Update of pics from Dec 2015

 Anya drinks water now!

 Nico's gingerbread house from Trader Joe's that he and daddy put together.

The pictures below are from Nico's first tree trimming party at his preschool.  Here he is with one of his teachers, Ms. Jen.

 He loved all the crafts, which were ornaments that would be hung on the classroom Christmas tree.

Nico making Christmas ornament crafts at home.  These ornaments are also from the Little Makers collection that we buy from Joann's.

 

 The picture above and below are of a Christmas ornament that Nico's girlfriend, Elizabeth, made him and sent him for Christmas.

 

 A trip to Veteran's park on a morning when they have the farmers' market.

 Our very sweet housekeeper, Leticia, brought Anya and Nico Christmas gifts.

Nico met his friend, Ryan, for a fun morning at Pump It Up.

Dec 2, 2015

Nico and Anya playing together in the hallway at our apartment.  Nico has been such a great big brother to Anya.  You can tell he and Anya love each other.  Yes, sometimes Nico gets jealous of a toy that Anya has and takes it away from her, and sometimes he gets jealous of Mommy and Anya time and wants more time with Mommy, but for the most part, he hasn't been very jealous and has taken well to his baby sister.  It also helps that Anya takes long naps, so when she is asleep and Nico is awake, I get to really focus on Nico and give him good Mommy-son time.

Below is Nico having a fun morning yesterday at Columbia Park in Torrance.  We go by Columbia Park on the way to Nico's preschool, and he's been asking us to take him to it.  It finally worked out to take a trip there, and he had a blast.  While we were there, a Vietnamese man brought us some toys he had in his car that he said his sons don't use anymore.  Shortly after that, several other kids came to play at the park (a mom with a Hispanic boy she was babysitting and an Asian lady with two 3-yr old twins), so all the kids played with the toys together, and then at the end we divided them up and each took some of them home.

I gave Anya water in a bottle for the first time yesterday after lunch.  She loved it and drank an ounce.

She's also starting to eat more finger foods and has eaten Cheerios, Mum Mums, and several different types of Gerber puffs.  She has a lot of trouble still with grasping banana chunks.  Here is her first time eating steamed carrots.  She ate most of them up!

December 1, 2015

 Nico enjoying a yummy turkey-decorated sugar cookie from Beckers Bakery in Manhattan Beach.  They make the best sugar cookies.

 

Homemade lumpia and cassava cake from Joy Bakery in Carson for cultural day at Nico's preschool.  This was my second time ever making lumpia.

Nico excited about the red fish magnet his girlfriend, Elizabeth, made him and sent him from North Carolina.

 

 On Thanksgiving Day, we drove up to Santa Maria to visit dear friends of ours, the Vandrey family, who used to live near us and attend our church.  Here we are making a pit stop for lunch at a bagel shop.

The drive up to Santa Maria was very pretty and relaxing.

Uncle John was able to drive from Phoenix and join us for Thanksgiving week and weekend.  Here are Uncle John and Nico playing with the toys that the Vandreys' son, Samuel, picked out for Nico.

Here is Auntie Lola, our very gracious host, who prepared a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner for us.  This is my favorite picture of Lola and Anya.

Anya on her first Thanksgiving Day

 Anya and Mommy on Thanksgiving

 Anya, Mommy, and Uncle John on Thanksgiving Day

Master Nico chilling at the Best Western hotel on Thanksgiving night

 The day after Thanksgiving, we had the blessing of visiting Solvang for the first time since the month before I got pregnant with Nico.  It was fun to take our kids there for the first time, and it was also a treat that our last time we had been in Solvang, we had spent with Steve and Patty, and now our first time back we also got to spend with Steve and Patty.  Nico and Auntie Patty really had fun hanging out together on this trip.  And, Anya was excited, too, that she got to see her Godmother Patty and Godfather Steve.

 The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we were blessed by an invitation to have dinner with the Krauses at their house.  Nico, Sean, and Luke had a blast together.

And, Anya got to spend time with her godmother.