Early Christmas Present

My brother, Jim, and his wife, Katie, mailed Baylee's Christmas present, since it is so big and both of us are traveling by plane for Christmas. Yesterday it was dropped on our doorstep, and when I brought it in, Baylee immediately starting ripping the paper off it. So, I went ahead and let her open it, since we leave in a couple days, anyway.
Baylee loves opening presents and was really excited about her new dollhouse. I set it up for her as soon as she had it unwrapped.Her dollhouse is a little bigger than she is. Kinda funny, but at least she can still reach everything inside. She had fun peeking over it to watch me put all the windows and everything else on.I thought this was too cute-before I had a chance to get this window on, I looked over, and there was Baylee looking through it! The roof windows are just her eye height, but harder to get a good picture of.When I finished setting it up, Baylee had a lot of fun playing with it. She's starting to get the concept a little more, but I still have to show her what to do a little. She likes to have people go down the slide and LOVES the kitty cat. She keeps wanting me to pull it back out for her to play with.

Lots of thanks to Jim and Katie for such a fun present! We are excited to see them soon and meet their baby, Luke, for the first tme! This will be the first time we've seen them since Christmas two years ago, and their first time meeting Baylee! We also get to see my cousin, Heather's, baby for the first time-Ezra was born the day after I left to come home from my mom's surprise birthday bash we threw her. Fun times ahead!

Rock-a-bye, Baylee!

Baylee is so spoiled at work, she even has her own rocking chair to sit in! Marion and Christine bribe Baylee to hang out in their office by making sure she has plenty of things to keep her entertained. She loves to go visit them! She also thinks she rules the whole office and runs around and does as she pleases.

Things I Need:

I've been really good at not shopping for myself lately, but there are a few things I am really needing. Let me know if you know of any good places for these (hopefully at a good price, too)....
1. New brown boots- My brown boots have finally bit the dust. The toes are peeling to a pink color, and the zipper on the left boot won't go down anymore, so my foot gets stuck in it. The other day the zipper pull actually popped off. So, I think they are done. I haven't been able to find a good replacement though. It's hard to find chocolate brown boots this year... Plus, I don't really go for the pointed toe deal, and I prefer a non-stiletto heel (I chase Baylee around all day, and I don't really like feeling like I'm an Amazon next to her). I like the rounded but not too rounded toe, where it's kinda almost squared a little.... I guess I'm just too picky, but hey, I'd even go for ones in the kid section if I could find a pair I like.
2. A brown belt- Mine is basically holding on by a thread. It's split down to the belt hole. I want one with the detachable belt buckle part, though, because I have my star belt buckle I like wearing on my belt.
3. A black sweater-Now that my brown boots have called it quits and it's just too cold for heels and flip flops, I've been trying to wear my black boots. The only problem is I don't have a cute black sweater to match.
4. A cute warm jacket- We are going to Utah on Friday for the holidays and I don't really have a really nice jacket. I have an old black one, but I've had it for years, and it's that snow suit type of fabric, and the collar doesn't fold over so it's rubs against my neck and drives me crazy sometimes. It's time for a new jacket. I really want one of those cute pea coat style ones.
5. New jeans- I like wearing my jeans long, so unfortunately they drag on the ground. So, now some of my pants look kinda trashed and are ripped at the bottoms. All of them except maybe one or two pairs are from before Baylee was born. So, I could really use some new cute fitting jeans.

So, if you have any suggestions for me on where to find any of these, let me know!

San-tah!

Saturday night we decided to go grab a quick bite to eat at Armadillo Willy's. We ordered our food and then found a place to sit. We weren't aware that Baylee even knew what Santa was, but apparently we were wrong. She stretched her little arm out to point at a big inflatable Santa up by the register, and was very excited to show us "San-tah!" Baylee says a few words clearly, but not a ton, so I was surprised that she said Santa so distinctly. She then walked around the half wall and up to the register to go look at him. Ben looked with her for a little bit, brought her back, and then she walked right back up. So, here comes surprise number two-Baylee has always been a mommy and daddy's girl and takes sometimes weeks or more to warm up to people enough to let them hold her. Well, she's definetly out growing that stage, because while she was looking at "San-tah!", she walked right over to an older man (and men take her the longest to warm up to) and held her hands out signaling that she wanted him to pick her up. So, he did and she was very content and showed him "San-tah!". We eventually got our food and started eating. A little into our meal, someone reached over the half wall and puts a Santa balloon right next to Baylee. We look over and its the guy that she had been showing Santa to. I guess he had run a couple stores down to Safeway and bought her a Santa balloon, and what kid doesn't love balloons? Even better, it had Santa, and two more of Baylee's favorite things on it-kitties and puppies! She was very excited about it. The man wished us a Merry Christmas, but more importantly reminded us of what Christmas is all about-giving, being kind to others and so much more.

Snow Ball Fight

I am tired of losing to JIM in Fantasy football. He beats me 70% of the time. So I figured that maybe a scarry sendable from JIBJab.com would make it so I can win. We will see. I am going to be the champ this year. Good Luck Jim but I am going to take this one. :)

Non-Crappy Holiday eCards on JibJab

There are three pictures of Jim and Two of me.

Too Cute!

I decided to copy my cousin, Heather, and her husband, Mat, and elf our family. So here it is, for your viewing pleasure. Not quite as good as their, but I tried...
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1402044091
Merry Christmas!

"Cheese"y Little Diva

The other day, Baylee and I were getting ready to leave work. Grandma Hall gave Baylee her sunglasses that she had left another time, and Baylee just had to have them on. We've been taking a little purse to work with us with toys for her to play in, so she had that around her shoulder. I pulled out the camera to snap a picture, and of course she wanted the camera, too. So, I got her little Disney Princess camera out. Here's the end result:
What a little diva! I can already tell she's going to give us trouble! :)
Baylee decided she wanted to take pictures of her Grandpa Hall, too. She's gotten really good at pressing the button and holding the camera up high, and her camera even has a flash and sound effects. Of course, she never forgets to tell people to say "cheese!"

Cruising the Bay

Saturday was Ben's work party in San Francisco. So, we dropped Baylee off at Ben's parent's and then Ryan and Anna drove with us to Ben and Ryan's office in Oakland. We made a quick bathroom/snack machine stop and then took Bart into San Francisco. We walked down to Pier 3 for our afternoon dinner cruise, and even got free energy drinks to give us a little boost on our little walk. The cruise was a four course dinner (kinda early dinner, since the cruise was from 3-6) and it circled San Francisco Bay.
I liked how I was able to "frame" the Golden Gate bridge through the window from our table inside the boat.
Not the greatest picture, but here's Ben, me, Anna, and Ryan, It was pretty cold outside on the boat. But, the views were great!
Ben got this picture, along with a lot more pictures, of the Golden Gate Bridge and some island. I'm not sure which one it is. It's a good picture though!

The party overall was good. Nobody drew any of our names to win some prizes, which basically all consisted of alcohol gift sets, and our lottery tickets they gave us didn't win either. I guess that makes us a bunch of losers..... But the night was still a good one and I'm glad we had Ryan and Anna there with us. That's one great benefit of Ben working with his brother. And thanks to Ben's parents for watching all the kids!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas in Pleasanton!

Another busy weekend has come and gone. Here's a little of what we were up to:
Saturday we got all bundled up and walked downtown for a Pleasanton holiday parade with Ben's family. Yes, it was this dark at 5. And yes, it really was cold!
Garrett, Anna, Shelby, Owen, Baylee, Kathy, and Brittany. The parade wasn't too exciting unless you are into Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and preschools. Baylee had fun waving at everyone that went by, though. We left before the parade was over....

Sunday we attempted to get some family pictures before dinner. My goal is to actually get Christmas Cards sent out this year (let me know if you want one). Let's just say Baylee wasn't wanting to cooperate. These are the best ones we got, but I kinda have a cheeseball smile from trying to get Baylee to smile. Pictures didn't work out as well as I had hoped. After we decided to call it quits, Baylee went to "help" Grandma Hall with dinner. She was happy to be sitting on the counter eating all the grapes from the fruit salad. At least we finally got a smile out of her. Meanwhile, I look drugged.Baylee actually warmed up to Ryan and let him hold her for a little while. All it took was some dessert.

Last night we went over to Ben's parents to finish some Christmas crafts we have been trying to get done for a few weeks. Baylee hit her head probably over ten times yesterday, and I think it made her a little loopy.

Ben also got a video of her acting a little silly. She just wouldn't stop going! She's a goofball, but we love her.Some of my Christmas crafts. I helped a lot with Anna's and Kathy's, along with having some other Christmas crafts going that I can't post pictures of since they are also going to be presents for a couple of people....... Christmas is getting closer!

More Thanks!

Here are some more pictures from Thanksgiving that we got from Ben's parent's camera, including pictures from the beach:
Even though the water was really cold, Baylee loved playing in it and kept going back for more! Some of the cousins are in the background.
She was so happy Grandma Hall took her to play in the water.
Shelby, Mea, Austin, Baylee, and Kathy stopping to pose in the water. Too bad we weren't prepared with her swimming suit! Silly me, since it was cold and early, I didn't think we'd need it!

Can you tell I'm not an early morning person? Jenny, Ben's Grandma Simpson, and me (Brittany). I'm actually sitting on what we later discovered wasn't our towels. Oops!Relay races-Jenny had the adults grab the hand of a kid and run around some cones for one of the activities (I was a good supervisor of the games). Baylee's crying that her Grandma isn't paying attention to her and trying to run after her. She probably wanted back in the water.
The adults at the table for Thanksgiving dinner, minus a couple of people-I think Jenny, Andre, and Kathy, and of course Dan who was taking the picture.
Baylee loves it when Grandma Hall lets her play in her purse, and she especially loves wearing purses or diaperbags.Brittany and Ben watching someone play DDR, and waiting for either a turn or on Ben's parents to go drive home on Sunday.

Knock, Knock!

A little bit ago, I had Baylee almost asleep when I got a knock on the door. I looked out the peephole (since we were both still in pjs), and see that it's a police officer. I opened the door thinking I might be in trouble for something, maybe our dog or something else. He points to a car a little more than halfway in the road and asks me if it's mine. Oops! Ben changed the brake pads this weekend, and it had rolled down the driveway a little Saturday night also. I guess I just didn't have the emergency brake on tight enough, although it was on pretty tight. So, I walk out there, and see there are two other officers at the "scene of the crime". I didn't know you needed that much backup for a car that had rolled down the driveway! Well, I stuck Baylee in her carseat, drove up the driveway, accidentally killed the car, and put the emergency brake on as hard as I could. So, hopefully it doesn't try to run away again! I just thought it was kinda silly that someone had to call the police to tell them our car was in the road. They couldn't just knock on my door and told me themself. That's the kind of neighbors we have- if there's something they don't like or something wrong, they call someone instead of telling us themselves (like with our lawn). So, needless to say, I'm excited to move when Ben graduates in March (especially to a house with heat and air). The police officer was nice, but I try to avoid police to the best of my abilty. Lesson learned-don't let your car roll into the road. Now I'm just paranoid it's going to happen again.