Merry Christmas!!!

We've been having a great time with our families this holiday season. Uncle Justin, Aunt Kirsten, Uncle Ranen, Mason, and Owen were all in town for Christmas so we spent a lot of time over at Grandma and Granpa G's house this past week. We decided to try to get a nice picture of the four grandbabies on that side of the family, unforunately I don't have any of the four of them just yet but I thought these were cute of Dillon and Kayda. Uncle Ranen did a really good job of getting them to smile. I love the picture of Dillon, he looks so grown up and in the picture of Kayda she just looks like she's having so much fun!

When we were taking the pictures all of the babies were barefoot so I simply HAD to get a picture of all of their feet. From left to right it goes Owen (3.5 months), Dillon (almost 1 year), Kayda (2 years), Mason (2.5 years)

We have very busy Christmas mornings so we had to wake the kids up early. We woke up Dillon and he just wanted to be snuggled until he got himself functioning, when we went in the wake up Kayda we said "It's Christmas, do you want to go open presents" and she sat straight up in the bed with a big smile on her face and said "aye" which is her version of "yes" it must come from her Irish roots.Santa came to visit us on Christmas morning, but the kids got it backwards. The Elmo was meant for Kayda and the sports set for Dillon but they traded and were very entertained with the other person's Santa gift!

Once we opened gifts at our house we went of the Grandma and Grandpa G's to exchange gifts, then went to Grandma and Grandpa H's for another gift exchange and then we went over to Baba's to have breakfast. It was hectic but a lot of fun, Kayda really understood what was going on this year and we're really excited for next year when Kayda AND Dillon will understand the idea of presents. Thank you everyone for their/our gifts we are REALLY enjoying them!

This picture could not be ignored. In case you haven't seen Dillon's eyes, or the pictures don't show them well enough, click on this picture of Dillon. He has the most BEAUTIFUL blue eyes and this picture is one of the first to really do them justice!

For Christmas this year I made my babies each a fleece tie blankets. Grandma and Grandpa G gave them these incredibly cooshy and silky soft pillows. So when we got home it was nap time so we put Kayda's pillow on the couch and wrapped her up in her new blanket. Daddy and I were both incredibly jealous, she looks SO comfortable!!!

Sledding!

Well, it's official, our children are little dare devils. Kayda and Dillon both enjoyed sledding with their cousins (by age: Nathan, Aileena, Jarrett, Peyton, and Ella). If we had let her she would have kept going down, alone or with someone, all day but little brother had to take a nap so we only stayed an hour. Here are my favorite pics of them!

Oh Christmas Tree!!!

We FINALLY put our Christmas tree in the house and decorated it. Kayda loved putting the decorations on...
Dillon loved taking them off...

Kayda even "helped" daddy screw the base on to the tree. Our poor tree looks pretty bare since we don't put up any breakable ornaments.

First Hair Cuts... well, trim really

I decided once Dillon's hair started doing this over his shirts and Kayda's hair started flying everywhere that they needed a hair cut. So on Friday we went and did that. It doesn't really look much different, it was just a trim. We saved some of the hair, you need a microscope to see Kayda's but there's quite a bit of Dillon's!

Swimming Videos!!!

I'm taking advantage of the fact that I can't do swim lessons so Grandma Peggy is there with Brian... it means I FINALLY have an opportunity to get lots of pictures and videos, today was the video day. They're not quite at their normal swimming level, we're just getting back into it after several months off and the water is cold but they still have fun! The first one mostly has Kayda just enjoying the water, her smiles were too cute to ignore by putting up videos where she's actually swimming more... The second one has more of Dillon! I'm pretty sure you all know I'm kind of a control freak so ignore my orders from the side of the pool, it actually drives me pretty nuts not to be able to do it myself, but I go to the doctor Friday so hopefully my arm will be healed. Thanks Grandma Peggy for going in there and putting up with me!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I decided that it would be fun to bundle up and go for a walk today. Got the kids all bundled up, coats, hats, a warm drink and several blankets inside their little weather shield. They seemed to enjoy it. Kayda fell asleep. One of the streets in our neighborhood was entirely black ice so I was having fun pushing them around on that. Gotta love the strollers with the big wheels they are SO much nicer. They go every where, the beach, the snow... it doesn't matter. They're fantastic!

I thought these pictures were cute. Dillon decided that his toes were delicious and Kayda tried to wrap herself up in her blanket.

Playdough!

I made playdough a LONG time ago (yeah I know I could have bought it but we get more this way). I kept it in the fridge and remembered I had it today, so I pulled out one of the colors for Kayda to play with. She entertained herself for an HOUR with the playdough, a plastic knife and a cookie cutter. I attempted to keep Dillon occupied for her but eventually he managed to make his way over anyway. The recipe I used was super easy and works really well, it doesn't dry out at all (I put it at the end of this so if anyone wants it they can keep going, if they don't they don't have to read it!) We had the fire going so it was nice and toasty so here are my diaper babies!

I thought these pictures were cute so I had to share. Kadya was sitting on the couch getting ready to watch "Kung Fu Panda" (movies are my way of getting her to take a nap) and Dillon wanted up so I put him up there. Kadya decided she wanted to sit next to him and snuggled right in next to him. Dillon was acting hungry so I got him some crackers, I thought this picture of it was funny because Kayda was trying to put his water back where he could reach it and ended up leaning on his arm, well obviously when she did that it moved the cracker further away from his mouth so he's kind of going "come here cracker" with his eyes and his mouth. I thought it was a funny expression.

PLAYDOUGH!!!

Flour 3cups

Salt 1 1/2 cups

Water 3 cups

Vegetable Oil 2TB.

Cream of tartar 1TB.

Food coloring few drops or unsweetened "Kool-Aid" 1pkg.

Mix ALL of the ingredients in a large saucepan.Cook over medium low heat, until the dough comes away from the edges of the pan and it becomes difficult to move the spoon. Remove from heat. Cool until it can be handled.Place on counter or wax paper knead 3-4 times.Store in an air tight container.

Swim lessons again!

We started swim lessons again for the first time in a few months. Kayda got SO excited when she saw her swimsuit! Grandma Peggy was nice enough to go in with Daddy to help with the babies since I have a couple of more weeks until I get back to the doctor about my arm. Dillon did great, he's figured out how to lunge off the wall when he's sitting, he can hold on to the side, go underwater completely and he'll lay out on his back really well. Kayda usually loves to jump but the water was colder than normal so it was harder to get her back in the water, she does the arms, can kick around the pool with a noodle underneath her, will occasionally lay out on her back and she goes underwater. She LOVES to watch the swimteam that's on the other side of the bulkhead. She kept wanting to stand there and watch them. They only lasted in the cold water for about 15 minutes but they still had a great time!