Crown Center

Today our playgroup decided to head down to the Crown Center in downtown Kansas City and visit the Gingerbread Village and Santa's Crayola Playland. It felt like such an "outing" for us and the kids did really great and seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Elise's favorite part of Santa's Crayola Playland?
The chalkboard! She loved it!

Isaac had fun running around and exploring everything and he did a good job of encouraging Elise along as well. Eventually she left the chalkboard and joined in with him and had fun exploring as well.

Isaac dancing. Classic.

At the end of the Playland path the kids could sit on Santa's lap if they wanted to. I didn't make a big deal out of this at all... in fact, I didn't even mention that Santa was there. But Isaac noticed and really wanted to go visit him, so I let him. And I was COMPLETELY surprised. Isaac wasn't nervous or timid at all! He climbed right up next to him and chatted away with him as if they were the best of buds. (This is very out of character for Isaac, usually he gets really nervous around anyone in costume at all , so I was really happy to see that he was so brave and interested this time). Anyway, Elise - on the other hand - wanted nothing to do with Santa. So I just held her. :)

The first thing that Santa asked Isaac was the usual question,
"What do you want for Christmas?"
Isaac's response was so sweet - it melted my little heart!
"To go to Granny Jo's house."

Then they proceeded to chat away about - what else? - musical instruments. Isaac was telling him all about all of his instruments and all of the other fun instruments out there. I love my boy!

After the visit to Santa's Crayola Playland - we ate our packed lunch in the atrium looking out at Crown Center's ginormous Christmas Tree and admiring the fountains and watching the electric trains travel around the Gingerbread village. The kids were wonderfully behaved and it was a fun morning!!

Hiding

All of a sudden it got too quiet downstairs... I looked around and hurried upstairs to find these two kiddos giggling and talking and squirming. They were "hiding" from me!
So cute!!! I love it when they play nicely together!

Winter Quarters Temple Trip

For the first two weeks of November I was just REALLY feeling like Jeremy and I needed to get to the temple... so we made arrangements to go to the Winter Quarters temple the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Then, with Isaac being sick and Elise seeming on the verge of sickness, we canceled the trip the night before.

I was SO disappointed! I really felt like we needed that trip. But I also knew that leaving the kids I would just be anxious the whole time anyway...

But the next morning we woke up - and the kids seemed to be doing LIGHT YEARS better.
After a few hours we started to wonder... could we still make this work somehow?
I jumped in the shower around noon and simply prayed that if it was important for us to get to the temple - that doors would open and it would work out - 45 minutes later we were in the car driving away!! Talk about tender mercies and small miracles.

We were able to find a babysitter for the afternoon (who literally showed up at our doorstep within moments) and then Brent and Michelle were nice enough to keep the kids for the evening and put them to bed at their house.

So off we went!

We made it to the 4:00 pm sealing session at the temple and were able to complete the work for my ancestor Cordelia. And then we were able to spend some time together in the Celestial room - not to mention the lovely 3 hour drive there and back.

Here's the temple as we were leaving.

And handsome husband!

And me...

It was such a great trip. I was very grateful to have been able to go... and we had some wonderful discussions and grew closer together as a couple on our drive. We became more united and simply enjoyed the time to talk deeply about our lives and our dreams and our ambitions and our everything. I LOVE talking to Jeremy. The trip was a great blessing to us and I am so grateful that it all worked out.

Cuddling

Just a random moment of normal everyday life captured...

Elise was having a rough night (really cranky) and didn't seem to be feeling well - so we gave her a binkie and put on a movie to help her calm down, so that we could wait out the last 30 minutes or so before bedtime.
And I was just sitting there beside her (29 weeks prego).

Isaac was still at the table trying to finish his dinner - and Jeremy was helping him.
(yummy homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls!)

Then Elise climbed on my lap.

And laid her head back to rest on my shoulder.

She ended up deciding that it was more comfortable to just snuggle up beside me.

I love this photo!
(even with Isaac's hand in the way)

See... Isaac is a cuddly person (like me) and he gives me all the cuddles and snuggles that a mom could dream of... and he always has...
Elise is less of a cuddler (more like her daddy was as a child). She will sit on my lap to read a story - or maybe for a minute if she is tired - but for the most part she would rather be up and about - exploring and doing things. She even prefers to stand next to me and look over my should a lot of the time when I read to her - silly girl! So when she IS cuddly... I LOVE it. I bask in it and I snuggle her to my hearts content.

I feel like I am in this pose (holding or snuggling her) quite often throughout the day - just for a short moment here or a brief moment there (not long enough to really get a photo - and besides, there is rarely anyone else around to take a picture anyway). But I so want to remember all the beautiful times of holding and cuddling and comforting and soothing both of my sweet babies. So I was so glad that Jeremy was nearby to capture this simple moment. And I was happy and grateful for these snuggles this night. I love my Elise and I want her to always know how DEEPLY I love her.

Epic Fail

The day after Thanksgiving turned out to be an EPIC fail.
So epic... that it must be recorded and go down here in the official historical record of our small clan. Just kidding... it wasn't so bad. It was simply a day that went very differently than planned. It was supposed to be a day of happy family Christmas traditions and cute Christmas-y photos - and instead we had sick, cranky kids - ended up scrapping the traditions - and dealt with the tantrums.

Anyway... let's just start out with this awesome picture of Jeremy. It just about says it all.

The day started out normally enough. Jeremy took the kids with him to the church building to "help" him clean and I got to relax (aka clean house). We met up at Brent & Michelle's house around 11:30 am to polish off the remaining Thanksgiving leftovers.

While we were there - Isaac kept complaining about his ear hurting (he had been complaining of it since the previous night - and we had been giving him tylenol - but he had no fever or other "symptoms" - unless you count EXTREME moodiness - anyway...) As everyone sat down to lunch, I suddenly felt inclined to call the doctor's office and just see if there happened to be an appointment available. They said that they were open until noon that day and that they had an appointment if I could be there in 10 minutes. So... I hurriedly packed Isaac up and headed off to the doctor office with Isaac. 2 hours and a massive double ear infection and lovely antibiotic prescription later... we returned to Brent & Michelle's house (Isaac was a trooper at the doctor office - by the way). Jeremy was happily occupied in a Wii tourney with Brent - and Elise had woken from her (very short!) afternoon nap and was happily wandering about.

So far... not too bad of a day. A sick kiddo. But nothing to write home about.

So then we (mostly ME) decided that we needed to get home, get cleaned up, and head out to fulfill our fun-filled family holiday tradition of picking and cutting down our own Christmas tree. Jeremy expressed some concern. Was this a good idea with Isaac's sickness and general crankiness?? But I was determined to have a happy Christmas-y day. And Isaac was loaded up on tylenol and ibuprofen and I figured that it we let a little cranky child or a little sickness disrupt family traditions - then (especially as our family grows) we would NEVER be able to actually do any family traditions EVER. So we were just going to put on a good attitude and go out and enjoy ourselves and make some wonderful family memories...

Here we are all set to go.
Jeremy.

Positive thinking Kendra.

And our children.

Just in case you needed a close up of that one.

We quickly realized that our "happy campers" weren't going to survive a full-fledged trip to a Christmas tree farm (something about the screams and wailing from the back seat) - so instead we headed to Lowe's to see what Christmas trees they had.

They did okay for about 2 minutes and 2 pictures each.

Then the meltdowns began...

And by the time we were actually trying to pick out a Christmas tree (a total of maybe 5 minutes) - we were in full fledged meltdown mode.

And Jeremy and I ditched the whole "getting a Christmas tree" plan and just put our screaming kids in the car and drove home - TREELESS.

As we pulled up in the driveway, with no Christmas tree (and no room in our schedule to get one anytime soon) and with 3 of us in tears (Jeremy held it together pretty well :)... we were a bit disappointed (okay - I'll be honest - I was downright grumpy, emotional, and perturbed).

But after dinner I had cheered up a bit and decided that we could still accomplish the goal of a beautiful Christmas spirit filled evening as a family. Change of plans: We would get out the "Baby Jesus" toy and tell the nativity story and play with that and read Christmas books and relax... it would be lovely.

So we did just that!
We got out the much anticipated "Baby Jesus" toy and we told them the story of the nativity.
They listened to me tell the story so well.

And then they went to play with it...

And immediately all heck broke loose!
They both wanted what the other child had picked up and we had massive amounts of screaming, pulling, grabbing, flailing, kicking, did I mention screaming?? tantrums.

The pictures simply do not do the scene justice.

So, we promptly scooped each child up and tucked them away soundly in bed (at 6:30 pm no less) and quietness once again reigned supreme. Ahhh....

So to sum it all up.
Instead of a fun-filled day of family traditions, cute photos, and Christmas season memories...
we got screaming,
tantrums,
NO TREE,
and many more TANTRUMS.

Epic Fail.

After the kids went to bed, I tried (relatively unsuccessfully at first) to get over my grumpy attitude - but eventually I was able to calm down myself and relax and the 2 of us ended up enjoying a fun night together - eating leftover pie, watching a movie, and playing a game (aka "the usual" for us).

BUT - I wanted to record this evening and these photos for a reason.

1. I want to remember what REAL life was like with little toddlers.
Sure - we love them. Of course we do!!
They are amazing and fun and wonderful and cute.
But let's not entirely sugar coat this whole motherhood thing.
Kids are also cranky, exhausting, and difficult. They throw tantrums and refuse to cooperate.
Parenthood is SO HARD.
And while I want to remember EVERY beautiful moment, I also want to remember what it is like to be in the "trenches" and be able to commiserate honestly and sincerely with young mothers 20+ years from now. I want to be real.

2. I am not the person that I so desperately wish that I was - and that's difficult for me (especially on days like this one) - but it is also okay - and I'm trying. It's frustrating to me in these moments of parenthood that I get so emotional and exhausted and discouraged and disappointed. And I am not particularly known for my patience or flexibility. But I am trying and learning and growing and loving my family as best I can - and that has to be enough - because it is all that I can do. And I'll keep at it.

3. While he's not perfect :) I'm grateful to be on this journey with Jeremy.
He is a wonderful partner in life and parenthood and he does MUCH better on days like this than I do... and he helps me slowly learn and grow from these experiences and I am (ever so slowly!) becoming a better person because of that love and patience that he shares with me.

4. Maybe... sometimes... especially when your kids are sick... the better choice is to stay in your pajamas all day long and lay on the couch and watch cartoons together and not even try to attempt anything else. Maybe... just maybe... there are some great reasons to throw family traditions aside and forget about them for a year (or more). The goal is a happy, unified, loving family experience on this earth. I want to do my best to keep that in mind and not get distracted along the way...

I love my family!!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we joined Brent & Michelle and their family in their home for a Thanksgiving FEAST!
There was SO much AMAZING food.
Wow...

Well, let's start at the beginning.
Thanksgiving morning was spent in preparations for the feast.

We were in charge of bringing:
- carrots, sugar snap green peas, broccoli, and cauliflower for the veggie tray
- a cheese ball and crackers
- mashed potatoes
- green bean side dish
- corn
- stuffing
- jello side dish
- chocolate cream pie
- ice cream

So, while I had made a few things the day before - there was still lots to do Thanksgiving morning. We wanted to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade while we worked- but it wasn't available online (and we don't have cable) - so we pulled up the 2009 Thanksgiving Day Parade online and enjoyed that. :) We figured the kids wouldn't know the difference!

Anyway - the highlight of the morning was the potato prep. Everyone was involved. We all sat down at the kitchen table. Isaac pulled the potatoes out of the bag and handed them to Jeremy (who peeled them) and then handed them to Elise, who handed them to me (and I chopped them). It was just so fun to all work together. We all loved it! Visiting and laughing and working together...

Anyway, around noon we headed over to spend the rest of the day at Brent & Michelle's house. I, of course, took NO pictures of the feast. But trust me, it was incredible! Michelle had the table all set with cute name cards at each seat. We ate around 1:30 pm. Here are the recipe photos of some of the things I brought (just to give you an idea of how amazing all of this food was!).

Cheese ball.
(The kids and I had fun making it together the day before).

Bacon wrapped green bean bundles.
(It was my first time making these and they were a BIG hit - especially with Jeremy. I think he will definitely be requesting them again in the future).

Pretzel Jello
Crushed pretzel crust - cream cheese/whip cream center -
cranberry/raspberry jello with raspberries
(We ate this every year that we went to Jeremy's Aunt Stacie's house in Utah and I was craving it this year so I decided to try making it on my own. SO yummy.)

For dessert Michelle had made her classic pumpkin roll (one of my favorites!) and a pumpkin pie and a homemade lemon meringue pie. So impressed - it all turned out great.
We bought a delicious chocolate cream pie to add to the heavenly assortment.

In the afternoon the littles napped - and the big kids played outside in the gorgeous 50-60 degree weather. We cleaned up. Went on a walk. Jerm played ping pong with Isaac. The kids watched a movie. Adults talked.
We just RELAXED.

Then at 5:30 pm we headed over to the church to play basketball in the gym.
Everyone loved the space to goof off and run around and play!
Here's some photos:

Michayla and Blake

Ally, Elise, and Isaac

Ally, Isaac, Luke, and Elise

Classic Jeremy expression

A few action shots of me playing basketball.

And check out my round little belly. :) Baby boy is 29 weeks in this photo.

And our only family photo of the day.
We'll call this one "Real Life."
Both kids were getting a little cranky... and Isaac had drenched himself with water from the water fountain (hence - no shirt).

After basketball we headed back to Brent & Michelle's to eat yummy leftovers (yay for Thanksgiving take 2!! Just as good the second time around). Then we got the kiddos ready for bed and read them fun Christmas books. When the kids were asleep Brent & Jeremy volunteered to stay home and play wii - while Michelle and I headed out to Wal-mart at 10 pm to try our hand for the first time at "Black Friday" shopping.

What an adventure! It was ridiculous how crowded Walmart was. We were absolutely floored.
But we found a parking spot, ran inside, opted not to get a cart (because they were ALL gone - but it turned out to be a big blessing because we were able to maneuver better), and long story short - we both came home with exactly what we had gone out looking for. Success! It was fun. And according to Jeremy the boys had a blast at home as well.

It was a joyful, thankful, yummy, happy Thanksgiving!

Playing at Home

Isaac has been really into trains lately.

Elise with a toy cell phone.
She mostly plays with the toy kitchen, wraps baby dolls in blankets, pushes the shopping cart, holds the doll house baby (in it's cradle), and carries around our shape sorter basket as a purse. I guess she is all girl!

Oh... and she LOVES to color. Both Elise and Isaac have been getting really into coloring.
Unfortunately they both have a strong preference for markers - which is messy.
But they can easily sit for 15 minutes (or more sometimes) and contentedly color.
Elise gets really into it and fills the page with all sorts of focused scribbles, lines, and a variety of colors. Isaac likes to use BLACK. And he likes to write not just random letters - but words. I usually write whatever he asks me to on a post-it note and then he copies it.

Here he is creating a birthday card "Happy Birthday Will."
Impressive, right?

Most of Isaac's time spent playing with trains is making elaborate, unique, and fun track set ups. I was particularly proud of him on this day, because he ran out of tracks and came and asked me for more. I said "Sorry Isaac - that is all the tracks that we have. You'll have to do something else." And his response was "Oh, I know what I will do." When I looked up a few minutes later he had dug through our regular blocks and was using them as train tracks!! I was so proud of him for being creative and flexible and independent in solving his own problems.

We also like to build towns out of blocks. It can get a little difficult with Elise's destructive age... BUT - it can also be a lot of fun!

Notice the solid red building on the right side of the picture - that's the "school" - made out of all red brick (just like the school down the street from us). Isaac also loved making the driveways and did a lot of the house building on his own too. It is so fun to get to play together!!