Visit to the North Pole

Mimi and Papa came to visit us at the end of June.  We got the visit off on the right foot by heading up to The North Pole near Cascade, Colorado (just to the west of Colorado Springs).  The North Pole is essentially a Christmas-themed amusement park targeted for kids between the ages of 2 and 8, so Kara and Emily were definitely in the target audience.

As we were walking into the park, Santa and Mrs. Claus were there to greet the guests, which Kara thought was awesome.  From there, we hit some of the rides.  Kara was big enough to ride almost all of the rides (most of them without an adult), so she had a great time running from ride to ride.  Emily thought the rides looked great from the side, but quickly changed her mind once she got on some of them.  She did eventually do some rides with Kara and had a great time.

The coolest part (literally) was The North Pole, which was a pole covered in ice.  That was really neat to check out on a hot day.  In addition, we got to sit down with Santa and talk with him at his little cottage.  It took Emily a couple of visits until she warmed up to Santa (though she never would sit on his lap), but Kara jumped right up there and started telling all about superheroes (it was a little too far until Christmas for her to be prepared).

All in all, it was a really fun day (though a little hot).  Definitely a place we'll have to visit again!

Link to pictures

Christmas 2012

Christmas here in Colorado was very merry this year!  It snowed a couple inches Christmas Eve, so it was a white one too!

The festivities started on the 23rd when Mommy was surprised to find Mimi and Papa H. walking through the door!  Daddy (and everyone else in the family) managed to keep their trip a secret, so that was quite a shocking/happy gift that Mommy received.  Kara was also very surprised to see them and asked if the baby was coming too - Mommy kept telling her that she wouldn't see Mimi again until the baby came...guess she has a pretty good memory these days!

Grandma S., Grandpa S., Aunt Amy, and GG K. came on Christmas morning to spend day the with Kara.  Most of the morning was spent watching Kara tear through her presents and trying to stop her from opening everyone else's gifts!  There were a couple of breaks taken to eat breakfast and play a new game here and there.  Kara got board games (Hi Ho Cherry-O was her favorite), books, DVDs, jewelry, and even a LeapPad!

Santa brought the jack-in-the-box that Kara wanted so badly, and she did play with it happily for the morning.  Then she decided she didn't like it and that it was scary.  Sigh...  Kara also got a turtle that projects stars on her ceiling at night.  She's in love with it.  Now if only she'd go to sleep with the turtle in her room....

We also had a couple friends join us for the afternoon and dinner that night.  Kara really enjoyed all the extra playmates that day. Our little house was full and hopefully everyone had a good time.  We sure did!

Link to pictures

Kara's 3!

About three days after we got back home from Disney World, Kara had her 3rd birthday! Since we had just gotten back from an eventful trip (and Thanksgiving was two days away), we just had a cake at home.  Kara seemed perfectly happy. :)

She has been playing pretend more and more.  She really enjoys playing the princess and having Mommy and Daddy be a beast, tiger, Prince Charming, etc.  The playing usually involves dancing, "dinner", and chasing her around.  It's fun to watch the wheels turn in her little head, but it does wear Mommy out by the end of the day!

Also, she has recently acquired an imaginary friend!  She has a mouse that keeps her company at night. She was telling Daddy she was throwing "millions of apple chips" at the mouse, and she told Mommy that the mouse had a cold and needed help blowing his nose.  Kara is also into exaggeration these days.  Here are some recent quotes:
 - "I'm making eggs and toast.  The best dinner in the world!"
 - "I'm the best dancer in the world!"
 - "I'm the fastest runner in the whole world!"

It's all pretty cute.

Link to pictures

Expecting Baby #2!

We are happy to announce that Kara will soon be a big sister! Baby #2 is scheduled to join our family on February 25th, 2013!  Kara is very excited for the new addition.

In other news, Kara is becoming more independent. She has started her first non-parent class.  For two days a week, she spends an hour playing games and singing songs at a class called Twoodles at the local Rec Center.  She's also started her first non-parent swim class, which is going really well so far.

Bedtime has become quite the ordeal lately.  For about a year there, Mommy or Daddy would read Kara a book or two and lay her down, and that would be the last we'd hear from her all night.  Well, these days, we still read the book, but now we have to sing her songs and then Kara will come out of her room about 5 times before she finally settles down.  Mommy and Daddy are hoping she grows out of this phase soon!

Kara Quotes:
- "Good night, go sleep in your bed and I'll sleep in mine.  Dream about being a bat flying in the nighttime sky.  Bye-bye!"  8/20/12

And she's come up with a lot of variations on the "Dream about..." theme
"Dream about cookies!"
"Dream about working!"
"Dream about making cupcakes for Santa!"
"Dream about butterflies!"

Holiday fun

Kara spent Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa S.'s house.  Grandma and Grandpa had all their Christmas decorations out. Kara particularly enjoyed playing with Grandma's Hallmark singing snowman. We showed Kara how to push the button and make them sing. She couldn't get enough of it!

Kara had her one-year check-up with her doctor the week after her birthday. Our girl is very long and lean. Basically, Kara is always on the move - walking around and climbing on everything.

Grandpa H. had a meeting in Colorado Springs last week and was able come visit us for a day.  He had a good time hanging out with Kara and enjoyed playing with her in the park. After dinner, we tried to hang out downtown to see the Parade of Lights.  Unfortunately, the parade didn't start when they were supposed to (at 6:00), and we had to leave without seeing them to get Kara home in time for bedtime.

Tonight, we went to "Dessert and a Story with Santa" at the Louisville Rec Center. Um, we're going to put that in the category of "It seemed like a good idea at the time." They had some temporary tattoos, cookies, and hot chocolate. We tried to get a tattoo on Kara's cheek, but that didn't work out too well. Kara did nibble on a couple of cookies. She also sat pretty still for Santa while he read "The Night Before Christmas". She was even fairly patient while we waited in line to sit on Santa's lap; however, the actual visit with Santa did not go well. Kara sat there for about two seconds before tears started rolling down her cheeks and she started crying. We'll have to try that again next year...

Link to pictures