Christmas, part 1

It has been a busy and fun month. Highlights include:

*going to Lilliput with friends Heather and Todd. I think it had been a year since we have been there. I used to have to do everything with Karla there (play right next to her or help her up the steps or rockwall) but this time I don't think she really even cared that I was there. It is nice to see her grow and learn to do things on her own.

*we went to Fun Fore All with her friend Eliana. I had taken Karla there once about 1 1/2 years ago and she didn't remember it. I had to climb all around with her that first time too. This time I had to go in with her at first but then she was fine and she and Eliana ran and climbed and ran and climbed for a very long time! I love watching Karla play and interact with other kids. Karla has already talked about going back and Eliana's mom told me that Eliana has said the same thing. The only bad thing was that Karla had her first "asthma attack" from running and playing there. I ALWAYS have her emergency inhaler with us but haven't had to use it many times. I was glad to have it that day! Usually her attacks happen suddenly but usually they are when she has some congestion. She was recovering from a cold so that is probably why she had the attack. I had to make her sit down for a while. I thought she would get mad (in which case I would have just brought her home so she could calm down and not have as much temptation to run) but she listened and sat down for a while. She even told Eliana "I have asthma so I have to have a breathing treatment and sit for a few minutes." The way she said "I have asthma" made it sound like she was proud of it. I guess it is good she has a positive attitude about it! :) I felt sad I had to make her stop playing because of asthma but it didn't bother her! We didn't stay much longer. It was great day overall. I enjoyed talking to Eliana's mom and not crawling around in the play equipment...not sure my wrist could have done that anyway.

*Karla made her first gingerbread house with Grammy and Pap-Pap. Jason and I went shopping one Saturday and came home to a gingerbread house and a craft ornament Karla made. They were busy while we were gone!

*My sister Brenda came to visit with her husband Russ and their baby Kiera! I felt like this was one of the first times Karla didn't get jealous when I was holding another child for extending periods of time. She did start acting like a baby more often - laying on the floor and wiggling her arms and legs. She has also taken an interest in a babydoll that she has since Kiera's visit. Karla has never really played with baby dolls. Just Oso.

*Karla's dance class had a little performance to "Up on the Housetop". It was cute. I love watching her and her little classmates dance!

*We went to see Santa. Karla was all excited about it. We stood outside in the cold for almost an hour waiting to see him. We entered the one room "house" when it was our turn to see him and sit on his lap. She would barely go all the way in the door. She saw him and decided she wasn't so sure that talking to him, being close to him, or sitting on his lap was a good idea. She did finally tell him what she wanted - a Pocahontas Barbie - but that was it. Jason and I were pretty much in shock and weren't sure what to do. After freezing for almost an hour and then finally getting in to see him...she wanted no part of it! So, our turn was quick. I am sure the people in line behind us were happy. It'll be a funny memory....when my toes finally thaw out.

*We've had lots of family time. Karla got to spend an afternoon with her Tio Kevin. We spent the night at grandma and grandpa's twice in less than 2 weeks. We went to see Aunt Kim, Uncle Larry, and cousins Kelsie and Taylor tonight.


...no wonder I'm tired. :)

Merry Christmas!!

We've had a busy past few weeks. I hope to blog about them soon. To hold you over, here is a link to lots of pictures of all the fun things we have been up to. Click here.

May you have a blessed Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior!

GREAT-grandparents

This past weekend we went to visit Karla's great-grandparents. We hadn't been to their place in quite a while and Karla had been asking to see them.

Karla got to help them decorate their Christmas tree and get out some Christmas decorations.

She played Old Maid with Mammaw and Peepaw.

And, most importantly, we had a birthday party together. Karla had been concerned about Mammaw and Peepaw not being able to come to her birthday party SO we took some cake and princess decorations with us. We celebrated Karla's birthday as well as Mammaw and Peepaw's. They both have December birthdays. Hopefully they didn't mind princess plates and napkins. :)

I love this picture!!


We had to leave rather abruptly because Karla started having asthma troubles during dinner. Karla cried in the car because we had to leave. It about broke my heart because I'm "all growned up" and I still don't like leaving any of my grandparents!

Karla is getting better. We missed a playgroup Christmas party and her last gym class earlier this week. We did make it to dance yesterday and a playdate today.

Being Four

*We had been telling Karla that when she turned four years old she would no longer go to the toddler room during the church service. She would stay with Daddy and me. This was exciting for her since she loves doing things that she thinks are just for "big" kids or "growned ups." So far she has done a great job of sitting still and being quiet. She loves to sing the doxology with the congregation and keeps asking to practice the Lord's Prayer so she can say that with everyone.

After her first church service, we got home and she asked me very seriously, "Why didn't we drink grape juice like blood at church today?" She was very disappointed that she didn't get a drink during the church service. She was talking about communion. We've talked about it a few times at home but I guess she has seen people setting up communion at church to know that we have done it when she was back in the toddler room! It was so funny because she was truly disappointed and I was trying to explain and not crack up at the same time. She is really going to be disappointed when she realizes she won't be taking communion with Daddy and me until she is older! We'll see how the service goes that day.

*Karla had her 4 year old well visit the week after her birthday. She is right on track!

*Another change that has come with being 4 is that Karla doesn't always nap anymore. This change has been happening for a while but after her birthday, on some days, I tell her she doesn't have to nap, just stay in her room until a timer goes off so she can have some "quiet time." She LOVES not having to take a nap and happily stays in her room for the allotted time. I'm hoping this lasts. :) The only tricky thing is that she gets tired pretty early in the evenings. That can be a challenge for everyone especially if we have something to do later in the day. The nice thing is she is in bed much earlier and I feel like I can get things done, relax, or spend more time with Jason than when she was staying up later.

*I never really blogged about Thanksgiving. The above picture is Karla proudly showing off her plate of food. She tried new things and ate a lot that day! She seemed to catch on that on Thanksgiving you eat LOTS of food. We had 11 people at our house, including the 3 of us. We've hosted for several years now and I feel like this year was the smoothest/easiest. I felt pretty relaxed the entire day which was nice! It is always nice to spend time with family. That is what I was/am thankful for - FAMILY! The Saturday after Thanksgiving we got together with even more family in Ohio at a restaurant followed by time at my mom and dad's house. That was lots of fun too! I hardly saw Karla all afternoon because she was off playing with her cousins in the basement or in a closet. My parents have a closet in one of the bedrooms that is pretty "interesting" that the girls LOVE to play in. I can't really describe the closet so I'll just have to take a picture sometime. Here is a picture of Karla relaxing on the couch on the Sunday after all of our Thanksgiving fun. She and I both took a long nap that day!

*My little girl isn't feeling well this week. She had asthma troubles on Saturday and Sunday. Thankfully she seems to be getting better and didn't require any extra breathing treatments yesterday. I hate it when she is sick! I feel so bad for her and there isn't much I can do.

Little Pumpkins

I told a few people about the outfit I sent to my niece. Here is a picture of her in her crocheted hat and homemade skirt. I found a onesie to match the skirt. I was so excited to see a picture of her in the outfit! Here she is:

There had to be a shirt change before heading to the pumpkin patch.... :) Here is a picture of Kiera with her Mommy, my sis.

Karla had seen me crocheting the pumpkin hat and another one that I made for a new baby gift. She kept asking me to make her one. Jason told me he thought she was too old for the hat...but I couldn't resist. I know how to adjust the pattern size! :) Did she ever wear the hat outside of our house? No. It was really too warm in October and part of November. Now it is a little late for pumpkins. Unfortunately she will not pose with this hat on... This is the best shot I got. And yes. Oso is wearing a dress in this picture. She realized one of her dolls dresses fits him/her! Sometimes Oso is a girl, sometimes a boy. Recently Oso is usually a girl, especially when wearing a dress.

Birthday Party

I love this picture from Karla's birthday party (which was two weeks ago already)! Mammy took it right after everybody sang "Happy Birthday" to Karla and she had just made her wish. She wanted to tell me her wish. As soon as she whispered her wish to me, she told everyone loudly, "I wish for cake." Then she blew out the candles. It was pretty cute. She had been talking about how she mostly just wanted cake for her birthday for weeks. There was excitement around blowing out the candles, etc. because then she would get to eat the cake. But, after we cut her a piece, all she wanted to do was play with the princess figures on top of the cake! She sat there for quite a while making the princesses sing and talk...lost in her own little world. I think she may have had 1-2 licks of the frosting - but NO cake! :)

The party outfit:
Most importantly, lets start with accessories.
*Karla got some stick-on earrings for her birthday and wanted to wear two pairs in each ear at her party. At first I thought it was strange she wanted two pairs per ear...until I realized that my ears are double pierced. It was hard to tell her no, she could only have one pair when I was wearing two!
*Karla wore her Jasmine shoes from Halloween. I'm glad we are getting lots of use out of these. They are here favorite shoes and already look well-worn.
*I told Karla I would try to fix her hair like Jasmine's but surprisingly she just wanted "normal" hair.
*Since I made Karla a special Dora outfit for her birthday last year I felt like I had to continue the tradition. I could not find any type of applique with Jasmine on it. So Mammy helped me find and print a picture of Jasmine on fabric paper that can be ironed on to clothes. I should have taken more time in experimenting with the iron-on because it didn't show up as dark as I would have liked. Karla didn't seem to care though. She had this denim jumper in her closet so I decided rather than making something totally new I would dress up the jumper. I found some fun stuff at Jo-Ann's to sew and glue on.

The party guests:
After last year's big party (over 100 people at our church) we decided to do something small. :) We had 20 family members at our house. Two of Karla's great-grandparents came, all 4 of her grandparents, 3 uncles, 1 aunt, 5 cousins, a great-aunt,a great-uncle and the 3 of us made 20!

The gifts:
Karla got many nice gifts! I've enjoyed playing with new things that aren't Barbie related.

The cake:
It was awesome! I think I may have liked it more than Karla!!


The activities:
We all talked and played for a while. Then we ate lots of yummy food and had cake and ice cream. Then Karla opened her gifts. Before the party she had asked if we could play games at her party and I had planned a few...but forgot once the party got going. Luckily, Karla forgot too and hasn't ever mentioned it since her party. It was a really nice and unusually warm day so we were all able to go outside later in the afternoon and play. We also got to watch Karla learn to ride her new bike. I don't think she liked us all watching her try to do something she wasn't confident she could do so she didn't ride for a long time. She's ready to practice with me or Daddy she said when we have another warmer day.

The day went so fast! I think everybody had fun! I know I did.

Noodles

Karla started asking about 2 months ago when we were going to make noodles again. Jason and I have done it for years together for Thanksgiving dinner. Last year Karla did it with us and LOVED it. Finally, yesterday we made noodles for this coming Thursday. She remembered how to do it and was better at using the "crank" this year. I like having this tradition to do as a family now! We all enjoy it...and can't wait to eat them on Thursday.

I will blog about Karla's birthday party eventually. We've (the girls) haven't been feeling well and now we are preparing to host Thanksgiving dinner this week.