Happy Birthday Day Pretty Girl...

Baby Alyssa turned one on Christmas day this year!! Her Birthday party is actually going to be on her Baptism Day every year so she still gets to celebrate despite the Christmas chaos...we were all set to go to the party and of course had a few hiccups along the way. Both Kinley and Kale have spent close to a week and a half sick with one thing or another, mommy had jury duty and ended up being picked and had to miss a lot of school. We are so sad we did not get to join the fun, but loved getting these sweet pictures of the Birthday Beauty! We love you Baby Girl and will see you soon. Hope you like your pretty pink horse!

Brother, Oh Brother.....

I have to tell you this little guy is pretty funny. I feel like he does not get many posts of his own yet, but this is post worthy!!! Last weekend we got home from church and the kids were eating lunch. I was switching out the laundry and Brandon had gone for a run. I went into the kitchen and Kale was just violently shaking his nose and pointing to it...Raisin Mommy. I said where is the raisin...K: Raisin, nose mommy. Brandon walked in as I was lying him down to check it out. We called Aunt Scotti and she said if we couldn't get it out we needed to take him in. With that, to Acute Care Kids he went....hope he learned his lesson! What a boy right?

Weekly Update...

Here are some pictures from our week. My girlfriend, Julie has always let Avery use her older camera to take pictures and said she LOVES it. Well, Kinley discovered ours this past weekend and started exploring. She loved it so much she ran the battery down. She had a picture of almost every inch of our house. I think I know what she might need soon:). I have included her best shots of us. She even had to get one of herself. I also put pictures from our Monday playdate at the mall play place. Please remind me next time I want to go there to get out of the house, that every Mom is thinking that! Someone in my house ALWAYS ends up sick a couple of days later:(. It made for a really short week at work! We did have a great time though. I also included a picture of our fun "girls night" baby shower for Felicia last night! We cannot wait to meet Baby Kade....

St. John's....

I love this picture for so many reasons...it is the alter where I was confirmed as a little girl, where I played handbells in front of, where I married my best friend, and where a rose has sat when each of my children have been born. Dandy and Popi added some beautiful color to it last weekend in honor of their grandchildren. Just another great memory for me. Thank you for loving your grandbabies the way you do. They sure love you.

Happy Birthday Girlys...

Dear Mimi and Aunt Sis,

We hope you had a fantastic Birthday this past week. I wanted to put these pics because if any two people should have had warmer Birthdays, it should have been you girls. I also picked them because I hope you felt surrounded by love on your special day. Your family loves you so much. Here is to a blessed year of new life. Misses.

Us Lairsens:)

Kin and the Dentist...

I know, I know my child should have been to the Dentist quite some time ago, but long story short...she made it, teeth look great, she has all 20! I was soooo very proud of her at the Dentist. She came downstairs the morning of her appointment and started saying she did not want to go and was a little nervous about the whole situation! When we got there, one of the parents from my class was there to clean her teeth. She made such a personal connection with Kinley and Kinley just LOVED her. It was so nice of Kimberly to stay and meet with Kinley for her 1st appointment. She told us she will make sure to be there for all of us when we come in:). I have found it to be so nice to see my parents out and about in the community. The Dentists did say we need to visit an orthodontist soon for her crossbite. We kind of figured that would be coming. My little girl is getting so big. Love her with all my heart and more.

Last Weekend...

Last weekend was a quiet one around the Lairsen household. We did not have any plans, except to keep sweet Baby Ella and the weather was COLD! Julie had asked me before Ella was born if I minded keeping her overnight while her brother Brian got married. Both sides of their family were going to be at the wedding and Avery in the wedding. Of course I said yes! How much fun to hold a new baby all over again. I have to brag on Jules a minute, because Ella was sooooo sweet. She did everything right on target and just like her Momma said she would. She was such a joy. For anyone who knows Kin, they know how much she LOVES babies. This was such a fun experience for her. I believe her love started when my neice, Alyssa was born. Who does not want a real live babydoll around to play with? Thanks Jules for sharing Ella with us. We will keep her anytime:). After Ella left we headed out to play in the snow. It was such a beautiful snow too. The snowflakes were HUGE!!! Kale was so excited about it, we could not even get him to take a nap! They loved making snowballs and some snow angels.

Holiday Fun with Friends...

We also got to spend some time with our friends over the holiday this year. We went over to The Penrod's the other night for dinner and drinks. The kids had so much fun playing together...they were sick at the Dr, dressed up and loving singing on Avery's microphone. We are so lucky to have this family who is basically like family in our life. We are so excited for Baby Ella to come and spend some QT time with us next weekend. I promise Jules she will be taken care of and spoiled rotten:).

We also had some family fun on New Year's with friends. We had originally asked a sitter to come but that ended up not working out, so we headed out with the kiddos. We hit up The Tobey household 1st where Kale could see his best bud Madison (as you can see from the pics) and then headed back over to The Miller's house. Dana is on my team this year and we have ended up having all these weird connections of people we know...her husband was in Brandon's fraternity at Tech and we have a lot of mutual people we know! We have hung out at The Miller's another time and all had so much fun we had said maybe if we don't end up with New Year's plans lets go there. Their kids are all a little older but really look out for Kin and Kale while playing with them too. Kin and Kale had a great time and were really good. What a great way to ring in a New Year! So thankful for all the amazing people in my life. I hope they all know how important they are to me too!

I have thought long and hard about my goals for this year...more about that later!

Family Christmas at our House...

We were so excited to have the Family Christmas here at The Lairsen's this year. It went off without a hitch. The kids had a great time upstairs and the adults had a great time visiting with one another downstairs. The food as always was amazing. Larry out did himself with brisket and grits. I must say the brunch done by us girls turned out pretty yummy too. All the kiddos played well together and pretty much left us alone??? Crazy right! We are so blessed to have times like these. I am also glad to know I can hold a function here for 26! Thanks Mimi and Grandad for such a fun family and great food:)(we really liked the karaoke machine too). We miss them all already. The other pictures are from a dinner out on the town to Babe's...Granddad's favorite!