Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve for us was a fairly calm day with some cooking, lots of family time and some time to relax and just enjoy the holiday.  Alden had fun getting excited for Christmas by watching the Santa tracker on the computer and getting to open a present early.  He also just enjoyed all the time with family and the fact that there were lots of people around to play with.

Our family always goes to my Grandparent's house for Christmas Eve dinner which is always lots of fun.  This year we picked up Thai food which was really yummy!  It was also nice to visit with family and be with my grandparents and aunt Jenni.  I love all my family and love getting to spend the holidays with them.

Dad and Erik making mashed potatoes to bake the next day for Christmas dinner.

Alden enjoyed sitting at the kitchen table watching the Santa tracker and seeing Grandpa and Uncle Erik cook.

Drew's grandparents gave us a package of petite fours (mini cakes) and Alden loved them.  He was so excited every time that he got to eat one.

Alden had fun playing with Uncle Erik at my grandparent's house.  I think Erik got pretty tired swinging Alden around, but Alden just wanted more.  This is a video of Alden playing with Uncle Erik and Aunt Katrina.

Alden also had a lot of fun playing with Magformers with Aunt Jenni.  Nana had got them for Alden to play with and he loved them!  Here is a video of Jenni teaching Alden about shapes with the Magformers.

My siblings all enjoying lounging on the couch!

Alden got to open Grandpa and Nana's present to him on Christmas eve and he was very excited!

He got a new duplo set!

When we got back to my parent's house that night, Alden wanted to check the Santa tracker again before bed.  I thought it was really cute watching Alden watch this.

Decorating the Pedersen Christmas Tree

Alden was really excited to get decorate his third Christmas tree of the season in California this year.  We got to decorate the Pedersen family Christmas tree with my parents and all of my siblings which was a lot of fun.  Alden had a lot of fun looking at the ornaments and figuring out which ornaments made noise.  He then had fun pushing the buttons on the singing ones over and over again and dancing to them.  It was really cute and funny.  Alden was a little impatient to start decorating the tree once we told him what we were doing.  Here is a video of Alden waiting.

This was Alden starting to put ornaments on the tree and figuring out who to get them from. Video

Alden getting ornaments from Grandma and putting them on next to Grandpa.

Alden discovered that Maren had a fun ornament that sang when you pushed a button and Maren let Alden put it on the tree.

This was Alden pushing the button on the ornament he got from Maren over and over again.  Alden had fun dancing to the music and getting Erik to dance with him.  Here is a video of their funny little dance.

Alden had fun being picky about which ornaments he wanted to put on the tree.  He got his mind set at one point on putting a kiwi ornament on the tree and would not be distracted from getting that ornament.  Here is a video of Alden getting that ornament from Uncle Erik and putting it on the tree.

Alden had so much fun playing with Uncle Erik the whole time that we were in California.  It was really fun and cute to watch.

Made it to California

So Alden and I were really excited to get to go down to California for the holidays.  We got to go stay with family for almost three weeks which Alden was really excited about.  We had to get up really early to make it to the airport in time for our flight to California but Alden was a great trooper and did amazing with all the traveling.  We were both very excited to arrive in California safely and be able to relax and spend time with family.  Alden thought it was awesome because he had people to play with all the time at my parents house!

It was nice that Alden could watch the planes taking off right outside the window that we were sitting next to.

So they actually had a man dressed as Santa walking around the airport and giving out coloring books and crayons to all the little kids.  Alden thought that was really neat!

This was our McDonald's breakfast at the airport.

Alden had fun getting to learn how to use a stamp pad with Grandma the second day we were there when he decorated a big picture for Nana. Here is a video of Alden stamping.

Alden discovered very soon after we arrived in California that Uncle Erik was loads of fun and that Uncle Erik would sit and "play" Mario Kart with him.  Alden actually just watched Erik race while he pretended he was racing too.

Pre-Christmas Present

The night before we left for California I let Alden open a Christmas present early so that he could use it in the airport and on the plane as we traveled the next day.  He was really excited to get to rip the paper and have a new toy to play with. Here is a video of Alden opening his first Christmas present of the year.

Alden helping me pick up all the paper before I let him play with his new toy.

Alden was really excited to be able to color on this and loves the circle and triangle pieces that he can stamp on the board.

Zoo Lights

Alden and I had a lot of fun going and visiting the zoo lights at the Point Defiance Zoo about a week and a half before Christmas.  Alden has loved seeing all the Christmas lights this year and he always loves animals so I thought this would be a fun outing for him and I was right.  He loved telling me about all the animals he could see and enjoyed all the lights.

This was the view that you had when you came in to the park.

Alden really enjoyed looking at all the animals and trying to figure out what they were.

Such a happy boy, excited to be out doing things!

There were so many different things to see.  One of Alden's favorites was a monkey that looked like it was swinging through the air.  I don't have any pictures of it but here is a video.

 This was a penguin that looked like it was sliding down a hill.  Here is a short video if you want to see.

I love this wolf display because I think it is really picturesque. 

This was one of the places where you could still see live animals at night.  Alden was really excited to get to see the meercats.

The polar bear display is in the middle of the park and Alden really liked it.  He kept telling me about the bears.  This is a video of Alden walking to see the bears.  Sorry the video is not really steady; I was trying to push his empty stroller, keep up with him and film at the same time.

We had so much fun together!

This was the other place where you could see live animals during zoo lights.  They had most of the aquarium open so we went in and saw a lot of the fish.  Alden was excited for any reason to stay longer and look around!  We had such a fun time together even though it was just the two of us!  I love taking Alden to things that he obviously enjoys!