Christmas morning videos

Christmas 09

We have really been talking to Bella about Christmas this year and all the fun things that come along with it. Eric has really gone all out in our yard and in the house to make it more fun for her. She says "Merry Christmas" and Santa, and HO HO HO! She also says snowman (we have one in our front yard), lights, tree, deer (reindeer). We started out the festivities on Christmas Eve with my family getting in from San Diego. She gets so excited to see them! We have a family tradition on Christmas Eve night, we go to my Mom's for dinner which was shrimp fettucine..yum!! We are always joined by Katherine in from Boston, which is fun. Some of her gifts included an easel, lots of clothes, a play vaccuum, more books and puzzles, a cabbage patch doll, etc. We had a great time. We got home and put her to bed and my Dad, Eric, Rhonda, and Cas had a building party by putting together her bike, kitchen, and table from Santa :) We were all exhausted by the time we finished!
Christmas morning was magical. Eric brought her out of her room, and I taped her reaction. She was just in shock of all the toys she got. IT was super cute. She was so excited about her table and chairs and decided to eat her breakfast there. We then all ate a yummy breakfast. Rhonda made homemade cinnamon rolls this year. Tradition has always been Cinnabons and her cranberry and banana bread. This year she decided to make the cinnamon rolls.. they were so yummy!!! The girls also drank mamosas. After eating, we all opened gifts. Us Hoovers really got awesome gifts this year, as always. We have many traditions that we all get every year, Eric a new pair of sneakers, me something from Tiffany, and Pajamas, My sister Suns Tickets. We all got awesome gifts! As far as Bella... I can't even list all that she got but like I had mentioned, she got a kitchen, a bike, a Tinkerbell chairs and table set, a Tinkerbell toy chest, and so much more. Christmas morning is always my favorite time spent with family, and watching Bella this year made it even better. Nino Steve then came over to open our gift and give Bella hers. Again, she was spoiled rotten! After Christmas morning here, we were off to Eric's dad and Barbara's house for Christmas with them, Grandma, and Brandon's family. Barbara made a yummy Italian lunch, in which Bella stuffed her tummy, and so did Eric and I. Bella loves her cousins, and loves playing with them. After leaving there, we head back to our house where I prepare our traditional Mexican meal. It was soooo yummy! However, Eric and I were still stuffed from lunch. Overall, our Christmas was perfect and really enjoyed our time with my Mom, My dad, Sister, Rhonda, Grandpa , Grandma, Great Grandma, Katherine, and Nino. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and can see that it will be Bella's as well. :)

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THE YUMMY CINNAMON ROLLS

EATING AT HER NEW TABLE

THE BEAUTIFUL CARD MY SISTER MADE US, SHE IS TOO CREATIVE!






ERIC AND CAS ARE GOING TO SEE THE SUNS PLAY THE MIAMI HEAT

OPENING HER PRESENTS FROM NINO

BELLA AND HER COUSIN GREYSON HUGGING

ERIC WITH 2 OF HIS NIECES


HER NEW TINKERBELL ROCKING CHAIR

18 month check up

So now is the time again to do a little bragging about our daughter...
Bella's 18 month check up (3 weeks late) was last Wednesday. She is now 34", which puts her in the 95th percentile. She is 26 lbs and in the 75th percentile. That percentile continues to decline as she grows taller :) Dr. said she is doing great, and was amazed how she counted for her to ten and all the talking she was doing! We talked about potty training because Dr. Rampley thinks she is getting ready to start going on the potty as she tells me every time she has poop and follows me to the bathroom and even pretend wipes herself with toilet paper. So, we have a potty chair for her, and we are going to set it up for her near her toys so that she can get accustomed to it. Of course we are not pushing her in any way, when she is ready, she will let us know. However, she shows such an interest in starting to potty train, the Dr. said to start soon. She also said Bella is way advanced and can probably pick it up pretty fast. Which makes me happy because maybe by the time the 2nd one is born, we will only have one in diapers :) Dr. Rampley also asked about her speech and language again, and personality traits (tantrums, etc), and Bella is doing great in both areas. She puts 2 and sometimes three words together and repeats every single word that comes out of adults mouths (including naughty words). SHe picks up words and phrases so fast it amazing to me. She can also count to 15, and say 1 through 5 in Spanish thanks to her Tata. SHe can recognize about 90 % of the letters and says them. If anyone has letters on their shirt, she will touch them and say the letters. She knows and recognizes all her numbers and says them. Funny story... Uncle Chris was here yesterday and she points at him and says "FIVE", I say "no honey that's uncle Chris", then he looks at his shirt, and he has a 5 on it. We are all laughing. She then says "NINE", because his shirt has the number 59 on it. So cute. She also followed him out to the front yard and was telling him the letters and numbers on his license plate, he was amazed, and so are we by our little smart cookie :)
Dr. Rampley asked about how many words she has, and I said I really have no idea on a count. I have tried to count by keeping a word list, but I dont even add words in there any more because she says new words every day.
Funny story about the Dr's office, she loves to play with the train tracks while waiting to go back to see Dr. , she was playing with boys in the waiting room when her name was called. As soon as the nurse opens the door and we start to walk back, Bella starts to scream. I don't mean whining crying, I mean full on scream. She knows EXACTLY what goes on at the Dr's office, and she doesnt like it! She cried for the 20 minutes we were back there. She really only goes to the Dr. for her well check ups which include her shots, so she has learned exactly why we go to the Dr. and what it entails. Lil stinker!
Another funny story, as I type this in the office, she just came over to me with her cup in her mouth , pulls it out of her mouth and says "mom, poop!". Sure enough as I check her diaper, she has poop, so Im off to change her, hopefully it won't be too long before she goes on the toilet. :)

Zoo lights

Last year we went to Glendale Glitters, this year it was zoo lights. It was pretty fun. We were joined by The Cox Family and Jen and STeve. We had a great time at the zoo, and then headed to dinner after. It was a great time! Here are pictures from the night...

COWBOYS GAME!

On December 13th, one of Eric's dreams came true, we went to a Dallas Cowboys game IN DALLAS! He was excited beyond belief. This was a weekend for us not only to go see a game in Dallas, but to also have a weekend without Bella and to just spend time the 2 of us. It was so fun! Of course we both missed her so much, but at the same time it was so nice to spend time just the 2 of us. We left Bella with my dad and Rhonda, and they had so much fun with her. They took her to the snow at Desert Ridge and just spent time with their Granddaughter. She didn't even know we were gone I don't think :)
The hotel we stayed at had 19 other people going to the game as well. So we had a shuttle take us all there, it's amazing the fan base of the Cowboys! We got dropped off in front of Walmart (which is owned by the owner of the Cowboys Jerry Jones), and I thought this would be a perfect place to get some Cowboys gear. Boy, was I right! I have never seen so much football stuff in a walmart. They have aisles and aisles of stuff. There is a separate section of clothes, that is amazing! So we bought a few things and headed across the street to the stadium. Oh, and let me tell you about this stadium.. it is absolutely awesome! Everything is state of the art. When you walk in, there is just a big open space with a dj, booths of food and alcohol, and just fun. There are multiple levels of bars and food. Our seats were high up, but still awesome. Pretty much wherever you sit, you get a good view. The game did not end the way Eric had wanted (Chargers won, woo hoo, oh I mean.. Darn it!). It was so much fun! I can't wait for our next trip just the 2 of us, maybe next time somewhere tropical :)
Getting ready for the big game!

Decorating the Tree and Outside

This year was the most exciting year to put up our Christmas tree because Isabella is here to help. Every year we get a tall and full tree. This year, Eric found the fattest one he could find, wow is it full! It is almost 8 feet and so pretty :) I love the smell of Christmas trees. We have always got real trees every year because as a child, My mom and Dad always put up real ones. We'd go to the lot and pick one together. Then, we'd go home and we'd decorate together. Now that is a tradition of the Hoover family :) Of course, Bella could only reach the bottom half, but it was so cute to watch her put them on. It was so funny to see all of her ornaments from last year and how little she was in some of the ornament pictures. Later, we joined daddy outside to watch him do the outside of the house. I am very impressed with his work, he did such a great job! I absolutely love Christmas!