Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was great to have Amber and Athena wake up here on Christmas morning. Kate had lots of fun, but wasn't really into opening the presents, she just wanted to play with the toys in front of her.

After breakfast, Mark Amber, Kate & Toby went for a walk down to the lake. It was a warm sunny day. Amber was very excited to wear the "cowgirl" clothes she got for Christmas.

Athena and I stayed home and completed the crystal making project from Mimi & Papa.

Yes, that is Athena's foot. Thank's for the awesome socks d'Elseaux family!

Kate got a turtle riding toy from Santa.

One of Kate's favorite toys was the vacuum from Grandma Nink Nink. She walked around all day vacuuming saying, "helping you, helping you Mama".

Kate also loved the train set from Mimi and Papa. She loves to yell choo choo!

Christmas Eve

We picked Amber and Athena up and they got to come home and meet Toby. They were very excited. It was late, so we quickly read The Night Before Christmas, which Mimi and Papa had sent and got into the Christmas PJ's from Grandma Nink Nink. And we all settled in for a long winter's nap...

Dress Up

This evening, Kate was pulling stuff out of one of her drawers and kept asking me to put things on her. Yes, those are leggings over her jeans and two different hats and two different shoes! Playing dress up has begun.

Our New Family Member

We have a new addition to our family named Toby. Mark has been wanting to get a dog since before Kate was born. I've been putting him off for a long time, but Mark found Toby at the local animal shelter last Wednesday. He asked if I would go down and meet him, and said that if I didn't want to get him we didn't have to. Ha ha. Like I could say no. Toby has been a wonderful dog so far. Kate loves him, and he is really great with her. Yesterday Kate gave him a taste of her pacifier and then put it back in her mouth - GROSS!

Kate's Early Present

Mark gave Kate an early present last night. It is a Dora chair. Kate thinks it's really neat to sit in chairs, and anything else she can sit on, so we thought it was a good idea to get her her very own chair. In true Mark fashion, he couldn't wait until Christmas to give it to her. Kate thinks her Dora chair is wonderful and is so proud of herself for sitting in it like a big girl. It doesn't exactly match the decor of the living room, but oh well!

Kate is so excited about all the presents under the Christmas tree. Her Christmas vocabulary is growing rapidly. She can say Christmas, Santa, ho ho ho, snowman, present, tree, lights, wise man, sheperd and Baby Cheese (this is what she calls Jesus!) She has used every word she can think of to negotiate getting into the presents under the tree. She's said: open, please, touch, hold, and sometimes tries to just grab one and run. It's so cute!

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

We finally got our decorations on the tree over the weekend. Amber and Athena had fun, and Kate was beside herself with excitement. She "helped" a lot. I like the first picture because it looks like Kate is actually hanging an ornament too. Stay tuned for the visit with Santa picture.

One More Silly Video

I have one more video of Kate being silly. She did not want to go to bed last night. She was being hysterical!

Silly Videos

Nothing terribly exciting happened today. We are working on dropping down to one nap a day. I am more upset about this than Kate...She does not seem to be sleepy at all. In fact she is full of it this evening. I've been taking little videos of Kate being silly. She likes to watch the videos after I take them, so now I can't get one without her running towards me saying, "watch it?"

Build-A-Bear

We took Kate to Build-A Bear yesterday. We had been before, but this was the first time that Kate got to get a stuffed animal. She chose a puppy dog. She had lots of fun, and just kept kissing and hugging her dog. I had gotten a coupon in the mail, so it only cost $5!

Lighting of the Tree

We got our tree set up and got the lights on it this evening. Kate wanted to help. It was so sweet. We decided to wait and decorate the tree with Amber and Athena, so stay tuned for more Christmas tree pictures.

Kate was having so much fun looking at the lights and playing with the ornaments.

Here is Kate "helping" with the lights. I have a feeling I may be re-doing the lights a few times between now and Christmas!

Christmas Tree Adventure

We went to get our Christmas tree today. We went for a hike on our property and found a great tree and cut it down. It's not exactly like the perfect trees you see back home, but it is speacial because we got it off our own property. Kate had a blast.





On our way to find the perfect tree













Kate and Mark are getting ready to cut down our tree.














Here's our tree!

Snowy Day

We woke up (early - 4am) to snow today. Kate woke up and asked for TB toons, meaning she wanted me to turn on the TV so she could watch cartoons. Mark woke up early too, so we watched some Sesame Street and cuddled on the couch. It's a toasty 12 degrees outside, in the heat of the afternoon. I took Kate out for a few minutes to experience the snow. We were both ready to come back in and warm up.

KATE & DADDY

KISSES!

SHOULD I TOUCH THE SNOW?

OOOOOOO!

TOO COLD!

CAN WE GO INSIDE NOW?

Dangerous!

Kate'S new favorite thing to do is color. We have a Bob the Builder coloring book that she really likes. A few weeks ago, Mark had shown Kate the tractors at work and told her that they were dangerous. Now when she sees the pictures of Bob with the tractors, she likes to yell, "dangerous!" as she colors.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Amber and Athena helped to prepare our meal and we had a lot of fun cooking together. Kate got to experience eating her first Thanksgiving meal and particularly enjoyed the stuffing and the peach pie. I am so thankful for my family!

Making Music

A little video I had taken of Kate. From Auntie Lisa (in the west coast)

Grandude & Lolly-Pops

Grandude (Mark's Dad) is here visiting for the week. Kate was shy for about 5 min, but warmed right up. Now she walks up to him and says, hemmy (hold me)? She has been having lots of fun with her Grandude.

Mark Brought a lolly-pop home for Kate today. She was SO excited. What could be better than sugar on a stick?

Trip Home

Kate and I went home to surprise Mimi for her birthday (with lots of help from Lisa!). It was so wonderful to see everyone and get the cousins together for the first time in a very long time. We spent Mimi's birthday at the island and the kids all got to ride horses. So much fun!

Kate & Papa

Kate got pink eye - woo hoo!

Kate "rides" Mandy

Fun with Uncle Fishy