Tis the Season

I always get a little sentimental when putting up our Christmas decor - as most of the stuff we have has been given to us, and mostly by by Grandmothers who both passed away last year. Everyone loved my Grandma Huff's nativity so one year she gave each granddaughter a similar nativity. My other Grandma had a few Christmas traditions as well.  I think it started after shhe served her mission in Australia but she made a stuffed and embroidered camel for everyone.  She kept them on her tree (where we would always search for our camel when we visited her) then when we were married, she made our spouse one and then sent them for her great grand kids.  Keep in mind she has 50ish grandchildren. She passed away before Kelsey was born but she had a camel ready to be embroidered for our soon to be baby girl.  My Aunt finished it and sent it to us. If only I was less of a procrastinator and more like my sweet Grandmother.  On top of that, once married, we'd get an ornament or ornament-like trinket each year.  The first ornament she gave us is one of my favorite.  Two glass doves kissing. 

 

Oh Grandmother's, I love and miss you both dearly. . . . . .

 

Onto the less sappy topic- our tree(s).

 

Maybe next year we'll get a proper sized tree. (how many years have I been saying that now?)

 "um, Mom, Why did you put me up on this ledge? I'm so far from the ground"

"Seriously!? Mom!! Help!"

"Ah, sweet freedom to discover on my own"

 Rylee also received her own special *female* Elf on the Shelf.  I refused to let her name be "Elf" so with a  little coersion her name is Elf Noel.  Her skirt kills me.

 We're repeating our story advent as well.  And every night Rylee gets to open a "prize" and read a Christmas (or winter) book to read as a family.

We love this time of year. . . .even if the to-do list seems to get longer every day instead of shorter. . . . . guess I'd better get to work!!

Thankful

In the spirit of Thanksgiving we did a Thankful Tree this year. I taped a paper tree to the wall and (most)evenings this month we wrote down something we were thankful for on a leaf and placed it on the tree.  That's pretty much the only "fall leaves" we get to see around here. :) I really wanted Rylee to do this with as little assistance as possible. She did a great job.  Some of the things she came up with on her own were: her friends {namely Lily and Kaya}, Daddy's Truck, Blankies, The library, Stories, Jesus, TV {especially the wonder pets}, cousins, toys, and nursery to name a few.  We have so much to be grateful for! I *sortof* documented the transformation.

 If only Kelsey would sit still . . . . .

 Different outfits, same headlock:

 On a side note, did you know Rylee is obsessed with socks?  She changes her socks at least twice a day and MUST wear them to bed.  silly girl.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  We spent the morning leasurely baking our food assignments.  Watched the parade together and I hugged and kissed the girls as often as they would let me. Our little family is my favorite blessing.  And what is Thankgiving without a little football?  Daddy and Rylee threw the ball around a little too.

I've always liked the idea of opening new pajamas for Christmas and although neither of us come from families who had that tradition I'd like to do it for our family.  I had one problem though. . . . . I think its pointless to give Christmas themed pajamas on Christmas Eve: uh, that pretty much means you wear them once and the season is over as they are outgrown by the next year- or recieve non-themed.  My solution was to give the girls the Christmas PJ's on Thanksgiving day.  So, before naptime we let them open their "prize" and WOO-HOO matching jammies!! {I made the pants {including knee pads}, bought the shirts}.  Now they get to wear their fun jammies all season long, and I don't feel like my work is wasted for one night.

After naps we headed to a friends house for dinner.  It was a very tasty meal followed by relaxing, shopping, and game playing.  We headed home late, but satisfied and ever so grateful. 

Kelsey's first Thanksgiving was a smashing success.  She ate and ate and ate I literally thought there is no way she could eat more than she did on Thanksgiving Day and then Friday came along and she ate even more!! She was given a very generous serving (at least 3x's what Rylee got) ate it all, found her way to Rylee's plate to finish what she didn't eat and then when Michael and I finally sat down she begged off our plates too.  All that carb-y goodness.  Our Thanksgiving Feast was this toothless girls dream come true. 

The rest of our weekend plans were unfortunately cancelled but we spent the time getting lights on the house and enjoying the fact that Daddy was home several days instead.

Palmetto SP

After a few re-scheduled weekends we were finally able to make it camping! Its still a little hard to get over the fact that camping in Oct/Nov is optimal camping season in south Texas. I was a little nervous as we got a little cold spell and the forcast left me a little frightened, but we survived with all of our didgets :)

 

Rylee had a little bit of a difficult time falling asleep the first night as I didn't pack ALL of her blankets and stuffed animals and heaven forbid her dolls feet get uncovered!! (I wish I could say that doesn't happen regularly). And Kelsey isn't exactly a great age to camp with- she just wanted to crawl around and eat all the dirt in the park. We definately frustrated each other in that we didn't allow that to happen. 

 

I've decided that 3 nights would be perfect. Its a lot of work setting up and taking down so 2 full days of pure relaxation would help make up for it. :)  maybe next time

 Rylee had a great time.  We picked a site close to the park and she was in heaven! Here she is running for the play ground first thing in the morning.  Even before she had her milk, which shocked us all.

 Then, we all went back after breakfast:

 Did I mention how much fun Friday was?  not a care in the world.  It was great.  We went for a drive, read, snacked, napped, and chatted it up. It was great. Though it was colder than I'd hoped, it was nice to 'need' a fire.

 We were just a few miles from Gonzales, TX so we went into town to 'site see'.  The famous "come and take it" cannon is on display there. (in case you aren't as familiar with Texas history it was a Mexican Army cannon that they lost posession of on Texas land, they wanted it back and the Texans told them that if you want it back 'come and take it'. . . . . them's fightin words.)

 We packed a couple different tin-foil dinners so all the prep work for dinner was done.  It was great.

 The park had really great 'hike' paths.  They had gravel laid down and so we could take the stroller on them, which was awesome.  Rylee actually walked most of the way as well.

 especially the bridges.

 She had to stop and check out every "baby catepillar" we saw.  It was hilarious.  She'd bend down and then as the catepillar would crawl away she'd take a step closer.

 some the the palms that gave the park its name.

 I couldn't resist the penquin hat :)

Let the games begin!!!  We taught Rylee how to play Uno on our trip as well.  She loves it.

All snuggled up in her sleeping bag.

When I asked Rylee what her favorite part of camping was she said "the smells"  haha.  guess the girl likes to smell like smoke. It was good to get away for a few days - getting me in the right mindset for my new calling : Young Womens Co-Camp Director.

 

ouch!

Rylee's had a rough couple of weeks.  A couple weeks ago she was stung by a "naughty bee". This is her sad face:

 She immediately asked for a sticker.  She just kept crying and crying.  We felt so bad. Poor girl, after benadryl and a nap she felt much better.

 Kelsey however was able to benefit from Rylee's misfortune as we attempted to console her with ice cream and Kelsey got a taste as part of the fall out.  She loved it - even if it was chocolate flavored. bla!!

 THEN, a couple days ago Rylee sprained her wrist.  She was in a lot of pain, and not using her arm at all.  It was so sad to see her hold her arm close to her body and block it with her other hand.  After several hours the pain didn't seem to subside and she was shaking, with some swelling we decided to take her to the insta care for an x-ray.  Just to be safe.

The support for the "bandage" seemed to help relieve the pressure/pain and a couple days later she asked to take it off.  If she did too much, and was in pain she'd revert back a little but she seems to be back to 100%.

Michael and I both commented how nice the extra snuggles for 2 days were.  But I guess all good things must come to an end.

 Kelsey girl is as monstrous as ever.  You know, eating the dirt from the plants, trying to drink from the toilet bowl (I already fished her own poop out of her mouth once), just touching one of Rylee's toys makes her go bazerk. But, man she's cute.

At Kelsey's appointment last month her stats proved that she's still really tall, but she only gained 3 oz in 3 months.  The fact that she's still gaining is good - and she certainly doesn't look malnourished- but she should be gaining more than that.  So, we left with instructions to offer her lots of food/snacks and then add a feeding (nurse/bottle) back in.  She was down to just 3 feedings a day.  I'm not sure if its a supply problem, but she refused the before bed nursing several months ago.  I loved being 'done' with that roll by 4-5 for a solid 15 hours.  So she gets a bottle now.  She started by barely drinking an extra ounce - after about a week of that she drinks more now (usually 6).  The Dr said if I don't think she's getting more calories to bring her in for a weight check in December though, I don't think that will be necessary. But seriously does eating dirt and play dough count?

you've got mail

I don't work nearly the hours I used to in October, but I'm still busier.  As much as I try/tried not to work while the kids are awake, that's just not always an option.  I am very blessed to be able to do what little I do from home.  I'm not the most organized or scheduled person and its definitely not always easy - It kind of broke my heart when Rylee asked me to close the computer a couple weeks ago.  I think she heard "let me finish this email" a few too many times as after a bath one night she exclaimed "I need to check my email!!" I said Ok, go check it! Of course she ran to the actual computer first until I reminded her she has her own toy laptop.  She immediately opened it and set it on her lap (usually where our computer sets) and got to work.

 

I laughed.

 

Daddy rolled his eyes and said "are you serious?"

 

 

Gotta keep in contact with all her nursery friends.

She loves it when I open up a word document and let her point out letters and type away.  I think its hilarious when she tries to use the monitor like the kindle.  And I wonder what devises she will attmept to teach me how to use over the phone over and over again in thirty years? {love you Mom!! ;) }

Trick-or-Treat in Texas

Trick-or-Treating in Texas is pretty different than what either of us experienced growing up.  We, (like the rest of the country I imagine) went from door to door.  You know, walk up to the actual door to knock/ring the doorbell and we never skipped houses.

So not the case in Texas.

If you hand out candy (and there are MANY who do not) you must have ALL the lights on and 90% of those homes set up camp chairs on the driveway/porch and just hang out outside all night passing out candy. No knocking necessary.

I've thought that was really kindof funny. Though its nice to not have to walk all the way up to the door and wait for someone to answer, I still find it a little odd.

But in other ways, it could also be more of a community building thing.  Many neighbors actually set up their 'stations' next to each other (maybe we would too if we actually stayed home- or knew or neighbors :/ ). The weather is great (a little on the warm side actually if you're out for long) and no need to travel back and forth from the couch to the door all night.

I met with a neighbor and actually took the girls to a few houses on our block - which was a first (Our girls took swimming lessons together and she lives just down the street). Then we headed to a friends house to hit up their neighborhood together.  I always love it when people get all decked out for holidays.  I don't so much go crazy myself but I definately enjoy the work others do.  There is one house in particular that decorates A LOT for both Halloween and Christmas.  We call it the "spooky house" every time we get the mail we walk around the block to take a peak at the decorations.  This was the first year we've gone by on Halloween, and its even better.  This gremlin blocked the sidewalk and made the kids walk between his legs. I think I actually could have convinced Rylee to do it if the other kids we were with weren't freaking out, so he moved over.  She did give him a high-five though. They also had their convertible in the driveway with a skeleton in each of the seats :)

My other favorite is a house has a pop-corn maker running and hands out pop-corn.  I love something unique and fun.  We had a great night, staying up past bed-time but who cares? we all slept in.

Rylee had chocolate for breakfast and asked to go trick-or-treating this morning- it could be a long year. :)  Kelsey was happy to be strolled around all night and enjoyed the ride.