Friday, January 29, 2010

My birthday baby!

Caroline turned TWO on January 8th! Can y'all believe it? Me neither.

Sweet Caroline,

What a joy you are! We love you more than you can know. You love to talk and giggle and do things "all by self". You have quite the sense of humor and love to make silly faces. You are certainly a great communicator and will let us know what you want and that you want it RIGHT NOW! You love to give hugs and kisses. Brushing your teeth and getting your hair fixed is the highlight of your morning. You're a great helper and love to "assist" me when I fold and put away your diapers. You and your brother are getting to be good buddies... when you aren't beating each other up. You have quite a screech and like to use it at the most inopportune times, usually in a quiet restaurant. You've gotten really good at putting on your clothes but prefer to have them off. You're often seen walking around the house in you play shoes with a purse and a cup waving and saying "Bye! See you later". You're great at imitating Mommy! You love to read Bible stories and sing songs before bed. Jesus Loves the Little Children is your current favorite. We'll always remember you as our "greatest surprise". We can't wait to see what the future holds for you. Our lives are so much better because of you. You bring joy, laughter, and sweetness to our house. Thanks for being an awesome little girl!

Love forever and always,
Mama

Simply having a...

wonderful Christmastime! Has anyone noticed that lots of my blog titles are titles or lyrics of songs? Just an observation.

Anyway...

Christmas morning dawned early at our house. Every morning does since Jack likes to wake up before 6am. We had everything out and ready and took the kids into the playroom straight away. They were THRILLED to see a lovely new play kitchen waiting for them. We had to move Jack's train table to a different spot so the kitchen would fit and it was like he had a brand new toy! So funny how if you change something just a bit that the novelty is enough to spark a whole new interest. The kiddos played with the kitchen while we made breakfast... cinnamon rolls and fruit salad. Yum. We ate and ate and ate...

Then came The Tree. We opened gifts from Yaya and a few from Santa.

An aside... The topic of Santa. Some folks are all about Santa. Some are completely against him. In our house our kids understand Santa doesn't really come and bring gifts but we like to pretend. The magic of the make-believe is so fun for them. So, we talk about Santa; we make cookies for Santa, etc. On Christmas morning as we were handing out gifts we would say "this one's from Santa". Jack would look at me and laugh and say "You're just jokin' Mom!" He thought it was too funny. At the most, he believes Santa is a character on The Polar Express so, we're going with it.

Back to the gifts. Caroline got an American Girl Bitty Baby from Yaya. She and Jack named her Maggie. Maggie has her own high chair, cradle, diaper bag and wardrobe. She's a hit. Jack and Caroline love to feed her in the play kitchen and take her for walks or rides in their grocery cart. Jack got a scooter. We all love it! We saved quite a few gifts back to take to Gigi and Pappaw's later in the day. That always proves to be a marathon gift opening session.

Around 11am we ventured out. Almost everything was still covered with snow but the roads had finally cleared. Good thing we waited a bit before heading out. We heard lots of awful stories of folks being stuck on the roads in the mess. It seems that TxDOT was not prepared for all the ice and snow that accumulated on the roads overnight. Thankfully, we didn't have to mess with the mess.

At Gigi and Pappaw's house we had a delicious lunch together. The kids probably ate their weight in Aunt Emmy's macaroni and cheese. So yummy! After lunch we skipped naptime and got straight to opening presents. That lasted quite. a. while. Both kids got loaded up in the gift department. They had so much fun tearing into gifts and playing with all their new toys.

We stayed past dinner, gave the kids a bath, got them jammied up, loaded the car and headed home. Jack and Caroline were passed out before we hit I20. We had a wonderful Christmas day and were exhausted at the end. We're so blessed to have such wonderful family to spend our day with and celebrate the birth of Jesus!
The discovery!Cups!Jack and his new scooterMe and Jack's new scooter. I realize this isn't really flattering but it's funny, nonetheless!Caroline and Maggie. Care-care opened a tiara and earrings first and had to wear them all morning. Every picture we have of her opening gifts has her wearing them. Funny girlA NEW TRAIN!
Please note: The ONLY thing Jack asked for was a train that was black and blue. I went to Toys R Us the Saturday before Christmas (not smart) and they had ONE. TRAIN. LEFT. It was black and blue. The Big Man was looking out for this mama!Playing trains on his new train quilt, courtesy of Yaya. He hasn't slept a night since Christmas without this quilt on his bed.Caroline in the kitchen in her apron and hat, another Yaya creation.
Watching Bolt on his scooterThe next day... my little chefs!
*I realize we have ZERO pictures from Gigi and Pappaw's house. For some reason we just didn't get the camera out. Strange.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Much more to come...

Stay tuned!

Oh the weather outside was frightful...

But inside our home was filled with warmth from our family and friends! Our Christmas eve was pretty low key. Good thing too because the weather took quite a turn. It snowed most of the day and then around sundown it turned in to a blizzard (or as close to one as we get here in Texas)! My mom came over and we enjoyed spending the day together, wrapping gifts and playing with the kids. Everyone enjoyed watching White Christmas, a tradition at our house. The Courseys came over and our kids got to exchange gifts. My mom even had some special handmade surprises for Selah and Matthan. We chowed down on Chinese food together and let the kids play. When it was time to leave, Terry and Jason couldn't resist a bit of a snowball fight. Terry ended up flat on his back after slipping on the ice. Then retaliated bu pummeling our front door with snowballs. Cold and wet, the Courseys made their way home and we got the kids into bed and went about our Christmas Eve Parental Duties. We assembled toys, wrapped gifts, and set everything out ready for the next morning's magic.
View from the front window
The backyardWe had icicles!And the front of the house
Terry and Matthan
Erin, thanking my mom for Matthan's quilt. It's beautiful!Jack, helping Selah open her gift from Yaya.
Chef Selah! She was so proud!The tree, just before we turned in for the night

Delicious December Delights

We did lots of fun things to make the holiday season memorable and fun for our kiddos. One of our favorite things to do was make Christmas cookies and candies. Of course, once they were made they had to be enjoyed. Yum!
The crazy mess of a kitchen as we made our Santa cookies!
Jack, decorating his Santa cookie. Delish!
Caroline, waiting patiently. She was really good at eating the icing directly off the cookie.
Another day, enjoying a chocolate covered pretzel with sprinkles. So tasty!

Waaaay overdue!

So, in true Kippy fashion, I've neglected my blog for a number of weeks, only to be followed by an apology and a great number of posts and pictures. It's what I do. Here goes...