Bubble Hair

Having some fun with bubbles...

Surprise!

Just after Christmas, we headed to Wisconsin to surprise Dave's grandma for her 90th birthday. We traveled with Dave's parents and luckily, the plane ride went a lot smoother than the last trip to Wisconsin. Carina was very excited to go see Great Grandma and snow! As we landed in Chicago she got excited because she could already see the snow out of the window. At the rental car place she just wanted to stay outside and play. She kept taking handfuls of snow in to show everyone.

The next day was the big party for Great Grandma. She had a fun time seeing all of Dave's cousins' kids. Also visiting Wisconsin for the big party was Uncle Steve and Ben! Carina took her usual sweet time warming up to poor Uncle Steve, but he made big points with a gift of "Orange Guy" (an orange stuffed animal) and a copy of Dr. Seuss's The Foot Book. Ben charmed her by talking to her in Spanish.

We managed to make it to Madison a few times. For one of the visits we went to the State Capitol building. Dave and Carina in front of the replica Liberty Bell...


Here we are making footprints outside of the Capitol.


We managed to go swimming at the hotel pool. A very strange experience to be swimming while there was snow out the windows. We also got to go sledding with Dave's cousin's family. Carina had the right idea when it came to getting up the hill....(she's lucky Libby is so nice!)


She went down a few times, but then was happy to sit in the warm truck with Mommy while Daddy did some more sled runs. Then it was time to head home. We went and said goodbye to Great Grandma...

We stayed the night in Chicago so that we could get up early to catch our flight home. Carina was excited to get home and play with all of her Christmas gifts. I was excited to be home in warm (well, warmer) California!

Christmas Cookies

This year for Christmas I decided to give sugar cookies a try with Carina. Carina had fun helping with every part - rolling out the dough, cutting out the shapes, watching the cookies bake, and mixing the frosting. Her favorite part, however, was the decorating. She loved painting her cookies and putting on sprinkles.


About half-way through she decided that she'd rather do something else. I hurried to finish the rest. She did help with the clean up of this mess....


She was very excited to try a couple after they were all dry. They tasted pretty good! I'd say our first attempt was a success!