SANTA'S HERE!!!

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and that you were able to share this season with those you love. We also hope that you felt the spirit of Christ in your Christmas.

Kelsi "got it" this year. It was so fun to see the magic in her eyes. She understood that Santa Claus was coming to bring her presents if she was good (we used this as a threat on a almost daily basis - and it worked). On Christmas morning, I heard her quietly playing in her room. I opened her door and said "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!" She got very excited, jumped out of her bed and yelled "Santa's here! Santa's here!" and made a mad dash for downstairs! This picture totally captures pure joy.

As she started downstairs, she asked "Where is he?" We explained to her that he just left her presents because he had to visit SO many children. This is a pic of her pointing to her pillow pet and saying "HE BROUGHT ME A LADYBUG!!!". She was THRILLED! She has been wanting a ladybug pillow pet for awhile and has been throwing mini tantrums (some full-on) whenever she sees one in the stores and I tell her that I am not buying it. Santa was nice enough to bring her one instead. She continues to say that it is her favorite gift.

She ran downstairs, looked at her presents and then ran at me saying "I'm SOOO happy!!"

I put her down and she jumped at John. The moment was perfect.

She loves her ladybug.

This is another Santa gift. My little diva loves to sing and this toy is probably a close second to being her fav.

Grandma and Grandpa C arrived shortly thereafter and we finished opening presents with them.

We feel blessed to live close to family. We have started a tradition for the past two years that Grandma and Grandpa C come over for presents and for a breakfast feast.

Merry Christmas to me! John fed my inner nerd by giving me a kindle so we can save room on our bookshelf.

Kelsi is SPOILED. But...she's an only child and I can't stop myself. December is a big month for her.

Santa also brought her some dress up clothes. She looks so darling. She says "Mom, I turned into a PRINCESS!" (On a side note - we took Kelsi to see "Tangled" on Christmas eve and she loved it...after she realized that the movie theater wasn't "scary")

My favorite thing at Christmas time....

Christmas evening, we went to John's sisters house for dinner.

The cousins opening up gifts.

Kelsi didn't know that she should have asked Santa for a remote control car. She played with her cousin Josh's' car and was in heaven.

On Christmas Adam (the night before Christmas Eve - for those a little slow), we got a early Christmas surprise from the Fire department. They brought Santa and handed out candy canes to all the kids in the neighborhood. They turned on their sirens and honked...we were trying to figure out what was going on and SO glad that we looked outside. Kelsi thought it was pretty cool.

I missed my family in California this Christmas, but am so thankful to have family so near. We feel very blessed and wish everyone a happy, safe and blessed new year!

Pre-Christmas dump

Christmas in Coeur d'Alene

Kelsi was a great helper with decorating the Christmas tree. She put all the red bulbs in one spot, and I loved it.

Kelsi only agreed to sit on Santa's lap at the very end of our ward's Christmas party when she brought her craft that she made to me and I told her to go show Santa. However, we could not get her to smile or take her hands away from her face. Cute line of the night was when Kelsi asked "Where is Santa's sleigh?" I told her it must be outside and she replied " I want to go pet his deer!" What a silly girl.

We took Kelsi to the resort to walk the boardwalk where they light up a number of Christmas light displays.

Ugly sweater parties...

Don't you love John's Bill Cosby sweater?

Hilarious

Time with friends...

And of course, CRAFTS! We had a craft week in October so luckily, all the crafts were finished or started then so I didn't have to worry about them now. BUT it was the worst week of the year. Too much stress for me. There are more, but some are gifts...so...too bad.




I love vinyl. After using a cricut...I want one.

Lucily, I had a lot of scraps from Kelsi's bed, so I didn't have to purchase my lumber.

Merry Christmas to all!

Stats

My big girl. Her official 3 year old stats are:

Height: 41 inches - OFF THE CHARTS

Weight: 38.5 lbs - 95%

Looks like she will be in the back row of all her school pictures!

I'm 3, I'm 3!!!

Kelsi has been waiting to turn 3 for a long time. Mainly, because when I go to the gym, you have to be 3 and potty trained to go into the playland. She's been potty trained for a while, but turning 3 seemed so far away for her. She is very excited to be 3. I can't believe how fast time is going by.

I asked Kelsi what she wanted to do for her bday and she said "I want to have a PARTY!" I asked her who she wanted to come to her party and she named 3 friends and so I went to work.We did a very low key "party", but the kids loved it. We went to the Kroc center and had cupcakes and presents and then the kids played in the playland area. They had SO much fun.

We went home and Kelsi took her "birthday nap" and John and I took her to "Old McDonalds" for dinner (McDonalds).We had a second little party tonight with Grandma and Grandpa Calderwood and Aunt Melanie and her 3 cousins who live in town. We had more cake, opened more presents and Kelsi really seemed to enjoy herself. We tried to explain to her several times during the day that we were doing all these special things because it was her birthday....we don't want her feeling entitled, right??!!

and of course, we HAD to have balloons.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSI LYNN!! You are such a joy. We love you more than words can say. If we could push a magic pause button, we would. Here's to many many many more years of laughter and joy.

Family Vacation

We went to CA to visit my family over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was the first time my side of the family has been together in over 5 years. It was nice to see everyone and it was even more fun to see Kelsi play with her cousins.

We did not have the best time getting to CA. Kelsi had an anxiety attack (I don't know what else to call it) on our first flight. She started getting agitated on the way to the airport and then it was just downhill from there. I had a whole arsenal of toys and snacks for her and she was not interested in ANY of them. She was so frantic, looking around and she kept saying " We are not falling, I want to go home and sleep in my bed". She kept saying that she needed to "squeeze me" and she would grab my thumb and just squeeze it repeatedly. 30 minutes into the flight she threw up ALL over me. Luckily, her clothes were on the plane so I could change her. Not so lucky for me, my clothes were NOT on the plane so I could not change. We made it to CA and I was able to finally change my clothes and freshen up.

We had a great Thanksgiving, we all ate too much. We also took family pictures. Here are a couple of shots.

On Friday, my sister and I went shopping and that night we went to the Los Angeles Temple to see the lights display. Unfortunately, they were having issues and the lights were NOT on. BUT the visitor center was recently renovated and we spent some time in there. It was pretty amazing.

I had just LOST it with Kelsi that night. We told her we were going to the temple and she got VERY anxious and started whining that "Jesus was not at the temple, he was at the church". I had NO idea what she was talking about, but once we got into the visitor center and she saw the large christus statue, she freaked. She thought he was going to "hit us". I am SO tired of Kelsi being afraid of EVERYTHING. I just don't understand. We decided that night that we were not going to take her to Disneyland. We thought it would just be too emotionally draining for all parties involved. Kelsi eventually warmed up to being in the same room as the Christus, but her daddy had to hold her.

After the temple, we went to one of my favorite places....Didi Reese!!

Didi Reese is a little cookies and ice cream shop in Westwood. When I lived there it was $1 for your fav ice cream sandwiched between 2 fresh baked cookies. They have since raised the price to $1.50...but YOU CANT BEAT THAT!!! Kelsi loved it...and yes those are stickers all over her face. She put them on in the car when I wasn't paying attention and didn't want to take them off.

We had a great time. Our flight was uneventful coming home. Kelsi was great (thanks for the prayers, mom). We had to circle around spokane for about an hour while they cleared the snow off the runway, but we made it in. I love my family and can't wait to see them again.