Kya meets Santa

Kya got to meet Santa this week at our local mall. She was so excited to see Santa it just melted my heart. I'm not sure what has her so excited about Santa but I know it has nothing to do with gifts (she was far too young to understand a Santa visit last year and we have not talked about the gift thing yet). Anyway, as you can see, she and Santa are good friends already.

Having a toddler around for the holidays gives me a new appreciation of the season and adds a heaping dose of wonder and love to Christmas. How did we live before Kya arrived?


Also at the mall is a new train that circles in entire interior of the mall corridor. For a couple dollars per person, you can ride on the train. This is 'way cool' if you are 20 months old or if you are someone named Grandma Don.


Kya has watched "The Polar Express" and was an old pro with the ticket stamping routine.


All Aboard!


She was a little nervous as they departed ...


But as they returned, she was all smiles.


The conductor gave Kya a DumDum for being a good passenger on the train.
So here is Kya thoroughly enjoying her first lollipop.


Thoroughly enjoying her first lollipop.

This week we also had a family caravan driving tour of the Bismarck-Mandan light displays.

The temperatures have been unusually warm so we took a walking break at this house.


Unfortunately light tours are a little past Kya's bedtime. Here she is reminding us of this.
Oh how I love my little elfkin.

. . .

Merry Christmas!

Kya's First Christmas

I don't believe that words can express the joy that was our 2010 Christmas.

I can only hope that through these few photos, you can see a glimmer of the wonderful holiday we experienced (over the span of multiple days with both of our families).

lots of neighborhood deer join us in the evenings

the sweetest moment

December 23: sledding in the back yard

Corey & Maria (Corey's little sister)

out for a few minutes of fresh air ... then quickly back inside

Christmas Eve in Linton, ND

with Grandpa Andy

She dirtied her little white tights in church ... so these are her backup pants.

Kya's first doll. Bitty Baby from Uncle Matthew.

Kya and her new best friend - Corey's cousin Abby.

the two blondies.

Christmas Day

breakfast and stocking stuffers at home with the Zundels

Thanks for the dino rider, Great Grandma Katy!

Dec. 26

Corey swaddled two babies at nap time (Kya and her Bitty Baby)!

Grandpa Don and Corey install our new (and much needed) baby gate.

Merry Christmas

We are so very blessed.

Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Totally random fact of the day: I have 332 Christmas songs in my iTunes library. Not one of them is "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" ... am I not the only one who thinks the chances of that happening are incredibly slim?

Anyway, back to blogging.

I'm returning from an unexpected blogging hiatus.

I guess I've been pretty busy lately. Baby Kya is a complete sweetheart. She keeps me busy, but I wouldn't trade my days with her for anything. I'm keeping busy with my freelance graphic design business – I just started working with a photographer in Bismarck, helping with his graphic design projects. In my graphic design down time, I work on restocking my baby bootie inventory on Etsy. Much to my delight (and surprise), sales have well exceeded my expectations. I sold 24 pairs of booties in my first month on Etsy.

Add to that ... lots of family in town (both Hagers and Zundels! Yay!) and fun treats like a date night to the Manheim Steamroller concert. Yippie skippy!

Phew. Here is more of what we've been up to the last two weeks:

Snow, snow, and more snow. Oh and did you know the Polar Express has a route past our house? Yep, it goes directly north to the North Pole from here.

One day we had exceptionally beautiful frost. I decided it would make a perfect photo-op.

So, I put Kya down for a nap and went out with my camera.

It was cold. And beautiful. But very cold.

So I turned back and decided to get warmer gloves.

Darn it.

Locked out of the house.

The nearest keys were with Corey, at work, 15 miles away.

To make a long story short, I used my cell phone to call my fast-acting grandparents that came to my rescue. I got back into the house in 30 minutes. Kya slept through the whole thing.

The photos are nice, but not worth the stress (or cold nose) it took to get them.

This is taken from our mailbox corner (right off Hwy 1806) and shows our piece of the prairie.

On another blustery day, Kya and I visited the North Dakota state capitol building.

We just made a quick trip to pick up a Pride of Dakota gift basket I won (cool!), but we also checked out the Christmas tree. We were a few hours early for the official lighting ceremony.

Kya was really impressed.

We've been decorating for Christmas too.

Our little elf has been enjoying the decorations.

She likes the tree and lights, but is careful to keep her distance.

Somehow I managed to make Kya her very own stocking. I make it by copying/tracing our stocking shape and design.

Corey made sure to remind me that it needed her name, so Santa knows which one is hers. Of course!

Fantasy football is winding down and the competition is intense.

Kya is Corey's official fantasy football sidekick.

But sometimes her trade suggestions don't make much sense.

Kya got to take my rocking horse for a ride this week. This was my horse when I was a baby, made for me by my great grandpa. My dad repaired it though the years, so it is still in great working order.

And today, eight days before Christmas, Kya got to meet Santa.

My mom, grandma, and I took her to the Kirkwood Mall to meet the jolly fellow.

Kya was a bit unsure about the event. Maybe it was the beard. Or maybe the red suit?

Whatever it was, she wanted outta there.

It's beginning to look a lot like ...

Christmas!

First with the frigid cold weather today.

Kya's cold weather bunting is on it's way from REI, so I had to squeeze her into this hand-me-down newborn bunting. She was less than pleased, but she was warm.

Then we set up the tree!

Kya's new favorite source for entertainment: the Christmas tree.

By the numbers

1 day until Caitlyn's last school test (ever). I'm so proud of my little sister ... a.k.a. physical therapy doctor to-be

4 days until my mom arrives!

7 days until ultrasound number two

10 days until the baby shower, thrown by my sister and two wonderful aunts. And my dad arrives!

12 days until we depart for our babymoon to Mexico (with my parents, sister and her boyfriend, uncle and aunt)!

21 days until Christmas and Caitlyn's Birthday

28 days (approximately) until we start the THIRD trimester

Looks like we have a busy month coming up!

Snow fun!

With six inches of new fluffy snow and a beautiful sunny and warm day (high of about 15º) we decided to try our luck at sledding. The hills in west Mandan were the perfect spot. Corey picked out a steep area to sled down, which worked perfectly because there was a paved walking trail near it that we could walk up to get back to the top of the hill. It was a very steep hill which made for some crazy wipeouts. The best sled was Grandpa's old toboggan, which easily fit Caitlyn, Corey and I all together. 

My mom (ReNay) was our photographer, stationed at the bottom. The sledders included Corey, Caitlyn, my dad (Don) and me. Grandma, Grandpa and Ronda stopped by to check out the action and make sure we weren't getting too crazy. Dad was the best sledder, going the farthest and wiping out the least. Caitlyn and I topped the wipeout charts ... apparently I had a hard time keeping my feet in the sled - I guess I got scared.

I made a video of some of the best photos and action sequences. I'm rather surprised that we all ended the day without any serious injuries.

enjoy :)

One blizzard and lots of cookies and few reviews

Today we baked sugar cookies at Grandma's house. My sister Caitlyn, Grandma, Aunt Ronda and I had a blast baking and decorating all the cookies. We made cookies shaped like trees, wreaths, gingerbread boys, Christmas light bulbs, stars, boots, candy canes, mittens, and snowmen. We're officially ready for Christmas now. yum.

The weather is helping us get ready for Christmas too - for a white Christmas that is. We're forecasted to get a wild and crazy blizzard this weekend, starting this evening  – with lots of snow and lots of wind. It will be getting very chilly too - a HIGH on Monday of  negative 10. burrrr. This storm is supposed to be even worse than the blizzard we had last month.

My parents fly in next week for their Christmas stay in North Dakota. I hope the storm isn't so bad that they can't fly in. It will be great to have them here.

The A Christmas Story play we went to last Friday was awesome and so funny – just like the movie. Some scenes I liked better than the movie version!

Last night Corey took me to the Nutcracker ballet. I'd never been to the Nutcracker or a ballet so I don't have much to compare it to but it was beautiful and magical to watch. I didn't realize that ballerinas actually work poofy tutus! neat.

Signed and sealed.

Some of my best memories of Christmas as a child are receiving packages in the mail from grandparents and aunts and uncles. Since we grew up in California and all our family lived in North Dakota and Montana, we received lots of packages from the UPS man. 

Over the years, Caitlyn and I developed the skill of scent identification. We could easily identify who the package was from by the scent. It was amazing how comforting it was to get a "Grandma Rene" scented package - they smelled just like her house! Or one from Grandma Katy - it always smelled just like her. 

It's hard to believe it's time for ME to be sending packages. This year we sent two boxes. I had so much fun wrapping each gift, tying a bow ... and then strategically packing each box, and sealing with tape. The not too fun part was bringing both boxes to the post office today – it was quite icy and very cold. But I guess that's all part of the gift giving process.