Photos

Alright, its been a while, so here are some pictures.
I haven't been feeling all that great lately so I haven't taken as many pictures as I usually do, but I'll share what I have. I also am not really in the right mood to be witty, so you'll have to deal with boring anecdotes, if any.
Yesterday, our friend Ben came over and he and Daddy caught a few pictures of munchkin finding their beer stash...
Now, I want everyone to note that the cap is firmly in place here--but she still seems to know what to do with a bottle of suds...
I caught a few pictures last weekend of Kaylee watching her absolute favorite TV show, "The Wiggles" when Grandpa Ron visited. Yet again, I managed to not capture any photographic proof that G-Pa was here though.
Should I be worried about how mesmerized she is by this show?
Last Tuesday was playgroup day at Henry's house. Kaylee liked playing with Henry's Zebra.

Emily wanted to give Kaylee a hug while she rode the Zebra...
Kaylee saw right through her plan though.

"No, Emily! Its my turn on the Zebra," Kaylee said.
Kaylee and Emily had a play date at our home a couple of weeks ago, while Jackie had a doctors appointment. The girls had lots of fun as usual.
And here's our award winning smile.
Here are a few pictures from Christmas that I got from my sister when she visited this week, thought I'd share them. Here's our arrival at Grammy and Grampy's house.

Many presents ensued.

And more presents.
Uncle Darren (and Auntie Jacqueline) gave Kaylee her shopping cart, which she just loves.
"I sure made out like a bandit," thought Kaylee.
"Here Grampy, I just have too much stuff, can you hold this please?"
"Mmmmm lunch."
Duncan wouldn't mind getting in on that lunch action Kaylee. You'd better protect your plate!
Alright, I promise I'll get better about taking more pictures again. Ciao.

Happy New Year

Last Saturday we packed up the car to drive a block and half (what can I tell you its cold!!!!) to visit our friends, the Hochs. Kaylee and Bailey picked up right where they left off the last time, playing together and giggling and laughing. Its a real hoot to watch them together.

And luckily for Kaylee, Bailey doesn't mind sharing her toys...and Kaylee apparently doesn't mind sharing her germs...when does this 'everything in the mouth' phase end?

My sister Diana stayed with us from Thursday through Sunday. On Sunday her boyfriend Charlie Colin (she calls him Charlie, but he introduced himself as Colin, so I am compromising) came over for the day. He was great with Kaylee, so we got along just fine. He was very creative and patient with her, and in turn, Kaylee took a real shining to him.
I have no photo evidence of Charlie Colin, but he took all of these pictures. Apparently he is something of a shutter-bug, and I can see why. He was worried about the lighting, but I think all of these came out really really well. So thank you Charlie Colin for sending these pictures so fast--(and you said it'd be 3 months!)
Here's Kaylee, her balloon and Petra, who seems rather wary of said balloon...
I presume Diana is one of Charlie Colin's favorite subjects to photograph, perhaps that's why this picture is so great! I really like this one of Kaylee and her Auntie.
Here are just a few more cute shots courtesy of the Charlie Colin, I am sure you're sick of my commentary...so I'll just leave it at: Happy New Year.

Christmas, Take 2 and 3

OK, so Christmas morning dawned like every other. Kaylee is too young to understand the concept of Santa, so she slept in (which Mommy and Daddy did NOT mind I assure you.)
We dressed Kaylee up in her Christmas dress which I think is just adorable.
Then we showed Kaylee her first of many new toys: her play kitchen. She quickly got to work cooking up some breakfast...

"What was that you said you wanted Daddy?" she called out."Oh, that's right, eggs! I am making Daddy eggs for breakfast," she recalled as she resumed her stirring.
She got some fruit out of her new fridge to garnish Daddy's breakfast. Mmmmmm plastic food!
Then it was time to put Kaylee in her fancy (and matching) coat and hat and head over to Grammy and Grampy's house.

She got lots of gifts at Grammy and Grampy's house too, and believe it or not this is the only picture that came out any good from all day yesterday. So many people were taking pictures that I just kind of forgot to take even more. So hopefully Auntie Jacqueline will email me some of the pictures she took so I can round out my collection.

On Christmas Eve day; Grammy, Grampy and Auntie Diana came up to our house and we finally got to do some outside sledding. As you can see, Kaylee had a blast going down the small hill in our backyard...look at that smile!

Here's another action shot. Daddy and Grampy did all the work pulling her up the hill (which slight as it is, was still a pain in about 10 inches of well packed snow) and Kaylee enjoyed the spoils.

Here's the last sledding shot, a cute one of Daddy and Kaylee.

Later that afternoon Emily and her parents came over so the girls could exchange their gifts. But first they had lots of fun together in Kaylee's new tunnel!

Then it was down to business...presents! Much fun was had by both girls and time just flew until it was basically time for both girls to go to bed. What a great Christmas Eve celebration!
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, Kaylee sure did!

Christmas, Take 1 ... and then some

Alright, here's a bunch of pics from the last 10 days or so. Yesterday we packed up and went down to Connecticut to spend some holiday time with Daddy's family. When Kaylee arrived at Grandma's house it was time for a Teddy Bear Tea Party. Kaylee wasn't quite sure what she thought about this and unfortunately a dish or two was broken. Perhaps next year she'll be more in tune with what to do at a tea party and be less like a bull in a china shop.
But at least we've taught her to do her part and clean up her messes. Apparently she likes brooms just as well as swiffers.
Well after Kaylee cleaned up it was time for some presents. Daddy got a RC Truck, which is more for Kaylee and the dogs than him. Here's Auntie Abbie helping her chase it down.
Speaking of Auntie Abbie and (sorta) Uncle Josh(?); they bought her a very fun tunnel that Kaylee wasted no time going back and forth through. Then she went in one end and stood up, lifting one end of the tunnel off the ground...hence the weirdness of this photo.
Auntie Abbie also got her a My Little Pony (one of her favorite childhood toys as I understand it) and Kaylee really seemed to like it too. No one needed to show her how to brush her pony's tail and mane.
Grandma got her a Radio Flyer Fire Truck which Kaylee had a blast riding around on. She needs to grow just another inch or so before she can easily mount and dismount this ride-on toy. The ladders in the back kept tripping her up, but that didn't stop the fun.

Grandma also got her a sled, which since we forgot Kaylee's snow boots became an indoor toy, at least for the day...
Also present were G-Pa nad Ba. G-Pa is working hard on a swingset for Kaylee, which will hopefully appear in the summer time, he's very excited about some of the design ideas, a bit over my head, but we'll see soon enough. Ba soaked up as much Kaylee time as he could as well, but unfortunately now that Kaylee is (lets use the word) mobile; she's not one to sit still for too long, so he had to take short little visits with her.
Last Tuesday, we had playgroup at Henry's house. Kaylee, Henry and Emily had lots of fun playing around.
They watched the Wiggles, played in the playhouse, played with trains and read some books, phew, what a morning!
Last Saturday, 'Uncle' Ben and 'Auntie' Danielle came over for our holiday celebration together. Here's Kaylee opening her earliest Christmas present.

"Thanks 'Uncle' Ben for this cool green Care-Bear, but what I really want is your new cell phone."
Even 'Auntie' Danielle smiled for the camera for a change.
And a smile from everyone! Yay for actually remembering to take pictures!
I had to share this picture with you too. The image is slightly spoiled by the oatmeal dribbling out of her mouth but I love the little smile.
Well there's my update. Merry Christmahannukwanzikah!

Kaylee meets Santa

Today, I took Kaylee to the mall to meet Santa Claus. As we predicted, she wasn't all that thrilled at the idea of sitting on some stranger's lap...but she held together pretty well considering the level of stranger anxiety she's been having lately. I love the Santa our mall has. He's the real deal, no fake beard or anything...and he's really sweet.
Even Kaylee wanted to check out that beard as white as snow.
Then she thought she'd about had enough.
But wait, we wanted a picture with our friend, Emily and Santa too. And boy, if you thought Kaylee was upset at the prospect of being in a stranger's lap...check out Emily's reaction.
These will make a great scrapbook page and years from now it'll all be a big joke, and for now its just a funny picture.
Merry Hannukah and Happy Christmas!