Christmas Day

We went to my parents house around 10 am on Christmas day. We opened the piles of presents while eating the traditional breakfast pizza. Paige loved the baby dolls her Nana gave her in additional to several of the toys that were under the tree. We ended the day with a nice steak dinner and a christmas tree cake. It was a wonderful Christmas.

Loving her babies.

Sitting on the presents.

Sitting on presents.

The Elmo chair Nana & Papa got her.

Christmas Morning

On Christmas Morning we woke up with Paige around 6am. She had a little bit of a runny nose, but she was her happy self. She saw the toys set-up in the living room and immediately went to the ball pit. Eventually she discovered the slide and she opened up the presents from Mom & Dad (Practical stuff like towels, shoes and books). We played for a while before we headed over to my parents to spend the rest of the day.

Sliding down the slide.

Opening more presents.

First thing she did was climb the slide.

Playing in the ballpit

Christmas Eve Fun.

Christmas Eve started for us at 8:30 in the morning when we left for Santa Cruz. After making a pitt stop to pick-up our nephews (Keith, Joseph and Tyler) in boulder creek and drop off a present at our friends house out there, we headed to Dan & Michelle's. We arrived at 11AM to a warm house with a beautiful tree. We played with our neice and nephews for a couple of hours and ate around 1:30. We started opening presents about 2pm. This continued the yearly tradition in which Grandma plays Santa and reads the names while the little kids deliver the presents. Once everyone has their "Pile" of presents we open them. One person at a time, youngest to oldest. Paige was blessed with a few great outfits. I scored with some vanilla scented stuff and a beautiful picture of Paige and Alyssa from Dan & Michelles wedding reception (And yes that made me cry). Justin took home some good smelling cologne and we both also received a digital crock pot.

All of the kids made out this year with digital cameras and video cameras from us. It was so exciting to be able to give them something they have been asking for over the years. Overall it was a fun day.

Grandma, Chrissy and Paige

Princess Alyssa

Paige had fun with the presents and her cup.

All of the neices and nephews together.

Another shot of the neices and nephews

After leaving Santa Cruz, we headed to my parents house where we video conferenced in with my family back east for a gift exchange. That was really fun. Justin and I ended up with a Patriots jacket. I can't wait to have it in my hands. We then settled in for a fun dinner with many types of pasta and sauces. After that, we headed home where we assembled the slide from Santa and the ballpit from Santa.

All of the things she can do

My little girl is now just about 13 months old. She is now walking and she even kicks a ball (May have a little soccer player on my hands). She says several words including: Dadda, Momma, Nana, RaRa(Kayla), Chelsie, Duck, Quack, Ho Ho Ho and she is learning more every day. She has said Lemon, Cheese and Chicka at least once, but they are not in her regular vocab. We are now working on papa and she will say papapapapa really quitly. So that is a quick update on a few of her new things.

Walking Maniac

Paige has started walking more & more. While we were waiting for some take-out last night, she walked around the restaurant quacking like a duck. It was so funny. We took a video this morning for your enjoyment.

Gingerbread Whatever!

On Sunday night we went over to our friends Mike & Denise' house. They cooked up a great dinner. Afterwards we broke out the Gingerbread house and gingerbread tree kits we had. Let me tell you, a great time was had by all. The gingerbread roof would not stay on so it lost a wall and became more of a manger. That prompted us to make Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus out of candy. Yes, baby jesus is a banana runt with an orange runt head. We made two trees and then it became more of a ranch. Justin made animals, a fence and much much more. It turne out pretty great, even if the pictures below don't give it justice.

The hunt for the Christmas Tree

We decided to start a family tradition and cut down our own Christmas Tree this year. It is so much fun to search for the perfect tree at a farm than on a Christmas tree lot. We drove deep into the Santa Cruz Mountains to Crest Farms. We popped Paige into her car and started our search. It was not long before Justin & I realized that had a very different picture of what a Christmas tree looks like. He likes ones tha reminded me of a Chinese water fountain and I like bushy ones with no holes. We finally settled for a tree that was in between. There are some space, but there are plenty of leaves. I am looking forward to future years when Paige will be more excited about this tradition.

1 Year Check-up

I am sure it will be exciting to all of you to know that Paige is no longer considered "Short". All of our previous doctors appointments included the question, Is anyone in your family short because both of you are tall and she is short. Maybe not in those words but I got the drift. But on December 5th Paige weighed 21lbs 2oz (50th percentile) and was 30 inches long (75th percentile). She is as tall as a 14 month old. We were strongly advised to keep her in the car "rear-facing" until 30lbs. She is healthy and happy. She had a great time playing with the books in the Doctors office. See the pics below.

Hanging with the Nephews

Since we had the boys or a couple of more days, we took them to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. Then we took them to ride the Go-Carts at Boomers in Livermore. They also helped us put up our Christmas lights. Overall we had a great time. We are always sad when they leave. Here are some pics.

Justin & Keith racing.
More of Justin & Keith

And again.

Finally! Joseph & Tyler

Justin & Paige buying tickets.

Thanksgiving Fun

We picked up Justin's nephews on Wednesday Night (Well Justin picked them up and was stuck in traffic for 2 hours). We had Keith (18), Joseph (14) and Tyler (12) and they spent the night. Thanksgiving Morning I woke up and realized that I forgot to bake the pie I was going to bake. I got up, made the pie- we ate breakfast, packed up the truck and all piled in to drive 2 hours to Auburn. It was tight in the truck, but we all fit. We played a game looking for "OLD PEOPLE" since there were so many on the road.

Once in Auburn we hung out with Justin's Grandma, her sister (Minga), Minga's daughter Donna, her husband Ernie, their kids Chris & Kevin and their kids Daphne, Zach & Gage. Justins brother, Dan and his wife Michelle joined us later as did Chrissy. It was a lot of fun. We ate some snacks, played bacci ball, played catch, ran after the kids, watched football and ate a wonderful turkey dinner with all of the fixings. We left around 7pm and headed home. We did not really have traffic either way and that was wonderful. Here are some pics.

Daphne
All of the "Cousins"- They are all boys except Daphne and Paige

The "Cousins" with Grandma, Minga and Donna. We took one of all of us, but I need Chris or Donna to send to me.

Paige playing outside in her new jacket.

Paige playing with Zach. He did not like having a baby around. I think he is used to being the baby, but he did pretty good most of the time. And Paige can hold her own.

And Then there was Cake

I thought the cake portion of the birthday party deserves its own section. I made a "1" cake and some cupcakes (Cupcakes were made from scratch and the cake from a box). I spent hours making the homemade frosting the perfect colors and decorating the cake (That might be a little exagerated.) But it only took a couple of minutes for it to be smashed into her face!

A picture of my centerpiece. There was a block theme so I made blocks, the had "1St PAIGE" on them and pictures on the sides.
Here is my masterpiece.

Having her 1st piece of cake.

I think someone tried to put her hat on her again. She was very tired.

Paige's Birthday

OK- So here is the update finally. Our little Angel turned 1 this last Sunday. It is hard to believe that a year ago I was in the hospital giving birth to her. And now she is trying to walk and loves to say "HI". We had about 25 people at my parents house for some snacks, presents & cake. Justin drove the old car over so his Grandma could see it run. It was also exciting to have his dad there. We don't see him too often and it was the first time he met Paige. Paige had a great time being the center of attention. Overall, everything went well. A good time was had by all. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Paige playing with one of her favorite toys- Chicken Elmo. He walks around. She follows him and then picks him up and hugs him.
Opening more presents. Who can resist putting the bow in her hair!

She loves cars almost as much as her daddy so this was one of her favorites.

Playing with her cousin Alyssa.

The Huffman clan

What Nana did to Paige

I know everyone wants an update with pictures from Paige's Birthday Party & her 1 year old pics, but I am exausted. I will try to get to that soon. For now, just enjoy this little bit of fun. Last week, I got a letter in the mail. I opened it up and the below picture was in there. On the back it says "Look what nana made me do". I don't think this needs any more explanation.

1st Dentist Appt

On Tuesday Paige had her first dentist appointment. She did great. We went in and she had to lay in my lap while the dentist looked at her 4 teeth. She says they look great and "Paige" is doing a great time brushing (Yeah daddy). She got a free toothbrush and also a finger brush as well. And she got to pick a toy from the toy box. Then she was able to put her name in the drawing they have for a free teddy bear every month. Only kids that do a good job brushing get that privilege. She barely complained at all. We will go back every six months just to make sure she is still on track.

Big Girl Tub.

We moved Paige into the Big Girl Tub last week. We had been giving her baths inside the safety tub inside the big tub, but since she was starting to stand we decided it was time to move on up. She loves it. Daddy fills the bath with bubbles and she plays and plays. Hope you enjoy the pics. I will try to update again next week after her 1st birthday party on Sunday. But it is going to be a busy week and weekend so we will see when I get around to it. I still can't believe she is going to be a year old in a week.

Justin's Brothers Wedding

This Saturday we were able to support Dan, Justin's brother has he celebrated his marriage to Michelle. They got married the weekend before in Pismo Beach. Justin was able to attend the ceremony. He recently realized how small his family really is. It was a beautiful day he says, but he wished his Mom was still alive. We had a great time playing with Dan's kids (Our niece Alyssa & nephew Lucus). Here are some pictures of the reception. It was at a Bocci place in Santa Cruz, but was very nice. Ironically, Dan married the sister of Justin's good friend Matt from High School. It is nice to him to have "extended" his family in that way.

Alyssa loved Paige- She danced with her and kept picking her up.
Lucus spent the night playing video games or collecting these electric candles.

The cakes were beautiful

A picture of the happy couple.

Alyssa being silly again.