For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Christmas Frisco part 1

A tradition Jason and I started the year we got married was to have Christmas at our house before leaving to go to Austin to spend time with our families. That meant we might have it several days before Christmas but it allowed us time to be a family away from the day to day stresses of work. We have since decided to keep this going with Kaylie. Since Jason had to work up until Christmas Eve Santa decided to stop by our house on Christmas Eve morning so Kaylie would have her presents to open before we left. I think he must have known we left him some cookies and milk as well as carrots for his reindeer's. That always seems to work.

This year was awesome. Kaylie didn't completely understand the concept of Santa but when she walked down the stairs and over to the tree all she did was point at all the different things and say "look" over and over again. You couldn't have asked for a better response than that. Since Santa brings his presents unwrapped it is easy to see what he brought. This year his big gift was a play kitchen. I am guessing by the gift Kaylie was definitely a good girl this year. He also brought her many accessories for it as well. She got a toaster and a mixer. He brought her a few other things which of course she loved as well. One of which was a dog that growls when you pull on his rope. He immediately was taken to her kitchen to have breakfast.

After playing with the presents Santa brought and opening stockings we took a break for breakfast. It was so nice to sit down as a family and enjoy the beautiful snow flakes coming down outside. This is the first white Christmas I can remember. Having grown up in Illinois I am sure it happened but this is the first I remember. We enjoyed every minute of it.

After breakfast we opened the presents we had bought. I must have been a very good girl this year because I was blessed with an absolutely amazing new camera. This post is all from my old camera and the rest are with my new one. I am still learning so don't be too surprised if you can't tell the difference. That is what a class or two is for.

Overall, we had a great time. Even the dogs loved what they got. It has been awhile since they got any new toys so they were happy. Combine a new toy or two with the snow outside and they were two happy little puppy dogs.

Coming down the stairs yelling for her daddy.

I loved her Dora jammies. I refused to put them on her until the night before.

We have all the presents for all of our family members under here. These are not all for us.

Her favorite thing to do was turn on the Christmas lights. It was a little hard for her to get to this time.

First toy she saw from Santa. She loved it.

Feeding a piece of toast from her new toaster.

It took her a second to realize what was in front of her but once she did she had to open every draw/cabinet to show us what was inside. She was very excited about her knife.

She knew what to do with everything. The burner makes a sizzling sound so she took out the fake eggs and made us breakfast.

The microwave and oven also makes noise. By the end of the morning she had cooked Meow Meow in both. I don't think he appreciated that very much.

Immediately after this picture was taken her puppy ended up in the sink.

One of the things Jason found for her was this incredibly soft pink back pack that holds a dog in it. She loved it. She wanted to wear it everywhere.

She did not want to let us open our own stockings or our own presents. It was a good teaching moment.

Right after we gave the dogs their gifts they switched. Shiner is in love with Bailey's fox. So in love with it he had found where it had been hidden pre Christmas and came out running around the house with it. This is a dog that is too smart for his own good!

Taking a break for breakfast before opening the family presents. We weren't sure but we thought Kaylie might give up unloading the dishwasher to play with her kitchen. After a few seconds she realized what she was missing out on and ran to help daddy.

I think she made this face because daddy was opening up a dolly for her to play with.

Christmas Frisco

Daddies gift to Kaylie were three books he had picked our for her at a book fair. She loves reading them before she goes to bed.

Mommy got a new "fancy" camera for Christmas. Somehow Kaylie thought this entitled her to my old one. I don't think she was that good.

This was the first time she let us put her back pack on. Once it was on it would not be taken off for awhile.

The present she was opening was given to her from Meow Meow so she decided she needed to get him to help her open it.

She wanted us to open up EVERYTHING!

Sleepy Time Dora Doll - I was determined to find this doll. I ended up getting her at the 3rd Toys R Us I went to. They had one box of four left on a shelf. She is precious and Kaylie loved it.

Her signature pout...how can you not laugh when you see that.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Santa's Village

On Thursday, Jason and I met up to take Kaylie to Santa's Village in Richardson TX. We had a blast. Their were a bunch of little houses that were set up with different holiday activities for children to do. They had Christmas festivities all over the place. The best part was that it was free!!!

When we first got their all you could see were thousands and thousands of lights. Top it off with scary men dressed up as snowmen and reindeer's and she was done. The first 30 minutes she asked daddy to go back to the car. She did not want him to put her down and heaven forbid her mommy tried to hold her.

** I like the pouty lip! That is her new thing.
Took her over to see the fire truck. While here we debated on leaving. Knowing her history of just needing to get used to the situation we decided to keep trying. Gave her a lollipop and the mood lightened up a little. She took to that well and slowly started to come around to the crazy thing we subjected her to.

The petting zoo was the turning point. Once we found this house she was in heaven. They had bunnies, baby goats, and chicks. Kaylie loved them as long as she far enough back from them.

Second part of the Pet Shop. We are waiting to go in and see the puppies and kittens.


Sorry for this...I just loved it!

Loved the puppies but...not as much as the kittens.

She was so excited to see the kittens. They were actually rolling around with each other when we got there. This was the perfect moment for her to see them. She smiled and laughed the entire time. If it wasn't for the lines we would have stayed longer.

Once she left this house she immediately started asking for the animals again and again. As of now, she is very happy and actually looking like she will attempt other stuff.

This house had all the music. She really enjoyed playing with the drums. I thought all the loud banging would overwhelm her but she seemed to enjoy it.

This was from Santa's Beary Good Hospital. Kaylie didn't want to get on the scale or take her height so she went straight to the toy. This clacker as I called it was her happiness for the rest of our visit. As long as she had that she would go anywhere as long as Santa was not in that.

Side of Ms. Claus cookie shack

Kaylie wasn't as terrified of Mrs. Claus as she is of Mr. She took a cookie from her with out a problem but then froze. We told her to do a fist bump and sure enough she did.

I love the look in Kaylie's eyes. They have this What the heck look.

Going home and loving it!!! The clacker made her so happy. Even though we did not go and see Santa we think Kaylie had a great time. Their were several things we didn't do based on age appropriateness so I will be excited to go back next year.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Holiday Pictures

Right after Thanksgiving we got together with Russ and Deanna to take holiday pictures for the grandparents/great grandparents that have everything. This turned out to be the best gift ever. It helped we had a great time taking these together. Kaylie and Garrett were so much fun to watch together. Thanks again to Tori for being so patient with my little darling. She spent more time than she needed to with us trying to get her to smile. It wasn't until the very end she started saying cheese and smiling. Unfortunately it was starting to turn dark by then. Found out the next day why she wasn't smiling when she woke up sick. That explained everything. Thankfully, we were able to get some great pictures.


Held hostage

Jason sent me a text this afternoon letting me know he had taken something hostage. A few minutes later I received these pictures. Apparently, we had left her kitty in the car. I asked Kaylie what daddy had...she looked very hard and whispered Meow Meow. A second later she started laughing. From the looks of it Meow Meow and daddy had a great day at work.

Another Santa Pic...

Here is another picture with Santa. This one is my favorite. Thanks Megan for taking it. I turned out great!