If your family needs a new tradition for the holidays, you have to get an "Elf on the Shelf"! Our elf's name is Georgie (Laela named him last year) and he will be here in the morning when Laela wakes up! I love this little guy because he "reports" to Santa every night, so Laela really tries to be on her best behavior from here on out. We read the book tonight before bed and Georgie will be here in the morning. He has already taken his place for the night. Did you see him in the top left corner? We have seen some great "elf hiding spots" and I can't wait for Laela to find him each morning!

Disney on Ice!!!

Yes! That is right. We went to Disney on Ice today! We actually got the tickets for Madelynn's birthday. She loves Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and any princess or fairy! So...just Ro, Laela, Madelynn and I enjoyed all of the wonderful characters as they ice skated and sang. WOW! We are such suckers! We didn't even make it 10 feet into the building before we bought the girls a micket and minnie doll. (It is so funny because Laela picked Mickey and Madelyyn picked MInnie. Then Laela picked blue cotton candy while Madelynn picked pink. Laela wore her black boots while Madelynn was wearing brown. Opposite kinda gilrs, but they are such great friends! (On the way in, Laela said..."Madelynn, you are my best friend." So sweet! I would say that Tinkerbell was both of the girl's favorite. Hands down. We sang and danced, ate cotton candy, and just smiled for 2 hours! These girls were happy, happy and I am so glad that we could share that time together!

Sleep, sleep, sleep...YEA!

Dhillon (and Mommy and Daddy) had an awesome night! Ro put him down at 9:30 and he slept until 5:00 this morning!!!WOOHOO! We didn't even know what to do with ourselves when we woke up and saw the clock, but Dhillon...he was one happy baby! :) Seriously, he smiled a TON today. I love it! (Now he probably won't sleep at all tonight because I bragged about him, but that is a risk I will take so I can tell everyone how proud we are!)Talking about sleep, Laela is having her first cousin sleepover tonight. We headed over to Mikaila and Makenzi's house right after school and she was so excited! I am sure she will have a blast! Last thing for today...Laela and Ro have started going to the Donut Shop on Wednesday mornings. Awesome tradition and I got to be a part of it a couple weeks while I was home with Dhillon. Well, today was my last Donut Wednesday for awhile, as I am starting back to work on Monday; however, we had a blast today! Laela and I ordered extra donut holes and a kool-aid drink, talked about our plans for the day, and even did a little people watching. WOW! I am sooooooooooo going to miss this part of being at home, but Laela will continue to love eating donuts with daddy!

Cuttin' it up!

You go Laela! Seriously...this girl can cut! She is using real, big girl scissors and rockin' it. When I taught Kindergarten, there were 5 and 6 year olds that could not cut like my 3 year old. YEA!
Way to go girl!Oh...don't forget about Dhillon. He can take out a bottle like no other! :)

Turkey Time...

On Friday, Laela's school had their own little turkey trot. They also mentioned on the original email that there would be a little turkey costume contest. Hmmm....sounds like a little creative competition for mommy! Yea! Quickly, I got to work and created these...And of course Laela looked like the best turkey there!One of her teachers put on her turkey trot number.Then they lined up to race! Ro and I were very proud of our little turkey!
Special thanks to Aunt Karri, Mikaila, and Makenzi for coming to cheer on Laela at the turkey trot. They never had the "contest" part to see who was the best dressed turkey, but we know who would have won! :)

7 weeks!

Happy Friday and happy 7 weeks to our big guy, Dhillon! Dhillon is an awesome little brother and he is such a good, sweet baby. I truly enjoy being with him day and night.I love how Dhillon is so serious. Sometimes he looks like this for awhile and I don't know if he is trying to figure out how it works, how to get to it, or if he just needs to poo. (HA! Just kidding!) We have been putting him down about 9:00 and he wakes up about 2:30 and 5:30. Not too bad! We will just need to figure out our routine when I return back to work. :( Oh! Of course I have to brag on Laela too. We had a parent/teacher conference this week and her teacher said she is awesome! She is learning new things everyday, and she is a hard-worker. Sounds like she really likes to please her teacher and always be on her best behavior. YEA! Funny little note: The teacher said she knows when and when not to talk and she uses an appropriate volume level in the classroom. Well...except during music time! Laela apparently likes to just belt it out! :) Too funny because she likes to sing with us around and kinda be a little actress, but never would she do that with others around. WELL...so we thought! :) I love that girl! She is so fantastic!

Random happenings...

Friday was game night at our house and let me tell you...Laela LOVES Hi Ho, Cherry-o! Ro and I have really enjoyed sitting down and taking time to "play" with her this weekend. So much fun! We have played that game at least 3 times each night. Overall, Laela is an awesome game player. She does great with taking turns, counting, and helping others with their turn! She is still working on only spinning once and accepting that first spin; however, she is very sneaky about it. :) Lately, Laela LOVES to practice her letters. She reads letters when we are going down the street or just sitting at home. This weekend she was practicing writing them and she was so EXCITED about it. She makes my heart shine when she shows so much excitement for learning!!!Just a cute picture of my handsome 6 week old. He is moving his head around like crazy, eating, straightening his legs to try to stand, eating, SMILING a ton, eating, blowing bubbles, eating, and just being an awesome little guy! Another great accomplishment that Dhillon is working on...sleeping in his crib. No, we are not sleeping in there at night yet, but we are working on nap time. Last week he did AWESOME just playing quietly and eventually taking a nap in his crib. I had to snap this picture of him sleeping. So peaceful, yet so serious! Finally, stay tuned to see what happens with these...

Happy Sunday!

In this house...we will be wearing black and gold on Sunday!Go Saints!
Love,
Ro

Prayers needed...

This is not a "normal" post for me. Typically I am writing about Laela's funny, creative, loving self or Dhillon and his latest accomplishment or something that we have done as a family or something that I created. Today I am using my blog to ask for your prayers.

Lynn Bennie (pictured above with Laela and his granddaughter, Madelynn) has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and possible lung cancer. Lynn is so special to me because he is Brooke's dad. Brooke and I have been friends since we were babies (literally...we met in daycare!). Lynn, Barbara, and Brooke are like my second family. We have always been together to celebrate important times in our lives. Now we need to come together to help Lynn overcome this health concern. He is one of the strongest, bull-headed men that I know. We all love him for this! He is a man of God and I know that he will be led in the right direction (whatever that direction may be). Please pray that this becomes a LONG, healthy, painless battle...as he has too much of his life to live! Madelynn and Cole need him. Barbara needs him. Brooke needs him. The kids at Parkland need him, as he "is" Santa on Christmas. I need him.

Please let this post serve as a reminder to live life to the fullest, as you never know what tomorrow will bring. Be thankful for your loved ones and show them how thankful you are each day. Take time to "smell the roses" with your loved ones, even if that means you will lose 5 extra minutes of sleep that evening. Please. Pray for Lynn and his family as they learn more about this disease and how they can come together as a family to stay strong.

Love always,
Kelli

Just hangin'

So...Dhillon and I are on our home stretch with our 8 week stay at home. We have 3 weeks left. I have really mixed emotions about this. I love my job. I love the kids and I love what I do. BUT I am not looking forward to going back. I really like what I have right now and I could get used to this. :) Dhillon is an awesome baby! He is such a schedule kinda guy, who loves to eat! He has so many SERIOUS faces and he loves to hold my finger or make a fist (ready to duke it out at any moment). I think Dhillon is going to be a lover of many things, on-time to his many events, excellent daddy helper, and phenomenal brother and son.