Happy Holiday!

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all!

Warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving 2009 Lucy Family Style

It took me a while but I'm finally getting around to posting pictures from our Thanksgiving. It was a great time and we had lots of yummy food. As usual, Matt brined our turkey and then smoked it on the BBQ. I think he did a great job and it turned out to yummy and moist.

The one recipe I wouldn't recommend was a sweet & savory bread pudding recipe I had found on Food Network from the Giada di Laurentis chef. The recipe called for 3/4 c. brandy and when you bit into the bread pudding, man could you taste the brandy!!! I would not recommend this recipe to anyone!

Enjoy the pictures and happy Thanksgiving! Now on to Christmas.

Halloween Costume Preview

Sofia is loving this time of year with all the decorations and costumes. We went costume shopping a couple of weeks back and Sofia chose a Minnie Mouse costume. Maddie picked the Cars costume Sofia wore last year. Here's a preview of their costumes.

Anna's Linens Friends & Family Event

A friend of mine forwarded me this coupon for 30% discount off at Anna's Linens. They sell linens (obviously!) but also things like kitchen utensils and bathroom accessories.

Charger game tonight. Go bolts! http://ping.fm/M5VNp

Fundraiser Plug- Mabel's Labels Fundraiser

Ok, so I'm not big on pushing any kind of fundraiser things, but the girl's daycare is working with Mabel's Labels on a fundraiser. Mabel's Labels offers personalized sticky labels that you can stick on any kids items. They've been really handy for daycare to put the name labels on bottles, cups, dishware and especially the clothes. That way, all the girl's belongings are labelled and if they are misplaced, the teachers know who to return the item to. It sure beats always writing their names on items with a sharpie.

Anyway, so in case you are looking for those kinds of labels anyway, here is a handy link for Mabel's Labels to support the fundraiser event with the girls daycare.

Oh, and they also sell other types of labels not for kids belongings, like address labels or labels for your kitchen. Just for people who like to be neat and organized.

http://www.tijeraunited.mabel.ca/

Maui Vacation Photos Link

Just posted pictures from our Maui vacation on Facebook. Here's the link to check it out:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=101904&id=743309909&l=e78ae41aec

Just for Grandpa

Lately, Sofia's drawing skills have been improving. The pediatrician told us that its a developmental milestone when toddlers start drawing people with eyes, ears, hair, all the different features that make a body. So here are some of Sofia's first pictures she's been drawing. She was so proud of them, she wanted to show them off for Grandpa so we promised to send the pictures to Grandpa.

Of course, while I was taking the pictures Maddie wanted in on the fun and she sneak in to some of the pictures.

On a side note- Sofia's turning out to be left-handed. Kinda strange because we're not left-handed and I don't think any of the immediate family is left-handed. To make it more strange, Maddie is leaning towards being right-handed. Go figure!

This is supposed to be Sofia and Grandpa in the picture

(Maddie accidentally stepped on Sofia's foot so you see the beginnings of Sofia crying here. Amazing that the nice moments can go downhill so quickly!)

This is a nice picture, before the foot stomp (see previous note)

Maddie sneaking into the shot

Little Miss Madds!

So we went to the store and here we are waiting in line. I let Maddie play with my sunglasses to keep entertained.

To quote Auntie Tatyana from my Facebook page: "Dang!! What a ballaa!!"

Strike a Pose

So here we are chilling on the couch watching TV. Matt decides to take some pictures of me with the girls, since usually its me taking all the pictures. Yay- I finally get to take some pictures with the girls and I'm in them. And then both of them decide its a good idea to stick their leg up in the air for the picture. That's how they want to take this picture. Oh well, someday we'll have a nice photo together!

Baby Pics of Maddie & Sofia

I'm uploading a couple of pictures to share with Allison (Matt's sister) because she recently had a baby girl, Ella. Ella has some similiar features to Maddie & Sofia when they were that age.

Aww, so cute & so little!

Sofia thinking (although looks more like she's working on some gas!)

Sofia sleeping- she looks so peaceful

Sofia crying- I swear she spent at least the first 4 months of her life crying non-stop

Madeleine stretching out

Madeleine on the day she was born

Another Coupon Discount

Saw this discount code at the girls' daycare. Get discount tickets for San Diego Seaworld. Adutls tickets are $49.95 and kids tickets are $39.95. You gotta order them at SeaWorldSanDiego.com and use promo code: SWCmcDonaldsLA09.

Free Kids Legoland Coupon @ Jiffy Lube

Right now, you can get a free kids hopper ticket for Legoland and Sealife when you get any automotive service at Jiffy Lube. Seems like a cool deal if you need to get an oil change any way and then it saves you like $75 off the kids ticket. Link to the Jiffy Lube Legoland free coupon details here.

Maybe we'll try to make it to Legoland soon. My family & I went to Legoland in Denmark, back when we were living in Germany and I remember it being so much fun. The best part was the pit of Legos where you could build whatever you wanted.

Priceless...

Sofia would be embarassed if she was a little older, but right now she's a little 3 yr old toddler who thinks picking her nose is sooooo funny. And she's so proud of it too. You go girl!

One Hundred Push-ups Complete!

Its been a little more than 6 weeks, but I managed to get through this cool little program were you work up to doing one hundred push-ups. My test was last week and I did it! Yay!

I have to admit, I was skeptical when I first started, especially since I could only do like 2 pushups before wimping out. The program really helped me work up the strength. And my arms are looking a little more toned too. No more grandma waddles!!

Eagle Hair

Maddie had gotten her hair fixed up at daycare and when I took the little hairband out of her hair at the end of the day, her hair still stood straight up. You can see the pics for yourself.

Matt & I were laughing about it and jokingly said her hair looked like "Flock of Seagulls" (member them, the bad 80s band with crazy hair?). Well, Sofia overheard us but thought we said "Eagle hair" and she wanted eagle hair too. This is out attempt to give her "eagle hair."

Addicted to Pinkberry

A friend of ours gave us coupons for Pinkberry so this weekend we went and tried the yougurt. We are now officially hooked! The yogurt is so yummy. Sadly, I think it tastes even better than The Yogurt Mill (out in El Cajon). We liked it so much we went both on Saturday and Sunday.



Sofia was really sad when she finished her yogurt (below). Maybe we'll go back again this weekend.

Testing out posts via Ping.FM

Ode to Nutella

Ohh, Nutella. How we all love Nutella. Yummy, chocolatey goodness. Eating Nutella toast for breakfast feels so guilty. But so yummy. Mmmm....

Another earthquake

Just happened again- another jolt. This time a 4.1 magnitude. http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/ci10411545.htm

Earthquake Fun!!!

Well, as you all know by now there was a 4.7 earthquake in Los Angeles on Monday, right when Katinka and I were playing Monsters on the PS3. The girls slept right through it, but boy did I move fast to their rooms!

Turns out, the epicenter was maybe 8 miles away, and even though it lasted for 15 seconds, the jolt was pretty significant. The longer we go without any big earthquakes, the more worried I get about the big one. I think we're going to work on our earthquake prepardness kits...

Showing Off at Pho Show

Here are a couple of new pictures of Sofia and Madeleine. We went out to eat pho (Vietnamese soup) this weekend at this cute little restaurant in Culver City called Pho Show. Food was good and as you can see, Maddie's favorite part was playing with the straws while Sofia liked using the chopsticks as drum sticks. Going out to eat with kids is like having a ticking time bomb with you, that may or may not go off. Everything is good, but you gotta eat quickly, keep things moving and get the check quickly. Or else, there might be a meltdown. I will definitely remind the girls when they are older about this!

Pictures of Sofia & Madeleine

So the Daycare that Sofia and Madeleine attends had class picture day last month. I paid for them to have their picture taken together and these are the pictures they took. For some reason, Madeleine doesn't like getting her picture taken so all the photos of her seem so sad, like she just lost her best friend. But Sofia is very camera friendly. Either way, the pictures are very cute. Enjoy!

Setting up Blog

Setting up the blog. Will update at a later time with more photos, pics, etc