Family day

We took advantage of the fact that I was off work today and planned a FABULOUS family day!!!

We went to Dollar Tree and Katelyn picked out three new puzzles and a jump rope. Such joy...and all for $4.

Then we went to Explorium because they were doing New Year's activities. Katelyn ran from exhibit to exhibit like her pants were on fire.

They were making new year hats in the art room. Her's says "Katelyn" in glitter. Yep, she's fancy.

Then we went out to eat. Katelyn was happy as can be because she got her OWN sandwich, bag of chips and lemonade. (Usually she just gets part of whatever we're eating.) But today was family day and Katelyn's a big girl.

After lunch we went to the library...the big one downtown. We go to our local branch all the time but she'd never been to the main branch. In honor of our big, fun day Katelyn got her very own library card and got to check out her own books. Who knew this would all happen so fast. I swear it was yesterday when she came home.

Katelyn took a big nap when we got home and since the weather was beautiful today and we haven't seen a day with no snow on the ground in literally a month, we took advantage and got the yard cleaned up...leaves all raked into the compost...old plants pulled up from the garden....patio furniture and clothesline in the garage (I know we should have done this a month ago, but winter pounced on us and we weren't ready for it to stick around.)

Today was lovely!

Tomorrow we're going to get up...sit around in our jammies...eat pumpkin waffles and watch the Rose Parade.

Happy New Year everyone! Happy New Year....

I love my life

It's two days after Christmas.

I stopped on the way home and got buy one get one free pizzas at Little Caesar's pizza (I know, I know...but seriously, how can you beat $5 for two pizzas on a cold night after 6pm, on the way home from work, after the craziness of Christmas and lots of cooking?) We ate pizza and salad. We played a lovely game of Candy Land and now Michael and Katelyn are playing with her new Legos.

This little girl who is so active and busy all the time is so intent and focused...happily building little doggies, a horse, a little house.

She got the girly Legos. :)

My heart is so full and content I could just burst.

My life is not perfect, but it's awfully close.

This was the best Christmas ever.

And tonight I'm nestled in with my little family just as happy as can be....even though it's winter.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! I pray your Christmas has been as joyful and fun as ours has been. Grammy and Papa have been here for almost two weeks and we have loved every minute of their visit. We're sad to see them go, but so thankful they were able to come. The first day they got here was my dad's birthday. I made his favorite cake...pumpkin carrot. Yum yum. Katelyn of course had to help him blow out his candles.

Then he needed help opening his presents and Katelyn needed some practice to gear up for Christmas. She was very helpful indeed.

Katelyn sang in church the weekend before Christmas. She did great on the first song and then got mad that I wouldn't let her hold the microphone for the second song so she sat right down and wouldn't sing. Such the diva!

We all went to Southern Lights out at the horse park with our friends and Katelyn got to visit with Santa.

It was freezing but we all had fun doing something Christmassy together.

Katelyn of course loved it all. Especially the candy cane she got from Santa's elves.

We had our family Christmas dinner on Christmas eve. I made winter squash soup, pork loin stuffed with artichoke mushroom stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans,
and a mandarin/cranberry relish. Yummy! For dessert I made my grandma's apple pie and we had ice cream with it of course.

And here everyone is happily eating the pie!

We opened some of our presents on Christmas eve. Katelyn was really into it this year and we had so much fun with her. Look how long her hair has gotten!!

She got pop beads from Uncle Mike and Aunt Mimi and she loves them. Really she keeps sorting and carrying them around. Maybe some day she'll actually use them for their intended purpose.

I got Katelyn a "Mommy and Me Cookbook". I can't wait to do some more cooking with her! She helped me make grandma's apple pie. She now understands that the secret to a good pie is a great crust. Important that she understands that early. :)

Katelyn loves Michael. They are pretty cute together. Two little engineers. This picture makes my heart VERY happy. Who knew what this year would bring!

Here is the best picture ever...dad shoveling the driveway on Christmas morning. It was a white Christmas and we'll hear about him leaving 80 degree Arizona for two weeks of cold and snow and how he had to shovel it for the rest of our lives. Sigh.

Katelyn was super excited on Christmas morning and when we were all done opening presents she looked under the tree and asked, "Where did all the presents go?"

Nail polish in the stocking...yes we all have glittery finger nails now.

Grammy and papa read Katelyn stories tonight for the last time this visit. We had so much fun together. We ate great food and laughed a lot. We really enjoyed our time together and now I wish we could just jump ahead to warm weather and time at the lake!!!

December activities

Well, since we're buried under snow and the high all last week never topped 25 degrees...we've been finding more inside activities to keep us occupied. Snowmen are great and all, but it's REALLY cold out there.

My wonderfully amazing husband has turned out to be quite the handyman. When he starts tearing things apart I hardly flinch anymore. I'm actually really confident in his abilities. :) Our sink had a pretty bad leak and we decided to get a whole new faucet...since the builders put in the very cheapest one possible and six years was just too long for it to function properly.

So here's the sink without a faucet....

And here's the new faucet with a handy sprayer. I love it. But Michael did figure out (after we ran the dishwasher once) that there is some air thing that needs to happen and so he drilled another hole in the sink to put another part in. He drilled a hole in the stainless steal...and I wasn't really even worried about having to replace the whole sink (well maybe the thought crossed my mind once.)

It's working perfectly. Good job honey!

Katelyn is loving her Tinker Toys (and yes, I never fixed the pig tails after her nap). Michael helped her build a monorail. She loved it.

I'm loving how content she is to play with these things!

We finally finished decorating the Christmas tree. Katelyn was so excited she just couldn't stand still. Every time I'd tell her to say cheese she would bounce.

She loved putting ornaments on the tree and everyday her favorite thing to do is come downstairs and flick on the light switch so that the tree will light up.

Grammy and papa will be here in two days!!! We are SUPER, SUPER excited to see them. Katelyn's got a list of things she wants to do with them....

family movie night with popcorn

Explorium

the mall (she just wants them to take her for a hamburger and french fries)

Tinker Toys

art

having a birthday party for papa (she really just wants the cake)

Ohhh the possibilites are endless.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Dear Grammy and Papa,

Mommy let me open one of my presents from you early beacause when we woke up this morning there was lots and lots of snow. I was REALLY excited to go outside but I didn't have any snow boots...so mommy got me one of your presents and there were these really cool pink boots in the bag. I love them and they did just the trick. So sorry you didn't get to see me open them, but here's what I look like in them. They're really warm and my feet stayed dry. Mommy liked that part.

The first thing I did when I got outside was to lay down and make a snow angel. I did a great job. Do you like my new boots?

Michael and I worked on rolling a snow ball around the yard until it got really big for our snow girl.

Here's our snow girl all finished. Isn't she tall. We worked really hard. Michael kept trying to hit mommy and I with snow balls...but we got him back.

Mommy says she doesn't like getting cold, but I think she likes playing with me in the snow.

When I got all wet and cold she made me go in and take a warm bath. Then I got to go to my friend Maggie's 4th birthday party at Explorium. It was really fun. They have a new room with a huge train set up. Will you take me to Explorium when you get here? Are you coming soon? I have a lot of books I need to read to you and new toys for us to play with. I don't always like talking on the phone, but I have lots of things that I'll talk to you about when you get here.

I love you and miss you. Thanks for my early present.

Love, Katelyn

And more snow....

It snowed again today. Little miss sassy pants just HAD to go outside to play in it. Here she is catching snow flakes on her tongue.

...and making a snowball...

...and throwing a snowball at Michael....

....and building a snowman...that she named Michael. :)

Oh...and a couple more pictures from our trip up north. Here's Katelyn in bed with Aunt Ingrid's dog Jessie. She loved Jessie.

And the best picture from our trip....On the interstate up in Michigan. It was moving day for this guy...and his load really cracked us up.

More snow is coming.... Katelyn is far more excited about this than I am.

The first snow

We got our first little snow this morning...and boy was it cold out today. I think winter has arrived. Katelyn was super excited.

We went out to get in the car this morning to head to school and Katelyn started running around the front yard asking if she could make snow balls and snow angels.

I have a feeling that this winter is going to be fun.

Katelyn was finally coralled and went to school...where she made glitter snow flakes with Ms. Jean.

A budding engineer

Katelyn got Tinker Toys for Christmas from one of Michael's sisters this past weekend. She LOVES them. It is the perfect toy for her. She was so excited to work on putting the pieces together. She was looking at the pictures and trying to make some of the structures. I'm pretty positive her engineering abilities have already surpassed mine. Thank God for Michael....(He's in heaven by the way...This girl doesn't want princesses, she wants Tinker Toys!)

She made a tunnel for her ambulance with flags at the starting and finish lines.

"Look guys, I made it go through my tunnel."

Now how does this thing work???

Oh, I get it now.

I had a meeting at work tonight so Michael and Katelyn had some extra time together. I hear there were Tinker Toys and bugs and a great big mess.

(But it was all cleaned up by the time I got home.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great year to celebrate Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for. Michael, Katelyn and I went up to Michigan to celebrate with Michael's family and we had a great time with everyone up there. Here's the table all set and ready for us to enjoy the feast!

Here's Michael and his mom at his parent's house.

Mom and Dad Kramer! I love my new family. They have been so wonderful to Katelyn and I and have welcomed us to the family. We feel like we fit right in and now Katelyn has an Oma and Opa that spoil her ROTTEN!

Michael and his sister Ingrid. (Who let us take over her house and even gave us her room!)

It was 25 degrees the day after Thanksgiving! SO COLD. So we took Katelyn and Michael's niece, Elisabeth to Chuck E Cheese. :)

Seriously....how cute is this child?

Katelyn loved playing with Michael's niece Emily and her boyfriend John. Sweet college students who rolled around the floor with her and threw her up in the air. She was in heaven.

While we were up in Michigan we also celebrated an early Christmas while we were all together. Katelyn didn't get a single gift....yeah, right. She loves her new Dora guitar.

Here's Michael and his dad. Can you tell that they're related? :)

We had a trip full of family and friends. It was so good to catch up and be together. It was the perfect first Thanksgiving for us. I can't wait for many, many more.