Lots of Pictures

Here are some of the thousands of pictures from mid nov through the beginning of the year, in a completely random spatter. Sorry about the out of control formatting, I didn't want to attempt to fix it anymore. But you can see how much Sienna has grown and how much fun we had over the holidays!

Where have I been?

Ok, prize for worst, slacking blogger goes to me! I have been meaning to write, been wanting to, have TONS to blog about! But for whatever reasons of "life", it hasn't happened, and keeping up is tough! So here we go, one blog to catch up on lots, then I will try harder to write on a somewhat regular basis. I love having a record of these memories and events, and keeping family and friends updated, and connecting with other mamas. Of course the Molina household has been busy these last TWO months, I will break down the major events, which really would have required their own blog(s) if I was an up-to-date blogger:

1. November 20 (yes, as in last decade) I turned 29! It was a wonderful birthday! It was on a Friday so I took the day off, we drove down to the OC to spend it with my twin (Sara)! We actually drove down Thurs evening because I did not want to spend my bday morning in the car, and it worked out great cause Sienna slept the whole drive. I had a nice relaxing Sienna-filled day, had lunch with Sara and Marcey. Then we had an evening of cocktails, sushi and rockband. Sienna had a fun weekend with her Aunt Sara and Uncle Mark and Auntie Marcey. It was SO nice to be with my twin (had been YEARS since we spent our actual bday together!) and to just hang out with adults! Sara and Mark had a housewarming party Sat night (their new house is amazing).

2. Thanksgiving! This was such a nice, long weekend! It was so great not to have to travel anywhere! Thanksgiving we had a relaxing morning as a family at home, then went to Russell's aunt and uncles for the big feast. Sienna loved turkey and rolls, and being passed around/playing with family. We have so much to be thankful for, we are so blessed, so this was such a meaningful holiday! The rest of the weekend included Sienna's first time on a swing (she loved it) and a date night of wine, sushi, drinks and adult conversation with Joey and Lori. Our friends Kiwi and Kristy passed through on their way back to San Diego and stayed a night. We had a lot of fun with them!

3. Christmas! Where do I start? We had so much fun getting into Christmas mode and I have never felt this "into" the season! It was also special and important to set new traditions. As a family we picked out and cut down our (huge) tree, decorated the house, and went to see Santa (sidenote- he called Sienna a boy when she was wearing a PINK sweater and had a clip in her hair! not the best Santa out there, I think he was missing teeth). Then it was time for TWO weeks off work and my dad came to visit! Sienna had so much fun with Grandpa! Our Christmas morning, really was perfect and magical! Sienna was a bit overwhelmed (and liked wrapping paper/tissue more than anything). I can't even explain how special the day was and how much I LOVE holidays even more now that we are a family of 3! Sienna was definitely on the "nice" list this year. The most exciting gifts were a rocking horse, barn activity center, chair with her name embroidered, walker/ride on toy, cabbage patch baby doll, ball popper, super star microphone, and of course clothes! After our family morning (which included my homemade cinnamon rolls- like my mom always made), we went to Lolly and Pop's house for presents and then Great G-ma's for family time and yummy food! Then a bit of a nap and we had the family over for Christmas dinner at our house- lasagna and chicken pesto.

4. Our first family vacation! Two days after Christmas, we drove to Aunt Sara's for a night, and left the next morning to go to Dallas to visit my sister Monique. I figured Sienna would be fine on the flight, but really didn't know what to expect. I had visions of being "that" family with the obnoxious screaming baby. Fortunately, Sienna was amazing! She fell asleep before take off, had a good nap, and played/snacked the rest of the flight. She got a bit fussy towards the end, but nothing bad. We were in Dallas a week, and the first few days my sister Simone and her family were also there. It was a full house and it was full of fun! Sienna had so much fun with her cousins Blake, Syd, Dean and Ani. We bought matching outfits for the girls, made hair clips, cooked, played, and just enjoyed the time together. It snowed the second day we were there, didn't stick around, but still was exciting! We went to a couple children museums and parks, and saw a really awesome Grinch Ice exhibit (you walk through Who-ville and the story of the Grinch, all made out of Ice). It was pretty darn cold, so we did spend most of the time playing inside. We were there for Sienna's first New Years (and she woke up about a quarter till, making sure to get a midnight kiss). And Aunt Mo happily volunteered to watch Sienna for two nights so me and Russell could go out! Our flight home on the 4th was cancelled (mechanical problems) so we were forced to stay another day (bummer). This was an important day to be there, being my nephew Griffin's "heaven birthday". This marked five years since he passed away. It was an emotional day, and I am glad we were there. My sisters are everything to me, and I wish we all lived closer, it's really hard sometimes. Our flight back was also fine, Sienna was a bit sick the last couple days, but was still a trooper with the flight back and 4 1/2 hour drive home. Boy it sucked going back to work after that!

That sums up the big events. Now we are back in the work/school routine. I live for the weekend! Russell has classes Mon-Thurs and has to drive to San Luis Obispo (40 min). So Sienna goes to Lolly's house for a couple hours those days. This coming week I will be going up to Sacramento for the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium, should be interesting and fun, but REALLY tough to be away for two nights!!!

I will soon have a post of pictures (only about 8,000 the last couple months) and another post soon updating Sienna's stats and activities...