Merry Christmas!

We hope your Christmas was filled with wonderful memories shared with your loved ones. For Mike and I, this was our best Christmas ever! Having a little one at Christmas definitely makes it extra special. Landon is truly the best gift we could have ever asked for!

The day before Christmas was busy, busy, busy. We shopped for food, cleaned the house, wrapped presents and made cookies for Santa.

The cookies were still warm and gooey on Christmas Eve. I have a feeling Santa really enjoyed them. ;)

Landon woke up extra early on Christmas morning (yep, 6:30am). He was so excited when he saw the tree lights shining brightly and all the presents underneath. It was so cute to hear all his "ooh" and "aah" sounds. The first thing Landon got to do was open the gifts in his stocking. He wasn't quite sure what to do, so I mostly opened the gifts for him. :)

Santa's cutest little reindeer!

A morning walk to the lake with Daddy.

Landon was already tuckered out and slept for the last 20 minutes of the walk. (Well, Daddy walked an extra 15 minutes so Landon could keep sleeping...good exercise for Daddy...heehee).

Gammy bought Landon his very first bicycle. It's nice because he can use it for a few years. Right now, there is a bar in the back for us to push him around. Once he can ride by himself, the bar comes off and he can use the pedals.

Thanks Gammy!

Landon was showered with gifts from everyone. He really liked the box that Grandpa and Grandma got him (haha...he will like the Playskool Walk n' Ride much better than the box!).

"Grandpa, what's this thing on my head?"

"Oh boy, I'm so hungry!"

Seriously, Landon loves Uncle Mitchie's hair. It's too funny!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Have a blessed year!

Santa!

A few weeks ago, Landon had his first visit with Santa.

The pictures were so cute that I just had to use this one for our Christmas card.

Landon thought he would give Santa's beard a little tug to make sure it was real. ;) Of course it was... as you can tell from the expression on Santa's face. (haha)

Winter is coming!

Next Tuesday is the first day of winter. Landon is waving "Goodbye" to fall and "Hello" to winter. Fall was filled with wonderful memories and we are looking forward to many more during this holiday season.

In this picture, Landon is waving. He loves to wave all the time! He waves at adults, children and interesting objects (i.e. Christmas trees with shiny lights). People think it is so cute when they see him wave. He is also starting to "groove" to music which is TOTALLY adorable!

Bye fall, see you next year!

Thankful

Speaking of being thankful ('Tis the Season), Landon is very thankful for his Leap Frog Learn & Groove Musical Table. He loves this thing!

Gobble, Gobble!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Mike and I have so much to be thankful for this year, especially with the new addition to our family. Landon is such a blessing! He is all that we hoped, dreamed and prayed for (and much, much more!). What an adorable and sweet boy. He has brought our family so much joy!

Landon's very first Thanksgiving.

In just a few days, he'll be 8 months old.

Not only is Landon crawling, but he is pulling himself up on everything he can.

"Hi Grandma. Let's play with some of my toys!"

"Grandpa, this is my favorite toy."

"I love when Gammy talks with her hands."

"Hangin' with my Gammy."

"Good job Mom. Keep Dad distracted so I can play with his iPad."

"Hi Uncle Mitchie. I really like your new haircut."

"I don't know why everyone eats turkey on Thanksgiving. It doesn't taste very good." (p.s. He's chewing on the turkey on his shirt)

"Ahhh, this is much better. I love sweet potatoes with apricot."

Guess what?

Yesterday, Landon started crawling...forward. Yahoo!! He has also become quite the shopper. Today, Gammy and I took Landon to Fashion Island. We thought we would combine Landon's love of the outdoors with our love of shopping. ;)

They have a gigantic Christmas tree. If I backed up far enough to get the whole tree in the picture, Landon would have looked like a tiny dot.

Of course, Landon LOVED all the fountains!

So happy after a diaper change at Nordstrom's...

or as Gammy calls it "Nordy's" (she's very hip and cool).

A quick stop at the Koi pond.

All the fish came to say, "Hi" to Landon.

And...I just had to throw in this picture. Landon sure knows how to make an organic, wheat teething biscuit look delicious! Mmmm!

How did this happen?

How did this teeny tiny baby...

...get so big?

"Look Mom, I can almost stand by myself!"

My Little Cutie Pie!

More Fall Fun!

We went to Pumpkin City in Laguna Hills. (Don't worry...Mike was holding Landon from behind).

"Are these all mine?"

"Look, I can drive with only one hand."

"Oh boy, can we get one of these for our house?"

"This big pumpkin is the one Mommy picked at Tanaka Farms. It's my favorite!"

"Mommy baked the little pumpkin for me and toasted some seeds for Daddy. I wish I could have the seeds instead." ;)

"Don't tell Mommy I told you, but she used a stencil to make our jack-o-lantern."

Over the weekend, we celebrated Mike's birthday. On Friday, we met my parents at Irvine Spectrum. We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, then went for an evening stroll.

On Saturday, we enjoyed a yummy dinner at the Chart House with Mike's Mom and brother. "Happy Birthday Daddy...I give you a thumbs-up!"

For Halloween, we went to Ladera Ranch. The very first house we went to was my good friend Teri's house. We met in college and have been friends ever since! She is excited that we are thinking about moving back to Ladera Ranch. :)

Trick-or-treating with our adorable little pumpkin.

Next year, Landon will be walking up to the houses...yikes!