Jumping Jack

Recovering from Christmas.  Can't. Form. Complete. Sentences.  Enjoy.

Christmas Parade

I am (or was) a band Geek.  I did color guard growing up for a Marching Band that was pretty dang good (even though our football team was atrocious).  I grew up going to parades as well as freezing my butt off marching in them.  For that reason, I feel it is important to take my children to them as well.  So they can get as much enjoyment out of them as possible :)

Kelsey spent a decent amount of time in her daddy's lap.  I had her cute little baby sized Santa hat to wear, but unfortunately it was just too dang hot for her to wear it...  It was in the 70s!

We did a good job of planning, and got there early to get good seats.  I brought muffins, milk, and yogurt, and we ate breakfast while we waited for it to start.

The first people brought little flags and candy canes for the kids.  And man, did they they think it was awesome!

I am wearing my softball shirt.  I know, not particularly holiday-ish, but it was the best I could do for a short sleeve Christmas shirt.

The first thing in the parade was a band from the base.  It was nice to see the uniform again.

Followed closely by this hulker.  For hubby, who worked around them, it was no big deal, but the kids and I thought it was pretty awesome :)

Enter my favorite part of the parade.  The Marching Band!  And who doesn't love the drum line?  I mean, really!  Who can't help but smile when the base drum rebounds in your chest!

There were some cool old cars...

And the Shriners made an appearance.

The parade ended with an appearance by the fat man himself!

We started to pack up and get things ready to go when hubby said, "Wait." (Which was pretty impressive for him, since at the time he was suffering from laryngitis)  I don't know how he knew they were coming.  Perhaps in his extreme love for the beasts he has formed some sort of kinship with them, but sure enough, several yards after Santa, the horses made an appearance.

Finally, a reason for hubby to come to a parade!

Our Tree + Year Round Up

Growing up, my family would go to a local Christmas tree farm and pick out our own Christmas tree.  We would run and hide and laugh and watch as dad cut down our own tree.  We have mostly adopted that tradition in our family too.  The problem is that our local Christmas tree farm has closed down :(  I am sad.  And if all I am going to do is look through the twenty trees already cut down and waiting to be picked for the next 30 years of my life, I may have to invest in a good fake Christmas tree...  Something to think about.  Aaaaaaanywho!  The children did a fabulous job decorating our own tree with ornaments and memories of years past.  Then I asked them to stand in front of the tree to take a picture.

And while Kelsey did a fabulous job smiling for each one, I had a hard time getting the rest of them posed.  Also in this picture, you can see how we raised the tree several inches by judicious use of cinderblocks.  Every house needs a good coupla cinderblocks ;)

Dylan's version of a smile....  Oy.

So close!  Thank heavens for digital cameras!

 

The Smith family has had a pretty good year! 

 

 Kari started 2nd grade and is doing remarkably well.  She loves science and math and reads all the time.  She is still always willing to do a craft, and is very excited to get baptized at the end of the month.  Kari played an organized sport for the first time this year, and loved it!  She is very into being active and Ninjago.  Kari also went to visit the Shriner hospital again this year, where they praised her burns.  For now, she is doing so well, she has been cleared, and we don't have to go back until she starts to exhibit problems.

 

Kaitlyn went into Kindergarten.  While I was a bit nervous about her separation anxiety and/or her lack of the ability to be quiet, she seems to be doing well.  She loves her teacher dearly, and can read several words as well. Her imagination continues to flourish as she gets to cut and glue at school as well as color pictures every day.  Her fashion sense continues to boggle my mind, but, eh...  That must be her artistic side.  And with her dramatic side, it isn't worth the sobbing of making her change clothes.

 

Dylan has spent all year at home with Mommy.  He has changed so much from the little toddler to the little man that he is.  His independent stage continues to drive me crazy as everything takes 8 times longer when he does it "myself".  He is working a bit on his letters and continues to love everything on wheels.  He finished potty training this year and is super excited to move up into Primary and out of the nursery next year.

 

Little Kesley joined our family in February, and we have all been smitten ever since.  She is growing right on schedule, except for moving to her bedroom (due to construction).  However, she has spent 3 whole nights there now, and mommy hasn't died, so I suppose we will all survive.  She continues to be loved by everyone who sees her.  Including a special friend at church, who takes her almost every Sunday.  So much so, that new members are slightly confused when I take her to nurse  :)

 

Daddy got his own job site this year, and is doing a fabulous job of keeping thngis on track, despite many obstacles in his path.  He doesn't love the travelling, but he does love being all knowledgeable and in charge.  Mommy keeps busy dividing her time between the ankle biters and rugrats at home and her calling in church as Primary President.  Thankfully, I have counsellors whom I love and adore, so things continue to run mostly smoothly.  

Merry Christmas from our Family to yours, and may your New Year be filled with Love and Laughter!

Pa's Tree

Those pictures of the family walking were for us to go and pick out Pa's Christmas Tree.

The kids kind of love to have 2 trees to decorate.  And they love having something else to do with all the cousin's too.

I had to take a picture of Karley's decorating...  She hung every one of her ornaments on the same branch ;)

The Dyl man still loves him some beads!

Then the kids got to go outside and stand by the bonfire.  It was super fun for them, and only slightly nerve wracking for me, watching them run right up to it and then stop.

The joys of being a mother.....

Cute Yellow Outfit

Everything Kelsey does is cute.  Well, most of the time....

Sometimes it is even cute enough to break out the camera!

She makes my favorite sound in this video.  I try several times to get her to do it (I can't even begin to phonetically sound it out), and she finally does after about the first half.  

I also love her wiggly little feet.  There is just something about this little one that makes my heart melt.

4 & 6 Months

For Kelsey's 4 month pictures, I just bought that deal with lots of pictures for a low price.  It also only gives you one pose.  Oh well.  If I remember correctly (since it was almost 6 months ago) she wasn't exactly in a photogenic mood anyway, so no loss for me.  :)

Here is Kelsey at 4 months.  At 4 months she weighed 13 lbs 15 oz (which put her just under 50%) and was 23.875 in tall (which put her just over 50%). 

(Yes, she did seem to have a clogged tear duct for this picture.  I dunno)

2 months later she was a bit more interactive. 

Huh?

Like I said: More interactive.  With Mommy.  Off camera.

She was still quite darling!

Even when she fusses!

At 6 months she weighed 15 lb 13 oz (right around 50%) and 25.8 in (again, at 50%).

I wish I could tell you all the things she was doing at those times, but I kinda already did.  So, just go back approximately 4 months, and you can read all about it :) 

Glad we had this talk.

Deer

We have finished our supply of venison from the freezer, so it was time for hubby to shoot another one.  While he took the girls with him on previous occasions, Taylor happened to be with him when he spotted this one.

 While I just wanted the meat, Kari specifically asked for one with horns.  Last time (and this time) the butchering didn't bother her.  Except when they got to the removal of the horns.  This was her face.

 It was a great family affair.  A good time was had by all.

Except maybe the deer.... :)

Leaves

Remember how I said one of the best things about Pa's is going outside?  Still true.  One of the other fabulous things is my visiting SIL, who shares her really awesome camera with me.  It has a lens you can focus by hand and it makes an actual clicking sound, instead of just a digital beep.  It made me feel like a professional.  I just need to save all of my money from now until forever to be able to afford it.  Boo :p  

 

One of the cool features of her camera is this action setting.  You can take lots of photos in a row.  Observe: 

 

Love the one where both feet are in the air :)

And I kinda love this one of my boy.  He looks so handsome, don't he? :)

Outside

One of the great things about going to Pa's house is the outdoors.  Especially right now, the weather is nice enough that the kids can play outside for hours!  Which is easy to do with cousins to play with and a swing set at hand!

 There is also lots of walking involved.  Notice the orange.  Its deer season, man, you don't want to get shot!  We went looking for a Christmas tree.

 Cousins waiting to take the tree back.

 Kari felt very special that she got to help cut down the tree.

 More cousins waiting.

 Once we dragged the tree back, it was time to decorate it.  This was Dylan's worried face because he didn't want anyone else to take his ornaments.

 This was his wink face.  He has just learned how to wink, and I am so happy I caught it on camera!