Catching Up, Round 2: Happy New Year!

I'm going to try and cram the end of December/month of January into one post...I didn't think a lot happened, but going through my photos, we had some very fun moments!  Here we go:

Wednesday, December 30

I promised my friend/former co-worker that we would come over for a playdate with her three kids, and it was a lot of fun.  I received two gift cards from my work for Christmas/Going-Away present, and one was to California Pizza Kitchen; since Hubs can't have cheese and is not a big fan of the restaurant anyway, I treated them to lunch there.

Waiting for our food-Leif loves playing with our sunglasses.

Angela was running late for a private lesson, so after lunch she and the kids left for home while we took our time looking at/feeding the ducks.

Leif had a great time feeding the ducks!

Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy New Year!  Hubs and I really didn't do much on New Year's Eve-I think we watched movies with Leif all day, then I made a yummy steak dinner and relaxed.  We did make it to midnight, but that was about it-the life of broke parents in Los Angeles, good times.  ;)

We did break out Leif's Fire-Truck/Bus fort New Year's Day-that was fun.

Every day straight from his birthday, Leif had played with Darth Tater.  He loves this toy.

Saturday, January 2

See?  More Darth Tater.

We had kind of a lazy few days in a row so we decided to take a trip to the L.A. Arboretum that day.

Getting ready to leave-rocking the sunglasses

We stopped for lunch at this Asian Fusion place near the Arboretum-it was delicious.  Here are my boys rocking their sunglasses.

Freedom!  This fountain was close to the entrance of the Arboretum.  We figured this would be a great place for Leif to run.

He wouldn't walk more than 20 feet without either finding a new stick or banging a stick on the ground.  Boys and their sticks!

Of course Leif wanted to walk up the crazy long stairway...

Playing tag.

This was probably my favorite section of the Arboretum-Bamboo!

Playing Hide-and-Seek.

That smile melts my heart!

Sunday, January 3

Bath night-Leif playing with his bath crayons.  I just thought this was so cute-him crossing his legs, concentrating on putting his crayons back in the packaging!

Monday, January 4

This was my first day at CSUN and it was a great day, even though I had a weird encounter with the HR front desk (lady was kind of rude to me but nice to other people-no idea why.  She misinformed me and I completely missed the HR orientation-she had sent me off to get coffee.  When I returned, she didn't even tell me the orientation was taking place until I came up to her desk after sitting in the waiting area for 20 minutes-she apologized then and said she was working on my paperwork.  WTF?!?!  I haven't seen her since returning to HR a few times now, and I hope I never run into her again).  Anyway, my chair took me to lunch that day, and everyone I met in the department was so nice!

Thursday, January 7

My boys-Leif is such a mama's boy that seeing him cuddle with daddy and letting him read to him before bed was so adorable.

Friday, January 8

Hubs had the day off, so he picked Leif up early from daycare and took him to the zoo!

Leif loved the monkeys!

Saturday, January 9

Since it was supposed to be less packed and I'm not getting any smaller (and the weather tolerable), we decided it was the perfect day to go to DISNEYLAND!!!  It was probably our last trip there before Baby #2 since Leif likes to be carried by me and I just can't do that for very long.  It was a very nice visit!

The Star Wars exhibit was kind of a let-down...much smaller than we imagined.  The largest attraction was to meet a few characters, and the lines for that were 45 minutes or longer!

Taking a ride in California Adventure

We were able to make a reservation to the Blue Bayou-the fancy restaurant that resides in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (insider tip-you have to book your reservation ONLINE-we never knew this!)...Leif of course passed out as soon as we arrived, which was fine with us-we got to eat our lunch in peace!

It's dark and moody inside, perfect!

This probably doesn't look that appetizing, but all of our food there was AMAZING-which is quite opposite of almost all the food in the park.  Of course we paid a larger amount for it, but we called it my "new job celebration" lunch.  :)  It was definitely worth the money though.

Sleepy Leif with daddy

Nice glasses Leif!  This was taken either right before or after we rode the Small World ride because Leif really wanted to go on it.

We had to go to Cartoon-Land to Goofy's house so Leif could get some energy out.  He loves sliding down head-first.  

We caught the Pixar Parade back in California Adventure

And of course, Leif got really sick after this trip.  He seriously gets sick every time we visit Disneyland...so another tip if you bring small kids to D-Land; no matter how much you think you're sanitizing their hands, wash and sanitize even more!  It really doesn't help that Leif licked a couple rides and we couldn't catch him in time to stop him...toddlers will be toddlers.


Sunday, January 17

We had a pretty low-key weekend, but we decided to take Leif to the park after a late lunch.  He loves the swings!

Monday, January 18

I had an OBGYN appointment that morning and then had to take my gestation diabetes test/get blood drawn (no work thanks to MLK Day); Hubs had to work that day, so thankfully Susie was able to watch Leif.  He always has such a good time with her and her family!

They broke out their old doll house and accessories, and he was so obsessed with the Grandpa Doll that they let him take it home!

They also gave him a cool Cowboy hat-we call it his "Woody" hat.  :)  He loves it!

Sunday, January 24

We broke out Leif's costume suitcase-he loves his Buzz outfit.  Such a cutie pie.

Tuesday, January 26

I've had a few friends ask for photos of my pregnancy, so I decided I really need to take photos for Baby #2's sake (I honestly don't have many of me and my belly this round of pregnancy!).  Here I am at 30 Weeks.  I feel huge-much bigger than I did with Leif; but definitely feel better than I did towards the end of December.  The holiday season is rough-so many sweets and rich food!

Thursday, January 28

And here is my new office btw...it may look a little dark, but my "mood" lighting is better than the bright fluorescent lights!  I could do with one more light, but I don't think I'll be in this office much longer...more on that later!

And there you go!  End of December/January in a flash.  I'll be back soon, I promise!

Catching Up, Round 1: Christmas in Washington

Hi everyone!

Yes, it's been a while.  I was actually contemplating taking a little break from the blog as a lot has been going on lately, but it is rather nice looking back and seeing our little family grow/documenting everything.  So here I am.  :)

First let me post photos of our trip back home to Washington/where I left off (bare with me, it's like those old school family slide shows where you gather in the living room while your aunt/uncle/grandpa/grandma shows every detail of their trip.  I tried being selective but it was hard!)...

Friday, December 18

This was my last day of my previous job.  It was actually hectic trying to finish everything that faculty requested, and trying to fit in my goodbyes to my favorite people.  I left not finishing a couple things, but I did way more than I think most people would have!  Felt a little bittersweet leaving, but mostly a big relief.  In the last few weeks, Hubs will ask, "Doesn't it feel good to come home and not complain about anyone?"  Yes, yes it does.

Anyway, that Friday night Hubs made shaved ice for us (with the shaved ice machine I got him for Christmas :))...

Leif LOVES shaved ice!

Saturday, December 19

Since we love our little guy and spoiled him for Christmas, we spread out opening presents over a couple weeks...plus I think he was overwhelmed.  He did master opening presents though by the time Christmas/his birthday actually rolled around.  One of his FAVORITE presents:

BUZZ!

Sunday, December 20

More presents to open!  

 Monday, December 21

We woke up around 3:45am to get ready/fly out of CA.  I somehow managed to function and loading Leif wasn't bad at all.  Early flights are the worst, but we booked our trip a little late and took what we could get!

Getting some energy out before boarding the plane

Hubs looks tired, but Leif was ready to fly!

Tuesday, December 22

We made it just fine to Washington, got our rental car fine, and of course Leif LOVED being at Nana and PopPop's home.  We didn't do too much the next day, just checked out the cool costume Nana got Leif...

Sort of...

There we go.  Part of Leif's gnome costume to wear on Christmas Eve...will explain later.

Wednesday, December 23

Since my brother Avery and his family were spending Christmas Eve/Christmas in Portland, we celebrated my immediate family's Christmas on the 23rd.

My brother John got my nephew Lance the same sweater he's wearing.  Classic John move.

My brother Avery and sister-in-lawAmy (Christmas was at their house)

Leif hanging out with Grandpa

Hubs with niece Ari

Grandpa loves his grandkids

Almost the whole brood!

I love my mom.

Fun times right before we dispersed.

Thursday, December 24

Family day with the Hovlands/Griffens!

So Uncle Alan wanted to go celebrate Leif Erikson's....birthday?  Landing?  I wasn't really sure exactly why we took Leif to the Leif Erikson statue in Ballard, but we did celebrate three generations of "Leifs" (Uncle Alan's first name is really Leif, then our cousin's middle name is Leif I believe, then our little Leif).

Gnomes=Scandinavian, thus the gnome costume.  :)

Our little fam with Leif Erikson

The Hovlands (Penny is a Griffen now, but originally a Hovland)

my little gnome

After chasing Leif around in the mud, we were able to get back in the car and back to the Griffen's home in Ballard for our annual Christmas Eve dinner and new White Elephant gift exchange.

I forgot who provided the cool Christmas glasses-each set changed the lights into a Christmas themed image-so for example, one pair was snowflakes, one pair snowmen, etc.  They were actually really cool!

I was the last to draw in the White Elephant exchange (best place to be), and I stole a pair of 3-D glasses for your iPhone.  They're pretty cool and Leif loved it-he's showing Nana how it works.  

Cousin Tim and his wife Chau got a pretty cool present-I think it's for serving cheese and writing what it is in chalk, but it can be used on the wall too.  I almost stole it...

Friday, December 25 - Merry Christmas!

I didn't get too many photos of us opening presents, but it was a very good Christmas indeed.

Leif got new bath crayons which he uses almost every time he takes a bath now.

Aunt Missy opening a present

Yummy chocolate from his stocking

It's very hard to tell in this photo, but it was a Christmas miracle-it started snowing!  It didn't stick, but it was cool to see.  We don't experience snow in Los Angeles!

Later on PopPop played with the cars he got Leif-they had lots of fun.

Saturday, December 26

Since our cousins were celebrating their daughter's first birthday on Leif's actual birthday, we decided to hold his 2nd Birthday Party that Saturday.  Let the festivities begin!

Earlier that afternoon Leif had his second taste of Chocolate Pudding.  He loves it now.

While Hubs and Nana left to pick up Leif's TWO cakes, we watched Toy Story 3.  His Buzz hat was courtesy of Aunt Missy!  She's crafty!

Finally, cake time!  Leif's Baskin Robbins ice cream Toy Story cake...it was delicious.

Leif blowing out the candle on his other cake, a Toy Story sheet cake from Albertson's. 

Yay cake!

"Auntie" Cindy and "Uncle" Bob got Leif a "sax-o-flute", a toy that you can build to create an instrument.  It only has three holes and kind of plays music, but Leif had a good time.

My bestie Barbie won the toy of the night award-he played with "Darth Tater" for almost three hours straight.  

He also loved his huge Buzz balloon you see behind him!  It's still in Washington, but we will get it down to CA sometime...

It was lovely to see my friend Sara!

And of course it was wonderful to see Barbie and her family...I haven't seen her since her wedding about a year and a half ago!  I wish we had more time to spend together!  I love her dad and his sense of humor too...;)

Bella had a great time too.  :)

Sunday, December 27

Leif's actual birthday!  I can't believe we have a 2-year old now.  He's been growing in leaps and bounds, and is so chatty-he doesn't make any sense, but he's trying.  I love him more every day.

That Sunday morning we were able to see my old saxophone professor/boss for breakfast!  Leif wasn't the best behaved, but it could have been worse.  He was just very squirrelly.

I call him my second dad, so he told us to call him Grandpa Mike.  :)

That evening was Isabel's First Birthday party (our cousin's daughter).  She seemed like she had a wonderful time!  Leif had a great time too because there were a few kids there and lots of toys to play with.  

We left a little early from the party to meet up with my folks and Barbie & Andy again for dinner!  I was so glad we got the chance to hang out once more.  

Monday, December 28

Another early morning to leave to the airport.  Leif was sick the whole trip (AGAIN), and woke up in the middle of the night so he had to sleep with us...which led to kicking daddy all night.  Daddy was not a happy camper as he got about two hours of sleep.  But we made it to the airport with plenty of time to walk around/grab breakfast.  We spent the day unwinding/cleaning up the house, and by the time dinner time rolled around, Leif was exhausted...

This was only the second time he's fallen asleep at dinner!

It was a really good trip-exhausting as Leif was sick, then got us all sick, but it was really nice to see friends and family.  Now that Baby #2 is on its way, we really aren't sure when we'll get another chance to travel since Leif now requires his own seat (so expensive!) and we can't even fathom traveling with a baby as well.  We will cross that bridge when it comes....but for now, we're settled in California.  Thank you friends and family for making our trip so filled with love!  We miss you all!