Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

This will be our final post of 2008!!! The four videos below are all from December. We hope you enjoy this New Year's gift.

Christmas Surprise

This is Christmas morning with Kayleigh seeing her big gift for the first time.

Zeb the Bee

Zeb trying on the Bee outfit.

Hide and Seek

Zeb playing hide and seek (Peek-a-Boo) with daddy.

Kayleigh and Mommy Reading

Kayleigh wanted mommy to read with her. Here is what happened:

Zeb is 8 Months!

Zeb turned 8 months yesterday. I just can't believe it. He is becoming so interactive these days. I could leave my little Kayleigh alone at this age and she would play quietly not getting into anything. Zeb is so different! If he can get into something he will. I'm having to get used to that! He is starting to say "dada" although I am pretty sure it is not yet directed towards John. He also started sitting up on his own just a few days before Christmas. He doesn't want anything to do with the bumbo now that he can sit up on his own. I guess it is time to break out the high chair again for meal times. Below are some fun pictures for your enjoyment.

Below Kayleigh and her friends Bright and Zion thought that Zeb needed all these toys to play with at once!

Carpet Time Mischief!

Sometimes Kayleigh's carpet time in the morning turns into what she likes to call "bed time". This means that she spends her quiet time playing on my bed. She is starting to like this time that she spends by herself. She often asks for it now. This is very different than when I first started carpet time. She used to hang her toes off the carpet and ask every 3 seconds if she could come out. Now she says "Mom close the door, I'm busy!". The other day I opened the door to my bedroom to tell her she could come out and this is what I saw first.

Then I looked down and saw this!

She had taken out every single toy she owns and had thrown in on the floor! Sometimes her time to herself can turn into a big mess!

Christmas Day!

We had a great Christmas Day. Everyone came to our house and spent most of the day here. We had a late breakfast and then opened presents. We also played some games and watched a movie. It was lots of fun! Kayleigh loved opening all her gifts from her family here! She also helped everyone open their gifts as well.

Josh and Danielle gave her this horse.

We drew names and Danielle had my name. She handmade this Jesse Tree for me! I just love it! It is so special that she did it herself.

Ellie gave Kayleigh and Zeb these signs to put up in their room. She made them herself! They are so cute!

Then there is Zeb who liked eating the paper more than getting the new gift!

Christmas Eve

Tonight we went to Josh and Danielle's house to celebrate Christmas Eve. We had tons of food that we plan to eat tomorrow for leftovers on Christmas day. We ate basically the same thing we had for Thanksgiving. Some of our spread included turkey, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, corn corn, and tons of great holiday desserts. We spent some time singing Christmas songs and lighting the Christ candle on the advent wreath. I was really excited for Kayleigh to be a part of the singing this year since she loves music so much. Her favorites were Away in the Manger and she requested Jingle Bells! Below is a picture of us snuggling on the couch right before our singing began. Stay tuned for some great Christmas pictures and stories our our morning.

Peek a Boo with Daddy

Zeb loves to sit in his bumbo and look out the window in the mornings. This particular morning he got a hold of the curtains and started trying to pull them down! Then he started putting the curtains in front of his face. He loves to play! He is such a boy. John and can't wait till he can wrestle with him.

Kayleigh and Zeb in the morning

Today, Kayleigh and Zeb both slep late and woke up in great moods. We decided to get a video of them laughing and playing together. A few pictures are also below for your viewing pleasure.

The Simple Things In Life

I like to think that my little Kayleigh is somewhat protected from materialism living in a foreign country and that simple things will make her happy. Don't get me wrong she has a lot of toys but because we have such a small place we really don't have room for a ton of toys. Today Kayleigh and I went to a store together to get a gift for her little friend. This store is called Hearts and Hands and has lots of handcrafted items for sale. They also have some handmade wooden items such as a child's oven, kitchen, and microwave. I wanted Kayleigh to take a look at the small wooden oven to feel her out to see if she would like it. I have been trying to figure out the best gift for her this Christmas. This was her response "Mommy it no work it needs batteries!" Well, there you have it folks I guess we aren't getting her a wooden oven for Christmas she will think it is broken! Just when I thought she would like a very simple wooden oven to play with she would rather have something that needs batteries and makes lots of noise. I think she is going to be like her father in the fact that he loves electronics. She always wants to listen to his IPod!

Twenty Four Hours of Madness!

Recently John and I were trying to decided whether the kids and I would join him on a trip to a nearby city. Traveling with kids is really not that fun so it has to be worth it. We decided that it would be good for us to go because I was feeling like I needed to get away from my normal routine and even if I had the kids at least we would be doing the same thing in a different place. Little did I know what our travel day had in store for me! So on Wednesday morning ( the travel day) Zeb decides to wake up at 5am and did not go to sleep even though I fed him and left him in his bed till 7am. So for his first morning nap I was confident that it would be a long one. Oh no, it was 20 mins! Then the next two naps he took that day were 20 mins and then a 30 min one. I knew that we were doomed for a fussy child on our trip as we left for the airport. Once it was time to board we realized that no one was calling us to get on the plane. John decides to ask one of the people working about our flight. He proceeds to tell John that there will be at least an hour delay. Upon hearing the news I decided it would be best for John to go back out of security and get us some KFC for dinner because I knew Kayleigh would be hungry. When he returns we realize the cashier had forgotten to put Kayleigh's food in the bag. I was just about to be really upset, because I knew she would not eat what John and I had ordered, when she throws up all over the floor! I guess she hadn't planned on eating anyways! The good news was that most of it landed on the floor but there was some on her shirt. Since Kayleigh is two I don't really think about bringing her an extra pair of clothes when we travel but I do bring Zeb some. So we decided to give Zeb's onies a try. I mean it was better than her smelling really bad the whole time. So sure enough we managed to stretch out the onies enough to get it over Kayleigh's body. Normally, in America I would have been somewhat self conscious of the way my child looked with the snap buttons on the bottom just hanging out but in China I somehow thought they wouldn't think this was too weird. This is the part where I would have loved to have an awesome picture of Kayleigh in Zeb's onies but we had put our camera in the the checked luggage. So after this I was beginning to wonder if this trip was worth it. We finally boarded the plane two hours late! He had plans to stay at some friends apartment while they were away to America. I was excited about it because she has three kids which means she would have all the supplies I needed for my little ones. When we arrived we walked into their apartment to realize that it was freezing cold! Their helper had left some windows open and since it was freezing cold outside that meant it was freezing in their house too! We turned on all the heaters but realized the one in the master bedroom wasn't working. So as John and I slept that night we tried to keep our faces buried in the covers so we would be able to feel our noses in the morning. About 3am we start to hear Zeb screaming. I go to check on him only to realize that his heater isn't working either and that he is freezing. So there was nothing to do but put him in the bed with us to keep him warm. It took about two hours to get him to go back to sleep because he was so tired from the day before. Zeb and I finally fell asleep again around 6 and slept to 8! So was my trip worth it after the twenty four hours of madness? I would still say yes. I got to get out of the house and go to a different city. I was able to hang out with some friends and John and I had a great date night out in a city with great western restaurants. However, I never want to have a day like that again!

Zeb is sleeping through the night!

A couple of weeks ago John and I decided that Zeb was just getting up in the middle of the night to eat out of habit instead of hunger. We decided that we were going to let him cry it out. When Kayleigh was little we had to do the same thing and we were up half the night listening to her scream. We decided this time we would just close the door and open it in the morning. We had a great night sleep but this is what Zeb looked like after the first night of crying. He looks a little rough doesn't he? I felt so bad for him but knew it was what he needed. He is now sleeping through the night which makes the whole family happy especially mom!