GeeGee and Poppee celebrated Christmas and New Year's Eve in San Francisco with Val, Frank and Jon. We didn't make the trek because, again, we felt it was too much for me at 7 months pregnant. We were sad to not be with Greg's family, but we were lucky enough to have GeeGee and Poppee come visit us for a few days.
Happy New Year video from the SF Drews to the LA Drews:
Opening our Secret Santa gifts together, with the SF Drews, via Skype.
Mrs. Drews and Greggie love The Getty Museum. There is apparently amazing gardens there...appropriate enough for a 4.5 year old to run around. Plus, there is a train ride from the parking lot to the Museum. So, they did manage to fit a trip in during the visit. Greggie and his mama viewed some art and Rowan and Poppee made some art:
There were other fantastic moments - a trip to the Cow's End for coffee and a walk on the Pier, Rowan to see Chipwrecked with GeeGee & Poppee while Greg and I cleaned up the Christmas decorations, lunch at In-N-Out Burger, gelato at N'ice Cream on Abbot Kinney and so much more - but we either didn't get out the camera much OR I've lost the pictures. All I know is that Rowan had a great time and so did we.
Thank you GeeGee and Poppee for another wonderful visit. We love y'all!
(pics taken January 2 - 6, 2012)
Since I was 7 months pregnant for Christmas 2011, we thought traveling to PA and Atlanta, as we usually do every year, would be tough, exhausting and stressful for me, so we decided to stay put and have our very first LA Drews-only Christmas in sunny CA. Of course, we were sad to not be with our families during the holidays and missed them very much. But, we made the most of our time off at home, spent some great quality LA Drews familly time together, relaxed, visited with friends. We actually had a really nice Christmas 2011. And, as luck would have it, the weather was incredibly warm, so we ended up at the beach 3 days in a row!
December 23rd:
First up on the Christmas activities - opening gifts from Lety, Rowan's nanny. Since art and playing cars is an important and integral part of every day they are together, Lety's gifts were exactly spot on and Rowan was thrilled! Thank you Lety!
Next up...more gifts...from Aunt Patsy, Maria & Aunt Phyllis. A huge box of wrapped gifts arrived from TX with Rowan's favorites - Captain America gear, art supplies, puzzles, race track, super hero PJs, and so much more. Thank you so much to his Aunties and Maria!
Then, a fun evening with Brendan, Parrish, Jonathan...the usual Friday night crew...with a very special appearance from Miriam, all the way from Panama!
Christmas Eve, December 24th:
Feliz Navidad from Venice Beach:
Making Christmas cookies with my little love bug.
Snacks for Santa (and Rowan).
Christmas Day, December 25th:
Santa did visit! Christmas morning.What a fantastic age for celebrating the magic of Christmas - both Santa and Jesus' birthday!
Plus, we finally let him open all the packages that Nana & PapPap sent all the way from PA. Boy, it sure was hard waiting to open those.
Look how happy Rowan is to be giving daddy his special gifts - soccer gear of course!
The weather was just sunny & perfect on Christmas Day, so we met The Moons (JP, Lilly & Hank. Unfortunately, Izzy woke up with the stomach flu) at the beach for some Christmas fun in the sun.
December 26th:
We were lucky enough to spend the day after Christmas with one of our oldest and dearest friends, Mr. Terry "TG" Gallagher... all the way from chilly Washington D.C. We took him for Mexican food, margaritas, and some beachy fun in the sun. So great to catch up with you in person TG!
What a wonderful and blessed Christmas 2011 in sunny Venice, CA! It could only have been better if we were surrounded by our families. But, we look forward to a new year, filled with many more blessings and tons of visits with our families when Baby Drews arrives in Feb/March.
(Pics taken 12/23 - 12/26/11)
We wanted to get some nice family photos for our Christmas cards this year so we headed out for some photo shoots in Venice with Parrish, Brendan (and, Evelyn in tummy), found some cool backgrounds and went to work...
I must say, I do believe I have the most beautiful boy in the world!
First, Rowan giving some love to Baby Drews, due in March:
(pics taken 12/8/11)
Photo Shoot Day 1:
Taken by Rowan:
Rowan and Ella:
(pics taken 12/10/11)
Photo Shoot Day 2:
Me and Parrish with our baby bellies. Parrish s idue on February 13th and I'm due on March 16th:
(Pics taken 12/11/11)
We spent a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving in Temecula, CA with Greg's family. Temecula is only about 2 hours southeast of LA and is beautiful wine country. We'd never been before, but highly recommend it for a quick out-of-town getaway for LA peeps. It's beautiful. It's relaxing. There's wine. Enough said.
This year we have so much for which to be thankful:
and so so much more....
Hanging out in "the Bar Room":
Hanging on the Balcony and Sunset:
Bath Time:
Egg Races:
Family Pics:
(Pics taken 11/23 - 11/27/11)
My baby no longer needs training wheels on his bike! We practiced a while ago in the front yard. It was shaky and he was afraid to not put his feet down and he kept running into things. But, last weekend, Greg took Rowan to the park to play baseball and ride his bike. He was getting all of the baseball stuff ready and couldn't find Rowan. He turned around and there he was...Rowan was riding his bike around the outfield like a pro!
Since I wasn't there to witness the momentous occasion, the next day we took Rowan to another park so he could show me his cycling skills and I could be his biggest cheerleader. Can I remind y'all...he's was just 4 years, 4 months when this happened! I'm not sure if that's too early or too late, but I'm very impressed either way! What a fun, happy, and proud moment for us all!
(Pic and video taken Nov. 6, 2011)
Rowan's been talking about his costume for this Halloween since the day after Halloween 2010! He was going to be Batman and his best friend, Charlie, was going to be Superman. He never wavered. Then, a few months ago, we were going through a magazine and he changed his mind just like that! I guess he decided Captain America was just cooler.
So, Rowan was Captain America. He decided Daddy would be Batman. And, he declared that I would be Spidergirl.
The weekend before Halloween, we found a festival at the elementary school where Rowan will go next year (assuming we don't move before then.) We thought it would be a great way to get him excited about Kindergarten and let him check out the layout of the land. We decided to get more bang for our buck (these costumes + accessories can get quite pricey) and wear costumes. Rowan was set! Greg...well, he decided that he didn't need to buy a Batman costume. He was going to pull together the best Batman costume ever from "things he already had around the house". The only thing we bought was the cape from the $.99 Store and that looked like a trash bag! Not bad for spending only $.99, but still...poor thing!
(pics taken October 29, 2011)
To be fair, Rowan thought Greg's "White Trash Batman"costume was amazing. And, noone knew us at the elementary festival. But, wifey was feeling a little embarrassed for her (Bat)man and decided we would not show up at Rowan's pre-school Halloween party or go trick-or-treating without the proper costume. As you can see...much, much better! And, it was really cool to see some of the younger kids interact with Greg. They really thought it was THE Batman. One little guy ran up and gave him a huge hug. Really super cute!
Oh...and, I talked Rowan into letting me go as a "Pregnant Lady!"
After trick-or-treating, we headed to the Walter residence for our annual yummy taco soup night (thanks Mel!!). So so good! Rowan, Charlie and Luke had a great time passing out candy to the trick-or-treating stragglers while watching a movie (see the candy bowl in Rowan's hands).
We had a fun & very happy Halloween season 2011! Wonder what costumes my boys will don next year...my bets are on the Superheros coming to life again! And, I can guarantee I won't be a "pregnant lady!"
(Pics taken Oct. 31, 2011)
After all that fun at the Pumpkin Patch, we headed over to The Moons for a Pumpkin Carving Party, complete with pumpkin decorating & carving, bobbing for apples, dinner & amazing desserts, moustaches, and a viewing of It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.
Thank you Izzy, JP, Lilly & Hank for such a fun, amazing Sunday Funday Night! Love you guys!
(Pics taken Oct. 23, 2011)
We took Rowan back to the same pumpkin patch we've been taking him to from the beginning. This year it was so much better - the set-up, the props, the photo opps. Rowan really had a blast this year...
...showing off his how strong he is and how huge his muscles are by picking up every single pumpkin there. The larger the better, of course.
...giddily running through the hay maze
...happily using the photo props (mom & dad too)
...allowing for some really great pictures in the midst of pumpkins
...posing with Casper and The Great Pumpkin
...and, being transformed into Batman.
(Pics taken Oct. 23, 2011. My belly at 19 1/2 weeks.)
