Kelepouris Family: December 2016

What a year! I can't believe it's already 2017! So much has happened this year in our little family's life! But for now I'll just chat about the last month...

We kicked off the Christmas season at Santa's Electric Light Parade in Old Town Temecula, during which one of us fell asleep amongst the loud noises and excitement.

Next up, Daddy's work Christmas party. On our way to the party Daniel had to take care of a work emergency, so Landon and Brooklyn helped out in the warehouse before their first visit with Santa.

Then Santa, bounce houses, games, the Grinch and other cartoon characters, treats and a train ride.

We had the cousins over that night and read and watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." This was early on in Landon's obsession with HTGSC, and though the Christmas books have been packed away in the holiday storage bins Landon found that he can get Alexa (our smart home speaker) to play the HTGSC audio book. (I had to make a rule that we can't listen to it more than 3 times in any 24 hour period.)

Then, the Christmas tree.

We had a visit from Auntie Gail and Uncle Fred. Landon got to see the movie "Trolls", go putting and have lunch at his favorite golf course with his favorite golfing buddies.

Brooklyn attended gymnastics again and seemed to really enjoy it. She was especially good at the jumping parts.

It's not difficult to figure out why she suddenly has a love of jumping.

Landon accompanied Jacob to his school's Cookies, Cocoa and Crafts event for the second year in a row and came home with a couple of handmade (with Uncle Peter's assistance) ornaments.

L&B loved wearing their matching jammies!

We attended several fun birthday parties with bounce houses, bowling and trampolines!

Landon's own class at Murrieta Ranch Preschool put on a Christmas performance, and our little elf was our favorite entertainer! They dressed in costume and sang a bunch of holiday songs. Landon spent most of the performance with his tongue out (see thumbs up picture below).

Santa even made an(other) appearance!

Somewhere in here Brooklyn wore more of my baby dresses.

We spent an evening walking around Bainbridge Circle's Christmas light display again this year. The kids are always in awe of all of the decorations.

Both Brooklyn and Landon loved to see Santa in the window. They were talking about how Santa was getting presents for them. Walking back up the other side of the street Brooklyn held the leaf (that she had found and been carrying around for 5 minutes) up and said, "Me show Santa my yeaf. Santa, yook at my yeaf!" It's so sweet to see how excited they are about Santa.

I took the kids to Mission Viejo for the week leading up to Christmas. We had a great time with the Zim fam!

I cashed in on my birthday mani-pedi gift certificate (finally!). The kids hung out at the salon for a few minutes before Grammie picked them up, and Anna painted their nails.

We took a couple of trips to see the Christmas lights across the street from Grammie and Papa's house.

Auntie Gail and Uncle Fred hosted us one evening at their house for some golf, dinner, playtime and presents.

We also went to the Mission Viejo City Hall where they have great holiday décor (and Santa, which we saw from afar) next to the library where the kids donated some of their old books...in the pouring rain.

We even headed to We Play Loud for a morning of fun!

Daniel joined us midweek, and we all headed to Irvine Regional Park for our annual trip on the Christmas Train for the train ride to Santa, story time with Ms. Claus, cookie decorating, maze running, ice fishing, bounce house and lots of fun. We added a (hopefully annual) stop at In N Out after the Christmas Train. The kids love it there!

It was a fun but tiring week!

We spent Christmas Eve at Grammie and Papa's house. It was a fun day of family, nature, fondue and presents.

Then we drove home, were greeted by Papou & Babcia (who had been at our house for a couple of days already), set Santa's cookies & milk and the reindeer food out and rested while Santa delivered gifts.

Christmas morning was all about Santa! Landon received a superhero cave (tent) & a Hulk costume, and Brooklyn received a sandbox & sand toys, among other gifts. (Landon's original request was for a Thor costume, but then he chose just that from the toy store when Uncle Matt Matt took the kids shopping for their Christmas gifts...luckily Santa had a couple of days for a backup plan. Landon's response when I reminded him that he asked SANTA to bring him a Thor costume was, "Silly me!" then ripped the Thor costume out of the packaging and asked for help to put it on.) He loved the Hulk mask, and Brooklyn loved...what else but the snacks in her stocking.

We headed over to the Keleneighbors to exchange gifts. It was a chaotic, fun morning!

Later, joined by Grammie, Papa and Uncle Matt Matt, we went back over for dinner and games.

Once Christmas was over we had a couple of days off to unpack, spend time with Papou & Babcia, clean up Christmas, do laundry and re-pack. In between that, Daniel and I got to take Jacob bowling and to ice cream to celebrate his 7th birthday. We think this was the first time we've got to spend time with just him (Peter & Amber watched L&B) since Landon was born, so it was really special for us.

We were invited to spend a few days in Shell Beach (near Pismo Beach/San Luis Obispo) with the Rogers. The kids had a great time together (and the adults always do)!

We enjoyed our time relaxing, walking, eating, hiking, playing at the park, going to the Monarch Butterfly Grove and enjoying time at the beach.

We rang in the new year with the kids around 8pm.

We put them to bed and played games...to bed at approximately 12:05am. (We made it!) ;-)

SO LONG 2016! BRING ON 2017!!!

December Bloopers:

Brooklyn and their friend, Sasha, were having such a good time together...then Landon rode right between.

I gave Landon the choice to either have quiet time in his room or clean. I wasn't expecting this.

Since watching the movie "Trolls" Landon has been slightly obsessed with Princess Poppy, the main troll in the movie and the reason for the hairstyle.