Happy 2008

It's 8:15pm and I just put my sick little KK down for the night. Well, probably not the whole night considering she has a 102 temp AFTER fever reducing meds. Daddy was in bed at 6:30, also not feeling well. KK and I laid on the couch all day today - minus the hour I ran into work and Daddy was home while she napped in her bed. We watched Nemo, Cinderella, Aladdin, a few episodes of MM Clubhouse, and two DVD's of Thomas. At 7:30 she looked at me with her flushed face and watery eyes and said "Go night night?" I guess I'll start a grown-up movie and go check on her every 15 minutes...This isn't the way we planned to start the new year, but we are all home safe and (mostly) sound. I'll take that with no complaints.

I'm never particularly sad to see the holidays go - the Christmas tree and all the decorations were down and put away by noon the day after Christmas. I don't dislike the Christmas season - it just gets heavy for lots of reasons. The only thing I truly do miss is the Christmas cards...seeing the faces and names of loved ones come in the mail each day. Our fridge gets covered with photos, a basket fills with cards, and I am reminded of how blessed we are to have so many amazing people in our lives. But the photos and cards were put away today, too. Time for a new year to begin! We have lots of good things planned already - here's to 2008! Happy New Year!!!

Smissmiss Happiness

Thomas Thomas everywhere! KK had a wonderful Christmas and got more than a fair share of gifts. She is especially thrilled with all of her new Thomas toys...can you tell? Santa brought the kitchen set that she has been asking for (with some gentle nudging) and she got a big set of fake food from her cousin C and family. She's had a great time making gourmet dishes and insisting that Daddy or I sit at her little table to enjoy them. She also got several Mickey-themed gifts, and she couldn't be happier with everything. It has been so fun to watch her play with all of her new imaginitive toys. Now it's time to pack a box of toys to send to our new friends in Utah so that we have room for all of these gifts - I hope they have a lot of room!

Undie Ninja

We bought KK some new pretty Dis*ney Princess und*ie$ the other day. I washed them all, and while folding laundry I turned around to send a quick e-mail to a friend. When I turned back to the laundry, this is what I saw:
She was so engrossed in what she was doing, she didn't notice me grabbing the camera. Maybe it was another one of those 'had to be there moments' - but I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! My sides still ache...

Santa, Round 2

Today Santa came to visit the club where I work. They were also doing horse-drawn sleigh rides and serving cider, hot chocolate and cookies. We didn't go on a sleigh ride since it was freezing outside, and KK isn't feeling great - both she and Daddy have mild colds. This is probably the reason why she reacted exactly the same as her first visit with Santa this year; she just sat on his lap and stared at us with a "whatever" look on her face. They still took a cute picture together, and Santa got a chance to tell KK that Chocolate Chip cookies are his all-time favorite. Good thing, since they happen to be Mommy and Daddy's favorite too. : ) Santa, who bears a striking resemblance to the club's front desk manager, did an amazing job with the kids. I can't imagine wearing all of that gear with kids climbing up and down from his lap for two hours - some of whom totally freaked out. This Santa isn't going to need to work out for a week!

A Very Vintage Christmas

I guess all it took was a few inches of snow! This weekend I finally got the never-carved/now-decomposing pumpkins off of the front step and the decorative scarecrows put away. (I think the neighbors were starting to wonder about us.)

I got the shove I needed to make it look a little bit like Christmas around here when a friend gave us a little tree that was having a hard time finding a home. We are not hosting any events this year, so it will just be the four of us for Christmas Eve and morning. I really didn't want to bring out a lot of decorations and thought a little tree would be perfect. So, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, the little bear family my Mom gave us is up on the high mantle, and we have a tree - that is it.

To make the decorating even more simple, I decided to only use the tree ornaments that Daddy inherited from his grandparents, along with some tinsel garland that I took from my Mom's collection when I moved out a hundred years ago (is tinsel garland from the 70's considered vintage, Lisa? Jeez we're getting old.) The ornaments are circa late-50's early-60's according to the dates on the packaging. They are stored in a box that traveled with KK's great-grandparents when they moved to Colorado from NYC. Daddy loves that box as much as the ornaments it holds.
I really love how it turned out, and it is very special for Daddy too. At first I was disappointed that I had only used white lights, but I think it ended up bringing out the little bit of color left on the bulbs (many of them hardly have any paint left at all).

KK's been pretty good with leaving the tree alone, which I'm glad for because I'm sure it's a lead-paint minefield. Today she sat by the tree and opened a few presents sent by Grandma and Grandpa K (with Grandma's permission of course). Minnie! Mickey! Elmo! Heaven!

Merry Smissmiss!

It's been a while since I've posted a video of KK, so I thought we'd share one tonight. (Thanks for the Mickey soccer ball, Auntie Sunshine! It's a hit, of course!) There are a few things that KK says that I want to keep in my memory forever. I need to start taking more video because her language gets clearer (at least to me) every day. She used to say "Whip Toss!" for lip gloss, but in this clip she is already saying it pretty clearly. She pulled her pony-sprout out of her hair, so it's kind of crazy, but you might notice that I trimmed her bangs just a tiny bit today. They're only a little crooked. : )

I'll try to catch a few more of her cute words another day and post them too. In the meantime, have a Merry Smissmiss!

Our little celebrity

What could be a better birthday gift than having your baby perform in her first musical event?!? I say nothing! This past Sunday, KK's music school held a fundraising concert and reception. She sang two songs - one with the baby group because they only expected two other babies and needed more bodies (I also serve on the board of directors, so was an easy and willing target) and one with her own age group. Isn't the little guy on the left in this first picture just adorable?!?!

Can you see KK, way in the back/center? She didn't really sing or even shake her bell - she was too busy yelling "HI!!!" and waving at her friend on the other side of the stage - the girl in the purple shirt in the back row on the far left. After the concert, a jazz ensemble performed and KK danced her little heart out. We had several family and friends come and support KK which we appreciated sooo very much. It was a very special 8th anniversary of my 29th birthday! Great job, KK, we are so proud of you! xoxox

Santa!

We made our annual trip to see Santa today! It's been our tradition to visit Santa at the same place where Daddy and his brothers went when they were little. KK's cousin C, his family, and Grandma M also go with us and we always have a nice time strolling in the little Victorian village where Santa lives. We go early in the season, and this location is way off the beaten path, so there are very few people and we can have as much time with Santa as we want (poor guy). KK was very tired from the drive to Santa's shop, so she just sat on his lap in a daze - no smiles, no excitement. C was also a little shy, but they both mustered enough energy for some knuckles and high fives... It finally feels like 'tis the season. Now if only I could muster enough energy to get the Thanksgiving decorations down and some Christmas ones up...