gingerbread house 2016

Posted on December 26, 2016 by tara

Making a gingerbread house at Christmastime has become a much-anticipated tradition in our family. It’s not something I ever did growing up, so it’s been extra fun to do this new activity with my kids.

This year, we used one of the Wilton kits. I am interested in doing one from scratch eventually, but with all the cookies I already make each holiday season, it just seems so much easier to build one this way.

Daddy helped the girls put the walls together one evening, and then we let it dry overnight.
Kaya and Kaelyn wanted to get to work as soon as they woke up in the morning. They also loved pretending to eat it! They’re still a little young to use a piping bag, so I put the frosting on the way they wanted it and they applied the candies.
Suddenly, some of the eating was no longer just pretend… They somehow managed to restrain themselves from eating all the decorations, and we ended up with a pretty cute little house!I love how their project turned out.Kaya really wanted to make a flower design on one side, just like the example on the box!Where there’s candy, there’s bound to be craziness!

christmas parade 2016

Posted on December 22, 2016 by tara

While Michael was still in Vegas, our town put on its annual Christmas parade! My in-laws were still visiting, so they were able to come along (but, of course, we definitely still missed Michael)!

It was absolutely freezing, so the girls were bundled into as many layers as possible, and tucked into the stroller with their big blankets. The cold hardly seemed to bother them because they were both so excited about watching the parade!

Nella was in her snowsuit, in the Moby wrap, inside my puffiest winter coat. I couldn’t feel my toes by the end of the night, but Nella stayed cozy, and that was all I cared about anyway. _mg_6919 It felt like an eternity before the parade started, but it was worth the wait!
Some of our favorite displays included: this somewhat-creepy Santa… tractors…Minnie Mouse…
a whole lineup of Mini Coopers… Olaf! and, of course, the “real” Santa at the very end!Kaya and Kaelyn also loved the big group of puppies that walked by, as well as the horses who came long after we thought the parade had already finished (hence not having a photo)! I really do look forward to this event each year, and I’m so happy I get to share it with my little girls.

3 days to go!

five on friday (12/09)

Posted on December 9, 2016 by tara

ONE. We are counting down the days until Christmas (16, if you’re wondering)! I don’t think there have ever been two little girls more excited for the big day than these two are, and it’s been really fun to see their anticipation and joy grow so much this year. If you even mention the word “Christmas”, Kaelyn is more than ready to tell you all about how she wants a (stuffed) “puppy mommy [with] babies”. I’m really looking forward to these next few weeks filled with festivities and family.

TWO. We’ve been working really hard on our phonics and letter-writing this week. Kaya is suddenly obsessed with copying words, so she’s been diligently practicing that as well as flipping through her alphabet flashcards and announcing all their sounds.Her writing definitely isn’t in a straight line, but it is legible! This reads: “I love you Grandma P”. (She added a P at the end because she asked me how to spell “grandpa” afterward, and I told her it was the same as “grandma”, just change the “m” to a “p”. Haha.)
For Kaelyn, school sometimes turns into seeing how many markers she can stack without having them topple over.

THREE. We did it! We started potty training last week, and this little girl was almost instantly a pro. I’m so proud of Kaelyn, and grateful that this endeavor wasn’t nearly as messy as I was expecting (which is mostly why I kept putting it off)! She loves wearing undies like a big girl now (although she only wants to wear pairs that are blue or have puppies on them, which are in short supply at our house, so we might have to go shopping, haha).

FOUR. Sweet Nella has been smiling so much these past two weeks! I am so obsessed with these cheeks and that mohawk and her little dimples.

FIVE. If that wasn’t enough cuteness for you, Google automatically created an animated GIF just to make everyone’s hearts melt a little more. 🙂

Happy Friday!!!

Linking up here, here, and here today!

and the blocks came tumbling down

Posted on January 26, 2016 by tara

Last weekend (before the snowstorm hit), my in-laws came up to celebrate a very belated Christmas with us, since we didn’t get to see them during the actual holiday. Usually they camp (or should I say “glamp”? 😉 ) when they come to see us, but the campground was closed, so they stayed at our place. That meant that we had a lot of extra time with them, since they didn’t have to leave at night! This left more time for movie-watching, Mario Kart, and dad-cuddles.Kaya was pretty excited to open a few more Christmas gifts! Tights…Preemie-sized jammies for her baby doll (and I still sometimes can’t believe that Kaelyn wore this size when she was born)! A doll carrier so she can wear her baby! And Grandma Gina made them matching purses! I’m not sure why she made such a funny face, but she has taken this purse so many places in the past week. Kaelyn was sleepy and not so into opening things… Jammies for her baby doll too!And the heaviest box of fruit snacks I ever did see… We enjoyed our favorite Chinese buffet, and a whole lot of silliness. How is it that grandpas always come up with the best games? We spent a good amount of time building towers for the girls to knock down. They absolutely love these wooden blocks that Grandma and Grandpa brought for Kaelyn for Christmas. We had a great long weekend. I’m really blessed with great family and can’t wait to see them again soon. 🙂

the last of the holiday shenanigans

Posted on January 14, 2016 by tara

The weeks leading up to and following Christmas were packed with visitors and activities, so, I’m combining all these random moments into one post, and then I promise I won’t talk about Christmas for at least a couple of months. 😉

When we arrived home from visiting my parents on the Sunday night before Christmas, we spent a couple of hours with Jeff and Lelia, who had come into town while we were gone. We hung out for a couple hours, ate pizza, and exchanged gifts. Kaya and Kaelyn could not have been more excited about their new dress-up clothes! We’ve got a couple of fairy-winged cowgirls on our hands. Jeff and Lelia surprised me with a race registration for a 10k in the spring! I’ve been running for 7 years now and have never entered a race. Insane!

Apparently I found the whole thing to be pretty hilarious…

On the night before Christmas Eve, our little family went out for Chinese food. I think my girls eat more in one sitting at this buffet-style restaurant than they typically do all week. Michael, can this be a new Christmas Eve Eve tradition? 🙂

The next morning, I made a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls to take to one of the seminary students. They had a class auction (where they could use their hard-earned “seminary bucks” to get rewards), and he bought both the tickets I put in. I’m flattered that someone likes these so much! We had a couple left over… so of course, they didn’t go to waste.

During naptime, we wrapped some presents, watched “A Christmas Story”, and snuggled some guinea pigs…

And of course, we made a few more gingerbread cookies. A few days after Christmas, we went down to our local Inn, where they always have a beautiful Christmas tree display. Kaya instantly fell in love with a glowing reindeer statue…

I dressed the girls up in their matching Christmas dresses (from Grandma Debbie) with hopes of getting a nice photo of them together in front of one of the trees. They were kind of being crazy, so this is the best we could do. I love my silly kids, and they both love their Kitties.On New Year’s Eve, Ben, Brittany, and Caroline came to visit! They moved to Texas back in August, and this is the first time they were back in Virginia. I’m so glad we got to spend a whole day hanging out with them.
Caroline was so sweet and so good at giving big hugs… We got crazy playing Wii and just catching up. And yes, I have a blinking problem. Haha.

I can’t believe that they will be a family of four next time we see them! I’m so grateful for good friends.And that wraps it up for 2015! 🙂

christmas 2015

Posted on January 11, 2016 by tara

Finally, here it is, our Christmas day post! I wanted to remember all the details when we look back at this someday, so I included way too many pictures.

On Christmas Eve night, we went to our church’s Christmas Eve devotional. It is always the perfect activity for putting me in the right Christmas spirit and keeps me thinking about our Savior’s birth as I finish preparations for Christmas morning.

We wrapped a few last presents and set everything up. It’s always so magical to see everything all put together under the glowing lights of the tree.

We always tend to stay up too late on any given day… but on Christmas Eve, we stay up even later. We are just a couple of big kids, too excited to lie down and close our tired eyes. We finally went to bed around 1:15 am, only to wake up to Kaya needing to use the bathroom at 5:30 am. Luckily, she fell back to sleep in our bed… until 8 am! I was surprised at how late they slept.

Their big shared gift was a princess castle tent. The squeals and giggles we heard as they entered the living room couldn’t have been any louder!

Obviously, this was a big hit. Kaya insisted on putting each of her gifts in here after she unwrapped them!

Kaelyn still doesn’t really know what to do with candy, but she loved her stocking anyway.

Puppy for Kaelyn, cat for Kaya (of course).

Lately, Kaya has been obsessed with Silly Bands. She got a pack of pet-themed ones in her stocking and usually insists on wearing all 24 of them at once. Haha.

This is real life… one sister always wants what the other one has. But hey, an Olaf backpack is pretty cool.
Don’t worry, Kaelyn had plenty of her own things to open, too. She was so good at ripping the wrapping paper off of everything!

Olaf had to read his own story, obviously.Perler beads were one of my favorite things as a little girl… I think Kaya might still be a little young to use them on her own, but we’ve had fun sitting down together and making something.
An aquadoodle for the girl who already loves to draw…I ended up wrapping a few of the things I bought to use for our preschool lessons. Why not?A Daniel Tiger trolley! This was the only thing she specifically said she wanted for Christmas.Kaelyn was so excited for her special gift…… a baby doll! She tried to take her out of the box before we could even undo the packaging.One very happy little girl.You can’t really tell from this picture, but Kaya has been loving Minnie Mouse lately and was SO excited about this little dress-up set.Michael got a new Star Wars t-shirt…… and something I’ve been wanting to get for him for a while… K’nex! He and the girls have already had a lot of fun making different things to play with together (usually Daniel Tiger fits perfectly inside whatever car/truck/hot air balloon they make, so that’s pretty convenient)!And, you can’t really tell what’s going on here (besides Kaelyn screaming), but Michael’s big gift was a hammock! It will be so nice to have when we go camping (hopefully when it warms up), or just to set up outside whenever we like.We kept breakfast super simple and enjoyed some snowman donuts…… while Michael temporarily set up and enjoyed his hammock. I’m pretty sure this was the perfect gift for him this year.
Someone else really liked it too…

My gifts were some bluetooth headphones and a selfie stick, so of course, we had to put that to good use. Here’s to getting in more pictures with my family!

Michael spent most of the day building helicopters, stars…… and a camera! This one was my favorite for sure.Uncle Karl and Kaitlyn stopped by on their way back into town. They had presents for the girls… an Olaf hat and a ball pit! Needless to say, Kaya was having a blast.We ate our Christmas dinner late, but it was so delicious. I’m definitely improving at this whole cooking-holiday-dinner thing. We had pot roast (in the crockpot), the best, creamiest garlic mashed potatoes I’ve ever had, broccoli, and homemade rolls from the Teerlink family cookbook.Kaya thought that Jesus should have a birthday cake on Christmas, so we made this Norwegian chocolate cake (Sjokoladekake). It was less than beautiful (especially since this picture is after I already cut off a chunk to send home with Karl), but oh so delicious. I’d love for this to be a new tradition.

The festivities ended, and all I could think about was how much I loved seeing my whole family smiling all day long. Their joy is the greatest gift they could ever give me.

pre-christmas christmas

Posted on January 5, 2016 by tara

The weekend before Christmas, we headed out to visit my parents for an early holiday celebration. I’m actually glad I’m a bit late writing all of my Christmas-themed posts- why not relive the magic for just a little longer?

And yes, I really put one million pictures all in one post. (Or, you know, 27.) There are just too many good moments to leave out!

We arrived at their home early in the evening on Friday night, enjoyed spaghetti dinner (with my mom’s homemade meat sauce… now, that stuff is magic), and then played by the tree until my dad got off of work around 9 pm.

Kaya, Kaelyn, and Grandma Debbie had an indoor “snowball fight” with these plush white balls. Don’t be fooled by Kaya’s placid expression… it actually got pretty wild!

Everyone was excited to see that the stockings were already filled and just waiting to be opened!

I don’t remember if she was dancing or yelling “CHEESE!” at me here…

Kaelyn was SO into opening everything this year. She was ready to get started as soon as my mom brought all the gifts downstairs! I think she spent just as much time putting everything back in her stocking as she did taking it out.

Kaya has really been loving penguins lately (just like Auntie Lelia)!

Both girls received magic (glowing) snowballs… so yes, there were more snowball fights after this.

Kaya’s big gift from my parents was a set of Calico Critters and their little cottage. She was the happiest little girl ever and loves her “bunny house”, as she calls it.

So much excitement in one little girl!Kaelyn got some toddler-safe cars (since she always tries to eat Kaya’s small plastic ones) and couldn’t have been more content.

Matching snowman jammies! I love having two little girls.

New polos for Daddy…

And a new Hallmark singing snowman for our collection. I think this is my favorite one yet, since it sings “Deck the halls with lots of cookies”. Really, I can’t think of anything more appropriate for myself.

My mom’s friend, Susan, gave the girls giraffe and elephant plushes, along with some books. Both my girls love all their animal pals so much.

My mom got some new flats…

… and a “Grandma necklace” with both girls’ names on the pendants.

And finally, we surprised my Dad with a Wii! I was waiting to give him this for several months, and it was so fun to finally see his reaction. He guessed that we were giving him some kind of tool because the box felt so heavy. I think he was definitely surprised!

Plus one of his favorite games, Animal Crossing.

We went to bed soooo late that night, and we were up early the next morning. Kaya was very excited to make gingerbread cookies (for the second time this season) at Grandma’s house!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures ever.

Kaya is the most serious decorator of us all. Other than decorating cookies and playing the Wii, we took it easy for most of the day.

My mom made a fancy pot roast dinner (and even lit a candle… so extravagant)! _MG_0438 We completely enjoyed ourselves and tried to go to bed early so that we could pack up and leave by 7:30 on Sunday morning in order to get to church.

This trip was the perfect start to our Christmas week! 🙂

christmas cookie delivery 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by tara

Delivering Christmas goodies is quite possibly my very favorite holiday tradition. There is just nothing like gifting a homemade treat to your friends and neighbors! It takes me about two full days of baking, and it’s so worth it to see the joy on people’s faces.

I used a lot of the same recipes this year (why change something that’s already excellent?) and tried out a couple of new ones too. Here’s what we handed out:gingerbread cookies
Michigan fudge
candy cane cookies (mine ended up looking more like a mess instead of candy canes…)
no-peanut-butter kiss cookies
and buttery spritz cookies!

We delivered 15 plates again this year, same as last year.

However, this was the first year ever that it was almost too warm to wear our traditional festive hats! We were out there delivering cookies in short-sleeved t-shirts and no winter coats. We still wore our hats, although Kaya wanted to trade her reindeer for Daddy’s Santa one.

I already miss having a reason (excuse) to bake lots of cookies! Kaya is excited to decorate some again when Valentine’s Day rolls around. 🙂

making the magic

Posted on December 30, 2015 by tara

I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve written. Just a week really, but it’s been a quiet, wonderful break from feeling like I constantly need to be working on a project.

Michael has been off of work since the afternoon before Christmas Eve, and we’ve been enjoying some relaxing time as a family. Sleeping in, leisurely getting ready in the mornings, and having nowhere to be at any certain time has been good for all of us. I’ve even had time to sit and read a entire novel in these past couple of days!

Our Christmas was magical. I couldn’t have hoped for it to be any better. If you know me well, you know that I love counting down to Christmas, and for me, the anticipation of the day is nearly as exciting as the day itself. As always, it’s a bit sad when this season ends, but this year, I also felt a new emotion after all our festivities, when both my children were tucked into bed.

A relieved sense of accomplishment.

I pulled it off- all the planning, shopping, present-wrapping, baking, cooking, photo-taking, videotaping, and of course, holding meaningful conversations about our Savior and the true purpose of Christmas.

My family had the happiest smiles on their faces all day long, and that’s what I would call success.

It is no small task being the mom around Christmastime.

I really have a new-found appreciation for my own mom and all the work she has always put into our family holiday gatherings. My children are getting old enough to start remembering our activities and traditions, and I’ve felt the importance of really putting forth the effort to make memorable experiences for them.

Another Christmas has passed and become just a memory. I’m grateful I get to be a part of making the magic of the holiday happen for my little family.

oh christmas tree (2015)

Posted on December 23, 2015 by tara

We obviously did this a few weeks ago… so right along with my usual timing, this post is late! We also tend to make a huuuuge mess when we put up the tree, so excuse the boxes and plastic pine needles everywhere in these photos.The girls were both sooo excited to see all these new things come from our storage closet! They fell in love with these Santa hats, and Kaelyn spent most of her time just playing with all the musical, battery-operated knickknacks we brought out. Kaya thought the stockings were for wearing on her feet… Michael put the basic frame together, and I did the lights, per usual. Michael unboxed all the ornaments so that Kaya and I could hang them. She was so into it this year! Of course, a lot of ornaments ended up on the very bottom of the tree, so we had to do some rearranging later. 🙂Obviously, there’s a home video to go with all these photos…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zORMMr4azLs

2 more days!!! I can’t believe it!

Michael and Tara

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