Christmas Traditions...

I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving!  I feel like I say this every month, but man!  November is FLYING by!!  I have started Christmas shopping!  YAY!  My goal is to be done by December 1st.  Everything wrapped, tagged, and ready to go.  Christmas cards done by then too.  That way, I can spend less time stressing this year and more time baking, singing Christmas carols, and practicing new traditions with our girls. 

It's funny.  Last Christmas, we were so excited to start some new traditions with KaeLee and the three of us, and this year we are sitting back, scratching our heads, and wondering what those "fabulous" ideas were...... haha.  So this year, we have decided to make a list and keep it logged.  A few that we remember are:

• getting the girls a Christmas ornament every year.  Shawn's mom did this for him and it is so fun to look at all the old ornaments.  I still like looking at the tree at my mom's house too because it has so many ornaments from my childhood.  Places we visited, our first christmas ornaments, handmade ones, and other "special" ones.
• Getting the girls a pair of Christmas pj's that they can open on Christmas Eve and wear to bed that night.  My family always got to open one gift on Christmas eve before we headed to grandma's house.  It wasn't pj's.  It was the gift from the sibling who drew our name, but I like the pj's idea.  Then they will be in cute Christmas pj's every year on Christmas morning!
• Christmas breakfast.  Well, we aren't sure about a whole breakfast, but maybe cinnamon rolls!  Yummy!  I am trying a "clone of a cinnabon" recipe this year to test out.  That would be a fun tradition and a special treat each year!  Shawn's dad does this one.  He always looked forward to it.  Last year we did the Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and they were not too delicious...... haha
• I would love to have a family game night with pizza on Christmas eve, much like my dad does, but with so much family we have to visit, I don't know how well that one will work out.  We will most likely be somewhere Christmas eve. 

We are trying to incorporate traditions from all four sides of our family, as well as create new ones, but it's tough.  I have the worst memory ever, so trying to even remember what my did as "traditions" is hard enough!  haha.  There are plenty of other ideas we have and want to do throughout the Christmas season.  Such as adopting a Christmas family who can't afford a Christmas for themselves, Operation Christmas boxes through the church, christmas caroling, visiting Santa, driving around, looking at Christmas lights, going to the lighted Christmas parade..... and so forth.  What are traditions that YOUR family has?  I would love to hear them or any new ideas YOU have!  (Not just for Christmas.... ANY holiday!)

Well, here are a few pictures from this last week.  Something funny (well now it's funny...) that happened this week...... KaeLee locked Hannah in the closet.  She was putting all the balls back in the closet (the one underneath the stairs) and I saw that she was done, so I said, "good Job!  Shut the door please." Then she started babbling...... I had no idea what she was saying so I was just like "uh-huh.... That's cool.  Okay.  Shut the door."  She shuts it.  "Thank you!"  I am standing at the sink doing dishes and Hannah is playing in the living room but I can't see her because she is on the other side of the chair.  I get a quick thought in my head of "I don't hear Hannah?  Where is she? Was KaeLee telling me she's in the closet?" I walk around the corner to check on her and she's not there.  I say, "Hannah?  where are you?"  Then I hear a whine and a couple of bangs on the closet door.  I open the door and she is smiling away.  haha.  Good thing it's a big closet and the light was on!  KaeLee was probably thinking, "okay, mom, I'll shut the door, but your other daughter is in there.  Cool.  I get to shut her in there!"  haha. 

Something nice that happened this week:  We got to go to church!  I used the last of my sick days before my days at work are done and I took Sunday off and we went to church.  It was great.  And they had baptisms, which I love!  KaeLee and Hannah had fun at Children's church.......... but mommy forgot to turn the pager in when we picked them up.  I really need to stop by and drop it off.....!  oops. 

Our realtor also had an open house Sunday, so after church we couldn't go home.  We went to my mom's and hung out for the rest of the day.  I snuck KaeLee back to the back bedroom and showed her the closet full of old toys from when we were little.  She found about 20 balls and brought them all out.  It was pretty funny.  When I opened the closet door, her eyes got SO big and just lit up. haha. 

Only a handful of people came to the open house and she said only one or two seemed at all interested.  One of them was from LA and his wife is coming up next week, so maybe they will come back.  Hopefully.  I have a feeling this house won't sell before we need it to.  We will continue to pray that it will. 

We have been keeping busy here, going to story time, going on walks, and lots of playing!  Today, my little brother, Konner, has his first basketball game of the season, so we are headed to that later on! 

Anyway, back to the pictures..... enjoy! And have a great rest of the week!

KaeLee is trying to help Hannah clap.  We were singing the itsy bitsy spider.  KaeLee claps after we sing any song.... and apparently wanted Hannah to clap too!  haha

Hannah found the tunnel!  KaeLee was taking a nap and I was doing dishes and I saw the tunnel moving out of the corner of my eye.  I went over to it and found Hannah crawling through it!  YAY!  I have never tried to get her to come through it yet, so I was surprised when I saw it.  She was so excited and happy she discovered it!

SO cute!  and SO happy!  Notice her big drool dangling..... hahaha!

She didn't want to get all the way out, she just kept going back and forth through it for a while.  silly girl.

Excited to have some one on one time with Mommy during KaeLee's nap.  She NEVER gets to use the car by herself without KaeLee bugging her!  Haha.  She loved it.

This documents the first time KaeLee got her shoes off by herself.  She doesn't look it in this picture, but she was mighty proud of herself!  She's getting to be SO big!

See?  When KaeLee's awake, KaeLee gets to ride it...

And Hannah gets to push.  Haha.  KaeLee loved being pushed by Hannah!  She moved slower than a snake, but was ALL smiles the whole time!

KaeLee telling daddy "No!  No picture!" haha.

KaeLee in her Seahawks cheerleading outfit!  She's so cute.

 This is my favorite picture!!  She is so CUTE!  (of course, I may be a bit biased....) but seriously..... she is!

So KaeLee likes to line things up.  This was a chain longer than any I've seen so far, so Shawn grabbed the camera.  KaeLee is not waving Hi, she is telling him (once again) "No picture!)

And again, she is waving me off too when I try to sneak a picture... oops.  I got caught!

HA!  I got one!  Though I got a dirty look when she saw the flash go off and she caught me.