Jaylee seems to be growing up so fast. This last week, she has decided that sitting up on her own isn't so hard. She is loving being able to sit up and watch the action, and play with her toys. Her dexterity with her toys has really improved too. She has also started rolling over and starting to scoot just a little. It's amazing how quickly they can change! Look at those chunky legs! Did I mention she likes to eat?

Alana dressed herself for bed, but wanted both pairs of pajamas on. She didn't quite get them on facing the right way. She was proud of herself anyways.

Christmas Morning!

Christmas morning started bright and early in the Smith house. Kale woke up at 6am, but was tired enough to go back to sleep on the couch with Daddy. The girls woke up at 7am, but Kale slept until almost 8am. I guess staying up so late waiting for Santa wore him out. Once everyone was up, the fun began!

We started with reading the Christmas story and having hot chocolate. After that, the kids dug into the presents. What a difference a year makes in the excitement! Kale and Alana were both unwrapping things at record pace.

Kale was especially excited about pretty much every present. Each one got an "oh wow!" "Oh my goodness!" and so on. Except of course, socks and underwear. He is still a normal kid.

Jaylee enjoyed the festivites as well of course. She wasn't overly interested in her presents, but loved the wrapping paper and ribbons. It was fun watching her enjoy her first Christmas so much. Kale and Alana were both so little on their first Christmases that they didn't do much. Jaylee was much more animated, but she usually is.

Alana got a Barbie Corvette and two princess barbies. I think her favorite toy was her very own baby bed and carseat. She loves tucking her babies into bed over and over.

Kale got his very own CD player for his room and a few CD's with his favorite songs. He loves having music playing all the time, so now he can have music in his room while he is playing. He has also been requesting to have it on while he falls asleep.

We had a wonderful day playing with all of the new toys. One of the best things about Christmas is staying in pajamas and playing all day!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent doing the usual things for us. Thankfully, Dave had the day off, which was great. That gave me the chance to go out with my best friend for a few hours and enjoy a massage. A very good Christmas gift!

We went to church and enjoyed the candlelight service. The kids did really well sitting through the service. Jaylee spent most of her time flirting with the baby sitting next to her.

After church we came home and the kids got to open their one Christmas Eve present. They were very excited about their new pajamas! Jaylee enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper, and trying to eat it of course. Kaleb really had a hard time going to sleep. Everytime we went to check on him, he was standing up looking for Santa out his window. We tried to explain to him that Santa wouldn't come until we were all asleep, but he kept insisting that he wanted to see Santa. I think he finally fell asleep at almost 10pm.

After the kids were in bed, we enjoyed eating our cheese fondue in front of a Christmas movie with Grammy and Uncle Jay. Grammy spent the night so she could be there when the kids woke up in the morning. It was fun to have Grammy stay up late with us while we played Santa.

Preschool Christmas

Kaleb had his preschool Christmas Program yesterday. They sang a few songs, and said their memory verses. Or I should say, everyone else did. Kale stood there making faces. During a couple of the songs, they got to ring jingle bells. Kaleb didn't even bend down to pick his up. He was like a little statue. Of course, a very cute little statue. His teacher says that he does really well in class. He must just get nervous when we come to watch.

After the program, the kids had cupcakes to celebrate Jesus' Birthday. Kaleb and the other kids got to decorate their own, which meant that Kaleb's had about 2 inches of frosting on it. And of course, once the frosting was gone, he didn't want any more.

We got to make a craft together at the end of the party. It was a felt nativity scene that you can move the people around on. Kale was pretty excited about it, and wanted everyone lined up just right on it.

Kaleb has been practicing for weeks to sing a couple of songs during the Christmas Program at church. At home he knew all the words and motions perfectly. When he was up on stage, he mostly just looked around at everyone else. I don't think he opened his mouth to sing at all, and he did try a couple of the motions. The really sweet thing was, he was so excited afterwards that he sang his songs all the way home too. I guess at 4, he just isn't ready to sing on stage. He and Alana both really enjoyed watching the rest of the Christmas Program with the big kids.

Alana and Kaleb are finally starting to feel better after having bad colds all week. I had to take all three to the doctor earlier in the week, and Alana was put on antibiotics for a double ear infection. It is so good to see them start to feel better. Jaylee still has the cold, and looks so sad! She has the watery, runny eyes and drippy nose. Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do for a cold at her age. Or any other age. Dave and I haven't been feeling well all weekend either. I am hoping that everyone will be feeling much better this week. Until the next bug comes home at least.

The kids let me take pictures in front of the tree before getting into play clothes. They looked so cute! Alana really liked that her dress matched Jaylee's. I imagine that opinion won't last forever, but I'll enjoy it while it does!

Jaylee seems to be growing up and changing so fast. She is getting pretty good at sitting up, mostly on her own. She still gets distracted and tips over pretty easily. She thought sitting in the laundry basket was pretty funny.

Daddy also fed her her first apple. She loved it! She tried to take bites of it, and complained loudly when he tried to take it away.

This was Kale working on a project for preschool. They got to decorate a Christmas Tree to hang up at school. He has grown up so much this year. School has been a really good thing for him. He loves doing the projects that they send home, or showing me what they did in class. It is also very cute when he sits Alana down for "circle time" and teaches her whatever he has been learning. I must say, one of my favorite things is to hear him say his memory verses. His class does a different verse everyone month, and they get a certificate when they can say it to the teacher. It is so sweet to hear him say Psalms 23:1-2, or this month it has been Luke 2:10-11. It is just so sweet to hear him talk about how much Jesus loves him!

All three kids are sick with colds this week. It is difficult enough to deal with one sick and crabby kid, but three is a challenge! I took everyone in to the doctor today, but mostly for Alana. She has been sick for well over a week without any improvement. Sure enough, she has infections in both ears. No wonder she has been crabby! She is still doing amazingly well on the potty, even being sick. They are growing up so fast!

Snow and Trees and other Good Things

Last week we got between 6-8 inches of snow. The kids were so excited to build a frosty the snowman, and play outside. The snow was deep enough that Alana started having a hard time walking in it as she got more tired.

I set the slide up so that the kids could slide into a pile of snow. Kale loved it! Alana enjoyed it too, but had a hard time getting out of the snow.

We got our tree put up and decorated. The kids had a blast decorating, re-decorating, and undecorating. I had to take all the candy canes off because of busy little fingers.

The girls trying on their Christmas Dresses. Alana wasn't overly pleased at first, but she seems to like it okay now. We'll see what she thinks come picture day.

In other news, Alana is almost fully potty trained! Wohoo! She still wears a pull-up at night, but has been wearing panties during the day all week and doing great. Yay! We are almost down to one kid in diapers!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving week in Montana. It was a very long drive with the kids, but they handled it pretty well. We stopped in Helena to see friends, then drove through Bozeman to see more friends. We left just as it started to snow in Bozeman. We timed it just right! By the time we got to Billings, it was getting pretty messy! The kids were so excited to see snow.

This was taken in Bozeman on our way out of town.

The kids had a blast sledding. This is Kale sledding with Grandpa. Kale really got into it, and wore everyone else out hiking up and down the hill!

Dave's parents fixed his old playhouse up so the kids could play on it. Alana loved the swing best of course, even in the snow.

Here's Aunt Julie, Alana, Kale, Grandpa, and Jaylee watching football.

Fall Days

We have been enjoying the last few nice days of fall. Last saturday we were able to all walk to the park to play for the morning. It was such a fun time! All three kids really loved it. Jaylee loved kicking and watching all the action for the first hour or so, and then crashed on me. She is getting too heavy for a front pack!

It is amazing how many times the kids can go down the slides without getting bored. It felt great to play outside with all of us. Fall has been so busy, we haven't been able to do that nearly as much as we like.

Kale did not like the tire swing because it went in circles. Alana on the other hand, loved it and didn't want to get down when it was time to go home.

Jaylee is now officially 4 months old. It is so hard to believe. It has gone so fast this time around. We started her on solid foods last week, which she loves! It only took her about two bites to figure out how to swallow it and decide that she loves to eat! (shocking I know-you would never guess)

Kids Carnival

On Halloween our church had a kids carnival. Kale was dressed as a Mariner, and Alana was a butterfly. (She wasn't too excited to dress up, but liked the wings and wand). They had all kinds of games for the kids to play, and they won lots and lots of candy.

Jaylee has started eating rice cereal, and loves it! She gets pretty excited about her food. Sometimes she is too busy smiling to eat, but most of the time she loves to eat!

Jaylee is also very excited about her Bumbo chair. She loves being able to sit up and watch all the action around here. She is getting better and better at grabbing her toys, and of course, putting them in her mouth.

It was beautiful on Saturday, so we all walked to the park. Jaylee was awake and loving the front pack for the first hour, and then crashed on me. The kids had a great time on the slides, and the tire swing. Kale was disapointed that the gate to the baseball field was locked.

Kale wasn't too fond of the tire swing, because it went in circles. Alana loved it of course.

Alana's Birthday

I promise, this is the last birthday post for a while. Our kids had way too many birthday parties.

Alana turned two this weekend, although she keeps insisting that she turned four. Everyone who asks her how old she is, she proudly says Four!

Aunt Julie came to visit for the weekend, which made the kids happy. The weather was pretty yucky, so we went to Kids Castle on saturday. They have a huge play area with ball pits, and slides, and tunnels everywhere. They also have a gymnastics area with big trampolines, bars, and the tumbling floor to play on. The kids had a blast! We took turns chasing them through the tunnels, which was hard on the adults knees, but worth it.

Alana loved hanging on the bars. I was surprised how well she could hang on to such a big bar.

Kale did an awesome job on the zipline. He had never been willing to try on one before. He hung on all the way to the end, and then didn't want to let go!

They got to jump into the foam pit that the gymnasts vault into. They thought that was great, although they had a hard time getting out!

Alana loved the ball pit. Her pigtails didn't survive them nearly as well.

Birthday Party

We had a joint birthday party for Kale and Alana on Saturday. They had all of their favorite friends over to celebrate. We had 11 kids over, (including our own). It was pretty chaotic, but a lot of fun for the kids. I don't know why I bothered cleaning up before the party.

We played pin the tail on the donkey, but the kids were more interested in running around playing, so we took it outside and did the pinata. Very funny to watch them take turns hitting the pinata, although somewhat scary to keep track of everyone when the bat is swinging. I learned that the truck pinata was not the best choice, because it was very hard to break. One of the olders kids hit it open a little, and finally just pulled in open. It worked.

After the pinata, we let the kids run in the yard and play. (of course eating candy all the while) Ten kids trying to share the slide was pretty funny. They did a good job though.

Then it was inside for cake. Kale and Alana were both so excited to pick out the costco cake last week, and of course they didn't really eat it. Kale ate a little bit of the frosting, and Alana had maybe two bites of cake. They just wanted to play with their friends.

Kaleb was so grumpy when everyone left. It was hilarious. He wanted everyone to stay and play. He even did very well sharing his new toys with everyone. I'm not sure he believes me that his birthday is all over for this year, since he has had 5 parties of some sort. Next year we definately need to scale things down!

After Alana's birthday on Saturday, we will be all done with the birthday's for a good while. That will be a welcome relief!

More Birthday

We spent Saturday at Grandpa's house for the annual apple cider press. The kids had a blast running all over the place, and eating a lot of apples.

After we got home that night, we had a combined birthday party for all the October birthdays. Alana has been asking for a princess dress from the store for months. We got her one and she refused to wear it. I finally convinced her to try it on, and this is the result I got. Hmm. Maybe she isnt' as ready for dress-up as she thought. (the dress is going back to the store).

Kaleb got to celebrate his birthday again at preschool. He got to wear a crown all day, and be a special helper. They had a special snack for everyone. He also got to pick out a new book as a gift. Kale is now thinking that everyday is his birthday.

Today we had a pajama day. It has been so busy lately, and we have all been fighting colds. So today we played at home in our pj's all day. It was pretty nice, although the kids were restless by afternoon.