Christmas Cookies!

While we were in California, we decided to help Helen decorate her house for Christmas, so to keep Rylie busy, Gammie and her made cookies. Rylie quickly caught on with where to place each cookie on the cookie sheet (after tasting almost every single one before she put it down) and how to put the sprinkles on the cookies (also, probably tasting more than decorating).  After they were done, she very proudly brought some around for each of us to have. :)

 I asked her if she had anything in her mouth and this is what I got. :)

 Helping Gammie get the cookies on the tray.

A Magical Place

On Black Friday, the girls all woke up and went shopping. :) Rylie stayed with Daddy and got a great nap and went to hang out with Grandpa Ruben where she got a whole new box of toys to play with. After a great day of shopping and eating, we decided to head to Disneyland for the Christmas fireworks. We got there with enough time to take Rylie on Winnie the Pooh and then headed to get a spot on Main Street for the fireworks show. If you have never seen any of Disney's fireworks displays, they are amazing...but the Christmas show is hands down the greatest fireworks show ever (at least in my opinion). :)

 We have a picture in front of this tree from when I was pregnant with Rylie, and then we also took one last year...our new photo tradition!

 Rylie loves Winnie the Pooh right now, so she was very excited to see him on this sign. :)

To say that Rylie loved the fireworks is probably an understatement. She was kind of loopy by the time they started (way past her bedtime!) so she was dancing, giggling, and giving Gammie kisses throughout the entire show. At the end, the music changes, all of the lights turn white and blue, and it starts to snow on Main Street! She kept looking up and reaching for the snow. Brandon and I loved the fireworks already, but now we have the most amazing memories from Rylie's first time seeing them. I will never forget the look of wonder on her face. :) Now, here's to hoping she might get to see some real snow fall this winter! :)

Rylie also got her first balloon from Gammie at Disneyland (it has an on/off switch...only at Disneyland!). It took probably about less than 2 minutes for this to happen when we got in the car. :)

Turkey Day 2011

We spent Thanksgiving this year in California with Brandon's family. The big meal was held at Brian's (Brandon's oldest brother) in Temecula where the weather was fabulous (overcast and rainy) and the food was great!

 Rylie loves Uncle "Ba" (her attempt at Brian) and Aunt "She She" (Sheila)'s cats. The only brave one for the day was Bailey who spent the afternoon on the stairs just out of Rylie's reach (I can't really blame him for that one). :)

One of the many races for the day. :)

Rylie got to eat at the kids table this year! Seriously, we can't believe how old she seems lately...definitely our little toddler and not our little baby anymore! She thoroughly enjoyed her Thanksgiving meal. She ate 3 helpings of the jello/pudding salad, corn and cheese. She kind of liked the mashed potatoes and didn't really want anything to do with the stuffing or turkey.

First Santa Visit of the Season

Last night, we took Rylie to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop. They have the cutest Christmas event for kids and the entire thing if FREE! :) There are little shooting games, a train, crafts, a carousel and pictures with Santa. Even the Santa pictures are free! Rylie had a blast and didn't even mind sitting on Santa's lap.

Big Step in Swim Lessons

Rylie took a big step in her swim lessons-she moved up to the next level! Not only did she move up, she now goes in the water without me! I get to watch from behind the glass now. She did so good at her first lesson. She listened to Coach Melanie and waited her turn on the side of the pool. She was such a big girl! The other exciting part was that Brandon had the day off of work, so he also got to see our little girl take another big step to growing up. :)

(The pics are taken with my phone through the glass)

Waiting her turn. :)

Diving for rings...she loves this part.

S'More Please!

We do a family dinner every Monday night at my parents house. This week, we had a bonfire with s'mores to kick off our (finally) cooler weather! Rylie was a big fan of the s'more. :)

Sleepover!

Brandon and I had the opportunity to spend a weekend away so Rylie spend the night with Papa and Grandma. My mom still has an injured foot, so Papa got to run around the park with Rylie. :)