Tuesday, January 22, 2013

NYE 2012

New Years Eve we went to my parents house in Argyle.  They were babysitting Grayson and Reese so we all hung out and and let the kids run around like crazy.  Harper decided the New Years Eve was the night to dress up, so she got on her party best and accessorized accordingly.



The wooden tricycle is a favorite at my parents house.  Harper and Grayson took turns driving and riding in the back.  



Reese was a little lame this year, she just wanted to sleep and missed most of the action.


After bath time, we celebrated New Years (it was about 7:30pm).  They donned their sunglasses and mardi gras beads and we partied like it was 1999.  The fam decided they are going to start teaching these kiddos big words early.  So all night long, they would say "Grayson, that's illogical."  He would repeat, in his amazing way that he says L's like Y's, "That's iyogical."  He's just the cutest.  



This sweet girl went straight to bed at 7:30.  However...  when we woke her up to go home, she decided to stay awake the whole drive and for about 2 hours after that.  How does this child not transfer?  


We then played Telestrations, which is my dad's new game.  It's a combination of telephone and pictionary.  A few words turned pretty funny.  Like Dad's pigeon that Cody changed to chicken butt that Taylor changed to something much worse.  Taylor didn't care how the game went and threw some sort of drug reference in all of hers.  And Carleigh was mad because someone had ruined one of hers so she set out to ruin others.  I was just bad at the game, and kept messing everyone else's up - I'm a horrible artist!  A great dinner, chocolate fondue, and a fabulous night and now it's 2013.  


Happy New Year's!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Christmas Posts

Here are all the Christmas posts, there are a lot!  But I will admit that all of the family ones were stolen from Kristen.  My sister is so good about always having her camera out so she can take pictures whenever we get together.  Why redo what has already been done, right?  So, thanks Kristen!  









Our Christmas Season

We have been extremely anxious for Christmas this year.  We decorated big time and even put up outside lights on the house.  Harper loved every Santa she saw, which meant we slowed down while driving home quite a bit.  And we always got a big "Wow" when we turned on the Christmas tree lights.




Harper loved carrying around the 2 foot Santa and Snowman we have.  She got Mickey and Minnie Mouse stuffed animals dressed as Santa that have quickly become daily favorites.  And she loved wearing her Santa PJ's so she could point to Santa on her shirt.  She did great with the tree, only taking a few ornaments off and only breaking one.  Not bad for a 1 1/2 year old, I think.



Cody and I loved getting to see her learn all about Christmas this year.  We took her to Santa, twice.  The first time they asked me to sit with her because she wasn't quite sure about Santa (no thanks) and the second time she sat with him but looked on the verge of tears.  In the end, she was super happy to meet Santa both times (while securely clutching our hands).  Everywhere we went, it was "Dan-ta?"






We looked at lights one night, letting her sit up in the front with us.  A house near us has lights set to music and she loved dancing along.  We made Kara's aunt's toffee (took two rounds to get it right, but it turned out good) and spent a day delivering goodies to friends.  We shopped like crazy and we enjoyed Christmas.  But this year, we took time to really celebrate the real meaning of Christmas.  We talked about Jesus being born, in the manger.  We sang Christmas carols and prayed that we would be changed by the thought of Jesus coming to Earth, to save us from our sins.  And we held a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas morning.  We had birthday breakfast "cupcakes" (pancake muffins), read Isaiah 9 and Luke 2, and we celebrated the 1st advent (coming) of our King.





On Christmas morning, we read all these posts about people staying up until all hours of the night "getting ready for Christmas".  We were shocked and wondered what in the world all these parents were doing...  Christmas morning, Harper opened her gift and we suddenly realized what those parents were doing.  Putting together the 100 parts of their childs' gift so they could play with it.  Boo rookie parents.  So the day after Christmas, we put her present together and had a great day playing with all our stuff.  

Excited about her new gift


Playing in the box

All the pieces

Stockings


New tent with daddy

Monday, January 14, 2013

A December to Remember

This month has been tremendously busy.  We have had more playdates than usual since it has gotten cold and we can't play outside as much.  We have been running errands every day, getting shopping done for Christmas.  And we have been cooking and baking a lot more often, trying new recipes for the holidays.

Showing Taylor her new house

Shopping at Old Navy for Reese

Harper is talking more and more every day.  Her new phrase is "I don't know," hands up in question form.  One of her favorite toys right now is her set of magnetic letters on the fridge.  She likes to take them all off, put them in tupperware or baggies, and hide them in cabinets.  She comes and drags us to the kitchen and we ask her where her letters are, she says "I don't know" and then finds them for us.  Very fun game (for her).  Her other new word is bathtub.  She loves saying it and when we ask, she usually repeats it quite a few times and then hightails it to the bathroom.

Putting all her magnetic letters in her pitcher

Found this open cabinet one day.  
Seems Harper and Maggie had both been sneaking by, 
grabbing a bite every so often.

She is sleeping pretty good.  She goes down at 7pm, falls asleep between 7:30 and 8, wakes up around 6, and gets out of her crib at 7.  She goes down easy and we love that she will play in her crib and read and let us sleep in or shower in the morning.  She has started napping later in the day.  She goes down at 12:30, falls asleep at 1, and sleeps around 1 1/2 hours.  Super grateful for that time to relax and get some stuff done.  And we still take a looong bath every night.  It's one of her favorite play times.

Calling daddy at breakfast one morning

Bath fun

She is great at independent play.  She still loves stacking things.  She loves cups, pouring water from one to another.  Books are still her favorite.  Cody has taught her all the animals in the Brown Bear, Brown Bear book, so we test her a little each day.  She loves animals, finding out their sounds, and seeing real ones.   And she has really gotten the hang of cell phones.  She can figure out how to turn any of them on, always pretends to talk to someone, or finds ways to play around on it.

She loves keyboards.  She likes to run her fingers across them, 
and sadly she is just the right height to reach most desks.

She has found a love/hate relationship with Maggie.  Sometimes, Maggie is her best friend.  She throws balls to her, follows her around the house, and feeds her leftovers.  But other times, Maggie is the beast who licks her when she doesn't want it, accidentally knocks her over, and gets to go outside when she doesn't.  The funny thing to watch is when Maggie is just walking around the house and Harper thinks Maggie is chasing her.  She squeals and runs for safety while Maggie just stares at her in confusion.

Dressing Maggie up in mardi gras beads

She is getting better in the car, but still doesn't like to be in it too long.  If she is sleepy, she requires one of us to lay our arm across her seat so that she can know we are still there.  And we always keep toys and snacks on hand to keep her occupied.  And her new favorite song to hear in the car, that will keep her from crying no matter what, is the ABC's.

Grumpy after bath one night

Cody had a good 1st semester.  Work was harder than usual this year, but he is enjoying his time off for the holidays.  He has also been fixing stuff around the house lately.  Our TV broke and he took it apart and replaced the fuse.  I also shattered the screen on my brand new laptop three weeks after I got it for my birthday.  So he fixed it up as a desktop with an old monitor in our extra bedroom.  And he got us set up with Netflix so we've been watching The Walking Dead, per Taylor's request.

Learning to play drums with daddy at KK and Mark's house

And this month Carleigh had her birthday celebration with three other friends who also had birthdays recently.  They invited tons of kids from their school and had a Hunger Games theme.  Each person got a flag that you tried to steal from others - to "kill" them.  Weapons included flour sacks, pvc pipes, and pool noodles.  Districts worked together to gain points and stay alive.  And the second that bell rang, those kids were in full war mode!  It was a blast.


Sunday, January 13, 2013

Christmas afternoon with the Klusman's


My Dad, Kristi, the girls and Kristi's parents came over mid afternoon for the end of our Christmas Extraveganza! And it started snowing!  Really snowing!  It was beautiful (to look at through the window) and so fun to have a white Christmas.  Most of us went to play in the snow and were back inside about 3 minutes later.  

Harper, Pop and Reese watching the snow

Cody, Taylor and Carleigh

Eric and Dad

Harper, Mimi and Reese

Cousins still in pajamas at 3pm!



The cool kids table

I think she likes her gift!

Maxine (Kristi's mom) with Reese

My Dad made Dane bean bag toss boards. He drew and painted the Short Bus Subs logo and a bus on them. The are so awesome!

A tent from Mimi and Pop. Love this picture of Harper lifting up the flap to look at Brian.


I think this is Taylor, Carleigh, Grayson, Harper and Bentley all in the tent.

Looking at MMC books with Car Car

My sweet Reesey and I

Family Picture!


Everyone cleared out around 6pm because the roads were getting bad.  Harper was in bed at 7pm and we spent a little bit of time bringing all the gifts inside.  Then we sat on the couch and went to bed early.  A long, great, sweet Christmas.  And I bet next year is even better!

Christmas Morning with the Piersall's


The plan this year was for our family to stay at Kristen's all day. My Mom, Mark and brothers would go to Kristen's and do presents and lunch and then my Dad, Kristi and the girls would come over for presents and dinner. It meant that we didn't have to pack up to go to two houses and feel chaotic all day. It ended up being really nice because it snowed and the roads were pretty bad. But this day was a little overwhelming with all the presents, toys and wrapping paper everywhere. Instead of going to a house that was clean and had food cooked, we ended up being the hosts' all day and it was a little exhausting.

It was a great morning though.  The boys were up and at Krissy's by 10:30, which was very good, but Eric was mad at Kristen because she forgot his orange juice.  Grayson accidentally ran over Harper with his bike, but she got over it pretty quick.  The kids ran around like crazy and the adults began opening the mess of gifts.  It was a  busy 2 hours.

Grayson getting ready to freak out that Harper was on his new bike.
He rode around in circles in the house and Harper just kept chasing him.
 
Distracting both of them with Happy Birthday Jesus hats and noise blowers.
Wearing matching Santa PJ's.

Cody and Reese


Helping daddy open gifts

Harper playing with Grayson's pop up toy

Grayson showing Eric his short bus and asking him if he can have a ride in Uncle E's school bus.

Every year my mom puts candy and toothpaste in our stockings.
Just another one of those weird traditions.

Looking at Eric's new stuff

Grayson and his favorite Aunt AJ

I made Grayson a Superman cape - so cute!

Eric always gets one really corny gift from my mom. Last year he got a KU yard gnome.
This year he got a "You are special today" plate. 

Harper got dress up clothes from Krissy.

My favorite gift - Kristen made my blog into a book!
I was overwhelmed with years to do so she got it all organized and looking pretty!
I'm so excited to get it printed!


Realizing that some of this stuff was for her.



Getting caught opening up other people's gifts

This is what Christmas chaos looks like.

Grandma Ruth, Mark, Grayson


Grayson's new train table from KK and Mark
Dane and Reese

The toddlers were down for thier nap and we layed around on the couch relaxing before the next Christmas!