Happy Birthday Grandpa Ken!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Ken!  We love you and can't wait to see you in a few weeks.  Have a great day and have fun at the football game tomorrow!

Kendall @ 15 months

Kendall turned 15 months this week.  She's a busy, curious little toddler.  She is constantly on to go, exploring the world around her.  She finds everything she's not supposed to and has the house looking like a tornado hit in 15 minutes.  We've given up picking up until she's either napping, or in bed.  Loading and unloading the dishwasher must wait until she's in her highchair (or sleeping), otherwise she's there in an instant "helping".  Bathroom doors must stay closed.  Ornaments on the Christmas tree are not safe.

One of her favorite things to do is play with Ryan's markers.  She likes to take them out of the package, then put them back in.  She also loves doing this with my travel toiletry bag.  She will sit for an hour and take the small bottles out, and put them back in over and over again. 

It's fascinating to watch her.  She's so silly and quirky...and dramatic.  The other day David had her talk to Grandma Karen for a second (basically put the phone up to her ear).  When he took the phone away she proceeded to through the longest tantrum on record.  She screamed for 15 minutes, flopped on the floor in dramatic Kendall fashion and screamed.  She was so mad.  She refused to have anything to do with her dad for a long time.  We all got a good laugh out of it.  And daddy and daughter eventually made up.  

Her relationship with Ryan is constantly evolving.  One minute she loves him, the other she is scared of him.  And for good reason.  He really hasn't been the nicest big brother to her as of late.  He just loves to pick on her.  I didn't realize this would start so soon.  He just torments the poor girl.  We're working on it, but it's a slow process.  The threat of Santa not stopping at our house has helped a little.  Not as much as I'd like, but I'll take what I can get.

David took Kendall to her 15 month check up on Tuesday.  She weighed in at a measly 20 pounds, 12 ounces (25th percentile).  She's still a little peanut!  She grew an inch, though, and is now 31 inches tall (75th percentile)!  She's not saying as many words as she "should", so David called her the perfect model - tall, skinny and dumb.

It was Kendall and Daddy day at the house yesterday so he took it upon himself to work on "words".  When I go home she was saying "up" (which she was already saying), "woof" (again...nothing new), "meow" (which is the same whiny "meow" our cat cries and has most likely been saying it for awhile but I didn't recognize it as a "meow"), and he had her signing "please" (which I have yet to see).  I love that he works so hard, though!  She does say Mama, Dada and she has special word for Ryan.  I'm still trying to learn that.  And once in a great moon I'll catch "more" come out of her.  She's starting to sign that, which makes it a little easier for me to pick up on.

To sum it up, she's a happy, healthy little girl that we adore watching learn and grow!

Photos courtesy of Jen McNamee

The Santa Truck

My sister Jenny knows some people at the North Pole, and arranged for Santa to visit the cabin when we were there a few weeks ago.  It was the coolest thing.  We were all waiting outside (in the freezer cold) when around the corner in the pitch black, Santa appeared on a 18-wheeler lighting up the dark sky.  The kids were so excited!  Some of them didn't know what to think.  Ryan was first in line to visit Santa and asked him to bring him a snowman.  Kendall slept through the entire thing, until I decided she should have a visit with Santa, too.  She woke up instantly when I placed her on his lap.  The look on her face was priceless!

It was the perfect ending to a fun-filled day!  Thanks, Jen!!

Kendall sound asleep as everyone else was getting ready to greet Santa.

Spotting Santa in the distance.

The Santa Truck coming around the bend.

Ryan and Santa.

Ryan and Jack waiting while everyone has their turn with Santa.

Kendall and Santa.

Minne-Snow-Ta

Mr. Sledder.  He could have lived outside.

Auntie Jenny, Kendall, Gracie (in purple) and Emma 

We flew to Minnesota last week to have an early holiday celebration with my family at the cabin.  I do have to say that Ryan had the best time of all of us.  He was in his glory playing with his cousins.  It was so much fun to see him have so much fun!  The boys had a blast sledding down the great sliding hill out from of the cabin.

Kendall just meandered around the entire time doing her thing.  We hardly knew she was there.

As for David and I, we ended up with the flu.  I started off the celebration, then passed it on to David, then to my Mom, and then to my cousin Andrew.  Yuck.  We still had a good time watching all the kids, and are so thankful none of them ended up with it.

It is really crazy when we are all together.  The noise level with 10 little ones is deafening, but so much fun!

Grandma and Grandpa with the 10 grandkids.

The whole gang!  With a bad reflection on the mirror...and Uncle Steve standing in for Grant.

The Day After Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving with David's family - the day after Thanksgiving.  David typically has to work Thanksgiving Day.  Whatever the day, the turkey still tastes good!

We had a great weekend at Karen and Bill's enjoying each others company, watching the kids (especially crazy Kendall), eating and playing games.

Too bad it can't happen more often!

The crew!  In back:  Mick (Jenn's Dad), Uncle George, Bill, Melanie, Ryan, Michael, Kendall, David; Front Row: Chris (Jenn's Mom), Aunt Jackie, Aunt Dyane, Karen, Jenn, Katy

Crazy Kendall in her pretty dress