Christmas in Brownwood

For Christmas 2011 we headed to Brownwood for a fun week with Bubba and JoJo.  They have lots of fun toys and the kids enjoyed playing, playing, and even more playing!  HiHo Cheerio was a favorite for several days until we got tired of finding all the little pieces everywhere and finally put it away :)

Isabella is still too little to participate in most of the playing, but she got lots of snuggle time with the adults.  Here she is with her momma- they look exactly alike!

Katelyn and Adelyn had to pose for lots of pictures this week and they did so like champs!

Jared and Jason got to go with Bubba out to the river place to help work cattle one day.  I think this was a new experience for the both of them! 

Here is sweet Adelyn with one of her Christmas presents.  They are binoculars, but she kept walking around with them at her eyes telling everyone to say, "Cheese"... She must see me with the camera up to my face telling her to say cheese too much!

JoJo and Bubba recently got a castle for the kids to play on outside.  Katelyn loved being the princess and Bubba was the dragon trying to get her!

Here are all the couples before we began opening presents.  Bubba and JoJo...

Gera Beth and Jason...

Byron and Megan- Sammie and Cooper

Jared and Haley- baby boy and Jared being silly!

One day Adelyn kept fussing during nap time so JoJo sat in the chair with her and next thing we know she fell asleep.  Adelyn doesn't usually just fall asleep, so this was special!

Here is Meggie with Isabella.

Okay, I told you that I made the kids pose for lots of pictures this week, so here are a few of the pictures taken this week....

How old? 4!

How old? 1!

We had a great time with all the Geeslin family this week.  Katelyn even cried yesterday telling me how much she misses JoJo already!  Merry Christmas!

Our family Christmas- 2011

On Friday night we decided to have our family Christmas since we will be with my family on Christmas day.  Katelyn has been so excited about Christmas this year and so it made the gift buying really fun for Jared and me.  Adelyn loves to look at the trees, lights and decoration, but she doesn't get the concept of Christmas yet.

Really what we had was Jesus birthday party, so we started off with Jared and Katelyn telling the Christmas story using the veggie tales Nativity set.  Adelyn listened some, played some, messed with the nativity some...

Then we sang a few Christmas carols.  We started off with Away In a Manger and Katelyn proceeded to rock baby Jesus in her hands gently as we sang.

Next was the opening of the stockings.  Katelyn's face would light up as she pulled each item out and marveled at the little things!

Adelyn got the hang of emptying her stocking one item at a time rather quickly.  She thought it was fun, but wanted to stop and play (or eat the candy) along the way!

Then we opened a few gifts each.  Katelyn got Charlie Church Mouse computer game and a scooter.

Adelyn got a shopping cart for her babies and a sleeping bag.

Next we had Jesus birthday dinner which I didn't take pictures of.  We ended the meal by singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and letting the girls blow out the candles on the cupcakes.  And of course after dinner we played, played, played!

Adelyn is 21 months old!

You read it right, Adelyn is already 21 months old!  This past month Adelyn has turned into such a little toddler.  She knows what she wants and will make herself heard!  You can see her expression in the picture below as she pushed Katelyn away... That was her way of saying she didn't want to take a picture with Katelyn...

She wanted to take a picture by herself!  Adelyn's vocabulary is growing daily and she keeps me laughing with all her new animal sounds.  Adelyn loves to go potty.  She asks to go at every diaper change and is successful some of the time.  I'm waiting for the day that she asks to go before she needs a diaper change.  If I think about it and ask her when she is still clean and dry she will sometimes go on the potty.  I wouldn't really say we are potty training, more so just potty trying whenever...  She isn't scared of the potty, so I guess when we are ready to train we are off to a good start. 

The biggest news this month is that Katelyn and Adelyn are sharing a room.  This is a picture of Katelyn the first night that Adelyn was in the 'big girl room'.

And here is Adelyn the first night.  Right now Adelyn is still in the pack-n-play, but soon she will move into the bed with Katelyn.  That could be an adventure!

Adelyn loves to sit at the table and do artsy, crafty stuff.  She watches Katelyn and really wants to do whatever Katelyn is doing. 

Adelyn got to see snow over Thanksgiving.  I don't really think she cared one way or another though...

While in Washington she ended up with a double ear infection.  Poor thing!  Luckily the medicine kicked in after a few days and she perked right up! 

While in Washington Adelyn spent a lot of time with her cousin Miss Ellie.  They are just at a year apart and it was so fun to watch them play!  Ellie was Adelyn's little momma and really enjoyed combing her hair! 

Adelyn will still eat pretty much whatever is served, but she usually has her favorites with each meal.  She will eat her favorite then point to that spot on her plate to ask for more.  Adelyn has had some experience in time-out this month.  She will go sit and then when I ask her if she is ready to come out and be happy she'll say, "yeah" and go about her business.  Overall Adelyn is still very laid back and a sweet little lady.  She is still obsessed with babies and stuffed animals.  She loves to play kitchen and push the baby stroller around. 

I can't believe how close she is to turning 2!  She is such a blessing to us and she is our favorite Adelyn in the whole wide world!  Happy 21st month sweet Ada-girl!

Cookie decorating playdate

Today we headed over to our friend Miss Tracy's house to have lunch and decorate Christmas cookies.  Katelyn was of course very much into the cookie cutting, baking and decorating. 

Here she is with one of her Christmas trees...

Adelyn was more interested in playing with all of Tanner's fun toys than the preparations of the cookies... It was very nice though at how independent she was by playing with other friends or alone while we got everything ready!

Here is our wonderful hostess Miss Tracy and Tanner.  If you can't tell, his shirt is covered in flour and he won the prize for most clean-up needed!  What a cutie!

Here is Miss Laura, Fielding and Wren.  Always a joy to hang out with these sweet friends!

And of course, here we are- Adelyn looks annoyed to be taking a picture... Maybe she was ready for a cookie?!?

I'm pretty sure finger licking is a requirement at any cookie decorating playdate, right?

Adelyn actually decorated her cookie.  I was fully expecting her to just start eating, but nope- she decorated her cookie, then ate all the decorations, then licked the icing then at the cookie!

Katelyn did lots of decorating and little eating.  She only ate about 1/2 of a cookie before she declared she was finished.  I think she liked the craft aspect more than the cookie aspect!

We finished off by lighting a candle and singing Happy Birthday Jesus... Always looking for ways to remind these precious kids the true meaning of Christmas!

I just love these to little ladies!  They keep me on my toes, keep me laughing and make me smile every day.  Today we had lunch with Jared downtown which is always a special treat.  Jared made it extra special by giving the girls a Gatorade to share on the way home.  Here is the conversation that I heard about 10 minutes into our drive on the way home:

Katelyn- "Ada-girl, are you enjoying your Gatorade?"

Adelyn- "Yeah."

Katelyn- "Ummmm Adelyn... Don't you mean yes ma'am?"

Adelyn- "Yeammmm." (yes ma'am in Adelyn words)

Love it!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we have much to be thankful for!  We made our thanksgiving turkey and added many feathers of all the things we are thankful for... Here are just a few things:

We are thankful for- answered prayers and snow!  Katelyn has been praying for snow in Washington for a while now.  Not only did God answer our prayers, he did it in perfect timing!  As we landed the airplane we look out the window to snow on the ground and falling from the sky!  Katelyn said with much excitement, "LOOK, HE'S BEING NICE TO US!"

We are thankful for cousins to play with!

We are thankful for two sweet little girls who love each other and bring us so much joy!

We are thankful for baby brother who is growing strong and healthy in mommy's tummy. 

We are thankful for a Daddy who will take us on fun adventures (while I sit on the side praying that they dont' fall off the log and into freezing cold, rocky waters below).

We are thankful for a precious 4 year old who has the greatest imagination and keeps us laughing!

We are thankful for a PawPaw who got to celebrate his 60th birthday while at Camp Touchet.  I think he was holding back tears as he read the itinerary for his, Jared and James' trip to Alaska this coming summer. 

We are thankful for 3 precious kids.  They are so sweet, lovable, kind, silly and a blessing!

We are thankful for a Daddy who is willing to provide for our family.  Even if it is just holding Adelyn while we are sledding so she won't get cold in the snow.

We are thankful Jared walked away with only a few minor scratches on his hand when he decided to sled down a hill on the side of the road that had rocks sticking out of the ground!

We are thankful for sleep!  Sledding wiped her out!

We are thankful for SaSa who is on her own adventure God has called her to.  We miss her dearly, but know she is where she should be... 

We are thankful for all the kids special babies, bears and fluff-fluffs that bring them comfort. 

We are thankful for this adorable 20 month old who knows just what to do when given a purse, jewelry and sunglasses.  Such a girly-girl!

We are thankful for tickle time with Nanny!  We are so grateful for all Nanny does for us- from joining in our prayer for snow, to planning a fun trip to camp Touchet, to all the fun in between. She is such a blessing! 

We are thankful for PawPaw who will sit on the couch and read us a book before bed.  PawPaw shows such love and kindness to everyone, what a wonderful example he is to our children!

We are thankful for silliness!

We are thankful for James and Stormi who a amazing parents, sweet friends and a blessing to call family!

We are thankful to get to spend Thanksgiving with a family who brings us all such joy and happiness.  Thank you Nanny, PawPaw, James, Stormi, Caleb, Micah and Ellie for making our Thanksgiving full of wonderful memories! 

But most of all- thank you Lord for all the ways you continue to bless us even though we deserve nothing.  We are blessed beyond measure and will spend the next month thinking about how God gave us the best blessing of all- Jesus!