HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER!!!

We had a couple of birthdays to celebrate to start out December... Amy and Danny have the same birthday (actually Ricky's family and ours have a lot of birthdays that fall on the same exact day-really weird :) December started out with the norm of life...playing video games with dad :)...Helping Uncle David with his work :)...And lunch at PF changs with Grandma, Aunt Kate and Mom while out Christmas shopping!

___________________________

Then it was time to head out to San Diego for Amy's Birthday celebration! Amy got the day off of school and her, David and Kate went out early to get a firepit for us on the beach...Mom, Kar, and I waited for Amy's friends (Andrea and Becca) to get out of school to ride out! First stop was Mama Testas mexican food resteraunt for dinner!The restraunt was featured on Food Network for a throw down with Bobby Flay... they have DELICIOUS fish tacos!
It was a really cute place! Katie of course got her hands on Karly as soon as she could...Becca and AndreaAmy and DavidAnd... the owner was there... Amy had to get a picture! SAY... "Fish Tacos!!!" :DDavid and KarAmy has such great friends! The whole gang (except for David- he is taking the picture, and Ricky- I told him to go ahead and stay home... three hour drive and he did not get off til 5:00 :/) Then it was Beach Bum time... mom and Kar hanging out by the fire pit :)Friends! Sisters!

Mom and her "Baby" They are such a good team! Mom loves her baby girl !!!And I love mine :)Amy and BeccaKar... giving me the "I know I am about to do something I am not suppose to, wonder if they will catch me?" look :/I don't mind if she plays with the sand..It's just when she tries to eat it that I have to go in for the monkey grab!!!! Our beautiful mom just laxin with her whiskey and coke... an Armstead tradition :) yummy!!!!And for dessert... SMORES... YUMMY YUMMY!!! We all had such a good time! The weather was beautiful, the sound of the waves were so relaxing, the food was DIVINE (that word was for you Amy), the fire was warm and toasty, and the company could not get any better! Happy Birthday Amy!!! Love you so much!!!

_____________________

Tracy, Jenna and Owen came up to my moms on Saturday to get videos of all of us for Auntie Sue and Uncle Bobs 45th wedding anniversary gift (Happy Anniversary guys..we love u both!)... I am hoping Tracy will post some of the videos on her blog so we can all see them (hint, hint ;) ... while they were up we got a couple of adorable shots..Owie watchin football with David...and Jenna girl (growing up so fast, and such a Beauty:)

_________________________________

Then on Sunday we got to celebrate Danny's birthday (our nephew) at John's Incredible Pizza...Karly got some food in her tummy and was ready to go! First was a car game with Dad...Then time to win some tickets...Goooo Karly!!!She was cracking us up on all of the rides... such a straight face :/Bella, on the other hand was all smile :)"Umm, why is everyone staring at me?"The whole time she was trying to book it out the door for some fresh air :) Our nature lovin child :) No but really she did have a good time... she liked all the lights and music, and of course the family time! Her favorite though was Danny... appropriate since it was his birthday :)She could not stop giving him kisses! Danny is such a sweet guy... he ended up using all his tickets to buy all his little cousins gifts! Dan- HappyBirthday... We Love You!!!

Lots of Family time to start off our December and we are excited for Christmas! Karly loves the Christmas tree, and all of the lights! And she has already spotted all the gifts under the tree! It's so much fun to see her smile and her eyes light up! LOVE HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Holidays are Here!!!

So I am going to start this post with a few photos through out the past couple of weeks that I just love...Karly & Aunt Kate love to play! Copper and Karly love to look outside...Karly just loves copper :)

________________________________

Now... let the holidays begin... on Wednesday all us girls were up at my moms house to bake our ten million pies. Actually only nine, but considering there were only six of us enjoying Thanksgiving dinner, I think that is more than enough :/Katie worked on a pecan cheesecake (new recipe that David picked out) it turned out DELICIOUS!!! One of my new favorites! Amy stirred and stirred her lemon meringue pie (a Grandma June Favorite) it takes the longest time to make... but it is well worth it! My mom is the EXPERT pie maker... everyone always tells her she should open a bakery for her pies... she has got Grandma Junes crusts down to an art! Mom taught me this year how to make them, I am getting the hang of it...but I have a lot of practice ahead of me! I was in charge of the chocolate cream pies... when i was younger one of my favorite things was watching my grandma bake and always getting to lick the beater! Sooooo.... we all know what Karly got to do! She enjoyed it... to say the least :)Who wouldn't ?Then my mom gave her a lemon to try :/she tried it right away...poor baby...she couldn't figure out what was wrong with the thing...soooo sour...but she still kept going back for more :)Then it was time for a bath! Once bath time was over, and pies were made....Some play time with Aunt Kate (Karly just loves that!!!!)and we relaxed by the fire that Amy and Kar built.... mmmm I just love this time of year! On Thanksgiving day we headed over to Ricky's parents first... Grandma Kathie always goes straight in for the kisses! Karly goes straight for the food :)All the kids are loving that Karly can walk around and play with them now! Karly's favorite place is OUTDOORS! Me and my baby girl!!!!Then it was up to moms... Karly's seat was ready to go! Uncle David, Aunt Kate and KarlyKarly... just exploring! She LOVES celery sticks :) She would not let go of it all night! Karly and GrandmaAmy went in for a hug with RickyMom, Katie and AmyhahahahahahaSisters! Still has her celery stick! Then, it was time to grub...After our delicious meal, we decided to play some music with our wine glasses (Ricky's idea :)Then we played peek-a-boo....We had such a nice Thanksgiving...

hope everyone had a nice one too!!!