Whistle Wonders

Kalyana wanted to learn to whistle just like her friend Tyler so she's been practicing literally everyday (in fact, several times a day!) for about 4 weeks now. She loves to show everyone how good she's gotten and whenever they ask her who taught her she doesn't say mommy or daddy but instead says, "My friend Tyler". It's so amazing to hear and witness the difference from her just blowing air out to actually getting a whistle. So fun!

It's instances like this that I am glad I am documenting my life so readily. I don't ever want to forget how hard my sweet daughter has worked to earn something that is so important to her. She is so thrilled with her new talent.

Family Visits

My parents came down to visit us yesterday and to see all the fun new toys the kids got for Christmas. I remember when I lived at home and my grandparents would come over and play games and see our presents. I can't believe now my parents are doing that with my kids!

It was fun to get a visit from them! The girls couldn't wait to show off their new kitchen (and other toys of course too) and tell them all about Santa! The girls were so excited about their presents they even called grandma and grandpa on Christmas to share all the news about their new toys. Grandma and grandpa even brought a few more toys to go along with the new kitchen (a few plates, bowls and fruit). Then they treated us to a yummy dinner of Cafe Rio.

Aunt Heather came down today to take Kalyana out on the town. After she played with the other kids for a bit she took Kalyana and the went out to McDonalds for lunch. Kalyana still sometimes calls it "Old McDonalds" and she got a Strawberry Shortcake in her kidsmeal. (Which is really funny to me because the last 2 moives we've gotten from the library were Strawberry movies and we had to watch them a thousand times because Kalyana couldn't couldn't get enough of them.)

The girls then stopped off at Chuck E. Cheese's for a while where they had a great time playing, riding the rides and collecting all the fun little toys with their tickets.

On their way home they stopped off at the store for a box of Popsicles to share with all of us. If you haven't noticed by now, Kalyana loves Popsicles and snow cones... even in the middle of this freezing cold winter!

We enjoyed having Heather come and play! We miss her so much when she's out in Virginia and we really look forward to her visits home!

We'll Be HOME For Christmas

This was our very first Christmas celebration at home! We LOVED it! The girls woke up around 7 but Tarl managed to keep them in our room with a movie for 30 minutes so I could get a little more sleep. Tyce slept until 9 or so (I finally went to wake him up so we could enjoy stockings with us).

Kids: books, clothes, kitchen, strollers, play cell phones, walkie talkies, shadow flashlights.
Tarl: xbox game and movies.
Debbie: book light and microwave oven (love those toasted sandwiches!).

A few fun things I'd like to remember from yesterday:
Over the last month or so I've been saving the boxes from crackers and such to wrap presents in. So when anyone would open a present Kalyana would say, "That's no ORDINARY box of crackers."

After the girls spotted their brand new kitchen Makayla didn't want to open any presents. Kalyana was in charge of passing out the presents (she can read all of our names!) but whenever anyone would ask Makayla if she wanted to open one she'd say No.

The girls left cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer. In the middle of opening presents Kalyana get this shocked look on her face and says, "I'll be right back." and went running into the kitchen. She looked at the plates we left out and screamed, "Santa ate our cookies!" The girls LOVED reading the fun note Santa left for them.

The kids got along SO well! They were sharing and playing together great and it was fun to just sit back and watch them enjoy each other and their new toys.

This picture cracks me up. It only took about two hours for Kalyana to ask if we would put Tyce in her stroller. In these toy strollers Tyce looks like a giant baby! Today he is 5 months old! I think he's weighing in around 13 or 14 lbs.

Photo Calendar

Last year I made a photo calendar for my family Christmas presents (for my parents and two sisters).

It was such a hit, everyone asked me to do it again. With the help of my sweet, talented husband we put these masterpieces together. I used some awesome layouts from shabby princess and we had it printed and bound at the UPS Store.

I LOVE it! It turned out so much better than I planned and I couldn't be happier.

Kalyana's Bible Story

This year marks the first of many as we celebrate Christmas at our very own home with our very own little family. We had a super yummy dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, mixed vegetables and rolls.

We filmed a bit of our reenactment of the story of Jesus' birth from the bible (film posted later). Kalyana wanted to help with the script so she drew us this picture of our family as the characters. Can you pick out each of the characters? Tarl and I are quite proud!

We have been tracking Santa on his way across the world. The girls ran upstairs to bed all giggly and excited! Every ten or fifteen minutes we hear Kalyana yelling downstairs, "Dad, where is Santa now?" We tell her the country but I can only imagine just how much she understands of that. According to the website and news, Santa should be making his way here around midnight. I hope the girls are asleep long before that!

The girls and I decorated cookies this afternoon for him and left carrots out for his reindeer. I hope they like them!

Pre-Christmas

The rest of the family joined us on Friday for our pre-Christmas eve on Friday the 21st and our pre-Christmas on Saturday. When I was younger my sisters and I would all sit on the stairs while mom and dad set up the camera and turned on some Christmas music. Then we'd all run in youngest to oldest. It was SO fun to watch the little grandkids run in this year!
Since Santa isn't coming until Christmas eve we told Kalyana this was just us exchanging presents so the first thing she said when she ran into the front room and saw all the presents was, "Santa didn't really come [this time]." We all laughed.

The grandkids all had a great time and got some fun gifts!
Some of the things I can remember:
Kalyana got a princess cash register and a digital kid camera.
Makayla got a popper push toy, leapfrog ABC's and Signing Time movies.
Tyce got cars, toys and clothes.
Both girls got an art easel, a guitar, books and clothes.
Tarl & Debbie got movies, money for a fun trip, video editing equipment, gym membership and filters for my camera.

My other favorite part of Christmas at my parents house is our traditional breakfast after we open presents. Scrambled eggs with cheese, cinnamon rolls, (sometimes a few other things), and orange julius. Delicious!!

Since the whole family was together my mom had a photographer come over to the house. After she set her back drop up she ran to the car to get something so my sister grabbed my camera and started having the kids pose. (As you can tell Makayla wasn't dressed for pictures just yet--we wanted to wait until the last minute so she'd stay clean.)

They had such a fun time! Kalyana was a ham the whole time and kept saying, "Is this how I should pose?" Makayla enjoyed it until it was time to change her clothes (and take the real pictures). She cried, got clingy and didn't want to smile. Somehow though we got some cute family pictures (posted soon--have to wait another week to get them)!! The photographer (Cindy) was SO impressed with Kalyana she kept commenting on how we could set her up with a modeling agency. She said, not only is she beautiful but she's smart and takes direction really well! After we were all finished she even took some fun head shots of her for us to turn in and promised to call back with a few agency phone numbers.

Dressups & Gingerbread

We went up to my parents house for a pre-Christmas Christmas since we all have different plans for the actual day. The girls were SOOO happy to get to play with aunt Heather (it's been a long time since they saw her last). Aunt Heidi and Austin also stopped by for a bit. The kids LOVE grandma and grandpa's house. Kalyana found the dress up box and spent the week as a cowgirl and wonder woman (I think she may even want a wonder woman birthday now...). We had a fun time playing with everyone and visiting. We also were getting used to the idea that it's no longer all fun and games for the adults. We tried to have a game night but got interrupted by sick kids, and kids who thought they were missing out on the fun (ie camped out on the stairs giving excuses why they couldn't go to bed). We also made a gingerbread house (Kalyana decorated while Makayla ate the decorations).

Sitting on Santa's Lap

Starting in 2004 my mom started a fun tradition with the grandkids. Every year she takes them to see Santa and they also get their pictures taken (she even gets them each a fun outfit just for the occasion). Now with several kids in tow it takes all of us moms to keep them all reigned in but it's so much fun! We get there right when it opens so it's nice, short and sweet before the kids have time to get fidgety. Then my mom treats us to a yummy lunch and some fun visiting.

This year Kalyana was SO excited to see Santa, every time I mentioned it she'd squeal with delight. She even practiced a few times what she was going to tell him when she sat on his lap. She did awesome! She climbed right up there and said, "I want a princess cash register, a princess kitchen, and a magic wand that has real magic!" (She told me she wanted 4 things for Christmas, those things above and to see Santa.)

Makayla wasn't so sure about the whole idea, even thought we tried to make sure she was only sitting with grandma. She cried for a few seconds and then I went over and gave her a hug and asked her to take a deep breath and smile for just a minute. And she sure tried her darndest (as you can tell from the picture).

Homemade Snowman

Kalyana asked if she could do a craft with me after school so I came up with what I thought was a fun idea. Trace hands on green paper, cut and glue in a circle. Wala a homemade wreath. When I told her my plan she didn't seem all that thrilled and asked instead if we could do a snowman craft (they did one at school so she wanted to teach me how it was done). She was a great teacher!

While we were trying to find our supplies she came across a print out of animals I had and she asked if she could make puppets out of them. She even gave me my own puppet show! (I asked if I could record it, but she said, "Uhm I think I'm all done, can do something else now mama?")

Preschool Picture Day

Kalyana had her very first school picture day a few weeks ago and we just got her pictures back. As you can tell it was shortly after she hacked off her hair. I was able to clip most of it back and I think it turned out pretty darn cute! Oh I just love being a mom and seeing all these fun little milestones. She told me the photographer was so funny and made her laugh with a silly chicken!

Snow Cones and Christmas Lights

For family night this evening we took the family out to look at Christmas lights. Before we left, the girls begged me to have snow cones so I made them bundle up first. Oh my kids make me laugh! I must say, I was sad to find that there really weren't a whole lot of people who decorated but we did find a few fun places. I looked all over for my Chipmunk Christmas CD (I thought the kids would have fun with the kiddie songs-and it's totally reminiscent of my childhood), but I couldn't find it in time so instead we listened to Kenny G holiday music. Kalyana was so cute and sang along to several of the songs! The last house we found had the new LED lights (above). I don't know, they're pretty fun, but I think I prefer the old, softer one,s for inside at least.

Once there was a snow man, er well snow thing.

The girls couldn't wait to get started. When we woke up this morning at 6 am there wasn't any snow, just rain. A few hours later there was plenty to play in and even more coming down! Luckily just a few days before I asked my mom to be on the lookout for snow pants. And boy did she come through! She found a pair for both the girls and brought them down to us just days before this awesome snow fall!

We had a fun snow party. Even our neighbors Haily and Emily came out to join us. I was very grateful for the new pants since the girls did a lot of rolling and falling. We even built our first snow man. Well he didn't quite look like a snowman as much as he did a, well... to be honest I'm not sure. We rolled up such a big 'middle' that when I tried to lift it onto the bottom it crushed the bottom ball in half. So we made due and built, well something else. We also didn't know what to use for eyes so we used leafs and before we could find arms the girls got too cold so we went inside. Tarl being the kind guy that he is, had a big pot of hot chocolate ready for us complete with candy cane stirers.

December beginnings

This year, for the first time, I was able to put out lights on our house. Usually we just have them around our windows but with a clever little engineering from Talr we found a way to make it work. I went outside to hang up our Christmas lights and took Makayla outside to play in the snow. After I finished I looked over to see what she was doing. I quietly watched her for a few minutes and saw her walking over to the garden in front of our house, picking up a handful of dirt and going to the rain gutter runoff to wash off her hands. Ah! The poor little hands were freezing cold! Well you know me, I couldn't resist taking a picture, but I made sure to rush her inside immediately and get her all warmed up!
Grandma Linda came over to drop off our Christmas tree and help us decorate our house. This is the first year we've actually had a big tree (since we've lived in some small places and always went out of town we only had a 2ft tree). It was so fun to string the lights and tinsel and the girls had so much fun putting on the ornaments. We borrowed a few from my mom that she wasn't using anymore since I know the girls aren't going to be to keen on listening to my warnings of 'please don't touch the tree'. We're so excited to spend Christmas at our own house this year and start our own little family traditions!