Christmas... Take 4!

Hope you aren't sick of pictures. I had a really hard time narrowing them down this time. So, enjoy!

Daddy & Kasen

Kasen & Kiki played Ring Around the Rosey

Aren't they precious?

The cutest little girl & most adorable little boy around:

Let's compare that to last year...

I have a feeling it won't be long 'til they are hidden like this telling secrets.

Bobby & Kasen.Another flash back to last year...Santa! Kirsten & Kasen must've been extra good this year to deserve a special after-Christmas visit! He wasn't real thrilled about sitting in his lap. Of course, we were about 2 hours past bed time at this point... So I say he was doing GREAT!
Santa helped open gifts.
Kasen really liked Kiki's doll.

I'm crazy enough to share this one. Only because I saw it & thought, 'wow, is it normal for a mom to be more excited than the kiddo?'The next pic I came to was this, which answered my question. ;)
Now THAT is one cool doll! (How big would Clifford be if Emily Elizabeth is that big?!)
A stocking bigger than Kasen... what could be in there?...

...Kasen's new favorite gift!

I think it was David who said "a guitar lesson from ZZ Top". ;) Thank you everyone! Everything was perfect, Kasen will play & play & play with all of them.
A guitar, puzzles, big blocks, tool set, cars, Elmo phone, a coloring book, an adorable picture frame, and some gift cards. Thanks!!

Kasen has discovered his goofy face abilities:

Which he learned from daddy:

Christmas - take 1, 2, & 3!

Still 1 more Christmas to go! (Coming this weekend hopefully.)
What a day! I won't bore you with the 200+ pics I have, or a long drawn out story. Here's the summary:
Christmas Eve Luke & Kasen joined me at work for our Christmas lunch. We all had fun.
Later, Auntie, Kasen, & I went to dinner at Napoli's (Luke stayed home). After bedtime, Luke, Shannon, & I played Wii, then went to sleep.

Christmas morning I woke up at 6 to organize the stuff Santa left, ;) and get breakfast ready. Around 8am, Papa, Grandma, Auntie, Luke, Kasen, & I had breakfast. Then we opened presents. Papa had to leave for a little while, but Santa came while he was gone. ;) Then Santa had to go to another house & Papa was able to rush back. ;) Too bad he missed Santa!
We opened presents & opened present & opened presents. I think Kasen's fav was the PlayDoh. It was the first thing he pulled out of his stocking & I finally had to hide it so he'd open more stuff. Then Kasen took a nap while the adults played a game.

After naptime Luke, Kasen, & I headed to Christmas #2 - at Mimi & Grandpa's house. Paula, Charlene, Kerry, Kaleb, Cheyenne, Cathy, Jim, Iva, Wayne, & Patti were all there. We ate lunch, opened presents, and played. Kasen got a camera that he LOVES! and a bunch of other cool stuff.

On to Christmas #3 - a stop at Great Grandpa Ernie & Great Grandma Delores' house. Kasen got more stuff that he loves, and we got to spend some time chatting.
We finally got home, ate, and got Kasen to bed. Then, Luke & I got the place cleaned up, the Christmas tree down, and eventually we headed to bed also. What a great day! The day after, Kasen slept past 10:30! I think maybe he wore himself out! (When can we do that again?! lol) Then the three of us spent the day playing with all the new stuff & enjoying the warm weather b playing outside.

Here are a few of the pics:
After I organized all of Santa's goodies:

Coming downstairs with mommy.

Waiting for breakfast with Auntie.
Blowing out Jesus' birthday candle.
The year of the penguin pajamas.

Santa giving Kasen his stocking.
Sitting in his new chair to open gifts.
Daddy helping unwrap presents.
How Haley felt about the festivities.

Playing Phase 10 Twist while Kasen napped.

His 2nd favorite gift of the day.
As close to a good family pic as we can get with a squirmy toddler. ;)
Checking out the tree with Grandpa.

Meeting St. Nicholas at Great Grandpa & Grandma B's.

Giving kisses to Great Grandpa Ernie.

With Great Grandma Delores & Great Grandpa Ernie.

The loot...
A pillow, chair, monkey, Dallas Cowboys hat, truck, Mickey bowling, Noah's Ark book/ Ark set, MagnaDoodle, airplane flashlight, slinky, lots of books, camera, puzzle book, Cars cellphone, reindeer sunglasses, twisty car, Spiderman quadbike, RC fire truck, steering wheel, & cassette player/recorder. (Not pictured: PlayDoh, lots of clothes - sweatsuits, sweaters, shirts, pants, mittens, & gloves) Thank you everyone!

I hope everyone's Christmas was full of family, friends, laughter, love, and joy.

4 Days To Go!

Christmas is almost here! Luke is officially on vacation. Lucky dog doesn't go back until Jan 5th. My vacation starts Wednesday afternoon. (I will also be off until Jan 5th.)
The shopping is done. The presents are wrapped. The groceries have been purchased. The cake balls have all been baked. We are officially ready for Christmas! Yay!

Since the weather was nice on Saturday we all headed to a park. Today we stayed inside all day to avoid the coooold. I heard tonight will be the coldest night since Feb 2007. Amazing how quickly the Texas weather changes, isn't it?

This was just before we left, he's holding his nose 'cause it's cold.

Tonight was Kasen's first experience with corn ON the cob. I think he shares mommy's opinion - it gets stuck in your teeth & that's no fun.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!

A Quick Wish List

I've had a few people ask me what to get Kasen recently. So, if you're still wondering, here's a few things that would rock his little world. :)
Memberships/gift certificates/parking passes/coupons - Dallas Zoo, Dallas Arboretum, Museum of Nature & Science, Baby Loves Disco, or the Happy Hollow Zoo Reciprocating Membership (which is currently 2 years for the price of 1! and gets you into several cool places around DFW AND the rest of the US. Cool, huh?)
Shoes - he's currently about a size 6.5/7, so I've started buying 7.5. He'll need every size from there on up! (Socks are great too.)
Toys - the kid has tons, but if you want to have some fun & pick a toy... he loves buttons, cars, trucks, trains, penguins, lights, music, guitars, pianos, balls, Jay Jay the Jet Plane, and the Doodlebops. (I admit, I have no clue about those last 2, they're tv shows he watches at Grandma & Papa's. I assume they make toys related to them though.)
Clothes - he's gonna need summer clothes. I'm betting he'll finally fit into 24mth/2T pants & he'll be in 3T tops.
Misc - he seems to enjoy art-type stuff. Colors, paints, chalk, stickers, PlayDoh shapers/cutters, and anything else along the arts & crafts line.

So, there you have it, a few ideas if you were needing them. I'd say you don't need to get him anything (because, really, you don't), but I know it's part of the fun of Christmas.

As for me, I am D.O.N.E. with Christmas shopping. Woohoo!

The Fridge Saga Ends...

Or so we hope. ;) First, let's start with a video of Kasen moving the old fridge. I have no idea where he came up with the grunt & "mooove", he did it on his own out of the blue, so I just HAD to get it on video.

As it turns out, our fridge didn't have an easy fix. There's a whole, long story... but I won't bore you. The end of the story is - we got a new fridge. I didn't take a pic of it, but this is it:

I do/will continue to miss my french door fridge, but I am happy to have an ice & water dispenser now. I guess you just can't have it all. *sigh*

We had a busy weekend... birthday lunch for my grandma, LOTS of shopping, gift wrapping, candle making, cleaning, laundry... Even a little playing, here's the proof of that:

Grilling in at Papa & Grandma's...

Cheese!

Putting out fires...

Who's that little boy over there? ;) Going in for a kiss. Holding Auntie's hand to sleep.

We did get the Christmas tree up, and I've just about given up on the Christmas card thing this year, it's just not happening. I can't remember the last time I DIDN'T send cards... but the printer isn't working & I can't find time & energy to get them done. I may change my mind and send them... but probably not. There's always next year! ;)