Monday, December 12, 2011

What an angel!


Yesterday, Mykayla participated in "The Best Christmas Program Ever" at the church we have been attending for the last couple months. She received the CD of music at the end of October but unfortunately due to other plans with family in November, we never made it back to practice. So last week when they mentioned it would be Sunday the 11th, Mykayla was determined to sing with them after just one Sunday rehearsal. She went to the dress rehearsal on Saturday morning and by Sunday performance time, looked like she had been practicing the whole time! I was so proud of her for getting out there, practicing with what little time she had and doing so well. I was however having some issues with her sudden independence : ) She wanted to be sure I was not going to stay at rehearsal, that she would be fine by herself. *Sigh* I guess they all grow up at sometime huh? The cell phone pictures are all I have unfortunately. I had my camera with me, but no battery! I hate it when I do that!!

3 Santa's in one day

I only was able to capture two of them in pictures but last Saturday, Jordan and Mykayla sat on 3 different Santa's laps. Quite obviously, Santa has some "stand in" Santa's working for him : ) I don't think it even phased them, they were happy to let each one know what they wanted so as to be sure to get it.

First stop: Teddy Bear Breakfast at Comcast Arena to benefit Providence Children's Foundation. A BIG thank you to Mary (Kattrina's grandmother-in-law) for getting us tickets for the last 3 years! 
The girls did have pics taken with Santa but I was not able to catch them on my camera.


Next stop: Snow blast at Gold Creek Community Church in Mill Creek
 And finally: Mill Creek Town Center Tree Lighting and festivities





The Reason for the Season!

Mykayla's favorite Christmas "decoration to assemble and put up is the nativity. (I LOVE this!! and I love to watch her set it up!) We have had a Veggie Tales Nativity since she was about 2 and each year, she diligently sets it up and plays with it for awhile.

December 2008
In 2008, Mykayla narrated the nativity as she put it up. I sat and wrote it down as she played. Her words were so sweet and in a funny way reflected the Christmas story. So the nativity in her own words (Mykayla Age 4)

"That guy is babysitting Jesus. No, Jesus doesn't need a babysitter; Jesus is at home with his mom and dad."

"The cow says moo, moo. I'm hungry."

"That dude brings them the hay."

"Jesus dad is a farmer, Jesus mom is a..she has sheep, what is she?"

Mom to Mykayla, "People who have sheep are shepherds."

"Oh, a farmer and a shepherd."

"The cow needs some time to rest by himself."

"Jesus got kicked off the deck by the cow."

Talking to the cow... "You guys stick over there and go potty or something, do what you need to do, just don't scare Jesus!" (My favorite line of the whole thing!)

"Oh, I am going to name you Jesus. Is that a nice name Jesus?"

This year, she decided that Michael could now use the Veggie Tales nativity (Luckily he has not yet figured out that if you push on the star several times, it will repeat "O Little Town of Bethlehem". in an obnoxious Veggie Tale like voice. This was Kayla's favorite thing to do when she was little.)  and she would move on to the "breakable" one.  Mykayla begged to put one of my big nativities in her room and I couldn't say no. She put the ceramic nativity in her room.

My Willow Tree Nativity
 It has taken me 5 years to find the perfect place to put this in our house and I am so excited that I finally found somewhere that works!! It will go here from now on. My dad painted the sign for me and I love how well it goes with the nativity.
 
I am so glad that Mykayla has taken to the real reason for the season and reason we celebrate!





















Sunday, November 27, 2011

We survived Black Friday

Probably because we are not crazy enough to get up at 4am in search of the bargains. We start at about 9am when the "novelty" of the early bird specials has hopefully warn off and we have a chance of roaming the aisles without being injured. For the last couple years, we have started at Fred Meyer whose sale goes till 11am and then we head to Kohl's where the early bird specials don't end till 1pm. From there we mainly hit up the big stores and if possible, stay away from the malls. This year we had 3 girlfriends join us and we had a blast!!

This was just funny! Mom was testing out the bike with the huge basket in Wal Mart.
When we got home, we brought in all of our bags so we could distribute our goodies and see what it all looked like put together. We had a ton of bags as you can tell.
Lunch at Red Robin
 
Our total time shopping-12 hours!! 
A huge kudos and thanks to all the hubbys for taking the kids for the day! 




I love our Thanksgiving Traditions

The holidays are my favorite time of year! I love the fellowship, craziness and jammed packed calendars they bring. I also love all the small things or traditions we do each year for the holidays. Thanksgiving has come and gone and I wanted to share some of our traditions we have had for years and even a new one Celia and I decided to start with the kids. I will post pics and then write about each one so you can follow along...

 Black Friday Ads!!! The girls (big & little) LOVE to cruise through the Black Friday ads to see what is hot this year and what great bargain we couldn't possibly pass up the next day. Celia and I are lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving together every year. (Being sisters and sister in laws has its advantages) So each year, we grab our ads, sit on the floor and map out our route for the next day.
 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade! As a kid, I can remember being so excited to watch the parade on Thanksgiving morning. This is one thing I have enjoyed also watching my children do. They love the floats, the balloons and the performances. They get super excited to see people and characters from shows that they recognize.
And our new tradition (as silly as it is!)...Best Buy & Starbucks drive by!
On our way out to Papa and Grandma's this year, we saw a bunch of tents outside of Best Buy and decided to do a drive by to see what it was all about and what bargain they were waiting for. Add a trip to Starbucks for hot coco and Izzies drinks and we have our new tradition : )
Our annual Christmas card photo! (So you all get a sneak peak)
I try to get at least one good family photo for our Christmas card. Most of the time, I have at least one uncooperative party. Can you guess which one that was this year?
and finally...the food!!
Each year, Grandma Linda prepares a smorgasbord of food for us to snack on before hand and then an amazing Thanksgiving meal. Unfortunately, I didn't take that many pictures of the rest of Thanksgiving but we always enjoy spending the day with the family.







Friday, November 25, 2011

Happy 2nd Birthday to my little man!!



(Ok, so this post is slightly almost a week delayed. I literally fell asleep on the laptop on his actual birthday. It was a long, busy, birthday party filled weekend.)

Wow!! Where do I start? I cannot believe my handsome little man is 2 today!

We celebrated today with daddy's family at Papa Mike and Grandma Linda's and Michael had a good time doing a pinata with his cousins, eating LOTS (afterall it was his birthday) of treats, and getting some fun Elmo gifts. Grandma Linda made a great spread of spaghetti, bread, salad and fruit. She also made Michael special red rice krispie treats since he unfortunately could not enjoy the ADORABLE Elmo cupcakes that Uncle Eric and Stephaie made.

At 2 years old, Michael continues to surprise and amaze me on a daily basis. His vocabulary is expanding daily and I am able to figure out most times what he is asking/saying. Some of his favorite words/sayings right now are:
No Poppi! Story behind it-His bestest buddy at school Elo (This is how Michael says Leo) is Hispanic and his mom addresses him as poppi. His teacher says No Poppi in class too so now Michael has started saying it. Too funny!!
Elo See story above : )
Otay which sounds just like the little kid on Little Rascals. So super cute!
Uppy meaning I want up on the couch, your lap etc.
Night, night and bye bye
Along with these words, he has picked up animal sounds and can do a lion, bear, cow and my personal favorite-a monkey. He even acts like one when he does it.

Each day after school, I pick up his daily sheet and his teacher writes a personal note about his day. He clears his own plate after lunch, signs parts of the alphabet, "reads" books and usually (and surprisingly) is the quietest one of the class.
At home, Michael keeps daddy and I busy running here and there and climbing on this and that. He loves to "writing, writing, writing" with his crayons and absolutely loves his big sister!

I love you Michael! Happy 2nd Birthday!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Hobby Lobby!!!!

I know, not a very clever title but that was all I could come up with in my excitement : ) Hobby Lobby in Lynnwood had it's grand opening on Halloween and I got a chance to go on Friday before heading to a scrapbook retreat in Monroe (Super good time, got lots done, whole other post!)
Hobby Lobby is in the old GI Joe's in Lynnwood and it is HUGE!!! We hit up the Christmas aisles first. So much Christmas goodness!!! Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday so I walked up and down each and every aisle and just soaked it all in. I ended up with just an airplane ornament for Michael and some straw for my nativity. Trust me, I could have got more but I was trying to resist. (Really, I just want to wait till at least after Thanksgiving) Then they have party decor and supplies, a scrapbook section, fabric, home decor, beads, kids crafts, framing and much, much more! So my favorite part of Hobby Lobby...and surprisingly it is not the scrapbook section, was the home decor. Seriously some of the neatest home decor I have ever seen. My least favorite and the most disappointing area for me was the scrapbooking section. (I know this may come as a shock to several of you who know me well) It might be that I went into it with expectations of what I had read on crafting sites and let's just say this Hobby Lobby was nowhere near what they describe. It sounds like stores in other areas/states have bigger, better scrapbooking sections. Must depend on the market for it in that area. They did have several papers and stickers I had not seen before so I did enjoy looking at new stuff but will probably not make them a scrapping only destination.

I did manage to snap a few pics on my phone just to give you an idea. If you are in the area, I HIGHLY recommend you check it out. Oh and they are opening one in Everett soon too!!








Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Tricks, treats, trunks, SWAT vehicles and the Supermall!

This is how we spent the Halloween weekend/weekday. Don't be too alarmed by the SWAT vehicle mention. We went to Trunk or Treat at the Pierce County South Hill precinct on Sunday. Several of Adam's fellow deputies decorate their patrol cars and give out candy. A couple of the SWAT guys go all out too!! This is the second year we have done this and both years so far, it has rained, been freezing cold and the kids both come home with a big enough haul to call off trick or treating on the actual night. (Yeah right, like I could do that to my kids) Michael had a blast and actually "got it" and Mykayla and her friend Carly ran the loop of cars at least 3 times that I saw.
Mykayla and Carly after round 2
This picture cracks me up but is probably one of my favorites.

And the freezing butterfly who refused to put on a coat
Adam's buddy Wes' patrol car.
My absolute favorite of all! Like father, like son!
One of the SWAT vehicles
Shout out to Malinda and her cute Where's Waldo? costume! 
Malinda is one of the awesome fellow Pierce County wives I have met.
 
 
On Halloween, we headed to the Auburn Supermall with our friends the Bustos' for some indoor, WARM trick or treating. We have not done this before and after our first time, I am sold! It was the best trick or treating ever and as soon as Michael figured out what to do, he was a pro! Plus he got the most ooohs and aaahs I have ever heard. (Admittedly, he was pretty cute!!) Mykayla was a great big sister and made sure he was not lost or left out.
 Police Michael, Butterfly Mykayla, Hippy Leo and Pirate Diana
Luckily I watched him like a hawk, he had no problems wandering off to the next store for more goodies.
 Diana and Mykayla stuck together and looked out for each other.
Michael's best buddy Elo (His name is Leo, Michael calls him Elo) 
They are in the same class at school and are inseparable.
 We ran into our old neighbors too! I can't believe how big Ms. Kyia has got. We miss them!!











Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Way to go Arby's!!



Kayla and I picked up Arby's for dinner tonight on the way home from soccer practice. We placed our order and then pulled up to the window to pay and get our food. As I was waiting for the food, I noticed that they had a clear plastic bin with a graph looking thing and a bunch of numbers on it. I usually get my hopes all up when I see this because I think the allergen information would also be listed. Not true!! All they turn out to be is basically how bad the food is for you. (Like we didn't already know before we even pulled/walked up to order) As if I am in my normal 'hopes up" mode, I pulled one out and to my surprise, it actually lists the allergen info too. I was so excited and a little shocked : ) Not only does it list the allergens it contains, it also has a code for menu items cooked in the same oil as other items that contain major allergens and a code for items manufactured in a facility that processes peanuts. This to me is ABOVE and BEYOND!!! I am so impressed that I tell the gal that is helping us, "Arby's is the first restaurant I have been to since my son was diagnosed with several allergies in May, that actually has an allergen info sheet readily available to it's customers." The fact that it was not only in the restaurant but in the drive thru was even more impressive to me. So WAY TO GO ARBY'S!!!

Now unfortunately, literally everything on their menu contains egg, wheat or both. If they don't contain those, they are cooked in the same oil. He won't be eating at Arby's anytime soon but I will definitely be going back! 


Monday, October 24, 2011

Pumpkin Carving 101

So going to spoil the surprise before I even finish this blog post but I am super excited about the picture(s) I am going to post. Pumpkin Carving 101 is the title of the pages in my scrapbook of Mykayla's first year "carving" pumpkins. (That would have been 2004!! Pure Craziness!) What an appropriate title for this years pics and a blast from the past. So without further babbling...2004

 (Kind of off because it is a scan of the scrapbook page I did in 2004.)

And 2011...
Notice the tongue sticking out in some of the pictures, she is such a Kinyon!!
Might I also add that Mykayla did almost all of the gutting and carving of her pumpkin. Daddy and I helped with a few trick spots, otherwise it was all her! I am so impressed!

She was all about the guts and glory!
The design

 That would be the tongue I mentioned!

And the final product! So proud of herself too!








Sunday, October 23, 2011

A perfect fall day at the pumpkin patch

Today we spent the afternoon at Carleton Farm picking pumpkins, racing through the corn maze and enjoying time with family and friends. While I don't have too much to "type" about this perfect fall day, I do have pictures!! Poor Michael was not feeling too well for much of the day but was such a good great trooper the whole time. He willingly sat on pumpkins and posed for pictures while sister and cousins ran through the corn maze.