our new year's eve

Jordy and I spent the last 2 nights cleaning out the garage and getting it ready for p90x2 and some play space, while Kaylea played with Mimi.  We planned on spending 3 nights together, but we missed Kaylea way too much, so we picked her up a day early and drove back to Lafayette.  She was homesick, too, after 7 days away..when we got back, she was so excited to see her toys, that we had to let her stay up.  We finally got her to bed at 1:30 last night...luckily, she slept in until 9 this morning!

Today, she played with her dress up clothes.  I tried to keep her from taking a nap so we could get her back on schedule, but she was tired and ended up sleeping for a little bit this afternoon.  We watched UL take on UK and lose...it was a sad day (at least our Hoosier took them down).

We tried to go to Moe's tonight, but they were closed, so we ended up at Logan's.  Kaylea was very festive.  She has been wanting to wear her tutu everywhere, so she wore it with her sweats and Barney sweatshirt!  She was hamming it up for her audience.

We came back to the house and put up her bouncy house in the garage.  She had a great time playing with her toys and jumping, while mommy sang Karaoke!

We got her to bed at 10:30 tonight (moving closer to that 8:00 schedule)...and Jordy and I are going to make it up until midnight for the first time in FOREVER!!!

dress up - hellow kitty!



bouncing - very excited!

singing karaoke - taking after her mama!

jordy hooked us up with the projector - we miss our basement, but we are making the best of it!

year in review - 2011

January

Kaylea turned 18 months!  I remember this as a very fun age, as she began talking in sentences and becoming Miss Independent!

February

We celebrated this month with some unseasonably warm temperatures!

March

I hosted a baby shower for one of my best friends, Jennifer! 



April

Gender reveal party for our friends, Brittney & Bill, where we learned they would be adding a baby boy to the family in August

May

Jennifer & Kyle welcomed baby Jewell into the world!

June

Family vacation to Punta Cana - joined by my mom, Trina, Meagan, & Mikey

July

Kaylea turns 2!

August

My baby cousin, Meagan turns 18!

and...we got to take a trip to the Vegas!

September

Celebrated my 31st birthday (and moving away party) with friends



October

Moved out of our old house and into our new house...Jordy and I both started new jobs!

November

Thankful that we found a daycare worker/babysitter that we all love.  Sad that we are losing Miss Alex, but glad that she will be a carrier at the Post Office!

December

Celebrated Christmas with our families - we make a lot of trip back to Southern Indiana

2011 has been an interesting year.  We've had a lot of good times and tough decisions to make.  I can't imagine our lives any other way.  I have made a lot of mistakes in this life, but I am so thankful for how it has turned out.  Here's to a new year and new challenges.  May 2012 be the best year yet!

moments

I have been working with Kaylea to spell her name.  The other night, I said, "k-a-y" and she finished by saying, "l-e-a."  I have been trying to get her to do it for Jordy and the other night she spells her entire name.  But then, Jordy asks her what she spelled and she says, "Elmo!"  we told her is spells Kaylea and she insists it doesn't.  She says you spell Kaylea with all O's (her favorite letter).  This cracks us up!

the day after christmas

I was lucky enough to catch a black Friday deal at the Galt House and get 2 nights for the price of one, so we took advantage of this the days after Christmas.  They upgraded us to a suite, which was awesome because Kaylea had a place to play with her toys and we had a separate place to sleep.

We met Erin, Chris, and Lucas at Puzzle Dome when it opened.  Kaylea and Lucas enjoyed bouncing and playing in the toddler area.  Kaylea loves the big slides and has no problem going down by herself.  Her biggest problem is getting onto the thing so she can climb up

Jordy and I decided it would be great to have dinner alone and I knew Trina & Meagan would love spending some time with Kaylea, so Kaylea went to play while we went out to eat.  Trina & Meagan have lots of cats...and Kaylea LOVES cats.  I love the pictures they captured of her with "her" cat.

yea for visitors!

Mary, Micah, Tristan, and Bella were passing through on their way to Chicago last week and stopped in for breakfast and a little play time.  We were so excited to have visitors that we cooked a huge breakfast.  It was fun listening to Kaylea and Tristan carry on a conversation.

chubby little snowman

I have been trying to get Kaylea to do this hand puppet song for Jordy for weeks and not only did she do it on Christmas day, but she also let me capture it on video.  I love how she gets into the hand motions.

christmas celebrations

I was pretty busy enjoying the moments on Christmas day and didn't capture nearly as a many photos as I would have liked.  Kaylea did not feel well at all on Christmas morning.  As you can see from the first picture, she just wanted to cuddle.  When I asked if she wanted to open a present, she said, no.  I finally got her to open a few.

We spent time with both sides of the family on Christmas.  Kaylea got lots of great new toys to play with (where are we going to put them) and we just enjoyed the day.  Mommy and Kaylea even got a 2 hour nap.

strep throat on christmas eve :(

We started our drive back to Sellersburg, and less than 20 miles down the road, Kaylea gets sicks.  She throws up the only thing she had eaten that  morning - peanut butter.  We had to pull off the road to get her changed and clean out her car seat.  She told us in the morning when we were trying to get her to eat breakfast that her tummy hurt.  I guess it really did. 

We kept driving home and she ended up throwing up again.  She finally fell asleep.  I was hoping she would feel better after getting it all out of her system, but she didn't.  We decided to take her to the immediate care center.  Kaylea was such a champ!  She sat on the table like a big girl and didn't even get upset when they did the strep test.  They gave her a dose of zophran and told us she tested positive for strep throat, so they sent us with a prescription, and we were on our way to celebrate Christmas Eve.

Nana always has the family over for Christmas Eve.  Even though Kaylea didn't feel great, she was up for opening some presents and eating a little bit of food.  We spent the night with Aunt Shannan that night and stayed up late watching a movie.

christmas eve (sorta)

We celebrated Christmas a day early so Santa could visit Kaylea in Lafayette.  She summed it all up when she said, "Merry Christmas, Santa.  You're the best!"  The night before Santa was to visit, Kaylea and I put out a cookie for Santa.  I asked her what kind of milk he wanted (since she only drinks strawberry milk) and she said, just white, so that's what we left him.  I took her upstairs and read her The Night Before Christmas.  Jordy worked on putting a couple of her toys together.  I was surprised at easily she went to sleep.

Before Going to Bed

Treats for Santa

with her butterfly wings



santa came!

two sleeps til christmas

Kaylea brought home her art work from school this week.  It is always hard for me because I want to keep everything, but yet, I don't want to be a hoarder!  My solution for now is to take pictures of it for the blog, so she can still look back on it.

Tonight, we decided to drive to Rossville to look at some lights we had heard about.  We started the drive, which I expected to take about 30 minutes...but we got lost...and almost turned around to go home, before I decided to use technology and see if this house could be googled - we lucked out and found it.  75 minutes later, we were looking at an awesome display of lights from Oaklawn Acres.  It was worth the drive (the pictures don't do it justice).  Kaylea liked the pretty lights so much, she asked us to drive through again.

 kaylea's art work from school

i was impressed with her coloring here :)

three sleep until christmas

Christmas Break has officially begun around here!  I worked until noon today and I am off for the next 11 days (and it only cost me 32 hours of leave, which is even sweeter).  Tonight, we took Kaylea to play at Jump It, and boy what a difference 3 months makes.  Last time I took her here, Jordy was still living in Sellersburg.  Kaylea would not climb up the big slide by herself.  I had to go down every time.  We slid so much that I had burns on my arms. Tonight was a different story.  Kaylea did everything by herself.  She let daddy go on the obstacle course with her, but other than that, she was Miss Independent!  Kaylea had a blast tonight. 

By the time we left, she was starving (it was past our feeding time), so we picked up some Moe's and brought it back to the house.  She ate it like a champ.  It cracks me up because she doesn't eat anything, but she will eat a naked chicken burrito with salsa!  She is a crazy girl!

Random, but Doodle got a haircut today. I thought she looked pretty, so I wanted to take her picture.  Kaylea jumped in and said, "what about Kaylea?" 

doodle - lookin' fine

enjoying her tortilla from the buritto