Christmas Morning

The girls were so excited for Santa Claus to come to our house. We drove back to our house from Cedar Falls on Christmas Eve night so we could enjoy Christmas morning in our own home. This is the second year we've done this and we are so glad that we have started this family tradition. It's a very special time for us and we wouldn't trade it for anything.

On the drive home on Christmas Eve, I had the girls look out the van windows and asked them if they could see Santa up in the sky yet. They got super excited but then Makenna declared "No we can't see him yet. He's in Florida right now and then he has to go to Washington." Looks like she's picking up more from our little geography lessons than I thought :) The girls of course rushed to bed when we got home and in a surprising turn of events, Makenna even asked us to turn her light off (she usually falls asleep with her light on) so that Santa would think she was sleeping :)


What the girls came down to on Christmas morning :)


The girls with their new dollhouse! I honestly didn't know how excited they would be about this, but I knew I wanted them to have one :) Surprisingly enough, Maryn played with the dollhouse almost non-stop on Christmas morning. The second gift she opened was a little Dora doll and she immediately started playing with Dora in the dollhouse. Makenna spends at least a few hours a day playing princesses in the dollhouse.


Maryn playing with Dora in the dollhouse while Makenna continues to open the rest of her presents.


Makenna opening gifts


Makenna very excited about her Play Doh Ice Cream Shop. She picked this very same item out for numerous friends for birthday parties and asked every time if she could have one as well.


Once again playing with the dollhouse. Funny story with the dollhouse... after all the festivities Josh picked up the dollhouse and moved it into the other room. It is quite heavy and takes about all he has to move it by himself. Makenna was watching this in awe and then declares "It's a good thing Santa's a lot stronger than you Daddy!" Smiles, smiles, smiles :)


Maryn playing in her new Dora tunnel and hut


Ta-Da! This was a way bigger hit than I ever expected!


Daddy and Makenna creating some ice cream concoctions out of Play Doh on Christmas morning.


Maryn and her new baby. She got a baby doll, baby doll highchair/swing and a diaper bag for her baby. She is a terrific little mommy :)


Mermaid Makenna playing with the dollhouse. She wore her new Ariel outfit for a good portion of Christmas day.

Budke Christmas

Saturday was our celebration with the Budke family. This is a day that Makenna has been talking about for weeks because she gets to play with her beloved cousins all day long. I honestly felt like I hardly saw her all day because she was glued to Josie's and Hannah's sides. I'm so glad she has such a special relationship with her cousins. It's very sweet. And Maryn decided that Brooks was her new buddy. She always sat by him at meals and continuously said "Hi Brooks!" He was such a good sport about having a little two year old bug him for most of the day! It's so cool to see a group of cousins get along as well as these kids do :)


All the cousins (minus Addie - she was in the highchair in the next room) and Papa eating brunch.


A non-posed picture of the cousin fun!


Okay so this is basically one of the only pictures I got of gifts from Saturday. There are so many people and so many gifts that it is hard to think about picking up a camera in the middle of the chaos! I caught Maryn and Addie playing on the slide afterwards. Maryn is a huge fan of her new slide and Makenna's Marble Race game from Papa and Nana (she seriously has probably logged in five hours playing this game since we got it two days ago). And Makenna is over the top for her Barbie Princesses and the new VTech digital camera she got from them!


A posed picture with the kids in their matching t-shirts! I got quite a few pictures of this but this was the best I could do to get everyone to look at the camera!

Boutott Christmas

I have so many pictures from Christmas and I'm going to try and get to them in chronological order. The first Christmas we had was the Boutott Christmas with my parents and my sister and her family. The girls adore their little cousin Eden and Eden loves watching the big girls and following them around (at least as much as she can at this point). We were all spoiled rotten by great food and lots of thoughtful gifts.

The gift that was a HUGE hit - Maryn's new Dora bed/couch


Makenna proudly showing off all of her princesses... she now has every single princess from this collection! She has been inseparable with her new princesses since she got them :)


Enjoying the Dora couch


Maryn working on the new numbers puzzle that was a big hit with every kid, even Eden!


Beautiful baby Eden! I can't believe she's going to be one in a few weeks!


All the girls enjoying Maryn's new colors. Eden was fascinated with the colors.


Makenna and Eden having a cousin moment :)


Time for Christmas Eve church and the girls looked absolutely darling in their dresses!


It's amazing that we got them to all stand up together for these pictures - Eden only almost fell into the Christmas tree once :)


Jeanne, JT and Eden


Mom and Dad (otherwise known on this blog as Poppy and Peepie!)


Christmas 2008 - Josh, Katie, Makenna, Maryn and baby in mommy's belly

Visiting Santa

Okay so I know these are late but they're still fun to look at. Here are some pictures of our trip to visit Santa Claus. We were very late in doing this this year and as a result had to pay the price by standing in line for well over an hour on a Monday night. Ugh. Luckily the mall has a playland area so the kids and Josh played while I held our place in line. They were very patient and so very excited to talk to Santa Claus. Makenna did very well, but as you can tell by the pictures Maryn was less than thrilled to get near the big guy in the red suit. He was great from a distance, but definitely not up close. Maryn's visit with Santa lasted less than a few seconds. Big sister Makenna helped out by telling Santa that Maryn wanted Dora stuff for Christmas. I kept asking Makenna what she was going to tell Santa that she wanted for Christmas and she was being really secretive and wouldn't tell me. Finally after I think she was fed up with me asking her so much she said "I'll guess you'll just have to wait and find out Christmas morning!" Very cute :) I did drag it out of her later... she asked for Princesses and Twister Hopscotch (both of which she received).

The great picture with a screaming Maryn trying to get away


Makenna being a big girl and telling Santa her wish list

Preschool Christmas Program

Makenna had her preschool Christmas program yesterday. We were worried it was going to get cancelled due to the weather, but luckily the teachers just postponed it until the afternoon. Makenna would've been crushed... all she prayed for the night before was for the bad weather to go away so she could have her program :)

Makenna did such a great job. She was so poised and mature and was probably the loudest singer on stage! She was one of the only kids you could hear for the first few songs and we got lots of comments about her "great singing voice" from all the other parents afterwards. Makenna was also chosen to be Mary in the reading of the nativity story. It didn't really amount to much (they kind of just stood in one place) but it was cool that our sweet little daughter was chosen to be Mary.

Sitting on stage waiting for the program to begin


Look at that perfect little Mary... hands folded nicely and everything :)


Mary and Joseph

Fun Story Updates

I'm so behind on all the cute little things our girls say and do on a daily basis. Here are a few that I can remember from the past month or so...

Towards the end of November our entire family was hit with the stomach flu. Maryn had some mild symptoms towards the beginning of the week, but we weren't sure if that was it or not so we were sitting on pins and needles waiting for her to start throwing up like the rest of us. Josh and I were sitting on the couch after we had put the girls to bed one night with the monitor on when Maryn starting crying all of a sudden. This is VERY unlike her to need us after we put her to bed so I went sprinting up the stairs thinking she was starting to get sick. I walked in her dark room and it took my eyes a minute to adjust to the light... I look in her crib and I see this figure that looks like a ghost in her crib facing the back wall of her room hitting the wall and screaming. I couldn't figure out what I was seeing until my eyes adjusted a few seconds later.... Maryn had somehow gotten caught with the blanket over her head and was disoriented in her crib and was hitting the back wall! It looked just like there was a ghost wandering around in her crib. Poor thing. She was upset but boy did mommy and daddy get a good chuckle out of that one.

During that same week when I was sick, Makenna turned into our little helper (when she felt okay). I was laying on the couch trying to figure out what was wrong with me (this was before it all really hit) and Makenna asked me from the kitchen if she could get a clean cup out of the dishes that were stacked in the sink. I thought there might be some breakable stuff in there so I asked her to wait for daddy. I could hear her go and ask Josh to get her a cup. I really wasn't thinking anything of it and then here comes my little sweetheart with a glass of water just for me. She told me to drink some water so me and that baby would feel better. What a good little nurse.

Makenna had a big first in her life - she got to go to her first movie ever in the theatre. It was a big deal and we had built it up for weeks that her and Daddy were going to go on a date to the movies :) She couldn't wait. They went to Madagascar 2 and got popcorn and candy. Makenna seemed to have a lot of fun but had a tummy ache when they got home because she ate too much junk. The cutest part of the whole story though is the morning of the movie we were asking her all about it and she couldn't stop talking about her date with daddy that upcoming afternoon. Josh asked her where she wanted to sit in the theatre and she responded with "By you Daddy!" Of course, why didn't we think of that! :)

On top of trying to talk in almost complete sentences already, Maryn has adopted some typical two year old phrases into her vocabulary lately. "I do it" and "Stop it" are definitely two of her favorites. My favorite phrase though is when she says "Oh messy!" Doesn't sound that cool typing it but it comes out sounding exactly like a very exasperated "Oh Mercy!" I definitely need to get that one on videotape.

Makenna informed me recently that her and her friends had formed the Super Spy Girls Club at preschool. I was less than pleased about this when I first heard about it because I always worry that someone is going to get left out. So I started asking lots of questions about it. I asked her what the club does and she told me they find stuff around the classroom and wear their Super Spy outfits (whatever that might be?). Then I asked her what you have to do to be in the club. She repeatedly told me over and over again "You have to be nice and you have to be a girl." Simple enough, I thought that sounded okay. After she told me yet again that you have to be a girl I asked her who is all in the club and she responds with "Noah." I asked her if she realizes that Noah is a boy and she said "That's okay mommy, he's really nice." I think they might need to change the name of their club.

This last quarter of the year Josh has been insanely busy at work. Typically we are very spoiled by his job and he is able to work basic office hours with no nights or weekends and very little overnight travel (if at all). On top of that he usually has the flexibility to do stuff during the day with us if need be (ie. doctor's appointments, preschool stuff, etc). Well let's just say that hasn't been the case lately. 11 - 12 hour days at the office has been the norm for a few months at our house and then he even has to work at home after the girls go to bed or on the weekends sometimes. It's been a long stretch but we're thankful the end is in sight. Anyway, last weekend Makenna was asking Josh to pull her and Maryn around on the wood floors on a blanket like he had done previously. After she explained to him what she wanted she said "Remember Daddy, like you did when you were here last year." Josh was seriously broken up about this. Even though Makenna obviously doesn't understand the concept of time very well yet (since Josh still sees them every night), just the thought of her saying that was heartbreaking to him.

We've been getting our Christmas cards in the mail and the girls love opening them up and looking at all the pictures. Some of their favorite cards of course are the pictures of all of their cousins. Maryn loves to show off her ability to name everyone in the picture :) Anyway, one night last week we got my sister's card in the mail and Makenna showed it to Maryn. Maryn grabbed it from her and immediately started pointing to the picture and saying "Nene (Jeanne), Ian (Eden), JT." She has never had a problem saying "JT" and has always said it very clearly. Anyway, she wouldn't put the picture down and continued this for a long time. After about the 12th time of doing this it turned into "Nene, Ian, Chi Chi." Josh and I just had to laugh... when Makenna was the same age she also called JT "Chi Chi." Maryn would've never heard this so it's hilarious that somehow the nickname has been carried on :)

Christmas Cookies

One of my favorite things to do around the holidays is bake all the goodies that remind me of my childhood :) And now that the girls are getting old enough to help me it is even more fun! We started way back in November making a list of everything we wanted to make and have been busy plugging away making all of our stuff to hand out to neighbors and friends. Maryn is still at the age where she wants to eat or lick everything she touches, but Makenna is a great help. We were also able to continue our tradition of decorating sugar cookies with Poppy and Peepie again this year. Makenna looks forward to that day for weeks :)


Makenna showing off her decorating abilities


So fitting... this is pretty much how she looked almost the entire time we were decorating sugar cookies with Poppy and Peepie. Her face was planted in a cookie licking all the goodies off :) She basically ate two whole cookies and we decided she was done "decorating" for the day.


Makenna and all the sugar cookies...


Messy face!


Day #3 of baking! I didn't get pictures of day #2 or #4, but I had to get this picture because she basically did the pretzels entirely by herself (except for putting them in the oven). She was so proud of herself!

From No Socks To Slippers

Anyone that has been around Maryn since it got cold outside knows how much this child despises socks. Not just kind of, but like a deep actual hatred for socks. She refuses to wear socks in the house at all and screams "OFF!" the second you take her shoes off to make sure you remember to take her socks off as well. I fight her almost every morning trying to get her socks on her. I have realized there is no use in trying to put them more than 10 seconds before I put her shoes on otherwise they will be off and hidden somewhere in the house. She has even resorted to taking her shoes and socks off in the car! Somedays when she's feeling really mischievous she will even put her shoes back on her bare feet to see if mom won't notice :) Anyway, we get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people about what we should do to "cure" Maryn of her sock phobia. Like we seriously haven't tried it all already? People think we're exaggerating and then they see for themselves and they realize she's not messing around. Anyway, I decided to give slippers a try. I didn't think it would work since she despises footie pajamas and tights as well, but I thought it was worth a try. I bought the first pair and she started screaming when I even got them within 2 feet of her. Ugh. So one more try and I decided to let her pick out a pair at the mall... thinking she'd for sure go for the Dora slippers, she surprised me and got a pair of Princess slippers just like Nenny :) This child actually likes her Princess slippers and wears them on a consistent basis in the house. One day after her nap that was actually the first thing she asked for when she woke up! So progress people! We are getting there! Here are some pictures for proof!

Look at that! Her feet are covered up and she's smiling at the same time!!!


Doing her favorite puzzle... she can now identify all the letters of the alphabet with ease and loves showing off her alphabet and puzzle abilities!


Why did both of my children insist on chewing on the "Y" piece of this puzzle???