Alicia is 5! Happy Birthday Ali!

Ali turned 5 March 2nd! This year we celebrated 2 ways. On Ali's actual birthday we went to Disneyland and let her open some of the presents that she got in the mail.

Jim sent her a package packed full of fun things. I had never seen one of these books, but they are really cool. You color it with water, and then it dries and you can recolor it again and agian. Ali loved it. He also got her this t-shirt with guitar/musical gear on it and Ali wears it and says she is a guitarist. I wish just wearing a t-shirt would give us the skills.

My brother Lutie, and SiL Falina got Ali loads of Tangled gear. Can you tell they want a girl? Tower, barbies and a BIG doll. She is really in heaven.

Nope, that isn't a new sister, it is a life-sized Rapunzel doll! Ali carries it around and dances with it and hugs it, and calls it her little sister. If I had known she would have stopped asking for a brother if she got this doll, then I would have gotten it for her myself a long while ago.

On Saturday we had a birthday party at AdventurePlex, an indoor playground near us. Ali and her friends had lots of fun.

It has a ball pit, which is always a winner.

Ali, Kelly, and Kailey. Three amigas.

We were lucky to have BOTH Abuelita and Tita come up to the party. Especially Abuelita, since it was her birthday the day before. Happy Birthday Abuelita!

Valentine and a party

5 reasons why my Valentine is the best one out there.
#5. He can sleep anywhere anytime (even while standing up during a surgery holding some guys guts open). Don't ask me why I love that about him, because it is a skill that rarely, if ever, benefits me, but I really do love it.
#4. Despite the fact that he hates most kids, he LOVES ours and is literally the best dad out there.
#3. Even though we agreed (mutually) that we would never buy each other Valentine's gifts, EVERY year for the last 8 years he has bought me a box of chocolates, while I hold to the agreement.
#2. When he gets home before 5, he always cooks dinner. This may not seem like too much, but he even cooks for me if he has just finished a 30 hour shift. Plus he is a really good cook.
AND THE # 1 REASON...
Whenever he walks into a room he makes me smile. No matter what.

And now for the party, which has nothing to do with Valentine's Day.
Trevor turned 6!!!! Happy birthday!!! (For those who are on the other side of the family, Trevor is my brother Lutie's son.)

It was loads of fun. Balloon animals.

Limbo. Yes he is definitely cheating, but hey it is his birthday.

And cake! Followed by lots of fun and games.

Kicks and punches

Ali started Karate last week. She is so girly when she does her karate that I try not to laugh the whole time. Plus you can see she is doing exactly what the teacher is telling her.

Look at those pointed toes! Maybe Ballet would have been a better choice. Nick wanted her in Karate to help counter all the girlish activities. Do you think it is helping?

Mid- January, Upper 70s

I love Boston. We lived there for only 4 years, but for some reason I just love it. I miss it like crazy for most of the year. This week was an exception. Even the best and most outlandish weather in the forecast would have been temps in the 40s. This week it hit the 80s. Multiple days. This is Kat at a nearby park on Friday, Jan 21st.

I know some of you are thinking, "Come on, no more plants, I don't care about your plants!" But too bad. This is my blog too and the girls cannot monopolize it. Since it has been so warm, a couple of dormant seeds popped up and in my empty pot of soil I now have a tomato plant, I think it helped that I have not watered or touched it. :)

This is the plant I am most proud of! My tree is HUGE!!! In reality it is only huge in the fact that it is growing. For those who follow my blog, I started this a while ago. For how long it has taken to germinate, it is growing fast. In just this one week of warmth, it got 3 new leaves.
Okay, okay, now for the part of my blog that people really care about. WE WENT TO DISNEYLAND!!!!!
The Pulham's got us season tickets for Christmas this year, and yesterday was the perfect day to start our season.

Ali wore her Tinkerbell outfit, and flew through the park most of the time.

Our traditional first ride, the jungle tour was lots of fun. Kat was worried about the fake animals eating us, and Ali was trying to reassure herself and Kat that they were in fact, fake.

Lots of time was spent in the princess area, where there was a live interactive princess show. The girls got to dance with Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella. But do we get pictures of that? No, we get a picture of Kat running from a Mickey Mouse piano... go figure. She still looks great in her mermaid outfit that she insisted on wearing once she saw Ali in Tinkerbell's.

Right on time

Christmas was great this year, (or last year actually). It started out about a week early when Ali got a present from our good friend Jim. Ali wouldn't put these stuffed animals down for most of Christmas break.

They sat next to her while she opened each present. (The squirrel at her feet is one of about 5 that are on her lap)

Christmas Eve the whole fam headed out to Olvera Street in Downtown LA, for Las Posadas.

Abuelita got the girls and Dez some adorable outfits. I am glad these little ones love each other so much!

Christmas morning the whole gang headed over to our house for some presents. There were so many it made our tree look tiny!

Kat really cleaned up this year, her pile of presents was HUGE! And this year she was old enough to really enjoy the whole thing.

And Ali of course, loved this whole time of year. When she opened this particular gift she said, "This is EXACTLY what I wanted for Christmas!" It was pretty funny. Now she is always "Tangled" even though we constantly tell her that the name is actually Rapunzel, to which she responds, "Yeah I already know that." All in all, I would say that this is the best Christmas we've had, but I think that it is because the girls are getting older and can really enjoy it. We put out cookies this year and Ali was excited in the morning when they were gone. She loved decorating the tree and putting up lights. If this year was the best because of how much the girls loved it I can look forward to next year when both girls will be older and even more into the season. I can hardly wait for next year!

New camera

Nick's Birthday this year was awesome because his whole family was able to get together. His parents got him a great camera as a present, which I was not allowed to touch for a week. This was the day after his birthday when we got together and the battery was charged. Nick had fun messing with the camera, and the girls had fun posing.
Ali even stopped reading her book for a picture.
Kat was less sure about posing at first.

But later she showed some of her winking skills.

Abuelito had a huge fan base!

Then we all headed out to a nearby fountain where the girls and Dez had a great time splashing and jumping in the water.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Six reasons it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas:

#1. We had to wait all night in order to see a Santa on a sleigh
#2 Ali told Santa all the presents that she wanted (girl guitar and Tangled dress) and Kat of course, screamed.

#3 Ali helped decorate the tree.

#4 Kat undecorated the tree!

#5 Nick got our yulelog burning.

And last, but not least, we got this wonderful and anonymous (Thanks Jim!!!) gingerbread house in the mail. Since Ali stole Jim's heart 3 years ago we have mysteriously gotten a gingerbread house every year for Christmas, and clearly the girls are over the moon.