I LOVE SANTA!

Santa came to visit our church ward's Christmas party. Because our oldest is just a TAD bit afraid of the jolly man in red, we have not taken the kids to see Santa before. This year, though, Christian wanted to see him. And boy, was he excited to see him! He ran right over and gave him the BIGGEST hug--just like seeing an old friend! They then got down to business and discussed the upcoming holiday and what a sweet little boy would want (Zhu-zhu pets and robots).


It was so darling! Even Kari allowed herself to get a quick picture. But, you ask, where was Emily??

Watching from afar! Even at six, she still wants NO part of the Santa experience. Well, I guess we'll just see if she ends up with what she wants for Christmas!

Emily did have a nice time, however, with her sweet little friend, Aurora. She was so thrilled to be able to sit by her at dinner!

Jingle Bell Rock

Emily's dance puts on an informal Christmas concert. This year, Emily's class did a cute little tap number to "Jingle Bell Rock." Emily was very excited--they got to wear jingle bells! It was such a cute little dance and she did so well; she really knew how to do each of the steps! In fact, her whole class did great and the tapping sounded loud and clear!

I think she liked pretended to "rock the night away" by playing her air guitar!

That's the Jingle Bell Rock!

Sick Day Fun?

I was coming down with a cold Tuesday and Wednesday. And as you all know, the first two days of a cold are the worst. Thus, we had "fun" getting into everything! (B/c Mommy didn't feel well enough to stop it!)

Christian also used his fort constructing skills to build one on his own while Mommy tried to rest on the couch. The picture of Christian and Kari together made me think of a time just a few years back when Emily was the big-kid of the fort and Christian was the baby! Kari also had "fun" playing with the holes in my slippers. (This is the second pair of slippers that I've ended up with holes in the toes!) Kari thinks they're great and they kept her busy so I'm all for them too!Our final bit of fun came when Kari realized that she could clap! I showed her a picture of a baby clapping and then asked, "Kari clap?" Well, she did it! She was so proud of her new trick that she'd clap on command and would even do it while nursing. SO CUTE! It did make me feel a bit better :-).

Perhaps it was all of these little "fun" things, or maybe it was due to my great brother taking Emily and Christian to the library in the afternoon, or maybe it was thanks to prenatal vitamins, EmergenC, Zicam and, a good night's sleep (after a couple of weeks of NO good night's sleep), I feel much better today! I think I've just succeeded in curing the common cold--call CNN!

Allergies

Remember this picture back when Kari turned 9 months old? I had written that she had some mild eczema. Well, hydrocortisone and creams were not working and she had the rash all over her body (except for where her diaper covered). I realized that it all started back when she started eating solids (baby foods and finger foods). So, I took her in to an allergist and she was tested for various food allergies. It came back that she is allergic to milk, eggs, soy and corn. Yup, corn. Very strange, but it made sense b/c this little girl LOVED her Kix cereal (all corn) and Gerber Veggie Crunchies (also corn based).

The doctor assured me that most kids outgrow these allergies, but in the meantime, I'd need to monitor her diet very closely (bring on the label reading!). Since she's still nursing (and she did not have any reaction to my breastmilk), the milk/soy issue isn't huge...yet. Same with the egg thing. However, it is becomming difficult when she wants to eat what we're all eating at dinnertime and what has been prepared has either dairy or eggs in it. So, I'll be heading into Hy-Vee this weekend to have their dietician walk me through the store and show me what I can use as substitutions for these foods. I know there are substitutes for milk/soy and eggs. The tricky one will be corn. EVERYTHING has corn in it (it's subsidized by the government and so manufacturers put it into everything--even wheat and rice-based foods that otherwise she could have.) So, we'll have to test the waters a bit and see what's out there.

The good news is that ever since I substituted Cheerios for Kix and Rice Chex for Corn Chex, Kari's skin has dramatically improved. (Although she doesn't like Cheerios nearly as much as she liked Kix!) She's much less itchy too so, naturally, she's happier! This is just a new area for me since NO ONE in my family has food allergies (especially a weird one like corn!). Where did all of these allergies in kids come from? Growing up, I vaguely remember one friend having a peanut allergy. But that was it! Is there something in the water? Our diets? It's just strange. Hopefully, she'll grow out of them in a few years!

A Very Dapper Christmas

Christian's preschool Christmas program was Tuesday night and boy, was he Mr. GQ! The littlest kids did three songs--Christian knew each one, he just sang very quietly (as did most of them!). He was definitely rockin' the mohawk and, for some reason, was going for the hands-in-the-pocket pose. We loved it!

The lighting was terrible (it was in a gym) and so the pictures are a little dark. But, you get the idea.

Uncle Kyle came to cheer us on too! (And, he took Christian over to get his oh-so-important post-concert cookie!

It's Fun at the Y-M-C-A!

This year, Emily had her party at the YMCA. They have a nice little deal where you use their "party room" for an hour and then you get to go and swim for an hour. It worked out so well and I was thrilled that my house wasn't going to be destroyed by kindergarteners! Emily celebrated this joyous occasion with six of her little friends from school. We went with a semi-butterfly theme (in decorations and cake choice) b/c Emily loves butterflies so much right now.

Pizza was an easy option for dinner...

We played a couple of simple games and boy, these kids were wired! They all really enjoyed opening gifts with Emily (she had told almost all of her friends that she liked the Littlest Pet Shop and Squinkies and so she ended up with lots' of them--she was thrilled!!

Silly kids!

Emily, getting ready to blow out her butterfly cupcake-cake!

Christian decided to forgo the fork and dove head-first (literally) into his ice cream

After opening up presents, we headed into the pool!

Daddy, explaining "Sharks and Minnows" to the crew

The kids loved squirting and attacking each other!

Even Kari (who hates her baths) had a blast in the water!

I highly recommend having a pool party in December! It was so much fun! Happy Birthday, big girl!

Emily is SIX!

Yesterday was Emily's sixth birthday! It was a super fun day for her. She wore all blue. She got to eat in her special "birthday chair" and she got a special visitor at lunchtime (GRANDMA!) and ended up with some pretty fun toys!

Her "scuba" set--we're all set for swimming!

She also was super suprised with her "Littlest Petshop" house. I just loved seeing her face (and Christian's for that matter) light up!

Then, at night we took Emily and Christian to see the BYU vs. Creighton basketball game! Cubby had gotten tickets through work and we all doned matching shirts for the occasion! ("Gotta' support the team," right?) Both kids enjoyed cheering for the Cougs (and using the bathroom every 5 mins--what is it about being out and having to go?) It was a great game and BYU ended up winning. We all got to go down to the court afterwards and see the players. There were so many BYU Alumni down there--it was like a Stake Conference! (It was also funny b/c you could tell who the BYU fans were versus the Creighton fans--BYU fans all had kids!)

We loved being able to go out and do something fun on Emily's big day--and she loved all of the attention (really, who doesn't?)! I can't believe how time has gone by too--I'll have to do a separate post on all my reminiscing! We love her so much and are so excited for all of the years and funtimers that are yet to come. Happy Birthday, Emily!