wide eyes + full of wonder

 what i've learned since having children, is that the holidays are more fun then they have been for years. you return to the feelings you had when you were a kid where fantasy and reality are almost blurred. everything has an excitement and the usual routines and guidelines are a little fuzzy. lots of treats, lots of surprises and everyone is full of good cheer. i absolutely love the faces of my baby girls with everything we do in the month of december. picking out a tree, trimming it, making holiday cookies (and licking the beaters!). this year the nutcracker experience was a new day of excitement and of course there are the family gatherings and the present opening. every single thing we did, meant days leading up to it full of anticipation, lots of questions and just all around joy. below are the photos that sum up our holiday fun!

happy new year friends and family. we feel so blessed to be enjoying another year. 

evia and i and two of our favorite buddies went to see the nutcracker for the first time. it was so fun to begin the holiday tradition. we loved every minute of it.

watching evia's sweet face as she watched a live production was my favorite part of the day. it felt very full circle to think of being in the nutcracker way back when (a jazz version! ;) and to be sitting there with my daughter 20+ years later

this year the tree was adorned with vintage glass ornaments inherited from grandma lu and appropriately out of reach from these little monkeys

lots of fun days baking in the kitchen. "take a picture of us mama"

december 20th's catch between gamz and d - 20 snapper

 

persimmon spice cake in honor of gamz's bday - night of fish fry

this little bug looks like this and sings with me when i take her out of the bath, melts me everytime

holiday cookie baking with my cuties, for santa's midnight treat

opening up their jammies on xmas eve at nana and grandpa's

burning the midnight oil, as we finish up the remodeled dollhouse

evia requested 8 carrots for each reindeer

xmas morning, up at the crack

mila's new play tunnel from santa

xmas morning breakfast: homemade cinnamon baked-donuughts and fritatta

modeling her new handmade-robe from mama and loving it (yay!)

santa was good to mama too! new sewing machine!

mila playing with the dollhouse

spur of the moment camping trip

 

up with the sun

 

a fun-filled 24 hours

a special outing with papa - hiking together

love ALL meals around the holiday's including italian sweet bread

evening ocean outing

butterfly preserve (they come to a special spot in santa barbara to rest up during the winter, thousands of monarchs) evia chose her butterfly wings as an appropriate outfit for our walk into the preserve

we took evia on a special date just the three of us. her first movie theater experience. what she looked forward to most, the popcorn - holding it pretty tight! and i think wound up being her favorite part of the date too!

our lunch date at paradise. we asked her what she wanted to eat and she chose a cheeseburger, so a close restaurant to the movie theater that makes a GREAT burger.

winter wonderland

this summer i had the bright idea, as it was scorching temperatures in our living room, that i wanted to experience the snow and all the chilly weather it had to offer. i wanted the kids to see what white hillsides and and branches looked like. the chance to build snowmen, ride sleds and have snowball fights were all in my master plan. the perfect snow vacation included more family than our four...with homemade meals, lots of togetherness and a fireplace to warm our frosty feet when we were done for the day. 

mammoth was the town of choice. diegas loves the eastern sierra's. we've only done two trips their together, as he spends most of his travel in the area, hunting. it was our chance to be there as a family and enjoy the spectacular scenery. it really is majestic for hundreds of miles. out the window, on the drive alone is a sight to see.

our zavala counterparts, were in, when we mentioned the idea and the planning ensued. after reading a ton of trip advisor reviews on hotels and rentals in the area we settled on a condo through homeaway.com. there was plenty of room, it was equipped with everything we needed to accomplish our ideal winter vacation and we had a gorgeous view of mammoth mountain to boot. 

some of the highlights of the trip: experiencing a cold front + a storm + waking up to fresh snow, gingerbread house construction, sledding, snowman building, snowball fights, a chilly mama's only walk, birdhouse decorating, snowflake crafts, watching movies, snuggling in front of the fire, cookie baking, deer migrating and hot cocoa sipping!

what i wasn't prepared for, were two little southern california girls, who would prefer flip flops and tank tops year round. dressing in layers and spending 1/2 hour putting on their snow clothes was torture for us as much as it was for them. tears, tears and more tears to get ready for the snow. who would have thought? a couple of times, we made it into the fluffy white snow and a couple of times we made it out the door for only 30 seconds only to return to the fire where the layers could be removed.

all in all, it was an amazing trip and we're hoping it can become an annual tradition!

our family traveling on the beautiful 395

isei, gamaiel, evia and mila - the kids first romp in the snow

on a mission to find a perfect sledding stop

the boys sledding

d with his binoculars, a familiar sight

snow angel break

isei and evia sledding

evia sledding on the golf course with papa, below mammoth mountain

the brothers chillin'

where we spent all our indoor time, fireside

evia and mila, a cozy nap together

rose and snowflake-ballerina-making = heaven

our snowman was a snow"mound"

how cute are these two? auntie becca and cousin isei

mama and evia, brrr

gingerbread house construction, evia and papa

gingerbread house building, becca and isei

the wee-est zavala and taking the cutest category in her plaid bunting

our mama-only walk only 10 degrees

eating a bowl of fresh fallen snow

evia and papa getting ready for an adventure

a cozy night by the fire -7 that night

 

elk heard

 

we scouted with diegas before returning home to witness the migration of the deer. we saw two golden eagles, the heard of elk and roughly 50 deer. it was beautiful, winter nature at it's best