Katie Quip

So to give a little background behind this story....

I had to go to the dentist a few weeks ago, so Anthony and the kids dropped me off for my appointment, then came back later to pick me up.  It was a morning appointment, I had worked the night before (so I was exhausted), and the whole right side of my face was completely numb.  When I got in the car, Anthony asked me a question, and it sounded funny when I talked, so he started laughing.  He said I should turn around and smile at the kids, and I did.  I then looked in the mirror, and found that only the left side of my face smiled.  The other side was completely paralyzed.  The kids thought that was just the funniest thing ever and kept asking me to talk to them and smile.  We then stopped at Wendy's and I got a frosty- which was extremely hard to eat with no feeling in most of my face.  So....

Yesterday, the kids and I got up and took Anthony to his dental appointment.  When we were almost there, Kaitlyn pipes up from the back seat and says, "Daddy, we're gonna make fun of you when you get out of the dentist!".  This cracked me up.  Leave it to the kids to remember what the dentist is all about.
After we dropped him off, we were driving to the store to kill a little time.  Talon's sensitive side must have kicked in, because in a sweet little voice he said,  "Mommy, I'll try not to laugh at you and make fun of you anymore."
Kaitlyn, very matter-of-fact and not missing a beat... "Mama, I'm still gonna laugh at you.  Daddy and me are still going to make fun of you!"
Oh, how I love these kids!

My sleeping beauties

Every so often, I have to sneak into the kids' bedrooms at night and just watch them sleep for a while.  (I even catch Daddy sneaking in there from time to time.)  There's just something so innocent and sweet about a sleeping child.

The other night I went in to check on the kids, and Talon was still awake.  He sat up in bed and said, "Mommy, can you sleep with me tonight?".  Before I could even get a word out, he followed it by... "Daddy can sleep by himself tonight.  He wont care!"  I told him I couldn't sleep with him all night, but that I would snuggle with him for a few minutes.  As soon as I laid down, he got really quiet, then said, "Mommy, is it okay that I don't remember when I was a baby?".  I told him that I didn't remember when I was a baby either, and assured him that it was just fine.  He seemed content with that answer and settled in to go to sleep.  I must say, I have wondered from time to time what kids think about when they go to sleep at night.  Maybe it's stuff like this.

Little Roadsters

These are the cars the kids got for Christmas. They absolutely love them. Our house has become one big race track, and then turns into a parking lot at night! Nolan gets right in on the action. It's pretty much a win-win situation... Nolan loves to push things around the house, and the kids love to go around in their cars without having to actually do the work.

Little housekeeper

(This blog contribution is from Daddy)

I keep finding half-dressed dolls and Curious George's around the house and the kids' room. It finally dawned on me that Katie got an ironing board set for Christmas. I asked her why the clothes were half-way off of the dolls and stuffed animals. She said they needed ironing. She even demanded that Talon take off his pants so she could iron them. He did refuse, but you could see he felt obligated.

Christmas 2011

Christmas Day was our family day at home.  Chad, Tori, and Alyssa came over to spend the day with us, so we had a huge breakfast to start everything off, and Anthony's parents joined us.  We then sang some Christmas songs and had a little devotion. 

Soon after, the kids started begging to open presents.  I love seeing the kids grow up and get excited about Christmas.  We don't do the Santa thing, and we don't have the kids list all the things they want for Christmas, so it's so fun to watch them open their presents and find what they got.

We had to do some more pictures in front of the tree.  They cooperated pretty well, because they wanted to get it over with as soon as possible!

Yes, I finally put the camera down and let them open their presents in peace.  I did have to jump in and take a few pictures, though!

Here's Nolan tasting his new Thomas bath toys.

The only thing Talon has really wanted for a long time, is Super Mario Bros. for the Wii.  He mentions at least once a week that I should buy it for him sometime.  So, when he opened it for Christmas, he was so excited!

Kaitlyn got a ton of new toys for her kitchen and baby dolls.  Her little play house should be all set up now.  She even got a cash register with all the bells and whistles, and a grocery cart to play store.

Alyssa had fun playing with her new toys, and helping the kids figure out theirs.

After playing for a while, the majority of us settled in for a nice, long, much-needed nap.  When we got up, we went over to Anthony's parents for a little while for some dinner, then came back home for coffee and to open our stockings.

We had such a nice relaxing day!

Chad, Tori, and Alyssa...

Sorry that you didn't get to make it to Arizona to be with your family for Christmas, but we are so glad you came and spent it with us.  We had a great time!  Love you guys!!

And most importantly...

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

We love you!!!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, after breakfast, Daddy decided the kids needed to each open one of their presents (he would have let them open all of them if he would have had his way).  They were super excited!

Later in the day, we went to Jeremy and Donna's house for dinner, and to celebrate Christmas with my family.  Of course, there was lots and lots of food....

After dinner, we relaxed and visited for a while.  Okay, let me rephrase that....  Some of us relaxed, the kids decided to use Uncle Jeremy as a jungle gym and had a grand ole' time!

Jeremy had a sore back, but was being such a great sport and was still letting the kids walk all over him.  At one point, Talon was getting a bit wild, so Jeremy said, "Hey, you gotta be careful because my back hurts."  Talon, hardly missing a breath, asked, "Then can we stomp on your head?".

Even Nolan got in on the action.

Then it was time to open gifts, but we had to get some pictures of the kids in front of the tree.  The older two were great.  We just had to remind them that if they smiled good they got to open presents.  Nolan on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with it.  He kept screaming and crawling out of the picture.  Big surprise!  You can tell by Talon and Kaitlyn's expressions in this picture that they are a bit put out by their little brother.  They aren't too happy that he is standing in the way of opening presents! We gave him his sippy cup and finally got him to sit in one place for a couple of seconds.

Then, as tradition goes, Uncle Jeremy and Talon played Santa and passed out all the gifts.

Kaitlyn decided she wanted to help.

As usual, everyone went way overboard, and spoiled the kids!

Amongst the many fabulous gifts, Talon and Kaitlyn each got a Little Tikes car with a trailer.  I told all my family to take it easy this year, to not spend a bunch of money, and just get my kids something small.  Hmmmm.  I wouldn't exactly call these inexpensive or small.  The kids were so excited!

Then came the not-so-small project of assembling the cars.  Nolan thought he was helping, I'm sure!

Talon, lending Uncle Justin his expert advice.

I had fun making all kinds of candy this year.  Next year, I don't think I'll make it in quite the mass quantity that I did, though!

So thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my family.  Thanks to everyone for making the evening so special, and for helping create such wonderful memories!

14 Months Old

Little stinker bug is 14 months old!

We took him to the doctor for his 1 year check-up about a week ago.  He weighs 24 lbs, and is 30 1/4 inches long.

He is on the move constantly since he started walking.  He gets around so fast, and is in to everything.  He also has an incredible reach.  Just when I think I've set something far enough back onto the counter where he can't get to it, ole 'stretch' manages to grab it.

He nods 'yes' and 'no' to almost every question you ask him.  Obviously, most of the time he has no idea what you are asking him, but he vigorously shakes his head to answer.  

Yesterday, Nolan took one of Talon's toys he was playing with.  Talon, in a very sweet voice said, "Nolan, can I please have my toy back?".  Nolan shook his head 'yes' and smiled.  Talon held out his hand and Nolan laughed and took off with the toy.  Talon got upset and came tattling- saying he asked for his toy and Nolan shook his head 'yes', then still wouldn't give it back.  We had to have a little chat with our oldest about Nolan's lack of understanding- even when he seems so agreeable!

Nolan is now drinking from a sippy cup like a champ (although he hates to drink his milk out of it).  He eats almost anything you put in front of him (even things you don't), unless it's actually baby food, and he especially loves to feed himself.

He was super excited about the Christmas tree, and all the shiny balls.  I don't know how many I have had to put back on the tree.  With the exception of the tree, all the rest of the ornaments around the house are plastic.  I just didn't want to be cleaning up glass every couple of hours.  He's started leaving most of the decorations alone.  The only one he really messes with now is the arrangement on the coffee table.  He knows he's not supposed to touch it, so he takes his toys and beats the poor thing to death when he thinks no one is watching.  Like I said, it's a good thing the ornaments in it are shatter-proof!  Every so often, I can tell that Nolan has been into it, because half of the ornaments are piled up on one side.  

I was trying to get a picture of him with the tree.  Let's just say, it was next to impossible.  I finally got him interested in a small ornament for about 2.5 seconds so I could snap a couple of pictures.  Of course, he never would look at the camera, but at least it was a still shot, and he wasn't running out of the picture or trying to crawl off the couch.

All bundled up and ready to go bye-bye!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

We finally have the house all festive and decorated for Christmas!  I kinda went wild with the lit garland this year, so it's fun to turn off all the lights and just have all the Christmas lights on!  The kids have a blast going around and helping to 'light up the house'.

I absolutely LOVE snowmen, so this is my snowman corner!

Did I mention I kinda went nuts with the garland?

Our massive 9+ foot tree (with close to 2,000 lights), after I cut about a foot off the top.

(We'll be looking for our thank you note from the electric company.)

-----------------------------------

The not-so-fun fact about this years' tree...

So this has turned out to be our most expensive tree yet!  It was only $20 when we took it out of the field, and I already had all the decorations (except some of the lights); but after spending about 5 hours lighting it, standing up on the apparatus I had rigged up to light the thing, and leaning over it.... I landed in the Emergency Room the next day, with a $100 co-pay, to get rid of the horrible case of vertigo I got from lighting it.  (We're talking Zofran, Ativan, IV fluids... the whole 9 yards!!)  I don't think I've ever felt so sick in my entire life!  Not so fun!  I hope this comes back to me next year when we go hunting for our tree!  Either that, or I need to light it in stages and take Dramamine first!