The Sleepover

My brother-in-law (Toby's brother) and sister-in-law had an overnight Christmas work party so we got the privilege of watching their three wonderful children.  Makenna always has such a great time playing with them when we get together for family events so this was extra special and exciting for her.  And, not only were they coming over to play, but they got to spend the night too!!  Makenna had never had anyone over for a slumber party. I have to say that four of the kids (Kyler excluded) played up on the third floor playroom for most of the time which was REALLY amazing as we are usually the ones having to entertain Makenna (she isn't one that plays well independently for very long).  So, not only was it great for Makenna but it was a really nice break for us too:-)  After playing upstairs all afternoon and into the early evening, we had dinner.  Then all the kids curled up on the couch together and watched The Polar Express movie.

At that point we lost one due to exhaustion (and it was only 7pm).

The kids were all getting tired so we set up the beds in Makenna's room (they all just barely fit in) and they all got ready for bed.

We did have to go in a few times and tell the two youngest to settle down and go to sleep, but that wasn't too bad.  Mostly, our little Makenna has never had anyone sleep in the same room with her so she was WAY too excited to sleep.  And honestly, she is used to singing at the top of her lungs for about 20-30 minutes before attempting to fall asleep on any other given night so it was out of her routine to have to be completely quiet right away.  They did all officially fall asleep around 9:00 pm which wasn't bad at all.  It was a lot of fun and we will have to do it again sometime.

Thanksmas

In December we got together at Rebecca's house to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas (nicknamed Thanksmas) with my dad's side of the family.  We had such a marvelous time talking with everyone and eating delicious food.  Rebecca did a great job preparing the meal for everyone!  And the kids of course always have a wonderful time playing and getting plenty of attention from all of the adults.  We look forward to the next time that we are able to get together with the family.

Kyler's 1st Food

When Kyler turned 6-months old we gave him his first "real" food.  He was definitely ready and eager to try food.  He had been longingly looking at us eating for a while and was excited that his time had finally come. He was so excited that he decided he would start with an appetizer by eating his bib:-)

His first food was pureed carrots.  We chose carrots because it was Makenna's first food too.  He wasn't completely sure what to do at first, but by bite number three he had already mastered the skill:-)

He barely spit any of it out like most babies do.  Now that he has been eating food for a few months now, he is loving it and makes a "mmm...mmm"  sound when he is eating and especially when he eats his bananas.  He has yet to turn his nose up at any food that we have given him.

Makenna's 3rd Birthday Party

On November 24th Makenna turned 3-years old.  Now according to her, this is her second year of being three because she refused all last year to say that she was two years old and insisted that she was three.  So, on her second third birthday we had asked her what kind of party she wanted and since we never have trouble with her knowing what she wants, she told us that she wanted a puzzle party.  I was waiting for her to suddenly change her mind last minute but she didn't and stayed very excited about her puzzle party.  Makenna is incredibly good at puzzles and we think that maybe we have a little engineer on our hands.  She was completing 50-piece puzzles by herself before she turned three and a few weeks after her 3rd birthday she was doing 100 piece puzzles on her own.  If you know me at all, you know that I am always excited to plan a party and this one gave me a fun and creative challenge as to how I would make this theme work.  For some reason there just aren't very many puzzle party ideas for kids of this age on the internet:-)

(Here is a picture of her Birthday Party Invitation)

Makenna's birthday fell on a Saturday this year so it was extra special that her party was on her exact birthday.  Since cousins and friends are all a variety of ages we had 1 game, 1 center, a bounce house, the swingset, and lots of puzzles set up around the house to entertain all ages.  As everyone arrived, we asked that they all sign the back of the puzzle that we had made for Makenna with her picture on it.

We hope that she will be able to enjoy this puzzle for a long time and remember her special 3rd birthday and all of the family and friends that were in attendance.  Then the kids enjoyed drawing their own puzzles,

playing in the bounce house,

and playing on the swing set

while the adults had fun eating and getting a chance to talk.

Then it was time for our puzzle piece game.  I had made a drawing on a large foam core board and then cut it into puzzle pieces.  These puzzle pieces I "hid" around the house on the walls so the kids ran around the house searching for all of the puzzle pieces that revealed the next stage of our party...cupcakes!!

I had attempted to make a cupcake puzzle with a flower design on it but it really didn't turn out like it was supposed to.  But the nice thing about cupcakes is that they taste good even if the design didn't turn out correctly.  And Makenna really didn't care, all she wanted was for everyone to sing, for her to blow out her candle, and to eat.

Then it was time for opening up LOTS of gifts and she thoroughly enjoyed playing with them.

(All the kids were excited about her play campfire set)

And daddy enjoyed playing too:-)

And a party isn't complete without party favors.  We gave out puzzle shaped rice crispy treats to the adults and puzzle galore goody bags for each of the kids.

It seemed like everyone had a spectacular time and Makenna really enjoyed her party.  She is still talking about her party to this day, so I know that she had a great time and that is what matters the most.  We thank everyone for coming to share Makenna's special day with her.  And I especially thank my mom and Rebecca who came early to help set up and my sister who didn't think I was crazy when I asked her to meticulously cut out puzzle piece shaped cheese for me (I loved them so much!!).

Happy Birthday to our precious little girl!  She makes us so proud, says the funniest things, is a wonderful big sister, a sweet daughter, and we thank God so much for giving her to us.

Thanksgiving 2012

We are very lucky that on Thanksgiving we get to celebrate and eat yummy food twice in one day...dinner and supper (We are such Hobbits:-)!!  We are very fortunate that most of our family lives close by and is able to get together for the holidays.  We started our Thanksgiving with Toby's family and had a delicious meal over at Beth and Jason's house.  They deep fried a turkey and it was the most moist and delicious turkey I had ever eaten!!  The kids had such a fun time getting snuggles from aunties

 and playing with cousins.

Having learned the lesson a long time ago, we paced ourselves and only ate a small amount and then we headed off to my mom and Jim's house for our second meal.  The homemade apple and pumpkin pies were especially wonderful along with all of the other food.  Makenna and Kyler again had such a fun time playing with aunties, uncles, grandma, and papa.  We were able to get our yearly family photo that we always use on Christmas cards

and also a picture of the two kids.

We always have such a fun time with both of our families and we are so thankful for them!!

Just for Laughs

I had to share these two pictures with you because they were so funny.

Picture #1 (Stop to Smell the Flowers)
When we had gone to Walmart to get our cars' oil changes done, we were walking up and down all of the aisles to kill time.  When we headed down one of the craft aisles this is what we saw:

Makenna was over smelling all of the flowers.  She was convinced that all of the flowers smelled good too:-) It was the funniest thing ever, since the flowers were fake...hehe.


Picture #2 (And They Say Planking Is Difficult)
When Kyler was 5-months old he was trying to figure out what this whole moving around thing was about.  He just couldn't get the hang of having to put his hands and feet on the floor but really wanted to move.  Here is the pose that he usually did when he was trying to move:

He was quite proud of himself but would get frustrated that he wasn't moving like he wanted to:-)  We jokingly said that he was just following the planking trend.

Kyler's Baby Dedication

On Sunday, November 4th Kyler had his baby dedication at our church.  We as parents committed ourselves publicly to raise Kyler to love and serve God.  We also got to ask our church community to help us in our commitment to our precious little boy.  Our pastor prayed for Kyler that he would grow to be strong in the Lord.

It was a special day that was spent with some of our family and friends present.  Toby and I feel so blessed that God has given us Kyler and look forward to continually seeing his own faith and walk grow strong with God.