Family

Over the last week we have had a great time with family. DaddyZabba's parents were in town and we have had many fun times. We spent Christmas day together, one day at the San Diego Zoo, and a family gathering this evening. We have had a special week.

AllyZabba Turns 2!

It is hard to believe that we have been doing this for 2 years! We have learned a lot over the course of the 2 years and we have had fun. Here's to another great year!

Zoo Tycoon

BigZabba got a computer game for Christmas called Zoo Tycoon. We sat down to play it this afternoon right after snack time:

"I brought my pretzels, because watching animals poop can make me hungry."

Fa La La La La

We wish you a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy this special time with family and friends, remembering our Savior's birthday!

Oh my, Oh my

The Pioneer Woman struck again. DaddyZabba and I attempted to make her cinnamon rolls. This just proves that really anyone can cook. As DaddyZabba said, "It is easy when someone tells you what to do." Well said.

Energy

We recently had some friends over for dinner. Their two boys and our two girls get along well and enjoy playing together. The boys have a tad more energy than the girls do. After they left BigZabba was telling us about how she was trying her best to "calm" them. DaddyZabba explained that some people just have more energy than others. She replied,

They must take two naps to have that much energy!

LittleZabba Cooks!

Can we play the game...

Every once in a while, a silly thing we'll do with BigZabba once turns into one of her favorite games. An example--just about every time BigZabba finishes her entire plate at dinner we have a conversation like this:

BigZabba: Mommy, can you play the game where you ask me where my dinner is?

Mommy: Ok, let me see, where did your dinner go?

BigZabba: I ate it.

Mommy: I don't think so young lady, did you hide it under your chair?

BigZabba: [laughing] Nope, I ate it.

Mommy: Than, what did you do with it? You must have fed it to the dog.

BigZabba: [laughing] No, we don't even have a dog. I ate it all.

Mommy: [pretend anger] Now wait one second young lady, you're going to be in a lot of trouble for lying when I find out what really happened to your dinner. Did you feed it to your sister?

LittleZabba: [laughing now too]
BigZabba: [laughing] No. I ate it...

This goes on for about 5 minutes before we'll finally admit that she must have just eaten it and the congratulations commence.

She loves a similar game about picking which hamburger is hers when we eat at In-N-Out. DaddyZabba figures out some reason why each burger is hers (except for the one she ordered). Now, whenever we order burgers, we know we'll hear, "Daddy, can we play the game where you pretend to give me everyone else's hamburger..."

So Proud

BigZabba got her first report card this week. Can you see me beaming?

Play Place Etiquette

The girls and I decided to brave the mall this afternoon for some shopping and play time. We quickly finished our shopping and headed to the play place. The girls were both thrilled to get to play on the toys and run around a bit. We were not there 2 minutes and another child decided to follow my kids around (quite close) and do everthing they did. They wanted to play in the car (with room for 2) and she somehow squeezed her body in there too (squishing LittleZabba in the process). So they moved on to another activity and she was close behind. This continued for a few minutes, with BigZabba getting really frustrated, and then it turned into the child pushing her way past them to get to the toy first. What do you do? At one point I (in my I'm a really nice Mommy voice) asked her to share the toys and let them have their turn first, but that didn't work. Then, in a tiny bit louder but still nice Mommy voice, I asked her to stop pushing, but that really didn't work either. There was a man there with her, but he clearly wasn't really watching her. BigZabba was in the middle of the play place and she literally threw her hands in the air in disgust as the girl pushed her way onto the ladybug that Big & LittleZabba were trying to play on.

At what point should I have asked him to control his daughter, or whoever she was? It really was pointless to stay because they were not enjoying their play time, they were only trying to get away from the "rude girl" as BigZabba named her. So we packed up and wouldn't you know it, the second we stood up to leave, they left too. Perfect timing!

Merry Christmas

From the AllyZabba family to yours. We wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Google Knows Me!

There was a time when you searched for "allyzabba" on google, the top line would say,

Did you mean: alibaba

Now when you search for allyzabba we are all over the place! If by chance you happen to search for "allybaba" google asks,

Did you mean: allyzabba

I love that!

True Fan

DaddyZabba just made the Airwolf theme song my ringtone! I am a true fan.

Happy Birthday

Today LittleZabba turns 2 years old! She has brought such joy to our lives. She still loves to sit on the couch and cuddle, loves her Mommy and Daddy time, and loves to be with her big sister. LittleZabba is such a light in our lives. I love her more and more with each day. She can brighten up any room with her awesome smile.

I love you all the bones in my body, all the stars in the sky, all the sand and the sea, and so much more!

Cake & Candy Supplies

I took my annual trip to the cake & candy supply store for my Christmas candy supplies. As I was paying I noticed a brown box on a shelf behind the counter. Written in black marker on the side of the box: X-rated Molds

Two questions:
Dare I ask what was in the box?
Is there a high demand for those molds?

To Santa, Love BigZabba

A Pet

Mommy, when can we get an animal? Like a pet. Like maybe a fish or some turtles, but definitely not baby crocodiles.

Super Star

Yesterday BigZabba was given a Super Star Award at school for being an excellent student. We are so proud of our super star! She even won a free ice cream cone. What a lucky girl.

The Winner

Today while hanging out with our friend, Erin (she said i could use her name) BigZabba wanted to hear a story about when she was little. Erin told BigZabba about when she and her friend were having a race to see who could climb to the top of a tree first. Erin got to the top first, but her shoelace got caught on the tree branch and she fell through the branches to the ground.

Instead of BigZabba asking if she got hurt, or saying something comforting about her dramatic fall she said,

Well, at least you won.

The Last Days

It is time to wrap up the Australia trip. (i have been dragging this out for far too long)

After waking up to this on my pillow DaddyZabba was kind enough to allow us to change hotels. Our place wasn't all that nice to begin with, and he knew that I probably wouldn't sleep in the bed again knowing that there were probably more hiding in there somewhere. Yes I feel a tiny bit high-maintenance, but this roach was about 3 inches long!

Once the whole room change was settled we had a nice day at the beach followed by a fun dinner right along the water. It was kids eat free night, so we had to go! LittleZabba spilled water all over DaddyZabba's dinner, but he didn't like it anyway, so we returned it for something different that he didn't like either. Now it is his turn to feel high-maintenance!

The following day we packed up and got ready to go home. We took one last walk along the beach before we piled into the taxi and left for the airport. We had a wonderful vacation. We are so blessed to have had the opportunity to visit Australia as a whole family.

The Goods

Today I received my finisher shirt and Tiffany key chain from the Nike+ Women's Half Marathon. The shirt is really cool. Race shirts are generally not all that nice, but this one I plan on wearing.

I also just had to include the City of Angels Half Marathon medal in the photo.

After 13.1 miles the goods better be worth it!

Koalas

Here is a fun picture of us at the Taronga Zoo. (i just got around to scanning it)
Enjoy.

Race Results

My official results:

Do I Know You?

You look familiar. Have we met before? These are questions I get asked almost on a daily basis. Then it dawns on them, I think you look like an actress. What is her name?

I reply, Mary Stuart Masterson.

Yeah, that's her. You really do look like her.

What do you think?

Hillsong & Bondi Beach

We stayed in an apartment while in Manly Beach. The first night we were there I had to do laundry since we were all out of clothes. After a few hours of waiting, and sore hands from wringing I discovered that the washer and dryer did not work. We had clothes hanging from everywhere for a few days. The air was so moist, since we were so close to the beach, and the clothes were so terribly wet, they did not dry for many days. When they did dry they had an unpleasant moldy smell. That was successful.

On Sunday we got up and took a ferry and 2 buses to get to church. We visited Hillsong Church. It was a great service. We were so impressed with everything about it. The worship was great, the kids program was fun for the girls, and the people we so welcoming and friendly. We met 2 ladies who sat with us and told us some thing we should visit while we were in town.


After church we took a bus and then a train to Bondi Beach. It was the last day of Sculpture by the Sea. We thought we should see it while we had the chance. After a great lunch we took a walk down to the beach and looked at the various sculptures.

It was a really warm day and the water looked so wonderful. Ah if we only had our swim suits with us.

Sunday Plans

Sydney Aquarium

One night, after the girls went to bed, we were in our room reading when suddenly we heard loud booms. We looked out our window and saw a great fireworks show over the Sydney Opera House. It was beautiful! It was so fun to watch the show, hear the music & the cheers.


The next day we went out to visit the Sydney Aquarium. BigZabba, who loves animals of all kind, had a super day. She loved seeing all the huge fish, and especially loved the Nemo tank. They had all the fish seen in the movie Finding Nemo. She was thrilled to see Dori. All of us enjoyed the large tanks. There were 3 large tanks that had walking tubes in the them. We walked through the tanks and saw seals, turtles, rays, sharks, all kinds of fish..etc. It was very neat. Some of the sharks were laying on the tubes so we could see their bellies.

One of BigZabba's favorite places to eat was Pancakes on the Rocks. I think she loved it so much because they served pancakes topped with ice-cream. Who wouldn't love that!?


Now it is time to leave Sydney and head to Manly Beach. More stories to come...

AllyZabba Baby Talk Give-Away

Our big announcement in celebration of our two year anniversary: We're giving away over $600 in prizes in a fun contest.

Are you good at baby talk? Enter to watch and listen while LittleZabba tries her first words. It's fast, free, and fun for the whole family. For each correct guess, you earn another entry into our drawing and a chance at over $600 in prizes from AllyZabba and our contest sponsors.

Click Here Now to see the prizes and enter for free!

Play Day

While in Australia DaddyZabba spoke at the AEAF convention. While he was busy with that the girls and I went out for a day of shopping. We spent the day with a local (my friend's sister who lives in Sydney). She took us to a little town not far from the city. There we visited a lot of cute shops and cafes. We had a very nice afternoon together.





We ended the evening with a great dinner at The Malaya. They serve the food in different courses, and we were able to try many different kinds of food. The girls however really only ate rice for dinner that night, they were not as impressed with the food as we were!

We've Been Elfed!

Click to see the elves in action!

Wildlife World

I wanted to write a bit about our trip to Australia. We had a super fantastic time.

On BigZabba's birthday we spent the afternoon at Wildlife World. BigZabba loved looking at all the bugs. She really liked the stick bugs. It was actually hard to try to find all of them on the plant.

We also enjoyed seeing the kangaroos and the koalas. BigZabba's new favorite animal is a kangaroo. She bought a necklace with a kangaroo charm just to prove it!




One of the highlights was going into the butterfly habitat. There were thousands of butterflys. BigZabba was lucky enough to have one land on her hand. She was thrilled.

To top off the day, when we returned to our hotel, waiting for us in the room was... Happy Birthday BigZabba.