The Holidays are Over

Last weekend we celebrated our last Christmas with Josh's mom and step-dad and once again the kids were spoiled! I even got a little spoiled :) We have really enjoyed all of the time we were able to spend with our family over the holidays and as sad as I am that the month of December is over, I think the kids are in desperate need of a little routine again. Our drive home on Sunday took quite a while because we had to drive in blizzard-like conditions(I may be exaggerating...but not much!). The kids were ecstatic to get out of the car when we got home and they just ran around the house. Not playing with toys, just running!

I'm still working on uploading all of our pictures to an album and I'm hoping to have it posted this week for everyone to see.

This week we are just working on getting things back in order. Which is hard when preschool is cancelled because its 0 degrees outside! Isla does have dance class today so she is pretty excited about seeing her friends. We have play date tomorrow with a friend from Isla's preschool class so I'm excited to get the kids out and about.

We are also working on keeping Miss Isla in bed at night so last night I started a sticker chart for her and every morning, if she stayed in bed that night, she gets to put a sticker on the chart. Once she gets 5 stickers in a row, she gets a surprise(to be determined)! She has been so bad about getting out of bed multiple times before she falls asleep and we have scolded her and talked to her etc. And the first night I switch it up and offer a "surprise", she stays in bed. I wish I would have thought to do that a while ago ; )

I hope everyone is staying warm!

Nicolle

Christmas!

Christmas was full of fun and memories and we aren't even done yet! We still get to celebrate Christmas with Nannie and Paw(Josh's mom and step-dad) next weekend. We have so many pictures from Christmas already so I'm going to create an album and share the link on here for everyone to view instead of uploading them individually onto the blog.

The kids got so many wonderful gifts from everyone and Santa was good to them as well. We did have a few hiccups along the way thought. For the last two years, Isla has stumbled upon the gifts so we had to shuffle some gifts that were supposed to be from Santa and make those from us and vice verse. And then when Santa(Josh) was setting up Isla's new kitchen... we discovered we were missing a part! So Josh being the wonderful father he is went outside at 1:30 in the morning, found a board and cut it to fit the missing piece and continued putting it together. And you can't really tell and the new part is already here :)

After Christmas day, we couldn't even walk from one end of the house to the next because of the mess but the mess was well worth the smiles on their faces. Isla had quite the list for Santa and she received most of what she asked for. Aiden's Christmas was full of Mega blocks and hot wheels and he loves all of it!

Now if only there was a magic fairy to clean Isla's room....................... Any takers????

We hope your Christmas was wonderful! Pictures to come!

Tis the Season

Tis the season of Christmas! When we get to pick out our tree, decorate the house and look at Christmas lights. All of the things you want your children to enjoy so much so you can create everlasting memories for their childhood. Does it ever end happily? Not around here! Although the journey to do all of these things wasn't what you would call picture perfect, we do have memories :)

The quest to find our Christmas tree

For the past 6 years I believe, Josh and I have gone to Pumpkins and Pines in Pleasant Hill MO to pick out our pumpkins and our tree. The trees are big and beautiful and the family that runs the farm is so nice and friendly. We now live a little far from there so I looked up some new tree farms and we headed out on our journey to find the perfect tree. Or as Isla said, "The best tree ever!" We first went to Excelsior Springs and almost immediately realized that we would not be getting a tree there, but I encouraged everyone to stay positive and search for a tree. Thirty minutes later we were back in the car and on our way to the next tree farm. We decided to try the farm in Lathrop. Luckily, we did find one tree that we liked and that's the tree in our living room now! This place was completely opposite from the first. It was like walking through the forest to find a tree. If they don't see a tree, they just let it grow! We have decided that next year we will be going back to Pumpkins and Pines, the place we know and love.

Aiden was very serious about his walking stick!

Decorating the Tree

Once we got the tree up, we attempted to decorate the tree. Maybe it was the sickness, busy weekend or kids just being kids but this did not go as I imagined. What I imagined was a warm cozy house, Christmas music, smiles and laughter. What really happened was crying, fits, time out and some more crying! I know, it's my own fault right?! Well in the end, everyone calmed down and the kids helped put ornaments on the tree and the tree looks beautiful :) 

 The Christmas bead thief!

And the Christmas decoration thief!

Christmas Light Cruising 

Last Thursday Josh was home early so we loaded up in the car to look at Christmas lights. We are still new to the area so we just drove around. Some neighborhoods had lots of lights and some were a miss. On our way, according to Isla, we saw a mustache (Holly with berries) and a snake. Aiden just said "wow" when he saw some lights he enjoyed. Here is a picture of the most festive house we found!

From the mouth of Isla

Having a 3 year old, well almost 4, has brought us many many laughs even when we probably shouldn't be laughing! I wanted to share a few of the funny things she has said over the last couple weeks/months because I would just hate to forget these some day!

While Josh was trying to guide her into the shower as she was throwing a fit she managed to scream at him "You ruined my day!" Just the beginning of comments like that I'm sure.

Another fit was taking place when Josh told Isla to knock that crap off and Isla responded with "I crapped it off!" Hahahahahahaha

TMI alert for those who are sensitive. Last week when Isla was sick and spending a lot of time on the toilet, she told me she had smooshed poop and that her butt was throwing up. 

All from this sweet sweet face :)

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from the ever growing Downing family. I know it's been a while since our last post but get ready because we will be posting away again! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. We decided to host this year is our new house and it went pretty well. We had lots of food, fun and laughs! 

We were lucky the kids and I were feeling better and well enough to actually put on this shindig because the week leading up to this was ugly! Now Josh has fell victim to the spreading sickness and our Christmas decorating will be on hold until he is feeling better.

We did get a good start on our Christmas shopping though on Thanksgiving night. We braved the crowds of Walmart and Toys R Us and snagged a few very wanted items for Isla and Aiden. Of course Isla is old enough now to recognize things she wants on commercials, so her list grows longer every day :) 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend while I continue to Lysol and disinfect this house!

Back online

Hello everyone! We are officially moved and back online. I'm hoping to make a post in the next couple days to update everyone on the transition/move.

Happy Monday!

Nicolle

501 Kenneth Lane

Well the house is SOLD officially. We close on this house in just two weeks. It's crazy to think we have spent 6 years making this house our home and now we only have two weeks left. We have been looking forward to this move for several years now and as excited as we are to start the next chapter, it is a little sad as well. This is our first home, this is where we came after our wedding and opened all of our gifts with our family, where we started our life as Mr. & Mrs. This is where I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner, where we brought our crazy dog home and our precious babies. We've celebrated many holidays, birthdays and even a little reunion of some of my close friends. This house is full of loving memories that I will cherish forever. This house was the beginning of our journey as the Downing Family. I will miss this house.

Here is the link to a video of our fondest memories in our home.

http://youtu.be/y390QYysj44

Enjoy :)