben's body....and many many layers of clothing.

Lily and Emma dancing at Candy Cane Lane

Ben was a bit nervous about the Bumble.

The Nutcracker '09

Ben sat with Teacher Joyce the entire time!

The look of wonder :)

Super Pooch

Gracie, the wonder pup

Taking flight

Here I come to save the daaaaaaaayyyy

More Princesses

After the movie, we got to meet all the princesses. Look how excited Lily is!!

Spinning for Cinderella

"Look, Mama, Belle and Belle!"

Tiana is awesome! Lily loves that there is a green princess dress now (because it's my favorite color).

The Princess & The Frog

Lily and I went to see the new Disney movie on the Disney lot in Burbank. It was so fun and exciting to do before the movie even came out! I don't know how I got such a girly daughter, but she makes me see how fun this stuff is!

There were tons of props in the different buildings. This one had a bunch of props from Pirates of the Caribbean, 101 Dalmatians and Enchanted.

I love the old Hollywood look of the buildings. There were neat plaques on some, explaining what went on inside.

Matt thinks this shows Lily in her element. Drama queen, on a movie lot.

to be continued...

Dodgeball

Matt played in a dodgeball tournament with his students. (You must include one professor and 2 girls for your team to qualify). His team won! He accidentally hit a girl with glasses in the face (with glasses! between the eyes!) Ouch! Ben wants in.

Nader got a Rock em' Sock em' Robots from his students last year and gave it to the kids.

I realize that this post does not accurately portray my husband who is normally a very gentle pacifist.

In recent days...

Ben has become a Babushka

While at Costco this week, Ben spotted an ambulance. He was so excited, so we went to check it out. Turns out, we were behind the EMT in line. It seems he was on kitchen duty and was buying mass amounts of peanut butter and coffee mate. Mmmmm. Ben was checking out his vehicle while he was loading it and reached out for the guy. Like, hey, put me in there! (He's not a stranger, mom, he has an ambulance!)

Good thing Ben had on his fire boots, just in case.

How do these girls sleep like this? Can you find all 3 of them?

More crafts. Lily and I made a blanket for her friend Abby's birthday. Look at Lil, working hard :)

LA zoo

My Natural Science class is pretty much over. We are all working on websites and there is no need to meet. Our professor thought we should go on some field trips. (Hence the Griffith Observatory). This week, we went to the LA zoo. I'm sorry LA, but your zoo is LAME! Compared to Brookfield or Lincoln Park in Chicago, and the San Diego zoo, many pale in comparison. This zoo is just weird. Much of it is under construction and the rest is as easy to navigate as the Amazon Rainforest. (Thank you Natural Science 271). The hills are killer, especially if your dragging a wagon with two "freezing" children. ("Child, you don't KNOW cold. When I was little, we played outside for days and had to huddle in our little snow forts that we built from Ron Roesner's plowing piles for warmth"). The place is deserted, so it's hard to find help if you're, say, lost in the aviary surrounded by stairs when you're pulling kids in a wagon. We had fun though. Ben loved running down the hills, until I ran him over with the wagon with Lily in it. RAN HIM OVER!!! He recovered quickly, as usual. We ate lunch and found the kids from my class. We hung out with them for a little while and then headed home. Ben napped on the way home and we got back in time to see our new dishwasher installed. The rest of the night, Ben asked, "where's man? where's man? Tools??" Best show Ben ever watched!

Roar!!!!!

They did have flamingos, Lily's favorite animal. Ben saw them first and shouted, "Lily! Lily!"

Ben checking out the groundhogs from in their exhibit. Thanks Jen!

On the lame ass tram (that cost $4 per person) that ran around the park on the service road and just named off the exhibits on the inside. Gee, thanks. Ben loved it, of course!