Holiday Pictures

For some reason it wouldn't let me load my pictures onto the Christmas Blog so here are some of the pictures....

Aubree's Christmas Picture

Happy 11 months

Christmas Eve Pajama's

Christmas Day @ Grammie's

Opening her presents :]


Loving the presents :]

Great-Grandma Lou's Birthday

Yesterday was my great-grandma Lou's birthday! We all went down to my Uncle David & Aunt Denise's house to celebrate it. We also took our 5 generation photo & a new family photo. This one now includes my amazing husband and beautiful daughter! My grandma made lasagna and garlic bread with salad! Yummy! I must say that my grandma Lou had a great birthday. She said that this was her BEST birthday. Although she says that every year, we are glad that this year was better than the last. She of course cried and had her picture taken about a million times-- her favorite! :] We are truly lucky to be able to spend her birthday with her and see her smile. We hope that she lives to be atleast 100! :] We love you Grandma Lou!

Christmas

We hope that your Christmas was just as wonderful as our own :]

Aubree's first Christmas was absolutely wonderful... busy, but wonderful :]

Christmas Eve morning, Manuel, Hannah and I took Aubree to Say Cheese in Cerritos Mall to get Aubree's Christmas pictures taken. She was not being very cooperative. She seemed to be frightened by the photographer, so he actually set up all the equipment and let Manuel take the pictures. As soon as she realized the photographer was no longer there, she was all smiles :] I'm suprised she was scared of him though. Only because she sees him once a month for her pictures, but in the end it all worked out. We actually got a lot of really great pictures!

That evening we got Aubree all dressed in her Christmas Eve pajama's and we went to my grandma's house. After we officially stuffed ourselves with food and sweets, we had the kids open their presents from the Parsons family. They only come down for Christmas Eve so they can spend Christmas at home up in Crestline. So we opened presents and just hung out for the rest of the evening. Thank you for the super cute stuffed animal and the light up ring set :] Before we went home we stopped by my friend Shannon's house and saw some friends. Thank you Shannon & Ella for the present and the sweets!

After getting home and putting Aubree to bed, I had some last minute Christmas wrapping to do. Luckily Manuel wrapped the majority of our gifts, otherwise I would of had a whole heck of a lot more to do.... Even though I only had a few gifts to wrap, it still took me over an hour! I was so done by the time I was finished. After the whole wrapping project, Manuel taught me how to play the Playstation 3 lego version of Star Wars. I'm officially hooked. It's the kids version so it makes it easy for me to play :]

At 6:30 on the dot, Aubree woke up... She sat up in her crib and said "Mom" until I finally got up and got her. She ate her breakfast and finally started to open presents with Manuel, his parents, and I. I swear, this kid opened so many toys! And it was only the start. Things like a musical table, a ball popper thing, a car/walking aid, coach coin purse, chocolate boots <3, clothes and so much more.... After what seemed liked forever, we finally got ready to go to my mom's for monkey bread and our traditional christmas at her house.

At my mom's we did stockings, and presents again, where we got some great gifts! My mom really went all out-- fun stocking stuffers, great presents (Golf pass, going to grandma's house travel set, cookbook, mommy's planner & calendar, jewelry, uggs, & so much more... Thanks Mom!) I actually got a kit to grow my own Christmas tree one day when I have my own house! I'm so excited! What an original and creative idea! I can't wait! & Manuel won the pickle contest! YAY movie tickets! :] Date night, here we come! :]

Finally when we were done opening presents we ate some monkey bread and left to my grandma's for our traditional Wichert family breakfast and more presents. Thanks to Papa, breakfast was amazing! It definitely hit the spot! Over easy eggs, hashbrowns, bacon and toast with a big glass of orange juice! YUM! Around 2 we finally started to open our second round of stockings and third round of presents! Thank you to everyone and your great gifts! We really LOVE the educational toys!

About 4 we left my family and headed off to Manuel's where we met up with his 5 brothers, sister and their families. It was definitely a full house! We ate dinner and opened our last and final round of presents... I'll just let you guess what we got here-- MORE TOYS! Aubree is never going to run out of toys... I think it's about time that her daddy and I buy her a big toy chest! Finally around 11 we rolled into a bed and fell into a coma. Thank you to everyone for your wonderful and thoughful gifts! We were truly blessed to be able to spend our holiday time with all of you! We love you!

In the Christmas Spirit

Well it was another Christmas filled weekend...

Only a few more days for Christmas, and of course, I had some last minute shopping to do. Friday night, the three of us braved the mall. It suprisingly wasn't that crowded. We were in and out in about an hour. :] YAY! I hate crowds and rude people but it was a good time :]

Saturday I made tamales with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, manuel and at one point even with Wally. Yes I know, I actually made tamales :] I must say, they are pretty tasty! Anyways, we must of made about 400 or more. We made cheese, meat and even sweet ones too. Aubree was asleep for most of the tamale making. Thank goodness! When she did wake up, she wanted to be right in the middle of it all... of course! :] Later that night we went down to Fountain Valley to look at Christmas lights! Some of them were absolutely amazing and others were only so-so. It was super cold, but we were all bundled up and had a great time :]

When Sunday finally rolled around, I decided that I needed to get my last gifts for Manuel and not wait to go on my lunch break Monday. So, Aubree and I braved the mall. We got there right when they opened at 9. We found exactly what were looking for and were in and out in an hour :] WONDERFUL :] After Aubree's nap we went to my grandma's to hang out with my family. It was nice to get together with them and see Aubree actually able to chase after the kids :]

After we put Aubree down for bed, Manuel and I decided to look back at Aubree's pictures. I can't believe how much she has changed! It feels like I just had her and here I am almost a year later! She is so bright and just a big ball of sunshine :] This weekend she showed us that she knows where her tummy is. It was the cutest thing :]




We are looking forward to holidays and the short work week :]
Below is a video of Aubree walking :]

Aubree's Christmas Party

Yesterday was Aubree's Christmas party at her daycare center. I must say that Rosie definitely puts on a good time for the kids. Each kid had made their own stockings. She bought the traditional red stocking and each kid decorated the front with their hand prints. Aubree's hands are so small though that that added her foot prints too! Manuel and I decided that we would use this as her first Christmas stocking :] Right at the beginning of the party, Rosie had Santa Claus come. He brought all of the kids a gift as well as candy canes :] Aubree was not a fan of Santa. She actually tried to claw up Manuel's arm to get away from him. It was pretty cute :] Santa gave Aubree a baby doll. Aubree loves the doll! She has been carrying it with her everywhere! It's the cutest. :] We found out that she does NOT like Candy Canes. Haha... She spit out red all over her shirt. The kids also decorated Christmas baskets and did a gift exchange. It was a lot of fun and Aubree had a great time! I can't wait to see what Christmas has in store for us :]

A Weekend Full of Christmas

Aubree and I spent out entire weekend running Christmas errands. :] I must say that my daughter is quite the little trooper. She was AMAZING the entire time. :] She never threw temper tantrums and even put herself to sleep for her naptime at the mall. I LOVE HER :]

Saturday morning we went shopping and came back with one gift. ONE GIFT! I never thought it would be so difficult to buy Christmas gifts. I have never had any trouble in the past. I think I might be over analyzing things this year. Anyways, after Aubree's two hour nap we went to my grandparent's house to bake. In between chasing Aubree around when Auntie Hannah got too tired, my mom, grandma and I made tons of peanut brittle, two different kinds of fudge, and lots of cookies. The baking still isn't done, but we were all so tired we figured we would finish it up later on. Then on Sunday morning, Aubree and I got up and made our weekly trip to Target for her organic baby food. After that we met up with my mom, grandma, and Hannah to go Christmas shopping again. I swear, we shopped til we dropped. Luckily out of it all, we ate at one of my favorite restaraunts-- Red Robin :] YUM. After all the shopping we went to decorate the tree at my grandma's. I swear, I am suprised I didn't drop dead from all the running around. :]

Sometime in the midst of all the madness my mom (Aubree's Grammie) did end up buying Aubree's Christmas dress. It is absolutely perfect. I can't wait to take Aubree's picture in it :] Thank goodness Nordstroms has such perfect dresses :] THANK YOU MOM!

We still have lots of shopping to do, so hopefully Aubree will be just as good :] HAPPY THOUGHTS!

My goodness it was a busy weekend, but we had a blast having girls time. :]

In the Blink of an Eye

This past weekend went by so incredibly fast! I swear, it's like I blinked and the next thing I knew, it was over.

Friday night, after work, the three of us went down to the Citadel to see if we could find a Christmas sweater for Manuel. We did end up finding a really cute sweater at Old Navy for a great price! They were having a sweater sale and we definitely scored!

Saturday we got up and went to Downtown Disney to activate my Disneyland pass before it expired and did a little Christmas shopping in the Disney store. There were so many people at Disneyland! I could hardly believe it. I would have thought with the economy being so bad that most people couldn't afford Disneyland, but I was apparently very wrong. lol At the Disney store we ended up getting Aubree's first Christmas ornament. It is so adorable! It is light pink with baby Minnie Mouse on it and a place to put her photo. We also ended up picking up our Christmas Cards there as well! I couldn't help myself! So be expecting a Disney Christmas Card from the Perez family :]

Later that afternoon, Manuel set up his parents new surround system, while Aubree and I got ready for our family Christmas photos. I must tell you, Aubree looked absolutely ADORABLE! Of course she would though. :] After Manuel set up the surround system, we took our Christmas photos. That was an event in itself. We had two cameras going at once (One by Wally and the other by Ashley) while Grandma Silvia and Grandpa Joel did every silly thing they could think of to make Aubree smile. If Aubree was smiling, either Manuel or I wasn't. Eventually we got a good picture. Only after 100 shots though. lol. :] We are so excited to be sending out our first Christmas cards out as a family!

After the whole Christmas picture event, we ordered the fight. I must say that Saturday was definitely the busiest day of the entire weekend. I swear, I felt like I woke up, blinked and it was already 9pm. :]

Sunday morning Aubree and I got up and went to Target to pick up some baby food for daycare. She is so funny. The entire time in Target she was saying "cool". Her new words are "cool" and "caca". I keep telling her that "caca" is a bad word, but the more I tell her not to say it, the more she does. Such a stinker sometimes :] That afternoon we went to the Christmas Parade to watch Hannah cheer with her school - OLPH. Hannah looked so cute and was really excited that her family was there to cheer her on and take lots of pictures. :] Aubree had a great time seeing all the animals and hearing that bands play. She played with Auntie Megan's dog Charlie and with her little buddy Ella.

After the parade we all went to my grandparent's house to celebrate Dylan's 2nd birthday. He had a balloon theme! It was so cute! He was so happy to run around and play with the balloons and rip open his presents. He got a lot of great gifts and was so excited to play with them :]

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. Manuel's 26th birthday is only 2 days away and Aubree's 1st birthday is only a little over a month away now. We are so grateful for all the wonderful people we have in our lives. :]

Catching Up

Well, we decided to start up this blog because we figured it was a great way to keep the family that is far away and those we don't see on a daily basis updated :]

Let me catch you up to date!

October 13th, was Manuel & my FIRST wedding anniversary. We went to the Orange Hill Restaraunt. The food was so delicious! & the view! Oh my goodness, it was AMAZING! It was freezing outside, even by the fire pits. The wind was blowing so I could hardly feel the heat from the fire. Luckily Manuel wore his suit so I was able to wear his jacket while he froze :] Such a great husband! All in all we had a great time!

Toward the end of October we put Aubree in a family daycare center with her cousin Dylan. She has loved it from day 1. We are so grateful that she is able to spend every day with family and she seems truly happy. She never cries when I drop her off. She just reaches out for Rosie and waves "bye-bye" to me. :] I will admit that I was a little sad at first that she didn't shed any tears, but I soon realized that it just means she is super happy to be around other kids on a daily basis. It has truly helped her grow and learn too! Aubree is such a chatty Cathy! All she does is talk, talk, talk, talk, talk! She says "Mom", "Dada", "Boo", "Ball", "Zack"- Rosie's dog, "Papa", "Baba", "Yes", "No" and ofcourse, A LOT of gibberish. Oh I forgot to mention that she also has 5 teeth now and are working on a few more, that we can see anyways. :]

Halloween was a lot of fun. Manuel and I went to a Halloween party at his brother's house the Friday before. I was the darker version of Alice from Alice and Wonderland and Manuel was a zombie! He was so scary looking! We spent Halloween night with my mom, Hannah, Simon, Ruth & Dylan. Aubree only made it about 2 streets of trick-or-treating before we went home, but it was fun all the same!



Wednesday, November 26th - Aubree's 10 month birthday - She took her first few steps all by herself! It is the cutest thing ever! Everyday she keeps taking a few more steps. It's so funny how she tries to take off running before she actually gets her balance. She is trying to climb up the stairs now too! I think it's time for Manuel and I to buy a few more baby gates! :]


This past Thanksgiving, unfortunately we weren't able to spend it with my family down in San Felipe, but we did end up going to Manuel's brothers house. There was food for days. :] We definitely stuffed ourselves. I know my Papa says that you can't stuff yourself, only turkeys get stuffed, but we definitely were stuffed as full as the Thanksgiving turkey! :]

On Friday, we were brave and went shopping! We didn't leave the house until around 9am, but suprisingly the crowds weren't that bad. We first went to Carter's at the Long Beach Town Center, then to Walmart, Cerritos Mall and Babies R Us. The longest wait we had was probably the 15 minutes it took us to get into the Disney Store at Cerritos mall. I have to say that Manuel and Aubree were definitely troopers :]

We are now in December and getting ready for Christmas. Manuel put up our tree last night and started to decorate the front yard. :] It's my favorite time of the year! I can't wait to take Aubree to Disneyland to see the "snow" and all the characters! In the midst of getting ready for Christmas, we have Manuel's birthday coming up on the 10th! He is going to be 26 this year! :]

The next few months are going to be a whirlwind of activities for us, but we are more than excited! We will keep you updated with blogs and pictures!