Ready to Rock {Keyboard Style}

Loving her new keyboard from aunt Nadine.

{Musical} Christmas

Luella has left her love of Sesame Street, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Super Why for Fresh Beat Band. It is a show with four people in a band...think "Saved by the Bell" meets "High School Musical" for preschoolers. It is because of this show though, that her love for music has developed. She discovered a recorder at Bunya's house the other day, made herself a stage, set the recorder on the ground, counted, 1-2-3-4, picked up the recorder and played her heart out.

This year Lu asked Santa for presents...kinda vague, but at least he couldn't go wrong. This year Santa brought Luella a drum. She also received maracas, a key board, and Elmo Rock Star with drums, a microphone and a tambourine.

Lu loves to pretend she is in a marching band and will give anyone that will play along an instrument to march with her while she plays her drums.

Christmas {Joy}

Let the Christmas Traditions begin...We are on year two of celebrating Christmas Eve in Long Beach at Tantalum. My mom's (Ya Ya, her version of Grandma) birthday is Christmas Day but to make her day special we try to celebrate on Christmas Eve away from all the hustle and bustle.

We are on year one of my Mom and sisters joining us for Christmas Morning at our house. It was fun to have everyone together to see Lu on Christmas Morning. Luella was soo much fun! She loved both opening her presents and delivering everyone else there goods.

It was a good morning. I am pleased to announce I got a pink snuggie and Luella was so excited that I too had my own "pinky blanket" just like hers and I got a big hug and and a "I love you mom!"

Aaron took Luella to buy me some Christmas presents, this year she picked out two different wallets and a pair of earrings. They were way overpriced and I am sure that it took everything in Aaron to just go with it. He reassured me it was ok to return whatever I wanted and Luella and he would not be upset. Don't tell her I returned the wallet (they were actually falling apart)...I felt bad the next day when she asked..."Mom, you like your wallet?" and I didn't have them anymore. Luckily, she is two and has probably forgotten by now!

Being all together this year, my sisters, mom and I got to wear our traditional matching pajamas!

After Christmas morning we went to Bunya's House (Aaron's Mom) for present and food and returned back to our house where my family had turned the Christmas morning mess into Christmas Dinner for my side of the family. Luella had fun with her family and fell in love with her second cousin Alex. She delivered and help him open his presents in her beautiful princess jacket that she got from Nana (her great grandma) and Don. (I usually have to bride her with candy to get her to put a jacket on, this one she wouldn't take off!!). The next day she asked if the "Family was coming to NuNu's house" because she wanted to "see the boy" (Alex), she also asked to wear her jacket again! It was so nice to be able to celebrate with so many people, to stay home and to most importantly not get sick!

The night ended with LuLu and YaYa playing castle. Luella calls the princesses "fairies" and princes "fairy boys"! very cute.  She is growing up and making Mama less stressed out about these magical moments like Christmas.

A Girl with a Mission (Santa 2011)

It was time to take our traditional trip with the fords to Disneyland to see Santa. Luella being two I was not sure if she would be freaked out or not to see the big man, but I learned something about her this day...if she has a mission she will not let anything get in her way to complete it.

At day care, Lisa prepped her for Santa all day. She told her how she would sit on his lap, and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. I am sure she also told her that if you don't tell Santa want you want then you won't get anything.

As we got tot he park Luella was antsy and we didn't know why. She just needed to accomplish her mission. As soon as Santa was in sight Luella looked at me and said in the most serious voice I have heard yet..."I NEED to talk to Santa." I explained we had to wait our turn and she was patience. Although she did insist that "NuNu was first to see him", before Jacob and Jon Jon.


It was our turn, she ran up to him, said "Presents" and then was ready to be on her way...she caught Santa off guard a little in the fact the he didn't even get ask her what she wanted. He said "yes, yes, presents, good" and scooped her on his lap for a photo. Luella wasn't too keen about the lap part, but not a tear was shed!! She did it! Mission accomplished.

The next day she explained to Lisa, that she didn't want to talk to Santa, but she wanted presents!

Birthday Party {Megan's 5th)

New experiences as a mother are way more fun and/or disappointing then I could have ever imagined. Holidays usually end up with sickness, trips and adventures that are suppose to be fun end up in tears (either Luella's or mine) or we don't ever make it to our destination at all because Luella will refuse to get dresses. So because I was excited for Luella's first birthday party experience, I was also ready for the disappointment of the day turning into a disaster. Especially since the morning started out disastrous with Luella melting all morning long. But the party was fantastic and she is still talking about it. Luella was such a big girl building her bear and waiting her turn. She got into the birthday spirit and I was a proud mama that day!

She picked out a dragon that she named "Giraffe"! Clever...

We got to pick out an outfit and get "Giraffe" dressed.

(Luella's Classic Pirate Smile)

Proof of the good day...smiles!

And to end the party, the best cake Mama ever tasted at Storytellers Cafe. Yum!

Tom Boy {Diva}

 

Lu at 2 and a Trip to Eldorado Park. Luella is quite the Tom Boy. She loves to wrestle, will only wear clothes that are cotton and comfortable, while NEVER put a clip, a rubber band, or even a brush near her hair. She kicks and screams and bites and wants to rip our face off when she is mad. This is something we are working on. She's got aggression and doesn't know where to put it. As of now, we kind of have it under control. She just spits on inanimate objects or pretends to violently grab bites of your face and eat them. Did I say we have is under control...just checking? She is an emotional roller coaster. Happy, sweet, hugging and kissing, clapping with joy that we are going to the park. Happy to hold mom's hand and up for the adventure.

We started our adventure in the Nature Center checking out the giant pine cones with Papa.

Next we attempted a family photo. Lu didn't want to do this, as you can see, and this is were her Diva kicked in...

We started our small walk to find animals and she became, well 2...

Off she goes, happy again, to only turn again for the worse, screaming at imaginary people on the path and refusing to get off the ground. She finally settle for this log, but you can see she is clearly not happy and I am keeping my distance.

 

We finally just gave up and started walking back to the car, she hesitantly followed and while still yelling and kicking something led her to this tree..."Maybe if I bite the tree I will feel better"...it must of worked because after that she was willing to hold my hand again.

After we got to car we were all silent in frustration, then her sweet little voice was heard again...."Sorry Mama, Sorry Papa!" And that is usually how it goes.

Thanksgiving {Sick? No!}

It seems to be a common theme in the Volkoff house, being sick on Holidays. What can I say, we have crappy sinuses and don't handle stress well, I guess. We had great plans of visiting my Nana (Lu's Great Grandma) in Blue Diamond, NV, but instead we had Thanksgiving in our Pajama's at home with just the three of us and Grandpa. Aaron made the most yummy turkey we ever ate. It was mellow, simple and perfect. Here is the only captures of the day...snapping green beans. I love that Lu is my little helper in the kitchen. She loves helping us cook. I forsee many strange concotions in the future that she will want us to try.
Whether the ear infection was getting to her, or the delirium from fighting a nap, Luella invented some strange strainer dance, while singing and pretending to eat and cook.

By the weekend we were all feeling a little bit, and headed to one of Luella's favorite winter spots...the beach to build sand castles.

 

I love this little one!

{Papa} Like Father, Like Daughter

Luella and Papa got a lot of bonding this Fall. With me at school more and tired from baby Grace growing my belly Papa is often the only fun one in the house. They bond over games of "Pinky Blanket", chase, stealing each others food, and just basically anything that involves antagonizing one another. There are the sweet but love to wrestle and have other special games like "Ribbit", "I can't put you down if your legs are like a frog", "Come on Little Buddy" and "Papa Save Me".  I like to call her a Tom Boy Diva...if that is even possible.

Halloween {Oh Yes, Candy is Magical}

The week prior to Halloween the kids at Day Care brought there costumes to wear. Luella yelled at everyone to take theirs off and definitely did not put hers on. It was the softest one I could find, that did not require a hat...a cute little strawberry. Needless to say, my stress over holidays was added to the anticipation of this one with her reaction to 5 for her friends. So instead of the costume, I made a last minute dash to Old Navy. There I was happy to find a hello kitty shirt and cute pumpkin for candy. We got her dressed and off to the traditional Ford Halloween Shindig we went. It was fun and mellow and just the right atmosphere for Lu. When it was time to go trick-or-treating I was prepared to be disappointed and gave myself the pep talked "she is little, it's not a big deal." After the first house (a scary one too), what I realized about Luella is that candy is magical. She went to every house grabbed as much candy as she could and was off to the next. She loved it, and so did mom....success. Moral of the story is...As long as Luella does not have to wear a costume and candy is involved, we were good.