SANTA ROSA, CA - Merry Christmas, part 2! After a quick snooze in the car, we got to Nana & Tata's in time for a great dinner - prime rib. Then we got to open presents. I got lots of nice things and so did Jake...although he had a hard time staying awake until the end - there were a lot of presents to open. It was really nice to see Gran again, even though we just saw her in Texas. Uncle Dave & Aunt Julie were there, and so was Nana's friend, Mary - it was a very nice group of people to share Christmas night with.

Tata got me my very own set of golf clubs, which I'm looking forward to using very soon! Thanks for all of the nice things, everyone - Merry Christmas!!

CASTRO VALLEY, CA - Merry Christmas! I got up this morning to check if Santa came and ate the cookies that we left out for him. Sure enough, he did! He also left some things in my stocking and a couple presents under the tree for me. Isabella came over and then we got to look in our stockings and open presents. Yay, presents! Santa brought me Pixos to play with, and I also got Baby Ally from Grandma, a Giselle doll from the Enchanted movie, lots of clothes, some more Polly Pockets and lots of other neat stuff! Then we had a yummy breakfast and packed our car so we could race up to Santa Rosa for MORE PRESENTS!! Thanks for everything, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie 'Manda, Uncle Brian and Aunt Rebekah - what a great morning!!!!!

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Today we took BART into "The City" to look at all the pretty Christmas decorations. Our first stop was Macy*s, where they had beautiful things in all their windows - some of them even had real live kittens in them! Then we went over to Union Square to watch the ice skaters and check out the HUGE Christmas tree. After that, we found a beautiful hotel that had lots of decorations and a big house made of nothing but sugar - yummy! Before we headed back, grandma wanted to show me the Christmas village that was all set up in another hotel - it was really cool!

I had a fun time in San Francisco - thanks for taking me, Grandpa, Grandma & Auntie 'Manda.

FULLERTON, CA - So I've been a little busy around here - sorry for that lack of updates. Here are just a few of the things I've been up to:

-- Christmas program at school
-- 3 Christmas parties/dinners
-- Picking out and decorating a Christmas Tree
-- Decorating our house
-- Baking, baking, baking!
-- Aunt Julie's birthday party
-- Opening presents & stockings

Wow! That's quite a list...here's a slide show with just some of the things we've done this month:

FULLERTON, CA - Today we celebrated my very good friend Aiden's birthday. He's turning 5. Turning 5 is a VERY big deal. It basically means that you're not a little kid anymore. It also means you get to go to KINDERGARTEN! I'm so ready for that. I heard something about 5-year-old shots, but I'm choosing to ignore that information for now.

His party was a "Star Wars" theme. I'll be honest. I don't know much it. My parents have chosen to ignore science fiction as a genre in it's entirety - I just hope it doesn't impact my future development. I didn't wear a costume for the party, but mommy did make my hair look like a character called, "Princess Leia." I'm all for dressing up like princesses! I liked the double-bun look...I ran around the house saying, "Check out my buns, check our my buns!"

At Aiden's house we played outside, ate pizza, played pop-the-balloon-by-sitting-on-it, and had cake with ice cream. Yummmmmmy.

Thanks for inviting me to your party, Aiden - Happy Birthday!!!

LONGVIEW, TX - My mommy's grandma - we call her, Gran - is celebrating her 90th birthday in December. Wow! To celebrate the big event, we all hopped on a plane the day after Thanksgiving and headed to Texas.

Lindsay and Morgan met us there, and I met several new friends. One of them was named Chloe, and she was just about my age - we enjoyed doing puzzles together, playing dollies and swinging in the backyard at Uncle Tom and Aunt Linda's house.

Saturday morning was the party at church, and there were lots of family members there - from all over! There were people there from Florida, Oklahoma, Illinois, Texas and, of course, California. They had some yummy snacks, a cool game room for the kids, and a big room where all the old people, errrr, adults could mingle and chat.

On Sunday, I got to go to Sunday School with Chloe and her sister Claire at Uncle Tom's church (he's the pastor).

On Monday, we took Gran out to lunch, went to the mall and then headed to the airport for our trip home. It was quite an adventure, and boy is it c-o-l-d in Texas!

Here are some more pictures...

LA HABRA HEIGHTS, CA - Happy Thanksgiving! My daddy asked me earlier this week what I was thankful for. I knew what kind of answer he wanted, so I just said, "My family and my friends." That seemed to satisfy him. Next he'll probably ask me what the real meaning of Christmas is. What, does he think I was born yesterday??

So today we went over to Morgan and Lindsay's house today for a Thanksgiving feast! Aunt Julie had everything decorated all fall-ish...the table was beautiful. I saw lots of kids there - even Aiden and Eli got to come!

We had the usual Thanksgiving fare, but I limited myself to turkey, olives, jello, bread and a taste of some marshmallow yam delight.

After dinner we all went for a nice long walk - it felt good to get out and stretch my legs. Then Morgan & Lindsay's Grammy helped us make a craft...cool! Finally, it was time for dessert. There were lots of pies to choose from, plus a scoop or two of ice cream, then a pumpkin chip cookie to top it off. Mmmmmm, just right.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

FULLERTON, CA - I read to Jake this morning before church. Look how big he is, sitting up all by himself!

PLACENTIA, CA - My friend, Keira, had her 5th birthday party today. It was at Chuck E. Cheese. I can't wait to turn 5, because then I get to go to kindergarten.

I saw lots of my friends there like Keira, Mikayla, Aiden, Chelsea, Rebekah and even baby Ava. We played games, ate pizza and had cupcakes for dessert. It was a lot of fun! She got so many presents that she didn't even have time to open them. Dad says it's okay, that she'll get to open them at home. I hope so...

Dad was a little concerned with my skee-ball form. I guess most people roll the ball along the ramp - I decided it would be better just to toss the ball straight into the scoring rings on the fly. Seemed to work just fine, dad...calm down, no one got hurt.

Thanks for inviting me to your party, Keira! I had fun - I hope you did too!

LA HABRA, CA - Happy Birthday, Uncle Dave! Tonight we got to celebrate Uncle Dave's big day with lots of family and friends.

We started with dinner at El Cholo, which is a bit of a tradition with their family. I'm happy to help carry on any tradition that involves eating good food - just doing my part. After that we went over to "Grammy & Papa's" house (Morgan & Lindsay's grandparents) for cake, ice cream and presents.

The cake was delicious (thanks to Aunt Julie - yummy!) and the company was fun. I played with Leah and her daddy a lot. We played "Roll the mini-pumpkin," "Sleepy Girls," and "The Who-Can-Be-Quiet Game." That last one seemed like a bit of a trick, but I went along with it this time...

Oh, we got Uncle Dave a drill, in case you were wondering. I guess he's got some projects to work on around his house.

Happy Birthday, Dave! Thanks for inviting us to your party...