A Happy Home is Filled with Love and Laughter

2011 Thanksgiving

Beej & Chris

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! Lots of yummy food and great company! Couldn't have asked for anything more!

The hardest part on Thanksgiving is smelling all that yummy food and waiting to eat it!

My sister Angela getting all ready for black Friday shopping!!!
BJ and I decided not to go this year. We decided the lack of sleep just wasn't worth it this year. But its on next year!

Kaylee and her sweet cousin DESEEEEE

Grandpa Scott!
Love this smile

I was assigned this jello this year. We have it every time we go to Idaho for Thanksgiving. It was delicious!

Connor and Camden

My brother Johnathon was able to come this year for a bit. It was as always, great to see him.

THE BEST Stuffing Ever!

We had Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt Sherries house but stayed the night at my Grandma and Grandpa's house, and we woke up to her amazing pancakes.
She made Kaylee a snowman pancake and then kept making different things with the batter. Grandpa told her to stop playing with her food ha ha

Love my family!

Kaylee was in the spotlight the whole weekend and she LOVED it! Aunt Sherrie had a ton of 'little people' to play with, including a 'little people house'. She was in heaven.

C'mon can he get any cuter?!

Kaylee helped herself to all the treats she could find and reach

Grandma Scott practicing giving Connor the bottle.

Kaylee made it to us serving food before she was sooo exhausted that we put her down for a nap. Two minutes after we did she walked upstairs and found us. Yep she can climb out of the playpen now. I guess I wasn't that surprised, since she had been sleeping in a big girl bed at our house for just over a week.

I was not a very good picture taker and didn't get a lot of pictures of BJ. So here are the only ones I have. Look at that 'Stud Muffin'. :)

I love this picture....because of grandma Scott's smile :D

I couldn't even start writing down all that I am thankful for right now because there is just sooo much, I wouldn't even know where to start. I just can't thank my Heavenly Father enough for my sweet family- extended and all. With all of the repairs we have had including a recent repair on our car, we have just about come out even with BJ's work and my work. My kids just make me smile everyday and I don't even want to imagine my life without BJ. Like I said I couldn't even write all that I am thankful for but just know I am overwhelmingly grateful for all that I have!

Brynlee and Desiree!

Beej & Chris

We just can't get together enough with the Layton's. Kaylee just loves playing with Brynlee and I love visiting with Challae. So it is a win win!

If you look to the left you can have a sneak peak of Brynlee's new brother Everett (isn't he a cutie!). Everett and Connor are just over 3 months different in age.

I only got one picture of Kaylee playing with her cousin Desiree or Deseeee as Kaylee calls her. But these two are inseparable. Kaylee grabs Desiree's hand and takes her everywhere she goes. She loves playing with her and frequently wakes up saying her name in hopes we go play with her.

I am so grateful Kaylee has such good friends!

Morning Meeting

Beej & Chris

I don't know why but I just love to sit down and talk to the kids about the plan for the day. It just helps me organize my thoughts and figure out what we have to get done for the day. Sometimes Kaylee has some good input and sometimes she just says silly things. Either way I love our morning meetings! :)

Big Girl Bed

Beej & Chris

BJ and I had been talking about moving Kaylee into a big girl bed for a little bit, but I kept telling him I didn't want to mess with our amazing sleeper. Kaylee had never attempted to get out of her crib so I wasn't in a rush to take her out of the crib.
We then went to visit her friend Brynlee who had her own big girl bed. Kaylee and Brynlee just kept getting on and off her bed like it was soo much fun. Kaylee also seemed to really like her pillow. I then started thinking about it more seriously but still was afraid of messing up her nap time. A few days after Kaylee was playing with Brynlee she started to lay on the ground with her blanket and would say "night night".... :) She was ready for her own big girl bed!
We took off the side of her crib and put a flat pillow on the bed along with a few blankets. She loved it! It only took 10 minutes of me talking to her before she went right to bed on her big girl bed. IT WAS AMAZING! I was so proud of my Kaylee girl.

The next morning I took her out to celebrate sleeping in her "big girl bed" at IHOP. Kaylee loves pancakes so I thought this would be a good fit.

We had a good time. I made sure to tell the waitress what we were celebrating. She did a good job at congratulation Kaylee and kept telling her what a big girl she was.

Yummy! I love breakfast!

Connor was amazing and just sat and played in his car seat. I bet he just can't wait till he can eat this yummy food as well. That baby oatmeal just doesn't compare.

Like I said the first night went well but nap time was a different story. The first day she ended up playing in her room for 3 hours with me going in and out telling her to go to sleep. I tried taking a few distractions out but had to leave a few things because we just don't have anywhere to store it all.
One day I grabbed everything in view and put it out in the hall

But that didn't stop her. She opened the closet and dumped all of hers and Connor's clothes all over the floor and then fell asleep on the floor.

I then tried staying by the door and every time I heard her get out bed I would quickly go in there and tell her, "it's time for bed Kaylee". I had been telling BJ the closet was a problem. I researched and found a way to baby proof the sliding closet door but had to order a part for it online. BJ of course decides on that next Saturday (the day he had the kids for the day because I had to work) to go to Loews and baby proof the closet before her nap time. Part of me was upset because that whole week before when I was struggling he never seemed to come up with this idea and it just came to him the day HE had to watch the kids. lol But the other part of me felt stupid I didn't just go to Loews to find the part myself! I had just googled it and couldn't find what I had found online in the store anywhere but didn't think Loews might have something else that would work as well. Duh! oh well ha ha
So needless to say Kaylee ended up taking her nap for BJ, however it wasn't on her bed..

ha ha silly girl. We have since totally baby proofed her bedroom and put everything into the closet during nap time so she has nothing to distract her. It has been working out great! UNTIL she discovered how to open her door. Don't worry we put one of those door knobs that prevent kids from opening the door....and the very next day she found out how to open the door regardless. lol We have one smart girl on our hands!! We now tie the door with a string from the her bedroom door knob to the bathroom door knob to keep her in her room when she is first going to bed. She tries to open the door a few times and then just goes back to her bed. I then move the string so she can just come out of her room when she wakes up.
She has fallen out of her bed twice but just gets back into bed and goes back to sleep. We have now been moving Connor into her room during the night. He still usually ends up staying in our room because he keeps waking up several times during the night. But Kaylee has done really well with having him in there even when he is crying. She is starting to sleep a little bit deeper and just goes right back to bed when we go in her room to get Connor. I have been impressed!