Fairy Tale Ending

My sister and her family just moved to Colorado and today I was happy to have Gabe and Makena over to play. I am thrilled to have them all so close. It was a wild day but they all played together amazingly well. They played hard until they needed to catch their breath. I caught them in a corner flipping through Kinsley's Bible going page by page. Gabe and Makena were also familiar with the stories and I was cracking up listening to their banter.

I saw Kinsley correctly point out Delilah and share how Samson is strong.

Gabe was searching for Goliath then explained how David fought him.

As they continued to point out Moses, Daniel and baby Jesus, I felt myself getting prouder and prouder at the spiritual giants we are raising. This was until Makena asked who another girl was and Kinsley quickly replied, Cinderella.

I am humbled on an hourly basis.

She won't take her paci to Kindergarten afterall.

Today was a day I have been dreading for a long long time. Over the years, Kinsley and I have had a love affair with her pacifier and we finally bid a permanent farewell this morning. We tried to spin it into a positive memory by taking her to build-a-bear. Here is the bittersweet recap:
Until today, this is how Kinsley has looked in the car since the day she was born.

This is the pink monkey she chose to be the final resting place for her pacifiers.

Here she is undoubtedly contemplating if this is a good idea.

My heart was racing as I watched her kiss them goodbye before placing them inside.

Luckily, we both were able to make it without extreme amounts of tears. Kinsley is walking taller now that she has declared herself a big girl. In her words, "Now I can walk in the street by myself." However, it didn't take long for my baby to reappear when she later said, "Maybe if I hug my monkey enough, my paci will come out."

We have made it through one nap and half a night with little drama. I would say that we have freedom from the paci, but then I remember that it won't be long before we are doing this all over again.

For Hallie

I have had little motivation to re-enter the blogging world. However, as much as I have fought against a Christmas update, I fast-forwarded 15 years and envisioned a conversation with Hallie that I would rather eliminate. I figure there will be many things she resents me for in her teen years and I should do all I can now to limit what she can throw back at me, such as not blogging about her first Christmas.
This one is for you, Sweet Peanut!

The Cinderella nightgown was Kinsley's special Santa request and she wears it over her clothes every. single. day.

Kinsley also loved her Disney Princess collection...not many little girls have a daddy that can sing the songs from every princess movie.


This is one of the MANY attempts to get a cousin photo...even in it's blurry glory, sadly, it is the best.

This picture captures the fun and wild day that was Christmas 2008!

Happy First Christmas, Hallie Girl!

A Pre-Christmas party

The last few days have been a blur thanks to spending the weekend with sarah and lane who recently returned from his 2nd Iraq deployment. Though the time was short, we had tons of fun and celebrated a Hughes Christmas before we all scatter and travel to see the in-laws.






Advent fun included snowman pancakes and making snowmen ornaments. Today we will leave a letter to Santa telling him that he can find us in Minnesota. We leave in a matter of hours for the long drive and when we arrive tomorrow morning, we will bake a birthday cake for Jesus. In the meantime, I am packing.

Advent Days 17, 18 and 19

The girls got little gifts one day, decorated cookies another and saw some Christmas classics (Rudolph and Frosty) tonight.

There was a lot of this.


And, unrelated to advent,way too much of this.... multiple times a day.

Advent

ADVENT 13, 14, 15: Falling behind. Due to some over-committed holiday schedules, advent took a backseat to other types of Christmas fun. The last several days Kinsley earned money for kind things she did around the home. We collected the money in a special jar then took it to a Salvation Army bell-ringer to donate.

ADVENT DAY 16:  Thanks to a good friend, we were tipped off to a special Christmas event that is not advertised. Weeks ago, we signed up to meet Santa and today was the big day. Santa told a story, sang songs and had some Q&A time. Upon asking the children if anyone had a question, many hands politely popped in the air. Kinsley, however, frantically began shouting, "Can I have a Cinderella nightgown? Can I have a Cinderella nightgown?" He smiled and nodded and I made a mental note to go to Disney's website as soon as we get home.
When the time came for the girls to sit with Santa, Kinsley got some alone time before Hallie joined. I wouldn't expect anything less than Kinsley's trademark enthusiasm and Hallie's stranger anxiety.

Advent

ADVENT DAY 11:Tonight we put on jammies and piled in the car to check out Christmas lights. I never thought I would be waiting with bated breath to see if another inflatable is around the corner.
ADVENT DAY 12: Thankfully, today we had another good reason to bake. We surprised Papa at his office with his favorite cookies. I use the word "surprised" loosely considering we had to coordinate with him, go through 2 guard stations and be escorted to his office. Regardless, it was special for all of us.  On our way out, he took us to the biology department where Kinsley got to see a boa constrictor, fish and many stuffed and mounted animals. Which is why, upon our leaving she told me that Papa has to go back to work at the zoo.

Not a bad view from the desk!