Such a Merry Christmas!

We were happy this year to be able to spend Christmas with Kyle's side of the family in Washington.  We even stayed home for Thanksgiving to make sure we would have enough time to enjoy the holiday together.  We had so much fun watching Anabelle really enjoy Christmas and get excited about the Christmas trees and presents and fun activities!  She had recently discovered her surprised and excited face and loved to use it whenever possible so that just made her excitement that much more fun!

Yes there are a lot of pictures... Its Christmas:)

 Opening her pajamas from the elves with grandma and then wearing them over her fleece ones because they are bit too big. ha

 Going through stocking goodies with dad.

I love this girl! She is too funny and adorable in anything!

 First time bowling with us and she really loved it. She wanted to carry and push the ball all by herself. Of course we gave her a little help:)

 Grandma and Grandpa "enjoying" all of the baby toys inside their cool fort with Anabelle.

A packed car meant lots of fun for Anabelle!:) 

 And a gingerbread house competition!  She got to be the judge and Kyle tried to persuade her.  But in the end I think she was just pointing to what Grandma pointed to last! Sorry Ash and Brian. HAHA

 Thats ours with the red and green dots. Pretty sweet if you ask me!

 The only picture I have from Christmas Eve.  She was getting tired but we were still playing the magical christmas chimes and Grammy and Papa's. Ha

 Her first baby doll! She was really excited to see it and hold it and it was so sweet! We were so glad she was excited to have one. Then she dropped it and walked away.:) Thats about how long she is interested in it for now!

 Cute picture taken by grandma!

 Her "Perry" dolls from the mall with grandma. She picked them out and grandma couldn't resist because of the way she liked to carry them around like that by the nose:)

Of course like usual there was lots of yummy food and eating out and us siblings had a lot of fun together!!  We even left Anabelle to be put to bed by grandma and grandpa so we could go to a Christmas play.  It was not easy on me to say the least but she did great and we really do have fun together with our family and we had fun in downtown Seattle on our own!

Not only did we have fun in Seattle this year, but man were we spoiled.  It was even before Christmas came this year that I kept saying, I already feel so blessed with everything we have been given that I don't need anything more.  We were so lucky to see both grandparents this December and were grateful for the generosity that was given! As usual:)

Out on the Town

We never can get over how cute this girl is to us!!  We got her this silly little hat one day and she is so sweet she leaves it on:)  Love this girl!

 Stopping for one of our most favorite meals!  Calzones at Jonnies on 3rd St.  We lost count how many times we came here long ago!

 Not long after Grandma and Papa took us to see the fish at the aquarium, our great friends Whitney and Chapin offered to take us along with their free passes.  Yes please:)  This is Anabelle taking a closer look at the scary sharks.  She doesn't know they are scary yet, but just seeing her so close to an open tank of sharks gave me a case of anxiety!  For some reason I get this feeling like when I am close to a high ledge and it seems I could randomly lose control and fall, I was always afraid I'd some how be able to fall in with the whales or something as a kid.

Taking a ride on a hermit crab.

Like I said, she doesn't know they are scary and so she was trying to feed her cracker to the large mouth lined with teeth:)

 It was so cool, there were a bunch of people sitting and watching the seals be trained and get their exercise, but when Kyle put Anabelle up on the ledge the guy had seal come right to her and say hi!

 They shared a little smooch!:)

 She also loves water so much that she was happy to stick her fingers right into the touch tank of sting rays and we got her to touch one a couple of times. Silly girl.  I was proud of myself for doing it too and they feel surprisingly cool.  Like a hard snail.  They are slimy! 

 We were excited this time that the birds were out and we could feed them.  They attack you for this yummy nectar juice.  Anabelle usually loves animals, but she thought these were a little too close for comfort and she just wanted to get out!

 She is giving me the "why on earth would you make them come over here" look:)

Thanks for the fun day guys!

Surprise, Surprise!

Kyle and I were anxiously awaiting the day to spill the news... Baby number two is on its way!!

I think I was a little more anxious as I was dying to be truthful about having been miserable and stop pretending to be ultra lazy just because:)  I was beginning to think our friends would assume I was a bum!  Plus, this belly is growing faster than last time and I felt like every glance was lingering and that everyone was eyeballing my belly as if they knew exactly what I was hiding! ha  Hooray for baby and for sharing the excitement with everyone!

One fun thing about Anabelle is that she is a true girl and she loves her accessories!  I can usually convince her to keep in a hair bow or headband just by telling her how pretty she is and letting her see in the mirror.  Once she sees how great she looks, she is happy to show it off for everyone.  We thought these mittens were adorable and were so surprised when Anabelle seemed to agree.  She would actually leave them on for long amounts of time and then ask for them to be put back on if they fell off.  Shes such a silly girl and so much fun!

 This girl loves her blanky.  She is seriously attached along with those ever present binkis.   She took a little time out from play in order to indulge in both:)

 Grandma Broadbent sent this fun Christmas package and we had a good time with it.  Once again, Anabelle had fun checking out her new accessory in the mirror!

I realize that our videos are all sideways.  We are so smart.

 Enjoying some music at the ward Christmas party.  Kyle insisted she wear the antlers for part of it:)

 Anabelle and I had a little date to Pinkberry on the Promenade while Kyle was home sick with the flu. I felt bad leaving, but he was quarantined in the bedroom and we needed a house break.  Yum!

You won't feel so bad for Kyle knowing that I got it myself just two days later.  It was the most terrible flu too!! We were both absolutely miserable and wiped out!!  I had a little break down after one whole day of misery and not getting to hold or kiss my baby for the first time ever.  I had already been sick for weeks and this just sent me over the edge.  My body ached like I had fallen from a three story building. If you were one of the few to avoid it this year, count your lucky stars!

How lovely are thy branches

We decided last year that we really wanted to get a real tree even though we would be gone for Christmas and now we love our new tradition!  There is nothing like having the real thing.  Anabelle was a bit more help this year too:)  She was so funny pushing around the massive orange cart and we were surprised that she could push it around all by herself!

 Yup just right. We found it!

 I guess she decided a free ride was just as fun as pushing it herself:)

Home for the Holidays

Ok, so this picture doesn't have anything to do with the holidays, but I couldn't leave it out.  She just looks so cute despite those scary looking arm bandages.  At least they are scary to me!  My poor baby had to have blood drawn and it didn't go too well.  Luckily I had Kyle to hold her down because I was getting sick just being in the room and knowing what was happening.  I was so worried it would go badly and it did.  They couldn't get blood and had to poke her twice. I think the first guy was just dumb and didn't do it right and hurt my poor girl!!  She still woke up from her nap smiling and beautiful as usual:)

 This picture is funny because it captures me in the back being sick prego mom during the phase that was secret to everyone else.  Sadly for Anabelle this was my status many a mornings while I was enjoying morning (more like all-day) sickness and exhaustion.  Pulling out the Christmas decorations is always fun and exciting for me so I was glad she was able to enjoy playing with them in the meantime:)

I mentioned before that we were home for Thanksgiving.  Although we were very much missing our usual family time for the holiday, we were pleased with how yummy our little dinner turned out and had fun together.

 Kyle wasn't about to have Thanksgiving without his family's traditional orange rolls and made his first attempt on his own.  They turned out great and Anabelle loved them!

This picture wouldn't rotate. Ugh. But I still thought they were very cute!

 Our yummy feast!  It was well worth the work and we enjoyed it for the next couple of days:)  We were happy that Anabelle loved the potatoes and turkey just as much as we did!

 Mmmm Turkey

Anabelle is somehow always more likely to relax and lay back with Kyle more so than she ever does for me!  She usually demands my complete attention at all times!! I thought it was so funny to find them both kicked back like this! ha