Family Christmas Pictures 2009

Kaitlyn's 1 year pictures

Merry Christmas!

We are in Oregon, celebrating Christmas with our family. Having lots of fun baking, decorating, last minute shopping...

How I love the holidays!

Wishing you all a very

Amongst all the busy-ness, may be continue to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

(...and may our clothes still fit when the celebrating is over!)

Much love from our family to yours~

Anthony, Candice, Talon, and Kaitlyn

(Kiki and Kallie, too!)

Playing in the snow

It snowed Friday night and all day Saturday, so we took the kids out in the evening to play in the snow. We had a lot of fun!

We took turns pulling the kids around in the sled.

Talon even tried pulling Sissy around, but they didn't get far. I tried to convince him that she was too heavy for him to pull and it was Mama's turn, but he wasn't about to give up without a fight. After a few minutes, he finally gave in and said, "Sissy heavy?".

Talon hated his hands getting cold, but refused to leave his gloves on. I finally told him if he didn't leave his gloves on we were going back in the house. It wasn't much of a fight after that.

Baby, it's cold outside!

It's definitely been cold the past few days- 1 and 2 degrees at times. You know you'd better bundle up when the forecast high for the day is 15!

We had our first real snowfall at the beginning of last week. It hasn't snowed much since, but it's still pretty white around here because it's too cold to melt!

New baby doll

Talon was carrying Kaitlyn's new baby doll around the other day and trying to be really gentle holding it. He kept talking to it in a really high voice saying, "Hey, baby! Oh, baby!". Of course, when he was done with it, he threw it on the floor and ran off to find something else to play with. Kaitlyn isn't much interested in it yet... except she likes to suck on its thumb and put its pacifier in her mouth.

Pictures of the kids

Beautiful Sunset

Such a beautiful sunset... I couldn't resist taking a picture of it!

Tree time!

We got our Christmas tree last week. Talon was so excited to 'help' put the lights on. It made a lot more work for me (especially when he started taking them all back off), but he had a lot of fun. He got up to the table and began to shuffle through all the ornaments. Big mistake on my part! He couldn't understand why I wouldn't let him play in the bin of "balls". Next, he found his wonderful reindeer stocking. Yes, the one from last year that we were all too happy to put away. It's hiding in the closet already. Don't think I can do a full month of "Just hear those sleigh bells jinglin', ring-ting-tinglin' too...", I think I'll pull it out right before Christmas, then let it hibernate for another year. Anthony's response to it was, "That's probably the most annoying thing he owns. I sure hope no one gets Kaitlyn one of those!". I have to agree with him on that one!

The finished product.
So far Kaitlyn hasn't destroyed the bottom half of the tree. Not that I haven't seen her eyeing it from time to time!

Checkups

We took the kids in for their 'well-child' appointments. Good news... they're both on the growth chart and doing well! This was Talon's 2 year appointment a little late. He only needed one immunization, so we decided to bring both of them in together when it was time for Kaitlyn's 1 year checkup.
(Here are a couple pictures that I took of the little cherubs waiting to see the doctor.)

Talon is now 29 lbs., and 35 1/2 inches tall. (40th percentile for weight, 34th percentile for height) He's definitely hit a growth spurt... and is finally growing out of his 18 month pants! His head is still in the 97th percentile- always been an overachiever in that department! :)

Kaitlyn has finally made it onto the growth chart (she was only in the 4th percentile at her last appointment!). She now weighs 19 lbs, and is 27 3/4 inches long (11th percentile for weight, 8th percentile for height), and her head is in the 64th percentile.

Dr Godfrey is very happy with both of their progress! We just laugh... we never would have guessed that our kids would be considered "little".

(Note: This picture was taken before the 4 immunizations she got!)

Birthday fun

Kaitlyn and I celebrated our birthdays while we were in Oregon with my family. Yes, I have finally turned the big 3-0. (I'm a little sad that I can no longer tease Anthony about still being in my 20's, while he's an old man in his 30's!)

My mom made Kaitlyn a really cute 'hat box' cake (she did quite a number on it), and she actually participated in ripping some of the paper off of her gifts. She got really restless and kept trying to crawl off the table, so I had to put her in her high chair seat to keep her in one place. Talon was pretty excited with Sissy's new toys, too! He was being so sweet to help her figure out how they work! ;0)

Wordless Wednesday

Mr Potato Head

Talon was so proud of himself... he put Mr Potato Head together all by himself. (He got a little carried away with the eyes!) Picasso would be so proud! I laughed so hard when I saw it. I had to take a picture!

Showing off his masterpiece...
so happy with himself!

Sick pumpkin!

The kids have both been sick off and on over the past couple of weeks with a respiratory bug. Talon had a low grade fever for a couple of days, but otherwise seemed to be doing well. It definitely didn't slow him down. Wednesday night, when I was trying to get ready for our trip to Oregon, I got the kids in bed between 8:30 and 9, and started cleaning up the house a bit. Around 10:00, Anthony said I might want to check on Kaitlyn- she was crying. I went upstairs and she was asleep, but Talon was crying. I turned on the light to find him sitting up in bed, he had a horrible croupy cough, and was having a hard time breathing (grunting, retracting, ...the whole nine yards). Not to mention, he was running a fever. Hoping desperately not to have to sit in the ER all night, I called the PICU and asked the intensivist if he would see him and treat him. He said to bring him in. Off to Boise we go. Thank Heavens for Dr McConnell! Talon got a neb treatment, a prescription for steroids and Tamiflu, we hung out for about an hour to make sure he wasn't going to rebound, and we were on our way. Talon sounded much better. Motrin brought his fever down, and he was a pretty happy boy as we trotted out to the car around 1am. Home from Boise we go!

I drove to the Walgreens in Eagle to fill his prescriptions, and found a sign that said "Your closest 24hr Walgreens is in Boise". Fabulous! Back to Boise we go. When I was almost there, I decided to call and find out if they even carried the med that was prescribed. "I'm sorry, we don't carry Orapred". But of course! Home from Boise we go.

Coming to the conclusion I wasn't going to be able to fill his prescription until morning, I decided to go to Walmart and get a humidifier. As I walked through the store, my son barking like a seal every time he coughed, people just stared. You could see it all over their faces..."What a horrible mother- keeping that poor baby out at this hour when he's obviously sick".
I finally found the humidifiers. Decisions. Decisions. After 'shopping' for one that seemed like it would do the job (without spending my kids' college fund), we headed to the check stand. Every time we passed an item that even resembled food, Talon would say "Eat? Snack?". I tried to find something remotely healthy without a lot of sugar (since it was almost 3am). Ah, ha! Ritz crackers with cheese. I paid and we left the store. It was FREEZING outside! Just as we were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot, Talon reminded me... "Crackers?". As I opened the lid, I realized they had already been opened and half of them already eaten. PERFECT! I again had to get him out of his car seat and go into the store. Wouldn't you know it, we had grabbed the last container of crackers. With the help of the clerk, we searched every check stand. Not a single container of the cheese crackers left. I gave up and we left with cookies. ~sigh!!
We finally got home around 3:30am. I think I finally got to bed around 5am. Of course, Kaitlyn was up bright and early the next morning.
This is my little trooper (holding tight to his monkey and getting ready to go to sleep after a very long night!).

He got better with the steroids, and has only had one short episode since. Dr McConnell strongly suggested we have a consult with Dr Beck- who may recommend we have his tonsils taken out. I guess we'll see!

Happy 1st Birthday, Kaitlyn!!

Yes, our little girl is "1" today. It's hard to believe that a whole year ago, we brought this little bundle home. Time has flown by so fast! She has brought such joy to our lives. She has so much spunk and personality- we enjoy her so much!

We had a party with my family while we were in Oregon over the weekend. The place was decked out in pink and brown!

Tonight we celebrated with just the four of us. I made cupcakes, and Kaitlyn made a huge mess of herself with the frosting. (I had to take it away when she decided it was more fun to eat the paper than the cake.)

I'll be posting more pictures, but here are a couple for now.

Happy Birthday, Sissy... We love you!!!
-Daddy, Mommy, and Bubby

Musical Munchkins

We love music around our house and we play it a lot, the kids are crazy about it. Talon can find a way to turn just about anything into a drum, piano, or guitar. The other night, Anthony was online and found some of the Gaither's music. After it had been going for a few minutes, I had to grab the camera and get some pictures. Kaitlyn was just singin' along and doing her best to keep up with the beat!
Notice how, in the second one, Kaitlyn can pretty much hold her own against her brother when she really wants something. What an entertaining duo we have. They crack me up!

Wordless Wednesday

Sippy cup

What a big girl... drinking from a sippy cup!

It probably helps that I put about 1/2 a pump of raspberry flavoring in her milk to entice her to drink it. She LOVED it! She guzzled 8oz in a matter of a couple of minutes. (I thought I may have to surgically remove it from her hands!) Hopefully the transition from bottle to sippy cup wont be that difficult. (Especially when she doesn't get her milk flavored every time!)

Getting rid of the paci... that may be a bit more of a challenge. I only let her have it when she goes to sleep, but she's pretty attached to it. My goal is to have the bottle and pacifier gone when she turns a year old, but when she can't find her paci, she tends to suck her thumb. We may just get rid of the bottle right now, and work on the pacifier slowly!!

Wordless Wednesday

Applesauce

Anthony went hunting with his dad for the day, so I decided to make some applesauce with the 30+ lbs of apples I had.
Lots of peeling, coring, and slicing!

The end result...

...a little over 6 quarts of yummy applesauce!

FALL!!

I simply love fall decorations and all the colors!! These are just a few of the decorations I did around the house. Talon is convinced that all the pumpkins and gourds are apples. He went up to the big pumpkin on the hearth last night, wrapped his arms around it, said "apple?", then proceeded to try to take a bite out of it. This morning, as soon as he got up, he went to the kitchen table, and tried to reach for one of the little white pumpkins.
"Apple?"
"No, Talon, it's a pumpkin!"
"Munkin?"
"Yes, Pumpkin"
"Apple!"
(This is where I just shake my head. A losing battle!)


There's just something about the Fall! It may be raining and chilly outside, but with the molasses cookies baking, apple cider simmering on the stove, the pumpkin candles burning, getting warm by the fireplace...
Ahhh, it feels so homey!

Making salsa

I got a really good recipe a couple of years ago for fresh salsa, so I thought I would change it just a bit and try to can some. With my work schedule and general 'busy-ness', most of my tomatoes and peppers went bad. I was, however, able to salvage some of my veggies and can a couple of jars. This is what my kitchen looked like in the process. Quite a mess, as you can see. My usual "clean as you go" method was not being followed, so it left me with a lot of work at the end. Oh well, it was worth it. I got a new recipe for next year- it calls for 1/2 a bushel (26 lbs) of tomatoes. Sounds like fun... can't wait to try it!!

My finished product!
It made about 3 1/2 jars, and actually tasted pretty good. However, with as much garlic as I put in it.... let's just say I wont be taking any to work for lunch!!

My spunky girl

Yes, this is my very lady-like daughter. 11 months old now! She has figured out she really likes to pick her nose. She's NUTS!! She looks like a little orphan in this picture... hair sticking up all over, clothes disheveled... she's so full of spunk. She makes me laugh all the time. I LOVE HER!!!

Two peas in a pod

Mystery solved... why my sliding glass window never stays clean for very long!

Kaitlyn loves to bang her head on the glass and feel it vibrate. They both will stand there for the longest time and just look outside.Playing together. So sweet!
This video cracks me up. I had just got done feeding Kaitlyn her breakfast and got her cleaned up, and she saw that Talon had dropped some food on his tray, so she reached over to try and eat every bit she could. We really do feed this child!

Cousins

While Anthony's Dad and a couple of his brothers went hunting this week, a few of the cousins came to Idaho to visit. They spent the day at our house on Sunday, and we had a lot of fun. They took turns playing Wii, then the boys played the XBox.

Kaitlyn, of course, had to be in on the action.

Talon loves to be read to, so Destini is his new best friend. He calls her "Des", it's pretty cute!

Oregon Trip and Corn Maize

The kids and I drove to Oregon last weekend to be with my family for a couple of days. It was a short trip, but we had a great time. We went to the Corn Maize and the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island. The last year we went it was freezing, so this year I was prepared. I layered our clothes, took coats and blankets for the kids.... and wouldn't you know, it was about 80* outside.
We got lost in the maize a few times as we each took turns taking the lead (25 minutes... yeah right!). I don't know how many times we ended up back a the beginning. Finally, we got smart and grabbed the map, but still resorted to asking for help at the end when we realized the map was even a little off. The kids had fun playing amongst the pumpkins, and we had just as much fun (or more) taking pictures of them. What a fun time!