Hodge-Podge

January was filled with assorted activities that kept us busy and having fun!

Here are some pictures of our adventures...

We had heard about John's Incredible Pizza Company from our friends and decided to check it out in hopes of redeeming our failed Knott's trip. This was our last "big" family outing before Noah had to go back to work after his Christmas break.

John's has a bunch of games, rides, and a huge buffet of pizza, salad, pasta, dessert, etc.

We had fun exploring this new place and eating the yummy food!

Whack-A-Mole!

Skee-ball

Excited to ride the twirly, spinning ride!

Hmmm...maybe this isn't so fun after all...

Yeah, she was ready to get off!

Noah was asked to take engagement pictures for some church friends and Keira & I tagged along.

It was a bit cold, but a beautiful afternoon at La Jolla Cove!

Keira finished up the music class she had been going to since September.

She really enjoyed playing the instruments, learning about notes and rhythm, following the teacher's instructions set to musical songs/rhymes, and overall having fun. We're not signing up for the next session, but hope to get her back into a music class again in the future.

Following directions with the drum

Taking turns playing the xylophone

Crazy dancing!

Joy!

Here's the 100-piece princess puzzle again!

Hard at work!

The finished product!

Yep, she can complete the puzzle on her own!

Recently, some friends introduced us to the music of Jana Alayra. Apparently, Jana has been around for many years and she sings Christian kid songs and performs concerts (she also has worship CDs for adults and often is a speaker for MOPS groups, etc). Anyway, we have clearly been living under a rock and had never heard of Jana until a few weeks ago! We looked up some of her videos on You Tube and bought a CD to introduce ourselves to her music. Keira instantly loved the songs and really loved the You Tube videos because of the sign language/hand motions Jana uses when performing songs. So, after our introduction to Jana, we went to a local church to see her perform.

Jana in action!

Keira's main interest in the concert was getting to go up on stage to do the motions with Jana. Unfortunately, the 3-year-olds weren't called up on stage until the very last song of the concert, so that was a little disappointing for Keira. However, once her turn came, she LOVED being on stage!

Jump, jump, jump!

Praising Jesus!

Even the dads were called up on stage to perform!

Go, Daddy!

Bustin' a move!

Keira got to have more fun with music and dancing at Ethan's birthday party!!

The two "best dancing partners" ready to get their groove on!

Ice cream sundae bar for dessert--yum!!

Happy birthday, Ethan!

Ice cream smile!

Making a musical shaker bracelet to take home.

Thanks, Ethan, for a great party!

We are continuing our home preschool activities 1 day per week and Keira seems to thoroughly enjoy these days.

Art & craft time is a favorite activity!

Working on a counting activity

More art projects

One day we spent the morning at Art Soup and enjoyed lots more arts & crafts activities!

Let's paint!

It's okay to get messy here!

Painting a rainbow

We are so thankful for all the fun things we get to be a part of around town and with friends and family!

20-Week Ultrasound

At the beginning of January we had our 20-week ultrasound. We brought Keira along so she could see the pictures of her baby sibling. Just like when we were pregnant with Keira, we chose not to find out the sex of the baby.  Soooo, we'll just have to wait until Birth Day to find out if it's a boy or girl!

The baby was moving around a lot during the ultrasound, but he/she never got in a position where we could get a good profile shot. Nevertheless, here are some pics...

I think this is a view of the face

Another view of the face

Spine

Waving hi!

Do you see the little hand sticking up?

View of the back of the head

We can't wait to meet our newest little family member in a few more months!

Knott Meant To Be

Back in October, Noah got an award at work where he got to pick out a gift of his choice. He choose a $100 gift card and, with the money, he bought us 3 tickets to Knott's Berry Farm. We first went to Knott's in Sept 2011, when Keira was just over 2 years old, and she LOVED it and we were looking forward to going back!

We made at least 3 attempts to go to Knott's during the fall, but each time we made plans, we had to cancel them because of sickness (Keira was sick pretty much non-stop from Oct thru Dec).

Finally, the day had come for us to make our family trip to Knott's! It was the morning of December 30th and the day before we had just driven 8 hours home from Davis after our epic Christmas trip! We were determined to make it to Knott's because our tickets expired the next day (and we had tried unsuccessfully to sell the tickets).

That morning, I woke up with some digestive trouble, but I mostly felt good, so we all continued with our plans and began the drive up to LA to go to Knott's. Unfortunately, as the morning went on, I continued to have tummy trouble and began to not feel well at all. We made it to Knott's and stopped at Mrs. Knott's Restaurant for breakfast. By this time, I was reaaaaaaaaally not feeling well and it was all I could do to sit through breakfast and drink water and make conversation. And I managed to snap a few pictures:

Chocolate chip pancakes!

Yum!

After breakfast, we made our way into Knott's.

I only lasted about 5 or 10 minutes before I had to make my way back to the car to lay down. I didn't quite make it to the car before I had to stop and throw up.  :(  Then, I spent the next couple of hours in the car, throwing up a few more times.

Back inside the park, Noah and Keira were doing their best to have fun, but even that was difficult because there were SO MANY PEOPLE there! During our first trip to Knott's, we were pleasantly surprised at how few people were there and so many of the kid rides did not have lines. This time, it was thoroughly disappointing to have to contend with the crowds. After being there for 4 or 5 hours, Keira only got to go on  4 or 5 rides and she did not get to see the Snoopy Christmas ice skating show because it was too jam-packed to get in.  :(

She did have fun on the rides she got to go on!

All in all, this trip was a big FAIL, unfortunately.

After we made the drive back home, I wound up going to the ER to get re-hydrated with IVs after my bout with the stomach flu.  :(

The next day was New Year's Eve and I spent it in bed recovering.

Thankfully, Noah took on full-time Daddy Duty and spent a fun-filled day with Keira!

They went on a hike in Canyon Hills and went to Lake Miramar to feed the ducks!

She loves to hike!

Time for a lunch break!

Sweet bonding time!

Hungry ducks!

Thanks, Daddy, for spending a fun day with me!!