Santa Strikes Out

So, it seems that Santa is still a little scary. Claire cried, and though Kaitlyn refrained from tears, she shot off Santa's lap the second she told him what she wanted this year.

A Winter Wonderland

Disneyland really is the most magical place on earth! This past weekend, Aunt Jo and Uncle Kyle took the girls (along with us) to meet princesses, greet Mickey and Minnie, and ride teacups and flying elephants and deepwater submarines. It was a whirlwind! Highlights were It's a Small World, which Claire absolutely loved--she bounced and laughed and clapped her little hands the whole way through--and Dumbo the Flying Elephant. Kaitlyn was still scared of the horses on the carousel (really!), but she was all about giving Mickey a high five this year. We can't thank Jo and Kyle enough for an amazing day!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Not to be daunted by the warm temps and our (increasingly) tiny apartment, we went out and selected a beautiful, 7-foot-tall Noble Fir for our Christmas tree. Grandma and Papa Hartings helped with the decorating festivities, much to the girls' delight. It now smells as heavenly as it looks in here...and I can ALMOST imagine a winter wonderland awaiting me outdoors! Let the joyous holiday season begin!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great time hosting Grandma and Papa Hartings for Thanksgiving in California! The grandparents were as tireless as ever: coloring for hours at a time, reading endless stories, building Lego castles, and braving the chilly pool water! Claire giggled at every silly thing Grandpa did, and Kaitlyn never let Grandma out of her sight. Matt and I, for our part, enjoyed a little down time...when we weren't whipping up an awesome Thanksgiving feast. Yum! Thanks for the fabulous three days. We can't WAIT for Christmas!

Go Bucks!

We all wore our scarlet and gray yesterday...and the Buckeyes are headed to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl!

Zoo Days

It's been an exciting couple of days around here. It was sad to say farewell to Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend, but we were ecstatic to meet up at the LA Zoo on Friday with Sara and her 3-year-old nephew Jake. The kids wore themselves out running around and pointing out their favorite animals...and then both girls took solid naps when we got home!

On Saturday, we were supposed to meet up with our Chicago friends at Kidspace Museum, but with UCLA playing at the Rose Bowl, we were forced to change our plans. Instead, we headed back to the zoo, where Kaitlyn and Ellie ran wild while we caught up with Katherine and Matt. So fun! If only we could have play dates like this more often!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a blast this year! We started our day by heading to Boo at the LA Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Kneen, where the girls posed for pictures in the pumpkin patch and watched the animals eat pumpkins for lunch. Then the real fun began at dusk, when Kaitlyn went trick-or-treating for the first time. Claire managed to stay awake for the first 5 houses or so, but Kaitlyn ran half the way around block. A few of the houses were a little too "spooky," but she loved the house where the neighbor boys chanted "Monkey! Monkey! Monkey!" for three minutes while she basked in the attention. She was a very cute little George!