Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was simply magical - from decorating the tree right after Thanksgiving all the way through our many Christmas celebrations with family, this year was truly special. This year was the first where Peyton really seemed to understand all that was going on with the holiday and she had a great time with our advent calendar with lots of fun activities, seeing all of the decorations & lights, learning more about the birth of Baby Jesus (the most important part of our holiday celebration) and of course Santa, too. Peyton had her own nativity this year (thank you Grandma Mintun) and she told me several times about Mary, Joseph & the baby Jesus and how excited she was to have her own baby Jesus - so special! Peyton also was very intrigued by Santa and had LOTS of questions, most of which I feel like we fielded fairly well. On the way to Christmas in Clinton on Christmas morning Peyton asked if Santa was at the North Pole. We told her yes, Santa was back at the North Pole after delivering presents to all of the good little girls and boys all night Christmas Eve Night. Her response was, "Why he not live in Kansas or close to Grammy?" We thought it was pretty cool that she is starting to think beyond one option/potential answer - wow!


As always, we were very busy with lots of celebrations - it was hard to narrow it down to only a few pictures from each to put on here but I hope you enjoy!


On Christmas Eve we headed to Grandma & Grandpa Todd's to celebrate with Daddy's side of the family and we had a great time! Since Santa knew we were celebrating on Christmas Eve he made a special stop early at Grandma & Grandpa Todd's. This concept was a bit confusing to Peyton but luckily she recovered quickly! Peyton had a great time digging into her stocking and gifts and was a great big sis by lending a helping hand to Garrison with all of his goodies!! After we opened gifts we had a great meal and some fun play time before heading home to get read for the big guy's visit to our house! Here are just a few of my favorites -


Although Santa brought this ride-on toy for Garrison for when he is a little older, Peyton was quite insistent that he try it out immediately! He wasn't quite sure what to think but his big sis thought he did a great job!



Daddy & Garrison playing "boo" - Garrison's laugh is so infectious right now!



Miss Christy made Wyatt a game of Angry Birds to play and the kids had a ball throwing the bird at the cans, I mean eggs!








Back at our house on Christmas Eve night we started to prepare for Santa's arrival - Peyton put together a HUGE plate of cookies for Santa - she was quite sure he would be hungry and need lots of cookies and then we went outside to spread some reindeer food in the yard. After all the preparations had been made we headed upstairs for Daddy to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas before everyone headed to bed. Peyton unfortunately woke up sick around 9 but we are thankful it was just a quick passing bug (or more likely a bit of exhaustion) and she felt much better by morning!





Christmas morning Garrison woke up at his normal time (around 6) but Peyton slept in until almost 7:30! When our little girl finally woke up we quickly headed downstairs to see what Santa had left. Peyton was very excited to get her princesses and had a blast looking in all of the stockings (she helped all of us with our stockings!) and unwrapping presents from Mommy & Daddy. Although she loved all of her gifts I think unwrapping was her favorite part! It was so great to spend Christmas morning together and to see Peyton's excitement. I'm sure Garrison would have been excited too had he known what was going on!









I LOVE this picture!!



After Santa, opening presents and a quick breakfast we loaded up the car to head to Grammy & Grandpa's! Santa had visited their house as well so Peyton had more stocking fun as soon as we arrived! After opening gifts with Grammy & Grandpa, the Mintun clan joined in the fun for a tasty lunch (prime rib!) and of course cake & ice cream for Baby Jesus' birthday. Peyton still wasn't a huge fan of the birthday candles but handled it much better than the singing of happy birthday for her own birthday! After a relaxing meal we headed back to the living room for more gift opening fun with Mommy's extended family. Again, Peyton's favorite part seemed to be the unwrapping part and she had a blast making sure all of the wrapping paper made it into the trash bag, immediately after opening each present! When the black bag went out to the trash after our first set of gifts she was very concerned what had happened to the black bag! Peyton also invited a couple of games during our visit which was super cute - Jack in the Box where she hid in a tub and popped out when the song was over and "jump rope" where she jumped back and forth between the chair and a stool - it is great to see her imagination working!





Check-out Daddy's shirt in the background - yes, that's right, Daddy wore a Hawaiian shirt to Christmas per the request of his little angel!






Pure adoration - on both accounts I believe!





While Garrison, Daddy & I returned home, Peyton got to stay at Grammy & Grandpa's for the night! They had a great time playing with some of her new toys and going on a Christmas lights tour in Clinton. On Monday they played some more, took down their Christmas decorations and had lunch with the Mintun clan before bringing our little girl home! While we were down to one little one at home we were very productive by putting away some of our gifts and getting all of our Christmas decorations put away - always a big task! I love having our decorations up but am always a little relieved to have our house back to "normal."


Peyton & Grammy playing with her new food on their homemade stove -



After Peyton arrived back home we had a great visit with Grammy & Grandpa before they headed home. The rest of the day we checked a few things off our list but most importantly enjoyed some quality family time talking about our celebrations and playing with some of our new toys! I loved this picture of Peyton & Garrison chatting while laying on their new pillow pets!



And although this should really probably be on next week's post I'm a bit afraid I will forget it so here goes - Garrison had another first tonight, green beans! So far he is like his sister and loves green beans! Welcome to the world of flavored food, Garrison - we hope you enjoy the tour of vegetables and fruits you are about to enjoy! :)

Weekly Happenings - 12/19 - 12/23

Our week leading up to Christmas (I will do a separate Christmas post) was incredibly busy so let's get started!!

1. The kids had their pictures taken at school a few weeks ago and we finally got the pictures back. Since we had just had their pictures taken fairly recently I did not plan to buy any but I just couldn't resist a few since they turned out SO well!

2. Peyton has always been a big helper but as she has gotten older the things she can and wants to help with have expanded greatly! The latest, sorting the silverware to put it away out of the dishwasher. She has now completed this task several times and does an awesome job - what a big girl and excellent helper!!

3. On Wednesday night we headed out to deliver Christmas goodies to all of our neighbors - an annual tradition! We lucked out with a fairly decent night to make our rounds which was a nice surprise! We loved having the chance to visit with our neighbors since we are not outside to visit as often as we were this past summer and even ran into two of our neighbors out doing the same thing so we traded goodies in the street! Garrison loved joining us but snuck in a quick nap in the carrier while we visited - he is so laid back!

4. Earlier in the month we made our Gingerbread house but I kept forgetting to take a picture - here is Peyton's masterpiece!

5. On Thursday night we headed out to Jingle Bell Drive, a Christmas lights display at the Great Mall of the Great Plains. Peyton LOVED all of the lights and wanted to go through a second time to check them all out again! I think this was the first year for the display and it was great! We enjoyed lights in a few other neighborhoods as well while we were out - it was great to drive around and enjoy talking about the lights with Peyton and hear her talk about the upcoming holiday.

6. Garrison is now rolling over from front to back - look out world!! The pic below is of him practicing his new skill - why is he growing up so quickly?!?! We are very proud of our little guy who is now also inchworming himself around. Guess we need to start babyproofing sooner rather than later...

7. On Friday we made reindeer food to put out for Santa's reindeer. Peyton especially loved this project as she was able to measure out and mix together the ingredients 100% by herself! When we were done she decided she wanted to make some more to share with Wyatt & Whitney and with some of our neighbors - such a sweetheart!!

Weekly Happenings - 12/12 - 12/18

We have been busy, folks - hang in there - this is a long one! :)

1. Sunday night Peyton wasn't feeling the best and coughed a lot of the night with very labored breathing so Monday morning we took her to the Dr. and found out she had croup, again. Her diagnosis meant it was a Mommy & Peyton day at home on Monday and after she had a few doses of medicine in her she started feeling better quite quickly. The nights were still a little rough with the croupy cough but during the day she recovered quickly. Since Peyton was not feeling well I let her pick what she wanted for lunch - chicken nuggets - and we had a "picnic" downstairs watching a movie during our lunch. She loved getting to do something special and hopefully it helped her feel just a little bit better!

2. Thursday was Peyton's school holiday party and we took donut snowmen for her treat (thank you Pintrest!). Not too shabby! It is so fun to go to her parties and see her interact with her friends. Notice she did agree to a picture with me at the party but was definitely more interested in the cupcake on her plate at the time!

3. Then on Friday we had Peyton & Garrison's school program - it was great!! Before the big event we invited the grandparents to join us for dinner at the Blue Moose and we were excited everyone could make it. We even got a prime spot right in front of the fireplace for our dinner - fun, fun!! Once we got to the program, the babies were up first and rode in a "Train to Dreamland." Garrison looked very dashing in his Christmas pajamas and Santa hat - he is getting to be such a big boy!! Peyton unfortunately got hidden behind some of her classmates so I didn't get a great picture of her during the performance but she posed for me afterwards. Her class sang "Frosty the Snowman" and though it was hard to see she did parts of her dance and was super proud of being up on stage - our little girl is growing up so fast!!! This was her first program/performance on a stage and needless to say we were very proud parents!! At the end of the event a special visitor came - SANTA!! Peyton did an excellent job of walking up even through the huge crowd of kids to get a candy cane from Santa. Although she didn't sit on his lap or anything this was a huge improvement over our last interaction with Santa!

4. Earlier in the week Peyton told me that she wanted to go get donuts in her jammies on Saturday so that is just what we did! After a big evening on Friday night Peyton slept until almost 7:15 - wow!! When she got up, the kids & I headed to the grocery store for donuts, a few other things and of course coffee. Peyton now announces to everyone that she loves coffee though Peyton's coffee is really an espresso sized cup from Starbucks filled with only whipped cream and chocolate syrup - what's not to love, right?!?! The kids were excellent shoppers - see them in the picture below with Peyton proudly holding her donuts!

5. For years I've wanted to find a way to display our Christmas Cards that have pictures so we can enjoy them rather than just having a stack of them on the table - thank you Pintrest! :)

6. Saturday brought our next holiday event - Todd Christmas. We headed to Lexington for a visit with Grandma & Grandpa Todd before heading over to the celebration with Grandpa Todd's extended family. We weren't sure how Peyton would do with all of the activity (we had over 45 people in attendance) but she did great! Of course, she had her partners in crime (Wyatt & Whitney) that helped her along the way. Peyton was not at all interested in getting her present from Santa but was quite confused with why the Santa who came to the party was a different Santa than from Friday night. We explained that Santa has lots of helpers during this busy time of year and she seemed ok with that - she is an observant little one!! Luckily Wyatt helped her out by handing her the present from Santa and she was super excited to get her cookie set (similar to the cupcake set she has at home) - she loves it! We had a fun time and it was great to see several family members we haven't had the chance to see for several years.

7. On Sunday we had visitors from the great state of Iowa - the Mayberrys!! During our visit the kids helped us make Miss Marla's famous chocolate chip cookies (aren't they adorable in their aprons!!!), have a delicious lunch, exchange Christmas presents and of course play, play, play! At one point Peyton came downstairs and said, "Can you turn on the TV so we can watch TV while we jump on your bed." Um, Peyton, didn't know you were jumping on our bed! They play so well together and have such a great time. The best was hearing them "visit" during lunch at their own little table - priceless.

8. Later on Sunday, Grammy & Grandpa joined in the fun by coming up for a visit and to stay with the kids while Chad & I went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra down at the Sprint Center. We had a great visit before leaving (including watching the Chiefs pull out a win against Green Bay!) and after we left the grandparents & kids headed to McDonald's for dinner and play time (which Peyton is still talking about!), drove around to look at Christmas lights and dipped Christmas pretzels to decorate. They had a blast!! While they were busy, we were enjoying an awesome dinner down at the Power & Light district at the Drunken Fish (LOVE sushi!) with our friends Jay & Becci followed by one of the most amazing concerts I have ever been to, the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Our seats were awesome (talking 15 rows back from the stage on the floor), the music was fantastic and the show (lights, pyrotechnics, etc.) were out of this world. Wow!!

9. Peyton is very into her feelings right now and talks about them often. She is also starting to make up more complex sentences using adverbs and adjectives more and more. The other day when we were headed to school she told me, "Garrison is sad" so I asked her if she knew why. She responded with, "I don't know, he won't tell me." So perceptive though that she is picking up on his feelings as well. She can also be heard saying things like, "Daddy made me very sad." (note to readers, this is usually when we have told her she can't have something like a gummy worm at 8:30 in the morning!).

10. Garrison found his feet! It is so funny to watch him on the floor now grabbing after his feet and being amazed at their presence, along with his hands!