Cookie Snowballs

SNOWBALLS!!

We wanted to have a cookie party before finals week and so we gathered all the Provo peeps, made the dough got all ready and realized that we had no cookie cutters. Instead of shapes we made "Snowballs" and they were kinda delicious! It was fun to have everyone together. After cookies we played Taboo and then everyone had to leave to study :) It was still a great party and a fun way to celebrate the season. Plus like all of Kelsey's favorite people (minus Papa) were all in one room, so she was pretty happy too! She also loved Taboo and would walk up to the person talking and press the beeper the whole time. It was pretty annoying if it was happening to you, but hilarious if it was someone else. Side note; Hannah rocks at Taboo! If you ever play, invite Hannah!

"Candids:"

It was super fun and I probably will only do snowballs from now on. They were so much easier and just as delicious!

Snow

December 2013 has been very snowy and VERY cold. No freezing. I'm so glad I don't have to walk to school. I feel so bad for the students. There are too many days when it is in the single digits and there they are, plugging away to school. Regardless, the snow has been a huge hit at our house. We can't stand being out too long, but we go out a couple times a day, and sometimes even go on a walk to bring Dad home. Kelsey LOVES it! She loves to just walk through the mounds of snow. Every time she falls, she just sits and waits for me to come pick her up. She never cries (unless snow touches her skin bc that is no fun for anyone) but just sits and waits. She is so happy in the snow! I just wish it were a little warmer so we could enjoy for longer, but hey. What'd you do! 

18 months

This post has taken me a while because I just don't know how to capture all the emotions of 18 months. The more I have thought about it, the more I can easily say that so far, this stage has been the funniest and the hardest all at the same time. Kelsey is adorable and hilarious! She definitely has her own personality, loves to have fun, teases us, and loves to have fun, but she also wants to be big, can do everything by herself, never wants help, and still can't really communicate 100% and gets super frustrated when we don't understand. Being her mom is so rewarding but so tiring! I just can't keep up. Heaven bless on those wonderful moms out there who do this with multiples! 

Kelsey just loves to play. She loves when we go places and she can just run. Our poor little apartment doesn't give her enough space to run, but we find other ways like climbing up over the couch, falling on the cushions, and doing it again.
She loves to dance, loves music, still loves to climb, loves to "race", crawls on her hands and knees to chase us, loves to be chased, loves to be tickled, and loves her parents. She favors dad when we are together, but as soon as I leave, she leaves the room going Mom? She just has to check that I am still there too and then goes back to dad.
Kelsey is making lots of friends and although they still just steal each others toys and no one knows how to share, we have way more fun when friends are around. Like dancing Sadie here.

Despite the face, Kelsey LOVES LOVES LOVES nursery. She was crying because we wanted to take a picture and wouldn't let her go. Typically she says amen, jumps down and runs to the door and knocks until they let her in. It is fantastic. I love that she loves nursery.

Kelsey at 18 months is a TERRIBLE eater. We can not figure her out. Things she will eat on Monday, she won't touch on Tuesday, and things she has never liked she chows. For example, yesterday she wouldn't eat Mac and Cheese, but started eating raw onions. WHAT?! What I'm I supposed to do?! I can't wait for this stage to be over. We are patiently waiting, but it gets super annoying.  Along with eating, Kelsey always has diaper issues. It is mostly sad because there is nothing we can really do except watch her suffer. She has a steady diet of apple juice and that seems to help a ton. She still also is a bad sleeper but I think that is more a neighbor issue than her. The cars in the morning shine right into her room and it wakes her up every time.

Kelsey loves to read. She has gotten over bored books and now wants to turn pages. She loves to flip through pages especially our wedding album and our Disneyland book. She still loves herself, loves babies, and tries to "mother" crying babies by telling them to shh. Super cute.

Kelsey is an awesome talker. She can copy most of her Aunts and Uncles and some of them she can just say on her own, like Hannah and Pappa. She is also getting really good at copying things we say. Most recently she copied love you which made Ethan's day. The other day, Ethan and I were talking and Kelsey was jabbering away and it was kinda annoying because we needed to discuss something. Ethan turned to Kelsey and said something along the lines of "Kelsey, say I'm sorry I'm interrupting, I just want to talk to mommy so badly." (Something like that) Kelsey then turned to me and goes "Jaberyhhadkbd andb andg ewth  Mommy!" It was hilarious! She loves to talk and can communicate pretty much everything she wants. Food she wants or does not want, if she's tired, wants to go outside, dirty diapers (which is the BEST), wanting to read books, wanting to brush teeth or take a bath etc. It is getting pretty awesome because I no longer have to guess. She just tells me.
Kelsey loves to help vacuum and most recently loves to help do the dishes and cook. When she hears me go into the kitchen she runs in, grabs a chair pushes it over and starts playing with the water. She still loves to sweep too. She loves to take baths, loves to brush her teeth, always pulls out her hair so its breaking and so it is a static, straight mess that drives me bonkers but whatever, and loves to play with shoes and clothes.
I'm so grateful to have Kelsey in our life even though it is getting more and more challenging all the time. Its funny. I never thought something could be so hard and so easy at the same time! I love you Smooch! Keep learning and growing like you already have.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

and we LOVE IT!!! We thought our apartment was too small for decorations, but with determination and some sacrifices, we were able to get enough up to feel like Christmas. 

The view from the front door. Our front room is tiny, but we got it in AND its not too crowded either.
We set up our tree at night when Kelsey was in bed, and so in the morning, when she woke up, the tree was a complete surprise. I wish we would have taped it because it was better than Christmas morning I think. Ethan plugged in the tree, I brought her out, and it was nothing but gasps, ohs and ahs for like 20 min! She loved it so much. She would run up to it, stare and run back and go OHHHHH while pointing trying to show us how awesome it was. Man, having a little kid around, really reminds you just how awesome life is on daily basis. She has already made Christmas way more exciting.

View from out front window. I just love that is is going to be a white season! 

And don't forget the stockings hung by the dishwasher with care! 

So I knew that this Christmas would bring more disaster than previous Christmases because we now have a toddler and not just a baby. I knew that things would happen, and I tried to brace myself that stuff is just stuff and that I have nothing so precious that it can't be replaced. Well I set up the nativity because I thought Kelsey would enjoy seeing the baby Jesus and the animals. I got it brand new at DI for only $2 so I also knew that if it broke, it didn't cost an arm and a leg. Well of course she broke it, but I did not except this within three days:
Day 1:

Day 2:

And finally Day 3:

Christmas is exactly what I expected from a toddler. Actually to be honest, she is doing amazing. There are three ornaments that she likes to take off the tree and show me like every hour, but she always hangs them back up and really doesn't touch the others. Sometimes she likes to put the little ones in her mouth and run around, hooks, and all, and that gets annoying, but other than that she is doing awesome. She always hasn't noticed or even cared about the gifts, so we are golden in that department. I just hope it stays that way. I'm really working on trying to be patient because I love Christmas and I love to touch the pretty ornaments too so why wouldn't she. Its just so exciting and tempting. That's why we get plastic everything right?! PS a plastic nativity is on the wish list for next year! That is a must I have learned. I don't think I will fix the wise men because it is kinda hilarious. The shepherd is the only one that is ended up totally in the trash. His head was so smashed that is was salvageable. I really don't know how she did it!

 So at our ward Christmas party was a very typical ward Christmas party. Santa came to visit and we attempted three different times to get a good picture.
Attempt 1: We were waiting in line and she kept trying to run up to him. We thought that she would love it. She got there and wiggled down so fast that he didn't even have a chance to say hi. She wouldn't even take the candy
Attempt 2: While I held her, she started to hold on to me tighter and tighter. I put her in his lap and she started to cry and I took her out real quick.
Attempt 3: I thought that with a friend maybe she would like it. As I got closer to Santa, Kelsey had a death grip on my arm and I knew that it was going to be a no go. I put Sadie and Kelsey in Santa's lap at the same time and instantly Kelsey freaked out! She freaked out so much, that Sadie stopped freaking out and looked at her all calm. I feel kinda bad, but everyone has to have a scared Santa picture right?!

 She calmed down pretty quick! She just needed to get out of the fat mans arms! We have played with Sadie a lot, but I didn't realize how much she liked me! She always comes up and gives me all sorts of love.

Christmas has been nothing but great music, wonderful lights, happy moments, delicious treats,  and precious memories thus far! I cant wait for the actual day to come.