Our Little Ones: January 2011

Happy 2011! The Price family got to go to my dad's house and enjoy some crab legs with my family and some friends on New Year's Day, and on the Eve of New Year's, we spent some time with our good friends, the Bewleys, and their boys. We sure like to live it up around here! I'm too old anymore to stay out past midnight, and by the time I went to sleep, around 11:00, it was 2011 somewhere, so good enough.

Every day I am reminded of how blessed I am to have this sweet family and my two adorable girls. They love each other so much and Brooklyn will listen to Kami better than she will listen to anyone else (other than Grandpa-he holds a special place in that girl's heart). She can be quite the turd and is now starting to "run," which means she can run away from me when I'm trying to get her to stop doing something or if it's bed time. She giggles the entire time she's doing it, and I often end up giggling with her. Kami and Brooklyn also love taking their baths together and even though I end up cleaning up tons of water from around the tub, it's worth it to hear Kami say, "Watch this Brooky-pie!" and then to hear Brooklyn scream in delight. Kami is maturing more and more each day. She can write all her numbers, knows how to write her name, and is becoming more familiar with the letters and their sounds. She is constantly cracking us up and amazes us with her insight. One night, she wanted something warmed up in the microwave, and she asked me to put it in the time machine. I wasn't quite sure what she meant, so she clarified, "You know mama, the time machine that makes things cool down. I mean warm up. Up there!" It's funny to figure out her train of thought and her point of view.

Enjoy the pictures!

For some reason, Brooklyn will fight sleep in the car. Kami was the opposite (as are most children) and will fall asleep in the car in about 2.5 seconds. This is one of the rare moments she actually fell asleep in her car seat, and she's so darn cute, that I had to take a picture.

These two love to push each other around in Kami's strollers. Come on Brooklyn! Put your back into it!

What a good little helper girl!

The reason I had children: slave labor.

She's a pretty happy kid!

And this one's a pretty tired kid.

I'm glad bath crayons are non-toxic, because this girl eats a lot of them.

Kami loves cupcakes!

Again, she actually fell asleep in the car! Look at that cute little mouth!

This girl only needs two things: Tylenol and cupcakes.

Kami's quite the fashion icon around here. Don't you love the juxtaposition of her pajamas and Batgirl costume? I'm also diggin' the mismatched slippers. Dork.

Brooklyn loves big sister's stuff!

She always looks like she's up to something, which she usually is.

She REALLY wants these cookies, which I'm sure she needs after eating a donut...

Blueberries and blackberries do a wonder on her skin! They keep her face looking baby-soft. Surprisingly, she cleaned up pretty easily. I was worried that she'd have a purple-stained face for a week after this.

This kid is definitely my daughter. She loves her donuts! Who doesn't?

Yes, I know I'm late, but I'm sure you expected blog-tardiness by now. But now that I'm officially an adult and in my 30's, I will try to be more consistent with these. Scout's honor! Anyways, a lot to cover in this blog with Christmas and Kami's fourth birthday, so on with it!

Christmas was good to us this year. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and I made clam chowder. It's our tradition (along with crab on New Year's Eve), and I've tried to keep true to those, even with my mom being gone. The clam chowder might be different (heck, it might be different every year), but we still get together and break bread (sourdough) and enjoy our growing family. We then spent the night at my dad's house and had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of Dutch oven surprise (thanks to my dad, the early riser) and monkey bread. After opening presents and cleaning up, we played a little Kinect Sports (where Garrett TKO'd me in boxing) and ate a fantastic roast, courtesy of Nick and his smoker. Our family of four did our own Christmas day on the 26th where Santa brought Kami a bike and Brooklyn and zebra ride-on thing, because Santa couldn't think of what Brooklyn wanted for Christmas. Plus, she screamed when she sat on his lap, so he might not have gotten any good ideas. We then had Kami's birthday a few days later and went to Chuck E Cheese and let her play whatever game she wanted to, then off to my dad's house for pizza and a Spongebob ice cream cake.

The holidays were nice and peaceful and we all got to enjoy some time off. It was a time of reflection and thanksgiving (even if it's a month late) for us. We are grateful for our family and friends who bring joy to our hearts. We are grateful for our two beautiful girls, who make us smile (and sometimes grimace). We are grateful for each other and even though we've been together over a decade, we still love each other and make each other laugh, even if it's in the stupid things (Garrett...). Although I sometimes lose sight of these when life gets hectic and work bogs me down, it's always nice to have these in the back of my mind and for me to realize that I've got it pretty good and have been blessed with so much. We hope that the holidays were a blessing to you and yours and here's to 2011!

Not really sure what to do with this...

Aren't they cute?

Jonah checking everything out.

The story behind the popcorn popper (which is actually Jonah's gift): last year, Nick and Patsy got Kami a Snow White cleaning set, and the broom plays an awful, annoying song. Brooklyn has now found that button, and we hear that song a million times a day. Yes, we could take the batteries out, but that requires effort. So this year was payback, and we knew the of the perfect toy. I hope that this popcorn popper bring years of noise to Nick and Patsy's ears. And that, my friends, is the true meaning of Christmas.

Kami was pretty excited about her new unicorn pillow pet!

Being oh so gentle.

Brooklyn needed Grandpa's help with this one. She's such a Grandpa's girl, and Grandpa loves it!

Reading her new colors book.

Jonah did a fantastic job opening presents!

Opening some new puzzles from Grandpa.

Uncle Nick enjoys using duct tape. Luckily, Kami was available to help.

She also wanted to help Uncle Nick.

I love how Brooklyn has wormed her way into Aunt Patsy's lap and Jonah's trying to keep her away from his toy.

Grandpa helping Kami with one of her new puzzles.

Grandpa should have been a professional.

Hanging out in the TV cabinet.

Kami modeling her new backpack and hairstyle. Hair compliments of Grandpa.

Quite the haul this year.

I was trying to get a picture of these two in front of their Santa gifts, but Brooklyn obviously wasn't playing.

Brooklyn really wasn't interested in opening her presents, but Kami was happy to help. Kami opened every single present this year. Probably not going to get away with that after this.

What do you have in there?

Checking out her new pillow pet.

This $2 lizard stole the show this year (except for the bike). Even Brooklyn tried stealing it a few times. We should have just gotten ten of those things.

Pretty happy about her princess art set from Grandma and Papa. We've hauled this thing around with us quite a bit and Kami will sit there and draw or paint for about an hour. It's fantastic!