Next stage...losing the cage!

So we're in the 3rd or 4th week of this toddler bed, I figured I should post some pictures already! After jumping out of the crib once and not getting hurt Chad and I thought we should convert the crib. I was hoping to get a couple more months out of the crib before doing this, but oh well what do you do right?

Nighttime Kali does great. She doesn't get out of bed, she doesn't fall out, and still sleeps 12 or so hours. Nap time is a whole different story. I WILL get many more months of that though, I promise!!!

She still loves books! My favorite is when she's reading them to herself in the morning.

I guess the next step in life for the little girl is to loose the binky. So far no luck. I will take suggestions!

She also needs to grow a bit more hair. It's getting to an awkward length and it's starting to look like a mullet. Great... Again, suggestions are welcome for that too! But come on, she's still pretty stinkin' cute!!!

Christmas Week Part 2

Here are the rest of the pictures from our Christmas week. You could also say it's a tribute to Owen and Kali. We spent a lot of time at G-ma Merx's house pulling out all her toys and making big messes. Kali really loves this moose she is sitting on.

Wow, glasses make him look so much older! We couldn't decide if he looked more like Harry Potter or Ralphy from A Christmas Story.

Favorite Aunt Shanny with Kali

G-ma Merx and Owen

Aunty Shanny and Owen

Aunty Angie

Both kids loved Grandma's slide.

and playing with and on her pool table...

even Ellika joined them!

We invited them to our house to have dessert before they had to fly home to Michigan. Kali liked to share her table and marshmallows.

I think Ellika liked it here and *cough *cough maybe they should move back?

Why is my daughter always stuffing her mouth with food?

Owen got tired (ok not really but he pretended!)

My little artist

It was so cute to watch the kids play together. They would take a small snooze, fold the bed up and read books and then do it again. They had a blast!

Every once in a while they had to check on baby Ellika too.

And last but not least, Mom eating food from Burger Bar. I thought she was a vegetarian?

Oh yeah...I have a blog

So 5 weeks after my last post I return with another!

These pictures are of Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. My next post will have pictures of the days in between.

Kali had the cutest Christmas dress, but this is as good a picture as I could get.

Christmas Eve we spent with Chad's parents and brother Casey. It was nice and quiet and of course included yummy dinner. We tried again for a good 20 mins to get a good pic of Kali's dress. The results...

Christmas morning. Santa left a new table and chairs for Kali.

It's been a huge hit so far.

Everyone wants Visine for Christmas.

We invited Grandma and Grandpa Jenkins and Uncle Martin over to watch Kali open presents. She loaded up! She got this lady bug chair and backpack from

G-ma and G-pa Jenkins.

Mickey Mouse rounded out the morning's gifts.

Kali and Uncle Martin

Nothing better than watching Mickey Mouse while holding Mickey Mouse

We had a yummy Christmas Day lunch at Chad's grandparents house and again I forgot the camera. Kali got the cutest pair of hand-made slippers from her Great Grandma Marble. For dinner my aunt Celia invited us over. And can I say she's the BEST cook? We decided to have a breakfast dinner which included crepes, smoothies, bacon and sausage. It was great!

New Year's Eve we headed to my grandma's house. Martin was ready with a pile of hats that we all had to wear for some reason. Kali was sporting this one for a while.

Brian and Owen

Chad and I. Then the batteries in the camera went dead.

Thanksgiving weekend

So the great photographer that I am, I didn't get any pictures of our actual Thanksgiving dinner. This year we went to Chad's grandma Marble's house. The food was great!! After dinner we headed to my parents where I actually remembered that I had a camera. Mom's basement is full of toys and

Kali could be occupied for hours! (she isn't wearing pants because they kept falling off. I promise my child does wear pants 90% of the time!!!)

Chad wanted to sport his fancy new hat

Chad, Shannon and Dad

Martin and Mom

John and Sherstin, who live in Arizona...thus the fleece blanket

Kali got to play with her cousin Corwin for a couple days. This is as close as they interacted with each other though. Maybe only seeing each other 2 times a year hinders the relationship...?

Mom bought a slide for the kids which has been a huge hit for Kali!

Even Corwin got in on the slide action

Friday we put our measly Christmas decorations up. Chad and Kali were in charge of these stupid trees I bought for five dollars. I think they did a pretty good job.

I was in charge of the main event tree. Thanks to the help of Ben Franklin's 60% off going out of business sale I was able to make the tree look pretty decent this year. It looks better in person and I admit I am pretty proud of it!

Saturday night we celebrated Mom's birthday (which was on Thanksgiving day) and Corwin's second birthday which is Dec. 8th. No party is complete without food right?

Dad helping himself to the fried onions and bacon. (Don't tell his cardiologist!!!)

Nathan, Shannon and Rheanna enjoying their dinner.

Corwin loved opening his gifts this year. He was a pro at tearing off the paper and even helped Grandma with a couple of her presents too.

All Kali cared about was the cake!

Shannon doesn't ever get a chair to herself anymore. At one point Kali was sitting there too! Who doesn't love Shannon?

Halloween 2009

We had a great Halloween this year. Kali was so much fun and loved being a duck. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a really good shot of her costume. Maybe with the combination of all these you'll get the idea.

I loved the feet! On the actual trick-or-treating night she had white pants on which looked much better than levi's.

Chad and I had a really small, really unorganized Halloween party Friday night. These are the people who dressed up...Dad as Sherlock Holmes (maybe?), Kali as a duck, Shannon as pretty in pink, Martin as himself (haha!!) and Nathan as an alien in a teenager's clothes.

Kali carved her fist pumpkin that night. It was green which made it even

more special!

Perhaps this could be a permanent look? It's tempting to use this as our Christmas card picture.

Sad that this looks so real...

Saturday night Chad's aunt had a Halloween Party and was so nice to invite us! It was a blast and Kali loved it so much. This is Chad and Kali with Chad's mom, his brother Cary and wife Lori.

My super cute niece Carly getting a few good hits on the pinyadda (Chad's spelling)

Loading up on the treats. So maybe I helped Kali a little... and maybe I got the treats that I like...one perk of having children!

Heading out for the trick-or-treating.

My newphew Garrett was a transformer this year. He starts as a car

(yes he's in there)...

and then...

transforms to a robot! Lori made this all by herself. Amazing talent!!

Kali loved running from house to house and mostly loved getting smarties. She had so much fun that the second we put her in the car (at 8 pm) she was out!!

Last cabin trip of 2009

Part of my family spent the weekend at the cabin for the last time this year. We all decided that the end of September is the PERFECT time of year to go. The weather was fantastic, there were no mosquitoes and my ice cream store was still open! Right after we arrived Kali ran to the front and found these little red chairs. They became her favorite toys for the whole weekend.

Kali might be little but she definitely likes being where the people are and doing what everyone else is doing.

She's such a funny girl!

She liked playing Connect 4. What this picture doesn't show is that Shannon, who was red, already had 4 in a row. Kali lost.

Some funny bull made out of hay. The perfect photo opp!

I was sitting where Kali is but she moved me out of the way so she could sit there. She loved eating everyone's ice cream.

Ok so this really wasn't her sundae, but I didn't want to admit that it was mine. And oh man it was delicious!!

Old Faithful Inn waiting to eat lunch in the dining room.

A first for me but hopefully not a last!

Kali likes rocks

and big bears

and sightseeing!

Midway Geyser Basin. It was really windy.

We took a little drive across the lake to this look out point. It was cool to see the lake from the other side and put in perspective how big it is!

This is the Madison Arm and our cabin is on the arm to the back left.

It was super windy here (Notice how much hair Shannon has and how much Kali doesn't have.)

so Kali decided she'd rather play in the car instead.

After going to the lookout point we drove towards Quake Lake and stopped at Cabin Creek Campground. The 1959 earthquake caused this 21 foot scarp right in the campground. Shannon tried hiking up to the top. Kali tried following her.

But they both fell down at the same time!

A small snack at the campground.

Kali loved sitting by grandma and looking out the window to see the boats

Mama and Kali

New toy

Trek, Cannondale, Kona, Felt...thry all got nothin' on this bad boy.

Needless to say Kali love it.