Christmas Video 2009

this is a little long... 20 minutes but just a snippet of a wonderful day :)

Merry Christmas!!

Here are some pics... I have some video to come soon...

Dancin' Good times...

Hey everyone! man did this month fly by, it always does. We have been having such a good time with our friends and our preparations! Fiona's Dance Studio has a little party/performance for Christmas here is the video of our performance...

Tuesday's post on Wednesday

He he, a little late on the Tuesday post, but here goes...

Yesterday was a super busy but really fun day. Got up sent Mike off to work, and off to the gym for me. I love that hour to myself and Fiona loves the oportunity to play with "the kids" as she calls them. Then off to a MOMS club meeting, small group but was nice to catch up.

Then we decided to walk on over to the Playhouse to visit Santa there. I am glad I am so in tuned with my "Mother's intuition." Fiona who is often quite boisterous and social, has her moments where she really takes a long time to warm up to new situations. I had a feeling this may be the case with a visit to Santa. So I thought since the Playhouse has a great Santa and a great set up with very few people there and no rush or need to get a picture it would allow Fiona to get to know Santa without any pressure for a picture. Boy was I glad - she spent most of the time clinging to my legs (not my usual Fiona). By the end she was definitely warming up to him - Candy canes, cookies and Santa reading a story to the kids definitely helped (you won't get that from the mall Santa and all for free). And I think we might be in todays (Wednesday's paper). We'll be back next week to say hi and see if we can get a picture or two (or 200 you guys know how I am...).

Then home for nap and playtime at home. Boy does Fiona get excited for Daddy to come home! Her new thing is she loves everyone to trace her hands and feet so here are a few pics from the night of Mike being the doting Daddy and tracing her feet on her magnaboard.

The Grinch and snowman pizzas

It felt like a long day today, but really it wasn't long at all. But I am tired so this will be short.

So we started today off with some new hair clips in Fiona's Advent calendar (will have to post a pic of it soon) which she loved - well loved them later that morning, always takes Fiona a few to decide if she likes it or not:)

Then camping out at the computer to make sure I got our Free Day tickets to visit the Huntington Library next month - Amanda and Colin, you guys will love this place when you come to visit!!

Then off to deliver the dinner swap meals for this month since we didn't make it there yesterday. Very fun to see everyone, kinda felt like I was Santa - who doesn't love getting a heat and serve meal to use during this crazy holiday season?!?! We are coming up on a year of doing this - and it all started with a soup swap that was going to be one time. Now I so look forward to it and it really has made my life so much simpler to know that 3 nights a month I don't have to think about dinner.

Then we had dance class which is always a favorite!! got to sing and dance and just have a great time. We switched to a new studio this past fall and I am just amazed at the difference between the two and Fiona has just flourished here, and the instructors are really amazing with the kids. I am looking forward to many years here for her.

So tonight we decided to make snowman pizzas and watch the Grinch (we DVRed it - serioulsy what did we do before DVRs???) A great night to be sure!!


Snowman Pizzas - baby, mommy and daddy snowmen


"The Girls" Curled up on the couch - Mommy Fiona and Bridget

Its Beginning to Look Like Christmas...

As we prepare to enter our favorite time of year here at the Hylands, I think of of the many things that make the season as joyful as it is for us. Number one on my list is togetherness. Our little family has spent nearly half the year away from each other with Mike's training this year. And in 2007 he wasn't here for the Holiday's because he was serving in Iraq. So as the tree is put up and decorated, I think about how blessed we are to have all of here this year. I often think of our family and friends, most of whom live very far from us, and how I wish we could all be together as well. I know, though, that we are all close in our hearts and minds even if we are not close in proximity.

Now that we have Fiona, Mike and I are enjoying creating our own traditions for the Holiday season. Its a mix of old and new and it makes the season pure MAGIC when we see the excitement in Fiona's eyes as she really is beginning to understand the season and who this Santa guy is. Her eyes sparkle as much as the ornaments on our tree - specially picked each year for all of us. I love telling her the story of each ornament, and visiting Christmases past as we hang each one. I love the smell of my Christmas Wish Yankee Candle as we decorate the house - like my Mom, I feel that it embodies the true scent of Christmas and no other Candle comes close! Christmas music - especially the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack - plays in the background and puts us all in the mood and energizes us for the busy weeks ahead.

Most of all it is a time where our family reconnects together. While we do enjoy the many seasonal parties and get togethers, we savor family time together in front of our tree, sipping hot chocolate. Throughout the month we remember all the events and happenings of the previous year, count our blessings, and thank God for them all. We hope you all have a wonderful Holiday season!!

Here a some pictures of us getting ready this weekend!

Silly Fiona

Here a video of Fiona being Fiona..just a cute silly little girl!

Halloween Party at School

Fiona had her Halloween party at school today. I think I was more excited than she was to put on the costume - it turned out GREAT!! She is Little Bo Peep, but she calls it Peep Peep Sheep. She was excited for the party, so much so she got up at 5:30 this morning!! needless to say she wasn't her total bubbly self today... wnjoy the pics!!

Lombardi Farms with friends

some pics (well a lot of pics) from Lombardi farms. we went with Daddy when he was here a few weeks ago, but today we went with our friends and had a blast!! Rumor had it that Halle Berry was there with her family as well. I didn't see them but friends of mine did. So cool to know we hang out with the rich and famous LOL!!! Go grab a nice hot apple cider and enjoy the pics :)

Sometimes Mommy goes a little overboard

Hey everyone!! we had a wonderful weekend with Daddy. I am still going through and editing the photos, but wanted to share these two pics from the Jump Palace from yesterday...Yes sometimes mommy goes over the top, but seriously how cute is she???

the pics are not my best work... I am learning to shoot in manual mode, but still have kinks to work out... but you can get the idea...

Huntington Library - Asian Day

Well we went to the Huntington Library again yesterday. Our Friends and I decided to get the girls in their cheongsums and take pictures and spend the day in the Chinese and Japanese gardens. We had a blast and every chinese tourist took pictures of them! They all thought they were soooo cute.

Enjoy!!

Berry Star Grooving

Fiona and her pal Cooper groovin' at the Berry star Yogurt shop today :)

Sunday Night at the Hylands...

Just a cute video of Fiona...we were playing out in the front yard, as the back yard is flooded (long story) after dinner so its a litte dark. But she LOVES to wear my shoes, she found my gardening boots which are like waders to her. She was so cute!!!

Famous Fiona

Well she really isn't famous, but a friend clued me into this site where you can do this photo effect!! Lovin it!!!

Huntington Library

All I can say is WOW!! What an amazing place!! A little hot today, but what a great trip with our friends today!

here are my top 10ish pics from the day, lots of great ones - Fiona was the perfect model today :)

Natural History Museum

We had a great day today, got out of town- too smoky and Fiona needed to burn some of that cooped up energy.

Fiona is obsessed with butterflies lately. She uses my pasta strainer as her "net" and catches them around the house. When she catches one she tells me what color they are, and then dumps the net and says "Oh no, where futterfy go???" I then tell her to look in the kitchen, toy box, etc to find one. Its hilarious. So I thought I would look into finding a butterfly garden - and I nearly missed the exhibit at the Natural History Museum in LA. So we went particularly for the butterflies...and what does Fiona fall in love with there (besides the huge polar bear?) the DINOSAURS!! Ask what she did today, "sinsaur, sinsaur!" Unfortunately, I forgot to charge my batteries before I went so I only have a few pics from the day, and none of her with the dinosaurs. something tells me though that we'll be seeing more in the near future.

getting better

Things here are getting better with the fires. The smoke was pretty much gone today - clear skies over where i live, but you could still see smoke. We are out of danger and although it looked like it was super close, we weren't in any real danger, so that is a big sigh of relief!!

Please pray for the fire fighters, especially the two families that lost theirs, and the families who have lost their homes. If you would like to help, the red cross and Salvation army always accept donations.

may have spoken too soon

Well, we woke up to nice clear skies but by 10 am or so the fire kicked up and the winds shifted. The next town south of us has had some evacuations, but for now we are looking good. It has a large mountain ridge to climb before getting to us. And today the smoke and ash seemed to mostly stay east of my housing development. Still really creepy and scary. We are taking it day by day and just keeping and eye out. here is a satellite picture of the fires and the arrow is where we live....

Clear Skies are here again!!

Hi everyone! we are in the clear again, blue skies and a yellow sun :)

Fires did get pretty close, but we were in no real danger, but it definitely looked ominous out there!

Going to head to the park to day to run off the cooped up energy :) thanks for thinking of us!!

crazy fires

We are all safe here, but there is some serious smoke in the air here. I think the closest fire is about an hour away, but this is what the back yard was like earlier today:







This wasn't even the worst part of the day... but I'll keep you all posted...

Funny Fiona Quote...

so I am laying Fiona down tonight she says something that sounds like duck, and I ask...

"you want a duck?"

Fiona replies," ahhh, ok, we get duck, mama..."

Some recent pics

First I need to say that our hearts and prayers go out to Meghan and Anthony, my dear cousin and her husband, during their time of need. Let us know if there is anything you need!!

been crazy busy here finishing up our summer. Last Thursday Night on the Square, dance lessons have started back up at a new studio (and we love it!!), Birthday parties, play dates, scrapbooking with friends, and even a girls night out to see Julie and Julia - now I want to cook the cook book too!!!

For now I will just leave a few pics of the last couple of days... More details later :)

Thursday Night on the Square

So if you are from Palmdale, you know what I am talking about, but I thought I would talk a little about our Fun Thursday Night ritual and explain for the rest of my loyal readers :) Thursday Night on the Square (TNOTS), is the really, really cool thing our town puts on every summer and for two months, every Thursday on the Town Square, there is live music, story time, puppet shows, a variety of crafts and games for the kids to do. and the best part - its all free!!! Well, maybe the best part is how much we really love to go and how much fun Fiona has. Fiona and I make a picnic dinner each Thursday, bring our picnic blanket and go and meetup with our friends. we pick our spot on the lawn and head over to do the crafts. After a few tantrums and chases while we wait in line (Fiona is still mastering this skill), we head back to our blanket and eat dinner, dance to the music and play with our friends. I love this activity, I picture people doing this 100 years ago - the band in the gazebo, families dotting the lawns on their picnic blankets, just enjoying a nice summer evening. These are the simple pleasures in life that I think often get overlooked. I am so glad Fiona and I really got into going this summer, we have only missed one night! So below I got some cute videos of Fiona and her BFF S dancing and playing. also Wendy (S's Mom) and S's brother L make a guest appearance as well. I am so lucky to have such great friends to pass a summer evening, let alone any day of the week with.

Bowling

Just a quick video - its bad, but Fiona loved her first time bowling so I had to share with you...I think she gets her talent from her Daddy - she knocked down 5 pins on one of her turns!! not bad for someone who could barely lift the ball, LOL!!

A Summer Evening in Palmdale

We had a cool day today, only 99 degrees! So Fiona and I went out this evening and had ice cream cones in the front yard. She was a mess, but had a blast!!

Wanna Play? - No way

These are Fiona's two new phrases this week. Crack me up. the No way is said like a 13 year old. Where she gets this stuff who knows, LOL!! We are in the beginning stages of potty training, arrggghh!! Not sure I am really ready for this, but she is really beginning to show an interest...

Mike is suffering through the heat trying to pay attention to stuff he already knows at his training course - Only 122 days until he comes home.

I have been keeping busy with a little online photography editing class...here are some of my projects - let me know what you think:

Hi

Just a quick hi! We have this really cool summer thing in our town called Thursday Night on the Square. Its a free event with live music and crafts for the kids. This is a pic of Fiona and I there tonight...

Happy Fourth - well, fifth....

Hey everyone,

Sorry its been awhile...Been busy this last month getting adjusted to the new non-Mike routine. We really miss him and he really misses being here with us too.

Soooo, just a few quick pics of our growing girly...she is getting so big - tomorrow is her 2 year check up, I'll post the stats hopefully tomorrow. She is talking so much now. She says "all aboard" when we get into the car, There it is, T T for empty, go bye byes, Bye Bye see you later, and the funniest is Mo-om, in the way a 13 year old would say to her Mom who is so embarassing her - got to get it on tape...

Hope you all had a great 4th. and to my brothers and my hubby and our friends and all our service men who help keep our country free: THANKS!!!! we love you and appreciate you!! Happy 4th of July on the 5th of July!!

Family Photos

Finally got some family photos done. Extremely overdue!! I coaxed Mike into doing them since he was leaving today. I think they turned out pretty good, I am just glad to have them!!