It's Christmas!

We really had a wonderful time this Christmas. It was really nice to have the family in town. Though it was a little overwhelming for Andre at first, he was sad to see everyone leave. I really enjoyed decorating the house, as we never get to do that due to travelling to Idaho each year. We had a fun Christmas morning with a lot of present opening. Andre and Piper by far got the most presents, Santa must have thought they were extra good the whole year. We ate a lot of good food, gained a lot of pounds (at least I don't feel as guilty as I do have to gain weight :)Look at all the presents!

I finally finished making the stockings on Christmas Eve. This project took me almost the whole year. I actually made six of them to never have to make them again, and to make sure they matched. The other three are just missing the names. I made the designs on the computer, printed them out, cut the paper parts out, traced them onto the felt, cut out the felt, then hand stitched every piece and stuffed it (for the crafty ones of you, you can appreciate the time it took me.) As you can see they turned out pretty cute. Each one has a teddy bear on it - to keep them same themed.


Here's our Christmas morning:
Andre playing with one of the wooden puzzles we got him. He really likes those.

Andre reading his new book he got from his grandparents
Opening yet another present
We got Andre this keyboard. He loves it. It also has a little microphone to the side which he loves to talk into. It's pretty funny.
Opening another present - he got a lot of clothes from his grandparents and greatgrandma Ardath. Thank you!
Another toy Andre got from Ann and Rich - a dump truck. He likes it a lot.


Mommy and Andre
Cute Andre in one of his new outfits and his new shoes
Piper and Andre
He didn't want to stay still for the picture, little squirmy worm.

Almost Christmas

Andre and Piper seeing each other for the first time since last Christmas. Boy have they changed!
Playing and singing - a true performer

This was taken on Saunday before Christmas. Andre is wearing his Ukrainian shirt.

Here is Jesse with his fiance Karen. They are getting married the exactly same day our baby is due. Sorry Jess, not going to be there.

On Sunday night we went to see Christmas lights by the temple. Andre LOVES Christmas lights and every time he sees them he says "Oh wow". It's really cute, if he is especially impressed with the display, he really prolongs the 'wow'.

Here's our family, Andre didn't want to stay still even for a second.

On Christmas Eve the whole family went out for breakfast in Manhattan Beach. It was really yummy.

Cute Piper

По усам текло, а в рот не попало
On the pier in Manhattan Beach

I thought this picture was cute, as I caught Andre running with both of his feet in the air.
Andre watching the waves.

Pictures with Santa

Andre and I went to the mall today to take his picture with Santa Clause. Though he usually goes to almost anyone, apparently Santa was too scary and as soon as I tried to sit Andre on Santa's lap he broke into tears. What is it with little kids and Santa? Then the photographer had me sit next to Santa with Andre on my lap in an attempt to warm him up to Santa. Well, they took a few pictures with both of us in it, but I didn't want to be in it and Andre by no means warmed up to Santa. So then we had me sitting to the side of Santa with Andre in front of me. Santa pulled a book out to get Andre disracted while I slowly leaned away. Here is the best picture we could get.

Unrealized plans

So I was thinking about doing a Christmas card this year, but realizing that it's a little too late to try to figure out everyone's address, I gave up on the idea. I'll start thinking about it earlier next year. Here are some pictures I took (thinking I would use one of them for the card) of Andre by our Christmas tree.

Vacuuming

Apparently Andre didn't think I did good enough job vacuuming the floor, so he decided to help me:

Ultrasound

I had my 20 week structural ultrasound today. Jeff was able to take his lunch early and go with me. We did not find out the sex of the baby, as I want it to be a surprise, and the doctor said he wouldn't be able to tell anyways, as the baby's knees were closed. He did however say that we can come back whenever, and he will do another ultrasound to determine the sex if we changed our mind (at no charge!) The doctor said the baby looked great, he/she has a strong heartbeat, perfect spine and other organs. We have ourselves one healthy baby.
Here is the ultrasound, it's hard to tell what is what, but still is kind of fun to watch. You can distinguish feet, fingertips, head, belly, spine, heart... It's one cute baby!

Family Portraits

I really wanted to have our family pictures done before the next baby arrives, or more so before I got fat :). I could not put it off any longer, I am already 20 weeks along (I was 18 weeks when the pictures were taken.) I think they turned out pretty good.

Getting ready for Christmas

Well, I think we are officially into the Christmas season. We went out on Saturday to Home Depot and picked out a 6.5 ft beautiful noble fir Christmas tree. We spent the rest of the day decorating our apartment and getting into the spirit. From the extra branches we cut off from the bottom of the tree for it to fit the stand, I made a wreath and decorated it with some embellishments I picked up from Joann’s. Here is the final product:

I think it turned out pretty nice for being the first one I ever made

Our TV stand, I know the rabbit ears do make it look much better

Our beautiful Christmas tree, for safety purposes it is decorated with bows, candy canes, jingle bells, and plastic garlands.

Weekend trip to Santa Barbara

For my birthday present we decided to take a weekend family trip to Santa Barbara. Jeff had Thursday and Friday off, so it was a long weekend for him. We celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday, and left for our trip early Friday morning. Santa Barbara is about 90 miles away from LA, so it was a pretty short 1.5 hour drive (we were lucky not to encounter any serious traffic both ways.)
We stayed in Motel 6 (not the best motel, but served our needs of sleeping) in Carpinteria, which is about 8 miles east of Santa Barbara. We really enjoyed our scenic drives, as 101 runs right by the ocean. On Friday we checked in to our hotel and went to the zoo. Andre really liked it there, we didn't take too many pictures, as they all turn out about the same no matter which zoo you go to. Later that day we walked up and down the State street in Santa Barbara (they have a bunch of stores along it) and just window shopped and had pizza for dinner.
The next day wedrove about 30 miles northwest to a cute little town called Solvang. It was settled by danish 100 years or so ago. It is very cute, and truly reminds you of little european towns. We spent our day there, visiting numerous gift shops, devouring on danish pastries and food. We also met up with the same couple we had over for Thanksgiving dinner there, as theyalso planned a daytrip to Solvang the same Saturday.
On Sunday we went to one hour of Church, and then spent half a day by the beach in Santa Barbara. We had a nice stroll along the beach, where they had an art fair. We had fish and chips dinner in Stearn Wharf and then headed home in the afternoon.
Anyway, here are some pictures documenting our trip:

At the zoo, Andre really like the macaws
Watching macaws
This picture speaks for itself
One of the street in Solvang

At the Danish bakery, about ready to eat our breakfast. Yum!
Another street

Andre petted almost every single dog walking the streets of Solvang that day. This owner even gave him the leash, I'm not sureI would trust him with it.
Being nice to the doggie

Cute guys

Jeff purchased a hat there, as it was quite hot and he didn't want to get burned. Here Andre is trying to steal it from Jeff. We took a nice break for lunch on the grass and had our leftover turkey and roll sandwiches.

We had our dinner here, they had different kind os sausages with roaster potatoes and sauerkraut and red cabbage. As I don't like sausages, I settled for a very danishcobb salad. :)
Here Sveta and I are eating aebleskivers, the jam-draped, powdered sugar-dusted Danish pancake balls. Yummy
Cool clock tower
At the Stearn Wharf
What a pretty view

Stearns Wharf
Harbor
Ready to go back home (sigh)