Snow Adventure with Daddy

On Sunday Kallie and daddy went on a snow adventure to a friend’s house in Cle Elum. I packed lots of warm clothes and a little lunch for my people and off they went. I had no doubt they would have a great time. Well as expected she had Eric and his buddy Hoyt wrapped around her finger – building an ice castle (well really a mound of snow), sledding, taking a ride on the snowmobile and making snow angels. From the pictures and videos I can tell she (they) had blast. Oh the joys of being 3.5!

My Girly Girl

On Sunday I decided to have a little mommy/daughter girly time with Kallie. I have been looking forward to this little adventure since I found we were having a girl! A friend of mine referred me to a cute little salon in Kirkland that has teddy bear chairs and rainbow lights in the water just for kids! This date was for Kallie so I wanted to make sure she loved every minute which she did.

She loved putting her “toots-ers” in the water and letting the bubbles tickle her toes and she was on cloud 9 when they put little tiny flower designs on all of her fingers. I can’t explain why this mommy/daughter date was so special but I can tell you that we were both smiling all day!

Let it Snow

This morning we woke up to just about an inch of snow. Kallie literally started jumping up and down yelling "it's snowing, it's snowing" at 6am. Since we knew the snow was supposed to melt by the afternoon we were out the door on our sled by 8:30 (sorry neighbors). From sledding to snowballs to building a snowman, to warming up with a cup of hot cocoa fun was had by all.

Peanut Free

When Kallie was 15 months old I gave her a little bit of my waffle with peanut butter and we immediately knew something was up. Her face turned bright red and her eye started swelling shut. Luckily a quick does of Benadryl is all she needed to stop the reaction. We ended up taking the allergist when she was around 2 years old and they confirmed she is allergic. From that day on we have been a peanut free household. We check every label to ensure her food is peanut free and not processed in a facility with peanuts. My biggest concern is when we go out to dinner and I ask the serve if the food has peanuts and they assure me without checking any labels or talking to the chef that there are no peanuts. Kallie usually ends up getting a cheeseburger with no bun just to be on the safe side.

For the time being I feel like as long as we are diligent it is manageable and we always have two epipens on hand no matter where we are. I know that the older she gets and the more she goes to birthday parties, sleepovers etc my fears will increase. .|

We retested the allergy last week and unfortunately she is not growing out of the allergy like we had hoped. Here are pics for her latest apt, poor big!

Super Bowl Champs

This weekend was Super Bowl weekend - Seahawks vs. Broncos. We were up early, dressed in our Seahawk gear (thanks honey) and ready to go by 10am . . . too bad the game did not start until 3:30. A few of Eric's buddies came over to watch the game. Kallie loves hanging out with the boys and was so excited she did not take a nap. I was a bit worried with beer and football that Kallie would learn a few four letter words but then I decided what great opportunity for Kallie to make some money- bring on the swear jar. I told the guys to bring some dollars b/c every time they used a bad work it was $1 in the swear jar . . . Ok I admit I put a few dollars in myself (she made $27). Luckily the Seahawks crushed the Broncos so everyone was happy!

Eric and I even braved the 22 degree weather to watch the victory parade. According to the news there were 700,000+ people in attendance. Although we could not see much it was well worth the crowds and cold weather. Go Hawks!

Happy New Year

Wow, I have no idea where this year went . . . it has been a whirlwind but a lot of fun. I started the year of by breaking my arm which was not so cool but outside of that it was great. On the bright side Kallie stopped wearing diapers on New Year’s Day so I did not have to try and change diapers with one arm – GO KALLIE!

Eric and I took our first trip away and had a wonderful time in Hawaii, although we were both ready to see our “kids (Coho & Kallie) when the trip was over. We spent a ton of time on Vashon with family enjoying the beach, fishing and crabbing.

Kallie transitioned into a big girl bed in May which I will admit was not a fun few months for any of us but we are back on track now (well sort of). She also had her first dance recital and started swimming lessons without mommy or daddy in the pool (WOOHOO).

One of the biggest events in 2013 was Kallie starting pre-school. I know she is just in daycare but transitioning to a pre-school room seems like such a big step in a little-one’s life and not to mention a reminder that she is growing up way too fast.

We hosted our second annual Thanksgiving with Eric’s entire family (20 people) which was really fun. His dad and Thalene were our special guests this year and we loved it. Kallie and her cousins don’t get to see them that often so it made it that much better.

December is a bit of a blur but only because we were busy enjoying the holidays – from cutting down our tree with my entire family to celebrating my dad’s 70th birthday to the magic of Santa we had a wonderful time.

I don’t usually make New Year’s Resolutions but this year I decided I had a good one - My New Year’s Resolution is to be present and enjoy the moment – everything else can wait.

Here are a few pics from our NYE celebration with our good friends Kelly, Martin, Cooper and the newest addition Brennen Minnaar! Yes we celebrated NYE East Coast time so our kiddos could join in the fun!

Christmas 2013

We had so much fun this Christmas with Ms. Kallie Bates. She loved every moment of the holiday season in fact she told me it was “magical”. From cutting down our tree, to putting up decorations & lights, to driving around looking at Christmas lights, to looking at each and every ornament as we decorated the tree to, to putting cookies out for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, to of course opening presents Christmas morning - it truly was “magical” from beginning to end. I loved watching Kallie’s eyes light up and listening to her stories about Santa and of course Crack Crack our elf.

On Christmas morning she ran in our room and snuggled in our bed. For one moment, she actually forgot that it was Christmas until I said “do you think Santa came last night?” and off we went. She literally squealed when she saw her princess tent next to the tree which was exactly the reaction I was hoping for. We started by opening our stockings . . . Kallie took great pride opening each and every gift slowly and showing them to us one by one . . . her favorites being the princess tent and the snow globe.

Later in the day it was off to Grammy and Papa’s for Christmas dinner. Much to Kallie’s surprise Santa came to their house too! Every year my mom goes overboard and this year was no different. Kallie and her cousins were in heaven . . . too cute!!

I am one lucky mom!