Christmas Midday

Our family Christmas began at 11am after we had picked up Jordan and Kierstin from their other parents.  My entire family comes over for presents and breakfast.  This year we obviously had breakfast for lunch.  There were many special moments with my family.

We traditionally take pictures of the kids with their stockings.  

The whole family in present unwrapping bliss.

Jordan and Grandma (my Mom)

Harper tried out her new shades.  She wasn't quite sure what was going on with all the present chaos.

Thanks Grandma for the puzzle.  She loves it and so do I!

Grandpa (my step-dad) and Harper

The girls got scooters and Jordan got a bike.  They were quite surprised when we opened the garage.

Delaney took off on her princess scooter right on down the sidewalk.  She's quite good at riding it.

That smile!!  Love my boy!

Go Kierstin, GOOOOO!!!  This was her favorite gift.

Happy Harper on her very first Christmas!  She loved Grandma's waffles.

By 3pm it was time to head to the in-laws for more Christmas fun.  I stayed at the house for a while so Harper could nap.  I met up with the family and we headed to my parents house for dinner.

I think we had a wonderful Christmas and this was by far my favorite year.  I'm not really sure why, but it was just an extra fantastic day for me and my family.  Spending time with my family and seeing the joy in our children's faces is what means the most to me at Christmas.  And I feel so blessed that this is my life.

Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning it was just Rob and I, with our girls.  Jordan and Kierstin wouldn't be home until later.     It was actually a nice quiet morning, which I'm not use to.  Let's face it.  Four kids equals lots of noise.  

Delaney wanted a "Barbie Kitchen" from Santa.  Santa improvised and she got a princess kitchen with Barbie's on top.  Both Delaney and Harper were excited when they saw it.

Love these sweet little girls so much and aren't they cute in their Christmas jammies?

Harper wore Delaney's pajamas from her second Christmas.  Delaney was almost 15 months old when she wore them.  They're still cute and I'm happy we were able to use them again!

Delaney was all about the presents FINALLY!  Last year she opened one present and then she was done.  It was the same thing at her 3rd birthday party.  This year the unwrapping was her favorite part!

 She's peeking out of her new princess tent.  This has been their favorite gift it seems.

They love to be in there together.  We opened a few of their gifts and saved the rest for when Bubby and Sissy came home.

Poor Harper had a scratch on her nose which she re-scratched right before Christmas.  I cut her nails, but somehow they still weren't short enough.

We let the girls play for a while and then it was time to get dressed and go pick up their Bubby and Sissy!  Perfect Christmas morning for the Kammeyer's!

Christmas Eve

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to post some pictures from our Christmas Eve.  The big kids were with their other parents, so it was just us with our little girls.  We go to the church I went to as a kid every Christmas Eve.  It feels like my second home because I spent so much time there as a child.  I love going back.

The end of the service we all sing Silent Night in a giant circle by candlelight.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas unless we're there.

It's important to celebrate the reason for the season.

This little girl celebrated her very first Christmas yesterday and it was such a special day!

We finished our night reading "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (Delaney's choice) in our new Christmas jammies.  I'm 34 years old and my Mom still buys me pajamas every year.  I love it!  Thanks Mom!

Christmas Day pictures coming soon..........  

Twas The Weekend Before Christmas...

Well I don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready and super excited about Christmas!  This weekend has been pretty relaxing because I've had our shopping and wrapping finished for at least a week.  We enjoyed a quiet weekend together.

On Saturday night we had a little bonfire in the backyard complete with roasted marshmallows and hot chocolate.  YUM!

Delaney was not impressed with the fire at first.  She was actually pretty scared.  By the end of the night she told me that she had fun though.  She said she was drinking "coffee" like Mommy.

Oh yeah and she didn't want her picture taken.

On Sunday the little girls and I met up with Aunt Liz at the Anthem Outlets.  We needed to get out of the house so that "Santa" could put some toys together for Christmas morning.

This place had the biggest Christmas tree that I've ever seen.  It was pretty neat.

Delaney got a Stride Rite gift card for Christmas so we bought her some new sparkly light-up shoes.  Any three year old girls dream, right?  Thank you Grandma D and Papa J.  She loves them.

We couldn't leave that place without riding the choo-choo train at least once.  Delaney is obsessed.  Once she saw it, that's all she would talk about.  So I rode it with my girl.  She's saying "choo choo" in the picture above.  Love her.

We're headed to church tonight for a family friendly candle lit service.  

Blessings to everyone on Christmas Eve!  We're ready for Santa!

Eleven Months Old! 12.07.12

Harper you are ELEVEN months old!!  Ready or not your first birthday is coming SOON!!

You are all over the place and into everything!  We can't let you out of our sight for a second.  You are an expert stair climber and furniture cruiser now.  You even took 2 steps the other day without holding onto anything! Oh my, you'll be walking, I mean running very soon!  You continue to be such a joy and we love you so much!

Your favorite person is your big sister, Delaney.  Your face lights up when you see her.  It's the most precious thing ever.  You two are going to have a very special bond, I'm sure of it.

Sleep:  You are still a great sleeper.  If you wake up, you'll cry for a minute and fall back to sleep.

Feed:  You're still eating about 32 oz of formula per day and are getting more and more table foods.  You're eager to try everything.  Only 2 more weeks and we'll be moving onto cows milk.

Weight:  I have no idea.  We'll find out how much of a chunk you are at your one year appointment next month.  

Length:  Again I have no idea how long you are, but you're still tall for your age.

Diapers/Clothes:  You wear a size 4 diapers and clothes are 12-18 months.

Hair color/Eye color:  You have dark blonde hair and blue eyes. 

Milestones:  Ladies and gentleman we finally have a tooth!!  It came in on December 5th.  I've heard that the longer it takes for the teeth to come in, the healthier they will be.  Let's hope that's the case.  

Like I said above you've mastered stair climbing and are trying to take your first steps.  

Oh, and your favorite word is MAMA!  That's my girl!

You are a dare devil in the bath tub.  You love to go under the water and the more I try to keep your head above water the more you try to get back under.  Scares me to death!  You are going to be our little fish.

Favorite Toys:  You've recently started pushing things around the house while walking.  That would be the baby stroller, Delaney's old push toy, the bar stools, the toy kitchen, anything that helps you practice walking.  You try so hard to get the TV remotes or our cellphones.  Anything that you're not supposed to have, you want very badly.

This has been a fun month with you.  I'm used to having smaller babies during Christmas time since Jordan and Delaney were both born in the summer.  So it's been fun to watch you enjoy the holiday season.  You love looking at Christmas lights and are fascinated by the Christmas tree.  I can't wait to watch you play with all the wrapping paper in a couple of days.

Mama loves you baby girl.  Forever and always.

The Jingle Bell Run

I ran my second 5K race on December 15th.  It was called the Jingle Bell Run and this one was a lot more fun than my first race.  It was a smaller crowd.  Everyone was dressed festively (except for me).  It was just an overall good vibe.  I felt better and I improved my time!  I finished this race in 33 minute and 4 seconds.  I was proud of that number.  I improved my time by 1 minute and 20 seconds.  Yay me!!  It rained all weekend long, but for those 33 minutes it was dry and the sun was shining.  Oh and Santa ran the race too.  If you beat him your name was entered in a drawing.  I beat him by a minute, but didn't stick around for the drawing.  I can't wait for my next race!

Not a great picture, but you get the point.  Rob and Delaney were there to cheer me on.  It's so great having someone waiting for you at the finish line.

Festive Chaos

I'm a planner.  I plan things months in advance for my family.  I got this crazy idea in my head that we should go to Zoo Lights on a weekday so it wouldn't be as crowded.  It sounded like a great idea to me, but I should have known better.

I packed up all of our stuff the night before because Rob and I had to be up at 4 am to get ready for work.  We both worked a 10 hour day, the big kids went to school, and the little kids went to the babysitter.  After work we picked up the kids and because we weren't going home before Zoo Lights I got them dressed at Grandma's house.  She lives close to the sitter and she had picked Jordan up from school.  The little girls are always dirty after their day at the babysitter so they needed clean clothes, etc.

Before we got to the zoo we stopped at Subway so we could eat on the way.  The zoo is about 30 minutes away, but this was rush hour.  So it should have been more like a 45 minute drive.  Rob decided to get a hot dog from the place next to Subway.  We aren't even out of the parking lot and I take a sharp turn and dump his hot dog (covered in all sorts of yummy goodness) right into his lap.  All over the seat of my new truck too!  UGH!!  Needless to say he was not very happy with me.  Once we were finally on our way Delaney asks every 2 minutes where the lights are at.  This girl is not happy that we've got a long drive ahead of us.  Harper was crying because she was tired and no one could find her dang blanket.  Then on top of all that I miss my exit and end up lost on the wrong freeway!  Rob at that point became the navigator so that we'd get to the zoo before it closed.  Oh yeah and I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before.  Awesome.

We did however finally get to the zoo.  Thankfully we were still able to have a good time and guess what?!  There weren't many people there and the weather was gorgeous!  Got to love Arizona winters!    

My Leo found the lion.

The girls loved all of the lights! 

Just some of the lights we saw.

Me and the Hubs. 

Jordan and Kierstin. 

All Delaney talked about while we were there was riding the horsey aka Carousel.  She rode on a panther the first time and a lion the second time.  They had all kinds of zoo animals to ride on.

And sweet baby Harper just chilled and took in everything around her.  I'm shocked that she didn't want to get out and crawl around in the dirt.  She also stayed awake for the whole experience.

Until we meet again Zoo Lights....

I'll come up with a smoother plan next time.

The Sweet Things

I write so often about how challenging Delaney is right now in all her 3 year old glory.  I do however think it's important that I touch on the sweet things she says.  While there are moments of frustration, she is still my sweet little girl (inbetween tantrums).

For example: 

This morning while I am at work I receive a phone call from my hubby.  When I said hello it turned out to be Delaney.  Our conversation went a little something like this.

D: "Mommy where are you?"

Me: "I'm at work baby, but I'll be home later okay?"

  D: "Mommy you come home and cuddle me?"

(My heart EXPLODES)

Me: "Yes baby we'll cuddle as soon as I get home."

D: "Okay Mommy.  I miss you so much."

Other random things she says:

"I love you sooooooooooo much honey!"

or

"Mommy you are my princess!"

So while yes, 3 years old is a rough age, I will miss when she's not so little anymore.

Early Present For Mommy

It's December 1st and I've already got my Christmas present!!

The following pictures are really a present to myself.  I decided months ago that when I hit my weight loss goal that I would get professional pictures taken of me with my babies.  That would be the three people that I have given birth to.  This doesn't mean that I love Kierstin any less.  This was just something that was important to me.  These three people exist because of me (not to toot my own horn here).  And I'm extremely proud of them!!  I hope that someday my kids treasure these pictures as much as I always will.  The years go by faster the older I get and I want to remember this time in our lives.

Jordan is 12 and should be going though an awkward phase. At least I think I did when I was his age.  Clearly that hasn't happened yet and maybe it won't.  He is just so insanely handsome!  He was such a great little model that day.  I'm so thankful for him.

Delaney is 3 and had her own agenda for these pictures.  It was more like, "Mommy we're at the park and I'd rather play in the dirt than take a silly picture".  She was fascinated by all the peacocks, cats and dogs we kept seeing.  I'm lucky my photographer is so talented that she still managed to capture some great shots.  This kid has so much attitude and sass that I'm terrified for her teen years!

Harper is 10 months old and constantly on the move.  I'm shocked that we got her to sit still long enough to take pictures.  She's such a sweetie pie and I hope she stays that way!  Who am I kidding, right?

Jordan, Delaney and Harper, Mommy is so proud of you!