Santa Claus is coming to town!

Mason learned a lot of Christmas songs this season, and he knew this one the best by far! He's hamming it up a little bit for the camera, but I still think he did a good job until he started talking about being naughty.. then he remembered that he decided he was being a little too good and it was all over from there!


P.S. I just made a bunch of updates to my blog today about our December and Christmas activities... so be sure to go all the way down!

P.P.S. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! =)

Christmas Morning in our NEW HOUSE!

Shane and I went to bed at about 12:30 am leading up to Christmas Morning. And we both woke up at 3:30 am... lol! And every hour from there on out until Mason woke us up at 7:00 am. We were both SO STINKING EXCITED! This year Mason really got Christmas and everything about it. He knew all the songs. He knew all about Santa and his reindeer, and he knew that we were celebrating Christmas and getting presents because we were celebrating Baby Jesus's Birthday.
When Mason finally woke us up on Christmas Morning... he could care less about going down stairs to see if Santa had come. All he wanted to do was snuggle right between us in our bed. After about 20 minutes of snuggling, Shane and I couldn't stand it any longer and we had to CONVINCE Mason to go down stairs and see if Santa had come.

It wasn't until he saw all the presents and that his stocking was STUFFED full of things that he started to get really excited!

Here's Mason after he dumped his stocking!
He wasn't very interested in opening any other presents after he got his tool belt on, and a sucker planted firmly in his mouth. He was pretty content.
Mason and I on Christmas Morning.

Christmas Eve with the Dahls

Here we are on Christmas Eve!
This year Shane's parents had all their Children and Grandchildren together for Christmas.
Kyle and his family live in the Sacramento area (Roseville) and were able to make it down this year for Christmas.

When we are all together there are 14 adults, and 22 grandchildren under the age of 13! (with two more on the way!!)
(Grandpa Dahl telling Christmas stories to all the little Dahls)

(Shane and Ethan - Brenden's youngest!)
The cousins have a lot of fun when we all get together. There are 18 boys and 4 girls! So the 4 girls tend to stick together and the boys run all over the place having a ball!

(Mason & Braden)
Shane's mom works very hard all year long to get special gifts for each of us. This year the kids LOVED their warm, cuddly blankets, each personalized with their own names on them.
She also gets all the grandkids new pajamas from Grandma & Grandpa every year. Both are hits in our house. (Mason sleeps with his new Thomas blanket every night!!)
Here are some other pictures we caught through out the party!

(Mason & Trevor)


Mason got a Tractor for his big gift from his cousins this year!Luke was too tired to even finish his lunch! (Luke is Darian & Jacque's youngest)

Christmas Eve with the Whitakers

You can ask any Whitaker family member what day of the entire year is their favorite, and I can almost guarantee that everyone of them will say CHRISTMAS EVE!!! It's no secret that my mom throw's a VERY fun party at her house every year!


We start off the night with all the Whitaker Family (Including my Dad's extended family who all come out from Victorville area!) and also a variety of family friends as well gathering together to pig out on the biggest spread of food!

Then we move into my mom's Front Living Room (which all of a sudden feels very tiny when 60 people are huddled together in one room!) and we sing every Christmas song/carol at the top of our lungs while my mom plays away at the piano! Some years we want to sing EVERY LAST SONG in the book. Other years we pick a song per page and rush through the caroling so we can get to the THE PRESENTS!!!

Mason had a ball playing with all of his cousins and dancing and spinning round and round during the Christmas caroling. He's such a ham, and because he's the youngest, he's got EVERYONE'S attention! (and he knows it!!)



My family plays the Present Steeling game. Every year we try to find a $20-25 gift that is worthy of becoming the best present to be stolen. This year had no let downs! All the presents were good and there was A LOT of steeling to do!

The little kids take part in their own present exchange that involved NO STEELING. Steeling doesn't go over well with a bunch of little kids... lots of tears! lol...

Another fun tradition we have in our family is opening up just ONE present on Christmas Eve. We all know what this present is going to be... Christmas PJ's.. but it's still exciting and fun.

Here is Mason in his Christmas PJ's this year. His Shirt says.. "Dear Santa, It wasn't me!"
We felt that was appropriate for Mason this year... since he is TWO!

A Child of God...

I had a lot of last minute Christmas shopping to get done the week before Christmas, so instead of fighting the crowds at South Coast Plaza I decided it would be fun to take Mason down to my old stomping grounds at Fashion Island to see their enormous Christmas tree. On my way there I had an impromptu thought to take Mason over to the Newport Beach temple first so he could walk around the grounds and feel the special spirit there.
As we got out of the car and started walking towards the temple Mason looked up and pointed to Angel Moroni on the top of the temple and said "Look Mommy, A child of God!" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that moment! So I decided to use his sweet remark as a teaching moment and told him who that was... "It's the Angel Moroni and that he is indeed A Child of God." I'm glad that I listened to that still small voice that said.. I know you have a lot to do today, but it wont take long to walk around the temple grounds with Mason for a few minutes.

He loved stopping and smelling the flowers.
And he also loved that big fountain out by the temple.

I couldn't get a good picture of him because he was too busy driving his car around the fountain (and throwing it into the water every chance he could get...) We did eventually make it over to Fashion Island and I was able to finish up the rest of my Christmas shopping that afternoon. Here are a few pictures I snapped in front of the tree.

Christmas at Daddy's Work

Shane's Building is very good at throwing parties for each and every Holiday for it's employees and the resident's. One of the best parties they throw is Lunch with Santa. One of the Doctors looks forward to dressing up as Santa and passing out gifts to the employee's children and the resident's families that come.

Mason WOULD NOT sit on Santa's lap this year, no matter how hard we tried to bribe him! Candy... presents... NOTHING was going to get him to do it! He wouldn't cry, he would just say, "NOPE!" and run as far away as possible in the opposite direction!

So Daddy got to take this fun picture with Santa instead!
Santa was kind enough to let Shane pick out a toy for Mason and he picked out a car.
We wrote letters to Santa this year. We figured Santa would understand!
Mason had a good time 'zooming' his car up and down the halls of Daddy's office.
And in the Rehab Room.

Christmas at Disneyland

Well it's no secret that I am completely addicted to Disneyland, and that of course doesn't change during the Christmas season!

Mason and I had the opportunity to go several times in the month of December.

His favorite thing right now is the Small World ride.


One of my most favorite things is the firework show.
They do a really good job, and at the very end of the show they make it 'snow' on main street.
Usually Mason and I go to Disneyland during the day, so he has never been able to see the show at night. Since Shane had to DJ most weekends this Holiday season, I asked Lynne to join us and it turned out to be a very fun night!
Mason has a special connection with his Lynne-y and he just giggled and played with her while we were waiting for the fireworks to start. He would take his blanket and 'hide' with her every chance he could get!

He absolutely LOVED the firework show.
He was pointing and smiling and ooohing and ahhhing the entire time! His most favorite part was the snow at the end of the show!
I love seeing these things through his eyes!

Sledding

Mason really grasped the concept of Christmas this year and it was so fun for Shane and I!

One of the things he talked about the most was how Santa was going to come and bring presents and snow.

We were having a hard time trying to explain to him that even though it was December that where we live, in the beach cities of Southern California, there would sadly be no snow... that is until Shane's sister called us up and asked if we would be interested in going to her kid's school for a Christmas Carnival where they in fact would have sledding with REAL snow!

It was pretty much just enough snow to make a slide out in the field on the grass, but Mason could care less! He had a blast and didn't want to do anything else put go down the slides.


Here he is racing with his cousin Jaden.
Mason used every last one of his 'Tickets' on the sledding.

To his cousins disappointed, Mason decided that he was a BIG boy and wanted NOTHING to do with sharing his sled with any of the other kids. He wanted to go every time all by himself!

Here he is enjoying his prizes with his cousin Trevor at the end of the carnival.

November 2008

Here is a little more catch up for November. I apparently wasn't very good at getting out taking pictures this month, because I only have a few. But there was LOTS to celebrate in November!

First being my 5 year anniversary with Shane on the 22nd.

Also of notable mention was my 32nd birthday on the 21st.

Shane was sweet and took me to Macaroni Grill for my big day with Mason. Then on Saturday (our anniversary) we got a sitter for the afternoon and went to go see Twilight and afterwards get some dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. That was the ONLY thing I wanted for my birthday/anniversary.

Thanksgiving was also eventful for us. We had our very first Thanksgiving at our own house. I was a little nervous at first. We had NEVER done a Turkey, and I was worried about just how it was going to turn out.. dry, undercooked, burnt! lol! BUT the turkcy did turn out well (with a lot of help from Shane's Mom who came over at 7 am!!).

We had 20 adults and 17 kids at our house that day. It was a little bit of a mad house since it rained that day and the kids were a little cooped up inside, but it turned out to be fun! Would I do it again? Absolutely! I regretefully don't have a single picture of this kitchen since I spent most of my time in the kitchen!

Here are a VERY few of the pics that I took in November... that have NOTHING to do with this post! haha! This pregnancy I have felt a little more blah then I remember while I was pregnant with Mason. And since November was the bulk of the time I felt blah.. I didn't worry to much about taking pics! So I promise December there will be more!

Mason and Lynne at Pat & Oscar's for Jeff's Eagle Project Fund Raiser! Mason was trying to copy Lynne.. too cute!

The last three pictures are of us at Chuck E. Cheese. My best friend, Jameia's twins turned 3, and they celebrated here! Mason had a blast! Aparently all birthdays need to occure at Chuck E. Cheese from here on out because when we talk about Birthday's, that's the first thing Mason is says to me now... "We're going to Chuck E. Cheese??"

The mind of my 2 year old as seen by Lynne

I have to thank my niece Lynne for coming over last night to watch Mason so I could go see Shane sing in his Christmas concert. She lives super close to us now and I love that we get the opportunity to have her over more often.

While I was gone last night, she caught Mason in action... and it was pure comedy. You can read about her night with my cute little 2 year old here. My most favorite part is at the VERY end, so be sure to read everything!

Thanks Lynne for helping us out last night!

(Shane also had an amazing performace last night as well! Good job honey!)