December Catch Up- Christmas performance, Christmas lights, Boat Parade

I am still playing catch up from December. I was happy that Aidan got to participate in two Christmas performances this year- one at church and one at school. I am going to attempt to post the performance at church so those of you who are not on Facebook can see it. So cute! I don't think there is anything much cuter than preschoolers putting on a performance. It just melts my heart Every. Single. Time!

Since we stayed at home this year for the holidays we were able to explore San Diego a little more and find some hidden treasures of the city! There are so many cool things to see during the holidays around here! The Christmas lights displays around the neighborhoods are unlike anything I have ever seen before! There were a couple of nights that we went to a neighborhood that has named themselves "Christmas Card Lane". Unbelievable! You couldn't just drive around and appreciate all the displays so we parked and walked around the neighborhood. There were probably 4 blocks and only 2 or 3 houses that weren't decorated! Every house had a theme and we saw everything from Disney to "remember our soldiers who are away" themes. Each house had these giant boards in their yards displaying their particular theme. It looks like one artist did every display because they are all similar as far as the quality of work. They had high school students selling hot chocolate and cookies as a fund raiser, horse and carriage rides ( we asked about this because we wanted to do it but it turns out someone was throwing a christmas party in the neighborhood and rented it for their guests!), carolers walking around the neighborhood, and some houses even had their own concerts going on! It really felt surreal being there and felt like we should have been in some Charles Dickens novel. lol!

We also learned about a place called "Santa's Village". This is not advertised and it is only through word of mouth. It is a house in one of the wealthier neighborhoods in our community. The people open up their home and let people tour the bottom floor which is decorated .Mr. and Mrs. Claus are there for pictures, there is free hot chocolate, apple cider, and cookies, and every child who comes is given a gift! Apparently this has been going on for several years because there were several hundred to a thousand people there the night we were there! The line to see Santa was about 1 hour to an hour and a half so we opted just to see him from a distance. I got the inside scoop for next year as to when to go so it wouldn't be as crowded. We inquired about leaving a donation but they wouldn't accept any donations and any money they receive goes to charity! I just love the sense of community here and how people are soooo giving! It is such an amazing place to spend the holidays and to feel the spirit of the season! Even in times of economic recession people go out of their way to spread happiness and cheer.

Another family activity we did during December was to go to the Boat Parade. We did this a couple of years ago and went again this year. People get really creative and use their imaginations to decorate their boats.

Aidan and his dad before his Christmas performance at school....
silly boy!
Aidan at school getting ready to perform.
singing with his classmates.
Christmas Card Lane. I took about 75 pictures but wont bore you with them all! lol! Here are just a couple of the houses. This is the horse and buggy that someone rented out for their Christmas party.

Loved the "Little Bear" theme.
This was by far Aidans favorite display! Someone set up a train track in their entire front yard ( there were about 3 houses with train displays but this was the biggest) He could have stayed here for hours and asked to "see the trains" every night until Christmas!
101 Dalmations...
Finding Nemo....
This one was my fav! The Spiderman was very realistic looking! You can't tell from the picture but the lights were the "webs" coming from his fingers.
Boat Parade...

Fun times!
One of my favorite pics from this holiday season!

Christmas and Disneyland

Yay! my computers are fixed, well sort of..... I picked the three of them up this morning and already one has crashed on me. Hopefully, the other two will be ok. At least I am able to blog and right now Aidan is playing games on the other one. :)

I am going to play catch up... We had a wonderful Christmas! We were able to spend a lot of time together as a family and had a quiet Christmas day. We did a lot leading up to Christmas which I will talk about in a different post. :)

Aidan got a lot of nice things for Christmas and his biggest gift was a trampoline. I am hoping that it helps to build up his leg muscles and helps to burn some energy. Ha! He is still in Occupational therapy but his Physical Therapy is over. I wish I could say that I think it helped him but honestly I can't see that it did much to help him at all. I really do my best to get him out every day to do some type of physical activity and I think this has helped more than anything. I was at the park with him today and I could tell a difference in his muscle strength as I was working with him on crossing the monkey bars. He has been interested in playing tee ball so I signed him up and he starts next month!

After Christmas I got this brilliant idea that I wanted to see the decorations at Disney before they took them down, so two days before New Years we loaded up the car and drove to Disneyland. What a mistake! It seems EVERYONE in Southern California, China, Japan, etc.... wanted to see Disney at Christmas. It was so crowded that you literally couldn't walk in some areas. I think we got to do 3 or 4 rides, but hey at least it wasn't raining! The parade was really cool as we got to see several of the bands that were in the Rose Bowl Parade and the laser light show was spectacular as always!

On New Years day we invited some friends over and had a Vision Board Party. We sat around and created our vision boards for 2012! It looks like it may be an exciting year! ;0)

Here are some pics from Christmas and Disney......

putting out the reindeer food out on Christmas Eve....

The letter Aidan left for Santa. Instead of milk and cookies he wanted to leave passion fruit juice and cookies. Always marching to the beat of his own drummer.
The letter Santa left for Aidan. Don't ask me why it turned out sideways.
The loot Santa left....
Our stockings....
Christmas morning....

One of Aidans favorite gifts this year was a toy tool box.
Aidan and I jumping on the trampoline. He didn't take his pajamas off the entire day!
Disney...
Downtown Disney....

Playing at Toontown...

watching the parade...

Computer problems

Sorry so long without a post! I just took 3 of our computers to the computer doctor:( Hopefully he will get them up and running soon. My mom and Clinton went in together to get me this snazzy new iPad (which I love), but it will not allow me to post pictures on my blog or Facebook very easily.

We had a great Christmas. It was lowkey and just the three of us. I will post everything we have been up to once I am able.

Day 14 Seaworld

Day 14 on the advent calendar was to go to Seaworld. It had been awhile since we have been to Seaworld and we had a blast today! The park was decorated for the holidays and they had "Snowland" there. There was snow there for the kiddos to play in as well as a little hill for sledding. The only thing they didn't have there that they had at Legoland was a snowball throwing area. Aidan was bummed. It was his favorite thing to do so he decided to make them anyway and throw them at a statue thingy until they made an announcement of "no throwing snowballs". Aidan threw a few more and then I reminded him of the rules. Man was he ticked! He ran away to some bleachers near by and pouted for a few minutes but then he was over it. lol.

Aidan had his Christmas performance at church on Sunday and I posted it on facebook. It was so cute! He did a great job! I attempted to post it here but it wouldn't upload for some reason. I got some cute video today too of him sledding and of him and Zoey and Elmo. I will attempt to post those and see if I can, if not I will post them on facebook. Tomorrow night is his performance at school. I can't wait!

John our Elf was involved in an accident the other day. He was hanging out on our chandelier and I forgot he was there. I sat down to wrap some presents and turned on the light. OOPS! I melted his cheek and part of his outfit. I ran to Target and Barnes and Noble after Aidan went to sleep while our neighbor stayed with him but they were all sold out. I put a bandaid on him and Aidan seemed fine with it.

poor John.....
Aidan put on his sunglasses, looked in the mirror and said " I look gooooood". lol. Little ham.

I can't believe this is our first picture ever with Shamu.
At the new Sea Turtle exhibit...

playing in the snow...
getting ready to go down the hill...


just as he finished asking to do it again...
snowballs!


pouting because he couldn't make any more snowballs. lol!

I LOVE the holidays and being Aidan Kai's Mama!

I just love the Holiday season! I love everything about it- the fresh smell of the Christmas tree and Christmas treats, the lights ( oh my! the lights in our neighborhood- there are more and more going up every day!), the Christmas Cheer, all the decorations, figuring out the perfect gifts to give, the DIY ( do it yourself) projects, the Christmas parties and celebrations, and yes even the busyness at the stores. I go full steam ahead the whole month of December and figure I can just collapse in January. lol! It makes me sad that our families are so far away and even Clinton has been away for the past month (he is due home next week) but having Aidan makes the holidays so much more FUN! I LOVE his little 4 year old cuteness!! I love his curiosity and the questions he asks on a daily basis. I love his innocence and his colorful imagination! I love watching him play and doing things for the first time. I love his funny personality and creativity. I love how when he gets a boo boo it only takes one kiss from Mama to make it all better. I love all of our cuddle time (I am so happy that he still likes for me to hold him!). I love how smart and intuitive he is. I love when he comes to me and tells me these off the wall stories that he has made up. I love that he has an imaginary friend "Michael". I love his passion for trains and cars. I love that he thinks about things that I would never think about in a million years like- What kind of car Barrack Obama drives, what makes the stars shine, and what makes up air. What a true blessing from God this child has been and continues to be! I am blessed.

So here is some of the holiday fun Aidan and I have had this past week.....

Making cookies with Squirt- his classroom turtle.


Some mischief Squirt and John the Elf got into one night. Coloring in one of Aidan's coloring books....
getting a haircut.....
decorating the tree.... I haven't gotten any really good pictures of the completed tree yet, so I will post once I do.
playing with his friends that are in my mom's group. We had our Christmas party at the park...
Swinging with Karen....
working out how to play ring around the rosie......
more mischief from Squirt and John the Elf.... Enjoying a late night snack.
What have you done to our picture John?????
We had a play date with Emily our neighbor at our house. We. made and decorated more Christmas cookies.
getting ready tonight to go to Christmas in the Park. Man I need to get this kid to the dentist!
Christmas in the Park.....
They had face painting there. Out of all the things Aidan could have chosen (all Christmas) he chose a Menorah AND a Rudolph nose! Go figure. Just part of his quirky personality I love!