Our big 2-year-old

AJ is in love with the movie Cars so we decided to throw him a low-key Car-themed birthday party the weekend before his actual birthday.













On his actual birthday (the 15th) we took him to Chuck E. Cheese. Neither Alex or I had been there since we were kids so we didn't know what to expect. Although they had some toddler friendly games, most of the stuff was geared for older kids. I think we will wait a while before visiting Chuck again.



And to top off his birthday we moved him into a new room and a new big boy bed! He was a champion sleeper in his crib but the transition to a bed has been rough. It's almost been a month now and he is finally getting the hang of it...just in time for brother to arrive!

Surprise!

On the afternoon of December 6th, Alex, AJ and I headed down the street to our good friends house for a Happy Birthday Jesus party. As we approached their home, I noticed my mom's car parked outside as well as couple others that I didn't expect to be at the party. Sure enough it wasn't a birthday party for Jesus but a baby shower for Miles! I walked in the house and was greated by some of my closest girlfriends and family and handed a invitation to my baby shower. It was such a special afternoon of celebrating our new little guy and everything about the shower was totally me. Ronya had us do a craft (i love crafts!) which was an ornament that had a little tag attached to remind everyone of Miles. We played a couple really fun and unique games, ate a great lunch, and had the most adorable and tasty cake ever which was made by my friend Heather.






The Grandmas



One-handed wrapping game

Holidays

New Years
We spent New Year's Eve at the Davidson's house with our Growth Group. It was a fun night of playing Rock Band, cards, darts, and eating birthday cake for Andrew, Shraddah, and Chrissie. New Years day was beautiful so we headed to the beach and let AJ ride along the boardwalk on his new scooter. He's a natural on that thing!


Christmas
Christmas morning was at the Coulson's. AJ wasn't as excited about opening gifts as I thought he would be...in fact, he was a bit overwhelmed. He would open one, play with it for a bit, and then eventually come back for more. Here are a couple of his favorites:








Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve morning we had Alex's family over to our house for brunch and then we headed up to my parents house. We went to Christmas Eve service at my parents church, looked at Christmas lights, and then spent some time with Alex's aunts, uncles and cousins in Phillips Ranch.







The best time to visit Disneyland has got to be during Christmas. They decorate it so well and the parade is really fun.













Thanksgiving
We hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first time. I decided to attempt my first turkey and it actually turned out okay. Definitely not as challenging as I anticipated. I spent most of the day cooking while Alex and AJ played outside and got the house ready for dinner. It was a beautiful day in San Diego...hence the picture of AJ in the pool. My parents and Alex's parents came over for a low-key dinner

Some cute videos

Alex and I aren't very good at capturing our little guy on video but when we do I love it. Here are a couple recent video clips that I just adore.

AJ dancing (galloping is more like it)


Gobble Gobble