Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did as well! My in-laws were here with us from FL on Christmas morning for the first time! Skyler woke up and was ready to see what Santa left, and Kae was fast asleep. hehe She didn't keep us waiting too long though...I think everyone was up around 7:45am, although Kaelyn was still groggy.
I popped some cinnamon rolls in the oven to get us started. =) Yum.
Skyler was excited to show Kae the playhouse Santa left her but somehow Kaelyn heard Santa was in that playhouse (lol) and did not want to go inside! We explained he was already gone and then she was fine, and boy does she LOVE that playhouse. **Santa got that on super clearance last year :) Skyler had been wanting a Baby Blue electric guitar, and I guess Santa was listening. She was super excited when she opened it up! The girls were blessed with lots of other great gifts including clothes, baby dolls, mp3 players, purses, etc. And so were we! =) I was very excited to get my webcam so we could do a video call with my family in Michigan Christmas morning!! Kaelyn thought this was so cool and is always asking to talk to Nan and Pop on the "puter". :) And of course I'm super excited about mine and Brian's gift to each other... cruise to the Bahamas leaving Jan. 7th! YAY! In this upcoming year we hope to have another child, but before we even go there I reeeaally need to get away! Being here without family can really be tough sometimes! We are thankful my mom is flying in to celebrate Kae's birthday and can stay longer to keep her for us. :) We are super blessed and look forward to ringing in a new year soon!

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Wishes from the reindeer who got away! =)

 

Merry Christmas from Kaelyn

Here are a few pics of the treasures Kaelyn made for us at school. Tooo precious! I love them, best gifts ever! =)

 

 

 

Kae's Christmas Party!!

Today I went to Kaelyn's Christmas party at school! They had lots of fun munching on goodies and opening presents! Kaelyn got a cute Santa from Ms. Cindy that says "Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas" and other cute gifts from her friends and teachers. :) The last picture cracks me uuuupp!!!

 

 

 

 

My Girl Likes to Potty!

Between today and last night Kaelyn went peepee in her potty 3 times!! We are sooo proud of her! She is in that frustrating stage where she says she has to go potty all the time and we take her and she just plays, but we have been trying to hang in there and take her everytime she says (AHHHH!! lol) and today it really paid off! She was SO excited and proud of herself! We sing Big Girls Go PeePee in the Potty...hehe. I got a little clip of Kaelyn singing it. She likes to dance to it too, but didn't do a lot of dancing in this clip... too focused on getting those m&m's! =)

Somebody's Got a Birthday Around the Corner...

It's Kaelyn! She will be 2 on January 4th and I can't believe how fast the time has flown by! I originally turned on the camera to get her saying when her birthday is, and then she turned into a drama queen... pretty funny! hehe

Big Girl Bed!

This weekend we converted Kaelyn's crib into a toddler bed, or as she calls it her "Big Girl Bed!" She was sooooo excited about it! We were lying in our bed with her watching Dora when she said, "Daddy make me a big dirl bed" lol. It was the cutest thing. We had been talking about it for a little while now and Brian said well I guess if she is big enough to ask me, we will try it. She has now slept 3 nights in her big girl bed and all have been a success. She has not gotten out of bed once, shocker! I thought she would be up at nap time for sure, but she surprised us. We are so proud of our BIG girl! =)

 

 

 

 

25 Days of CHICKMAS!

Today I wanted to take a moment to share a blog I've been following for a little while now, called SevenChicks! It is composed of 7 funny, gorgeous, sweet women of God. They are an encouragement, real moms, wives, employees, etc.. and sometimes they will just plain crack you up!
Right now they are sharing lots of great holiday recipes AND doing giveaways through Christmas... 25 Days of Chickmas!
Who doesn't love a good freebie??!! Most of the time the winners are chosen randomly so if you just take the time to read and comment you can have a chance! =)
Click the Banner below to visit the Chicks! I promise you won't be disappointed!

"Chemiss Songs!"

Here's baby girl singing some of her favorite "Chemiss Songs" She doesn't always sing the "lay down his sweet head" part soooo silly...she actually does it quite well and very sweet, but of course when the camera comes on the little entertainer in her comes out! haha
MeRrY ChRiStMaS!

The Christmas Story....

....according to Kaelyn! =)

This was from about a week ago. She now knows Joseph right off, but still sometimes calls the angel a butterfly. hehe

New Christmas Tradition!

Well, we debated over the Elf on the Shelf for a little while now. I heard about it last year at MOPS and the mom's said their kids just loved it. We are Christians and celebrate Christmas as it was intended... Jesus' Birthday, and HE truly is the reason for this season. We will instill all of these values in Kaelyn and I think for this age she understands it as well as she can. She sings "Away in a Manger" so sweet, picks out baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph from the Nativity Scene, and is purely innocent. We decided this sweet age is the only time she'll be so innocent and have such a wild imagination to enjoy the "magic" of this time of year. This decision will be different for each family, but it was the right one for us.
That being said...
Kaelyn is enjoying "Sammy Noah" so much! That is the name she has given him. She went back and forth on Sammy and Noah so we combined them for her. ;) She wakes up looking for him and says "Don't touch him, Mommy.... He flies in the sky to Santa" hehe (In the book it says don't touch him or his "magic" might go) I wondered how this would work with an almost 2 year old who held ("touched") him when we first pulled him out of the box, but she listens to the story so intently that she is very serious about not touching him. It has been a ton of fun for all of us this year and we can't wait to continue this new tradition for a few years to come! =)

 

 

 

 

Disney on Ice!

We took Kaelyn to Disney on Ice in Greenville Sunday evening! We got there a little early and bought tickets at the window and lucked up with some great seats. When the characters first came out we were so close that Kaelyn said "noooo" lol. But I explained to her that it was just like watching a movie and they wouldn't come up to her. She was fine after that and started getting into it! She LOVES Mickey and Minnie if you didn't know by now. ;)
The show included Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters, The Lion King, Peter Pan, & Lilo & Stitch. She had sooo much fun and talked about it for days! Here are a few pics and a video clip of her talking about is 2 days later. =) To see more pictures from the show click HERE!

 

 

 

 

Muffins!

Sunday morning we got up and made muffins! I decided to let Kaelyn get quite involved and boy, did she have a blast! She loved mixing the batter and waiting for them to cook. When they were finished cooling we put them on a plate and she decided she needed to take a bite out of each one. lol Since she did do most of the work and these weren't for guests, we let her have fun with it. hehe Here are a few pics and short video! She did good... They were delicious!

 

 

 

 

Holiday Festival of Lights!

Thanksgiving night, after we were miserably stuffed, we went to the James Island Holiday Festival of Lights! It was lots of fun and the lights were amazing, as always!! =) Kaelyn loved the lights and picked out the turtles, snowmen, fish, and all sorts of things. I was so excited she could tell what they were this year! Last year she wasn't even 1 year old yet and just said oooh and ahhh in amazement. :) We did miss the train because the next one available was an hour and 15 minutes later and Kaelyn was getting tired. She did have plenty of fun though on the carousel and strolling through the park getting a closer look at the lights. She said she wanted to sit on Santa's lap so we waited in line even though I knew she would end up backing out. haha So we waited and waited and she insisted she was going to sit on Santa's lap and of course when it was finally our turn she cried a little and definitely didn't want to sit with him. He did give her a candy cane and now she has been saying Santa is her best friend. She says "He's nice, he gives me candy." LoL He made a pretty good impression so she may just sit with him next year! hehe We shall see. :)
Click on the Sneed Pictures link to the right to see more pics!