Willa's Fun Week

Willa has been going to a place down the street called "My Gym" for baby gymnastic classes. She absolutely loves it and doesn't want to leave at the end of the hour. It is basically a semi-structured free for all for toddlers in a fun room filled with all sorts of toy. I thought it would be a good way for us to meet some mommies and babies in our new area.

Willa dressed for church on Sunday morning. This adorable dress was a birthday gift from Barbara, and she's finally grown into it. 

We have been taking Willa to church for a couple of months now. The first few weeks were rough when we would drop her off at Sunday school. She would cry and scream and not want us to leave. Now, she LOVES it! She doesn't want to leave when we pick her up to go home. Whenever I say, "Willa, do you want to go to church?" She smiles huge and says, "Babies!"...meaning she knows she will get to play with other babies. 

Another trip to Lake Balboa. She always waves and says "Bye" to the ducks when we leave. 

Willa wearing daddy's bandana. 

Easter

We had the best Easter with some of our closest friends in LA. We woke up early and went to an 8:00 a.m. church service, where we met our friends Leah, Chris and baby Ave. Willa was extra excited for church because this was the first time Ave would be with her at Sunday school. 

After church, we went to Leah, Chris and Ave's house for brunch and an easter egg hunt for the girls. It was a blast...and we had the most perfect weather. How cute is her Easter outfit from Nana??

Willa was more interested in swinging than the egg hunt. 

After going home for nap time, we had friends over for an Easter dinner potluck. 

It was another fun event, everyone brought delicious food, and Willa loved having people over to play with. 

This adorable outfit was a gift from Aunt Megan last year...it didn't fit her then, but was perfect for this year.

Eddie loving his new yard.

Topanga Canyon Mall

Photos from this week

I was going through my Iphone photos and realized I had a ton of photos from this past week.

Last Friday, we visited the farm where Bryan's friend lives. Willa really liked seeing the horses, bunnies, pigs, and chickens. 

Willa kept waving to the animals and saying "hi".

Willa at a nearby playground in Encino. 

Willa has been starting to get the hang of coloring with crayons. 

Our cute little Eskimo lady!

We discovered a really cool park in our neighborhood called Lake Balboa. There were tons of ducks and a 1.3 mile footpath around the lake. There is also the most incredible playground that I have ever seen. I read online that it costed 6 million dollars to build this playground...wow!

Sitting/standing on her chair that Nana bought her :)

Standing on her chair even though she knows she is not allowed to.

Willa loves picking up phones and pretending she is having a conversation with someone.

Willa playing with Play Doh.

She was actually more into stacking the containers...

Family Hike

We discovered that there are beautiful hiking trails only a few minutes drive from our new house. Yesterday was a gorgeous day, so we decided to go for a hike. 

The trails are even dog friendly (a lot of trails in LA are not...), so Eddie was happy as a clam. 

We found this nice grassy area that Willa could run around in. She loved going up the rocky little hill and then running back down. Here are some videos...mostly to just show the beauty of the area (and the cuteness of Willa bean). 

A couple more photos

Poppy just emailed these photos, so I thought I'd add them to the blog. 

Willa loved going to Home Depot and riding on things that she probably shouldn't be riding on...Anything to keep a 16 month baby happy in Home Depot for what seemed like hours!

Poppy and Willa. Willa has been yelling Poppy's name lots since he's left. I think she thinks he is hiding or coming back. She loves Poppy!

The "Mimi" lady. Willa calls her binkies with animals attached, "Mimi's". Poppy had bought her several new ones...She loves having one in her mouth and one in each hand. 

We moved!

 Sorry about the lack of blog posts...the past couple of weeks have been crazy as we have moved! We made a spontaneous decision to move from Santa Monica to Encino, where we have rented a house with a yard, garage, and pool. We will miss Santa Monica, but will be very happy in our new home. Nana, Grandma and Poppy all came out to help (back to back to back visits)...and honestly we couldn't have done it without them. Throughout all of their visits, we were so busy that we forgot to take photos of Willa with her wonderful grandparents. She LOVED having each one of them visit and so did we. Thanks a million guys!!!

Here a few photos from the past few days. 

 

Willa and Daddy after an evening stroll in our new neighborhood.

 

When Grandma was in town, she took us to Benihana for dinner. One of Willa's nicknames is "Mrs. Benihana" (not even sure how this started...), and we have an Asian outfit that we dressed her in for the occasion.

Grandma, Willa and Daddy

 

We had our friends, Leah, Chris and their daughter, Ave over last night. Willa and Ave were born 2 days apart and have become best buddies. They kept alternating between fighting over toys, chasing the dogs, and giving each other kisses.

 Family photo at Ashby's 1st birthday party.

Ashby and Willa playing a duet.

Willa and Daddy at Ashby's b-day party. She loved the yellow balloon so much, that we ended up taking it home with us. 

Another duet.

Snuggling :)