Christmas Part 1

So to start off our week of Christmas fun with family we did Grahmcraker houses with Whitney, Teagan, and Paige. This is Kenna creation. The suckers were trees and she made little bushes with the jelly beans. It was completely eaten by the end of the day. We also made some cookies at Grandma Murray's house. Whitney came with us, because her and Kenna could not be separated for the first week. When we finally did separate them it was traumatic for both parities. Even though the cookies didn't turn out, the picture made it look so easy, the kids had fun making them. They had no idea that the cookies we gave them later were not the ones we had tried to make. At Grandma's house you can basically have what you want. Even if it is banana cream pie for breakfast, fudge for lunch. You name it, it has been given. Even Little Bryn had learned the power of a smile given to Grandma or Grandpa. Grandpa arranged for Santa to come by their house on the 22nd. It was so cute the girls were eating dinner and jumped and ran when the door opened and they heard him. He had brought a box of candy canes and helped them put them on the tree. He stayed for about 20 minutes talking to them and playing with them. It sure made their day. It has been snowing like crazy! Kenna is calling it "real snow" not sure what she means by that. She has spent tones of time out in the yard playing with the snow. She made tons of snow angels (they sort of resembled a snow blob). In her new Christmas pajamas. We let her open this gift after she made cookies for Santa and mixed up some sprite and eggnog for him. She has told everyone that Santa came and ate the cookies and drank the eggnog, that is proof enough to her that he is real!

Over to Jersey Across the country

To Grandma's house we came! We got to Idaho yesterday evening. Monday and Tuesday seems to have blended together. We went Monday night to Newark, NJ and stayed in a hotel, then caught a flight Tuesday morning (7am) and arrived in SLC at 10:30. My mom and dad were there to pick us up. Kenna could hardly contain herself going down the escalator. As soon as she saw them she started to dance a little. We then stopped by my Grandpa's and visited with him and then hit the road to beat a storm to I.F. The girls were fabulous little travelers. Kenna did her "I am so excited" puke when we first got on the plane (Brad caught that instead of the bag) and when we landed (bag caught that one). Other than that the travels were uneventful and for that we are thankful. Since arriving in Idaho Kenna had played her little heart out with Paige and Whitney. She is in complete heaven. Bryn is being spoiled by Grandpas and Grandmas. She is unsure of exactly who they are, but has learned that a smile to one of the above mentioned has more power than anything else on earth. She is such a good baby, even with an ear infection she is a happy camper. We (by we I mean Brad) left our camera card at home, but brought the camera, oops! I will try to figure out how to post video. Hope you are all well wherever you are for the holidays.

Sunday Happenings

Brad is done with his 1 semester of 2nd year. No sooner had he finished his last final than he was struck with the dreaded gumboo. He has been coughing sneezing and sounding horrible since. Better be sick now instead of during Christmas. He was a dream and all though he was sick he still got up and went with Kenna and I on Saturday to the church to help put together some Christmas baskets for some of the ward members. After putting some together we went and delivered about 8 of them. Kenna had a good time putting fruit, baked goods, some toys, hats and mittens etc. into the baskets. Her favorite was picking out a Christmas decoration to go into the baskets, she liked the snow globes so that is what she put in every ones. Today we had our ward Christmas program, still sick, Brad got up and sat in the meeting with the girls while I sang with the choir. At one point during the program the young men and women had to come up to sing, Brad being in the YM's left Bryn with a lady sitting behind us and told Kenna not to move. (She listens so well to him, if I had told her not to move she would have moved). In the middle of the song we hear Kenna start screaming "THAT IS MINE DON'T TAKE IT! GIVE IT BACK! IT'S MINE IT'S MINE IT'S MINE (IT'S MINE repeated until Brad is done with song and returns to seat).Even with the threat of a toy taken away she still didn't move! A random boy had wondered over to the bench and tried to take her Snap and Style doll away. When Brad told the kid to back to his mom he just wondered to the next bench and tried the same trick. Unfortunately for him it was a family with 4 kids and you mess with one you mess with all. Defeated he wondered out of the chapel. We still don't know who he is or were he came from? I am now finishing up laundry and picking up the house so we can pack and head to Idaho for Christmas. Kenna is very excited to see her Grandpa and My Grandpa Norby who she refers to as her GREATEST Grandpa instead of Great Grandpa. Off to the wonderful world of laundry. Just for posing the question Do you like laundry? How about mating socks? Post answer in comment section.

Sing Sweet Nightingale

Yesterday afternoon I heard Kenna singing upstairs in her room. She was singing the song that Cinderella sings as she cleans the floors. Since Kenna was to be napping I thought I would wait for her to finish her beautiful rendition and then calmly remind her to GO TO SLEEP. As I began to walk up the stairs I head water sloshing around. Visions of a flood upstairs came to my mind and I began to walk with more purpose. When I walked into her room I tried really hard not to laugh. She had put her apron on top of her head and another around her waist. She had taken the lid off the humidifier, put the humidifier on the ground, got a pair of underwear to use as a rag, and was getting her "rag" wet and then cleaning the floors with the water. When she say me she said, "Mom, I am being Cinderella." After I had the mess cleaned up and Kenna had been told sternly not to play with humidifiers and the water within, I went to my room and laughed. I never thought to take a picture of her!

Putting Up the Tree

I wasn't going to put our tree up this year because we are going out of town for the holidays and I thought it would be pointless to put it up and not enjoy it. Kenna however asked about it so we put it up. She had so much fun helping me with the lights and putting the decorations on the tree. I let her choose this year, she chose to only put out family ornaments and red and silver balls up. Each year we get a family ornament and then an ornament for the kids so when they are grown they will have 20 + ornaments to take when they go out on their own. Kenna has had so much fun that she has taken the ornaments off and placed them back on numerous times. Our tree looks different today than it did yesterday or this morning even. Yesterday I came downstairs and she was on a chair hanging all of her bracelets and necklaces on the tree. I think they make good ornaments.

Even Bryn found the tree intriguing and did her caterpillar crawl over to the tree. The crawl goes like this: lay flat on ground, pull self up on all fours, push legs and slide arms down so that you are laying flat again. I am sure that shortly she will be doing the real thing. We have enjoyed having the tree up and I am glad Kenna talked me into it.

Oh yeah, Bryn can sit up know by herself and she has one tooth. She is so cute. Kenna looks drugged in her picture because she is, she had a bad cough so I gave her some cough medicine she fell asleep moments after this picture was taken.

First Snow

We had our first snow on Wednesday. It started snowing on our way home from preschool. Kenna wanted me to take a picture of her in the snow and the snow on her tongue. Due to the delay the camera has the snow had melted by the time the flash went off, but she looked cute with her tongue sticking out of her mouth anyway. It snowed the rest of the day.

Later that evening she wanted to put her snow boots on and go out and make "tractors" in the snow. So we shoved her boots on (they are the ones from last year and don't fit anymore) and she went out to make tracks in the snow. She had a ball walking around the front yard and then looking behind her to see the tracks she had made. All of the snow has melted now so she looking forward to playing in Grandpa's yard in the snow. Hopefully they will have some snow in Idaho when we come.

MOM I FORGOT!

I absolutely love this kid. She makes me laugh 20 times minimum in a day. Yesterday on her way to Preschool she screamed, when I asked what was wrong she said "I forgot to tell Santa something! Mom we have to go back I have to tell him so he won't forget!" What did you forget was my reply. "That I want a Island Princess Barbie says Hello". Now for those of you that are as confused as I was at to what in the world an "Island Princess Barbie says Hello" is this is it.

It is nothing amazing you can do her hair and when you push on the flower it sings a little song. In the song there are lyrics that are something to the effect of a Bird saying Hello. Hence she thinks that this overpriced, over advertised toy is called "Island Barbie Princess says Hello". She has never seen the movie and only knows about these Barbie products because they are plastered everywhere. Now keep in mind I have had her Christmas bought since October. So I called my mom (who is storing all of her Christmas stuff) and told her to take back a few of the things I had gotten her that I am sure she would enjoy but she has just asked specifically for THIS item. I had found it at Target for $20 cheaper than at Toys are us (yes that is right $20 dollars cheaper means it is a pricey one) and she went by and picked it up for me so that we can ensure that this item that has caused this 3yr old such distress about not getting was received on Christmas morning.

Family Pictures

Okay since the only family picture Brad and I have of our family hanging up is from December 2005,and Kenna is bald we decided maybe we should update. Last Saturday we went to JC Penney. They turned out rather cute. I had set the appointment for 10:40 am for 2 reasons 1)it was the first one they had open in the morning (they open at 9:30 how bad could it be that early in their day) 2) at 10:40 everyone is happy, with full bellies, and fresh up from a nap. An hour and a half later we were taken back for our pictures at 12:10. At 12:10 things are a little different, children are hungry, tired, and a smidgen on the crabby side of things. The girls were good for the 20 min it took for our photos to be taken and then they all fell apart. Kenna was bribed with a visit to Santa and so her mood changed to pleasant again and we were able to get some cute ones of her. Bryn however can not be bribed and we only got an okay one of them together. Just when I think they can't get any cuter, I look them and sure enough they have gotten cuter!

Isn't she the cutest 5 month old! She smiles even when tired. The bow was made be my friend Kim who is amazingly talented. She is selling them if you look at this site http://kimshairbows.blogspot.com/ you can see some of what she has done as well as prices and order some. They are fabulous! Here is one of Brad and I just so we have one.

Okay so here is when Bryn became over it! Her smile wasn't her whole hearted smile as usual. Kenna has one of Kim's bows in her hair as well. See how nice they match her dress!

Isn't this kid a cutie! She is a blast! I can never get her to pose for my camera, she just does it at a studio. I can't get enough of those curls!

Elves

This is funny go to the sites below to see my family as elves and Kenna, Bryn, Whhitney, and Ryan being elves. So funny! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1160195432 http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1159955127

I got this from My friend Rivka's blog who got it from her friend Becca's blog. It is rather fun to see what flavor Ice cream your personality is.

7 Years!

Brad and I celebrated out 7Th anniversary a few days early on Friday. The Clayton's watched the girls for us so we could go to dinner and a show. We rode the train downtown to Maggianos (we literally walked off the train out the terminal door and into Maggianos) had a wonderful dinner. After dinner we walked the few blocks to the Avenue of the Arts and went to the Academy of Music to see The Drowsy Chaperone. We have never laughed so hard is was absolutely hilarious. It is a show within a show. So here it is a die-hard musical fan plays his favorite cast album, a 1928 smash hit called "The Drowsy Chaperone," on a record player and the show magically bursts to life in his living room. It is a tale of a celebrity bride and her groom on their wedding day. The die hard music fan walks you through the show tells you about the 1928 stars and is really what makes the show. It is only a 1hr 50 minute show. It is worth going to if you get the chance. In fact it is on tour right now and for those of you who are a hop, skip, and a jump away from Salt Lake City it will be there June 24th to the 29th 2008 at the Capitol Theater. We had a good time and enjoyed being together, we are looking forward to the next 7 years.

What Loops were really made for

Some may argue that Loops were designed to help medical personnel see in better detail the the things in which they are performing procedures on. As you can see they were clearly made for cutting your preschoolers fingernails. I feel this could be a new marketing strategy for them. In fact when I came downstairs with a mound of laundry I saw this laughed and then immediately had an entire Saturday Morning Infomercial come to mind. It went a little something like this; Tired of accidentally cutting your infants skin while cutting her fingernails? Or listening to your toddler whine about their fingers hurting because you have once again cut those minuscule fingernails too short? Those days could now be over simply call 1-800-LOO-PS4U and with 4 easy payments of $19.95 (plus shipping and handling) you can own a pair of Loops just like the ones you see Doctors wear on T.V. if you have seen a doctor wear them during your surgical procedures you should call Binder and Binder now to file your injury claim!

Bryn

Bryn is such a good baby. She plays well by herself, isn't needed or fussy. She is 5 months old now and is so fun. Here are some of her favorite things to do. Play in her exersaucer. Have her sister hold her. She is completely in love with Kenna. They do a lot of snuggling on the couch. Kenna is soft and gentle with her. If Bryn starts to fuss she will go running to her saying "It's okay Bryn I am here". I love it. She is a rice cereal fan. And is so cute sitting up at her highchair. It is a good thing she make noise every once in a while or I would forget about her!

Mail from Grandma!

Kenna was so excited Monday to have the "brown truck" (aka UPS) bring her something from her Grandma. Every time she sees a UPS truck she asks if Grandma has sent her a special package. To make it more exciting I told her it was for her birthday. Being two days past her birthday she was thrilled that it was a "birthday day again". I had some cake leftover and we sang to her again. She is so funny. I am going to take this time to excuse myself from any responsibility on how the child is dressed she insisted on doing it herself! here are some cute photos of her opening her package from Grandma (Norby).

She was so excited to get the CD player and the Primary songs on CD. She also got some lip gloss and two cards one from Grandma and one from Great Grandma Wade with some money in it. She called the cards "messages". She looked so cute listening to "her songs". She spent a good 20 minutes on the couch listening. This is going to be great for the plane ride. Thanks Mom.

Kenna's Birthday!

I can't believe our little Kenna is 3 years old already! Time goes by so fast! She has been so excited all month for her birthday. Friday night we took her out for a birthday dinner, she chose pizza. We tried a place called Bertucci's Brick Oven Pizzeria. It was the best pizza we have ever had! Because it was her birthday they gave her free ice cream and put a candle in it, we sang to her and let her blow the candle out. It made her day. She wanted Brad to take her shopping for a "beautiful dress" so her and Brad went to Target and she chose a dress with black velvet top with pink (of course) satin with a chiffon overlay for the bottom. Brad tried and tried to get her to like a black and gold one that had a matching one for Bryn but it was not happening. She told us she wouldn't wear it, only the pink one. So the pink one she got.

Aunt Jena sent a card in the mail with some money she had a blast walking around the toy isles trying to pick something out. Every corner we went around she would say "I found something Dad!'' only to go around another corner to have found yet another something. She narrowed her decision down to a game. After debating over Chutes and Ladders, Memory, or Hungry Hippos for a good 5 minutes, she finally decided on Memory. She is rather good at the game, we need to work on only turning 2 pieces over each turn.

On Saturday (her actual birthday) she had some friends over for a party. Kids parties are so easy to do, a little craft, a simple game, food, play with presents. It went very well, Kenna chose a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme. So we decorated mouse ears that I painstakingly cut out the night before. They played pin the bow on Daisy, ate a preschoolers dream lunch of dinonuggets and fries with juice.She has a good bunch of friends that all come from good families that are teaching them well. I was so impressed when we sat down to eat lunch I suggested that we say a blessing on our food. Then ten 3 year old sitting at my table all folded their arms, bowed their little noggins, and closed their eyes. That was the only quiet time during the party.

Brad made an amazing Micky Mouse cake. She opened her presents they played and had cake and ice cream. Brad and I got her a bike with a helmet and knee pads to go with it. I was excited to give this to her, I bought it back in April and it had been sitting in our garage. We also got her a Rainbow Dash newborn (My little Pony), and a fisher price doctor kit that she had been asking for. Another thing I love at this age is the inability to keep a secrete, each friend when they handed her a gift told her what it was they all were just as excited as she was as you can see in the photo below. So cute.

Later that evening the door bell rang and some flowers from her Grandma and Grandpa Murray arrived with a balloon attached. She was in heaven. We then let her open the presents Grandma Murray had sent. She had a very big day and felt special. As I was putting her to bed she told me that Birthdays are my favorite and best days. Thank you to everyone for calling and sending cards.