MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Kelsi is in a "I hate taking pictures phase" and we couldn't get a family pic, but here is the only one I got of Kelsi and I.....

and of course she smiles for her Daddy!

Kelsi was a little overwhelmed with Christmas this year (yup, that is a potty behind her....we are just letting it hang out for now. Mama is still not ready for that yet).

She loved the sunglasses that Santa left in her stocking.

We had John's parents over for breakfast and John cooked us a DELICIOUS breakfast.

Kelsi's spread. John and I didn't really do Christmas for each other this year and we focused on Kelsi.....I have to admit I had a little bit of buyers remorse. She was overwhelmed with the amount of toys that she now owns. I guess I can justify it by saying that I never buy her toys during the year, so she gets a big load in December (her bday and Christmas....it has to last her until next year). We are considering putting some of the toys away and bringing them out every few months.

This is Kelsi rushing in to see what Santa left her. When I got her up this morning, I asked her if she wanted to open her presents and her eyes lit up and she said "Christmas tree??" I told her she was right, we were going to open the presents under the Christmas tree, and she couldn't get down the stairs fast enough.

Kelsi and her Daddy dancing to some Christmas music.

Mom - I want to apologize in advance for the next couple pictures. Kelsi would NOT let me take a picture of her in her Christmas dress. BUT...she loved it She kept spinning around in it. She was really cute.

The 3T fit my big girl perfectly (maybe an inch longer than it should have been, but otherwise PERFECT!) Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Manderino!

We had a very nice Christmas Eve dinner with friends and Christmas dinner with family. We feel very blessed and are thankful to celebrate the birth of our savior.

2 year stats

Kelsi had her well child check up today. She's still a BIG girl!

36.5 in tall - 98%

(I can't believe she is over 3 feet). Isn't there something about you just double their height at 2 and you will get their adult height. 6'1''?????? She will be the tallest girl on either side of the family if that is true! Wowee.

31 lbs 8 oz. - 93%

Looks like our daughter is an "A" student. :)

More bday

Here are some more pics from Kelsi's big day. John and I blew up a bunch of balloons the night before. When Kelsi woke up the next morning, she couldn't get down the stairs fast enough.

She opened up here presents from mom and dad and Gma and Gpa Manderino. I loved her expressions as she opened her presents.

I don't know who was more excited about this present, me or Kelsi. She loves her kitchen.

Sad thing about the balloons, is that I let the air out of all of them except one after she went to bed. The next morning she ran downstairs by herself saying "Boons!" and was a little disappointed that they were all gone.
We had family and a couple of Kelsi's oldest friends over for cake and ice cream.

She opened a few more presents and had a blast playing with her new toys.

This is my first attempt at decorating a bday cake. This is Kelsi's present cake. Simple idea I got from my great friend the Internet.

It took few tries to get the candles to go out. Kelsi blows by making the "F" sound.

She loved her cake, but didn't care too much for the sherbet.

Kelsi was an angel the whole day until about an hour before bedtime. She is VERY protective of her new toys and did not like it one bit when her "friend" Katelyn wanted to play with them too. Kelsi was throwing such a fit, that I grabbed her and took her down the hall for a time out and Katelyn ran after me saying "Spank her, spank her!!". Made my night.

2 years of Kelsi Lynn

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Good times

When my friend Leslie called and asked if I wanted to make a trip down to Clarkston with her I was right on board! We are fortunate enough that it was our old ward's Christmas party and we were able to see all of our friends. It felt like coming home.

Kelsi also got to play with this cute guy.

They had a lot of fun with a few moments of fighting over who had what toy first. Kelsi is still asking for "Gant" and "Owie"(ali).

Wreath

This is a pic of my Winter wreath that yours truly made herself!! I need to get a red bow for it to cover the wreath hook, but I am pretty proud of myself. I am glad that I ended making one by myself because if I made the same thing with someone else, I know mine wouldn't look half as good as theirs. So, move over Martha....Karina's just getting started.

Season of thanks

I am thankful for so many things that I couldn't let a Thanksgiving go by without listing a few of my blessings.

I am thankful for a loving husband who is also a terrific, involved father.

I am thankful for those who came before us and the example that they have set. John's grandma Betty was in town for Thanksgiving and Kelsi got some reading time in.
I am thankful for food to eat. I have never gone hungry and I take for granted that my pantry is full and that all I have to do is figure out which food I should eat, and not wonder if I was going to get to eat at all.

I am thankful for family. I feel so blessed to have come from amazing parents and that I have 3 awesome sisters. I have been blessed even more by adding 3 more sisters and a brother and two more parents through marriage to John.

I am thankful that Kelsi has cousins that she gets to play with and get to know. The pic below is Kelsi and Hailey born 5 weeks apart.

I am thankful for health and shelter.

I am thankful for pure innocence and joy.

I am thankful for this Holiday season that allows the world to reflect on the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and that we all remember the reason for the season.

They're Baaaack!

Grandma and Grandpa Calderwood came home from a 2 year mission in Cambodia. We are all so happy to have them home and Kelsi is looking forward to getting to know them better. She is warming up to her "Gamma and Pa".

Like father like son. Lloyd was cracking jokes as soon as he stepped off the plane!
Melanie's family, Jalyn & John and I welcomed them at the airport with a banner and flowers.

We feel blessed for their service and are thankful for their strong testimonies of Jesus Christ.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!

My wonderful husband celebrated his 35th bday this week. He had a really busy day, so Kelsi and I took him to lunch

I made him the usual. His favorite "Pudding Cake"

What a ham....

We opened presents. Kelsi was SOOOOO cute. We can't wait for her bday and Christmas. With every rip of wrapping paper, she would say "WOW!" like it was the coolest thing she had ever seen. (BTW - don't you love her bed head?)

John got a very manly tool kit that he has been wanting for a while for his motorcycle as well as a few other things.

Thank you and you're welcome bday kisses.

We had family over for pizza and games and just celebrated the wonderful man who is my husband, John.

Every night I thank my Heavenly Father for John and all the hard work and support that he brings to our family. I am so proud of the man that he is. John is a great husband, father, and friend. We love you!

BOO to daylight savings

Poor Kelsi....she has been soooo tired lately. She is waking up between 6am-6:30 since daylight savings and we HATE it. We were running errands the other day and I came home for a few minutes before I needed to run another errand, so I put in a Dr. Suess DVD for Kelsi and ran upstairs to fold a few clothes. Literally 5 minutes later, I came out to find Kelsi asleep on the couch. This has NEVER EVER EVER happened. Kelsi ONLY sleeps in her crib or on long car rides and ONLY if she has her binky. Poor kid...she is so off schedule.

Today, she was fighting her nap, so I went upstairs and asked her if she wanted to sit with mommy. I brought her downstairs and she fell asleep on me in about 3 minutes. Again....WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN??? I savored it for 30 minutes and then took her to her crib. What a sleepy girl.

PS: John and I are FINALLY being strict about Kelsi's binky use. ONLY in bed at naptimes and bed. She was mad about it the first day, but now she happily leaves it behind. I am taking it as a good sign that she fell asleep TWICE this week on her own without that darn bink! And so, the weaning continues....

I tried to email these to the fam, but for some reason it said it was too big. So, here they are for everyone to see. Kelsi is pretty good at knowing all of her numbers 0-9 (90% of the time)

Learning numbers. John's favorite is "twoooooo".

Kelsi loves this book. Hop on Pop. It is a simple rhyming book. If you listen closely she says two different words that rhyme. The book says things like "all, tall" and "brown, down". She "reads" this book to herself all the time. Sorry it's out of focus.

Happy Halloween

This post is a little unorganized because, well, I didn't feel like making a bunch of different posts. So, here is what we have been up to Halloween week.

Kelsi got to go to a bday party for her friend Jane who turned 2. She had a great time. Bubbles, balloons and cupcakes - can't go wrong.


Here is Kelsi with her cousins Lauren and Joshua all ready to go trick-or-treating.

We went to a family Halloween party and the kids all dressed up and had a great time.

Kelsi and I decorated sugar cookies...or I decorated a sugar cookies and Kelsi ate everything in sight.

Isn't she adorable?

We ditched out on the Trunk-or-treat at the church this year, because three wards = WAY too much candy for Kelsi. I just took her around the block on the culdesac and she got about 10 pieces of chocolate and a toothbrush from our dentist friends (they gave a piece of candy too!)


John and I got to go to a couples Halloween party. We won for best traditional costumes!

We got our pumpkin carving on

The one below is my pumpkin. BOO!

John decorated our front yard for us this year.

You would think that Kelsi would be afraid of this guy, but she would always just say "Hi Doggie".

Hope everyone had fun!