Fun in the snow....and sun!

I was watching Hannah and Hayden today for a little bit.  It was actually above freezing today which we haven't seen in quite some time.  So, I asked Chelsey to bring the kids' snow pants and snow accessories and we'd play out in the snow today.  I tried to remove some of the packed snow on the drive way with little success.  The girls did help me dig out our holiday lawn ornaments, so now I don't have to wait until Spring when the snow melts to get them off the lawn.  We also built a snowman and they did a very good job.  Hayden was just doing his own thing the whole time and seemed happy to be left alone.  Keith was napping, and with everyone outside, the house was quiet. 

Keith has figured out how to say butt.  I was changing his diaper the other day and he looked at me and said, "BUTT", with a real annunciation on the "TT".  It was funny.  Now he just likes to say butt.  Crazy kid.

Here's a little tidbit I came across in our Sunday paper that I thought I'd share with everyone.  This was from the editor of the paper and she received this in an email and I think it could give everyone a better outlook: 

"With time, women gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.  So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.  Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, 'Good grief, look how smart I am!'  Must be where 'Smart Ass' came from!'"

Hope Y'all had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas has now come and gone and I'm having a hard time getting Kaitlyn on board with taking decorations down.  I think she'd love it if we kept our tree, lights, and everything up year round.  I hope I can get everything down before New Year's. 

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Christmas Eve was spent at Grama and Papa's for dinner and spending time with family.  The smoked prime rib was excellent as was the rest of the food.  Of course everyone ate way too much and then sat around chatting and letting food settle before dessert.  Way too much food was eaten.  But, it was good!  It was also really good to see family.  It's funny how close in proximity most of Jordan's family is, but we really don't see them that often.  Which is....odd, I guess.  My family is unfortunately so far away and this time of year really magnifies that. 

Everyone gathered to listen to Papa talk

Papa!

Everyone chatting

Keith wants to help put Heidi's jammies on.

Christmas morning we had to wake the kids to open their presents so we could go to Grama and Papa's again for more presents and even more food (not that I mind all the food, especially when it all tastes soo good).  Keith got a toy grill and that being the first thing he saw when he got downstairs meant he didn't care about anything else.  He played and played and played with it, but we did pry him away for a while to get him to open other gifts.  Kaitlyn got a bike, let me specify that, Kaitlyn got a Barbie bike, which included all the bells and whistles.  Well, no whistles, but it came with a bell and a basket, and streamers on the handles, and even a small bike for her Barbie.  This thing is "tricked out".  I know, who gets their kid a bike in the middle of winter when they live in Wyoming.  What can I say, I'm pretty sure we'll have to get her a bed for her birthday, so a bike for Christmas it was.  Besides, we can back the car out of the garage and she can ride around in there. 

The kids got so many other toys and clothes and movies.  Kaitlyn really liked the Barbie with a pony that Grama and Papa got her.  Also, she likes all the puzzles that she got as well.  Keith got a lot of toy cars and various ramps and things for the cars.  They both got some wood blocks from Nana.  Kaitlyn will build and Keith will then knock it down after ignoring Kaitlyn's protests.  Soo many toys that I'm going to have to go through some of the toys and start weeding out some that either don't get played with anymore or are really below their age. 

I received a new camera for Christmas and it did arrive in time for Christmas fortunately.  You'll have to excuse my picture taking I am still trying to get used to it.  It is an Olympus Pen so it's like an SLR, meaning you can change lenses on it, but it has a smaller body which I like.  Plus I love the old look to it.  It looks like an older film camera, but it has this, what I consider, huge LCD screen on the back.  I'm still learning all the functions and quirks to it.  I almost need to take a class for it.  But so far I love it. 

I also got some clothes and new slippers (thanks Chels I love them), a cook book, an immersion blender which I have been wanting for a while but kept putting off, movies, etc.  I got everything I wanted pretty much and then some. 

Jordan, poor Jordan, he unfortuntely received a bunch of things he already had.  I told him that's what he gets for not making a list, but it was a little sad.  He did get a video game from the kids and the KISS Kompendium from me.  It's a book that has every KISS comic ever made.  It is a very BIG book and very heavy.  Trying to carry it and a small child out of the store was a workout.  Jordan was feeling a little bummed this Christmas, but hopefully an upcoming hunting trip will get his mind off of it.
 


Then on Sunday, the real fun began.  Both kids were pukey sick that morning, not what you want to have to deal with first thing in the morning.  Kaitlyn has projectile vomit, so when she suddenly started puking on the couch and then starts walking to the bathroom (I did tell her to stay where she was, but she never listens to me) there was a trail of puke from the couch to the bathroom.  So not cool.  Fortunately that was the one time for her.  She was much better after that.  Keith on the other hand puked several times that morning, received several baths and changed clothes and bed sheets several times.  After Sunday there was no more puking, except once more from the dog, but Keith has had diarhea since then.  So, I have been doing laundry for three days straight and I'm really tired of it. 

A little side update on the kids.  Kaitlyn has been zipping up her own coat and buttoning her own buttons now.  She's very proud of herself, but so is everyone else.  She also has no clue what it means to be modest.  Kaitlyn was putting together a puzzle one day and she says very proudly, "I'm a smarty pants."  I laughed and told her that she was as she was whipping through this puzzle.  Then she tells me that I'm a smarty pants, I laughed again and told , "yes, Mama is and don't forget where you get it from."  Ok, so I'm sure she learned her self-assuredness from somewhere.

Keith is truely a sweet heart.  He chucked a small remote one day and it ended up hitting Kaitlyn.  I don't think he meant to hit her.  Of course, Kaitlyn says OW! and proceeds to tell me how Keith hit her even though I saw the whole thing.  She wasn't really crying though which was a little surprising.  I looked at Keith and told him that it wasn't very nice to hit his sister with the remote and he looked down at his toes for a few seconds.  Then, the really surprising part was when he walked over to his sister and gave her a hug.  It was just too cute and if I had my camera on me I would have taken a picture.  Then the hugging became a game, Kaitlyn would hold her arms out and Keith would then hug her.  Too funny!  Now Keith will give Kaitlyn hugs and say, "awww," like I did when he hugged her after hitting her.  He really is a sweet little man.  He even hugs little baby dolls, he's just a softy.  Don't get me wrong, he'll give Kaitlyn hell at times too, but her really does love his big sister. 

Busy, busy Holidays!

I know I should have posted sooner, but what can you do sometimes.  Thanksgiving went well.  Of course I forgot the camera, so no photos from then.  Sorry.  We went over to Grama and Papa's for turkey with all the fixin's.  Yummy!

The day after we decorated the house and the Christmas tree.  Kaitlyn loved it she had been bugging me all month to decorate the tree and I kept telling her not until after Thanksgiving.  Let me deal with one holiday at a time ya know?  This year has felt more like Christmas than in previous years.  Maybe because Kaitlyn's now old enough to really get excited for it too.  Who knows? 

Kaitlyn wearing the tree skirt

Notice only half of the tree is decorated because of the little mister

The kids admiring the tree

Jordan and I gotall of our Christmas shopping done early this year which is a shocker.  Usually we're scrambling to finish.  Thankfully not this year. 

I have been a whirl wind in the kitchen, baking up a storm.  I've made cookies and fruitcake (I don't like it but Jordan really does), gingerbread houses and more cookies.  I really love baking this time of year, even though I get a little stressed sometimes.  We decorated the gingerbread houses last night at Chelsey's house.  The kids loved it.  Keith was taking bites of the candy before putting it onto his house, but it did get decorated in the end.  Gingerbread marshmallows - try them if you get a chance.  They are good!

Notice the bulging cheek, someone was sneeking candy

Kaitlyn was being very precise in her candy placement

Kaitlyn, Hannah, and Keith's Houses (Keith's is the front house on the left)

The Reindeer cookies Kaitlyn and I spent a whole day making.  Most went to family.

Kaitlyn has her own little tree this year that we've been using as an advent calendar.  She gets an ornament everyday to put on the tree.  She does not neglect to remind me in the morning that she needs to put a new ornament on her tree.  I'll put a picture of her tree on the blog when it's done.  Lights, star, and all.

Now, that I'm all done, the packages for family are sent out, all the Christmas shopping is done, and preschool is over until the New Year, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself now.  Probably nothing, I don't do enough nothingness.

The National Christmas Tree 2010

For the first time in the history of a Christmas tree being placed on the National lawn at the U.S. Capitol, the tree is being given by the state of Wyoming, and we got to see it.  Well, we almost didn't get to see it. 

This morning I asked Kaitlyn if she wanted to go see a really big Christmas tree.  Of course the answer was yes!  She's been bugging me to set up our Christmas tree and I've been telling her not until after Thanksgiving.  I can only deal with one holiday at a time.  So, I thought it'd be nice to see the National Christmas tree when it drove through Gillette.



Kaitlyn was being shy and didn't want to sit with Santa



Got the kids all dressed and ready, we arrived at the college around 4:30 pm, that's where it was going to be parked for a while before moving on, about 30 minutes after all the festivities and arrival of the tree.  Or so I thought.  We got down there, received our Gillette Christmas pin, and then was given the awful news.  The tree is stuck in Wright due to the high winds and they weren't sure when it could get there.  WHAT!?!  As a consolation, if you could call it that, we had our picture taken with Santa, was given our teddy bears and candy canes and signed one of the posters that was going along with the tree to the Capitol. 

Kaitlyn and I were heartbroken.    I couldn't believe it, but I guess that's true Wyoming fashion.  That D*MN WIND!!!!  So I told Kaitlyn we'd have to come back later, not really thinking anything would come of it, or that we'd really even go out again. 

After a chat with Mom, she suggested that there may be a websight tracking the tree.  Good idea!  After a quick search, sure enough there is a tree tracking sight! In the meantime Kaitlyn has asked a bouple of times if the tree has come yet.  At about 7:00 pm I noticed it looked as if the tree could be in Gillette, that gives me an hour to get the kids ready and loaded into the truck and drive over to the college to see the tree. 



Kaitlyn and the tree

 Kaitlyn was pretty excited, we got up to the really long covered trailer and peeked into the plexiglass window.  It's a big tree!  You can't see all of it just the tippy top and they put some little lights on what you could see, but it was still pretty neat.  I pulled out my camera to take a picture and Kaitlyn wanted her camera so she could take a picture too.  OH NO!!  I forgot her camera.  When we came earlier we packed it into my purse because Kaitlyn wanted to bring it.  I had taken it out of my purse when we came home, along with all the other goodies we got when we were there.  The second time around it was one of those, let's get ready and go now or we may miss it and I forgot her camera.  Kaitlyn had a meltdown.  She was just crying because she didn't have her camera.  Fortunately, since it was late and they were getting close to shutting down the viewing, there weren't many people there.  Well, the coordinator for the tree, Mary (I didn't realize it was her until I saw the blog http://capitolchristmastree2010.blogspot.com/) came over and asked what was wrong and I explained the whole story and she felt bad.  She has a daughter who just turned four, so she understood.  She gave Kaitlyn a Wyoming Capitol Christmas tree pin.  So, forgot the camera, but got a pin.  Kaitlyn felt better, plus I let her take a picture with my camera.  She also "signed" the side of the truck, or scribbled a little any way.



Kaitlyn took this picture

Kaitlyn standing infront of her scribble

I signed our names, poorly

The trailer carrying the tree

The truck

Kaitlyn wearing her pins

The Wyoming Christmas tree pin

The Gillette Christmas pin


Sorry about the pictures, they're not the greatest.  It was cold and windy and dark and I was holding Keith.

Here's the sight for the tree http://www.capitolchristmastree2010.org/
and here's where you can track the trees progress http://www.trackthetree.com/

Keith is 15 months old!

Keith is now 15 months old and I can't believe it.  He did have to get shots the other day and he didn't even cry.  Kaitlyn on the other hand was whining and crying and throwing fits.  She wasn't even there to see the doctor.  Keith has really slowed down on his growing.  He gained about a pound, now weighing 23 lbs. 9 oz. and didn't get any taller, he's still 30.5 inches.  He must be putting all his energy into growing his teeth right now.  He has all but three of them in and even those you can see will pop through any day.  Crazy kid.

The bucket on the head has become a nightly happening.  Just about every night too.  He will walk over to the shelf and pull the box of blocks of, and then proceed to dump the blocks out.  Then the box is on the head.  He really seems to like the sound of his voice when the box is on his head, because he'll usually babble incessantly while it's on.  Hence the new video. 

Keith loves, and I mean loves, these spiced cranberry preserves that I made.  I honestly think if I sat him in his highchair with a spoon and a jar of cranberry preserves he would lick the jar clean.  They are heavily spiced with cinnamon and clove and nutmeg.  When I made them I tasted a little to try it since I've never made it before.  I thought I'd let Keith try some too.  Grabbed a spoon dipped it into the preserves and walked over to Keith.  He tasted it and his eyes got all wide.  I asked him if it was good and he said uh-huh, nodding his head as he opened his mouth for more.  I had to give him his own spoon with some on it plus seconds, thirds, and fourths before I told him no more.  I'll put some on Eggo waffles in the morning sometimes ( it's really good) and if he sees the jar he has to have some or there will be a fit thrown.  He also will have several bites of my waffle.  I never thought he would like it, let alone love it. 

He still doesn't have a large vocabulary, but we are trying to learn apparently because "What's that?" is repeated over and over again throughout the day.  Even though his vocabulary is small his understanding is amazing.  If you ask him where something is like his shoes or his milk, blanket, etc., he'll go looking for it.  If you tell him to give you something or to give something to Kaitlyn he will.  I have noticed that it's pretty selective in whether or not he'll do what you ask, like to get off the table or stay out of the trash.  Already a little man. 

He tries to jump, which is so cute.  He never actually leaves the floor, but he'll bend down and come back up.  He really tries to jump when Kaitlyn does it.  You'll see him next to her bopping up and down, up and down.  He really loves his big sister and is always trying to do what she does.



Before



After



Kaitlyn is having fun picking out what she wants for Christmas in all the catalogs we've been getting in the mail.  We received a toy catalog that has a very cute pink and white wooden kitchen on the front, with curtains.  Kaitlyn tells me she wants this kitchen for Christmas.  She already has a little play kitchen.  I reminded her of this, to which she tells me to take it back.  I told her I can't take it back.  She still wants this kitchen and the other kitchen can be given to Keithers (Kaitlyn call Keith, "Keithers", sometimes).  I told this story to Nana and she said that Kaitlyn is just remodeling.  Yeah, I don't think so. 

Happy Halloween!!



Kaitlyn as Jessie the Cowgirl



Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and was able to get many treats and not too many tricks.  We went to Grama and Papa's again, doing our trick-or-treating out their way.  We ate some dinner and got all the kids ready and it rained.  So, we took some pictures and by the time we got a few decent pictures, what with all the kids wanting to do anything but sit still, the rain had let up.  We went around a couple of blocks and after each house Kaitlyn kept telling me her bag wasn't full yet.  So, on to another house we went.  Kaitlyn was Jessie from Toy Story 2 and so we found Keith a Woody costume.  Sis thought I was being cruel to make them match, but when Keith has his own opinion about what he wears on Halloween, then he can decide what he'll be.  Until then, I'll make them match if I want to. 

 

<>                  Jessie (Kaitlyn) and Hannah the Witch

Woody (Keith), Jessie (Kaitlyn), and Hayden the cat



It's Halloween Time!

I have some updating to do.  It seems like every time I remember to update the blog, I forget before I can get to the computer.  Then something else happens or is coming up and I think I'll just wait for whatever it is and update then.  It's a vicious cycle.  Anyhoo....

Jordan came back from an unsuccessful hunt for him, but we "won" in the end.  Jordan didn't shoot anything this year and found very few chances to do so.  However, Tyler and Bryan both got an elk and were nice enough to leave them in our freezer.  So, even though Jordan didn't bring one home we still ended up with some meat.  Yes, Mom, meat.

While the boys were gone, the girls threw a baby shower for Carissa and the upcoming bundle of joy.  It was good, lots of good food and good company.  What more could you ask for?

Kaitlyn is still loving preschool.  Everyday she asks if she has school that day.  I can either tell her yes or no.  If the answer is no she wants to know when she does have school.  Well, yesterday when she asked I told her, "Daddy is going to be home for two days, there's also Halloween, and then on Monday, when Daddy goes back to work, you have school."  So this morning she asked again if she had school today.  I told her not today, not until Daddy goes back to work.  She immediately turns to Jordan and tells him, "Daddy you need to go to work, so I can go to school."  It was so cute and funny.  Twice she ended up telling him that this morning.  They also had a Halloween party at school earlier this week.  She loved it, she dressed up in her costume and received a goody bag. 

We carved pumpkins at Grama and Papa's last Sunday, and then Kaitlyn and I carved pumkins at home yesterday.  I have to say that carving three pumpkins in a row is a lot of work, especially since Kaitlyn didn't want to reach in and grab the slimy pumpkin "guts".  All-in-all they turned out pretty good.

Pumpkins carved at Grama and Papa's



Pumpkins carved at home

 Jordan and I took the kids through the hay bale maze that someone had put together next to the rec center.  It was smaller than I had thought but Kaitlyn seemed to like it.  She was the leader and chose which way to go.  It was cute watching her decide which way to go.  It didn't take very long but they did a good job of making you think you were almost out and then taking you back toward the center before finally making it to the exit.

We also took the kids to Trunk-or-Treat at the church.  There was food and a little carnival.  Kaitlyn got to to throw rope and she was really excited to do it.  Then everyone went outside and went from vehicle to vehicle and trick-or-treated.  Kaitlyn and Hannah really hauled in the candy.

Say Cheese!

Using the marshmallow gun

Get that doggie Cowgirl!!

Making eyeballs

All done, time to help Grama

Tomorrow we'll be going over to Grama and Papa's to do more trick-or-treating and just hang out.  Now it's time for caramel apples.