Christmas Celebrations

This year was an especially fun Christmas. Mckinley is at the age this year where she is starting to enjoy all things Christmas. Her first Christmas she was only 6 months old and her second 18 months. Neither of these years she really understood what Christmas really was. This year she finally started to understand-she at least got that it was about family and presents (of course!). In the weeks leading up to Christmas we of course got our tree and decorated the house, but we also watched Christmas movies, listened to Christmas music, read Christmas books, and looked at Christmas lights on houses. She got to a point that she would recognize Christmas songs and if she saw a snowman she would say--"mommy, is that Frosty the Snowman?". She also knows all about Santa now! She was still too shy to actually visit him this year, but we did wave at him and got a wave back! :)

Kyan was more like Mckinley on her first Christmas. He is a little older than she was, but he still has no idea what is going on. To him, it is only exciting because there are wrapped presents to play with and lights on our Christmas tree to try and eat! I'm excited for next year when he will be 21 months and will at least understand presents. 

It was so much fun to watch Mckinley wake up and be told it was finally Christmas! She was so excited to go down stairs (telling everyone to "come on everybody!" the whole way) and get to open her presents. She was really patient and opened about half before we had homemade crepes (a Christmas tradition started last year). We then finished our marathon present opening session (mommy/daddy/grandmas/grandpas/santa were especially good to us this year). Kyan was just excited to crawl around and attempt to eat any new thing he found! :) 

Memories like these are so special to me. I want Christmas (and every holiday for that matter) to be cherished by my kids. I have wonderful memories from my childhood, as does Kevin, and we want those experiences for our kids. Hopefully building the traditions we have started will do just that (a little spoiling along the way doesn't hurt either). 

Here are some photos to highlight the day:

Writing to Santa...

Getting the cookies ready...

Dear Santa...

T'was the night before Christmas....

And finally, Christmas morning...

We hope that everyone had an amazing Christmas filled with family and love. Ours was wonderful and I can hardly wait until next year! 

 

9 months....really 9 1/2 months

So I am super late in writing this post, but we have been having some technical difficulties with my computer lately (i.e. at times the screen will not even turn on, and if it does, the keyboard and mouse do not work--currently I have an external mouse and keyboard plugged into my laptop so that I may write this. It is a tad ridiculous!). Anyway, Kyan turned 9 months old on the 18th! He is such I big boy I can hardly believe it. As I always say, he is incredibly happy. Constant smiles and lots of snuggles--he lights up my life!

I have said before that he never cries, well that has changed slightly. He never cries, unless you are not shoveling food at him quickly enough. This kid can eat! He seems to be fine until you put him in his highchair. This somehow signifies to him that food should be coming ASAP. He gets a little panicky...cute, but also annoying! :)

Watching his and Mckinley's relationship develop is the highlight of my life. Kyan adores her and she is starting to really take on this big sister thing (both the good and bad! :) ). I am still in awe of the fact that I have TWO kids. It is the most fun and rewarding experience of my life!


But back to Kyan specifics, here are some highlights of this past month:

* You are cruising along with your army crawling. An update however, since you are actually 9 1/2 months as I write this...just today (Christmas!) we said you officially crawl normally. You still prefer the army crawl for quickness, but you do crawl like a normal little baby! :)
* You eat so well! We started you on real food just shy of your 9 month birthday and you did great! You love everything. You are still getting 3 bottles a day as well. Some of your faves so far include lasagna, waffles, and peas! Really though, you devour everything!
* Still an awesome sleeper. We dropped your third nap this month though, so you are down to just two 2-2 1/2 hour naps. You also sleep about 12-12.5 hours at night! However you are not as stuck on your schedule as your sister was. You are a bit more flexible--but actually in a kind of difficult way. We will think it is time for you to take a nap and then you will lay awake for 30 minutes talking or wake up 30 minutes early. You do stick pretty much to your schedule, but sometimes you throw us for a loop. You will however sleep in a stroller, which Mckinley would never do!
* You still are the best snuggler. When you are tired, you will stick your thumb in your mouth and just fall onto our chest. So sweet!
* You are gigantic! You weigh 23ish lbs. Your cousin Kylee, who is 4 months older than you, weighs the same as you (and she isn't tiny!). Funny considering you were born a month early!
* You love to babble---lots of "g", "g", "g's". Still no mama or dada though. :(
* Mckinley is still your best friend. All she has to do is walk past you and you gasp! You are actually starting to play with her now though (you do not even mind when she yanks a toy away from you!).
* We celebrated your first Thanksgiving! We spent it at Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Brian's with lots of family! You actually slept through dinner though--it was nap time!
* You had your first adventure to get a Christmas tree--it was freezing, but lots of fun.
* You have loved attacking the presents under the tree and trying to eat the Christmas lights!
* A couple of 9 1/2 month milestones---you pulled to a stand last night (Christmas Eve) and today you went from crawling to a sitting position on your own! You are changing so fast!!

 

Kyan we love you so much and are SO happy to get to watch you learn and grow every day! I will be back in about two weeks with a 10 month update :).

The Christmas Spirit

This weekend we officially kicked off the Christmas Season! Our weekend was jam-packed and I loved every single second. The fun started Saturday morning. We headed down to Tacoma to first get family pictures taken. I have been looking forward to this weekend for months now. Between the planning of clothes and wishes for dry weather, it became a bit of a stressful event (not real surprising that I would find something to stress about!). Anyway, the weather looked promising for this past weekend so we jumped on the opportunity. We got up early, got the kids ready, and out the door we went. Our photographer was amazing and despite the fact that Mckinley and/or Kyan were crying 90% of the time (honestly!), the pictures she got turned out amazing. I think we were all surprised that she got so many good ones. Here are a few of our favorite shots:

After our extremely cold photo shoot we were off to my mom's boat to drop Kyan off while Kevin, Mckinley and I went to my dad's football game. It was a really sweet time with just us and Kinley--I think she enjoyed having all of our attention too! So one sad loss later, we were back to pick up Kyan and head home. It was a really fun day. Things didn't really go as planned (i.e. the kids screamed hysterically at pics and my dad lost his game), but I had an amazing time nonetheless.

The next morning we were up early again, but this time we were off to breakfast and then the Christmas tree farm. We found a little place in Maple Valley to eat and then a few miles from there a tree farm. Again, it was freezing! The cold didn't matter though, we had a great time! It is still unbelievable at times that I have these two wonderful kids! :) This year Mckinley didn't seem near as frightened by the small forest! I actually think she really enjoyed going to get a tree. I know she LOVED decorating the tree though! It was so sweet watching her get so excited about each new ornament.

So after we got our huge tree into our house, we realized we were in need of more lights. And since we were already getting lights for our tree, why not get lights for the house too?! One pricey trip to Fred Meyer later and we were set to decorate! Sure we only had one hour of remaining daylight, and we only got half the lights up, but what we have done is awesome (pics to come)!

Now our house is full of Christmas cheer---I absolutely love this time of year! The only down side though is that I still have two more weeks of work!! I just want to fully relish in the season with my kids and hubby!

Hoping you all are having a wonderful start to the happiest time of the year!!