Kayleigh turns 5

Her fun cake that she picked out for me to make.  I was so nervous to put the Barbie in that I made Michael do it.  It turned out cute though and she loved it!

Kayleigh with my dad (his birthday too, but add 50 years to Kayleigh's 5 to get his age), Samantha, Grace and Phoebe.

  In my mind, 5 is the age that they just aren't little any more.  Four still sounds little but 5 is so big!  Today I got a call from the school asking for Kayleigh's birthday because they are trying to do their projections for Kindergarten numbers this fall.  I can't believe she will be starting school in the fall. 
  This year we were lucky to have daddy home for a little bit on the morning of Kayleigh's birthday so
she got to open her presents first thing after breakfast.  She was very excited because I think she thought she'd have to wait until her family party that night.
  She was happy with every present and I am so glad.  I love her enthusiasm for her special day and for her gifts.  She's a great girl and we love having her in our family!
  That afternoon I took her and Landon to go swimming at my parent's.  My sister was there with her kids so they swam with us and it was really fun!  (I forgot my camera though.)    It's nice that even though it's freezing outside we can still enjoy a pool.  We hadn't been in for awhile and Landon just loved it.  I liked that he's a lot lighter to lift in the pool.  :-)
  We came home and had baths  and then hurried to get ready for our family to come over and celebrate with us.  Kay was so tired she had a little nap before they came. 
  Lucky for us, most of our family lives close and was able to make it for Kayleigh's party.  Once again she was very excited!  I liked that she said thanks after each gift was opened, something we had talked about beforehand, and that she was nice to everyone.  Sometimes she can have a little attitude but that night she did good I thought. 

Kayleigh's little friend birthday party

Cooper, Marci, Kayleigh, Maura, Taylee, Grayden and Mason

Kayleigh trying to get some of the cotton balls from that big bowl over her head to the little bowl in her lap.  (Game #1)

 Kids just before we started the balloon game. They tried to pop each other's balloons while keeping their own from getting popped. The kids loved this one! (Game #2)

Two teams ready to head off in the marshmallow game.  They had to carry as many marshmallows as they could on a table knife to the other side of the room and put them in a bowl.  First team to get all 15 marshmallows in the bowl won.  Kayleigh was so proud her team won!  (Game #3)

Everyone busy at work here coloring their little "craft."  Kayleigh really wanted to do a craft for her party.

Opening her 1st present, some new Barbies.  They are a huge hit, thanks Maura!

Eatin cupcakes.

  Kayleigh had a great time at her friend birthday party.  We invited her neighbor friends, pretty much everyone that came last year.  I found some fun games from Google (thank goodness for the Internet) and I think all the guests had fun! 

  I remember as  a kid that my friend parties were always fun and I looked forward to them so much.  I think Kayleigh is the same way.  She's basically been talking about this day since her party last year.  She helped me make the cupcakes and decorate them, what a helper.  Her favorite part is licking those beaters! 

  We were lucky in that everyone we invited was able to come, hooray!  It's always my biggest fear that I'll send those invites out and people won't be able to make it. 

Randon kid pictures

The amazing snowman that Michael and the kids built.  I say amazing because it stood for almost 3 weeks!  It melted and leanded forward a little each day until it finally fell over.  The eyes are made of milk jug lids and the smile is a horse shoe, very creative, I thought.

Kayleigh and Landon enjoying Landon's new train from Santa.  I love how they are sitting in it.

Cutie Landon in the tub with bubbles all over.  Every bath he has he wants bubbles in it.  

One whole week

Landon has gone a whole week without bottles!  Problem is he's also now gone a whole week without milk.  What a stubborn kid!  He will not drink it unless it comes out of a bottle.  We've tried every possible thing to get him to drink it, he won't though.  He has taken a couple of sips from a straw but he then just says it's yucky.  Thankfully he likes drink yogurts so I try to have him do one a day, sometimes two so he still gets that dairy intake.  Maybe he'll change his mind one of these days.

Happy New Year!

  We spent New Year's Eve at my parent's house.  We had a delicious dinner of Sukiyaki and then played games together.  At midnight we rang in the new year with fireworks ad Martinelli's.  Kayleigh lasted all the way to midnight as well, but fell asleep soon after watching the cartoon Smurfs.  While she slept we had fun playing another game and talking. Finally around 2:30 a.m. we headed home.
  The next morning brought church at a thankful new time of 11:00.  Kayleigh's new CTR 4 class doesn't have teachers yet so she just had a sub.  Between that and the new classroom she was a little unsure, but ended up doing fine and having a good time. 
  Later Sunday night we had my parents over to play some more games.  It was really fun!  I love the holidays when dad's get some time off to be with family and the days aren't the normal routine .
  On Monday we put our Christmas stuff away and then headed down to Pleasant Grove to go to Puss N' Boots with Marie and her family.  After eating some dinner we headed home and got the kids to bed at 9:30, that's the earliest in days with the holidays. 
  Tuesday morning was back to normal with Kayleigh back to pre-school and Michael starting his new job.  We have lots to look forward to this year, starting with the arrival of baby #3.  We hope he stays in for about 7-8 more weeks!

Our Christmas

  Our Christmas holiday month was filled with lots of fun thing!  We went to a couple family gatherings, one on each side of the family, the Lymans and the Pruess’.  Our little family enjoyed spending time with and seeing those we don’t see very much during the year. 
  The Pruess family party had delicious food and was kind of eventful with the power going out for part of it.  A white elephant game was played there and it was fun to help Kayleigh particiapate in it.  She ended up being pretty lucky and got a gift she really liked.  I had warned her that it might be a silly or kind of dumb gift, but she loved what she got. 
  The Lyman party was nice.  Michael’s grandpa read the story of Jesus’ birth from Luke, we played some music on some chimes and had to decorate Kayleigh as a Christmas tree.  She was a pretty good sport.  The evening was finished off with Grandma’s usual rolled ice cream cake. 
  The week leading up to Christmas Michael took some days off of work and it was really nice to have him home with the rest of us.  We were able to spend a night and a couple days at my mom and dad’s.  Although we never seem to sleep very good, it’s fun to be with everyone.  
  On the 23^rd we got to help Nana make divinity.  Kayleigh couldn’t remember what it was from last year when Nana made it.  I tried to tell her what it was like.  Once she got to try some she loved it!  She even said it’s her favorite treat ever.  That day we also decorated gingerbread houses.  For some reason, this year Kayleigh wasn’t too interested in helping.  She mostly was excited to see her cousins and they played while Michael and I decorated it.  Landon loved all the candy and consumed a ton.  I really thought he would get a little sick but he didn’t. 
  We had quite the variety of candy and our house turned out pretty neat.  I was happy that Michael got to participate this year because normally he is at work when we make them.  He had fun being creative with the cand y and frosting.  Thanks to Mom who bought the houses, they were fun! 
  Our Christmas Eve was spent at my mom and dad’s.  We helped to make the food for our dinner that night and time went by all too quickly.  Before you knew it we were eating up the feast and acting out the nativity.  Kayleigh had decided to be an angel, but once she found out Grace was going to be a wise man then she wanted to be a wise man.  We finally convinced her to be the angel because there has to be an angel in the story.  It’s pretty funny because when I was growing up it was Mary that everyone fought over, not the wise man. 
  Kayleigh made a great angel and then took off her cape to be a wise man later in the story.  Landon helped Nana be a shepherd and I was the star.  Marie had brought a pretty cool star costume and none of the kids wanted to wear it so I decided to not let it go to waste. 
  After presents and saying goodnight we headed home.  Once the cookies and milk were set out for Santa, the kids went to bed.  Christmas morning came all too quickly when Kayleigh woke up at 7:30.  This is the first year she’s gotten up early on Christmas.  She was so excited!  I heard her run out to the family room and then come racing down the hallway to our bedroom basically screaming that Santa had come.  I love the enthusiasium of little children and the magic of Christmas time. 
  With Christmas falling on Sunday we had told Kayleigh we wouldn’ open presents till after church.  It was hard for her to wait but she did it.  Our sacrament meeting was nice.  The ward choir sang as well as the primary children.  The kids sang, “Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains”.  I had worked with Kayleigh to help her learn the words and she did great!  They sang all 4 versus.  Michael sang in the ward choir and also in a double duet.  He did great as well.
  After church we unwrapped presents and it was really fun to enjoy the kids and the surprises.  After eating some Rhodes cinnamon rolls which were delicious, we headed to Michael’s parent’s house.  There we enjoyed a traditional dinner of potatoes, ham, green beans, rolls and cherry Jell-O.  Kayleigh was thrilled to open more presents and play with her cousins. 
  We went home tired and grateful for all of our family and our blessings.  The following day after Christmas we headed downtown to see the lights at Temple Square.  We thought it would be fun to ride Front Runner down.  With it being a holiday, the train only runs every hour.  I was a little nervous with the timing and how that would work out. 
  The train was packed when we got on!  Michael went up on the second level with Kayleigh while I stayed below with Landon.  Landon loved trains and I think he thought it was pretty cool.  Once downtown we met up with Nana, Grandpa and Nathan.  We had planned to eat at the City Creek food court but after learning they were closed we bagged that idea and saw the lights first. 
  It was pretty cold outside, but luckily we dressed pretty warm.  The lights were beautiful as always.  This year it seemed that many of the trees had red lights.  The red was a very bright, radiant red and it was neat.   Landon hung  out in the stroller most of the time and loved being by the water.  He kept saying “wah wah” and wanted to be pushed to the water.  He did finally get out by the reflecting pond and I am surprised he didn’t end up getting wet, he loved it! 
  After the lights we were very hungry so we decided to eat at the food court at the Gateway.  Well, the trax trains were also running less due to the holiday so it took us longer than planned to get down to the Gateway,  We ate very quickly and tried to get back to the main station in time to catch our train.  We didn’t make it though.  I was pretty worried about having to wait for another hour for the next rain with the kids in the cold.  Since Mom and Dad had driven down, they had room for a couple riders on the way home.  So Kayleigh and I rode home with them and Michael and Landon waited for the train.  The train was available for them to sit in and stay warm until it departed so it ended up to being too bad for them.  Landon had fun flirting with some girls that were waiting on the train, too.  It was kind of an adventurous outing but ended up working out fine. 
  And that my friends, is our December wrapped up in a long post!