Christmas Festivities

My favorite part of the Christmas season (aside from the true meaning of Christmas itself) is the time spent with family. I LOVE getting together with family and celebrating this wonderful holiday season together. Every year we get together with my dad's side of the family. This year, we met at my Aunt and Uncle's house. Kylie was fascinated with the train going around the track under the Christmas tree.

Having a great time just being together (this picture shows about 1/4 of the people there. Everyone else was dispersed throughout the house).

Me and my cousin. I love that she's 12 and taller than me :)

The family sometimes likes to joke that Kylie is not really mine because she is a spitting image of her dad, with blonde hair and blue eyes. As if giving birth to her wasn't reason enough to believe that she is indeed mine, her hair is just as convincing. Every morning when I get ready to brush it, I think to myself Oh yeah, she's definitely mine!

I made this stocking for Kylie with some scraps I had lying around. All of our stockings hang facing left, which apparently goes against the norm because you can't find left-facing stockings anywhere. So, I made her one.

Kylie wearing her Christmas dress. I have been really sick with a cold and couldn't even stick it out through sacrament meeting, so she didn't get to wear it for very long. But it's still cute. Happy Holidays!!

I'll Miss This Someday

Life with a toddler can be really difficult sometimes. I experience exhaustion, frustration, and lack of patience on a daily basis. BUT... I also feel a tremendous amount of love for this little girl. I know that when she's older and I look back on these times, I'll remember the happy moments the most and I'll want them back. She's at such a FUN age and I'm learning a lot from her --the energy, excitement, and wonder that makes toddlers so unique.

Dressing up

Getting into things

Wanting independence

Making choices

Almost ALWAYS seen with a smile

Snow Day!

There has been a blizzard warning in effect for West Michigan since last night, and will continue to be in effect until Friday morning. It's only 14 degrees right now! This is what the deck looked like when we woke up this morning.

The plows haven't made it to our street yet, so the yards, driveways, and street all have about the same amount of snow.

The piles of snow on either side of the driveway after we shoveled.

Our rapidly disappearing mailbox.

They really were excited to be out there, I promise. They tried to look all manly and tough for the picture :)

See? I didn't mind.

Josh has been in Rhode Island for work for the past week. He just flew home last night and, fortunately, didn't experience any delays. Good thing he wasn't traveling today! It's STILL snowing.
And here's a picture of Kylie, for good measure

Mess!

Kylie just learned a new word this week: mess. Boy, is that fitting! She also recognized that we often put salt and pepper on our food during dinner, so she will request "popo" any chance she gets, and this is what she'll do with it.

Yogurt...everywhere.

Chocolate cake... right after bathtime

I think I'll keep her, messes and all.

Bring on the Christmas Season!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday full of great food, family, and plenty of relaxation. As much as I love Thanksgiving, there is something so special about the Christmas season. However, December can often seem like a chaotic rat race (Black Friday anyone?) so we spent the remainder of Thanksgiving weekend spending quality time together as a family... playing the wii. I have never really enjoyed video games very much, but I can easily lose track of time playing the wii for some reason. Kylie loves to watch us when we play, although the picture below may lead you believe otherwise.

Yes, the house was a disaster for most of the weekend, but that's not because we neglected it. That's just life with a toddler.
I love my husband very much, but he just doesn't share my passion for holidays. He's not a Scrooge or a Grinch by any means, but he doesn't get as excited as I do. Fortunately, this year I had Kramer to share the excitement with. Together we set up the Christmas tree and put out the decorations.

We tried to get Kylie in a festive mood but I think she may take after her father. She very politely took the antlers off immediately after the picture was taken :)

So Thankful

I have really been thinking about the things that I'm thankful for, and I have learned that the small things add up in a hurry. Here are just a few:

My beautiful, amazing family. the gospel. freedom. a reliable car. free time. music. showers. great health. education. the library. date nights. grandparents/babysitters. DVR... and so much more.

After an eventful day with my extended family, these 4 things completed the day nicely. A great movie...

my all-time favorite snack...

my all-time favorite "dessert"...

and my all-time favorite person
Happy Thanksgiving!

I Think She Missed

As I've mentioned before, Kylie loves to write. However, lately I keep catching her writing on herself more than the paper. This was today's masterpiece.