Merry Christmas!

Christmas has come and gone, but we are still enjoying our decorations and gifts.

December was full of fun.  There were lots of events.

We went to a pancake breakfast fundraiser at a local nursing home.  The girls ate a ton, but Zoey was not sure of Santa.

My moms club had their annual Christmas Ball, it was gingerbread themed.

Zoey started out unsure, but when Santa gave her a gift...

She warmed a little bit.  In fact, the next day on our way to a playdate she asked if Santa was going to be there and was upset when I said no.  But the next Saturday, she saw him at another event and was unsure again, but did go close enough to chat and get a candy cane, but she kept calling it a candy can.

We went to Lights of Lakeland at a local church.  It is an elaborate event and we have enjoyed it every year we have lived here.

The North YMCA had a snow fest and pancake breakfast.  Sam has a blast playing in the fake snow.

Zoey refused to get in it and clung to my leg.

We got a new tree on black friday thanks to Nick staying up and getting to home depot at 4:30 in the morning.  But it is so pretty and has built in led lights that can be multi colored or white.

Both girls ended up a bit sick.  Sam had a lingering cough from after getting over hand, foot and mouth disease.  I finally took her in and she was diagnosed with a sinus infection and wheezing.  She had to have breathing treatments, antibiotics, and steroids.  So she did not get to go shopping with Nana, but still got to pick a few gifts to give.  Nana did take Zoey shopping.  Of course, she told me what I was going to get from her  :)  Zoey just ended up with a bit of a cold/allergies and was a snot factory, but still seemed to feel okay, if just a little more tired than usual.

So on to the gifts!

We did Nana and Papa's gifts first.  A great haul!

Zoey was so funny.  After every gift, she would exclaim, "I love it! I love it! I love it!" Often she would even jump up and down.  This behavior reminds me of Sam at about this age, she would say it was just what she wanted, including one time when she followed with what is it.  Such sweet girls!

Sam's big gift from them was her new digital piano.  Nick had to stay up and went and bought our new tree and this piano on black friday.  It is a nice one and Sam sounds much better than on the cheap kids keyboard.

I got great gifts too, including this napkin holder from Zoey.  Such a surprise!

Nick got a nice folding table and of course cashews, his favorite.

Nick made a sign for my parents.  I saw this on pinterest and it was perfect timing to make it this year.  My girls slept in the same crib Chip and I did.  For Sam, my dad added extra bars to meet the standards.  For Zoey, we had to prevent it from being a drop side.  All of the modifications were making it a bit unstable, especially when we added the crib tent.  So we decided it was time to let it go.  So Nick used it to make the sign.  

Christmas eve we let the girls open gifts from our good friends the Pabons, the legos were a bit hit.

We scattered reindeer food we had made at an event.

Nick also did a nightly light show.

You can see a clip at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1wD9q_fwDQ&feature=youtu.be
It is a bit long, so you can skip ahead to 1:45 if you want faster action.

Christmas morning was such fun.  Sam was so excited.  Here she is with her stocking stuff.

After Sam opened her gift from Zoey, a small cat that meows.

Sam made this at school.

 So many gifts!  Mama went overboard.

Zoey was a riot.  She got a talking doc mcstuffins from Santa and then it was an insurmountable task to get her to open any more.  She opened a present here and there and finally got through them all, but it was about 3 pm when she finally did.  She loved her first gift, so I guess she knew it was not going to get any better.

Nick also made me a frame and made his dad a checkerboard set in ND colors.

The Kellings flew in on Christmas evening, so we have had a great few days eating and watching football and playing with them.

We also got Poppi a signed Tommy Rees photo.

Sam playing with a gift from Grammy.

Grammy has read countless books to the girls.

I hope everyone (who celebrates) had a wonderful Christmas and has an amazing new year.  I hope 2014 is full of great things!  Happy holidays from the Southern Kellings!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, I cannot believe it is December already!

November was slower than October in terms of events, but we made up for that by getting some rocks delivered (6 cubic yards) and trying to take back our yard.  Lots of weeding, hauling and spreading rocks.

Sam had lots of events at school.  There was a teddy bear picnic, Veterans Day celebration, and thanksgiving feast day.

Here is Sam at Veterans Day singing her heart out!  Papa and Nana got to attend as well since Papa is a Veteran.  They were very impressed.

Here are some shots I got for Zoey for the photo challenge.  I am enjoying relearning photoshop.

And this was a favorite toy, she even slept with it for awhile.  It ended up breaking and being thrown away, but she has moved on.

Zoey and her best friend Nick at a playdate.  So sweet,

 A local restaurant had a princess tea party.  Sam walked right up, but Zoey was hesitant.

The girls loved the tea.

Cheers!

Zoey warmed up with storytime and dancing.  She held Ariel's hand for the circle dance.

And gave her a big goodbye hug.

I hosted a Peace playdate for International Peace Day.  The kids made peace doves.  Sam was the oldest one who ended up coming and was very helpful.

Sam had to write about and draw her favorite non American holiday.  She chose Cinco de Mayo.

Sam was also selected to represent her school at a choice school fair.  She did a great job talking to people about Lincoln and STEM.

We had a great week off for Thanksgiving.  We had a playdate at a friend's house and one at our house.  It was supposed to be at our playhouse, but it rained so it had to be inside.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, with a caveat I will get too below.  Nick fried a turkey breast in his beer pot.  We made way too much food, as it should be.

Papa carved it for us.

Unfortunately, the plague hit our house.  Zoey spent the night before Thanksgivng at Nana's and Papa's.  She woke up crying and had a fever.  She said her ear hurt.  We took her to the cvs minute clinic who put her on antibiotics for a ear infection, since she is just 2 and it was red.  She ended up taking a 4 hour nap.  Friday night she had a rash beginning and Sam got a fever as well and complained about her throat.  Zoey's rash spread and Sam's throat got nasty looking bumps.  Both girls have been diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease.  Sam is out of school today and tomorrow.  But the girls have been doing pretty well.  The fevers were short lived and they have more energy.

Nick stayed up all night Thanksgiving night to hit black friday sales and get us, among a few other things, a new LED pre-lit Christmas tree.  That tree is up and will be decorated soon.  The girls are getting so excited about Christmas.

We took a few pictures in front of the tree to use for our Christmas cards.  We did not want to go anywhere since both girls were puny.  We got a few good ones.  Here is one that will not be on the card, so it will be a surprise, but it is a super cute one.

Happy Halloween!

I know I say it a lot, but yikes, this month has been packed!  My last post was a month ago, so this one will be a doozy.  Nick was out of town, but that did not stop our activity.  Thank goodness for my parents and all their help.  We ended September with a walk around the lake and a playdate.  I was supposed to be co-hosting, but my friend could not make it, so it was a bit chaotic.  But we had fun playing at common grounds park and eating breakfast with our PALS.

Here is Zoey and her best friend, Nick.

The next day was the portfolio conference.  I spoke to Sam's teacher.  Unfortunately, she gave me some bad information about the plans for Sam, but that was resolved by speaking to the principal.  Sam is an impressive girl and they will be teaching her at her level.  She has tested out of Kindergarten math and took her first (of four) test for 1st grade math.  It is a weird way to test, 30 problems for K in 15 minutes and 50 for 1st in 10 minutes and they have to get all correct.  So Sam had been on the 4th K one for a few weeks because she missed 1, 3, and 1.  She had been getting advanced reading but is now in the even more advance group and will restart AR this week.

We of course kept up with the other weekly stuff.  Drop off and pick up takes hours of my day.  Sam is now in piano and loves it.  Her teacher is so sweet.  Sam loves her.  There was also two meetings for the committees I am on for my moms club, a meet up for ice cream, and I hosted an Octopus playdate.  Luckily Nick got back to help out at the end of the week.

Next up was the club trip to Green Meadows farm.  My mom went with me to help with the girls.  We had a great time.

Zoey pulling a friend in a wagon.

Sam feeding a goat.

Zoey feeding a goat.

Holding a chicken.

Sam was a great chicken catcher.

The cute baby chicks.

And baby ducks.

Sam milked the cow, but Zoey would not.

Zoey being cranky.

Sam being happy.

Riding a pony.

Hay ride.

Look how big I am.

After our tour we scarfed down sandwiches.  Green meadows was about an hour from our house.  My dad and Nick had been helping at a neighborhood clean up.  I flew home, dropped off my mom, and grabbed Nick to fly to a birthday party, reptile style.  It brought back a lot of memories of handling some of these same animals when I worked at the zoo.  I miss that!

The next day was a bit calmer, but I dropped off a meal for a sick friend and timing was a bit hectic.

The next week was more walking and playdates.  We went to a fun noodle sensory one.  I hosted a mom's night in for making banners for our charity craft and bake sale (for the mom's club to sponsor a salvation army family), I volunteered to set up the book fair at Sam's school, a playdate about fireflies, touring preschools for Zoey, the bake sale itself,

Sam did her cheerleading night game at the JV game.

Sam was one of the youngest and the training had been 2 1/2 weeks ago, but she had a great time.  Still not sure about my thoughts on cheerleading.

There were also two more parties.  One was a water slide one and one was a roller skating one.

It was Sam's first time, so I rented her a skate mate.  It was still rough going, but she had fun.

The next day, we met the Woods at their hotel in Orlando for breakfast and swimming.  It was so great to see them and so nice of them to delay a day at disney for us!

Nick was a jungle gym.

Then I went to a mom's night in to make fabric pumpkins.  The next day was a pumpkin decorating playdate.

I helped at the book fair.  Then we went to a spiders and monsters playdate.  We got there early since we went after drop off.
Zoey was dressed in a cute outfit.

It was so pretty.

Zoey had fun swinging.

My friend and I walked around, and we spotted raccoons.  I could not get a great picture, but you can see one here.

Then painting, playing and decorating.

I also got to go to a bunco night and the car had to be checked.  

Sam's school celebrated crazy hair day.

The next weekend was another birthday party, this time at a gym.

That night, Nick and I went to a beer fest.  It was a lot of fun and raised money for the Humane Society.

Sam had to make a character pumpkin and chose Cinderella.

Last week was more walking and playdates.  One was decorating a switch plate with stickers and modge podge.  One was decorating bats.  Sam also got her first real haircut for a fundraiser for breast cancer.  She loved it, but it looks about the same, just cleaned up in the back.

 
My Dad's friend visited and the girls went crazy for Mr. Don.  They wanted to sit by him and be pushed in the swing by him, etc.

There were more preschool tours and planning for three big events.  But Sam had the day off school on Friday, so Nick skipped a meeting and we went to the children's museum in Tampa.  Such fun!

Sam drew a happyosaurus.

Fun in the water area.

Nick, Sam and Zoey built this arch.

Learning about electricity.

Dancing.

Look at my moves!

Zoey thought this was funny.

I was on the committee for trunk or treat for our club (activities and crafts, lots of work) and helped with the YMCA trunk or treat, which allows our club to use their room for our holiday party.  And I co-hosted a baby shower this weekend as well.

Nick went ahead to our trunk or treat and I got the girls ready.  They were so excited.

It was a lot of fun.  Playing at a pirate themed trunk.

My idea, Nick's creation of pumpkin golf.

Zoey looks so different in pigtails!

Nick made our trunk a dragon, complete with dry ice fire.

An I spy trunk.

Picture spot.

Then a dry ice Science Saturday.

My parents and Nick took the girls to legoland Brick or Treat while I hosted the shower.  A cousin sent the girls Flat Stanley, so he came along.

Among all this, zoey is learning words.  My mom has worked with her a lot and I try to squeeze it in. She can read this sentence.

 
And here are a couple shots for a photo challenge.

This one for rope and plaid.

This one for corner.

Whew!  Just thinking about all that made me exhausted.  I know I take on way too much, but I am super thankful for Nick and my parents to get me through this past month with minimal levels of insanity.  I am pledging to take it easier for the rest of October and in November.  I only have 1 playdate this week.  Today is a stay in pajamas, let Zoey watch tv and tackle potty training day.  She has been ready awhile, but it was too crazy to take on.  Happy Halloween from the Southern Kellings!