A Visit to Grandpa Art's...

After the Dells, we visited Grandpa Art's bar.  Can you tell it was a Packer Sunday?  I apologize for the blurry picture.  I had to set it up on a table and put it on a timer.  It had a hard time focusing on its own.  We asked a few different people to take our photo, but it didn't seem to work for them either!  Oh well!  We stopped in to give Art his Christmas presents and hang out for awhile. 

Grandpa Art and his grandkids...

May May, Larkyn and Cayden playing with the cue ball...

Christmas in the Dells...

This year we headed to Wisconsin Dells to celebrate Christmas with Shea's family.  We stayed at the Wilderness on the Lake in a 3 bedroom (2 bedroom and a loft) condo.  Not only did we get to spend time with family and enjoy the water parks, we also got to watch Breally Kate play basketball too.  Her team played in a tournament in the Dells on the same weekend, so it worked out well for her to play and stay with us.  The game we watched Breally scored 6 key points towards the end of the game to help her team come from behind to win. Larkyn enjoyed watching the game, though didn't sit still for long. 

Later that morning we took a shuttle to Klondike Kavern, one of the five water parks at the resort.  It only took a short time before Larkyn was drenching herself in fountains of water.  We enjoyed watching Shea, Cayden, Diesel, and Jared go down the Hurricane, the Dells’ tallest indoor 4-person, family raft ride which plummets 58 feet before dropping thrill-seekers into a funnel where they spin around and then splash into a landing pool below.  We also enjoyed the lazy river.  Larkyn was quite relaxed on Shea.  Might have had something to do with the 4 hours of sleep she got the night before. 

   

We went back for lunch and nap time.  Then it was back to the water parks.  We went downstairs to Cubby's Cove for more fun.  This water park was more little kid friendly so Larkyn was able to go down all of the slides (with us) and play in the pool without getting trampled. 

Diesel also enjoyed going down the slides and crossing the net.  London and Dakota even got a little water action with Mandy and Jared.  London seemed to like it more than Dakota!

We went back for dinner and got Larkyn ready for bed.  They surprised me with cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday!  After Larkyn went to bed, we went back for more.  Well...I went to take pictures and watch, while Shea, May May, Breally, Cayden, Charlie, Jared and Diesel rode the waves at the Wild West.  They did the bumper boats and multiple tube slides as we shut down the water parks.  Thanks to Janny for staying back with Larkyn so we could stay out a bit later with the "big kids".  

     

We had a great weekend and Larkyn loved seeing all of her cousins.  We finished our weekend by traveling to see Grandpa Art just outside of the Dells.  Breally and Cayden kept Larkyn awake by reading her story after story as we drove there.

By the end of the weekend our little lady was wiped out!  

St. Nick and Mama's Birthday...

St. Nick came to our house on the eve of the 5th.  Larkyn saw what he had brought her the next morning.  She was happy to see her boots filled with Minnie stuff...a new Minnie cup and straw, a Minnie ornament, and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse puzzle with numbers 1 to 10.

Playing with her puzzle right away was a must...

Our Advent Calendar took place in little slipper stockings with the numbers 1 to 24.  Each morning Larkyn woke up she would say "move angel?" For the first 10 mornings she did really well telling us which number she was moving it to or the number that comes after.  After 10, her skills weren't as sharp anymore!  Though she did a good job picking out "Mama's Birthday" stocking each day.

Next year we will work on the teen and twenties!

For my birthday, we went out to Red Robin for dinner.  Larkyn got her purple balloon she had been asking for before we even arrived.  After dinner Larkyn helped me open some gifts.

Larkyn and Shea gave me a book called The Littlest Angel as well as a little angel figurine that reminds me of my little angel.

I also got a new watch and some comfy pants and zip up hoodies in preparation for the baby.

Feeling the Christmas Spirit...

Larkyn has LOVED this time of year!  She loves all the "Criffors (Christmas) Lights", "Criffors" songs, and all of the other joyful things that go along with the season.  She has been a big helper when it comes to setting up our Christmas decoration, baking goodies, wrapping presents and more!  Here are some pictures of Larkyn preparing for Christmas time...

"Look Mommy, I can see myself in this "ball"!"

"I know my mama just said not to throw them, but I think I want to anyway!"

"My good angel told me to put them back!"

"Mommy...Daddy...I'm ready to see Santa Claus!"

Look at that innocent little girl...

Larkyn's visit with Santa Claus went pretty well.  She sat in the chair and looked at the book as Santa came in behind her.  They got a couple great pictures of them like this and then he showed his face.  Larkyn pointed to things in the book when Santa asked, gave him high fives, and even a hug at the end.  She wasn't 100% sure about him, but held it together better than we expected!  It must have been because of the animal crackers:).

 

This is Larkyn's visit with Santa.  Sorry for the blurriness...Shea was working the camera, taking photos during the video and was understandably more interested in what was going on in real time rather than on the camera. 

This is us posing for our Christmas card.  We had it on self timer to take continuous shots.  Larkyn did great, though she wanted to see the pictures all the time.  We decided to set up a mirror behind the camera so Larkyn would look that way.  It worked well!

 

The past couple years we haven't made it downtown Minneapolis for the Holidazzle Parade so we were hoping to bring Larkyn this year.  The three of us met up with Mike, Katie and Luke for dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery before heading out for the parade.  We could not have asked for a better night.  It was around 30 degrees with a beautiful light snow fall.  The kids were great troopers and enjoyed bouncing back and forth between the moms and dads to see all the sights.  

 

A toy soldier...

Humpty Dumpty or "Dumpy Dumpy" as Larkyn likes to call it!

Here comes Santa...

Santa Claus was trying to see which side of the street had the loudest cheers...

Mike, Luke and Katie

Kim, Larkyn and Shea

"Jingle Bells" is one of Larkyn's favorites this time of year...

3 Day Cut-out Cookies...

As a child I remember always making and decorating cut-out cookies with my family.  This is one tradition I wanted to continue with my children as well.  This year Larkyn was much more into making and decorating the cookies than last year, and I can only imagine the years to come!  It ended up being a 3 day process as we mixed them Thursday night, cut them out on Friday night, frosted and ate them on Sunday! It worked out better in our schedule and that way I got Larkyn at her freshest moments!

Here we are mixing the dough.  The butter wasn't quite as soft as it needed to be so when we turned on the mixer, Larkyn and I got a splattering of flour all over us! 

Here is Larkyn stirring the flour mixture/dry ingredients.

On Friday night we rolled out the dough and used cookie cutters to make our cookie shapes.  We used a stocking, Christmas tree, star, gingerbread man, and an angel.  Larkyn was a great helper in cutting out and moving them to the pan to be baked.

On Sunday we frosted!  She got to frost one of each of the 5 different cut outs and put sprinkles on them.  I think that was her favorite part, other than eating them of course!  She waited patiently as I placed the wax paper out for her "workplace."

Careful to not get frosting everywhere, she chose her color of frosting and her cookie and got to work!

Ahhh...the sprinkles!  As she shook the bottle it got closer and closer to the cookie and usually got stuck on the frosting!

Just one little break for a lick!

Larkyn's cookies turned out great!

And she thought the same!

Nothing better than cookies and milk...

 

She enjoyed every last bite of her cookie...

And every last bit of frosting on her face!

Becoming a big sister...

We told Larkyn this summer that she was going to be a big sister, but I don't think it really sunk in until just recently, and even then it will most likely be quite an adjustment for her.  After our 20 week ultrasound we didn't have any great pictures to show because we had a very uncooperative baby.  He or she was very stubborn and would not move its head from my cervix!  The doctor had us come back for another ultrasound at 24 weeks so they could get the correct face measurements and make sure everything checked out okay. (They weren't worried, but needed their measurements.)  It was amazing the differences we saw at 24 weeks!  We could see so much more detail from the abdomen on up.  We saw our baby opening and closing his/her mouth, putting his/her hands up by their face, and even saw little peach fuzz hair on the head.  They did a regular ultrasound, but then switched to the 4D in the middle and got some great pictures.  We showed Larkyn her new baby brother or sister and she was thrilled.  She wanted to hold onto the pictures forever! 

 

Boy or Girl?  Who knows!?

Larkyn's new big girl room...

 Becoming a big sister, also means becoming a big girl!  We debated on whether or not to keep Larkyn in her original room or move her to the guest bedroom for quite a while.  We decided it didn't make sense to paint two rooms right now, so we decided to keep her neutral room for the baby and paint the guest room to make it into her "big girl" room.  We wanted to make the transition early enough so she didn't feel the baby was taking over her room and wanted to hype it up so she was excited about her new room.  The second we started talking about a new room with her and calling it "her" room, she was very excited!  Larkyn was very involved in picking out the paint colors (though we had the final say:)) and setting up the room with the tools to paint.

Larkyn wanted to help, but most of the project took place when she was sleeping, napping or out of the house.  She enjoyed being part of the action when she could...

Shea finished the first coat of paint in just a couple hours on a Friday night.  It looks pink at night with the flash on the camera, however it is actually a light purple.  "Lilacs in the Spring" to be exact!

 

Larkyn was pleased when she open up the door to look the next morning.

She loved the ladder too!

The second coat was finished the next morning within a couple hours too!

I sewed a valance for her room out of the same fabric that borders her birthday quilt.  The colors for her room came from the same border.

The stripes are what took awhile.  Once we had everything measured out it was a piece of cake to paint, but it probably took more time to measure out, line up the laser level and tape than it did to paint the two coats of purple paint!  

The stripes are only on the one wall and really add some character to her room.

 

Another picture at night, this time with finished walls and the valance.

 

The weekend after Thanksgiving Larkyn moved out of her old room and into her new room.  She loved it!  I think it helped that she watched us take things apart and bring them over to her "big girl" room and she was a part of setting it up.  

 

Oh wouldn't she love a "big girl" bed too!  Not too fast...I don't believe any of us are ready for that yet!  The crib will work for awhile still I hope!

"I'm a big girl now!"

 

Larkyn was up on the stool "helping" Daddy hanging her cross above the door.

She found the baby bathtub and decided she would read in it...

All moved in...
We rearranged and rearranged many times!  I think we have decided on something, however I still have to take a picture of the final product.  I will add that soon!