Merry and Bright 2014

We had another fun holiday season! I would say this year was the first year Kallie thought everything was exciting and magical. She loved looking her her elf on the shelf (Crack Crack) every morning, had a great time making cookies with Grammy and her cousins, visiting Santa, leaving a handwritten letter for Santa and a hat for Crack Crack to keep him warm and of course she was so excited for Christmas morning. We were all spoiled this year with gifts but more importantly we had a great time as a family. I know the magic of Christmas does not last forever so I plan to cherish every minute.

We had another great holiday season!

Annual Christmas cookie decorating

Annual cookie making is in the books.  I won't lie making cookies with a 4 year old takes a ton of oatience BUT the look on her face when she sneaks a bite of dough, over sprinkles every cookie and most importantly eats one (or five but who's counting) of her creations is priceless.  I look forward to carrying on this tradition for years to come.  Happy Holidays!

PreK Christmas Carols

Today my heart melted when the PreK classes at daycare sang Christmas carols at Starbucks...in red aprons of course.  The kids did such a great job and they were so excited.  This was the first time Kallie has been in front of a big crowd and I think it is safe to say she loved it!  I am one proud mama...great work baby girl!

A little visit to the ER

It seems like Kallie has had an ongoing cold for the last few weeks. Nothing to make her feel sick and no fever just a runny nose and sneezing. Well the other weekend I noticed her cough was kind of honky, although he coughs tend to sound that way so we were not worried. I went to dinner with my girlfriends that night and shortly after I got home I heard something upstairs that did not sound normal so I ran up there. Eric was in Kallie’s room rubbing her back and trying to get her to calm down. I knew immediately she has croup. She had a very distinctive cough (like a seal) and was gasping/wheezing to catch her breath. Luckily it was cold out b/c I had heard you should take your child outside in the cold to help with their breathing (or a steamy bathroom). Unfortunately it was not helping which was making her nervous and me terrified (I did stay relatively calm for her sake). I had Eric call 911 and the ambulance was there within minutes. They knew immediate what was up by her cough, they checked her vitals which were fine but she was running a fever. The recommended we take her to the ER near our house so she could get a breathing treatment.

Thankfully we have a Swedish ER about 5 minutes away so we immediate headed out the door, in or PJs of course. They admitted her right away, gave her steroids and a breathing treatment. Within 15min she was doing much better and within the hour she was laughing and giggling. It was a long night for all of us but in the end our baby girl was quite the trooper through it all.

Happy Halloween

We had a jam packed Halloween.  From Kallie's day care parade to trick or treating around our neighborhood Minnie Mouse was all smiles.  We have such a fun neighborhood for Halloween...houses decorated and hundreds of little trick or treaters!   

Pumpkin Patch with K-prep

Kallie went on her first field trip with her K-Prep class this week to the pumpkin patch.  I decided to tag along as a chaperone and am so glad I did.  All of the kids have been excited for weeks and the trip did not disappoint!  They saw lots of animals, ran through a hay maze, jumped in a huge corn pit, had a picnic and they each got to choose a pumpkin to bring home.  It was a perfect way to start Halloween week!

Our first trip to Disneyland!

We just got back from our first trip to Disneyland with Kallie and it was a huge success. The trip was a surprise so we decided not to tell her until we parked at the airport. I can't tell you how many times I had the urge to just blurt it out but I am so glad I didn't b/c it was well worth capturing her surprise on camera!

We decided if we were going to go we would go all out and stay at the park, so we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel which was great. When we arrived within minutes Minnie Mouse, Goofy and Chip & Dale were greeting kids at the front door. It was so fun to watch Kallie take it all in, she had no idea what Disneyland was or that all of the characters lived there. She was smiling from ear to ear the entire trip (well there were a few meltdowns but those were expected).

After we arrived and quickly got settled we spent the afternoon/evening at Disneyland. We made sure to pack Kallie her Cinderella dress because we bought tickets to Mickey's Halloween Party. The park shut down and only people with tickets were there so the lines were short, there were a ton of trick or treating stations, a costume parade and an amazing firework show at the castle to end the night. We were up early the next day and back at Disneyland. Kallie loved the small rides like It's a Small World (we rode that 10x's), Tea Cups, Toon Town, Dumbo etc. We learned quickly that she did not like any rides that went remotely fast or into the dark which happens to be most of the rides. Lucky for us there is so much more to do and see than just rides.

We spent Friday and Saturday at CA Adventure which we loved. We spent most of our time at A Bugs Life and watched a Disney Junior puppet show which was amazing. We had one more surprise for Kallie; the princess lunch at Ariel's Grotto where she got to meet all of her favorite princesses. It truly was magical watching her eyes light up as each princess came to our table, priceless!

I will admit both Eric and I were not sure what to expect out of our trip. We wanted Kallie to love it and she did so we were thrilled. I think we were both surprised by how much fun we had too. We actually had a relaxing trip (if that is possible at Disneyland). Instead of running around the parks and trying to get tickets to all of the top rides, shows etc. we decided to go with the flow and let Kallie decide what to see and do. We even spend the afternoons enjoying the sunshine at the pool (it was 85 degrees every day). I am sure one day we will be the parents rushing around to get fast passes and taking turns waiting in line for the best rides but for this trip we didn't have an agenda, we relaxed and most importantly we enjoyed every moment with our baby girl!