Christmas 2011

 As a Smith family tradition, my dad used to read us "Twas the Night Before Christmas before we went to bed on Christmas Eve.  Steve has now read this to Brecken each year and will continue to do so.  It is so fun to watch.

 Steve (with a little of my help) spent 3 hours on Christmas Eve putting together Brecken's train table.  It was a lot more complex than we had thought.  Once it was done, it really is quite cool and Brecken was so surprised and loves to play his "choo choo's".  We have video of him coming down the stairs and seeing his table for the first time.  Such a fun day Christmas was for us.

 B was so excited Christmas morning.

 Big Dog in a little dog bed!!!  We tried to get Jager a smaller dog bed but clearly went a bit extreme on the smaller size!  It was entertaining watching him try to get comfortable in it.  We had gotten a few different sizes so luckily he has a new dog bed that he loves and fits in.

 Brecken loved opening ALL of the presents!

 Yeah Presents

 More Presents!!!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with Beppe and Papa and Aunt Shelley.  Brecken was so spoiled by everyone.  It is amazing how much he understands compared to last year.  We can't wait until next year.  It is just so much fun to celebrate the holidays through a childs eye.  Decorations and lights take on a whole new meaning.  B still asks for lights sometimes.  I guess it is good that some people don't take them down for a long time after Christmas.  :)

Christmas Ships and Santa

Hello Santa's Workshop!!!

 We spent a fun filled evening in Seattle with Brecken's buddy Colton and little Cha Cha.  We went to a sushi dinner, where B at least tried some of the food!  Then, we took the kids to see Santa.  They all did a great job.  No tears and lots of smiles for Santa and all of the window watchers outside.  It was a great time.

We took Brecken to the Christmas ships with lots of friends.  We had a great time seeing all of the lighted ships go by and singing to the music.  Breckens favorite Christmas song is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. This kid had a lot of the song down.  He knew when to add his little ad libs in.  We had so much fun getting ready for Christmas with him.  The lights on all of the houses really made all car rides fun.  He just kep asking for "more"!!!  I think it was a bit of a let down when the Christmas lights started coming down, but of course you can always count on some houses to keep them up for a long time.  It is difficult to explain to him when he wants "more" and I have to tell him he has to wait until next Christmas.

Thanksgiving 2011

 Brecken loved Thanksgiving food this year.  We did something a little different, we did a Thanksgiving breakfast.  We still had most of the classic Thanksgiving food, but we did turkey/egg/bacon breakfast sandwiches.  Clearly he is digging it!

Yaya, Beppe, Papa, and Aunt Shelley came over to enjoy the holiday and yummy food.  The best part for all of the adults is that it is over by early afternoon and you really have the rest of the day to relax.  I think we will be doing Thanksgiving Breakfast again.

California Part 2

Our second part of the California trip was to LA to visit Aunt Stephie, Uncle Dave, Katerina, Peyton and Lily.  Dave so kindly took me to the Breaking Dawn LA premiere.  I got to watch the movie with the stars and go to the premiere after party.  It was a Hollywood Junkies dream come true...plus I love Twilight.  If you have seen the movie, a bit uncomfortable to watch with your brother in law but we had a great time.

Stars I saw: Heather Locklear, Damon Wayans, Mike Chiklis, Ashley Tisdale, Danica Patrick, Seth Green, Case of Revenge, Cast of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Cast of Pretty Little Liars, Cast of Twilight...so  many more!

Stars I met:  Taylor Lautner, Peter Facinelli, Bruno Mars

While I was having a mommy's night out, Brecken and Steve were at home hanging with the cousins and Aunt Stephie.  He just loved hanging out with these girls and they were so good and patient with him.  He gave lots of hugs and squeezes. 

Steve and I even had a surprise date night out in LA.  Our friends Sam and Kent surprised us with tickets to Cirque De Soleil.  It was SO GOOD.  The people are so freaking strong and make their bodies do amazing things.  So fun to watch.

The trip was great.  We miss our LA family.