Christmas Recap

We had a pretty eventful Christmas at the Carlson's. We had MorMor (my mom) come to visit early so we had lots of time to play with her. Then on Christmas Eve Grandpa and Auntie Mere came to visit. It was fun to have have them visit. Dayne and Lylah loved playing with Auntie Mere. They think she is pretty funny when she makes her funny noises. We kept up our tradition of making a Gingerbread house with her. I had put together the house ahead of time so it was dry for them to go to town decorating. Before we opened presents Auntie Mere helped Dayne and Lylah make reindeer food and then sprinkles it outside. It was oats, glitter, and Acorn confetti. Putting on boots and jackets they put it all over the snow outside. Dayne thought it was pretty cool! He was excited to see it glitter on the snow. He had no doubt that the reindeer would see his house!

Present opening was a lot of fun. Dayne loves his new legos and Lylah thinks the luggage they got was way too much fun to drag around!

Family Photo

PRESENTS!

After presents Dayne and Lylah got out cookies for Santa. Lylah insisted on putting out the milk! She even stole a sip! It was such a busy day that they went to bed without a peep!

CHRISTMAS MORNING!!! Santa came!!

The next morning Dayne's dream came true because Santa brought his Smart Cycle! Lylah got a doll house.

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with new and old traditions. We are looking forward to the years to come- creating memories with our beautiful children!

Candy Making

This year I decided to do some candy making.

I made caramels, almond bark candy, fudge, and even chocolate covered licorice. Now I know that might not sound so good- but man it is. If you haven't tried it you have too! The only part that was disappointing is I couldn't find the right chocolate. I needed some that I guess you can only get at Sam's Club and I don't have a membership. I had to give up my hunt and just go with semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate. It is still good but not quite the same. I was inspired by my friend Jeanette. When she offered me one I thought she was nuts- but it was soooo good. So taking her technique of double dipping them. It was a lot of fun to make them. Now if I can just stay away from eating them =)

Birthday Buddies

Two years ago I was lucky enough to be pregnant at the same time as my very good friend, Tonya. We were blessed with girls that are so much fun. They are best buddies. It has been so neat to watch them grow together. They also share the joy of having birthdays just before Christmas-they are born 3 days apart. This year Tessa had a swimming birthday and it was so much fun. Lylah wore a fun suit that our wonderful neighbor Robynn had given us - she looked so cute! Dayne discovered the joy of the water slide. As you can see Rich took the kids in the pool. At the Brooklyn Park Community Center they have a zero entry kiddie pool which Lylah thought was great! Dayne also took advantage of the pool to do some practice of his swimming too! It was a day that was fun for all! Birthday Buddies Tessa and Lylah
This is so cool!!

These fishies are mine!

JUMP!!!

Dayne practicing his bird flaps!

Happy 2nd Birthday Lylah

My baby isn't a baby anymore! She turns 2 on Monday. The poor thing must forever share her birthday with the holiday season. It has been my obsession to make her birthday as far removed from the holiday as I can. If she picks when she is older to have a holiday themed birthday I will go for it- but until then I will make it as free of Christmas as I can. So this year her birthday theme was ducks and thanks for a neighbor I was able to make a duckie cake. It turned out pretty good if I do say so! I don't have much talent in the cake making department- I usually leave that up to my sister but it went pretty smoothly.

For her party we had a few friends over to celebrate. There is nothing like a house full of kids from under the age of 1 to a 6th grader. The balloon "bubbles" were a big hit to play with. The classic moment of the night was when she opened a present from her birthday buddy Tessa- it was an outfit for her Bitty Baby and the moment they saw the cover of the box they both shouted BITTY! Now I didn't think we had seen it enough to know it but I guess we have! Yet another fun moment of the evening was Baby Alive. Now I am not so sure about a baby doll that pees- I am trying to stop the use of diapers and now Lylah has a doll that will forever need them! Sophie brought this doll into our lives and her and Kendra were so thrilled to get it open to show Lylah how it works. So Jenny had to help. Don't get me.. or her.. started on how they package these dolls. It was not an easy task! But finally Baby Alive was free from her package and the fun begain. Now another thing about this doll is it just came with a shirt and diaper and if you know how I am about dolls then you know this has caused me much trouble. So on a trip to Target I will need to find cloths for this doll..... can't have a naked baby! (On and this doll doesn't have hair.. thank you Jenny! I am not ready for hair on a doll yet!) Finally we brought out part of the Lylah's birthday gift from Rich and I. A crib for Bitty... Of course she wanted to get inside! She will get another part of her gift on her actual birthday on Monday. It was lot of fun to celebrate her birthday. There are lots things about Lylah that make her extra special! Here they are.

1. Singer- She is great with Twinkle Twinkle and even Bob the Builder.

2. Fealess-she loves to climb and jump.

3. Proud- She is so proud of all she does "look at me" and "I did it!" is often heard.

4. Hugs- she is GREAT at them. She is by far one of the best huggers!

5. Giggles- she has a great sense of humor and loves to laugh.

6. Helpful- she wants to help put things away and usually does so after just asking once!

7. Stubborn- I know that might not be a positive thing but it sure does make life with her interesting.

8. Sweet- she is getting into taking care of things and is often concerned with someone is sad.

9. Smart- It is so cool to see how she figures things out. She seems to be a great problem solver.

10. Loveable- most of all she is such an loveable girl! Makes us all so happy each day!

WE LOVE YOU LYLAH! Happy birthday, baby!

Christmas in Clubwest.

We have a tradition in our neighborhood and that is seeing Santa at the Clubhouse. Each year Santa comes and the kids get to visit with him and share what the hope to get from him and get a special treat. Dayne enjoyed talking to Santa and telling him he wants a Smart Cycle. He wants that toy so bad-- he is often seen staring at it at Target, Toys r Us, or anywhere else he might see it. Lylah on the other hand didn't want to sit on his lap- but was willing to be near him sitting on Rich's lap. She did eventually give Santa a high 5 and took a Santa Ducky (she just loves ducks!) from his basket of treats. We followed the visit with Santa with some cake and a fun horse drawn hayride. Now that was a COLD adventure but the kids loved it and had a great time. Rich and I found that we really do need to get snow pants for such events because the kids and other passengers that had snowpant on were just fine! It is events like this that make our neighborhood special. Plus it does help you get in the holiday spirit!

Sinter Klaas

I simply love the holidays. It is so much fun with the kids to see them get so excited about the snow, lights, and of course presents. Since Dayne was born we have started the tradition of Sinter Klaas at our home. Even though it is a Dutch tradition I feel it does connect to my roots a little, being Danish. I know they are not the same but I am sure you kinda know what I mean. Many countries have a tradition with St. Nick that happens on Dec 6th. This one involves leaving out a shoe. So each Dec 5th evening we leave out a shoe and Sinter Klaas come to visit leaving a treat behind. This year he left Boggle Jr for Dayne and a Christmas outfit for Lylah's Snap n Style doll. It was fun to see them light up when they saw the presents. This year they left their shoe by the Christmas tree they have in their room instead of outside. Of course Dayne now plays the game every day- making and sounding out the words. It is a fun tradition to have in our house. Makes me slow down a bit and enjoy the holiday season!