Polar Express Night

Tonight, we had a really fun event at my school.  About once a month, we have these "Prime Time" events.  Each one has a different theme, and the kids are invited to come out and participate with their families.  This one was Polar Express themed, focused on putting away the technology and having fun with books.  The kids were encouraged to wear their pajamas (and we had pajama day that day at school).  There were lots of teachers and staff members reading stories, and they had hot chocolate and our school choir singing out in the courtyard.  I was scheduled to read a story during one session, and I thought it would be fun for John and Kinley to come with me.

Kinley wore some Christmas PJs, too, and of course she was a hit!  She's such a happy baby, and just loves people, so she won over a lot of fans tonight.  I read my story during the first session, and then John and I just walked around and mingled for the rest of the time.  It was a really fun time, and I'm glad we went.  My kids enjoyed seeing Kinley and I love being able to visit with their families.

Reading with Daddy

Our nightly bedtime routine includes one of us reading bedtime stories to Kinley.  We usually alternate.  On bath nights, I bathe Kinley and then John reads to her while I clean everything up.  On non-bath nights, I read Kinley her stories.  She is already attentive and shows excitement when we sit down with a book.  I really hope that she has a love for reading as she grows.  I love that John is involved in reading to her, so that she gets that from both of us.  Pictures like this one above just make me smile.  I love our little girl so much, and I love to see her interact with her daddy!

Christmas Decorating

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, we are ready to do our Christmas decorating.  We started today by getting everything out of the attic and doing the outside lights.  Over the years we have lived here, we have refined our technique, and the lights are labeled, so it's an easier process than it used to be.  We had a LOT of lights out this year, and had to go buy a bunch of bulbs.  I'm thinking this might be the last year we can use these strands.  After 6 years, and being stored in the attic, I think they have served their purpose.

John and Kassie did most of the work this year, while I did things inside and took care of Kinley.  After the lights were up, we pretty much called it a day.  The next day, we went and looked at a couple of tree places.  There was no way we wanted to (or could for that matter) pay the prices they were asking for what we wanted.  We went to Costco, just to pick up some things that we needed, and they were selling 8 -9 foot Frasier firs (which is my favorite) for $46!  We thought this was a great deal, so we jumped on it.  The only thing was they had the trees already wrapped up, so you had to kind of take your chances on getting a good one.  When we got home and got it unwrapped, we thought it was a great looking tree!

We had the tree set up for a few days before we were able to get to decorating.  We finally set aside a night and got busy.  It was something I had been looking forward to since last year.  Decorating the tree is one of my fondest childhood memories, and I just couldn't wait to do it for the first time with my own child.  We got on our Christmas PJs (even though it was over 80 degrees outside) and got to work.  It was so much fun, and I got a little misty eyed a few times, just looking at Kinley's face filled with wonder.  She had fun just sitting and watching us work.

Once we were finished, John put the star on the tree and then we turned off all the lights and just stood and looked at the tree.  Our sweet girl's face was so delighted and it just made me realize how blessed we truly are!

Thanksgiving 2012

This year, my family had Thanksgiving in Elgin again, like we did last year.  My mom's uncle Roy died a couple of months ago, and her aunt Marilyn wanted to have a big Thanksgiving this year.  Driving to Elgin, is the easiest for us, because it's not as far as La Vernia or Austin.  I made 3 different desserts and the broccoli rice casserole.  We loaded up about 9:00 and headed out.  Lunch was planned for 12:30 and I needed to bake my casserole.  It was good timing, too, because I knew Kinley would nap almost the whole way.

We got there and put the casserole in the oven, and sat around and visited.  Of course, everyone wanted to see Kinley!  She's at a fun stage, and really doesn't have any "stranger anxiety" yet, so she will go to anyone.

Lunch got started a little late, but we figured that would probably be the case.  Before we ate, Marilyn had us light candles in memory of the loved ones we have lost over the years.  It was a nice tribute.  Then everyone sat down to feast.  It was delicious!  There were a LOT of people there.  I never got a picture of the whole crowd, or a count, but it was easily over 50.

After lunch, we played games, watched football, and just visited.  It was a great time.  Kinley's first Thanksgiving was definitely one to remember!

My mom's cousin Lynn with Kinley.  This is my mom's only girl cousin.

My grandma's sister, Doris, with Kinley

My mom's aunt Marilyn with Kinley

Gran feeding Kinley her dinner

Gran with Kinley

Gran with Kinley and Emily

My cousin Katie with Kinley.  Katie was our flower girl in our wedding.

 

Emily with Kinley, right before Kinley did a face plant on the floor!

Family Christmas Pictures

Today, we had our family pictures taken for our Christmas cards.  I bought a Groupon a couple of months back for Target portrait studios.  It was a pretty good deal, and I thought it would be good to use for family Christmas pictures.

We have used JCPenney for Kinley's 3 and 6 month pictures, and I liked them a lot.  The 2 studios are owned by the same people, so I hoped it would be a similar experience.  The photographer was good, but the experience was not.  We got there about 10 minutes early for our 6:20 appointment, to see that there was another family waiting, who I presumed was before us.  I had very intentionally picked our appointment time so that Kinley would be awake and happy - not hungry or tired.  It was almost 7:00 when they finally took us back.  The photographer was snapping away, and then started getting an error message that she could only take 20 shots.  That also annoyed me, because that has never happened at JCPenney, and we had to start choosing shots that she could delete so there was room to take more.

Luckily, we did get a lot of good pictures, but I was pretty disappointed by the whole experience.  I would not really be enthused to use them again in the future.

 

Brent and Katie's Wedding

This weekend, my baby brother got married.  Although Brent and Katie have been dating for 9 years - since they were freshmen in high school - I sometimes still see Brent as a little 5 year old.  The wedding was in the afternoon, so we had a little bit of time to get ready and hang around the house.  My mom and I went to get our nails done in the morning, then went back to the house to get ready.  It definitely added a different dimension, having to get a baby ready, too, but we managed to make it all work.  We even had time to stop and get our gift, because we do lots of things last minute these days!

We got to the church, and I was able to sneak into the bridal party's room to get Kinley dressed.  Her dress was pretty poofy, so I knew it would be hard to buckle her into her carseat like that.  Katie was as calm as could be, and looked stunning.

I went prepared with snacks and toys to occupy Kinley.  She has become quite vocal in church lately, so I wanted to think ahead.  I really wanted John and I to both be able to enjoy the wedding from our pew - not in the back with a loud baby.  It all went very well!  It was a good thing I brought snacks because Emily, the flower girl, was hungry and ate a bunch of baby cheetos.

After we left the church, I thought it would be best to drive around a little bit until Kinley fell asleep.  I knew she needed a nap, and wasn't likely to fall asleep in a room full of people.  John wasn't too happy with my plan, but went along with it anyway.  Sure enough, she fell asleep pretty quickly.  We popped her carseat into the stroller when we got to the reception and covered her up, hoping she would sleep for a while.  She slept right up until it was time for dinner.  We were able to feed her and eat our own dinners, too.  She was a happy baby the whole time.

The reception was a lot of fun, especially watching Brent look so grown up.  They had a really good turnout.  Neither Katie nor Brent are big fans of cake, so they had cookies and milk instead.  It was pretty cute.  One thing they had bonded over early in their relationship, was their love of Legos.  Their cookie topper was Lego figurines, and Brent built some other things out of Legos, too. 

We had a great time visiting with family.  Things are definitely different with a baby, and having to focus on her needs, but we still had a fantastic time.  I was pooped by the time we were ready to head out.  I was glad Brent and Katie planned to have a brunch the next day, so we could really visit with them a little more before they headed to Jamaica.

Here are some pictures from the day:

From the rehearsal and dinner Friday night:

 

 

From the wedding and reception:

Ready for Jamaica: