A Playdate and a Teaparty!

When this little friend of Kayli's begged to have a playdate with her, I'm not sure that she was prepared to participate in a teaparty with my eccentric "princess-fairy-mermaid"?!!! The picture is worth a thousand words!

Another Snow Day...Woohoo!

Thanks to the snow-plow, Kayli had a wonderful "mountain" to play on!

"I Think I Have Snow Bite"

Yes, she means "Frost Bite", as she tries to tell me how cold her fingers are!

On our way home from school today, I noticed a great little hill, about a half a block away from our house, that I mentioned to Kayli might make a good sledding run. Well, of course, I barely finished my sentence when she was squealing and pleading that there was still enough "day left" that we could give it a try right now! "Please,please,please, Mommy?" So, being the good sport that I am, I agreed. We didn't even unload our backpacks, bags, etc. from the car. I just grabbed the sled, Kayli hopped in, and yes, there was enough snow and ice covering the road and sidewalks that I just pulled her in the sled to the hill. Good exercise for me! She was beside herself with excitement over the prospect of sliding down this hill! It was the kind of quiet- holding-her-breath-or-she might burst kind of excitement, and she wasn't disappointed! She had a few smooth "runs" and one "wipeout-rollover", and all were equally entertaining. It wasn't long, though, before our fingers and toes were crying out for warmth, so we called it a day and headed home for a nice warm dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread, and of course I added a nice heart-warming glass of red wine for me!

Check out the videos below:

First "Snow Day" of the Year!

Woohoo! There's nothing more exciting than a "snow day"! And just to be sure it happened, Kayli and I wore our pjs inside out last night...

put spoons under our pillows...

and, luck be with us, we got the call quite early this morning, cancelling school! Oh, happy day, first and foremost this means that everybody gets to sleep in...zzzzzzzz...

secondly, it means we get to stay in our jammies, and I get to savor a hot cup of coffee with my "saved-especially-for-snow-days-freezer-cinnamon rolls!" Kayli stayed in her jammies, but just couldn't wait to put on her snowsuit, so she just put it on over her jammies. That way she could just wait for my signal and she'd be off and running, or diving, into the snow!

The snow looked so pretty as I watched it fall outside my back window...

When we were ready to head outdoors, we discovered that Kayli's snow boots were too small. We couldn't stuff her feet into them! Never fear, though, we just double-socked her feet and pulled out her rain boots!

Once outside, we realized that the temps were PERFECT for a quick shoveling of the driveway and lots of play in the snow!

yeah, real "snowcones" outside, then s'mores and hot cocoa inside...

MMmmmm, oh yeah, what a day! 

Kayli Receives an Award!

Yep, it was a big day at school for Miss Kayli on Friday! She was taken by surprise at the Kids of Character Assembly when Mr. K*ear*ney announced her name. She was chosen as one of two students in her classroom to receive the Kids of Character Award this quarter! She walked up front when her name was called, listened while the principal read the letter from her teacher, Mrs. K*ell*er, and graciously but skeptically accepted her award.

All the students were dismissed except for the award recipients, and Kayli stood with the others, smiling ear to ear, as photos were taken. Then, as we are walking back to Kayli's classroom, her little hand in mine, she looks up at me and says "Mommy, are you proud of me?" Oh, yes, Kayli, I am very proud of you! then, she says "Mommy, why did I get this award?" I say "Well, your teacher thinks you are doing a great job in your classroom making good choices, following directions,  being ready to learn, and getting along with others. "Ohhh", she says, "See, I told you I am being good every day!"

Not a Single Arguement...

over what to wear, while we were on our winter holiday break! When you have a child that insists on creative dressing every day, and her "creations" aren't always appropriate for "school" let alone leaving the house, you have lots of daily "discussions" and suggestions, and compromises, and it gets exhausting! So, during this holiday break, I threw caution to the wind and gave Miss Kayli all the creative freedom she needed for her choice of daily attire!
Uh, is it just me, or is something missing here?

Then, there was the day we went to the library...we left the house and Kayli looked like this...pretty good choice, I think...

but wait...we got ourselves "settled" into the children's section, put our coats, bags,etc. in a pile, and Kayli was looking at books, so I began to peruse the bookshelves for good checkout choices. A few minutes later, I turn to check on Kayli and find that she had apparently "planned ahead" for when she got a little too hot, and was now talking to the librarian while sporting this breezy number...

 I am looking at the librarian, having a serious conversation with Kayli about the tooth book she is looking for, and I am watching Kayli standing there, looking just as "proud as a peacock", and I can hardly keep myself from laughing out loud, but I just shake my head and "carry on", laughing to myself about this crazy kid!

A Magical Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It sure was a lot of fun, starting from the last-day-of-school-holiday-party, to the last day of our holiday break, in spite of the fact that I had to carry-on with a cold, cough, and laryngitis. Kayli kept saying "so, tell me again, bout' losing your voice. Just zactly where did you lose it?"

From beginning to end, here we are in all our holiday glory:

The countdown...

A new scooter...

Ready for Christmas Eve Mass...we're picking up Grandpa and going to his church...

Kayli didn't know that her Grandpa used to be a "baby doctor" just like Aunt Laura. She's always telling me that she wants to be a mom and a doctor just like Aunt Laura, and now she's got the special Barbie doctor tools to practice with!" So funny that the up-to-date phone in this kit is really like an I-phone, with various messages about getting to surgery, etc. and my favorite phone message: "Is your patient eating all their veggies?" Ha Ha.  

The presents await Miss Kayli in the quiet of the morning...

This "pretend dog that you can walk" was Kayli's number one requested gift this year!

"Ok, Mom, maybe I should be a Vet instead of a Baby doctor..." 

"AND...I can still be a mom, 'cuz I know I'll be a really good mommy!"

"I can't believe I got Rapunzel! Can we go see the movie, pleeease?"

(And a few days later we DID go see the movie, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that Di*sney once again produced a very cute, and entertaining show! )

Then, after seeing that Rapunzel was wearing purple, Kayli had to wear purple for the next few days! Coincidentally, she got a new purple dress from Santa that came in handy...

Kayli made me a special bracelet with her new jewelry making kit!

"Ok, my puppy, Snowy, and I are ready for the big family gathering at Aunt Laura's and Uncle Mickey's house..."

A warm, car ride always sends Kayli straight to dreamland!

Kayli lets her cousin take Snowy for a little walk...

"I'll just make sure that Snowy doesn't fall down the stairs..."

The girls snuggle with Grandpa...

The "kid table"

Let's get a picture of the "kids" all together...

Ok, I think it's getting late, and someone's getting tired...

The next night, Kayli and I tried out our new "Hot tub bathrobes" we got from Santa!

Where has the Holiday break time gone? 

It's time to say "Happy New Year!"

Hats, horns, poppers, check...

Snacks, check...

Let the fun begin!

There's nothing like a warm fire, favorite snacks, and your favorite little person to snuggle with, as the new year approaches! We watched tv, read books, and then as we talked about the new year ahead, I pulled out the laptop for some classic entertainment, watching and laughing at photos and videos taken throughout this last year! Kayli decided that her New Years Resolution was to make sure she played every day! I think I need to take that one too!