Christmas Time

Our Christmas festivies have long since concluded, but here is the tale of our events.  It spanned 3 days and 3 separate houses for Reegan's 2nd year of celebrating the holidays and we had so much fun!

Day 1, House 1:  Dec. 23rd - We decided to have our family Christmas time a couple days early due to the rest of the weekend's schedule, so our house was visited by Santa on this day.  :)  Our main gift for Reegan this year was this table and chair set!  She was really excited about it when she came into our living room and saw it.  :)

It really came w/ 4 different colored chairs, but for now we're just using the two.  Then it was time for her stocking...

She really liked the Nerf football we got her.  I t was honestly a purchase made because we were in the toy section at the store and she was obsessed with it.  She loved it just as much this time too! :)

Day 2, House 2: Dec 24th - We headed over to the Heine family home on Christmas Eve.  It was a great day and Reegan had so much fun opening her presents.  Here she is digging into her stocking...

Reegan did a much better job this year with unwrapping her gifts.  She made sure each and every piece of paper made it into the trash bag too.  Such a good girl!!

Grandma and Grandpa got her a doll named Reegan too!  She loves it!

This ladybug hat was a big hit too --- can you tell this girl likes to be the center of attention??

And the big surprise of the day for Reegan was this kitchen set!  She was really excited about this too and spent a good part of the day "pouring coffee" for everyone.  :)

One highlight for us as an entire family was to each get a pair of Toms shoes.  Jess has been telling us for quite awhile now that we each need a pair...she was right!  They are amazingly comfortable!!!  Plus Toms donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased - go get some!

Day 3, House 3: Dec. 25th - The Larson home was the last stop on the Christmas tour this year.  Another great day with family and gifts, and Reegan once again had a blast!  She got a bunch of hair accessories and this headband was an instant favorite. 

She got a cute bike helmet for when we go on our family bike rides this coming spring and summer!

And a matching Hello Kitty sweatsuit outfit - she loves thing with hoods on them.  Cute!!

This was Dad's favorite gift for his little girl - a Jamal Charles jersey.  Go Chiefs!!!

Reegan was so happy seeing all of the family and opening the gifts.  I can't wait until next year when she will hopefully be able to better understand the true reason we are celebrating this time of year.  Until then, I'll continue to enjoy the smile that always brightens my day...hopefully it makes you smile too.  :)

Seeing Santa

They say times flies when you're having fun right??  Well we must have been having WAY too much fun lately to not have a post for almost 3 weeks!!  I hope nobody out there thought we'd fallen off the face of the blogging earth.  :) 

But anyway, we're back.  And last Saturday afternoon we took Reegan to see Santa down at Crown Center.  We met up with Jana and Cade for the adventure so the kiddos could play together while we waited in line.  About the waiting...it took a hour and a half!  We knew that it was probably not the best idea to go see Santa on a Saturday afternoon in mid-December with all of the other slacker parents, but we really didn't expect it to be quite that bad.

Regardless, the outing was mostly successful - I say that because Reegan was terrified of Santa, but she did have fun with some other stuff...check it out...

Here we are in line - See the happy face on Dad?  We just got here...  :)

A little time gone by and Reegs moved to Mom...hmmm, I'm sensing someone might be getting tired...

I think she was starting to wonder how long this was going to take.

Santa was located in the Crayola play area in Crown Center, so after you had wound around thru the main part of the line, but BEFORE you got to see Santa, there was a little obstacle trail for the little ones to play on.  This proved to be the best part of the Santa experience for both Reegan and Cade.  They're both still a bit young to get the whole idea, but slides and tunnels and climbing and running around they definitely know!

Reegan went down the Crayola box slide about 20 times before it was all said and done.  :)

Finally we made it to Santa, and let's just say Reegan was less than thrilled about sitting with the scary man in the red suit.  We couldn't get her to sit on his at all, which was disappointing, but she was at least calm enough to snap a few pics.  No smiles though.......

After Santa, we took the kids to Fritz's for dinner.  They LOVED this part of the day!  While we waited in line here (yes, another line...) Reegan climbed up on the big train outside.

She insisted on sitting on the same side as Cade on these benches, and it was funny watching them because Reegan would come sit by him, and shortly after Cade would move to the other side...then Reegan would sit by him...then Cade would move!  It was cute.

Reegan was SO excited once we were in the restaurant!  Every time the train whistle blew signifying an order was on it's way out, she cheered and said CHOO-CHOO!!  And she really liked the conductor hat too.  She wore it just about the entire time.

It really was a fun time had by all in the end.  Maybe next year we'll try to go a little earlier...

Excited!

I am really excited about this!

And this!

The first is a kid's nativity set.  While we were decorating last week, I realized that we don't have any decorations for Reegan to say are her own or to even play with.  So after some research, I found it!  We're going to open it up this afternoon, so hopefully Reegan likes it as much as we think she will!

Second is a reusable gingerbread house.  We can put it together, decorate it and when we're done stick it in the dishwasher for the next year!  I bought this at Holiday Mart, but haven't used it yet.  Christmas is going to be here before we know it, so hopefully we can squeeze in all these fun traditions that I am hoping to start/continue!!!  I'll keep you posted!

The Holidays Are Here

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone and that Christmas is only 4 weeks away.  We had a wonderful, fairly low key Thanksgiving this year.  We just headed over to the Heine household to hang out for awhile, eat some delicious turkey, eat lots of yummy desserts, and let Reegan entertain the relatives.  :)

Yesterday, it was time to decorate for Christmas!  We brought up all of the trimmings from the basement storage area and got to work.  Reegan was really excited to help out!

First, she helped me get the tree set up...

Then she helped Jess hang the ornaments...

She really enjoyed this part.  Although, I think she took OFF as many ornaments as she hung up.  :)

In the end she was very proud of the job they did!

Decorations are complete!  It feels very Christmas-y around here and we love it.  :) 

Our baby is about to have her second Christmas.  It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone.  We're even more excited to see her excitement and curiosity this year as she can really experience more of the Christmas festivities this time around.  :)

It's Cold

I think Winter is on its way.  It has been so cold that we broke out the winter jacket for the little one in our home.  Its too funny, every time we put this jacket on her she says "hat", she likes her hood to be up.  Unfortunately for her, it doesn't stay where it is supposed to.

On the other hand, I am protesting winter and refuse to wear my winter jacket.  I'm hoping I can continue this protest until at least Christmas...

New Toy?

It is a good thing Bella is our gentle giant, because Reegan has decided that Bella is here for her.  That she is her toy.  They are becoming fast friends. 

I think Bella enjoys it as much as Reegan does!  We're still working on being gentle with the dogs and we can't jump on them like we do some of the other toys.  We can't sit on Ginger either, she's too little. 

It's kinda funny actually.  Some days, Reegan is giving the dogs hugs and letting them lick her hand while laughing and other times she nudges them away and says "go"...I wonder where she got that? :)

Antiques

Something you may or may not know about me is that I love antique stores.  I remember going when I was pretty young with my grandma to antique malls and flea markets.  I love seeing all the neat things they have.  We don't purchase much during our antique shopping, but our latest purchase was this table.  Since we have been re-decorating our living room we needed a small end-table.  This one was perfect!  It didn't look this nice when we bought it, but a little sanding and some paint, brand new! 

Jobs!

It seems as though lately we have been through a lot of adjustments.  I no longer have to study for school and boards, and now am working.  Those 3 days each week are really long and I don't do anything in the evening when I get home.  Next week I switch to nights, I'm super nervous about it this and hope I can do it!  The week after that, Jason switches jobs.  Thats right, Jason got a new job.  He will be working for another company owned by the same corporation and even be in the same building.  We are really excited about it as it will hopefully offer a lot more flexibility during the week.  The extra money doesn't hurt either :)  We'll keep you posted, change is good, but I'm ready to settle into the groove of life!   

Gymboree

After a busy week with a big change in the works, we celebrated some family time today.  We had a groupon for a month membership to Gymboree that expired in another week, so we decided to redeem it today.  We didn't take any pictures, because I felt kinda weird if I got my camera out during the class, so I refrained...it was difficult at times.  Reegan loved it, just like we knew she would.  She loves to climb and doesn't have a lot of fear, plus it was horse themed this week (Reegan's favorite animal, she calls them Nays).  Afterwards, we stopped at Chik-Fil-A.  Reegan was more excited about dipping her food than she was about the actually food.  We asked Reegan if she had a fun morning and she said yes, yes, yes.  I couldn't stand that she had an entire meal with no fruit or veggies, so when we got home she had some applesauce before nap.  Obviously Reegan had fun because she took a little over 2 hour nap!  That never happens!     

This afternoon we're watching the Cats play ball and during halftime planting some bulbs.  Banana Bread is in the oven and Reegan is cuddling on the couch with us!  Great day! 

Halloween

Okay, so Halloween was almost a week ago now, but we figured you wouldn't mind seeing how Reegan's trick-or-treating night was right? 

The afternoon got us started with a costume parade at Reegan's daycare.  All of the kids were SO cute in their costumes!  There were lots of boys who were Spiderman, and lots of girls that were ladybugs...one of those girls was ours.  :)

You may recognize this outfit from last year...that's right, we double-dipped on this one, but hey, it just looks so darn cute!

After the parade, each class went back inside to do a quick "craft" with all of the parents helping.  Reegan's class made ghosts out of cotton balls. 

Then it was time for treats!  The kids were much more quiet and still during this time...hmmmm...imagine that?!

Before we headed out, we got a quick pic with Lauren and Nora Cunningham.  This was Nora's first day at Special Beginnings and she was a ladybug too!  So adorable.

After stops at a couple family homes it was time for the real trick-or-treating to begin.  I think Reegan got kinda excited...

She was literally running around our cul-de-sac...

She was a little hestiant at the houses (all 3 we went to), and she obviously can't actually say "trick-or-treat" but she did so good!  I think next year she have this thing down.  :)

And how could you say no to this at your door??



We had a fun night for sure.  We're definitely looking forward to next year!