That's a Wrap '22

Not a terribly exciting end to the year but we did at least get a visit from Kimi and Miranda!!! They are way more fun than we are and went to Universal Studios for New Years Eve! We stayed home and had a movie marathon and charcuterie dinner.

We've somehow gotten into crochet lately and so Gemma and I practiced our stitches and made a few little things.

I made a elf wine bottle topper!

New Years Day we slept in a bit and Kimi and Miranda slept in because they were at Universal until about 1am! 

Once we were all up and about some of the ladies headed to Malibu for the afternoon. We wanted to do some star spotting and see the ocean. 

We shopped around a bit at the Malibu Country Mart and then we walked on the Malibu Pier. 

Too bad we didn't plan to eat at Malibu farm, the beverage station looks like just the way to ring in the New Year!

How strange is it to have the Rose Parade on a Monday?! Due to New Years day falling on a Sunday they postpone the parade to the second!! We watched the replay on you tube and could see Grandpa Dan with Topper in the parade!! What a lazy morning teaching Miranda to crochet while we clean up all the Holiday decorations!

 

Christmas 2022

The weekend after Thanksgiving week we got our Christmas tree and started to decorate.

Lily was so excited to get to hang the star this year what a great job she did.  

During that same weekend we had one of Gemma's friends over to bake cookies to start off the holiday season.

We baked sugar cookies an we even had time to decorate them. In-between they watched a festive Christmas movie. Sadly that night Gemma started to feel unwell. She had a high fever, and look at those glassy eyes. The next morning at urgent care they tested her for the Flu. Sadly she was flu positive. She took some Tamiflu and within a couple days she felt much improved. The real sad part was she had to miss her holiday choir performance that she had earned a solo in. 

We picked the most festive and cute cookie cuter we could find. When we finished decorating them we could tell that they all came out so cute.

Lily's band was having a bake sale for their concert  so mom had to make some cookies and brownies to contribute.

Lily had her band concert that weekend. It was her Christmas one. 

They played lots of festive and fun songs they even had a little skit. It was so festive to see all the decorations. Gemma had to miss the concert with her flu. 

Gemma got invited to a Christmas party so her and Liv went together.

Rosie ended up making an appearance this year look at how silly she is being, she could fall at any moment.

Gemma and Liv went light looking with Liv's family a couple days before Christmas.

They even ended up seeing the Grinch how funny. 

We worked on a painting for Goppy during the first week of winter break to make a painting calendar for her for Christmas. We knew she was going to love it.

On Christmas Eve we went to spend it with Goppy and our cousins, We brought Goppy her gifts and some yummy brunch.  It was SO HOT out on Christmas eve. It was 80 degrees sitting out in the sun. 

We really enjoyed all seeing each other after how long it had been since the last time we saw them.

Later that day we went to church before dinner it was so festive in there with the huge tree.

On Christmas Eve night Gemma and Lily opened their gifts from each other as a tradition that they always do.

Then Dad came and read them a few Christmas books before bed like we always do.

Winter break was one long sleepover in Lily's room. 

The girls ended up waking us up at 7am so not too early but still early. They awoke to many presents under the tree and their stockings stuffed.

Everyone had so much fun opening gifts and enjoying the moment.

Gemma even got the new Diary of a Wimpy kid book which she had been wanting.

Mom even got some cute decor blocks of us in Germany.

We had a yummy breakfast with fruit and baby Jesus birthday cake. YUM

Lily and Ben ended up meeting a couple days later at the Pokemon store to buy some new cards with their Christmas money they got.

Girls Weekend Carpinteria

The weekend before Christmas the Seattle girls Ann and Clare came down to LA for a moms weekend away. We had this planned and booked for May 2020 and I think we all know by now that the world shut that down.  It took us way too long to rebook our trip!

The art center had these cute props to pose with. We did our best to prop the phone up to take a timer pic. 

We went to Santa Barbara for a day to wander and shop around. We walked the pier. It was beautiful sunny and cool. 

After finding some really great local treats at the Santa Barbara Farmers Market we made an evening charcuterie and stayed in for the night.

It was a short but sweet weekend. So great to keep in touch with these ladies! We all worked together at Seattle Children's in the ER. Now with 8 kids between us and 15 years of friendship!!

Auf Wiedersehen Munchen

Our last day in Germany we decided to explore the giant central park, English Gardens. We took a tram ride. Lily had been asking to ride the tram so we found a route that could take us up to the middle of the park and then we could walk our way back. 

The park was so sunny and cold. A mid day warm beverage. 

Exploring the park and trees.

The last bits of the fall colors. Definitely need to come for Oktoberfest!

A few shade places still had frost on the grass which was very exciting to the girls. 

You can see our shadows in the gazebo.

We had heard the famous surfers in the river of the park. 

These guys and lady are BRAVE! Even with a full body wet suit I'm sure that water so beyond freezing. Not to mention the current is so strong. 

We were starved for a food stall Spaetzle.

Extra cheesy and topped with crispy onions.

Yet another little Christmas market, Isartor. This one was known for the fire-tongs punch you can see in the cauldron behind. 

Back at the main Marienplatz market we explored a few rows of stalls we had missed. We found another lebkukchen stand. These were very fresh home made and unique flavors. We will have to try to recreate some at home.

Thanks for the boost in early Christmas Cheer Munchen!!