Indiana weekend get together

This past weekend we loaded up and headed to Indiana for a quick, but good weekend. Brian's sister is back in town until just after New Years. We had not seen her in over a year so it was good to have everyone together.

Saturday consisted of decorating the Christmas tree...

and maybe a little girl:

This is Brians brother (his wife is in the next photo) and sister.

Later that afternoon we all went bowling!!!

The grandparent came later in the day too!!!

Kaylee's first haircut!!

I have been receiving many comments on the fact that Kaylee could not see:) I have been avoiding cutting her hair, trying to decide if I wanted to just let it grow out. Well last night, I took the plunge. I cut her bangs. She sat very still for it and I only cut the bare minimal. It turned out pretty cute - the pictures are a different story.

Here is the before picture so you can tell what I did.

Here is the after:) They are straight, I promise!!!

More Advent Activites

I did another couple of Advent Activites with Kaylee over the past few days.

First, we gave her a flashlight. This is to represent that Jesus is the Light of the World. She loves flashlights so this was an easy one to do. She has had a lot of fun with this one. In later years, we may do a new nightlight instead of a flashlight but either one will work.

Today, we made snowflakes. This is to represent that Jesus cleans us white as snow.
I folded paper and showed Kaylee how to use the scissors. She was more interested in the cutting than I thought she would be. Then I used a glue stick and made the paper sticky. I then showed Kaylee how to put the glitter on. (Note: Use a pan or something under the paper. I forgot how messy glitter is. I atleast did it on the kitchen floor so I could sweep it up but I still think we are going to find glitter all over the place for months to come).
I know that snowflakes and being white as snow should not include glitter but I thought it was fun:)

Here we have cut the snowflakes and I am getting ready to put the glue on for her to do the sprinkes.
Let the mess begin:)

A bath followed and then cleaning out the shower followed that.

We both had a lot of fun though. Memories:) And now the snowflakes are hanging on our tree.

Mia Hamm in the making!!!

This one shows her running!!!

My Tuesday

Here is what I am doing today. What are you doing?

I had to put this one in as it looks like Kaylee is doing the disco:)

Advent

I don't remember doing much for Advent as a kid. Now that I have a child, I find myself a little more sentimental. I may not do an activity every day this month, but I am going to do some.
I think over the next few years as Kaylee gets older we will add and change some activities but I want to document them so I remember what I have done.

So far over the past few days:

We have set up our Christmas tree (normally, we would set up a lot more decorations, but this year we are so busy this month that we are scaling back some)

We gave Kaylee her little people nativity set. I love it and so does she. We do not have a place to leave it set up this year so we are going to get it out periodically. I do not want all the pieces to get lost with all the other toys already.

We planted our paperwhites. We may have done this too late as I just read to plant them 6 weeks before you want them to bloom. Oh well. The meaning behind this is the anticipation of Christ's birth and the anticipation of the flowers to bloom.

We have lots more activites that I will write about later. Some that we will even do while we are with Brian's family:) I am so excited!!!

Black Friday

Yes, it is Thanksgiving Week, but more importantly it is almost friday and the day that I go shopping!!!

It is a tradition in our family to go shopping on black friday. My mom, sister, and I go (without kids) every other year together. The other years, we are on the opposite side of the family and go with them!! My mom and I did it years ago, before I was married, and I think the record was 4a.m. to 10p.m. I don't think we go as long now but we do go that early or even earlier now that stores are opening up sooner. I think I am just going to sleep in my clothes so I am ready to go around 3a.m.!! I will not go on Thanksgiving Day though, I have to draw the line somewhere:)

It is just this craziness that got me an interview with the Post Dispatch!! It will be in Thursday paper and so if someone could save me a copy I would appreciate it. No clue what all will be in there, or if it will be good, but it was fun being interviewed.

So what are your plans for black friday? Are you as die hard as my family is?