Merry Christmas!

Oh the joy of Christmas! Oh the love! Oh the fun to see it through the eyes of a child (especially when the child is just 2 days shy of turning 1).

Christmas was fantastic! Clay and I got up when our Kenley alarm went off and after giving her a few minutes of cuddle time to completely wake up, we headed to the living room. Boy did her eyes just light up when she saw the goodies by the tree.  She immediately ran over to check out the house.

And completely check it out she did. Every little piece and function. She loved it and danced several times to the music as she opened and closed the door or rang the doorbell (which seems to be her favorite).
Then after a light breakfast we opened our gifts as a family.
First our little elf assessed the situation:

 Then she got to work on her stocking

 and inspected every piece to make sure it was just right

 which included taste testing the peanut M&Ms she found in my stocking

 but then she got down to business opening gifts

and ripping the paper like a PRO

 She had so much fun and so did we just watching her. She would rip a piece of paper and then hand it to us (almost like she was in trouble) and then she would do it again. We just laughed and laughed.

Shortly Grandma and Grandpa C arrived and we got to do it all again. Boy did she have the hang of it all! 

 

(and she was nosy to see what others were opening too)

 Once all of her gifts were open she discovered another unwrapped treasure. A WAGON from Grandma and Grandpa B. This soon was all the buzz in the room and our new playspot.

Somehow I didn't manage to take another picture the rest of the day, nor did I get out the video camera at any point. Oh well there's always next year. However the rest of the day was filled with family and fun. We had a lovely meal and some good times. Clay was a bit under the weather but he survived and I even got in a Christmas nap while Grandma Elf cleaned the kitchen (THANKS AGAIN MOM). All in all a very lovely day. Later that night after K (and Clay) were in bed and mom and dad had returned to their hotel, I went from Christmas Elf to Birthday Baker preparing for the big birthday party (post still to come.)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I know I did and my little girl was a very big part of that!!!

Christmas Eve

Well we had a wonderful 1st Christmas Eve with Kenley. I remember having contractions last year on Christmas Eve and not knowing that's what they were. Guess I should have known she was coming soon ;o)

My mom and dad were here with us today and although K didn't take an afternoon nap, we all had a lot of fun.  The weather was beautiful and there was a pretty white fluffy snow falling for most of the day. I decided we should sneak outside and take some pictures. I'm so glad we did, we got some good pictures to remember this day.

The tree and bushes in our backyard were just so pretty. I will miss having the mature trees when we move into our new house next year. Can I just take these with me?

We had a nice dinner with my mom and dad and when it was time to put Kenley to bed, we got all ready for Christmas. We decided we wanted one of our new family Christmas Eve traditions to be reading "Twas the night before Christmas" by the tree at bedtime. Here are Clay and Kenley getting started.

And here is proof I was in on the action even while taking pictures...

Kenley and I also took another picture by the tree.

And after Kenley was all snuggled in bed, (probably with visions of sugar plums dancing in her head...wait I don't think she knows what a sugarplum is... oh well) my favorite Christmas elf got to work putting together his first Christmas Eve projects.

He first did the wagon that Kenley is getting from Grandma and Grandpa B.

and then he got to work on the BIG gift we got her.

There were MANY more pieces to this than I expected but I am so happy with it all put together. I think I'll give my elf a raise ;o) Then as we were finishing up, we packed up the gifts in the wagon and set the tree for "Santa's visit" (Disclaimer: Those gifts are NOT all from just Clay and I. They are from 5 different sets of people including us, both sets of grandparents, my grandma/grandpa, and Aunt Rachel)

Now Clay and I are off to cozy in bed with some warm Chai and some Snickerdoodle cookies (that we made today) and watch Charlie Brown Christmas and The Grinch (original) before we drift to sleep and dream of sugarplums (do I even know what one of those looks like?)

So as I go off to bed for this cold snowy night, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

Do you miss me?

Oh my! I hardly know where to start catching up on the nearly 16 day hiatus I have taken from blogging. Well let's see....

It has been a crazy few weeks and has made getting into the Christmas season full swing a bit difficult but I'm getting there (and not too late since I have until Saturday technically).

In no particular order here are a few things going on with the Brockmans...

My grandma passed away on Friday 12/17 at the ripe old age of 87. It wasn't a shock. We were able to see it slowly coming. She had been in the hospital for a few weeks recovering from a surgery she had to cement a crack in her back and fighting an infection. It went downhill rapidly and when I went to see her she was in the ICU having pure oxygen shoved down her airways with a pressurized mask and being pumped full of meds for her blood pressure. With the mask, they weren't letting her have any water and her throat was dry and hurt. A few days later they took her off the machines and let her have a smaller more comfortable mask and this allowed her to drink water when needed. She had been alert and responsive at that time. Slowly she faded and went to "sleep" on the pain meds. A few days later she passed. It saddens me to say that most of my memories of my grandma are from my childhood. I hadn't spent much time with her in the past few years. The childhood memories are very fond ones and I hope she knows what a great Grandma she was and how much we all loved her. I am glad that she got to meet Kenley and I hope that brought her joy. I hope she is peaceful and enjoying heaven. That's enough about that...

On the Brockman front we are still battling that "bug" we keep passing around. Since 11/15 someone in my family has been sick. It's getting old to say the least. We have had 8 doctor appts and 1 trip to the ER. We have been diagnosed with pink eye, an ear infection, croup, an upper respiratory infection, an allergic reaction, a sinus infection, a "viral thing" and even threw in a cold or two for good measure. Our insurance has to be so happy with us. They have been billed for $3,412 of which I have had to pay $611 or so. So much for my Christmas budget. I guess I should be very thankful we have health insurance and thankful we are slowly getting better. I seem to be the one who can't shake it. Kenley and Clay seem to finally be okay (only with a minor runny nose and cough for K). I have this pesky respiratory infection and cough hanging about but I keep plugging along.

To add to the surprise expenses of the holiday season, our washer went kaput. The repair man said it was best to just go buy a new one as it would cost him about $350-$400 to fix the one we had. So today, we got a new one. We bought the floor model of a Whirlpool model and got a pretty good deal. It was on sale and then it had a $50 rebate to boot. That was a nice surprise. We have it installed and I'll be testing it out over the next few days as I catch up on a few loads.

In exciting Kenley news (which is why I am sure you read this blog anyways) she is doing great. She is literally RUNNING everywhere. You just can't stop that girl. She is such a joy and her smile still lights up my day even if it has been the crappiest of crap. Here is my proof.

We had some family pics taken recently too and Kenley's 1 year photos. Yes, I know I had them taken early but I wanted to get them done. Here are some of my favorites. (More to come on later on FB or they are ALL out there on Shutterfly already if you have access there.)

Okay really I need to learn that "some" means like 3 or 4 but I just love them so much I had to share a few more. Good thing we brushed her hair that day and she wasn't sporting this bed head.

I just love those blue eyes! (and that crazy hair she has in the mornings)

I seem to have hit a writer's block. I know there is more that I wanted to tell you all but I'm not sure what it was. I am planning Kenley's 1st birthday party. It will be small this year as we don't have a lot of room in the house and it's the day after Christmas when most people have plans. I'll definitely be more diligent and get updates out quickly to show the day. I'm looking forward to her actually bday that Monday. Clay and I decided to take her birthday off every year (since she will also be out of school when older) and spend the day with her doing whatever she wants. I'm sure there will come a time in her teens when she hates the idea but for now we will enjoy it. This year we will pick the activities since she is too young to tell us but I'm sure in future years it will just be a blast for her.

Guess I'll wrap this up and go to bed. Sorry for such a long hiatus. I have been meaning to blog and I hope I didn't disappoint (I'm sure the pictures will get you hooked on here again). I'm also hoping my blog update prompts a wildfire of blogging activity in other blogs that also appear to be on hiatus *wink*wink*

But if I don't post before then, I hope you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

It's beginning...(in so many different ways)

In a very random post of updates, I'll just say "It's beginning..."

First (and finally), It's beginning to look like Christmas

We took Friday afternoon and finally got our Christmas stuff put up. We did the tree and the outside lights but I did a very minimalistic approach inside. We weren't sure how Kenley would do with the tree so I didn't put that many ornaments on this year. I also didn't set out that many snowmen or other decorations, but it still feels nice to finally have a little Christmas cheer inside. With the snow we got today, it definitely is starting to feel like that time of year.

Second, It's beginning to get tiring going to the doctor. That's right folks we went to the doctor again today. Last night was horrible. Kenley woke up at like 11 and didn't go back down until after 3am and even then I'm not sure she slept well. She was restless and sounded like an old man with emphysema. We debated on what today since it may have been just a run of the mill cold but the lack of runny nose and other regular cold like symptoms had me thrown. So we headed to the doctor to get checked and I'm glad we did. We have croup. Croup is a viral infection that causes the vocal chords to swell causing a barking cough and difficulty breathing.  It can last 5 to 6 days and generally is worse at night. Last night was a true testament to that and I'm hoping that tonight is much better but not holding my breath. I'll keep you posted.

and finally It's beginning ;o) Just in general. We are officially walking running and there will be no stopping us now.  Here is a short video from the doctor's office.

Like father, like daughter

Maybe it's bad design or maybe it's really good design, but either way it's EASY design. If you put a red light by the on/off switch on a TV and make it beep when you press it and flash when you turn it on and off, then it will be GREAT fun for an 11 month old who likes TV just as much as her daddy ;o)