Ice Skating Again

Becky, Sean and I took Hayden ice skating today. Overall, it was pretty successful and we skated for well over an hour. Hayden only wanted to take a couple breaks and once, when I asked if she wanted one, she said no, that she wanted to keep skating!

Before we left though, I wasn't sure how hard she'd try. (Trying has NOT been her strong suit lately.) I showed her pictures from last year, when she went for the first time, but she didn't remember. I recall that we held her up most of the time, though by the end, she was supporting her own weight at least some of the time. Well, the first ten minutes today were just like that. Becky and I pretty much held up all of her weight around the rink. And she also refused to try harder to do it right. 

Then we took a break and after that, she was a million times better. She really started trying to hold her own weight, taking little baby steps and then just letting us catch her when she slipped. She even seemed to enjoy herself and it was definitely much easier on the arms. 

We also had a lot of success supporting her one at a time. It was slower that way, but it would also force Hayden to support more of her own weight. 

By the end, she even did a tiny bit of time holding only one hand! The most important part is that she said she had fun, so maybe we'll have good memories for next year. 

Christmas 2011

For actual Christmas this year, we went to my Dad's house. Hayden played with my step-sister's kids, Max and Maverick, we all ate great food and Hayden got a very special gift from Santa (whom we emailed to tell him we'd be at Papa's house).

Hayden did great on the plane ride. She got a little bored, but otherwise, she had fun.  

This was part of Santa's gift for Hayden - all Little Mermaid stuff. She liked the Ariel doll and the Ariel water cup (not shown), but her real favorite was that seashell necklace because it also plays Ariel's voice when you push the button. (It was actually really, really, really hard to find, but thanks to Gaby, I was able to get it for her.)

 She got to play with Max and Maverick a bit before we did Christmas. This is a park near Papa and Zizi's house. It was a bit cold, but sunny too. 

Taking a break to have a snack with Max. 

There were several little hills at this park, and boys being boys, Max and Mav thought it was fun to climb up and then roll down. They wanted Hayden to do it too, but she wouldn't. Instead, she would climb up and scoot down on her butt.

They had this fabulous climbing structure that you can spin, get inside and climb up. Hayden didn't do any climbing, but she was ok sitting in the middle of it while it was spinning and also helped spin it a little bit too.

This isn't a great pic, but I loved her Christmas outfit and none of the other pictures came out either. I just want to remember it later. Hayden actually loves the skirt because she says it makes her feel like a ballerina and she can spin in it.  

Getting ready to open all the gifts. 

Another of Hayden's favorite gifts was a Little Mermaid book, which Papa is reading to her.  

Sunday Christmas Service at Papa's church. I'm not sure if it's because she saw Papa on stage (and Uncle Brian too), but she wasn't shy at all about walking up to the stage and checking things out. She also helped out during the service by placing two nativity scene figures onto a mantel. She wasn't scared to do that in front of a whole room of people either!

Hayden got a LeapPad for Christmas and though she's a little young for parts of it, others are clearly a big hit. It's her own tablet, that we can load up with learning games, books and more. Right now her favorite is a digital pet that lives in the LeapPad that she can feed, wash and play with. 

Family Christmas Day

Hmm, I think this was our fourth early Christmas, which was just with our little family last Friday before we left on our Christmas trip. It was a fun one because we did stockings and all the presents we had gotten in the mail.

Sean and I were both off, so earlier that day, we made a gingerbread Christmas tree! It was messy, but fun. Maybe we'll try a gingerbread house next year. 

This was our gingerbread house this year - featuring all kids of foam stickers. Another Christmas project we did that day. 

When it came time to open gifts, we started with the stockings. Hayden had been talking about wands, so I got this one out of the dollar bin at Target, and wouldn't you know, it was one of her very favorite presents. Sean hates it of course, but it honestly could be so much more "princess-y" so this didn't seem so bad in comparison. 

Hayden is loving The Little Mermaid movie right now and so she also loved this little Ariel doll. I was surprised, but her favorite things to do with it is to change Ariel from a mermaid to a human and back. Unfortunately, it's not that easy to do, so it requires our help every time. 

I got Hayden her first necklace this year. It's a penguin pendant that also came in this cute penguin box. Hayden seems to like it, though she only wants to wear it for finite periods of time.  It's okay though, I knew it might be a little much for her right now. 

One of our favorite pictures from this year. We honestly had a lot of lighting issues with taking pictures in front of the tree, but we got it right for this one!

One of the gifts Hayden wanted to play with right away - a drawing book! I certainly hope she develops more skill in that area than either Sean or I have.  

Sean has taught Hayden to say is that she is going to Stanford for college. (Yes, we're shoveling money into a college fund for it!) Doesn't she look great in this shirt? I love it. 

Family Pictures - Dec 2011

About a year and a half ago, when Hayden was almost two, we had some pictures done. They turned out pretty good, so I decided to do it again, now that Hayden is almost three and a half. Below are the best ones. I don't like them quite as much as the first ones, but it's still nice to have them. And Hayden tried pretty hard to smile nice throughout the whole thing, for which she got ice cream afterwards. (And by the way, they are all real, no backdrops of any kind. Just the beach and grass at La Jolla Cove.)

First and Second Christmas

Each year, we have more than one Christmas so that we can celebrate individually with different friends and family. This weekend was the start: first with a Christmas with my mom's larger family in Irvine and next with my mom, step-dad and brother. I was actually surprised Hayden wasn't more excited, at least, not until it was actuality time to open presents. She got lots of fun things, which I'm sure you'll see in the coming weeks. Until there, here are some fun Christmas pictures - the start of many, I'm sure.

Toys For Tots

Many of you know that Sean has a lot of Marines in his family, and as a result, the Toys For Tots campaign is always close to his heart. We didn't get it together in time last year, but this year, we were determined for Hayden to participate. She obviously doesn't know a lot about the mission, but Sean told her that when Santa doesn't know where kids live, the Marines bring presents instead.

So a few weekends ago, Sean took Hayden to the toy store where she picked out two toys to donate. One was a stuffed dog and the other was a Melissa and Doug ice cream set. Never once did she misunderstand and think the gifts were for her.

This morning, instead of dropping the toys off at a random location, Sean used his connections to arrange for an in-person drop off at the Oceanside Recruiting Station. Hayden was a little shy of course, but these Marines really did the Corps proud. They dressed in uniform, showed off pictures of their own kids and knelt to take a picture - all for Hayden.

We're planning to do this every year in an effort to teach Hayden that Christmas is as much about giving as it is getting.  She's probably a little young to truly grasp the concept right now, but we figure it's a good tradition to start.

Elf On The Shelf

You have probably heard of the Elf On The Shelf. It's a toy elf that comes with a book explaining how he watches little kids and then flies back to the North Pole at night, telling Santa if they are being good or bad. (Just a tad creepy, huh?) Every night, you move him to a different place in the house and the kids get to try to find him everyday when they get up. I had heard stories of it being used very successfully, so when Papa offered to send one, we took him up on it.

Honestly, I wasn't sure it would make much of a difference since Hayden is a pretty good kid. She is getting more rebellious though and now, often says "no" to things we ask her to do. When that happens, we bring up the fact that the elf is watching and more often than not, Hayden follows up her "no" by saying "Yes! I was just teasing/kidding."She actually does that now without us bringing up the elf.

I'd rather she just do what we ask to begin with of course, but it does seem that the elf is helping. And she does enjoy trying to find him in the morning. This was her favorite spot so far - in her stocking, hung by the fire.

New Nanny - Welcome Gaby!

Over the last few weeks, we've had to find a new nanny. (Brittany had a work opportunity that she decided to take advantage of, but she gave us a ton of notice and helped train too!) You never know how that process is going to be, but it was pretty good this time around. And the best part is that we found someone we love - Gaby. Most importantly, Hayden seems to love her too.

It was Gaby's first week this week, and I was even gone for most of it, but Hayden seemed to have a lot of fun and was ready to play with Gaby from day one. Of course, we prepped her that she'd have a new nanny, but the transition was so much easier than I hoped.

The cutest story from this week that when Gaby gave Hayden a bath and she asked Hayden if we usually dry her hair, Hayden said yes. Gaby had no reason not to believe her, but as soon as she turned on the hair dryer, it was clear that Hayden had never had it done before. She loved it though and requested it again today!

They also made me a really adorable art project while I was gone, that had something like 35 hearts that represented how much Hayden loves me. Hayden mentioned this to me - twice! And it's pretty, to boot.

December Nights At Balboa Park

This year, like last year, we attended December Nights at Balboa Park. It's a yearly, Christmas, outdoors event held in the park that apparently, hundreds of thousands of people attend. There is a ton of food, lots of trees and light displays to look at, and my favorite, carol singers/choir groups that perform in the amphitheater. It's a really beautiful setting and we usually get dinner there, then sit and listen to the signers while having hot chocolate and cookies.

It was more crowded this year, it seemed, as there were just more people, more lines and less room overall. It was still fun though. Hayden said her favorite part was the signers, which was also her favorite last year. It was busy there too, but we eventually got seats in the front row of one of the sections, so Hayden had more room and was dancing to the music. It was fun to see and I was delighted that she felt comfortable enough to do that. She was happy and maybe even a bit hyper, probably from the cookies.