Merry Little Christmas!

Like always, Christmas came and went much too fast! It seems like so much activity is pushed into so little amount of time that sometimes I wonder if it really even happened or not!!!

Nonetheless we had a fantastic Christmas. It was really our first Christmas of getting to wake up Christmas morning with the kids at our house and I must say I love doing this! It worked out this way this year because Kyle was on call Christmas Eve and couldn't be far from the hospital. He got a few calls in the night but never actually had to go back in, which was such a relief! We spent Christmas Eve at my brother's house and it was so much fun to watch the kids together getting excited about Santa! Christmas day we had lunch with my parents and then went to Topeka for family time with the Zimmerman's. It is so nice to have family near, I can't imagine spending a Christmas without everyone!

Warming up with hot chocolate after spreading reindeer food out on the lawn.
Isabella, Walter, & Reece

Madeline and Isabella

Preparing food in the "Cherry Blossom Market"

Santa's gift to the girls, the Cherry Blossom Market

I told them they must have gotten a "together" gift because Santa wants them to work their sharing issues out:)

Walter loved opening presents!

Santa brought him a train set, he was amazed. His face when he first saw it was priceless!

Crayola Land

Jillian and Margaret

Today we were feeling brave and we ventured out to Crown Center for some holiday fun! We met my college friend Staci and her two girls at the Crayola Land exhibit and for lunch. I must say it was a busy day to be out! We waited in line for an hour to get into the exhibit and then everywhere we were hoping to lunch was a two to three hour wait. Luckily we spotted a Panera across the street to feed our hungry little munchkins quickly!

With all of the chaos we couldn't have asked for a better day. The kids were GREAT with no major meltdowns or runaway strollers:) and it was just fun to be out and about.

Thanks Staci for a spectacular day!

Isabella, Margaret, Mia Kate

Jillian, Isabella, Mia Kate


Isabella

Party Time with Cousins

I was in Topeka over the weekend to catch up with the extended family. We had a gathering at my aunt and uncle's house and many of my mom's siblings and my cousins were there. It was so fun getting to see everyone. Some of my fondest childhood memories were the gatherings that we had. My mom is one of twelve and everyone has at least two children or more. There are so many of us cousins that as a child it was a blast when we all got together. As we have gotten older and every one's lives have gotten busier it has become harder for these gatherings to take place so when they do it means so much. This year was especially fun because now we are all having our own children and they are getting to be around each other and getting to know one another. It was a special treat for me to see my children experience this!

Walter not sure of the girlie birthday hat
Getting ready to celebrate Celeste's first birthday!

Walter and Lauren

(they are a couple of days apart)

Aren't they cute!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

The last two years we have gotten together with our friends to have a birthday party for Jesus. My friend Jennifer and I do this with the idea that it will bring more of Jesus into the Christmas season. There is just so much about Santa and gifts, it is nice to see the kids focus on what Christmas is really all about. The kids also have a blast because it is another reason to have birthday cake. We had a great time, thanks for coming and sharing this day with us, and a big congrats to you know who for you know what;)

They loved blowing out the candles!
She just painted a smile on with her frosting.

Mr. Walter enjoyed puffs rather than cupcakes, maybe next year!

Oh, how she loves frosting!

Preschool Christmas Party

Isabella had her class Christmas party last week and it was just so darn cute!

Her class sang Christmas carols to everyone and she actually participated:) As you can see in the photo she is evening doing the hand motion! This is big time for Miss Isabella!

Yummy Cookies!!

Santa Claus

We made our 3rd annual trip to the children's Christmas party at our church and the kids had a blast. It is a great event that we look forward to every year. It is filled with games, crafts, a moonwalk, holiday treats, and of course Santa Claus. Usually the line for Santa goes on and on for ever. Kyle or I usually start out waiting in line while the other takes the kids to do an activity. This year Santa did have a nice line with eager children awaiting him but there was a new guy in town, a balloon man who could make any shape balloon that you could think of. The kids were just amazed by him and it didn't seem to bother them that the line took forever because they were just mesmerized watching him twist and shape those balloons! I am wondering if I should look into taking some classes on this because they were so entertained!

We have yet to have a Santa picture that either I am not in or the children aren't crying. This year of course was no different, Mommy made it in the pic and my little bug Margaret refused. In fact she yelled her official two-year-old "NnnnnnnnnnnnnO!" at Santa when he tried to talk to her. There were no tears, just a big fat no. Oh well, maybe next year:)

Walter couldn't take her eyes off of Santa. Isabella was such a big girl and told him exactly what her little heart desires: "sparkley lip gloss, and lots of bubble gum". Do you think she will always be this easy:)

Baby Blessings

"This Baby is Your Blessing, I wish Happiness in every way, Good Luck God Bless, I say And Many Blessings and Wishes, To Welcome Baby Into Your Life Today."

Congratulations to my brother and his beautiful family today!!! They welcomed a baby boy four weeks early!!!! We love you and are very excited for you!!!

Wish you were closer.

I can't wait to see if he has red hair:)

Let the Holiday Baking Begin...

Every year my mom and I set aside a day to do all of our holiday baking. We just spend the entire day baking like crazy people. We make our traditional goodies that we make every year but we also try too add something new to the mix. This year our new goodies are coconut clusters and pecan tarts.

We have done this since I was a child and it has always been something that I look forward to doing. It started out as something we had done with my grandmother, aunts, and cousins. Now that everyone has grown it is just my mom and I. It is a great tradition that I love getting to share with my girls. They are getting to the age where they really enjoy helping out in the kitchen, especially with any taste testing that needs to be done:) We can't wait to share all of our yummy treats!!!

Cocoa and Candy Canes

Friday night Isabella's preschool had a "Cocoa and Candy canes" party. It was a night filled with holiday crafts, yummy treats, and Christmas carols. The best part of all is that everyone got to wear their pj's. I was in charge of the cookie decorating table. Of course I volunteered this because I love to bake, then I was told how many cookies I needed to bring. I spent the last week making 200 sugar cookies and I must say it went a lot quicker than I thought it would.

The girls favorite part of the night was the St. Nicholas story. When we got home they anxiously set their shoes by the door and hurried to bed. We woke up the next morning to Isabella saying, "Oh my gosh, St. Nicholas was really here!" It was a perfect way to start the day seeing their little faces. Isabella couldn't believe that he was able to come without hearing Shadow bark:) Oh the magic of Christmas, I love it!!!

Hi Ho Cheerio!

That's right, Walter has moved on up to the world of Cheerios! About three weeks ago his two bottom teeth started to poke through and now you can really see them when he smiles, I am working on trying to get a pic of this. Last night we let him have Cheerios for the first time and he loved them:) I love this phase because you just put Cheerios in front of them and they spend the next thirty minutes trying to pick them up! It is a great way to pass the time, and get a good meal in (for mommy).

School Days

Here is my little bug all grown up! Can you believe she is in a school picture? These pictures were taken at Isabella's preschool and I think they are using the same cheesy background that I had in my school pics:) This photo made both Kyle and I teary eyed because we just don't know where the time has gone. It is strange, there are some days where I just wish the day to move faster. When I see this picture all I want is for time to stand still!

Jingle Bells

Yesterday was Isabella's last dance class until January and they did a little show for us! They danced to Jingle Bells and songs from The Nutcracker. She did a fantastic job, she even danced with a Nutcraker. She has come so far in the past year. I started her in this class last January and for the first two months she just sat and watched. Her saint of a teacher insisted that as long as Isabella wanted to come she could continue and just join when she was ready. She never fought me on going, each week she would go with the intention of dancing and then once there decide to just watch. I don't know what did it but after two months she was up and dancing away.

She is now trying to decide if she wants to do dance again or give gymnastics a try. We will see...

As you can see Margaret is very ready for dance class but they won't take her until she is three and without diapers. We are working on it! Hopefully in a year she will be there!!!

Isabella pre-show

This is the last pic I got because my camera went dead and I forgot to bring the batteries! I did get it all on video though.

Hot Chocolate

As tradition goes, the Friday after Thanksgiving we all went to pick out the family Christmas tree. On the way we usually stop at Starbucks to enjoy a hot drink to take with us. This year Isabella and Margaret wanted to try one to. They have never really taken a liking to chocolate milk so they had never tried hot chocolate. We got them each a drink and they LOVED it, which is kind of dangerous since there is a Starbucks on almost every corner. Now as we drive past they beg for another. I tried to convince them that our hot chocolate at home was just as good but they are not buying it, which means that my Starbucks runs just got a bit more expensive. This is not good in a recession!!!!

We did pick out a beautiful tree which has been standing in my living room naked since Friday. We are waiting for Daddy to be home long enough to help us decorate it. He was on call all weekend and then by the time he got home last night it was too late. We are crossing our fingers for tonight!

Margaret demanded hers be in her tippy cup.
Isabella was very cautious because she knew it was hot!

AXO

Last Tuesday night I had some friends over who were in my sorority when I was at KU. We all live in the same town but lead very busy lives so it had been awhile since we had all gotten together. Some of us now have kids so it was fun for me to get to see them meet each other and play together. It just seems that no matter how long it has been since we last saw one another we just jump in right where we left off. In fact we were even able to fit in a little dance party, just like the good ole days! I had a great time and hope that we can make this a monthly or bimonthly event!

I didn't get much for pictures because I just really wanted to chit-chat but I did get a few pics of the girls after everyone left. Can you guess our theme???

Chuck-E-Cheese round two!

So as I mentioned before with Isabella's birthday, we have a tradition of taking the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese on the night of their birthday's. Last Monday (I know I am behind on my blogging!) we packed up the fam and went to party with the cheese man. Everyone had a blast playing games and eating the fabulous pizza (sike!). I didn't know how much this outing meant to Kyle until this night. He was running a bit late from work and so I went ahead and left without him knowing he could just meet us there. When I called to let him know we were there already he slightly freaked. He wouldn't allow me to let the kids play any games until he got there. This didn't go over well with my four and two year old. I did finally convince them to go down the slides until their daddy got there. I love him because these little things mean so much to him!

Margaret showing us all of the tickets that she won.
This is how Margaret wins all of her tickets playing ski ball:)

Fun on the slides!

Little stinker wouldn't let me get a good face shot.

My Isabella, posing like a pro!

Chucky did make his way out to say hello to all of the children who came to play his games. Of course when my children saw him they ran the other direction with tears. Maybe next year they will at least say hello!

Mr. Marathon!

Kyle ran a marathon yesterday and I am so proud of him!!!!

This is his second marathon since March and he made it! His was so happy because he improved his time and I think that he actually just enjoyed this one a bit better because he knew more of what to expect. He ran with my brother, who has done several marathons and really is the one who inspired Kyle to give it a try. We had a great time yesterday cheering them on and watching them cross the finish line.

I am so proud of you honey, you are awesome!

Margaret and her Papa.
Kyle and my brother resting after the run.

The girls maybe like it most because of the freebies at the finish line...

yummy yogurt!!!

Kyle looking a little pale but very determined.

Isabella and her cousin:)