Christmas Memories

Kianna digging into her stocking.

Kaylee at her preschool Christmas program showing off the ornament she made for us.
Girls working on their gingerbread house.
Mommy and her girls.
Kianna and Kaylee.

Trevor and I agree that Christmas this year was one of the best we've had. The girls are both at such fun ages, that we were able to create some fun family memories and traditions. Some of those include:

• The girls creating their 1st gingerbread house. Kianna loved eating the candy, while Kaylee loved decorating the house and sneaking some frosting along the way! 
• Kaylee participating in her 1st Christmas Programs at church and preschool. She loved preparing for them and learning lots of fun new songs along the way, her favorite being "Away In A Manger".
  
• Setting out cookies and milk for Santa; and carrots and celery for the reindeer. Kaylee's excited statement on Christmas morning, "Mom, Santa really was here because the cookies are gone!" Santa left the girls a thank you note and Kaylee was even more excited to learn that Rudolph came to her house!!!
• Kaylee making the statement "Christmas isn't all about gifts, it's about Jesus". How precious is that!
• Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus prior to digging into our monkey bread.
• Watching the excitement on Kianna's face as she opened up her stocking. When asked what she got for Christmas she will gladly tell you that she got "lipstick". FYI: Our little one, has a little addiction to chapstick these days, which makes her always chapped lips quite the mystery!
• Kaylee's favorite gift being her Sleeping Beauty "long-sleeve" nightgown, which she has worn every night since receiving it.
• Hearing Kianna sing "Away in a manger, no crying for a bed. The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay." It is so precious hearing her sing this song!

These are a few of the memories we will cherish.

Witch

I had to hold back laughter today as we were standing in line at Sam's Club behind a lady wearing a long black fur coat and a matching fur hat. Kianna looked at her and said "witch". I immediately knew that Kianna was referring to Cruella De Vil from the movie "101 Dalamations" who also wore a long fur coat. She refers to all the evil people in cartoons as "witch". I just stood there laughing to myself and told her "no honey, she's not a witch". Kids say the funniest things...

Sisters

I knew that my girls were close, but didn't exactly realize how close until this week. The girls were both supposed to spend the night with their grandparents on Tuesday night while Trevor and I went on a date. However, Kianna had been sick all week with bronchitis and a fever and so we decided to stay home with her instead. Kaylee still wanted to go to her grandparents house to bake cookies with her cousin, so we let her. However, Kaylee did not really want to spend the night without her sister, although due to the ice storm we convinced her otherwise. Well Kianna was still napping when Kaylee left for the evening and when she woke up the first thing she asked was "Kiki" (that's what she calls Kaylee) meaning "Where's Kaylee?" I told her she went to Grandma and Grandpa's house and then quickly changed the subject. Too late, I looked at her and she had tears running down her cheeks and said "Me want Kiki". I felt bad for her, so told her we could call Kaylee and talk to her. That made her a little happier. Then the next morning after waking up, again Kianna asked where her sister was and was visibly sad when I told her she was at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was so precious when we went to get Kaylee that morning b/c before Kianna had her boots or coat off, she immediately ran over to Kaylee and gave her a big hug! I love that they are such good friends and pray this closeness will last throughout their lives!

Our Magic Christmas Tree

The girls had a blast decorating our Christmas tree Monday evening. Kianna seemed to have an affinity for putting the ornaments in the same place on the tree, so of course being my anal self I had to spread them out when she hopefully wasn't looking. The best part was after the tree was up, Trevor hooked the lights to a remote control system. We let the girls take turns turning the lights on and off by simply waving their hand in the direction of the tree (much like waving a magic wand). Each time they wave their hand the tree either turns on or off. They love it!! Of course, we don't let them see us pick up the remote control so they think it is magic. Today, Kaylee's preschool teacher asked her if she had her Christmas tree up and Kaylee told her that she has a "magic tree". Her teacher thought that was adorable. Also, at breakfast this morning I caught Kianna waving her arm in the direction of the tree and getting frustrated that the lights weren't coming on. She now knows it only works if Mommy or Daddy are next to her. These are just a few of the precious moments I will cherish forever.

Delicious

I had a cookie exchange yesterday morning and so after lunch I let the girls choose what cookie they wanted for their treat. I had made oreo balls and Kianna wanted to try one of those. For those of you who don't know, she has inherited her mommy's sweet tooth and enjoys chocolate as much as I do. She was taking bite after bite of her treat and then began saying "delicious". I said "what did you say?" and she repeated "delicious". I began laughing, as I was amazed that being 2 years old that she even knew the word "delicious" let alone was using it so appropriately!  It was so adorable. I took a picture for you all to see just how much she enjoyed the oreo ball. 

Sick Little Girls

We had an unfortunate turn of events for our weekend. Trevor's uncle, Lyle, passed away early in the week and the funeral was on Friday up in Rockford, IA. We drove up for the funeral, spent time with family and then headed to Des Moines to stay in a hotel. We stayed at a hotel with a swimming pool and the girls were so excited to swim after 4 hours of driving. We had a great time last night swimming and goofing around as a family. The trouble began this morning...Kianna woke up fussy but she isn't a morning person so that wasn't completely unlike her. We had a nice buffet breakfast in hotel's restaurant, although the girls barely touched their food, which was unlike them. We went back up to the hotel room and Kianna came into the bathroom and said "sick" and then puked all over the bathroom floor and Kaylee soon followed. Poor little girls! 

We were in Des Moines to do some bunk bed shopping for the girls, as they are going to be sharing a room soon. We decided to cut our trip short and head home. Thankfully, we already had a puke bucket in the car due to the girls and I having motion sickness from time to time. The girls shared the bucket on the way home and seem to be on the mend now, as they have been holding their food down since noon. I feel bad for the poor maid who had to clean up our stinky room...

Kaylee's 4th Birthday

Craft time

Kaylee hitting the pinata
Kaylee with her Dora Cake
Kaylee not happy that Kianna is trying to blow out her candle...


I can hardly believe that Kaylee is 4 years old already. Where does the time go? We had her look at her newborn pictures from her actual birthday and she thought that was pretty neat. It has been so much fun watching her grow from a baby into a little girl. She is a smart little girl with an amazing memory. She remembers details from things that happened a year or more ago. For example, on Halloween we were talking about how Grandma Gee Gee (my grandma) was coming over again this year to hand out candy while we went trick-or-treating. Kaylee pointed to a decorative table in the corner of our living room and said "Mom isn't that the table we setup for Grandma last year so she didn't have to bend over to reach the candy?" Her memory continues to amaze us on a regular basis! She is also very thoughtful. She often asks how people are feeling when she knows something has been bothering them (ie. "Mom is your back still hurting you today?" or "Daddy how was your day today?"). We are very proud of the young lady she is becoming!

We celebrated her birthday with two parties at our house: a friend party on the 11th and a family party on the 12th. The theme she chose this year was "Dora the Explorer". She had 10 of her little friends over to celebrate. That made 12 kids total with our two. Lets just say that Trevor and I were in a little over our heads managing 12 kids. Thankfully, our neighbor, Madison decided to stay and help manage the chaos, as well as, one of the aunt's, Sarah, after we began thinking at the last minute that maybe we should have recruited some helpers. It was chaotic with them, so I really cannot fathom what it would have been like without them!! We had several activities planned for the kids including a craft, pinata, scavenger hunt, eating cake, and opening presents. The scavenger hunt was pretty cool. We pretended that Swiper the Fox, one of the characters from Dora, had taken some books and necklaces and the kids needed to go downstairs and try and find them. Trevor had made some maps for the kids to follow. He had them going through a cave (underneath our pool table draped in blankets), a forest (through a narrow hallway with three inflated intertubes that the kids had to climb over), our playhouse where the books were hidden, our ball pit where the necklaces were hidden underneath all the balls, and then crawl into the theater room. The kids loved it. The activity was chaotic because Trevor only wanted to take 3 kids at a time and I had to entertain the other 9 in the meantime, "Duck, Duck, Goose" only entertains kids for so long... Despite the two glasses of milk that were spilled during cake time I'd say the party was a success. The kids all seemed to have a good time and that is the important thing! One of the funniest things that happened was after all of us had finished singing "Happy Birthday" to Kaylee and she was getting ready to blow out her candle her little sister, Kianna, beat her to it and blew out the candle first. You should have seen the look that Kaylee gave her sister and she was just about to yell at her, when we started laughing. I relit the candle and all was well...

Her family party was a much tamer crowd, with only one other young child present. I made her favorite meal: macaroni and cheese, salad, and fruit salad. She got lots of nice presents and has had fun playing with them since. I can't imagine her needing any other gifts come Christmas time, which is only 6 weeks away. Crazy, I know!