Since I didn't have access to a computer to send everyone a Christmas greeting, its coming now with your New Year's greeting... I figured it was better late than never.. :) At least I made it in time for New Year's. :)
Anyway....

Moving on to the point....


May 2009 be a happy, healthy New Year for all of you!


Best wishes from Michele, Kayla, Cubby and our 2 fish; Cali and no name yet for the blue one.


I will have a new post from Christmas Day and up till yesterday about my stay with Grandpa and Grandma, but in the meantime, check out Mom's post from yesterday titled: Gray Whales turning out to be ORCAS. She will have a post out in the next week on Anacapa Island, Winter in Tehachapi, Common Dolphins, and on Gorillas. Within a few weeks, she should have I.D.'s on the Transient Orcas she saw this last week and some information about each of them.

Merry Christmas.....

Hello Everyone..... Merry Christmas! Sorry for not posting sooner, but mom's computer is down right now, and I have so much to post! I forgot to bring my camera to grandma's so I will have to post the photos from the last couple of weeks when mom gets her computer back and I get home. Right now I am using grandma's camera and computer. :)


I have been very busy over the weeks making my Christmas gifts for friends and family, baking cookies and bread for my doctors, and trying to stay healthy with all these weather changes and winds. (photos and post coming soon.... )


Right now I am at my grandma's in Bear Valley Springs (Tehachapi) waiting for the snow to come. There is a lot of snow across the valley and in the shade as they have received up to 14" over the last week in a half, but most of it was gone when mom and I arrived Tuesday evening. But it sure is cold (high: 33 not including the wind chill) and windy here. A photo from outside my grandma and grandpa's backyard. You can see some of my grandma's garden boxes.



My grandpa and grandma's snowman direction sign in their front yard that I just love. :)


We opened presents last night (Christmas eve) because I always sleep in late (not a morning person) and grandma, grandpa and mom get antsy waiting. They are so impatient! So since I am a night owl, we opened them last night. I was a bit tired though because I baked a lot yesterday during the day.







I was a bit tired though from baking a lot yesterday during the day. I made Reindeer cookies and helped make an apple pie. Baking just wears me out!

I am rolling the cookie dough into balls before flattening them as I am doing below. :)

Now I am putting on the nose (red m&m's)

the final touch.....

A little bit about the beginning of the week... Grandma came down to my house in Ventura on Monday after she dropped off my great grandpa and grandma at my great aunt's. Grandma, mom and I went to the mall as I still needed to do my Christmas shopping and I can't shop for mom with mom... I got a few things for mom, but didn't have any kind of a reaction till I found mom the perfect rain boats! Crazy look! I loved them and cracked up laughing when grandma showed me them. The pure color one was so boring, but I loved the crazy look. This is what I ended up getting mom. :) If you didn't know that I like crazy colors, well I DO!

On the way home from the mall, mom drove up some streets that had a lot of Christmas lights. I love looking at Christmas lights. We saw some beautiful ones.


Tuesday mom had to work, so grandma and I went for a cold walk to vons and then packed up the car to get ready to go to her house when mom got home from work. Mom is volunteering down at Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center once a week.
So anyway, grandma, mom and I headed up to grandpa and grandma's house... I rode in my car seat in my old car; the Saturn with grandma. Yeah!! I loved it. I really miss that car. I gave the car to grandma when I got my new van. I used to control the radio with my foot in that car!! :):) Drove mom nuts at time.


Back to today.... We are heading over to my grandpa's sisters house for dinner.


I hope EVERYONE has a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a WONDERFUL day today!! Best wishes to you!










Love,

Kayla

Thanksgiving Week.....

Hello Everyone.

I sure hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and great weekend!!

I have had a very full and busy Thanksgiving vacation, but so much fun.

Monday and Tuesday I had two really good days at school... We did a lot of baking and cooking since we had a school Thanksgiving lunch.

Wednesday... I got to go swimming and do my laps... :)

Thursday Mom and I decided to go to the LA Zoo for the afternoon. It was so much fun. Santa's Reindeer just arrived, so I got to see them. Never seen actual Reindeer before.

But our first stop was at the Harbor Seal tank. :)

We got to see the baby Koala come down with its mom from the warm heated area where they sleep to eat some eucalyptus. We spent probably a good 45 minutes watching them. The baby is sooo cute.
After that we went to the Gorillas. The Silverback; Kelly was so funny making lots of expressions. The baby; Glenda was cuddled up with her mom; Rapunzel sound asleep. So adorable.

We moved on to the lions who were sound asleep, the giraffes were busy eating, and the Chimpanzees all had there back to the audience. Did you know that Chimpanzees and Gorillas do not like to be looked at? They don't. They don't like to be "starred" at, so they will turn their backs to you when they have had enough. We then headed up to the Tigers, Hippos, and Sun Bear. Nothing too exciting was going on with them, so we headed down to the Orangutans; another favorite. We love the male one. He is so adorable. However, getting a good photo of any of the Orangutans is quite difficult due to the fencing and a very glared window.

After a little while with the Orangutans we headed back over to the Gorillas and Koalas on our way out. Nothing too exciting going on with them. Just a few more expressions from Kelly (Silverback) and a few sleeping Koalas.

Mom and I had a great Thanksgiving day together! We couldn't of asked for a better day.

Friday mom saw that the other outfit I wanted from JCP was 70% off, so we got up and walked down to the mall. It was crazy! Thank goodness the weather was nice, and we lived close (a little over a mile) from the mall that we could walk. The parking lots and streets were unreal. The people in the stores were a little overwhelming for me, and I was still tired from the day before, but thoroughly enjoyed shopping. Mom got me a few things at great prices. We only went to JCP and then to Target to pick up a spice that we needed in order to make mom's special pumpkin pie later.

Grandpa and Grandma arrived at the house just as we left the mall, so grandma walked towards us to meet. :) I was very tired and cranky on the walk home since by then the wind had really picked up. Didn't do much the rest of the day. Lots of resting, cartoons, and of course, I helped mom make the pumpkin pie. :) I had to show grandma how well I am at baking these days. :) She was very proud of me. I loved tasting the pumpkin. I had quite a bit. It was sooo good. Grandpa was over at a friends house watching a football game.

Saturday morning came and bowling was scheduled after all today. YEA! I have to practice for my Special Olympics Tournament next May. Therefore, grandpa headed off to the USC-Notre Dame game with his buddies (BTW..., I am wearing my red today to cheer on USC) and grandma, mom, and I headed off for bowling. Grandma bowled with me and skunked me and my new friend; Thomas. Thomas is an older gentleman and blind. Such a character though. He was fun to bowl with. Our scores were really close, but he did beat me. I will beat him next time! :) I was still tired from shopping yesterday. :)

Two hours after bowling, we headed to Costco and then home. We finally got home and I was so tired. Mom cooked grandma and her dinner and I napped. Later after dinner, I was awake and ready for some action, so grandma, mom and I all sat on the couch, used the angel box and played yahtzee bundled up in blankets. It was chilly. I wasn't too sure about sitting in between grandma and mom. I loved it. Don't get me wrong, but I have never done that before, so it was different. Grandma and mom weren't doing too hot in yahtzee and never did get a yahtzee, but I sure did. Two times in a row! I skunked grandma and mom!! Mom had a hard time taking photos of me playing, but this is what she got. Oh and I loved holding the pen, so I wrote in all the scores after each play.

I am sleeping in late today since I have school tomorrow, but when I get up, mom is going to take me swimming to do my laps and later we will go for a nice walk if the weather holds. Grandpa and grandma already left this morning quite early.

Hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Love,
Kayla

Happy Thanksgiving...

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving blessed with family and friends..





Love, Kayla

Holiday Fun Begins... :):)

Hello Everyone!

Thanksgiving is just a few days away... Is everyone ready for Turkey??? I know I am. Going to taste it all! However, mommy and I have decided to stay home over this holiday, so we won't be doing our Thanksgiving dinner till Friday night with family. At school, I have been helping with making Thanksgiving items such as stuffing and pumpkin pie. We made some pumpkin pudding last week and I sure liked that.

This last Saturday, mom and I did holiday things. We hung up the lights outside before the storm comes in this week, but we are not turning them on till after Thanksgiving. I was a big help as you can see :) :

Mom ran out of blue lights. We also added our window light angel, but mom had already taken this photo. In the large window, in the middle, that is where the lighted angel is.

After wards, we went into the kitchen to start baking pumpkin bread for friends and family and chocolate chip cookies for grandpa. I loved it. We first did the bread. Oh, here is a video of mom trying to get me to beat the eggs... She never got me to, but later in the day, I did mix up the seasonings and water with my blender. :) Most of you haven't seen this side of me that you will see here in the video, so enjoy: (short)

Sorry about the crazy non edit at the end, but mom couldn't figure out how to edit it on the computer. Batteries died, so mom had to change them. After the change, it worked, but mom ended up doing operating the beaters and I laughed. :)

I tasted the pumpkin out of the can. It was soooooo good. :)

We took a break from baking. A few hours later we returned to the kitchen to make grandpa his chocolate chip cookies. I was tired and not up to par at first, but about halfway through, I perked up.

In this photo, mom was so pleased that I was holding the spoon by myself and kept a grip on it. She had to get my medicines for my treatment that I was doing and so since I am now 12 in a half years old, she knows I no longer hit the bowls over, hit the end of the spoons to make them fly across the room, etc. She is trusting me more and more. :)

I helped with the whole baking process. Measuring, stirring, pouring, mixing, beating, spooning out the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet, etc. I really enjoyed it.

Mom let me dip my finger in the cookie dough and taste it. That was fun! It tasted okay.

Sunday grandpa and grandma came down to stay the night at my house. Grandpa went visiting his friends and grandma, mom and I went to the mall.. Yeah! Shopping with grandma! Its been a while since grandma has gone with me to the mall. She got to see just how demanding I have become. Well, she says that I am demanding, but I don't think so. I just love shopping which I take after her, her sisters and my great grandma, so... Plus, I am just a 12 1/2 year old girl that needs to keep up with the styles! :) Yep, grandma and mom went in together to get me an outfit that I picked out. :) It's South Pole and there is some design on one side of the pants. The photo is from mom's phone and the boots I already had.

Hope everyone has a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!! :)

Love,
Kayla

My New Sport.....

Hi Everyone....

I hope you are enjoying fall, or those of you that have fall weather. :)

Last weekend mom had to go to Tehachapi for a football game, so I got to go to Grandpa and Grandma's house. However, before we went to Tehachapi, mom picked me up early from school, so I could go swimming. I had so much fun and did lots of laps. Then we headed to Tehachapi to my great grandpa and great grandma's house to visit before mom left for the game. It was very cold there unlike 75 degrees in Ventura when we left.

Grandpa and mom went to the COLD game, but had a good time. Grandma and I got to stay in where it was warm. :)

I didn't sleep in very late on Saturday, so since it was very nice out, grandma, mom, and I went to the golf course to hit golf balls. Grandma and I do great as a pair, but mom strikes me out, so I fired her early on. I love to play golf. The real thing! I had only played miniature golf about 8-9 years ago, but this was so much more fun. I would watch grandma as she placed my hands correctly on the club. Then I would watch the swing and where I would hit the ball! I did well.

Please click on image to view full size......

After we got back from playing golf, we went for a walk to the mailbox to get grandpa and grandma's mail. The neighbors up the street were out with their horse and brought it over to me, so I could pet it. It was a very friendly and lovely horse.

Then Saturday evening came and we were all getting ready to go out to dinner for grandma's birthday. It was her birthday! Grandma decided she wanted a few pictures at the last minute, so in 5 minutes, mom took a few photos of us, which she is going to redo when she can take her time. :)

From left to right: My grandma, my grandpa, me :), great grandma, great grandpa and mom.

YUP! That's my turkey that I made a few years ago at school for Thanksgiving holiday. :)

Off to dinner we went. I had a good time. I got to try some of my grandpa's mashed potatoes, some salad dressing and of course, the Mudd pie cake. I love the Mudd pie cake!! We forgot the camera. Well, mom did!

Sunday morning we woke up to heavy rain and winds, dense fog and spitting snow. It was only 34 degrees at 9am, but we still went to the buffet for breakfast. Guess what? Mom forgot my camera again. Therefore, I will explain my breakfast of taste :) I am really getting into tasting things by mouth. So mom took me to the buffet, and I choose what I wanted to taste. Mom got my plate and put little dabs around the plate. The dabs consisted of: yogurt salad (part of dressing)-yummy, potato salad dressing part - okay tasting, biscuit gravy - yummy, strawberry filling - yummy, apple filling - yummy, peach filling -my favorite, sour cream - I skipped, and I believe that's it. Grandpa and grandma laughed when they saw my plate. Oh, I had a taste of syrup too. Yummy. I sure was full when I had enough of tasting, that I took a nap. :)

We went back to grandpa and grandma's house. Mom and I got ready to go home. I didn't want to leave, and I was in my pout mode until we stopped at Walmart in Canyon Country on the way home, and I was happy again (shopping)!

This Friday, mom and I are heading back up to Tehachapi as she has another game to go to. I get to go to grandpa and grandma's house and stay warm! Saturday I have bowling again, so we will leave early to make it back in time for that.

Hope you all have a great week and weekend!!

Thank you for all the comments. I love hearing from you!

Love,
Kayla