Tate Wylee

Oh, Kate Rileigh ("Tate Wylee", as she calls herself).

How we absolutely adore you!

You are beautiful and sweet. You love to snuggle. You say, "Love too, Mama!" as you rub my hand. You hug for no reason, other than just to hug. I love that.

You are cautious with new people. It takes you awhile to open up. But, once you do, look out!

You are totally goofy. You talk in silly voices to make us laugh. You talk with your hands, acting so grown up.

You are going to be a fantastic big sister! We talk about how you can hold baby Jack and watch Mickey together. You tell me you will change his diapers and pat his belly when he cries. You are excited for him to sit in the backseat with you. You want to give him your Peter Rabbit piggy bank when he comes. Oh, I love you!

If I could freeze you in time right now, I would. But, that would be selfish of me. I know you need to grow up, you need to experience. And, I know we would miss out on too much if I kept you at two, but what a fun two year old you are, little lady!

Tate Wylee, your daddy and I are madly in love with you.

Merry Christmas!!

We didn't send out Christmas cards this year. It just didn't happen. And with every card that comes in the mail, I try to tell myself to NOT feel guilty! I thought it would be fitting, though, to at least put something on our blog.

Next year, we will have TWO kiddos to put on a Christmas card. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that one!!

Hope you all have a joyous Christmas and a blessed 2010!!

More Christmas Fun

How did we go from this...

Christmas 2008

to this...

Christmas 2009

What a difference a year makes!!

Kate is all about Santa this year. She walked right up to him and sat in his lap. She just sat there and nodded her head everytime he talked to her. It was SO cute!!

Christmas has been so fun this year with her. After we visited Santa (last Thursday), we went to the Shrine Way of Lights and did all the fun stuff there. One night, we drove around looking at Christmas lights, which we all loved. We have watched The Polar Express at least twice. We have baked cookies, eaten candy canes, decorated a gingerbread house, and listened to Christmas music. Kate gets so excited about every little thing.

We can't wait to see her open her presents on Christmas morning!!

Kate's Birthday Video

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Lazy Days

We had a fun day staying in today. Mark and Kate let me sleep in until 10:00... it was WONDERFUL!! Kate came in and woke me up saying, "Time eat, Mommy". She and Daddy had made breakfast and then, we just chilled around the house ALL DAY.

Kate did a lot of dancing to Christmas music (hilarious) and reading books to herself (even more hilarious).

She took a nap and we did too. Seriously, how much sleep do I need?? But, it was SO nice. It was rainy and cold, and the perfect day for it.

We ordered a pizza for dinner and made our gingerbread house. If that thing is still standing in the morning, it will be a miracle!

It's actually really cute, but the roof keeps creeping downward. It is held up with the help of four toothpicks right now. I kept asking Kate, "Isn't this cool?" and she would say in a sing songy voice, "No". Oh well. Such is life. She had fun, though.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays. The countdown is on... 12 more days!!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

The Christmas festivities have begun!! We still haven't made the move to a fake tree, but I think we will soon! Getting a real tree every year is hard work.

We went last Sunday on a whim to get our tree (that's really early for us!). We were out in St. Louis anyway and since we haven't had the best of luck with tree lots out our way, we just decided to do it.

Mark and I had been out grocery shopping while my parents watched Kate for a little bit. It's rare that we are out by ourselves, so Mark called it a "date". Romantic, huh?? By the time we decided to grab a tree, it was already about 7 and freezing! Kate only had a little dressy jacket, so we had to improvise with what we could find around my parent's house to get her all bundled up.

She looked SO cute, but terribly mismatched!!! That's a black and white coat with brown pants, brown and pink gloves, and a navy blue headband.

I was pretty mismatched, too, though... remember, it was freezing and we hadn't dressed that way that morning. So, I was wearing a silly band and my mom's coat still dressed in clothes from church that morning.

When the three of us got in the car to head to the tree lot, Kate had her sweet little excited face on.

Mommy: "Kate, are you excited??"
Kate: (in her squealy voice) "Yeah!"
Mommy: "Do you know where we are going?"
Kate: (still in her squealy voice) "No!"

The girl gets excited about EVERYTHING and it's so fun!! She liked decorating the tree for about five minutes and then played with the glass figures from the nativity set for like thirty minutes after that. As of last night, the tree is done and all of the decorations are up, which means it took us no less than 5 days to actually get it all done. Welcome to life with a two year old, right??

Can't wait for all the Christmas fun!! Hope you all are enjoying the season.