My First Christmas

Well, it happened. Mom and Dad have been talking about this thing called Christmas for months now. They said it would be so fun and exciting and, well...it was! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

To start with, all the cousins on Mom's side of the family came out (and my aunts and uncles, too). Even though they are all girls, I had a lot of fun with them. They carried me around, played games with me, and snuck in a few hugs and kisses sometimes (gross!). We got to go to the zoo. We went shopping down by the Bay, and also went to the children's museum. I also got to see how smores were made! We built a big fire in the fire pit and roasted some marshmallows. It was so much fun.

On Christmas Eve we watched movies and decorated cookies for Santa. I don't do girly things like that so I just watched from a distance...(and mom mentioned something about the dye in the icing being permanent, whatever that means.) Then the big day was here!! When I woke up Santa had eaten the cookies and left me some PRESENTS!! Mom and Dad totally forgotten to mention the presents. That was the best part!

Santa brought me all kinds of things to play with. I got some tissue paper, and some gift bags, and even a few bows and boxes. They were the best toys I'd ever had. Mom and Dad kept taking them away from me though, and trying to get me to play with these things that came INSIDE the bags. I don't know what that was about. I went looking for the presents because I wanted to chew on the tissue paper some more, but I couldn't find them anywhere! I guess I will have to settle for this stuff that came inside the presents instead. Oh well. There's always next year.

We have just been playing and hanging out since our family left. I got my first haircut this morning because it was starting to hang in my eyes. Mommy trimmed it up for me and I have to say I look smashing. I just seem to get cuter as the days go by.

I thought I would post some pictures from Christmas so you can enjoy my cuteness some more. Here you go!

Here I am on the morning of the 22nd...my 8th month "birthday" - I think 8 months is pretty cool. And so is my hair.

Here we are making smores! It was so much fun.

Here I am with Uncle Doug and Cousin Braden. They are pretty cool.

Here is some of the gang decorating cookies!! Yum.

Here we are at the zoo. I am reading the map because no one could figure out how to get where we wanted to go. I got us back on track.

All that map reading wore me out. I took a good long nap in the stroller.

Here we are shopping down by the bay. I love my mom and dad.

This is one of me and Mom down on the Seal Beach. I really liked watching the seals sleep in the sun. They are pretty cute.

Dad took this picture of a guy proposing to his girlfriend. What a Kodak Moment! Great timing dad!

And it's Christmas!! Here we are all ready to open up presents!!

Me and some of my cousins!

This is what Santa brought me! A giant animal ring stacker and a stuffed frog. The frog is bigger than me! But I will catch up to him!

Super excited about my frog.

Here is me and Dad opening up presents. So fun!

Here is cousin Avery giving me a hug. (I am trying to pretend like I don't like it)

Overall, Christmas was pretty awesome. I can't wait til next year!!

The Wild Animal Park

Last Saturday we decided to hit up the Wild Animal Park! We had never been before, and we both get in free (I have a membership to the zoo that also includes the WAP, and Mike gets in for free with his Active Duty Military ID!!). We had a blast. It turned out to be the perfect day to go. It was pretty chilly, and on top of that I think everyone was out doing Christmas shopping. We enjoyed getting to take our time looking at the animals and not waiting in line for anything! It was so nice just to have some family time. Seems like all we ever have time for is running errands and cleaning! This was a nice change of pace.
Below are the photos!! There are a lot - just warning you...but pics are always fun to look at :)


Here are the sweet deer from the petting zoo. It was honestly the best petting zoo I have been to! The deer were HUGE!

Here is Mike feeding the sweet deer.

More food!

Here I am petting the deer (Mason was napping!)

This pic was taken on the caravan tour. It is a part of the park only accessible from the safari vehicles they have.

More safari pics!

Here is Mason and Mom on the safari!

The King of the Jungle

These next few were taken on a platform that overlooks the park

Mason napping on dad's shoulder

Checkin out the birds

Petting an Australian bird that looks like an owl - I can't remember the name of him, but he was sooo soft!

Close up

M chillin in the stoller

Mom looking at the camera, Mason looking at a bird...

My boys!

He's the best :)

Thanksgiving and a Birthday

Well, Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year! We did miss our families, but we got together with some great friends (who are our family our here!) to celebrate. We had about 20 people or so. It was a fun day full of food and games. I made my first-ever turkey! It was a 20 pound bird that was deeeelicious - if I do say so myself! I didn't think to get a picture of it until it was already being carved. It pretty much fell right off the bone! YAY! I kept having nightmares of the scene from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where the turkey looked fantastic on the outside, but when they went to carve it...it was all dry and nasty inside! Thankfully we avoided such a scene. I also made sweet potatoes, a HUGE amount of mashed potatoes and a pumpkin cheesecake. Mmmmmmm.
After our food had settled, we headed out to the backyard for a competitive game of croquette. Go Orange Team! Here we are gearing up for the big game.

An action shot - it is blurry because I was moving at breakneck speed. Ok, maybe the photographer just wasn't that great. (Sorry Dani!)

Hanging out during the game!

The three Thanksgiving day Chefs (me, Dani and Leah). We made all the food to feed everybody!

A few days later we got to celebrate my birthday! I think it was the first time I didn't get to spend it with my family. Missed you Shauna! We put up the Christmas tree and headed out to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. YUM!

My super sweet boys playing around.

Here is Mike trying to show Mason the tree...

At the Cheesecake Factory!! Mom and Mason wait for a table. Can you hear our tummies growling!!

Full bellies!

Here was my piece of Cheesecake. It has been a tradition for as long as I can remember to have red velvet cake for my birthday. I didn't think I would have that option - but the Cheesecake Factory just came out with a new Cheesecake. A RED VELVET cheesecake! It had cheesecake and layers of red velvet with cream cheese icing. SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOD!! Way to go Cheesecake Factory for keeping the tradition alive.

The Cabrero Family pic - while Mason tries to get ahold of Dad's drink. That's his new favorite thing. Grab ANYTHING that looks like it belongs to another person.

It was a great holiday!! We are anxiously counting down the days until Christmas. We will see some of you very soon!!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy as a Clam

I just love this kid's smile. Lights up a room!

We're Baaaaaaaack...

I am truly sorry for the long blogging hiatus. Once we got back from Texas I was busy gearing up for my best friends wedding clear across the country in Atlanta! It was a blast...but unfortunately I contracted the flu and brought it back to my family in CA. (And probably to every person sitting within 5 feet of me on the plane. My apologies.) We were down for an ENTIRE week - and I am still battling a cough, but feeling much better! Once we recovered we had 2 weeks of work and laundry to catch up on...and Halloween parties to get ready for!

Finally things have slowed down and I have a few minutes to update. Halloween was a blast for us! Mason went as a dragon, so Mike went as a Knight and I went as the Princess in distress. I may be biased, but I think we were super cute! Especially the dragon!

We also took Mason trick-or-treating and he was a huge hit! Downside: he fell asleep after the 4th or 5th house. It was hysterical. Mom and dad kept collecting candy for "him" though. (yes, we ate his candy. ha ha. He sure got a lot!) Side note, the first house we went to had a Brett Favre look alike. This guy could have been his twin!

After the costume party on Friday and trick-treating on Saturday evening, we were tired! But we mustered up enough energy to head over to a haunted house set up by some of our friends from church. I made Mike go through first by himself so he could "protect me" when I went through it with him. It was really fun (except when I got chased by a chainsaw wielding killer. That part was a little freaky.)

We had so much fun with Mason this Halloween. We look forward to more holidays with this precious kiddo! Here are some pics from the weekend!

These are the Jack-o-lanterns we carved. I did the witch and Mike did the skull!

I made some "Mummy Faced Pizzas" for the costume potluck on Friday night

Let the costume parade begin! Here I am as the Princess...

Here is Mike as the Knight...

And the star of the show - Mason as the Dragon!!! Sooooo cute :)

Here we are about to set out for some Trick-or-treating! People went crazy over our little dragon. Memorable quotes of the night include "I'm going to give you extra candy because I love him so much" "Cutest costume we have seen all night!" and, after talking to another couple with their cute daughters, the wife said "Oh, look at him! We should have another baby." haha. Way to go Mason!

Here is Mason sleeping. This is mostly what he did during trick-or-treating!

Sacked out on the couch.

And last but not least, a family pic from the costume potluck! Mike was in partial costume! haha. The hosts actually had a backdrop set up and took professional pics of each family at the party. I'm not sure when we will get them, but I will post them when we do!!!

Hello Again!

Sorry for the blogging delay! We have been out of town for the last three weeks on a wonderful trip to Texas! Mason asked if he could blog about our trip - since it was his first time to Texas. I told him yes, so be expecting a blog from him later this week.

So much has happened over the last month. Our little guy turned 5 months, started baby food, LOVES tummy time now (he previously hated it!), and has even started trying to crawl. He can get his arms going or his legs going...he just can't get them going at the same time yet. I have a feeling it will only be a matter of weeks before he takes off.

Rolling over is his new favorite thing. Everytime we are changing him or laying him down he immediately starts to roll over. He is full of energy!

Since we have been back we have just been trying to get back into our routine and resume "normal" life. The weather has been perfect...upper 60's and low 70's. We decided to plant some fall flowers this weekend. Here is a pic!

Here are a couple of pics of Mason doing tummy time:

And here is a little video of Mason creeping!! It won't be long now! Watch out world.