Making cookies...

(I finally found my photo card to get pics/videos off my cell phone..that's why this post is sooo late)

I kept putting this off and finally the evening before Christmas Eve set it up so Kelsey could help me with the cookie cutters. She had a blast using the rolling pin and then choosing which cookie cutter she wanted and pressing it into the dough with both hands. Then I had her help me make the dough for the candy cane cookies. She had fun using the kitchenaid and knew how to turn it on and off right away.

I baked them while she went to bed, so the next morning we mixed up the icing and she got to decorate the cookies.

Potatoes!!!

This is one of the few foods we have not been able to get Kelsey to eat, with the exception of some roasted sweet potatoes I made a few weeks ago. Well, tonight there was a break through folks!! Kelsey and I had stopped by Gma/Gpa McDonald's house after taking daddy to the airport. Gma made dinner for us, roast chicken, peas (K LOVES these) and mashed potatoes. As always I tried to get her to taste my mash potatoes and she gave me a look of terror and said no, which I had her turn into "no thank you" Then when she was doing something I snuck a bite into her mouth. She ate it with trepidation. I then glued some peas onto the next bite of mashed potatoes and she ate it willingly. We did the same gluing technique with the chicken. When she finished her plate she even asked for more of everything, including the potatoes!! Today was a good day!!!

Granted I prob majorly screwed up b/c I'm sure they had butter or some type of dairy that she's not supposed to have...just a day in the life of me!!

Family Photo Shoot @ the Beach

Kitchen Helper

I've written before about how much Kelsey likes to "help out" in the kitchen. She has always pushed a chair up to the counter. Lou's been very worried about her falling off...for very good reason. She's fallen off twice (luckily she didn't really get hurt either time) After the second fall, we got on the Internet right away and ordered the kitchen helper.

We had debated before buying either this one or the Learning tower, but just couldn't see paying the $$ for it. Soooooo worth it! She loves it and we love it! She pushes it around the kitchen from the center island, where she likes to help, and over to the sink to wash her hands. Even her cousins enjoyed using it when they came to stay with us.

It is foldable/collapsible if you remove one screw from the platform. So far it really has not been in the way, so we haven't seen the need to fold it, especially since she uses it a few times each day.

Decorating the Christmas Tree..

We're a little unconventional and the Angel went up first to make sure we could fit her on. This year we gave in and bought a 9 foot artificial pre-lit tree. It pretty much goes to our ceiling, so Lou had to tie the angel on with fishing line

We decided to let Kelsey stay up past bedtime one night so she could help us decorate the tree. This is the first time we really let her participate and she had a blast. I taught her how to hold the hook to make it easier to put the ornaments on the branches. I separated out the breakable and non-breakable ornaments, obviously the pile on non-breakable pile was for Kelsey. After she finished her pile she kept trying to bring the breakable ones and put them on. She was so excited.

Since she had so much fun, I ended up buying her a little tree of her own for her bedroom. I wish I had my camera with me. She was dancing and singing as she was putting the ornaments on, that she got to pick out at the store. We even bought a little battery powered strand of lights. I turn the tree on during her naptime for her everyday.

ABC Video

We have the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics, which Kelsey really likes. She likes to press the green button which sings the ABC's. She also puts letters in and then as it sings the phonics part she sings along. I should clarify that her singing along is funny. She now makes up words, and some not so real words, to the songs.

If you get this as an email update, I think you actually have to go to the blog to play the video. Remember to hit the triangle play button.

Talking about Santa Video..

Like always....she's a jabber mouth until I start filming her. At lunch we were talking about Santa and she was telling me how she wanted presents but had to be a good girl for mommy & daddy, and how she wants a horse from Santa. It was so cute I wanted it on video, but as soon as I turned it on she got shy and I had to ask all the questions instead of her freely talking..oh well. Don't forget to press the triangle to play it.

1st Self Portrait....

Before lunch Kelsey was playing outside (on this gorgeous but gray day). She said "Mommy, look what I draw" I came over and asked her what it was and she said" it's me!" with a great big smile. So enjoy Kelsey's 1st portrait...I figured I had to take a picture of it since it was on the chalkboard and not on a piece of paper I could put in a frame.

For the Birds....

While we were watching Agent Oso the other morning, they were making peanut butter birdseed pine cones. Kelsey kept talking about them and how you have to tie a ribbon on top at the end. I decided since we have pine cones in the backyard/backlot, that we would attempt this after naptime. I took her out and we collected a few pine cones, cut some ribbon, got the peanut butter and ran out to the store quickly to buy birdseed (I thought we already had some in the garage). Searching/Finding pine cones in the empty lot behind our house.
All ready to start...plate of birdseed, spoon, peanut butter, & pine cones (next time I will put a smock on her)

Spreading the peanut butter on with the spoon, she was trying to be so clean! Lou and I used our fingers to finish spreading enough peanut butter onSprinkling birdseed on the pine cone...We told her it would work better to roll it. Birdseed was sticking to the peanut butter on her fingers and she kept trying to flick it off. After we finished we tied ribbon around the pine cones. Kelsey was so happy. I hung them in 3 different places around our yard.

The next morning while we were getting breakfast ready, we saw a cardinal sitting on the fountain trying to get to the pine cone. So we went outside to go watch. Kelsey was very excited to watch the birds at her pine cone

If you look closely you can see both the male & female Cardinal in this picture. Female is on the dead palm branch. We did not see the female until I uploaded these pics.

Big Girl Cup

Last week I was browsing through Target's dollar spot and found some small plastic glasses that were on clearance for 50% off (yes $.50) I bought 2 and figured we'd give it a go. Yesterday we had a nice family breakfast of pumpkin pancakes, eggs, and turkey bacon. We also had orange juice. I grabbed one of the new glasses out of the cupboard and poured in some OJ about 1/2 way. She did really well. Occasionally over sipped or moved to fast, but pretty good for never really attempting before. She asks to use the cups all the time now. We have decided we will only use them when we are sitting at the table for a meal. So the past 2 nights she has had her milk with dinner in her cup. Last night she sometimes would put the cup to her mouth below her lips and you can imagine what the result was!! We spilled a little more milk last night than OJ in the AM. She did much better tonight. I can't believe how grown up she is getting!!

She is very proud of herself for using a "real" big girl cup. I initially called her sippy cups big girl cups when i took the stoppers out to remind her she had to be careful. As she was drinking today, she tells me "have to be real careful"

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread

After a quick call to mom for the recipe and running over to borrow an egg at 7:40 pm from Brenda, Kelsey & I stirred up a batter of Mom's pumpkin bread using a gluten free flour substitute. IT WAS A SUCCESS!!!! Yeah, it tasted yummy and was very similar to the regular recipe using flour. I'm so excited that K-bear will still be able to enjoy pumpkin bread! Next attempt will be gluten free candy cane cookies....

Halloween Night

We started out after lunch by heading over to Gma & Gpa McD's to watch the football games while K napped. We figured that way we could get her up from nap and get her dressed over there. Kelsey wanted us to dress up as well, so I was a Vampire (sorta like a witch as I explained to K) and Lou was a Cowboy Sheriff.

We then headed over to our friend Megan/Matt's house to meet up with friends to trick-or-treat. Kelsey and Jack rode in our wagon. They got out and walked up to a few doors and sometimes we even just pulled the wagon to the door (I know...lazy) Kelsey was so cute..she kept saying "mommy, I got candy!" in the cutest voice. It's so funny to hear things like that come out of her mouth when she's never even had any. At one point I looked at her and she had opened a skittles bag and had one in her hand. I took it away from her and told her she wasn't allowed to have anything until mommy/daddy checked it.

We got back to our neighborhood about 5 minutes too late...we missed the rush of kids by a few houses. We stopped by our neighbors house on the way in so they could see Kelsey all dressed up. As usual, Brenda & Lloyd get the award for most awesome neighbors. They had a special treat for Kelsey...a fruit bowl, raisins, apples and grapes! She loved it and actually ate 1/4 of the fruit bowl that night before she went to bed.

All in all I think Kelsey had a really good Halloween. She keeps talking about it and asking about her bumble bee costume (Thanks Jennifer!)

Up Past Bedtime...

Kelsey was having so much fun being allowed to stay up past bedtime. She kept wanting me to take pictures of her, and actually smiled for the camera on cue. She wanted pictures with her Morgan too!! So I happily obliged.

Pumpkin Carving

We let K stay up past bedtime last night so we (Lou) could carve our pumpkin. We started by taking the pumpkin seeds out. Kelsey didn't want much to do with this, but did help when a few fell on the newspaper. We decided to do a Mickey Mouse this year. Instead of going with just the basic mouse shape, Lou found a more detailed template to use. It came out really great. I think Lou did an awesome job and after telling him that...Kelsey kept telling him that as well.

Like my daddy

I like to wear my daddy's hat (even though it's way too big on me):

Pumpkin Picking...

Well, okay since we live in FL it's more like choosing! After nap Kelsey and I met up with Daddy at the Methodist church to pick out our pumpkin and take some pictures. At first she was hesitant, but then she was trying to pick them all up. LOL We missed the fall festival they held b/c we were at Christine's wedding (Lou's sister), but hopefully we'll be able to take Kelsey next year.

I'm so strong...I gonna pick this pumpkin up!

Check out my baby pumpkins

This is the pumpkin we chose