You also may have noticed that your mailbox did not receive, yet again, a Christmas card from us. I had a better excuse last year for not getting one done than I do this year. I won't try to make one up so I'll just apologize and hope that I can manage to get one done next year. No worries though, we did manage to take a family photo. Although getting everyone looking the same direction and smiling is practically impossible! Here's the family photo ... Aren't we cute? :-)
And then a few of my favorites of the kids. I think I might be getting better at this photography thing. All of these are taken using the manual settings on my camera in natural light. Would you believe I took these in our playroom? Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. Of course, it helps to have unbelievably gorgeous children to shoot!
If you just come to see the pictures you can stop here. If you are curious about our year then continue on. :-)
Most everyone knows that our year started out with the birth of our 2nd daughter Kelsey and all that came with that. The other kids still talk about her from time to time but we are are healing well and gain much comfort knowing that not only is she with Jesus but that we will be with her again someday.
The end of March brought us a new travel trailer. We've really enjoyed it when we've been able to use it. We really hope to bring it out much more, even if just for local camping, in 2010. The kids love it as much as we do so we hope to be able to see more of our home state.
One of the reasons we didn't camp as much as would have liked is that I had Spinal Fusion surgery in June. I felt improvement immediately! Now, if I can just discipline myself to stretch and exercise on a more regular basis I'm sure I'll continue to feel good.
During our 11 trailer trip to CA in May we bought annual passes to Disneyland since Kaden will be free until he turns 3 this coming May. We've been able to enjoy them on a couple of trips in September and November. We stayed in hotels both times and we're learning the ropes and tricks and all those other little things you only know from being a frequent visitor. Kalyssa is a roller coaster freak. The faster it goes the more she likes it. And she loves "the scary house" too! Kaden's favorite ride is the rockets on the edge of Tomorrowland. I get dizzy extremely easy so I can't go on those spinning rides. Poor KC gets to ride the rockets at least 5-6 times a day. And we usually go for 3-4 days per trip! Kaden is less of a roller coaster nut at this point but I see that changing as he gets older. He loves Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Gadget's Go Coaster. He'll go on Matterhorn too but only if we take him on the rockets first.
For Kalyssa's 5th birthday trip to Disney she was able to get all dolled up at the Bibbiy Bobbity Boutique. We spent about 2 hours shopping and having hair and makeup done and then a full photo shoot in a beautifully painted fairy tale room with Cinderella's coach in it. She was gorgeous and I actually teared up at how beautiful she was. Once she became her chosen princess (Sleeping Beauty) she really "became" a Princess with a capital "P!" She couldn't really lean back in the stroller so she sat up straight as a board the entire day. She even has the Princess Wave down! I felt like I was pushing true royalty around all day long!
In September Kalyssa started preschool two afternoon's a week. She really loves it. And I really hope she still feels the same way about school a few years from now. She has proven to have my theatrical tendencies. At the end of her Christmas program she curtied and bowed and blew kisses over and over to the crowd. I think we just might have an honest to goodness drama queen on our hands!
Kaden has grown by leaps and bounds. Just in the last two months of the year he added an inch to his little frame. He's still a bean pole and on the very low side of the growth charts in weight but he eats well so I don't worry about him. He's just got my Dad's tall/skinny build. He's growing in his speach as well. He's gone from speaking just a few words at the beginning of the year to speaking full (and loooooonnnnnggggg) sentences every second of the day. Many (way too many) nights he's in his room talking/singing for a good hour or more after being put to bed. He knows the words to many songs and can almost complete the alphabet song. He can count to at least 10, sometimes 12 if he's in the mood. He's also a little troublemaker who loves to see just what he can get away with. Just yesterday he stole 2 lollipops while we were at Kalyssa's gymnastics class. And the other day he grabbed a flashlight while Daddy wasn't looking and went running after he said a resounding "Ah Ha!"
Speaking of trouble, I must tell you all about Kaden's Christmas present! This is definitely a story that has, and will continue to be retold for many years to come! Kaden's big gift this year was a new Lightening McQueen racecar bed from my Dad. (I almost think it was more for Daddy than son but we'll just move on, shall we?) Anywho, on Christmas Eve we put both kids down to bed in our room (that was a process ... too excited to sleep, you all know how that is, I'm sure!) Then KC and my Dad put together the bed in Kaden's room. After all the toys were put together and the stockings stuffed with care we finally decided to go to bed at about 2am. We gently put Kaden in his new bed, figuring he'd sleep until 7 or so. (Most days he gets up anywhere from 7 to 9am.) At about 4am (yes, only 2 short hours later) KC noticed the livingroom light was on. Kalyssa and I were still sleeping soundly next to him so there was only one suspect remaining. KC goes out and notices that most of the lights in the house are on. (Kaden has to stand on something to turn most light switches on.) Then he noticed that the lid to a storebought coffee cake was sitting on the coffee table. He goes down the hall, looks into Kaden's room and sees this ...
He'd eaten the centers out of at least 3 of those rolls before we were able to catch the little stinker! Now when we tell him to get in bed (although he's not actually sleeping in it yet since he gets put in the crib every time he gets out of his big boy bed) he says, "gonna go get food" with this sheepish grin on is face. I'm telling you, we've got our hands FULL with this one!Now that you've gotten a quick update (yes, that was quick ... I honestly could have gone on for hours!) I will leave with with heartfelt prayers for a blessed 2010 for you and your families!
Here's hoping I can keep up more than every 6 - 7 months!
Many hugs from us to you!
♥ The Payne's
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