Christmas morning

Maybe I need to start a little earlier than this morning. This year, Kayleigh has learned about Santa, and the gifts that he brings. We were with friends the other night and decorated cookies for him. Last night, she wanted to put out all of the cookies except for one, which she wanted to try and make sure it tasted okay. :) She also wanted to go to bed about 6:30 last night so he would come and deliver her presents. We did get her to go to sleep and she didn't get up until almost 8 this morning. Too bad Brian was up before 7! She was so excited to see that Santa ate the cookies she left out for him and that he left some presents for her.
I made muffins this morning, and Kayleigh got up right when I took them out of the oven. Obviously she didn't want to wait to open presents, so we let the muffins cool while we tore open our gifts. And by "our", I mean "their". We did make Kayleigh wait her turn between gifts, so it wouldn't go by too quickly. One thing she wanted was a new sound machine like what Brian has in his room, and she started screaming in delight when she opened it. She also got a scooter from Nana, and a Leapfrog Tag from my parents, along with Tag books from Valerie and Matt. Brian got a dump truck from Nana, smaller toys and some puzzles from us.
After presents, we ate and then the kids played with some of their new stuff. Jenna called a little while later and said they were getting ready to go outside. Jack also got a scooter, so he and Kayleigh got to play with them and then run off some of their energy. It's been a good day so far. I need to stop blogging and go make homemade macaroni and cheese to take to Christmas dinner. YUM!

Catching up with pictures

A little over a month ago, Erik and I (mostly me since I do the laundry) were getting fed up with Kayleigh having accidents at nap time. She has a door from her bedroom to the bathroom, and Erik and I had both told her that it would be fine if she went in there. After being completely fed up with it, Erik and I came up with a treat chart for her. We told Kayleigh that for each week she went without an accident, she could get a small treat. At the end of 4 weeks, she could have a big party. Kayleigh wanted to name the chart "Kayleigh's ACCIDENT treat chart". I heard her say "Kayleigh's EXCELLENT treat chart". Oops! Anyway, for her treats, we made cookies, cupcakes, got ice cream, and then the big party was a smoothie/movie party.



After grocery shopping on Monday, I was trying to put everything away, and Brian thought he found the coolest new seat, ever! It took awhile for me to get him to move. I think I pulled him away by bribing him with food. Works every time!



Kayleigh has said she wants two things from Santa. One, a Dora pillow like her cousin, Taylor and two, a sound machine like Brian has. Santa came a little early in the form of Jenna, and Kayleigh got the first thing on her list. Jenna had the fabric already, and even though she had other plans for it, she changed to make Kayleigh's day. She gave it to Kayleigh yesterday, and Kayleigh was so excited to get it on her bed last night! Jenna also made another pillowcase dress and a small, travel pillow. As soon as it warms up again, I have big plans to get Kayleigh in the dress. It's super cute!



Okay, this last thing is hard to explain, but some of you will get it, and others will have to wait until you see Brian again to truly understand. When I was little and would get mad, Mom always said the worst thing I could do to someone is breathe really hard at them. Brian does the same breathing thing, but he just does it randomly, mostly when he's being silly. This picture is to show what he looks like when he does it. It cracks me up!

Gingerbread Man House

I decided to do a Gingerbread House with Kayleigh this year after Jenna and Jack made their own. I figured if they could do it, so could we! Kayleigh called it a "Gingerbread Man House", and we just went with it. We bought the kit today and made the house tonight. You can tell that I'm no architect, especially since the house didn't stand up long. Even before we finished, the roof was sliding off the side! It was okay, though, because Kayleigh couldn't wait to dig in. As you can see from the pictures, we enjoyed our Gingerbread Man House a lot! YUM!

Christmas party and lights

Sunday night was the Christmas party for Erik's work. This is the kids party where Santa comes and gives the kids a gift and goodie bucket. They also get to go in all of the bounce houses and be crazy for awhile. After the party, we went to a local park to see their Christmas lights. Kayleigh is really getting into Christmas this year, so that's fun. We're trying to remind her that we also need to remember Jesus' birthday, and the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

Breakfast in Bethlehem

Yesterday morning, our church had "Breakfast in Bethlehem" for the little ones. Kayleigh remembers it from seeing pictures of last year and was excited to go back. We had a good breakfast, and then let the kids do some crafts and take pictures at the manger scene. One of Kayleigh's friends was there, and she was dressing up as a shepherd, so that's what Kayleigh wanted to be, too. Then, she wanted to hold baby Jesus (that's a big desire of hers right now), so Shirley got the idea of saying Kayleigh was Mary instead of a shepherd.
It's amazing how much more Brian is walking from even a week ago. He wanted to get down on the ground and be with the big kids. He can walk across the room and even turn corners or turn around if he needs to. I'm very excited because 1.) he's heavy and 2.) that means he'll be able to start going to Mother's Morning Out with Kayleigh very soon.
Tonight we are going to a Christmas party for Erik's work. This is the kids party, so we'll get to see Santa and play. Kayleigh talks about Santa, and even knows a couple of things that she wants for Christmas this year, but I'm not sure that she'll talk to him when she sees him in person. I'll get pictures of that posted later this week.

Meeting Caroline

After two months of waiting, we finally got to go to Mobile to meet Caroline. Kayleigh loves holding babies, and she couldn't wait to hold her cousin. Unfortunately, when we got there, Caroline was sleeping, so Kayleigh had to wait awhile to get to hold her. Luckily, she had Taylor to play with and keep her mind off of it. Taylor and Kayleigh get along really well, and it's fun watching them run around together.
On Saturday, we went to Bass Pro Shops to meet Santa and do some crafts, plus walk around a little bit. We had to get a "Meet Santa" pass, and the earliest one we could have gotten was for 3:00. That's right in the middle of nap time, not to mention it was only noon when we were there, and there was no way we were waiting 3 hours to meet the big guy, not knowing how the girls would react when they got up close and personal. After Bass, we decided to go to Chick-Fil-A for lunch. Yum! Brian was poopy, and when I went to change him he'd had a blow out. OH NO! Luckily, we were in Alabama, so we walked out of the bathroom with Brian in no clothes and our heads held high like we were from there. I don't think anyone looked twice! We had to leave after dinner Saturday night. It was a quicker trip than we would have liked, but everything was so nice!