Future Dentist?

A toothbrush in her stocking was all it took to entertain this little girl....

The Pewi | Y Bike

 We. Love. This. Thing. 

I was flipping through facebook one day and happened to see this posted on giggle, it wasn't something I was looking for, but also couldn't pass up.  Y Bike makes a line of balance bikes, and the Pewi is the version for little ones.  I read through some reviews before clicking buy, and they were all great.  It is the perfect size for Tenley, and she will also grow with it all at the same time.  They say is is great for learning to walk, however, it rolls very easily so unless you have a stable walker I would be cautious of that.  However, Tenley LOVES pushing this thing all over the house.  She can climb up on it on her own, and her legs are long enough to sit on it and scoot around.  The wheels are on a caster so they roll smoothly in all directions.  No hard turns or steering to navigate.  She was all about giving her babies rides too!

Olivia Mae is ready to go.

so is Mr. Snowman

loading up the whole crew!

Time for their drop off (I guess)

It is so much fun to see what all this little lady is learning lately.  Not only do we love to give our babies rides, we love to "love them," comb our hair, give hugs..to anyone or anything that will stand still long enough, and wear ALL jewelry that we can get our hands on.  She is really understanding short instructions and is compliant most* of the time...ie, take it to Mommy/Daddy, put [item] in box/bag. etc., sit, stand, "not for little girls" we try to use that in lieu of  "no" in hopes that she will not use "no" on us so soon.  I know there is many more, but I will use those for another post and remember what they are. So cute, and so fun!

Christmas at our home.

This year marked the first year that we have stayed in Chanute to begin our own Christmas traditions.  It was weird not being home, but we want Tenley to wake up in her own bed Christmas morning.  Tim actually had to to work Christmas Day this year, so we did our Christmas on Christmas Eve and then her and I played and snuggled all day on Christmas Day.  We hope he can be home with us next year though.

She really got the hang of ripping the paper open and digging into all the gifts, which we weren't sure if she would get.  She would rip some open then just giggle and then continue.  What a joy! As for how she did with all the Christmas decorations, like I said before, wonderful!  She just loves looking at everything sparkling around her.  We will leave the trees up through Epiphany then it will be time for them to come down.  I always feel like the house is so bare after the Christmas season and everything is put away for another year. But soon enough it will be time to get the spring out and that is always a welcome change when it gets here!

Santa has been here!

Daddy helping with the unwrapping

fun paper! and do ya like my new necklace?

new hair bows

helping Daddy with his new grill set

and Mommy with her new North Face (yaaay!!)

the aftermath!

so excited! as soon as we get home it is time to start cooking/baking! thanks, honey!

Ready for Christmas Eve Mass

Daddy's little Angel!

who wasn't all about smiles at that moment...

Hope you all have enjoyed this magical time of year and are looking forward to a fantastic 2012!

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

A coulple of years ago a good friend of mine and her little boy hosted a birthday party for Jesus at Christmas time, as soon as I read about it on her blog, I knew that was something that I wanted to do when we had kids of our own. Such a great idea to make sure that the little ones are reminded of the true reason for the sparkly lights, big dinners, and gifts. 

This year was the beginning of a great tradition.  We baked a red and green layered birthday cake, had goodies, made ornaments, and had drawn names for the kids to exchange gifts.  It was a great time, a bit crazy, but the kids had fun, and that is what matters, right?!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Shoes.

We are all girl over here. We. Love. Shoes.  She always is bringing them to us and wanting them on her feet.  And she has her own ideas already of  which ones she wants and when.....

I though she would be uncomfortable with the footie pj's and her kicks, but nope she strutted around the house like it was her job.  Don't worry the necklace and hats were added to the ensemble shortly after this.

Cowgirl Up

Last year for Christmas Grandpa Dennis gave Tenley this fun rocking horse, and now that we are almost big enough to manage it on our own it is a lot of fun!

Getting hydrated for her big ride...

Back off Mommarazzi

Getting focused...

Doesn't even need spurs...

And the nod....

ahh, let her rip!

Look at that form, 8 seconds is nothin'

Making Christmas Memories

A few weeks back I saw this recipe on Pinterest to make hand print ornaments and knew we needed to give it a try.  So we had a few of Tenley's friends over and to work we went. 

Layla, and her Momma, Sam showing us how it was done!

Logan and Erin, he was more into playing with the dough, but they did get an ornament made.

Tenley and I, she did great.  I wasn't sure if she would get it or not, but she sat down on my lap and plopped her hand right down.  It kept her attention for 3 ornaments, enough for us and the Grandparents! Success. 

Great Buddies!!

I think this will have to be an annual event, not sure if it will be for more hand ornaments or something new.  If we keep the hands up we will eventually have to add a "hand print tree" to our collection....

..and a note on the recipe if any of you decide to try it out...she said that she made 3 ornaments, we made 6 and still had dough left over.  We also just let ours sit out to dry and it took close to a week to dry completely and I did end up popping them in the oven for about 20 minutes (she said 24 hours).  They turned out so cute, and the Grandparents loved them. 

Visiting the Sieben's

We finally got to visit our dear friends The Sieben's in Missouri a couple of weekends ago. They have a daughter, Josie, who is just a few weeks older than Tenley, it was beyond fun to watch these girls play together. So much so, that we forgot to take to many pictures of them.

We are so thrilled that they are closer to us now, as they are stations at Whiteman AFB. Much better to have some of your best friends only 3 hours away rather than 11 hours in Mississippi where our friendship started in pilot training. Thanks for hosting us, and we hope we get to see you again soon! And we can't wait to welcome Baby Sieben #2 in March!!

 Great playtime!

Time for some Christmas gifts :)

 Love this!

Bath time fun, getting them to look up and smile at the same time was basically impossible.

           I maybe just a tad bias, but aren't these two of the cutest little girls you have ever seen?