Our Christmas

It was a very Merry Christmas for us this year. Great weather, although it was almost freezing, at least the sun was out to warm us up a little. We did have a late start since Matthew was so excited on Christmas eve that he didn't go to sleep till almost 12! Lucky for him, and us :D he didn't wake up until almost 10am, thank goodness. This being Matthews 3rd Christmas, and not long after his birthday, he was a pro at unwrapping his presents. We spent the morning at home relaxing together, Skyped with the Gellerts in Hawaii which was awesome. Then we made our way to Lei's mom and opened more presents there and ate our Christmas lunch. And Matthew got to test out his new Scuut bike that Santa brought him. He needs to grow another inch or two to be really stable on the bike by himself but he did great for his first time and had a blast.

Later, after a our afternoon nap we, along with Grandma Helen, took Matthew to his first movie at the theaters, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. He did really well sitting and watching the whole movie, although he did mess with the persons seat in front of us twice. but other than that. he did great. the movie was great too, really funny and entertaining.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas holiday and we wish you a Happy New Year!

Sunny Days

Friday
After a couple of weeks of ugly, wet weather, the sun finally showed his beautiful face again. So me and Matthew headed out for a walk around the neighborhood and a fun time at the park







Matthew loved all the christmas decorations, he loved them so much he kept walking into peoples yards to play with them

Saturday
A family that Lei tutors for lives in a nice neighborhood which put on a "snow day" for the kids. So we took Matthew and he had a blast playing in the snow. Well it was more like shave ice, which made it slippery to walk on. The second to last picture on the bottom is Matthew getting up after he face planted in the show and if you look close you can see some snow under his nose. haha. he was okay and it didn't slow him down one bit.

A Decorated Tree

decorated tree, originally uploaded by ailona.

We've had the lights on the tree for over a week now but no ornaments. So after dinner tonight we got on the ball and got the tree finished! Matthew was a big help putting them on... now, hopefully, he will leave them there!

GeoTrax

I've been having fun with our new pocket cam. This morning I videoed Matthew playing with his GeoTrax set he got for his birthday. He loves it so much, its the first thing he wants to play with in the morning. I have to confess, I have a lot of fun with it as well, mostly trying to build an interesting track layouts. Matthew could care less how the track is put together, just as long as it all connects and I use ALL the pieces. If I leave any out he will bring them to me and say "ooh ooh.. track... broken.." until i connect it some how, even if it doesn't lead anywhere. He's such a funny kid.. We love him!



warning! the video is 4mins long. haha

p.s. Dont you hate hearing yourself on video? I sure do! haha

Christmas Tree

Leilani's been jonesing to get a Christmas tree since thankgiving and after much debating between a real or fake tree. we went out and got a fake one. We usually go out and cut down our own, but we thought it would be easier this year. We got the tree up but hopefully today we are going to decorate it

Matthew was really excited about the tree but had a lot more fun playing with the box.

Texas Snow

Texas Snow, originally uploaded by ailona.

Winter came early this year with our first snow. This is the earliest its ever snowed here in Houston. More photos and video to come

Mathew's 2nd Birthday / Thanksgiving / Grandma Gellerts Visit

A lot has happened this week with Matthew's Birthday, My mom coming to visit and Thanksgiving.

Matthew's Birthday Party

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We can't believe that Matty's 2 already! Time has just flown by! His birthday was actually monday the 23rd, but with everyone busy we did it on sunday so everyone could be there. Leilani made some special red velvet cupcakes for matthew. He seamed to like it but only ate alittle nibble from the side, he had more fun blowing out the candles.
Matthew got lots of presents from everyone, most of which were GeoTrax sets and cars thanks to Mommy, Grandma Helen and Auntie Kalani. He loves its but he's still getting a hang of the whole remote control thing.

Thanksgiving
We drove up to Dale to spend thanksgiving at Leilani's Grandparents along with Helen, Kalani and their cousins Forest, Sarah and Jody with her husband Brian and their baby Blake.
It was a great thanksgiving with lots of food and great weather.



Grandma Gellert's Visit
We are greatful this year for my mom being able to come and visit us. It was alot of fun having her around for the week, I know Matthew enjoyed it! Its been over a year since we saw her last and hope she can come back soon.

Dale Visit

We went up to Dale to visit Leilani's Grandparents for their 57th wedding anniversary last weekend. (sorry for the late post :) It's been awhile since we've had the chance to go visit, so it was really nice. Helen treated us all to Texas Roadhouse for lunch, which was yummie. When we got back from lunch, we took a few shots of the Great Grandparents with Matthew, but not as many as I was hoping for, before he became uncooperative. It is always a fun trip out to the country and always good to see them.

Halloween

We went over to Grandma Helen's tonight so Matthew could do some trick or treating in her neighborhood. He had a blast going from door to door, knocking and saying " A TAWEET" " TANK YOU" . He got so many compliments about how cute he was, even being invited into the house so others could see him. It was a Perfect night to go out, clear skys and a brisk 65 degrees, it was awesome. We only went down the block and back but he scored a bunch of candy, too bad his mean ole parents wont let him have any, maybe next year :D, but he did enjoy is own Pecan treats.

ROOAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carvers

Carvers, originally uploaded by ailona.

We finally got to carve our pumpkins! Matthew picked the designs this year, Lightning McQueen and The Count from Sesame Street. Matthew had a great time digging out the pumpkin guts, he was a good scooper. He even tried to eat some. It was a lot of fun.

Father and Son Car Wash

Our car needed a little love and attention so with the weather being somewhat cooperative today, mean it wasn't rainy or 65 and windy, Matthew helped me change the oil and give the car a bath. Although he didn't get to help me all that much with the oil change part, he just sat on a bucket and ate his Pear, He loved the washing part. Well mostly he loved playing with the soap suds and spraying the water everywhere! he even almost got me a few times. By the time we were done He was drenched and the wind started to kick up, so we ran up stairs and ate lunch and took a well deserved nap

Trunk or Treat

Our Church ward had their annual Halloween party along with a Trunk or Treat for the kids. Matthew had a Great time getting the treats, although he did do better saying thank you than actually asking for them. But we're working on it.

We decided to be different and handed out Mini popcorn packs and box's of Rasins. Most kids were pretty stoked on them but I did get attitude from one little girl.

We have to say thank to Leilani's mom for Sewing Matthew's Lion costume. Matthew loved growling with it on. She still need to finish the mane but it was still awesome.

Matthew as the Cowardly Lion along with Scarecrow and Dorothy


Matthew wasn't sure how he felt about the guy in the Scare mask

oogave

oogave, originally uploaded by ailona.

We don't drink a lot of soda but when we do it's usually an Izze which is a no sugar added "natural" soda. But recently while we were at Whole Foods we saw these little guys on the top shelf and we had to get it. We use agave to sweeten a lot of our foods from pancakes to Oatmeal. so naturally we were interested in a soda that used it and it didn't disappoint.

just thought id share