Christmas Part 3 - The Wii

As a reward to ourselves for becoming debt free, Adam and I decided our family would get a Wii for Christmas. I thought Kaylyn would enjoy it but I wasn't expecting her reaction...I love you Daddy!

Let's play! Adam and Kaylyn played the Wii all morning. Morgan and I only got to try it out a little bit. Kaylyn loves it! Wonder what that string is she's holding? No, it's not part of the Wii. It's the balloon she got from her cousin's William's birthday balloons yesterday.And hopefully hidden in all these pictures, is one of the only 2 pictures taken of me. At least I'm surrounded by beauty. But in an effort to be real, this is what I looked like this morning. Now you know one of the reasons that I post so few pictures of me. The number 1 reason is that I'm always the one taking the pictures.

Christmas Part 2 - More Presents

When I asked Kaylyn what she thought she and Morgan should get Daddy for Christmas, she knew immediately what she wanted to buy. So off we went to the bike store on Christmas Eve and bought his new headlight for his bicycle(s).
Aunt Norene, Uncle Matt, Nathan, Isaac and Esther sent books for the girls. Here are Kaylyn's books.

Morgan was excited for her new doll from Sissy.

Kaylyn was excited for her Einsteins from Santa.

And both girls were excited to get one of their favorite videos Signing Time. If you haven't watched one of these and you have young kids, you need to check them out from your local library - they are awesome!

Christmas Morning Part 1

Can you believe it? I'm already sharing our Christmas morning pictures. Kaylyn made the best faces with every present she opened. Morgan was excited too and tore into her presents, but just one at a time. And she waited patiently for Daddy to get her Einsteins toys out of their packaging before even thinking about another present.

Kaylyn's Christmas Dance Show

Friday night Kaylyn had her Christmas Dance Show at the church. Adam and I were at a Christmas party but I snuck away to see most of her show. Here she is doing the Freeze Dance. This was her favorite routine. But her favorite song was Jingle Bell Rock.

Because Adam and I were at our party, our friend Heather and her daughter Raven watched the girls and got them to and from the recital. Morgan just assumes Raven is part of her family, and so do we :)Here's the Dance of the Sugar Plum FairiesTheir final number, Feliz Navidad
And Kaylyn's bow with her teacher.

Brenna's Double Concert

Our "niece" Brenna had a holiday concert on Thursday night. (Thank goodness it was not the same nights as Kaylyn's performances.) For the first of the concert, Brenna played her trumpet (yes, she is following after her "Uncle" Adam) for 4 holiday songs. For the most part, the kids had just started learning their instruments in September. And they sounded good. There were like 30 clarinets and 15 trombones, quite a few flutes and trumpets.

Morgan did her part of helping conduct and cheering. She is becoming quite the accomplished conductor - maybe we need to sign her up for lessons with the local maestro. Maybe there will be a world famous 2 year old conductor next year - hmm.

Then they switched the stage around and Brenna performed in a Grade 5/6 Honor Choir. She had to audition in September to become a member of the choir. They sounded incredible.

Dance Performance at Rehab Center

On Wednesday night, Kaylyn's dance class did a preview of Friday night's dance show at a local rehab center. She was so excited because they set out cookies and bottled water just for the dancers - she felt so special!

Here's Kaylyn's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies. The lady having fun with the girls is her dance teacher, my friend Isabel.

Nativity Celebration

Our Stake joins with another Stake and puts on a Nativity Celebration each year. Adam plays in the Nativity Orchestra and we loan our nativities for display. Each ward is assigned a day to provide hosts and cast members for the live nativity outside. So we took the girls the day our ward was assigned because that was the first night of Adam's performances (he had 2). Kaylyn's favorite part is seeing Mary in the live nativity. Note that the white spots are not poor photography but snow.

Kaylyn had two friends also enjoying the live nativity- Hannah and Kennedy.

I don't want to be next!

Well it's our family's turn. Last week, my friend Joella and her family had the stomach flu. Then last weekend it was Shannon's family's turn. On Thursday, Kaylyn woke up with a low fever, right at 99.9/100.1. But was fine all day Thursday and Friday. Then Saturday at 4 am, Kaylyn woke up with the stomach flu. And it lasted until about Noon (her last bout) after which she took a 2 hour nap. By 4 pm, she felt really good but we tried to keep her resting and on a limited diet of toast and applesauce. So we thought we were done.

Today, Kaylyn and Adam stayed home from Church, waiting the 24 hrs after last episode for Kaylyn. Then Adam headed to the church for the Nativity, where he was in the orchestra/ensemble playing his trumpet. I brought the girls over to the Church about 4:30 so we could see his performance. The girls and I came home about 6:30 and started to eat some dinner. Adam had Nativity responsibilities until 9 pm so he stayed at the church. Morgan wasn't interested in her food and just wanted held. It wasn't until she and Sissy were eating popsicles that Morgan tossed her cookies. So here I am, dealing with a sick toddler who doesn't understand what's happening, but is doing very good about using the bucket - her blankie hasn't gotten hit yet.

So I really don't want to be next and neither does Adam. But if the timing holds, one of us will be sick Tuesday morning and then the next one Wednesday night. But I'm hoping it's not going to happen. Pray for us!

Read me a story please

Morgan and Kaylyn both love to read stories. Now that Kaylyn is reading so well, she loves to read to her sister.

Halloween

Halloween night, Morgan was a duck again. Kaylyn decided to wear her Dora costume (3rd year for that costume). And Sydney was a witch. Sydney is our next door neighbors' granddaughter. She and Kaylyn are good friends and have gone trick or treating together the past 3 years with Adam and Rich (our neighbor). Our evening started out doing our street and part of the street behind us. We then went over to Nana's at 7 pm for their trick or treating activity. The girls always score tons of Candy at Nana's apartment. Then we came back to our neighborhood to finish the street behind us and the street beside us. All of the girls came home loaded with candy and couldn't wait to check out their stash.

Trunk or Treat

Our Ward had Trunk or Treat on the Saturday before Halloween. Morgan had two costumes - a tiger and a duck. When we got to Church, we put her in the tiger costume (couldn't put her in the car seat with the costume on so we waited until we got to Church). Five minutes later the tiger costume was off. So we ate dinner then put her in the duck costume, which double as pajamas for her.
In the weeks leading up to Halloween, Kaylyn kept asking to be TinkerBell. Unfortunately, we couldn't find one that fit our budget or was modest enough for us to be comfortable with her wearing it. At about the same time, Kaylyn told me she wanted to be a ballerina when she grows up. So I suggested she be a ballerina for Halloween. We finally bought her official dance shoes using the Halloween costume budget. And thus our ballerina was born.

As part of trunk or treat, the youth do face painting. This is what Kaylyn asked for. So she became our tiger ballerina. I was so shocked that she let someone paint her face. She really is growing up on me.

Cowboy Family

My parents and sister with her family went to a cowboy festival and then stopped by our house for a birthday party. We couldn't resist taking a group picture of all the cowboys and cowgirls. My Mom made most of the outfits, some with a pattern, some without. She's so talented.

So for a birthday present, my sister made this fall table runner for our kitchen table. Like Mom, she is so talented!

School Picture

Kaylyn got her school picture taken a few weeks ago and included in our package was a cd so we could share her picture with more friends and family. Isn't she adorable? Her glasses had been broken the day before her pictures (by Morgan) so we didn't have to ask the question of glasses or no glasses for her picture.

Regan's Birthday Party

My niece Regan turned 3 this month. She had a princess (and prince) party. All guests were invited to dress in their royal finest. Here is her princess cake, made by my sister. Again, she is talented.
Here's Morgan outside during the party.

For a craft, the kids made princess hats, or crowns.
Princess Regan

Prince Ian or Sir Ian?

Princess Kaylyn in her finished hat.

My brother-in-law, Matt, made a castle for the royal highnesses. Here's Regan in the window.

Here's Morgan exiting the castle.
And Princess Kaylyn in the window.

After exploring the castle, the kids headed to the jumping house, which was probably Kaylyn's favorite part of the party.

Kaylyn waiting for Regan to open our present to her.

Husband tag

My friend Shannon tagged me with this. So I guess I have to do it, wonder what the answers are.

Husband Tag…..
1. Where did you meet? At Church in Kirksville.
3. How long have you been married? 13 years
4. What does he do that surprises you? Brings me special treats - like Saturday night after Priesthood session, coming home with a single dip cone from Braum's.
5. What is your favorite feature of his? his hands
6. Does he have an annoying habit? Being on the laptop the whole time he's home.
7. What is your favorite quality of his? How much he loves my grandmother.
8. Does he have a nickname for you? Honey.
9. What is his favorite color? Probably blue.
10. What is his favorite food? Bul-go-gi (Korean beef - and yes I can make it!)
11. What is his favorite sport? track, baseball, basketball (I can't pick which is his favorite)
12. When and where was your first kiss? At his car outside my apartment in Kirksville.
13. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? A trip to Andy's.
14. Do you have any children? Yes, 2
15. Does he have a hidden talent? His knowledge of anatomy/physiology.
16. How old is he? Less than 2 weeks shy of 37.
17. Who said "I love you" first? Probably Adam, but I don't remember.
18. What is his favorite type of music? Classical.
19. What do you admire most about him? His endurance.
20. Do you think he will read this? Not until I tell him to.

Now I'm going to tag...Vanessa, Jasmine, Megan, and Lucy

Have fun!

Pumpkin Patch

School was out today so we met up with friends and headed to the pumpkin patch. My friend Melissa drove her pickup and as soon as we arrived at the patch, all the kids climbed into the back. Here's Ashley, Morgan, Kaylyn, David, Ashley and Lilly.

Once we got them out of the truck, the 3 kindergartners (David, Kaylyn and Lilly) grabbed hands and started walking out of the parking lot. Ashley ran up and grabbed her sister's hand to join the "big kids".

With school out for the day and knowing that we were heading to the Pumpkin Patch, Raven joined us for the day. We are so thankful for the blessing that Raven is to us. Some people have honorary grandparents or an honorary aunt or uncle. We have an honorary daughter/sister in Raven.

We weren't sure we were going to get to do a hay ride so I borrowed a wagon to pull Morgan and traipsed out to the first maze, square hay bales. After doing this first maze, the kids all wanted to pile into the wagon.
We then got the word that we could have a hay ride, and we didn't have to share it with another group. Kaylyn immediately had to sit by David.
After the hay ride which included another maze (large hay bales) and picking out and cutting our pumpkins off the vine, we headed back to the front area where I convinced the girls to pose for a picture, but I couldn't force them to look at the camera and smile.