Go Hawks!

We always support the Hawks...  win or lose.  Even an ugly loss.  The Bowl game was a loss, but the basketball team had a win today.  

Kayson was cheering on for the football team - uniform and all!  (a Christmas gift from Taylor Grandparents).

Hut Hut Hike!

Daddy had to try the helmet on!  ahha.

The full uniform!!  - even has a chin-strap, but he wouldn't wear that!

Christmas

Of course we had a nice Christmas.  Of course we were all spoiled too.  Especially Kayson.  WOW.  3 days later, we are still trying to figure out where the heck we'll put all these toys!  The toy box is no longer an option...  actually, that hasn't been an option for several months!  We are talking about getting some sort of storage unit/toy area to put downstairs...  I sure hope we can get that accomplished soon.

We spent Friday and Saturday with my family in Clarion...  we actually only got to see my sisters and their families for a short time Friday night...  then Christmas morning we were able to be at home with Kayson.  That was nice...  he played hard for a couple hours, then we headed to Creston and stayed til Monday afternoon. 

Here are some pictures from the weekend...  as you can see, Kayson did well and had fun!

Yes, 90% of those gifts were for Kayson.

Big Bird puppet!

Nerf Gun...  yes...  ha.  it's fun!

The vacuum he's wanted for months!

More big boy underware!

Table & Chairs for his room!

My son is 3

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, smart, ornery, caring, funny son, Kayson...  on Christmas Day.  (I'm a little late).  We weren't around our computer...

I can't believe he's 3...  we've been talking about him being THREE for several weeks now, especially with his birthday party last week, it does seem to just 'go by' and happen too fast.  When I look at him now, rocking with Ryan and looking at one of his several new toys, I'm amazed.  I'm simply amazed that we have a 3 year old.  He challenges us every day...  every.single.day.  As Baby Center says - "Having a 3-year-old can make you proud and completely nuts all at the same time."  RIGHT ON.  But with all of those challenges, I love this little boy with all my heart.  A hug and his smile can make an entire difference in my day.  He's perfect.  

Happy 3rd birthday to Kayson Michael!!!

Volunteer & Lights

Today was the start of my "Christmas Break"...  simply meaning, I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday of next week.  I'm thrilled!

Today I spent the day... entire day volunteering at Valley West Mall.  My good friend, Colleen, has been wrapping gifts at the mall for 7 years now with 4 of her other friends...  this year, they invited me along.  We started at 8 am, and 'wrapped up' at 5 pm...  leaving more wrapping for the next group of volunteers.  I'm not going to lie... it was a long day, however, knowing we were doing this for charity, made it all worth the while.  99% of the people were very thankful for our wrapping abilities and making their gifts look so nice.  We had a good time...  catching up with each other, snacking a little, and some of the girls finished their own shopping!  I will definitely be doing this again next year!  I'm so glad I was asked to join!  :)

Tonight we decided to go the Jolly Holiday Lights at Water Works Park.  First - what a HUGE park!  I had no idea that curved and went around THAT far!  It was very neat...  next time we'll let Kayson just sit on my lap so he can see just a little bit better...  but we think he got the jist of it!  

Tomorrow Ryan and I will be hanging out and doing some random things...  then we'll head up to Clarion to see my family for Christmas... back here Christmas Eve night so we can wake up Christmas morning here.  Then on to Creston Christmas Day afternoon through Monday.  Busy - but looking forward to it.  Pictures and more to come!  

Happy Holidays to all our friends and families!

Taylor Christmas

Here are some photos from the Taylor Christmas!

Duke & Kayson were BUDDIES all day!

Lots of Family pictures!

Cousins!

Opening gifts --- Alphie - what a great gift!

3rd Birthday Party

Yesterday, Sunday, we held Kayson's 3rd Birthday Party!  We had a crabby boy to start off the day, but we knew this would happen going in to Sunday...  the day before, Saturday, we spent all day in Creston for the Taylor Family Christmas.  (Pictures in the next post) We had such a great time... hanging out, playing and eating lots!  Kayson played hard, I mean H.A.R.D for pretty much 10 hours straight!!  And we were feeling it by Sunday morning!  He honestly did great, but just gets 'off' and super crabby when this happens.  After a pretty good nights sleep, it was time for the party.  My family and then Ryan's immediate family joined us for food, cake and gifts... and more playing.  Kayson got some wonderful gifts, as always...  he's a very blessed child. 
A short nap was taken late in the afternoon... even Ryan and I layed down.  Man, a party wears me out!  Then more playing and early to bed to TRY to get Kayson back on track.  I sure hope he wasn't a bear at daycare today!  :) 

Here are some great photos of our little boys birthday party.  

a VERY cool Bulldozer!

Loves his new Baseball Trainer

Easel!  Loves to draw circles!

Happy Birthday to you Kayson!

Santa!

Our beautiful son was brave and sat on Santa's lap Thursday night.  He was so excited beforehand - talking about Santa's big buckle and what he was going to tell him... 

We stood in line for what seemed like forever, he did pretty well - antsy like any almost 3 year old, but good.  Santa even came around and talked to us for a short bit - Kayson gave him HI-5 too!  Then we waited a little longer, and when we got to be 'next.in.line', Kayson thought throwing himself to the floor would be fun.  NOT.  He did it though - he was brave and gave his fake smile and all.  I'm very proud of him - even with all of those emotions.  :)

Happy Holidays!

Wow... Another week

Another week has passed... really?  I used to get on this laptop every night (I know it's been 'out of order' for a couple days, but still!!!)  I guess with the holidays around the corner, there's not much time to just sit and catch up on emails and blogging.  We've had some pretty 'calm' and not busy weekends lately, but for some reason that still doesn't mean that I've gotten much done.  I'm marking that up to laziness.  So then now I'm panicking.  :)  Lovely. 

I can say now, though, we are 99% done with our Christmas shopping.  We have one more gift to get and that's gonna get done THIS WEEK!  I've got probably 50% of the gifts wrapped and under the tree, the rest of the gifts should be shipped to us by the end of this week.  Next year, I am making a vow to NOT PROCRASTINATE like this... I don't like it.  ha.  

Kayson is good... he's almost 3... and he's busy.  He's a challenge more than not lately, but that's just the way it goes, I think!  (Or at least, that's what we have decided!)  Meltdowns are very VERY common in our house...  most of the time they are quite embarrassing, if we were to have company over!  ha.  But again, I guess we are dealing just fine with these.  :)  We still love him and he still loves us... even when he tells us to "Go away!"  Let's go back to the fact that he's almost 3.  3 years ago I was uncomfortable and a nervous wreck!  I just can't believe it!!  Time just flies by!!  

Here are a few recent pics.  Can you see the ornery in his eyes?!

We put 'window-clings' up...  such fun!

This week we'll be prepping for Kayson's birthday party next Sunday.  Bring on the busyness!  :)

Our Weekend

Well...  where should I start.  Our weekend started out ok...  Saturday morning was a quick hair cut for Mr. Kayson, which he did great... then we headed up to Boone to ride the Santa Express.  It was raining and cold Saturday morning (no snow here), and so therefore, it was pretty darn cold in that train car too!  Brr!  Kayson had a good time...  a Christmas story was read, we had hot chocolate and a cookie AND to top it off, we went to the North Pole and Santa was there!  Santa gave Kayson (and all the other little boys and girls) a silver bell to ring.  Kayson did really well - Santa surprised us, but it was really quick and he smiled at him and even said "Thank you"!  That was more than I thought it would do, I was thrilled - that definately brought a smile to my face.

There's Santa!!!  YEA!

Saturday evening we stayed at home...  (we actually were home the entire weekend, which was good).  This is where the weekend kind of went sour...  We were all playing and Kayson wanted to look at our iPod (we have some Apps on there that he plays with).  Well he wanted to sit on my lap and we were listening to some songs and he was being goofy (bouncing around and bopping his head all around too)... and then his head came back HARD into my left eye.  Instantly...  I had collapsed to the ground crying hard...  holding my eye.  I couldn't really concentrate on anything else by myself (which stinks, but good thing Ryan was home)...  Ryan looked over Kayson as he was crying hard too...  and then it was time to look at me.  My eye was instantly swollen and my head was pounding.  I applied ice for a long while... and just waited...  within an hour, I had a small purple mark directly under my eye.  We just kept watching it...  then Sunday morning arrived --- and it was 10 times worse...  my entire left eye (under) was dark, DARK purple and still swollen.  OMG. 

With no make up at all...  embarrassing

So that was the start of our Sunday...  me = crabby!!!  ha.  Then the domino effect happened.  Kayson woke up crabby and continued to be an absolute bear Sunday...  man, he should have probably stayed in bed!  It was a not fun morning with him...  AND THEN - we realized that our computer got two big viruses!  Another OMG.  I feel like we've had nothing but bad luck with computers/technology lately...  it makes me so frustrated, sad and angry too.  Ryan's going to have it looked at by a tech guy this week...  it just stinks.

After a much needed nap from Kayson, Sunday evening turned much better.  Blair, Martina & Tate came over to get their family picture taken, and then we ordered pizza and played.  It was a good visit...  and the boys had fun together.  Martina and I have decided though, we need to have some adult time, because we don't really get much talking in because we are tending to the kids or Kayson is just talking non-stop!  ha.  :) 

Here's to the start of a new week...  black eye and all!  :)

This & That

• I think I have a cold...  or at least the start of one...  flemmy cough, runny nose... and exhausted.  Knocking that up to a cold.  Boohoo.
• It's Friday - Thank god!  This coming weekend is a 'free' weekend for us...  then it's busy busy and Christmas' will be starting.  I've got to make a point to get to the mall sometime this weekend!
• Kayson and Hawkeye, the Elf, are doing well...  Kayson talks to Hawkeye a little - tells him 'Good morning', tells him 'Good bye'...  and a couple times has told him that he still wants a vacuum for Christmas.  (Yes, a vacuum!)  ... and he will be getting one from Grandma Cheryl (or Santa)!  :)
• The cold weather was a little shock to me yesterday - brrr!  I know it's Iowa, I know it's December, but not.mentally.ready!  We are supposed to get a bunch of snow tomorrow - which I'm actually not dreading... simply because we plan on being around home...  and it is always nice to SEE the snow from inside! 
• We do plan on taking Kayson to ride the "Santa Express" at the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad Saturday morning...  we rode the "Thomas" one last summer and it was a hit, so I'm hoping the same for this ride...  Pictures to come I'm sure!  :)
• My coworker and dear, dear friend has gotten a new job (here at PFG), but she won't be here with me every single workday...  while I'm very happy for her, I'm also being a tad selfish and know that I will miss seeing her every day...  Workouts and lunches are a must to keep us in touch!  :)