Mommy and Me time

Kayla is getting to be so interactive! There is nothing better in the world than her fits of uncontrollable laughter when we play. I especially love playing peek-a-boo with her. She is such a happy little spirit and so full of life!

hello world!

Kayla's new favorite crowd pleaser is the wave. Whenever anyone says hi to her and waves, she waves back, often accompanied by a huge toothless grin. On this particular day, she requested to wear her "Poops I did it again" shirt from Auntie Amy. Which I find very apropo, given her huge portions at lunch and dinner, followed in quick succession with leaving me 'presents' during changing time. It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it....

New York Part Deux

Well Greg and I just came back from another trip to New York, my second in two weeks! This trip was purely for fun, and because we got amazingly cheap tickets ($300 for two round trips, unheard of....go Virgin America!) It was great timing because Susie and Henry are only in NY for a few more months. We traveled with our college friends Amy and Tyler - good times were had by all.

What did we do on the trip? Well let's see....Friday we ate breakfast when we got in, then rested all day from our grueling red eye flight and ate dinner at a yummy Italian place. Saturday we ate lunch at Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill, napped in the afternoon, and dinner at the amazing Sushi Samba.

A ridiculous amount of sushi.....

consumed in mere seconds. Like a pack of hungry wolves - we have no shame!

Then Saturday night we went bowling, and in perhaps the highlight of the trip, late night Karaoke with Susie's friends!

On Sunday, lunch at Joe's Shanghai, a great dumpling place, a bit of shopping, afternoon nap, and dinner at Habana Grill. Huge portions and we ate all of it! By this time we began to notice a trend of eating and sleeping the day away. Sadly, but not surprisingly, I did not get one picture of New York itself. We were too busy chowing down to look up and see the beautiful skyline, take a stroll through Central Park, or any other tourist attraction for that matter. But it was just the trip we wanted and needed!

Back from New York!

I was in New York all last week for the annual Toy Fair. Some of the highlights of my trip were getting to see Tony Bennett (he was on my flight, in coach! just kidding, first class of course), eating on the company expense account, and seeing former boy bander and former Mr. Jessica Simpson, Nick Lachey. He was on hand in our Mattel toy fair gallery as we unveiled the 40th anniversary Hot Wheels car encrusted with diamonds and worth $140,000.

Can you see me in the picture?! Half of my face can be seen on the far left of the picture behind the guy with the leather jacket. Ahh, so close to fame, and yet so far!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! It is now the year of the rat. Kayla is a Golden Pig, the year that just passed. This special once-every-sixty-years animal is supposed to be very lucky and wealthy (her parents can only hope! :) ) Last weekend we went to dinner with the Lee side of the family. Really yummy food and Kayla really enjoyed her first red envelopes....will definitely be put into her college fund!

king of the house

Stoli always punks us. Whether he's sitting right on top of our freshly laundered clothes or blocking the space heater with his whole body, we've been resigned to the fact that he pretty much rules our household. Last night he had the nerve to sleep on my pillow, with my head still on it! Needless to say, this morning I woke up to a nice crink in my neck from trying to sleep around him. Which reminded me of some of his past transgressions, only a few of which were caught on camera.

who says it never snows in LA?

Today was "Snow Day" at Kayla's school. They trucked in tons of snow for the kids to play in! Kayla got to touch snow for the first time. Here she is with her 'best friend' Kalissa, feeling the situation out.

But as you can see, she decided the snow wasn't her thing. She's definitely an LA girl.

The older kids looked like they were having an absolute blast though! Maybe next year...

the stork visits!

How cute is this idea?! I had to include one more picture of Attie and Kayla (with Joy and I as well) because of the cute stork in the background. I love it!

And come to think of it, this may indeed be our first picture with another mother/daughter duo. Wow I am feeling old - to think Joy and I were college roommates how many years back? I think 10!

weekends are made for fun!

This weekend, like all others, was pretty much centered around Kayla. She is really starting to enjoy bathtime now, as evidenced by this picture.

She is also SO close to crawling! She gets up on her knees and rocks back and forth until she a) instead manages to go backwards and get frustrated or b) lurches forward and falls flat out, causing her to momentarily 'airplane' before starting the process all over. For the time being, she is content rolling around to get places.....the caregivers at daycare call her their little 'rollie pollie'.

virtual reality

On Friday I finally got LASIK done - yippee! Just in the first few days it has been life changing...no more hunting around the nightstand in the middle of the night so I can put on my glasses to see what time it is, no more Kayla prying the glasses from my face followed by a game of keep-away (she always seems to win), and no more glasses fogging up while I'm trying to cook, causing Greg uncontrollable fits of laughter. The whole first day the dr made me wear what I like to affectionately refer to as my 'virtual reality' look. I think it suits me, don't you agree?!