Christmas with the Murthy's...

The Murthy's are traveling to India on Monday, the 20th, so we had Christmas a little early. They made a fantastic dinner with halibut, aspargus, rice, and baked potatoes. Seriously...it was one of the greatest dinners I have had lately.

Anyway...Laela had the best time opening presents. She loved looking at the nametags to make sure that it had an "L" for Laela before she opened!

Laela enjoyed cleaning up the wrapping paper as much as taking it off; however, the unwrapping took awhile. She insisted that she do it all by herself and she is very precise when opening. Oh lord! Heaven help me when this child gets older. Her and I may be a little too much for each other. Really, I guess I should feel sorry for Ro because he is the one that has to put up with BOTH of us girls! :)

Here are some great pictures from our evening with the Murthy's...Using her new Toy Story markers in her new coloring book. Look at that beautiful smile and gorgeous hair! Seriously? All of the gifts are not for me? Laela also got two tv's for the car. She didn't quite understand why they were so small, but once we get them working in the car I think she will love them! As of right now, she might watch 30 minutes of tv per week. This may increase that a little, but if you know me, then you know they will be educational videos! :)A train!
Ro's new suitcase from his parents, but Laela loved it! Here is the train put together this morning. Laela is still playing with it this evening.

Santa Visit 2010!

We are very privileged to know a very special Santa, which Laela has been pictured with all three years! Here we were last year...Santa's schedule was pretty booked, but we managed to get in his schedule and meet him at The Eung's House.

We have been preparing Laela all week by telling her how nice and wonderful Santa is because she has not been a big fan of him. Well, actually she loves the thought of him, but when he gets close she goes CRAZY! This morning she woke up and "I will see Santa today" were her first words. YEA!

Laela has been very crazy after her nap on Saturday afternoons, so when she got up today she was in her funk and it was not good. Then, Ro asked Laela if she wanted to take Santa a lollipop. WOW! Her eyes lit up! Great idea, so it went into her new purse and off we went. (Side note: I just got this purse from one of my school kiddos and Laela stole it from me. She absolutely loves it!) Immediately, she saw Santa when we walked in and she was waving and saying hello! She was thrilled about Santa being there. Laela went in a little closer and got out her lollipop to share with Santa. Santa tried very hard to get her to come closer, but this was as close as she wanted for now. Then Laela and Santa gave knuckles! We snuck in a few shots with Santa, but as you can see...Laela would NOT sit in Santa's lap. Actually, she wouldn't even stand next to him. If Ro or I were next to Santa then Laela would sit/stand by us. This was way better than her screaming her head off, but we may try for the lap next year! As I said earlier, Santa is very busy so he had to go. On his way out, Laela gave him a kiss! Go Laela! I have a feeling that Santa will be very good to Laela this year!

Plano Christmas Parade...

This morning, we met the Eungs and the Hodges (minus one...Will, you missed out on some fun times!)at the Plano Christmas parade. We enjoyed our breakfast on the side of the road as we waited for the parade to start. Here are the girls (and Brandt!) Brooke and Madelynn were having a blast too!We did have to bundle up a little, as the weather got cooler while we were there! Laela was rockin' her new panda bear mittens.Once the parade started, we had a great time looking at the floats, listening to music, gathering candy, and waving at Santas and snowmen!Laela just helped herself to a lollipop, and she was having a blast!Laela LOVED waving, smiling, and saying "Thank you and Merry Christmas!"Thanks to the Eungs and Hodges (minus one) for hanging out with us this morning! Merry Christmas!

First School Performance!

This was a busy week, with two firsts. Laela had her first sleepover and on Friday night, she had her first school performance. Her daycare gathers one evening to let each class sing and dance to winter music. It started at 7:15ish, so we were very hesitant about going with Laela's bedtime being right around then. Oh well! We knew if we didn't try it then we would always wonder.We got her dressed up and off we went. First you drop the kiddos in a big room while the parents gather in the auditorium. HA! We had to sit with her for a bit, but then we snuck out. She cried a little, but was fine okay by stage time. Well, she was exhausted by "performance" time, so here she is... Yep! Laela stood like this the entire time. Not really singing, dancing or shaking her snowflake. Oh well. We had a great time watching and we were VERY proud of her! DARN! I took two videos of her class singing "I'm a Little Snowflake" and dancing to "Let It Snow" but the files are too big to download. AH! That makes me crazy!

Brandt's class sang right after Laela, so of course we stayed for his performance too! He did awesome. Way to go kiddos!

Laela's First Sleepover!

(on a school night, too!)

We made plans to have Brandt over tonight, so his mommy and daddy could go to their work Christmas party. We told both kiddos about it and they were very excited! Brandt even planned out the dinner menu last night. :)

Well, I picked up the kids from school and the excitement was beaming! I got Laela first and then on to Brandt's class. Of course he was peeping his head out the window watching for us! When he saw us, his face lit up! We got our belongings and headed out!

On the way home, the kids and I had the funniest conversations.
Me: How was y'alls day?
L: I WENT POTTY!
B: I held my tee-tee down!
ME: Oh. Okay. Did you just see that motorcycle pass by? (Change subject quick!)

ME: We have to get to the park fast because it is going to be dark soon.
L: Go fast mommy!
B: My daddy drives fast!
L: My mommy drives fast!
ME: Sometimes I do drive fast, but right now I am being safe. Oh...we are already at the park! How did we get here so fast?

On the way home, WE decided that we need to all play at the park for a good 10 minutes While we ran around, we sang "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man." Hey! Whatever you have to do to get rid of some energy! Then we headed home and on the way, we rocked out to the ABC's song, looked at Christmas lights and counted blow-up Santas in our neighbors' yards! Best 5 minutes I have had in a long time! :)

For dinner, Brandt informed us that we would be having corndogs from Sonic. So, Ro grabbed those on his way home and we played until he got here. Seriously...these guys were funny! Within 4 minutes the living room went from clean to disaster! Oh well...we were having fun! Both kids ate a fantastic dinner and then continued playing. The best toy of the evening...the wrapping paper roll. YES! I said the cardboard tube. The kids played longer with the tube than anything else. At one point, we were singing "Jingle Bells" with our tubes and instruments (shakers, drums, and tamborine). If there was fly on the wall, it would be doubled over in pain right now because it was laughing hysterically at us! BUT we had a BLAST!

Brandt was very interested in wanting to know where Ro was and what he was doing. They even got in a little boy bonding time and played ball in the house!Of course we had a little, fruity, after-dinner snack. What hams! They both smiled with full mouths. Too cute!Then, it was time for night-night clothes and a little more playing. BTW - Laela was so jealous of B's train night-night clothes. I won't be surprised they make it on her list to Santa!They both enjoyed bedtime stories and I was glad to share this time with them. Then we made a little pallet on the floor for Brandt to sleep. Funny part is...he did great! Went to sleep within 10 minutes. Our friend, however, cried a little. She calmed down quickly, but then TALKED to herself for 20 minutes! Goodness sake girl! You are never going to have a boyfriend if you just talk, talk, talk. Oh wait! That may be a good thing! :) Here is a picture of our monitor. A little hard to see, but you can get the point. Both kids are sleeping! Overall...EXCELLENT night! Thanks for hanging out with us, Brandt!

Happy Birthday!

Today was Rohit's birthday! I think he had a FANTASTIC day! He started out the morning with a non-initiated Happy Birthday from Laela. (Okay...I did tell her LAST NIGHT to remember to tell him this morning....and she DID!) Funny thing is that she hid one of his presents under her bed and she pulled it out this morning. In bag #1 was a "monkey shirt". YES. I said monkey shirt. It just happen to be Laela's size! It was very funny when I asked what she wanted to get daddy for his birthday, she immediately said a monkey shirt. Okay. I can handle that. Off we went. Next thing you know, Laela spotted it. "Mommy, I see monkey shirt! I want it." Hmmmm...a night-night outfit with a monkey on it...size 4T. PERFECT! Of course Ro loved it! (Of course she wore it to bed tonight to celebrate Daddy's awesome day!)
Then I sent Ro flowers to work today. A little different, but that is what made it fun. He said that they made him smile, so yea! Good work!This evening was dinner with a few friends and a couple more presents. Laela also went shopping with Nanna. For this round, she wanted chocolate cake for daddy. Well, of course they found the perfect gift...Little Debbie chocolate cakes! Laela wrapped them up (using half a roll of tape) and it worked out perfect. Of course he loved everything. This year was just so much fun because Laela could partake in gift choosing, gift wrapping, gift giving, and gift opening. WOW! I can't wait for the next birthday celebration around our house. Oh wait! It will be for me. YEA! Happy Birthday, Daddy Ro, Ro.

PS- The celebration continues...Laela is currently laying in bed, "trying" to go to sleep. All we can hear are the sounds the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Happy Birthday! :)