decorating houses

so i appear for the time being to be able to upload pictures...i didn't do anything but keep it closed down for a couple days, but that seems to have worked! i'll take what i can get, especially since i'm not all that tech savy :) now back to blogging...

the weekend after thanksgiving it was time to start decorating the house! we began outside - hanging the lights (tommy's favorite thing to do....just kidding) but he had the best little helper in town!!

after putting the lights up & nap time, it was gingerbread house time, a holiday tradition :) kennedie was really into it last year & was even more so this year! mommy & daddy helped with the icing & kennedie ever so carefully placed each candy on one at a time. once the house was complete, daddy helped her with the tree & with the finishing touches :)

blogging issues

apparently in all of my 60 posts (i say that b/c some people have 100's more than i do & have either just run into this issue, or have never ran into it) i have used up my storage space that i am issued from somewhere..so i'm trying to figure it out & hope to be back up & running (with photos!) soon

thanksgiving

grandma left the day before thanksgiving, and our plans were to go down to denver & spend the holiday with auntie t.t, uncle matt (& his parents), lilly, & grandpa. however, our little lovebug just happened to come down with croup on thankgiving eve, so plans had to change...which meant that instead of making 1 dish for dinner with the fam, i suddenly was faced with cooking the entire meal solo! so, it was off to the store to grab the necessities - the thing i was most worried about was getting a fresh turkey - but i was in luck, they had 2 left! 

thursday morning i woke up & decided to get things started...ease into it. i made fresh cranberry sauce. it wasn't hard at all &my hopes about being able to complete the meal began to rise. tommy helped with the turkey, since i really am not a fan of raw meat of any kind - especially cleaning out the inside of a bird - & we got that in the oven. glazed sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing & rolls were supposed to complete the meal - but i forgot the stuffing :( i made it anyway & it cooked while we ate - so at least we had it for left-overs :)  

thursday morning i woke up & decided to get things started...ease into it. i made fresh cranberry sauce. it wasn't hard at all &my hopes about being able to complete the meal began to rise. tommy helped with the turkey, since i really am not a fan of raw meat of any kind - especially cleaning out the inside of a bird - & we got that in the oven. glazed sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing & rolls were supposed to complete the meal - but i forgot the stuffing :( i made it anyway & it cooked while we ate - so at least we had it for left-overs :) the meal was wonderful & the only thing missing was the rest of the fam!

grandma was here!!

admittedly behind on blogging (new all time low for posts in the month of november - time seems to have gotten away from me) attempting to catch up & re-commit to getting posts up in a timely manner - it's my december resolution ;)

so, we had a wonderful visit from grandma for almost a month!! she got here at the end of october, as we were anxiously anticipating the arrival of baby lily - who was due on nov 3 but didn't make her appearance until nov 8 (we won't hold that against her :)) so grandma got a good two weeks to spend with her spunky 2 yr old granddaughter. they had so much fun baking, playing, reading, dressing up, pretending, etc. grandma is the perfect playmate because she lets kennedie pick to do whatever she wants!! that's what grandma's are for right! we are so lucky to have had so much time with her. mommy likes her visits too, b/c not only is her house much cleaner :) it's like a mini vaca since i didn't have to get kennedie ready for school in the morning & i get help with a toddler in places like the grocery store when i might normally be by myself!

 making & decorating halloween cupcakes

 grammie taught kennedie how to crack eggs - she's a pro at scrambled eggs & french toast now

 strutting around in grammie's hat, with her book & favorite snack too

 playing dress up

super special to have grammie join us for halloween & trick-or-treating

first snow

while kennedie & i were in denver, welcoming baby lily into the world, gypsum got its snow! we were hoping that the snow would last long enough that we could play in it when we got home. a few days later - lucky us - it had stayed cold enough for the snow to stick around & we got our snow day!

as soon as we pulled into the driveway & kennedie was inside digging out her snow clothes!

 snow is so much fun!!

sledding is fun too..until you fall out & get the cold snow all over your face :(

 but, not to fear, daddy pulls out the skis & the smiles are back :)

 and, what could be better after playing in the snow than some yummy hot chocolate with a giant marshmallow...apparently yummy hot chocolate AND a marshmallow. kennedie didn't care for the marshmallow in her hot chocolate, she wanted one on the side :) she's definitely a girl who knows what she wants, and isn't afraid to tell you!!

baby cousin is here

kennedie has been anxiously anticipating the arrival of her baby cousin! she has been very aware of auntie t.t.'s belly & her baby cousin inside. although she had refused to guess on the baby's sex - when asked if baby cousin was going to be a boy or a girl - she would simply reply that it was going to be a baby! (of course! how silly of me to ask) 

needless to say, kennedie was very excited when i announced to her thursday morning that t.t might be having her baby today! i went to work as usual, and since grandma is here, kennedie stayed home with her in case we needed to dash to denver. at 2 that afternoon, we learned that t.t had been admitted to the hospital, so we took off right after school!

we got to meet sweet lillian grace tis later that night. she was born at 6:42p.m., weighed 8 lbs 8 oz (whoa - baby! - nearly a lb bigger than kennedie was!) and was 20 3/4 inches long (but almost and inch shorter - if you don't happen to know - matt & tina are both taller than tommy & i, you can see how surprising that was to me!) she is absolutely perfect & a very quiet, content & hungry :) baby girl! kennedie was so excited to hold her - but only did so the one time. she was quick, however, to run over and offer hugs & even her 'white one' to baby lily when she was sad. she's going to be a terrific big cousin :)

 we visited little miss lillian & her mommy & daddy many times over the next couple days. back & forth from their house to the hospital, with a little shopping in between of course - was a lot for kennedie (a hospital room isn't exactly the best place for play time!) but kennedie did very well - she played pretend kitchen/house in the sink area of the room & was pleased to watch some of her movies when everyone was chatting. we even worked in a trip a nearby park - which was really cool & she loved all the new types of fun play things!

baby lillian, her mommy & her daddy are now at home adjusting to life as a family of 4 (they have a dog, benson). we can't wait to go and visit them all again soon! 

happy halloween

halloween for us began the weekend before. kennedie & i headed out to trick-or-treat street with calvin & amanda. kennedie was SUPER excited to pirate-up, get out her pink jack-o-lantern & 'knock on doors' asking for candy. she had a great time & we (amanda, calvin & i) could hardly keep up!

 

fast forward to halloween morning...mommy made ghost pancakes for her sleepy girl! since grandma has been here, kennedie hasn't been going to daycare, so she's been able to sleep in. however, since i didn't want to miss her hallween party with her friends at school, so i sent her for the morning. she was impressed with her spooky breakfast & had fun with all of her friends at school & their halloween parade down the street. (- note still my happy girl!!)

next up on the halloween docket was mommy's halloween party with her kindergarteners. kennedie got to have a micro nap between her parties & was again a happy girl. she behaved just like a kindergartner (hehe) and sat patiently while she wanted for the parade to start. she & mommy got to be the leaders of the parade & she thought that was pretty special too.

 

kennedie & grandma headed home while mommy cleaned up her room, hoping that her little girl would sleep a bit more before the main event! well, mommy got her wish, kennedie took about an hour nap, but apparently that wasn't enough! when she woke up, mommy's sweet, happy, halloween girl had turned into a grumasaurous. not only did she refuse to put on her costume, she decided that she didn't even want to be a pirate anymore - she wanted to be a spider. so...in order to try & improve her mood & move things along, mommy dressed her little spider all in black, stuffed some of daddy's socks with newspapers & tucked 2 in her pants & pinned two to her shirt - waalaa - spider!

she looks happy enough - but come to find out, she didn't like being a spider either (at this point time was ticking, we were supposed to be meeting daddy in eagle to trick-or-treat). kennedie came to the conclusion that she wanted to be a witch - so, snag a hat from a pumpkin, put on a matching skirt (lucky we had a purple one) & grab a broken broom handle & add some newspaper to the bottom = tada, the cutest witch in the west!!

by this time, mommy had let go of her idea that in our halloween family picture we would all be dressed as pirates - i just wanted to get the damn picture! don't be fooled by the pictures - this whole evening was not as smiley as it looks like it was!) however, i was checking facebook & saw that addison & christopher (our friends amy & chris' kids) were also pirates. kennedie saw the picture & said and i quote ' i wish i could be a pirate' are you kidding me????? that was my response to my daughter by the way. so - what's a mom (who obviously is a sucker) to do - change her daughter into her 3rd, but original, costume of the night & push her out the door!!  

so, in the end, i got my family picture & once out & about, kennedie's halloween spirit was renewed & she trick-or-treated until way past her bedtime! her bucket was so full, she could barely carry it. we met up with some of the girls from tommy's school (the reason we were going to eagle to trick-or-treat is b/c his girls team & their parents wanted to see kennedie) & kennedie loved being part of their group. the phrase she repeated the most that night was 'let's go to the next house!' she catches on quick!