It's Raining, It's Raining, It's Raining!!!

For those that don't know much about San Diego, this is a BIG DEAL!!! I honestly can't remember the last time it rained and I was awake to see it! So being as it is San Diego, and just because it's raining does not necessarily mean it is cold, Joli and I went outside to enjoy the weather! And she certainly did!!

Joli is at this wonderful age where every thing she does is incredibly entertaining. She has a grand old time, and I am constantly amused by the things she does. She has recently discovered head bands. She is not quite sure how to get them to stay on, but she does know they go on her head. Most of the time it goes something like this.

Then she decides that this is the way they are supposed to be worn, and we must all have it wrong, and wears them around the house like that.

Another thing that Joli has discovered in the last few days, is that now that she can balance on her feet she can carry things. She is especially exciting about this because that means she can take her blanky places! She has somehow figured out how to wrap it around her shoulders and wear it as a robe on several occasions now. Unfortunately I have been unable to capture it in digital form, but I have something close.

If only we all had something little and cuddly that we loved so much. Oh wait, I do. And she's cute too!!

Christmas Is Coming!!!

This week has been spent mostly decorating for Christmas. Little by little it has come together. I cut out some snowflakes and put some blue poster board behind it on our front window. This picture's a little blurry by you get the general idea.

I also put up the Christmas lights outside. All by myself!!!

I put up this sign on the way down the stairs.
Here is a panel I quilted together with Christmas Cats on it.

We have clipboard that I put our names up on and I change the style with each holiday. This is the new one.

Here is our Christmas Bear with his snowballs. Laume made them last year when she was here waiting for Joli to pop out. The snowballs, not the bear.

Here are our holiday stuffed animals.

Our beautiful tree.

Every year we get a new ornament. This is the one for our family this year.

What would the holidays be like without romantic bedding?

Joli did her best to join the festivities.

There were several breaks in the decorating. Some of them involved a ball pit.

Others were spent playing peek-a-boo.
Or rearranging Tupperware.
I know she looks like a boy in this last one but it's such a cute outfit I don't even care!

Recovery

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was pretty fun. We went up to my mom's house in L.A. on Wednesday. Then we just hung out the next two days and ate. On Friday and Saturday my sister Elena had a soccer tournament, so it was really fun to go watch her games and reminisce. Friday evening Joli, my mom, and I met my friend Jessica in Downtown Disney, and that was great time. We had never been there before it was so neat. Just like Disneyland but you don't have to pay to get in. There were all kinds of interesting shops and restaurants, and they had already decorated for Christmas! On Saturday we stayed and watched my sisters last game, which unfortunately put them in forth place, then we went out to dinner with my family before we headed home. Yesterday was spent unpacking and decorating for Christmas. Unfortunately in the process of unpacking I discovered that I had left the cord to my camera at my mom's house so I can't upload any pictures until it gets here. In the meantime I do have some pictures that I just took off my cell phone.

These were taken a couple weekends ago when we went out to eat in Old Towne.

Here's Joli sucking down her Jamba Juice, just like her daddy!

Here's Joli and Joe at the mall last weekend, taking a train ride!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving was very nice this year. Joli had fun discovering her Grandma's House.

Joli also enjoyed crawling on her Auntie Elena.

Joe and Brianna had a hard time concentrating on the family with all the electronics to be played.

My mom did all the cooking this year and it was very exciting and delicious. While she was putting the cranberry sauce on the table, Joli noticed she was carrying food. So she decided it would be a good idea to take my mom and run off with it. Eventually she got her all the way to a the back bedroom!The turkeys were awesome!! That's right I said turkeys! I found one that was sixteen pounds but my mom didn't seem to think that would be enough. So I also brought a ten pound turkey and we cooked them both.

Here's everyone sitting down to eat.

Joe loves Thanksgiving!So does Joli!

After the meal, Joli and Joe sat down for a nice story while their stomachs settled.

Joli's Almost Birthday

Today we celebrated Joli's birthday early. Her birthday is not actually until the 6th of December, but Joe's probably going to be gone then. So we decided that with Thanksgiving and all that craziness coming up that we would go out to dinner and give her her big present now. I found the cutest outfit in the box of the next size clothes that she's going into. It was so cute and it was actually almost too small so I put it on her now!

Then we went out to Souplantation with some friends and Joli got to have her own mini ice cream cone! She loved it! We came back and showed her the box that her toy came in. She didn't seem all that interested until we took out all the parts. While Joli seemed thoroughly amused by the HUNDREDS of parts that fell out, the four adults looked at the pile in shock. But after a few pitchers of margaritas, it didn't seem all that bad. As always the best part of any toy is the giant box it comes in.
Us girls played while the boys did the man thing and eventually got it all together. Once it was together and in the room they said it didn't actually look like it was that hard, but at first it seemed impossible. Joli certainly appreciated it.I had to rearrange the room to get it in there, but it seems to look and fit perfectly now. Then she had her first first birthday cake. She's getting a birthday party next month, but we're not sure if Joe's going to be back yet. So this was the first cake of her first birthday. It's not actually cake. It's cranberry-orange bread with frosting on it. But cake's all relative right. It didn't matter though, Joli loved it.
Eventually she got tired, and like all sugar-crazed children, she crashed. Although she seems to recovered just fine.