Miss Kelsey is TWO!

Miss Kelsey is officially a two year old! I've been calling her a 2 year old for a while {you know, the only thing you can say when you try to explain ones' behavior}

 

We didn't do much, but we decorated her door/entry, ate cake & ice cream and opened presents. Hopefully that was enough to make baby girl feel special on her special day.

 

Her cake:

The birthday girl: She was distracted by football on tv or something.  I promise she was happy.  She almost wore her birthday hat to church but decided not to ;)

 Kelsey and her Anna doll got matching nap mats. She's been loving up on Rylee's for a while now.  Movie nights, and naps, and sleepover just got even more fun :)

 Kelsey also got her own apron - hooray for one less thing to fight over!

 It was ok for the dolls to share just long enough for me to snap this picture. haha. Its sometimes hard to be happy for someone else.  Rylee really is sweet in her desire to have her own. Its good for Kelsey to be the one to get something 'first' every now and then :)

Miss Kelsey adored being sung to. She blew more hot air up her nose than at the candle, but she finally got 'em both. 

 I attempted making a poka dot cake. It didn't turn out as cool as the photos in the tutorial, but it was fun none-the-less.  I also got to break in my new decorating kit.

These two years and flown by! She's added so much to our family and we love her mucho!

New Year's Eve 2013

After a little debate, we decided not to host a new year's party this year.  This was the first year we've lived in our house on not.  It was a little strange and kindof wonderful at the same time.

 

We went to a friends house for food and games.{you didn't think we'd stay home alone did you?} We had a great time. We kind of let the kids run amuck and at 9:45 Kelsey was annoying me so I thought, 'on the next game break we'll put her to bed'. She got quieter as the next time I looked at the clock it was 11:10 and the girls were both up still.  May as well stay up now eh?

 

The few families that stayed around made a quick decision to come back to our place to watch the neighbors fireworks from our front lawn. Since our house is at a slightly higher elevation made for a better view.  They didn't disappoint.  We had a few sparklers but that was it. 

 

"I Do It!!" Is Kelsey's favorite phrase. Followed closely by "stop it" and "my turn".  With a lit sparkler in hand wasn't MY favorite moment to hear "I do it" but since she was shaking the sparkler around my face while she yelled, I relented.  At least she had mittens on. Man, she's a feisty one. (must get that from her Dad ;) ) and she (somehow - I had taken the burnt out sparkler by then) got a burn on her chin. We can't have a holiday without even a minor casualty.

 Here's Rylee wrapped up in about eight blankets waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

Per usual 2013 was full of ups and downs. I suspect 2014 to be about the same.

I actually made a resolution this year: I will wash all the laundry and get it folded to be put away {I'm giving myself the next day to put the girls clothes away} in ONE day. That's big for me - as I often have more clothes in the laundry room than the closet. We chose a house with the laundry room NOT coming in from the garage for a reason!! haha.

Happy New Year Y'all!

Christmas 2014

This Christmas was just lovely. It was a quiet family day.  These days Rylee wakes up pretty early- generally she entertains herself in the living room playing with toys, watching a show, sometimes getting herself breakfast until a more "reasonable" hour for the rest of us. We were a little worried she'd have everyone's gifts opened before anyone else woke up so we put the gate up in the hall. haha!

By the looks of Miss Kelsey, she could have used a few more minutes of rest.


Nothing says Christmas morning better than talking on the phone while playing a xylophone and eating skittles for breakfast. Then throw in a "riddle" on a puzzle and its just about perfect.







The girls also got "Frozen" dolls, which rarely leave their sides.

And we upgraded the "baby" swing for a tire swing. Its been really fun!

After all the gifts were opened the girls found a moment to relax in the new princess dresses and watch a new movie.




Kids are the best! We absolutely had a great Christmas. 
Thanks to all who helped make it so.
We're so blessed!

Christmas Eve

We had a lovely Christmas Eve at home with the family.

 

We had a tasty steak dinner, read the Christmas Story using the "little people" as props, and opened up the girls tree ornaments for the year.  Rylee got an Ariel and Kelsey a 'Punzle {Rapunzle for those who don't speak toddler}. They loved putting them on the tree and then taking them off to show anyone that would look/listen.

They were both excited for the next day and put out milk, carrots and fudge for the night visitor and his team of reindeer.

Santa - Windcrest

Sometimes, when Santa comes to Texas he trades in his snow-boots and winter hat for Cowboy boots and a cowboy hat.

 

The girls were excited to see him - then had minor freak outs when they got close. haha.

 Windcrest in Texas is one of our favorite family traditions.  That would be a "live" Santa and Mrs Claus in the sleigh. They sat outside and smiled and waved to all the cars that drove by.  It was so fun!

Our other favorite house was one of the top 3 "Creative Lighting" contest winners. (I'm not sure how we drove by without taking a picture) but it was a 2 story house who had a several strands of blue lights next to each other cascading down the around the roof over the porch and then pooled in the front yard.  It looked like a waterfall and a pond.  They had all sorts of ducks etc in the "pond" Then white lights all around it to look like snow with snow men, and deer and other lawn ornaments.  It was really fun and unique.  Its pretty busy, but I just can't bring myself to do it AFTER Christmas.

Family Fun Day!

Every now and then we spend our entire Saturday's just having fun as a family.

 

This was one of those days:

We started it out by taking the girls to see the movie "Frozen" They loved it. Olaf made them both laugh so hard it was adorable.  I was surprised at how well Kelsey did.  Especially considering how we saw a play the night before (The Best Christmas Pageant Ever) at the children's theatre and she didn't do all that great and it was shorter and she had snacks.

 Then we headed up to Bass Pro Shops for their "Santa's workshop".  We vastly underestimated the ability to see Santa on a Saturday.  It is nice that they pass out 'tickets' to see him instead of waiting in line, but once all the time slot/tickets are filled, then they're done.  We convinced Rylee that just "looking" at him would be enough for the moment.  They did have a reindeer/moose carousel, craft and then the normal Bass Pro Shop stuff: fish, animals etc.

 "cho-kat": not my kid.

 Rylee asked for me to take her picture in front of this "cool tree" :)

 The girls love playing dress ups together.  They're so cute.

 Trying to be like Momma.

 Rylee fully dresses herself these days (often before I even get out of bed) and the outfits she comes up with would bring a more fashion forward parent to tears (stripes and stripes totally match, right?).  And then she changes the said outfit 5 times a day. All that extra laundry make me want to cry. she lets me know its laundry day again when she doesn't have any more skirts in her drawer. or leggings.  its been cold :)

 And a few extra Thanksgiving pictures before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

This year we invited Michael's brother to our house for Thanksgiving.  We had a huge tasty meal together which was nice.  I've decided the holiday's (Thanksgiving and Christmas) are kindof funny:  you spend 2-3 days cooking and preparing so you don't have to cook for a week. haha.  We loved having lots of left-overs.

 

We couldn't go without a picture of the spread - the jello or pies didn't even make the photo (and they are the prettiest!!)

 After dinner and games it was onto the next tradition: pj's! I bought pajamas last year on clearance instead of making them but I couldn't go without something homemade so I whipped up a few Christmas pillowcases, we didn't want to leave our visiting cousin out either.

 They were happy, I promise.

 Just in case you're keeping tabs we upgraded the tree(s) this year!  I was thrilled to not have the tiny trio of trees again.  People think I'm crazy for having it up before Thanksgiving but its so nice!! December is just too crazy to find time to do everything.  I joked that while others are stressing to put theirs up I'm just hanging out enjoying the lights for a solid 6 weeks, so mock me all you want :) My goal for next year is to finish the tree skirt I started 4 years ago. (the top is done I just need to quilt it- and since I didn't even have a tree to put it under there was no pressure to finish. There are a few other projects in that state. . . . .  I need help).  We picked up pine-boughs again this year and made a wreath and garland.  Not sure if it was the type of tree, our colds or what but they didn't emit as much fragrance this year :(  We lit a candle instead.  Michael stated the smell of chex-mix in the oven is more or a Christmas Scent than a real tree anyway.

 We spent the weekend together mostly hanging out, playing games and a little bit of sight-seeing.

The riverwalk was busy (the day after the lighting) but it was fun and festive to be downtown. 

 I think this was Kelsey's first time to the Alamo, someone new better visit quick so we can take her inside ;).  One of these days I really am going to put together an Alamo scrapbook and only include pictures of people we've gone to the Alamo with as that's the only time we go.

 The girls were exstatic about running across the wood boards here.  Its the simple things in life.

 After walking around to the big tree we decided that was enough for one evening and went home to put the kids to bed and get another game or two in before we had to part ways the following morning. Thanks for joining us Dallas-Allsops, it was new and different to be around family again for a 'big holiday'.