The presents

I have a 5 year old!!! Kari is such a sweet fun girl! She amazes me how fast she is growing and how smart she is. One day, I hope she is/marries a millionaire, so she can take care of me in my old age. As of now, however, I guess I should be thankful she is only turning 5. She is my New Years Eve Baby, and will only ever have super fun parties for the rest of her life :) This year, being that we were at Pa's house, we had a fun birthday with the fam (with fireworks provided by uncle Greg). I got out of throwing her a birthday party because she consented to counting the fact that she had multiple guests there as her "party". Following are pictures of the loverly presents she got :)

Opening the first present from Donnie and Catherine.

So nice and cozy.
The annual car and clip (the kind that holds a balloon down). I don't really know how this got started, but, one day she noticed she had a clip the same color as her hot wheels cars and has started a "collection". Last year (in addition to her red, blue, and yellow ones) she got an orange car and clip. This year it was green. Next year it is purple. Yeah. Trust me. She has this planned out until she is 10. My only hope is that she looses interest before then, because I am not sure they make brown or black clips... :/

A flashlight!!! Besides the car and clip, this is the only thing she asked for.

Note the excitement please :)

Kaitlyn being a good sport and watching. Needless to say, she has been asking me

everyday now if it is her birthday. Aaaaaaaand it starts :)

It's a shame hubby has funky, uncorrectable, red eyes in

both of these pictures. They are so cute!

Aunt Stacy got her a jewelry box. She wasn't really sure what it was at this point, but she has since moved it to the place of honor on her dresser and placed all her most valuable plastic necklaces in it... The fake plastic ones go in the dress up box ;)

Ooooooh, thats what it is. Nooooow I get it :)

She calls the Aqua Doodle a Doodle Doodle. :) Love that she can refill the water pen by herself, and that messes are kept to a minimum (notice I didn't say they didn't exist...) Also, I know the light kinda washes her out in this picture, but I think it makes her eyes look lovely :)

And lets not forget Elefun... Noooo. We mustn't forget Elefun.

We have already had several disagreements over who gets which

net, or which butterfly. Needless to say, she has used it alot :)

She got a makeup kit also. I am super thrilled about this one. {Wink, Wink}

This is the following day. Make up applied by the one and only makeup artist, Kari! Hubby says she looks like a two bit h.... er, fabulous little blushing child :)

And this present. This present we almost forgot to give to her, because we didn't wrap it and left it on the porch. Hence the reason she is in her pjs already. A scooter!!!

A little unsure of herself. We gotta work on the balance thing.

She even consented to let Kaitlyn ride it. I am such a good helper :)

Next post will be for the cake. I had so many pictures, I thought it needed its own post :)

Let me telled you a story

As we were waiting for Kaitlyn to finish dinner, so we could all have a treat at the same time, Kari decided to tell a story to help the time pass more quickly. It went somewhere along these lines:

Once there was a little boy. And he was an orthan. (A what? says mommy.) An ORRRR THAAAN. (As in Duh, mommy!) And his mommy and daddy were dead and his little sister hadn't been borned yet. (Well, that should be interesting). And his first name was like mine, Kari. But his middle name was different. It was Crayon. And his last name was like mine too. Kari Crayon Smith. And someone came up to him and his name was Star. And Star said, are you an orthan Kari Crayon Smith? And Kari Crayon Smith said yes. My mommy and daddy are dead, and my little sister isn't borned yet. And Star said she would take care of him and feed him. The End.

Avatar

Hubby and I went to see Avatar over the Christmas break. It is true, I was mostly going to make hubby happy, and to sit next to him. But, how often would I have a free babysitter with whom I trust so much? However, I was pleasantly surprised. True, there is a bit of a tree hugger theme to it, but it wasn't so much the main point. It was just part of the story. And, lest I ruin it for anyone, it actually did have a happy ending. We are even thinking about going back and seeing it in 3d (we didn't thanks to a certain sister in law, who I love dearly, but who gets motion sick in 3d movies...) So, would I recommend it? Yes, I think so :)

Christmas

In hubby's family it is tradition to open gifts from the family on Christmas Eve, and open presents from Santa on Christmas Day. We, it seems, have adopted this tradition, since we have spent the last 3 Christmas's at Pa's house with Hubby's family.

The girls "helping" hand out the presents.

Dylan was supposed to be asleep. I had already put him down, but he decided he wanted to be in the company of wrapping paper, and super excitable screeching girls. After several minutes of crying, mommy finally acquiesced. Who am I to tell him no?

The most excited couple in the room :)

Pop and Karley.

Daddy opening Kari's special gift for him. She picked it out, and customized it especially for him. It was in her personal custody until he opened it. Cute kid :)

Dylan's Santa Haul.

Kaitlyn's haul Kari's haul

You will have to forgive the face. Kari work her up, and good ol' Kaitlyn is always willing to follow her big sister. I just don't think she was awake yet :)

When we were growing up, Santa always brought us an assortment of candy wrapped in tin foil. I think it was mostly as a stocking filler, but this year we picked up on the tradition as well. Kari isn't quite sure what it is yet.

Kari was super excited about her toothbrush.

This is Karley's first Christmas morning, and she slept through most of it :)

See, I told you it was early. It is still dark outside. Dylan got a chewable monkey.

What more could a drooling, teething child want?

Cute, sleepy smile.

An orange!!! An Apple!!! Yeah!

Who, me?!?!

Kaitlyn got one of a pair of walkie talkies... Too bad she is using it as a phone :p

Panties!!!

Kari is a bit more laid back about it.

Snow White.

"Just what I always wanted. A car with a mote control."

Note the beads. Kaitlyn is a sucker for jewelry.

Love this cute picture.

Dylan playing with his train.

And chewing on the raw hides Santa brought for the dogs.

Hey, they are good for dental hygiene, right?!?

Look! Dylan likes the panties too :)

A great action shot of fencing with the doggy treats.

Kaitlyn got some belts to help hold her pants up over her non-existent bum...

I will let you know if they work.

View from the back with all 3. Check out those curls :)

There it is. Merry Christmas!!! Late? What?!?! No... Just early for next year ;)

Pa's House

I know I promised Christmas posts, and New Years Posts, and Birthday Posts. But to be honest, right now, I just don't have the energy to put together one of those. So, here is a picture dump :) We had a lot of fun down at Pa's with all the family.

Kaitlyn with some of her Christmas jewelry.

Someone (I honestly don't know) on the go cart.

Hubby on the go cart. See? He still fits :)
Nana got some good cuddle time with the Dyl man.

Those puppies. Those poor puppies. Kari and her cousin, Ashley, would not

leave them alone. I am surprised they still know how to walk after our visit,

since the girls would carry them everywhere. However, at times it was cute.

And it just reinforced my decision to not get a dog that sheds.

Poor girl. We wore her out. Taking a nap on Daddy. Love the big collar on the sweater.

Dog Pile on Taylor!

(No, I don't know what Kaitlyn is doing...)

Pa and Dylan.

The girls taking naps and holding hands. Too cute.

And the house didn't even float away while we were gone. I will do my best to update some more, but it seems like my life is so busy right now. I don't know how the time is being filled, but I don't seem to have alot of it.

I'll be back :)