Cowley Christmas Party

So a few days after the Disneyland trip we had a Christmas party with the Cowley side. It was a blast for AnDee. She loves it when all her cousins get together. She even got to play outside with her crazy uncles Caleb and Phil. They took some of the kids to the park that is basically in Aunt Ambers backyard. Im pretty sure they had WAY more fun on the toys than the kids did. When AnDee came back she said to me "Mom, those guys are crazy" She couldn't be more right about that.
Santa came to the party and AnDee was super brave and for the very first time she walked up to him, all by herself and even exchanged a few words with him! Every time someone asked her this year what she wanted for Christmas she would tell them "a candy cane" She told Santa that 3 different times at 3 different locations and each time he wouldn't believe her. He would always say "A candy cane? Well what else do you want" and she would say "um... just a candy cane"
She is so easy to please.
The cousins exchanged gifts and AnDee got a barbie and Pep got a sweet hammer and a cow/ball thing that laughs and shakes. He couldn't have been happier. Seriously... I had no idea he would get so in to some toys. And, as expected, he loved the wrapping paper, the box, and especially the bow.

A day at the beach

So while we were in California we got to spend a day at the beach. It was amazing because all the locals apparently thought it was far too cold to be out there but for us Utah natives, the weather seemed wonderful the sun was shining and the sand was actually even a little warm. AnDee could not have been happier. I think it was as good as Disneyland in her mind. She was SO excited and SO happy the entire time we were there. She was a little disappointed that we couldn't find any crabs though. She wanted to get in the water and swim so bad but it was a bit chilly for that... even for us Utahns. They were moving loads of sand up and down the beach so there were giant sand piles all over. This might have been the best gift anyone could have given Buggy.

Do you see how gorgeous this beach is.... and we are the only people in sight.  (When I say "gorgeous" I am of course referring to as gorgeous as california beaches get.... I have yet to see a beach to compare to those in Zanzibar. *sigh*... Im going to make a promise.... I hereby make a vow to do some post of our africa trip. I know its old news but its old news that I want to remember... and that makes my heart ache every time I think about it. Oh how I miss it)

 This was also a very educational trip to the beach. We learned how clouds are made. Do you see the cloud making machine in the background? Yup... thats how clouds are made....

Pep is just happy... happy at the beach.. happy at disneyland...happy everywhere. I love this cute little squish.

Im starting to think maybe a California-like climate might be a better option for our family. Seeing as it apparently doesn't snow in Utah anymore. I HATE cold without snow. Its just yucky and unpleasant. Give me snow or give me tropical...  thats what I always say ;)

Remember that one time we went to Disneyland for Christmas?

Thats right folks! We went to Disneyland for a few days a couple weeks before Christmas and can I just tell you that I LOVE Disneyland at Christmastime? We picked an awesome time to go too... although we did get one rainy day that wasn't overly warm, for the most part it was nice 60 degreeish weather with no lines for any of the rides. Amazing. We LOVED it.
We flew in to long beach and when the plane finally touched down and slowed down AnDee threw her arms in the air and yelled at the top of her lungs "We made it! WAHOO!" Seeing as the plane was tiny and there were only about 50 people on it... EVERYONE heard her, and everyone was laughing. She turned in to quite the social little thing. Talking to everyone, saying "excuse me" when accidentally pumping in to someone, and then turning to me and saying "mom I like him/her. She's nice to me" when they would reply.
When we stepped off the plane into the warm 70 degree (that day) Cali weather she looked up and said "Oh! Mom! Jungle trees!" She was SO excited about the palm trees (AKA jungle trees).
Disneyland was so magical for her. I loved seeing it through her eyes. She saw every princess and charecter you can imagine. The Christmas decorations were perfect. The rides amazing... unless they were dark... she didn't like the dark ones... except Pirates of the Caribbean which seems really weird that she would like that one but I took her on it directly after I took her on The Haunted Mansion ride... Which she HATED so I guess it made Pirates seem not so bad.  Pep on the other hand was not a real fan of the drop offs in the darkness... he may have screamed a bit.
The Christmas Parade might have been her favorite part though. She sang and danced and clapped and waved through the entire thing. So. much. fun!
Pep was incredible. He ate, slept and played just like he would have if he were at home. We took him on all the rides he was allowed on and split up for the ones he wasn't. The plane ride there was a little rough on him but he slept on the way home. The only thing he really complained about was The World of Color show. I think it was just too loud and too close to bed time. AnDee wasn't a real fan of it either. She asked if we could leave... so we went on the little mermaid ride in stead.
I love that my kids are so easy going and happy. It was the best thing in the world to be able to go with just our little family and take things slow and do them at our own pace with just the four of us.
here are some pics of the our adventure!

The rainy day... you can't possible begin to imagine how happy this umbrella made her.

We could not get her to stop making this face when we were trying to take her picture...

 But then I tried it out... and I realized why she was doing it. Not only do you look amazing while making this face... its just plain fun.

Fun in a box

So like I said... the computer crashed so I have a lot of make up posts to do. Like this one.... Fun in a box. And if you look closely at Peps face you can tell that "fun" is an understatement :)

oh the exciting things we do in our house! We need summer back... or some snow... either way we need to get outside! The house is driving us all mad.

Fun in a box

So like I said... the computer crashed so I have a lot of make up posts to do. Like this one.... Fun in a box. And if you look closely at Peps face you can tell that "fun" is an understatement :)

oh the exciting things we do in our house! We need summer back... or some snow... either way we need to get outside! The house is driving us all mad.

Family pics

Ok so a few months ago we went and had family pics done and I'm just now getting around to posting them. I have an excuse though... our computer crashed so I had no way to upload the pics. Now it may or may not be true that the computer didn't crash until a couple months after the pictures where taken but why worry about those details?   Anyway... Here are a few... Ok more than a few..

a little of this and a little of that

I probably should do a bunch of separate posts for these things but Im much to much of a lazy blogger for that. So here you have it... another catch up post with a little bit of everything!
a few weeks ago Andrew and Buggy made a giant fort in the living room and watched movies and had a "sleep over" It has now become a weekend tradition. Of course two weekends ago it wasn't much of a party... AnDee was sick. She has never thrown up before but she made up for her lack of puking in one weekend. Everything that went down came right back up. The kid doesn't know how to slow down, she would be running around and playing one minute and the next she would be as white as a ghost, running a fever and barfing. Lovely. Luckily it only lasted a couple of days and she was back to normal... of course once she was feeling better, mom and dad got it. Good times!

yeah... I couldn't even walk to my front door without going through the fort. 

At our house we have toys, we do I promise. But my children don't play with toys. Peps favorite "toys" right now are a Christmas bell and spoons. AnDee??? She will play with just about anything that isn't actually considered a toy... Tooth brushes, bowls, spatulas, dog leashes... last night was a storage bin. Doesn't Pep just look incredibly happy to be in that thing, he doesn't look scared outta his mind in the least.

AnDee has been going through a little defiant stage lately. She likes to push buttons and then throw a little fit when things don't work out to her liking. So needless to say we have had an exceptional amount of screaming in our house lately. The good part about this? Pep. The kid cracks me up. When Buggy starts in with the screaming he mimics her... like exactly... exactly the same pitch, everything. Then she get REAL mad and what does he do? He laughs. He thinks it is SO darn funny that he can make her that mad. Which also results in my laughter. Im scared to see what kind of tease he ends up being. 

He is really getting around now with his army crawling but still hasn't quite got his belly off the floor, he does however like to get up on his toes in a push up position and just hold it there. Thats right, my 7 month old planks for fun. What a weirdo. He is also become quite the noisy little thing. I hear "Dadadadada" all day long. Its not fair that its so much easier for them to make the Da sound than it is the Mah sound. His kisses are the best and he is always true to character in that he is still the happiest kid I think Ive ever seen... especially when food is involved.

Despite AnDee testing her boundaries lately she is still a blast. I love hanging out with her and listening to her talk. Im not sure why but lately every time she sees something similar to a dot, such as a freckle or mole or even specs of pepper on a plate, she calls them coconuts. "Look mom! that lady has coconuts on her face!" 

She has also been eating horrendous amounts of food lately. Which is so not like her. She has gone through two full packages of hotdogs by herself in the last 3 days. Gross right? Growth spurt? Im thinking its a definite. 

Lastly I just wanted to post this one...

This is our Aunt Gayle. My kids ADORE this woman. Almost as much as I did/do. She is the best! She comes over a few days a week just to play with my kids. AnDee can be the grouchiest kid in the world and after two minutes with Aunt Gayle she is nothing but smiles. We are so grateful for such awesome people in our lives!