Christmas in Missouri!

There was plenty of cousin time this trip and both girls seemed to have a blast! Now Katelyn is spoiled with having someone to play with for the last 2 weeks and won't stop asking me to play with her. Guess some of the housework will just have to wait!

Reindeers!

Will and David having a little discussion!

Time to open presents!! And Katelyn got the doll house she asked Santa for....she was so excited!

Looking at all the fun they are going to have!

They got Doc McStuffin's doctor bags and.....

Doctor jackets! Dr. Katelyn Johannes at your service!

2 cute doctors ready to fix your ailments!

And then there was Will, loving ALL the wrapping paper!

Where's Will?!

He actually got into opening a little more. I guess by the 3rd Christmas he figured out what he was supposed to do. He even started crawling over to other people's packages and trying to rip them open.

Go Will Go!

Having fun with their Barbie DreamHouse! I think the elevator was probably the biggest hit of the house.

We got together with 3 of Jack's High school friends and their families on Friday afternoon. Boy how times have changed!! As Jack said, next time we're going to have to rent a gym out to get together! It was so fun to see and meet all the kiddos! We aren't outnumbered by kids.....yet! 6 kids under the age of 3.5! Ahh the chaos and trouble they will be getting into all too soon. It was so much fun to catch up with old friends; I just wish we could do it more often. It is difficult when one couple lives in FL, another in AZ and then wherever we are at the time.

And there is ALWAYS time for dress up!

Of course we had to get a little swimming time in too!

And then we got MORE snow on Friday night and into Saturday. It was the prettiest snow; especially since we didn't have anywhere really to go. We probably got another 3 inches or so. The trees just looked absolutely beautiful!

Even Will liked the Barbie Dream House!

The girls had to give us several "Shows" too. They were pretty hilarious but the 2 songs from the microphone got REEAALLLY old! 

Here's a few videos from our many "shows" we got.....

We went over to Jack's cousin Donna's house for an extended family Christmas. Here are the kids before leaving. Will and David could be models for the Carter's Christmas line. :)

And Grammie got LOTSSS of check ups and blood pressure checks....most of the time 2 checks at the same time!

Just look at this beautifulness! 

What a way to end our Christmas holiday!

Sledding Adventures

We headed to Grammie and Pops on Thursday (12/27/12) after Christmas to have Christmas with Jack's family. They got a decent amount of snow on Tuesday/Wednesday and there was still plenty left for us to have some fun in when we got there on Thursday! The kids got sleds as part of their Christmas present...what perfect timing!!!

Even Will was ok with the chilly temps. Luckily, Aunt Rachel had brought a snow suit for cousin David, but he was taking a nap when we headed out so Will slipped it on. At least it kept his behind warm! Thanks for sharing Aunt Rachel!

Let the sledding begin! This was Katelyn's first time and boy did she love it! It might have been the highlight of her weekend.

Having a blast!

(The videos of Katelyn sledding by herself were all too big to load so this one of her and Jack together will have to do!)

But man, the coming back up the hill part really stunk! The girls kept saying...this hill is sooo steep!

2 sleddin' girls! (Cousin Sadie)

Daddy even went down with Katelyn.....and they had to hop off before they went swimming!

Even Pops went too!

Just enjoying everything!

A cute lil bear watching the kids and Pops at the bottom of the hill.

Then Daddy found his sled from when he was a kid....and it had a steering wheel!

Our 2 cute bundles!

Even Sadie jumped on!

Mommy and Will!

And then Katelyn took the ol' sled for a test ride.......and so did Jack. And it didn't break!!

The sledding adventures couldn't end without some excitement.
On the last day we were there this happened......

...good thing Katelyn jumped off in time or she would have gone for a swim!

And good thing I wasn't out there when this happened....I probably would have been loosing my mind!!

This was her last sled of the trip. But if we weren't about to leave, I don't think the sled going in the pond would have stopped her from getting on the other sled and going for more rides. She just loved it!

Meet our Elf - Tricksie!

We are also doing "The Elf on the Shelf" as is about every other family in the country. It's a cute little idea. For those that don't know about The Elf on the Shelf here's the story behind it:

The Elf (which each family names) comes to visit and is put in a spot for the day. He can not be touched by anyone or he will loose his magic. At night, he flies back to the North Pole and tells Santa if the kids were naughty or nice. If he gets touched and looses his magic, then he has to go back to Santa to get fixed so he may be gone for a day or so.

The elf comes with a book. So the first night, we read the book and named our elf. We had a tough time coming up with a name that wasn't ridiculous! We settled on Tricksie (spelled that way since he's a boy.)

We have had a good time finding new spots for him to hang out or mischief to get in to. Katelyn loves getting up in the morning and looking for him. She rarely forgets about him when she wakes up.

Here's some of the mischief he's been up to this month!

Night 1- He sat on our Christmas Tree that we just put up.

Night 2 - He hopped into Katelyn's stocking.

Night 3 - Sitting on top of the chandelier in the dining room - now he could watch Katelyn eat.

Night 4 - He tried to brush his teeth with Katelyn's toothbrush, but he ended up making a big mess instead.

Night 5 - He found Katelyn's Barbie Mermaid DVD - (I think he was tired of watching it so he knew if he held on to it that she wouldn't be able to watch it that day!)

Night 6 - Doing the splits on top of the microwave - it was gymnastics day!

Night 7 - Playing on Katelyn's computer.

Night 8 - Hanging upside down from the ceiling fan in the living room.

 

Night 9 - Doing the state puzzle. He was trying to figure out where Missouri went.
Night 10 - He tried to climb into the Jimmy Johnson car hauler, but his head was too big to fit!
Night 11 - He was holding onto a crayon that was stuck in the fan.
Night 12 - He changed out all of the stockings for SOCKS!! Silly Tricksie!

Night 13: It was Brrrr cold out that night, so he found a spot in the electric fireplace.
Night 14: Eating some of Katelyn's favorites....Cheetos!
Night 15: We had a big spill in the kitchen that night so Katelyn got her vacuum out to help. I guess Tricksie wanted to help out too!
Night 16: Peeking out the top of the lamp.

Night 17: He's stealing candy from Katelyn's gingerbread house!
Night 18: Playing Hi Ho Cheeri-o with Barbie
Night 19: He brought back an early Christmas present from Santa - a Little People Christmas Train!!
Night 20: He wrote out Katelyn's Monday Mail for school.

Night 21: He got into the suburban and hung above Katelyn the entire way to Branson! She thought this was hilarious!!

Night 22: We went to Branson to meet some friends and Giddia, their elf met Tricksie there. They sat on the mantle watching under the deer head.
Night 23: They climbed a fake tree in the cabin.
Night 24: He made his way to Grandma and Papa's house in KS. He was sitting on the mantle in the basement when we got there! Such a smart guy!
Night 25: Poking out the chandelier over the wet bar at Grandma and Papa's house.

Night 26: Hanging on Papa and Grandma's tv.
Night 27: He came back to MO and was sitting on the window sill next to the Christmas tree just waiting for Santa to arrive so he could hitch a ride back to the North Pole.

What a fun month we had with him! 

Can't wait to see what kind of mischief you create next year, Tricksie!!!

Merry Christmas!

We got back home from Christmas in Kansas on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. We got the car unloaded and that was about it because it was time for our Christmas Eve festivities. Katelyn was so excited for Santa to visit our house that the whole drive home she kept asking when it was going to be dark and when could she go to bed so Santa could come. It was so cute!

After dinner, she wanted to go right to bed. (Funny how one night out of the year kids can't get to bed fast enough!) I really want to start the "writing a letter to Santa" tradition, so we did that this year. She wrote that she wanted a doll house, doll car (??) and then some Barbie stuff. We tried to explain to her that you don't get everything from Santa that you ask for. (Santa wasn't bringing the doll house here; Grammie and Pops had gotten that for her and she wouldn't get it until Thursday). At the time that I put it on her list, she wasn't really even asking for it, but by the time Christmas rolled around that was all she talked about. If I would have known that was the one thing that she REALLY REALLY wanted, we would have had that for her on Christmas morning. Oh well!

Letter to Santa

And she kept tracking where Santa was all evening long. She looked a few times on my phone when we were driving. I love all these "tracking" sites. So cute and makes it all the more realistic!

And then it was time to leave some cookies and milk for the big man! She had received a letter from Santa a few weeks earlier and he had mentioned that by the time he got to her house he was always hungry and thirsty so be sure to leave him some milk and cookies! That she did!

Sitting next to the tree.

Notice Tricksie in the background. He was sitting close to the cookies and milk so he could hitch a ride back to the North Pole! Seems like he had a good month with us and got to do some sight seeing too. Katelyn is ready for him to come back next year!

Then Daddy read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and it was off to bed she went. (I was hoping Will would be able to partake in the festivities too, but he just couldn't hang. He had to hit the hay! Maybe next year he'll be able to make it longer!)

Santa came!!

"Santa"...I mean Jack playing with the toys before the kids get to them!

And then it was finally Christmas morning! Katelyn didn't wake up early, about regular time....7:30. She was so eager to tear into the gifts!!

She had to help Will a little....well, actually, a lot! He did his usual one rip and he was off routine.

"Look what Santa brought me Mom!!"

His favorite gift was probably the xylophone though. Of course he loved the mallet....it was just the perfect chew toy!

Santa brought Katelyn lots of Barbie stuff

And Will got an activity cube.

Daddy got some new NASCAR gear.

And just like that Christmas was over at our house! It takes so long to get everything ready...decorated, bought and wrapped and in no time flat all that is left is a pile of torn wrapping paper! Will did love the pile of trash though, as we all predicted! This was the first year that we were able to spend Christmas with OUR family of 4, ON Christmas Day and in OUR own house!

This Christmas was so much fun because we started lots of new family traditions and I look forward to the upcoming years when Will is old enough to partake in all the fun with Katelyn. They are going to be so magical! I love how Katelyn serenaded us nightly with Christmas songs that she had learned from her wonderful preschool and that she learned more about the real reason for the season!

I hope you all had a great Christmas with your loved ones; I know I sure did!!