A Holly, Jolly Christmas

What a wonderful, magical, memorable Christmas! We sure had a fun weekend celebrating with our family, opening (a zillion) gifts, and remembering the reason for the season.

Friday morning began with an early visit from Santa to our house. Katelyn came downstairs to a pile of gifts and a new chair with her name on it (literally!)

The first gift Katelyn opened was a 4-pack of little Elmo books. All she wanted to do was sit in her chair and read them. No joke! She didn't quite get the "whole pile of gifts are yours" concept, which just made us smile at the satisfaction of one simple gift. ♥  

After we opened the gifts from Santa, we packed up and hit the road to Davenport, Iowa to visit Gramma Debbie, Uncle Jason, Aunt Cassie, Cousin Emerson, and Aunt Jen! We were especially excited to see and snuggle with sweet little Emmy :)

Michael and Em spent some time checking each other out...

Katelyn and Emerson got some great dishes and flatware to go with their play kitchen at Gramma's. Katelyn kept making and bringing coffee to people. She also likes to make "fw-oot snacks" and pasta in the kitchen.

Cousins getting re-acquainted. We saw Em a couple months ago and she's changed so much since then!

Jammie girls on Saturday morning! Katelyn knew it was going to be an exciting day, so she decided to rise and shine at 5 am (!)

Gramma Debbie got the girls beautiful Christmas dresses. Aunt Jen, Katelyn, Emerson, and Uncle Jason posed for a quick shot.

Gramma Debbie and Katelyn brought their smiles too :)

And one shot of the whole gang... before we opened a bunch of gifts and had a lot of laughs along the way!

Having fun with Aunt Jen!

From there we made our way to central Iowa to visit the Ridnour clan. Katelyn zonked out in the car in about 2.2 seconds and it's a good thing too - there was a lot to rest up for. The first of which was "nuggle" time with Papa (and bear didn't want to miss out either).

Mr. Potato Head was a real hit on Christmas morning.

And the Doodle Board continues to provide lots of fun too!

Katelyn loved reading the cool pop-up Sesame Street book. 

 How's this for a classic Christmas look? Elmo slippers, reindeer pj's, and a rosary around the neck.

A special Radio Flyer tricycle was hidden under a big blanket. Clear the roads, people!

 Later that day, we drove to Des Moines to celebrate with more family members at my Aunt Ronda and Uncle Joel's house. Did you know what a nice tunnel Uncle Ryan's legs make?

Lots of giggles with (second) Cousin Justin...

Telling stories with Gramma Kathy, Cousin Collin, and Great Gramma Verla.

Here are a couple shots in the heat of the grab bag game - lots of stealing happened in pursuit of all the great gifts!

Some other special family members made a visit too - Aunt Cindy and Uncle RJ!

Katelyn had fun drumming some beats on the table with Aunt Cindy and GG (great grandma).

Uncle Mitch sure gets a workout when Katelyn's around. She loves it when he swings her up and down and always says "again?" the moment she senses he needs a rest ;)

Katelyn especially loved the glasses from Mr. Potato Head - she needed them to read her books, in fact!

We had a great weekend and are thankful for the glorious (sunny and 40) travel conditions each day. We appreciate so much all the generous gifts and surprises from the holiday. And what a reason for this magical season: our best, most incredible gift came wrapped in swaddling clothes. Now that's something to celebrate!

A Grab Bag of Photos

Ho, ho, ho! Christmas is just 5 days away... wait whaaaaat?! This holiday officially snuck up on us! But we continue to be busy down the homestretch. So take a peek and see what's in our grab bag of photos - you never know what you might get!

Santa Claus visited Katelyn's school last week. Every day since then when I tell her we're going to school, she responds excitedly with "Mommy work, Kate school, and Sinta?!"(Don't mind the fact that it was 7:15 am and she's looking rather sleepy in the photos - takes after me!)

Before it all melted, Katelyn got in a few days of outdoor play in the snow at school. I think it's safe to say she liked it...

We paid a visit to the Children's Museum over the weekend - always a fun time; especially when scooters and hula hoops are involved!

Here's an action-shot at the museum of the ol' "sneeze and knock the blocks down" game :)

We did a little holiday photo shoot...

Have you ever read through Christmas cards with your Daddy's stocking cap on? Katelyn has :)

There's nothing like some sibling nap time in the sun (for one of them anyway!)...

Katelyn loves to scratch Malone's belly and he sure has come a long way in the patience department with little hands tugging at his tail and accidentally stepping on his paws. Aww...

Good dog, Malone!! (See the white goatee? He's only 5 1/2 years old! I think Katelyn has aged him.)

Wishing you a joyous, peace-filled, Christ-focused week as we anticipate the birth of Jesus and all the celebrating that goes along with it!

22 Months Old!

Katelyn is 22 months old today! Realizing her 2nd birthday is on the horizon is almost unbelievable. As usual, she's been keeping us laughing and on our toes lately. Here are a few notable things from Katelyn's 22nd month:

~ She's mostly wearing 24 mo/2T clothes. The 18 month clothes (especially pants) are quickly becoming obviously too small! She's about to move up to size 4 diapers and she wears 6/7 in shoes. 

~ Some new favorite foods include tater tot casserole (or "hot dish" as Minnesotans say!) with ketchup, rotisserie chicken with BBQ sauce, crackers with hummus (many times she licks off the hummus and says  "moe ummus?") and black beans with chicken. She still drinks a lot of milk each day as well as water. Occasionally at school she gets "appo juish" - a real treat!

~ Some of Katelyn's funniest sayings these days include:

"Okay, shuu... fun!" - When responding affirmatively to a yes or no question, she says "okay, shuu (sure)... fun!" For example, "Should we go play in your kitchen?" "Okay, shuu! Fun!"

"Oh wow!" or "Oh boy!" - When she's surprised by something, she usually says one of these two things.

"Umm..." - Lately when we ask her a question, she will respond promptly with "umm..." as she's "thinking" of her answer. (I think it's a sign that Michael and I say that too much!)

"No barking, please, Lone." - Her response to Malone barking.

"By you." - When she wants someone to sit by her or near her, she'll say, "Daddy, by you?" or "Mommy, by you?"

"Kate do it." - This is what she says many times a day when she wants to do something on her own. 

~ Katelyn has been enjoying listening to books read by us first and then she'll say, "Kate read it" and proceed to thumb through the pages "reading" them (and often actually saying some of the words on that particular page). Sometimes she even holds the book in one hand reading to an "audience" - like her teachers do at school. Future librarian, perhaps?

~ The other morning after her dental check-up (which went amazingly well - especially after her stuffed snowman got checked out by the dentist first with the tools and all!), we had breakfast at Panera. The staff there were greeting each guest with a friendly, "Good morning" as they came in. Katelyn responded to that each time by standing up in our booth, peering over the ledge to the workers, and announcing "Goo Mow-nin!!" 

~ One of Katelyn's favorite things to do lately is play with blocks. She'll make a big tower of them and then either (fake) sneeze or have one of us "sneeze" and knock them down. "Fun!!" as she likes to say! She also likes to get out Yahtzee and put the dice and chips into the cup, shake them up, and roll them on the floor. Lately when playing this game ("the dump game" as she calls it), she insists on wearing a shirt or jacket with pockets so she can hide the dice in there. It's the little things :)

Katelyn Clare, you are full of life, love, and energy these days! It is an absolute privilege and honor to watch you grow and change. We're so thankful God chose us to be your parents - it's the richest experience of our lives. 

Christmas Spirit and Santa Claus

Here's how we embraced the Christmas spirit this weekend: listened to Christmas tunes at home and in the car, baked 12 dozen cookies for two different cookie exchanges, consumed embarrassing amounts of cookies from said exchanges, enjoyed the Holidazzle Parade, shopped and wrapped presents, and last, but certainly not least, visited Santa! We had a great weekend and here are some snapshots from the fun...

Malone was not spared from the Christmas spirit - we didn't want him feeling left out. Can't you tell how much he loves this?

Friday night we met Michael downtown to watch the Holidazzle Parade. It takes place in the heart of downtown Minneapolis on Nicollet Mall (where Michael's office is located). The parade starts at 6:30, so it's dark and chilly (that's putting it nicely - most kids wore snow pants :), but all the floats and bands are lit up with Christmas lights. Nothing stops Minnesota from a parade, people, even negative temps!

The pictures aren't the best since they were taken with my phone, but here are Katelyn and Michael checking out the Disney Aladdin float. 

This was Katelyn's favorite float. It's a Twins baseball snowman complete with a bat, ball cap,  glove, and a Joe Mauer jersey (no wonder it was her fave!). It even spun around in circles. After it went by, Katelyn kept saying, "moe snowman? moe snowman?"

Between floats, Katelyn would also say, "moe lights?" I'd say the parade was a hit and worth the bit of Jack Frost nipping at our noses!

Until about 2 weeks ago, Katelyn didn't really know who Santa was, but recently she's been enjoying a Barney Christmas Special where he and his friends visit the North Pole to help Santa make toys, so that's really been her first introduction to him. On Saturday afternoon, we braved the mall for some shopping and thought maybe we'd see Santa ("Sinta"). She glowed at the prospect. She was so excited as we waited our turn but we thought she might change her tune when it came down to sitting on Santa's lap. Boy were we mistaken...

She sat comfortably on Santa's leg and while she got a little bashful and kept looking at the ground, she did tell Santa she wanted "Daddy's phone" for Christmas. Ha!

As we left from our visit, Katelyn waved and said "Buh-bye Sinta!" After the fact, she kept referring to Santa's beard (pointing to her chin), hat, and also his "mittens" :)

Hope you enjoyed a bit of Christmas spirit this weekend too! 

Looking A Lot Like Christmas

Happy December! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Mlakar household. Between the tree, decorations, outdoor lights, one holiday party already in the books, and the beautiful 2-inch coating of fresh snow, it's definitely jingle bell season around here! Oh, and these little dancing elves are another sign...

(Erik, Katelyn, and Dane, playing the drums on their legs)

It feels so cozy to have the Christmas things up in our house as reminders of this advent season. Katelyn helped with the decorations on the tree, but was most interested in the silver beads!

Watching the snow fall with Daddy on Saturday afternoon...

Katelyn enjoyed decorating the lower parts of the tree and every time she got an ornament placed on a branch, she'd say, "I did it!" and cheer and clap :)

Don't be deceived by the expression below! We are really excited about starting the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition (a gift last Christmas from our friends, the Sandates)... excellent poker face, wouldn't you agree?

Time to test the lights inside!

After helping Daddy outside for a bit, Katelyn found the comfort of the indoors to be much more suitable, so she watched out the front door.

And a hug through the door... not nearly as fun as the real thing though!

We look forward to everything this season of celebration and joy has in store!