Santa Visit

This past weekend we had the big State Farm Santa visit. I really get a kick out of this because I remember doing this as a child with my dad. It has changed a little since then but not much, and I can still remember a couple of the gifts I got. We had debated this year about possibly just picking up the gifts and not going in as Kaylee is not a huge fan of Santa in person. In theory he is her BFF, yes I just typed BFF. Obviously Ainsley wouldn't really know if we went or not. As it got closer we decided we would go ahead and give it a try because it is free.

Kaylee explained to me that if she didn't want to see Santa she didn't have to, but if she changed her mind Daddy said that was fine and she could talk to Santa. If she didn't want to see him he would just throw her a present and she could get her Leapster that way. I explained she was not getting a Leapster at State Farm Santa. I also went in to we should be thankful for any gift, although she was fine with not getting the Leapster I still felt I would forge ahead with my lecture, and many boys and girls don't get presents. To which Kaylee replied "Because they aren't good and didn't make good choices". I then tried to clear that up.

We went on Saturday and she stood in line the whole time and then when it was our turn she opted to stand by Daddy while he took a photo of Ainsley and I. I'm so thrilled that I get to be in all of these Santa photos. Ainsley sat on my lap next to him but wouldn't sit on his lap. After the photos one of the helpers gave them their gifts and to MY SURPRISE Kaylee walked right up to Santa and said "thank you for my present Santa". I was so proud you would have thought she saved someone's life. I am teary eyed now blogging over it. This was such a huge step for her. After Santa we went to Carl's for lunch and home for nap. What an exciting morning! Here are the photos:

Kaylee was more interested in looking at her game then taking the photo.
Try again....I put the game behind my back so we wouldn't have such a distraction.

Snow Day!

Ok so Kaylee might be psychic! Thanksgiving weekend, on Saturday, she was talking about all of these games, that I'm pretty sure she made up, that you can play in the snow. Trying to be encouraging I said "those would be fun we just need some snow", the next morning we woke-up and had....SNOW! I couldn't believe it! Generally I am very in-the-know with the weather as it's part of Brad's job, sometimes I know TOO much about it. I had no idea this was coming. Kaylee was so excited! She immediately wanted to go play in it. We were going to Brad's parents that day, to celebrate his dad's birthday, so I convinced her to at least wait until we got there, thankfully she agreed, because it was able to warm up just a bit.

We got ALL the snow gear on. I have to admit I was waiting for the "I have to go potty" emergency, but much to my surprise there wasn't one. We headed out for some fun. Kaylee really wanted to make a snowman and we proceeded to make one, Abby (the dog), kept eating our snowman. Eventually we made a little one on top of a bush. Kaylee also enjoyed throwing snow at people, and even more so loved being hit by snow. It was a lot of fun! I can't remember the last time I had so much fun in the snow.

Poor Ainsley...as much as loved it she had such a hard time moving around. I remember Kaylee at that age and how hard it was for her. Bless her heart she kept on trying. Eventually she lost a boot and kept losing her mittens so Brad's mom took her in. Below are some photos from our Snow Day...


Attempting to make snow angels. Ainsley wasn't so sure about this!

I had thought of putting this as one of our Christmas card photos (I finally got them all mailed today), but there's a snowflake right in front of Kaylee's eye and it looks like a weird white spot, so it was out.

Kaylee with a snowball ready for a snow fight and again poor Ainsley who just can't seem to get around so well.

One of our many attempts to build a snowman and Ainsley who has lost her mittens, again.

Random

Just thought I would put some random photos and news in one blog. I have enough catching-up to do I am trying to be as efficient as possible! We are well into the Holiday Season and loving it! Needless to say we have been busy. We had a fun Thanksgiving. Although it was a little chilly we were still able to get out a little and even take a 4-wheeler ride, which we all love!

Aside from getting the tree up and all the Christmas decorations we were also able to take Kaylee to her first movie. We went to see Madagascar 2, now she's never seen Madagascar 1, but that's the great thing about these types of movies, it doesn't matter if you have seen both or not. Ainsley stayed with Mee-Maw as I didn't think she was quite ready.

Here she is eating some popcorn and waiting for the movie to start.
I took this picture by putting the camera directly in front of her. It's not the most flattering shot but she is very focused on the big screen!
The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to the Festival of Trees. She heard some of her friends from MCC were going to be there and was set on finding them, as it must have been a plan for everyone to go. Luckily we did find them and spent the majority of our time with them. What an interesting experience....before I know it Kaylee will just want us to drop her at the door. One of the activities was face painting. Here is her as a butterfly.

Ainsley has been busy as usual. Always ready for a dance party. As soon as she hears music she starts dancing. Many times she runs to the dress-up trunk and brings me something to put on her. Two of the more popular choices are her tu-tu, made by Stef who does Frostings, and a play dress. She enjoys twirling in them and will twirl and twirl until she can't stand-up.

She also likes to say "Cheese" to the camera and the below photo shows the expression I capture when taking the photo. It's really pretty cute!Occasionally Ainsley will sit still and hang out with me from time to time. Usually if I have food it's a good way to motivate her to sit with me. She's fun to snuggle with!Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I'm sure you all have been as busy as us but at least you know some of the "random" things we've been doing!