3 Christmas Celebrations!

We had a wonderful 3 days in a row celebrating Christmas with our family.  We started Christmas Eve day at Kory’s aunt and uncles house with the Kath family.  Santa paid a visit to the little ones and much food and drink was had by all.  There are at least 50 people there so it is a flurry of activity.  The kids run around and play and stop occasionally to eat another cookie.  It is a great way to spend the day. 

As you can see, Brennan needed his cousin Chase to be a buffer between him and Santa.  He wasn’t really sure of the big guy!

 

After enjoying our Christmas morning at home, we headed to my parents for the day.  We ate a great lunch, opened presents and got spoiled by grandma and grandpa and Dawn and Jason.  Then kids had a blast playing with all their new toys and watching their new favorite Christmas movie—Santa Paws.  (for those of you who haven't seen it-its cute!)  It is so nice to just relax and enjoy being together, it is something that easily taken for granted even when we don't get to do it enough with everyone's busy lives. 

On the 26th we headed to Kory’s Dad’s house to celebrate with them and His sister and her family.  We all brought some delish snacks and grazed all day.  The kiddos played hard and enjoyed presents AGAIN!  Brennan got more Mickey stuff, Norah some beads for bracelets and perfume from her aunt and uncle.  They were spoiled by papa and nana too.  Later they all cuddled to watch and movie with papa.  It was a great holiday weekend!

  

Thanks so much to EVERYONE for making our Christmas so very Special!

Happy Holidays!

So, is it just me or is it hard to believe that we are already a week into 2011?  The days just fly by with the flurry of activity that every busy household has.  We had such wonderful holidays, celebrating with family and friends.  Christmas was so magical with a 4 year old and 2 year old.  They must have been extra good this year because Santa made all of their dreams come true.  Norah asked for a violin for herself and one for Lanie(her American Girl).  She also wanted matching PJ’s for her and Lanie and a sleeping bag and pillow for Lanie.  Wouldnt you know that Santa brought all of those for her!!!!

Brennan’s answer to what he wanted from santa was “ Mee Mouse!”  aka Mickey Mouse.  The boy is obsessed with him with a capital O!  He thinks they only tv show we should ever watch is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or any Mickey movie. Santa delivered him a Mickey Mouse flashlight that he loves.  You know Mickey is tops with him when he raced to the flashlight even though there was a shiny red and chrome drum set right next to it.  Needless to say, Santa thought we needed some music(mostly off key) in this house. A violin and drums!  If you hear some strange sounds coming from this end of town, I would say it is our toddler band! 

Brennan is Two!

Brennan it two years old!  Can you believe it?!?!?!?  These first two years have gone by so quickly.  Brennan is a total clown, always goofing off and trying to make us all laugh.  As you can imagine, sometimes his “tricks” don’t make his mom laugh all that much.  It is so awesome to get to raise a boy and a girl, we are having a blast!  I love you, little dude!

My Peanut is 4!

I Can’t believe that Norah is 4 years old today!  Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!  You are such a spunky, independent, sassy girl and I love you so much.  The time has flown by and you are becoming such a big girl.  You are the light of your little brother’s eyes, and I love watching you play with him.  Being your mom, we have to have arguments every once in a while, and there will be many more to come(especially in your teens), but never forget how much I love you and that you and your brother are my world.  Happy Birthday!

Busy

According to the Webster’s Dictionary the definition of busy is:

a : engaged in action : occupied b : being in use <found the telephone busy>

2

: full of activity : bustling <a busy seaport>

3

: foolishly or intrusively active : meddling

4

: full of distracting detail <a busy design>

 

I say RIGHT ON!

If there was a word to describe busier than busy I think the definition would be: The Kath Family

We are just 3 weeks from the election which means that Kory is working like crazy!  Teaching, campaigning, traveling to St.Paul writing legislation for the flood relief for our area …busy.

I take on all of the household duties, child duties, errands and work full time to keep things semi-normal for the kids, but on top of this I am on JURY DUTY!  What are the odds that the first time I called in on Oct 1st my number was listed to report to the courthouse last Monday.  Wouldn't you know it I was chosen to sit on the jury to hear the case.  So you can only imagine what it was like to reschedule all the appointments I had for the days of the trial.  My days were spent at the courthouse and then I went to work to get customers in each evening…busy

Here is a shout out to all of our family and daycare mom who helped us last week, we couldn't make it without you!  PS, We may need you again real soon!

I promise the next time I get a spare minute I will blog a bit more…just wanted you all to know I have not forgotten you!

Water park Weekend

For Labor Day weekend we headed to the Holiday Inn in Lakeville on Saturday afternoon. We went with some friends of ours and their 3 kids.  We decided to get poolside rooms and it was great. The indoor water park was perfect for the age of our kids.  We spent many hours in the pool Saturday afternoon, then again after supper and of course on Sunday before check out.  It was so nice going with another family.  We sat and chatted and all went to dinner together at the restaurant attached to the hotel(that was slightly crazy with my crabby son and their hungry six week old).  The restaurant is Rudy’s Redeye Grill and we had been there once before…it is delicious!  The kiddos ate for free because we were staying at the hotel and you should have seen the size of their meals! They were huge!  I was so eager to get out of town for some fun and this was the ticket! It was a great way to end summer break and head into the school year.  Kory was ready to get back to the classroom and school routine.  We will have a super busy fall with the election again in November, so one last weekend getaway was awesome!

View Full Album

1st Day of Preschool

Some moments I am still shocked that Norah is old enough to be in preschool.  The years go by so fast!  She is growing up before our eyes.  This little  girl is strong willed, independent, sassy(good & bad), smart, a great helper and a SUPER big sister.  We have some trying moments…no way will she wear anything but flip-flops…but most of the time she is busy playing with Brennan making him giggle and giggle.  I cant help but smile thinking of what fun she is.  She was more than ready to head to preschool.  She started Aug 31st and will go three mornings a week to Montessori Children’s House.   The first week was just for the 1st year kids to get to know the teachers and the routine.  She had a blast!  She was up in the 5 o’clock hour each morning asking if it was time to go yet.  Luckily for us, that did not continue this week! I am super excited to watch her grow and learn this year!

Yep, that’s a princess backpack with a “skirt” on it!  Guess who picked it out?!?!?

Dancing Queen

Norah started dance class again this year at Jill Hoggard’s.  Last year her and I danced in the U&Me class and we had a blast. This time around Norah was for sure ready to dance on her own.  She is in the creative dance class on Monday nights.  It was fun to sit outside and watch on the TV at the “dancing” all the 3-4 year olds were doing.  I cant wait to see the recital! 

Cheerleading Camp

Norah went to the Owatonna Youth Cheerleading camp on Tuesday night.  It is supposed to be for K-8 Graders, but she knows one of the High School cheerleaders very well and so she was able to go.  Norah is outgoing and I knew she would love it!  It was for 2 hours and I dropped her off and stayed away for about 1 hour and 20 mins.  Brennan and I went and sat on the bleachers to watch the rest.  It was so cute and she had a blast!  The girls will get to perform at halftime for a varsity football game in a couple weeks.  She probably wont remember much, but oh well.

SCFF

Another year of the Steele County Free Fair has come and went.  We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly once again.  Shout out to Grandma Judy and Papa Kevin for getting the Kids Mega Ride wristbands again this year.  With the wristbands the kids can ride all week long, all day everyday if they wanted to(or if mom could handle that, not so for my kids).  Both the kids did their bands justice!  We rode rides everyday but Wednesday.  The longest day was Saturday when we met Wendy and her two girls Macy and Jorey to hit the midway.  The only disappointment was that it was about 90 degrees and 90% humidity.  I am not sure if I have ever sweat that much before, but those kids just kept going.  It was a blast, and we all slept hard that night.  Kory works tons of hours at the fair meeting people in the 4 seasons center for the upcoming election, but he managed to sneak away a couple times to watch the kids on rides or get some greasy food.  It is fun and exhausting but we look forward to it every year!  The kids got to stay with Auntie Dawn on Wednesday night while I worked and she was brave enough to take them and her two all to the fair.  My parents meet up with her there for some food and riding the real ponies.  It was the first year Norah was brave enough do ride them…Brennan wasn't into it yet this year.  He was so excited seeing them and even said he wanted to ride, but would never extend is legs when it came time to get on the saddle.  Maybe next year.  PS I don't have may pics—to busy trying to wrangle two crazy kids!

Flip-Flop Cookies

When I saw the recipe for these cookies in Family Fun magazine, I knew Norah would love to make them!  They were not tough at all, and turned out so cute.  Norah loves to frost anything, cookies, cupcakes, whatever it may be.  We just had to frost Vienna fingers sandwich cookies, then I cut sour gummy worms almost all the way to the end, then stick them on like straps.  So cute and easy.   We crushed graham crackers and put them on like ‘sand’ to give away.  Fun!

Tea Party

Norah was invited to her friends house for a tea party.  They are our neighbors in the backyard, and Abbey is just 6 months younger than Norah.  The invitation said she should were her favorite Dress up dress, so we borrowed a fancy Cinderella dress from her cousin Olivia.  Brennan was lucky enough to go with an be the only prince in a castle full of princesses.  The girls had a blast coloring, eating tiny cookies, drinking ‘tea’(juice), then having lunch. Abbey’s mom did such cute things to make it so fun for the girls.  She cut their sandwiches with heart and star cookie cutters and made them ‘parfaits’ for dessert.  It was very fun and I admired Abbey’s mom for having so many girls over!