Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter 2012

We spent the weekend visiting Corey's parents in Kenmare, ND (about three hours northwest of here). Kya was a perfect traveler in the car ... I didn't hear a peep from her on the way there or home. Corey's parents are the best hosts: delicious food, fun activities, great company. It was cold and very windy outside (it snowed!) but we were more than content enjoying the company inside.


If I could sum up our Easter weekend in two words, they would be "giggle" and "bonnie"


Giggle: Kya was giggling for about 80 percent of the weekend visit. We all had so much fun baking, eating, making silly faces, coloring eggs, painting, eating, watching the Master's golf tournament, making silly faces, celebrating Matthew's birthday, going to Mass Saturday night, eating, making silly faces, and playing cards. Many great memories.

Bonnie: Kya is in love with the Hager's mini-dachshund Bonnie/Brownie. We often herd (at full yell) "Bonnie!!! BONNIE!!!" from Kya. I'm not sure the dog is as thrilled with the relationship as Kya is, but she doesn't seem to mind the attention.

. . .

Helping grandma make bread/buns.
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Making silly faces with Maria
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Kya's first painting project - she loves it!
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Decorating Easter Eggs
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Corey's Elmo egg
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Kya imitating Grandpa.
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Ponytail.
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Fun with Aunt Maria.
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Kya's shirt says "my aunt spoils me," ... so true.
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More puppy love.
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Happy Birthday Matthew! Easter Day
(Kya's 'piranha' face)
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day 2012

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Happy Valentine's Day from Kya, Corey and me.
It's amazing how extra special these little mid-year holidays are when you have a toddler around that seems to live for hugs and kisses. Oh so sweet.

Kya is about 22 1/2 months old and these are a few of her favorite things:
- trains
- Elmo, Nemo and Dora
- the library
- green beans (today Kya almost jumped out of the grocery cart with excitement when we were in the canned veggie aisle)
- balloons
- her Papas (grandpas)
- car rides and errands
- pigtails
- chap-stick
- treats (after she goes potty on the potty chair)
- hugs
- "Do Re Mi" (yes, she is still hooked)
- making and serving (pretend) 'hot tea' to anyone that is interested
- BOOKS. she loves books.

Love you all.
xoxo

Friday, December 23, 2011

Kya meets Santa

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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?

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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.

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

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All Aboard!

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She was a little nervous as they departed ...

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But as they returned, she was all smiles.

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

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Thoroughly enjoying her first lollipop.

This week we also had a family caravan driving tour of the Bismarck-Mandan light displays.
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The temperatures have been unusually warm so we took a walking break at this house.

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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!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

Needless to say (I guess I've already made it obvious with my lack of blogging), we've had a very busy few weeks.
Among the happenings the past month:
- my sister's wedding (woo!!!)
- thanksgiving (we hosted)
- the Pride of Dakota show (I was a vendor)

Each of those big events was wonderfully fun and would have kept me smiling all year. What fun to have three big happenings in two weeks.

So here goes some blog catch-up ...

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I was preparing dinner in the kitchen and peeked into the living room to find Kya hard at work at my desk. Before seeing her like this, I had no idea that she could climb up into a chair. What a surprise it was to see her like this! She is now officially the Bison Booties office assistant.

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My parents and Grandma Katy were in town for Caitlyn's wedding, so it was an extra special treat to have them around for Thanksgiving as well. Kya made many fun memories with Grandpa and Grandma Z.

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Grandma Z and Kya bake pies at our house.

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Corey, Kya, and I hosted Thanksgiving for Corey's family. This was the first bog cooking holiday we hosted in our new house and my first-time-ever cooking a turkey.

We also have a BEAUTIFUL day. Corey was happy to Kya out to play which gave me plenty of quiet time to cook and prepare the meal.

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Kya likes to feel the breeze wind in her face.

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Kya liked watching thanksgiving football with Aunt Maria.
If you ever get the chance to sit down and chat with Maria, you will quickly learn that she is beyond intelligent - she is one of the smartest people I know. AND ... she knows lots about meat judging/butchering/grading. She is a super radical college kid. We're pretty lucky to be a frequent pit-stop on her way home.

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Thanksgiving!
Kya ready to pray – and eat.

Corey's mom is the most gracious visitor, she brought part of the thanksgiving meal with her. She has a few family specialties that she cooks and it's a wonderful treat to have her cooking in the house.
By the way, my first-time turkey was delicious. Also, notice the lack of snow out the window - it was so warm!

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Grandma Katy and Kya good buddies.

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Grandma Katy stayed at the Seven Seas and invited us to visit and swim at the pool. Kya spent so much time in the pool she almost started growing gills.

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The tree went up the weekend after thanksgiving.

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The is nothing sweeter than the awe and curiosity of a toddler at Christmastime.

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Helping Daddy hang her "First Christmas" ornament.

. . .

In other news:

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[sigh]
Kya has been spending a bit of time in time-out lately. Time-out happens on our foyer church pew. This particular day, Kya thought it best to cuddle with the stuffed reindeer. Maybe she's starting to get the hang of this?

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Bath time.
If Kya made the rules, she would have bath time for about five hours each day. I try to restrict baths to about 60 minutes a day, or until she is wrinkly as a prune – whichever comes first.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween 2011

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Kya the rag doll

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wig: Walmart under $5
facepaint: $2 Walmart
shirt: already owned
skirt: made from scrap fabric
tights: $2
legwarmer: Grandma Katy original (thanks grandma!)
bag: reused shopping bag with sewn-on fabric
Kya's second halloween: priceless

. . .

Kya had an absolutely fantastic day making the rounds trick-or-treating to offices today. What I thought would be a quick trip in town was a four-hour morning and afternoon of fun.

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The first stop was a visit to Aunt Caitlyn at Synergy Health Group (Jones Physical Therapy) in the Eckroth Plaza.

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Then we visited my Aunt Ronda at MDU in downtown Bismarck. At lunchtime we met Caitlyn and Corey at Subway where Kya charmed every customer. After lunch we headed up to MDU Resources to see Corey's gang. MDU Resources was such fun because almost every employee hands out candy, so Kya got to trick-or-treat all around his floor. She filled up her bag!

Then we went to the grocery store. And then we made our last stop to see Uncle Andrew at the state water department.

After a great nap in the car on the way home, we spent a beautiful afternoon outside enjoying a 66°F sunny day (no wind!).

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After dinner at home, Corey, Kya and I headed out for a few 'real' trick-or-treating stops. We went to Corey's friend Eric Miller's house and to our relatives, Bob and Kristen, and Bill and Sandy's homes.

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Here are the most adorable Vander Vorst kiddos I've ever seen: Kya (19 months) as a rag doll, Lauryn (5 months) and Parker (4 1/2) as pirates.

Happy Halloween!

. . .

In other news, Kya seems to be completely healed from her cold and ear infection. Hurray!