Cailyn is 2!

Cailyn turned two on December 6 - the day after the marathon, and the day we drove home from Vegas. We had a little, last minute family dinner party for her that evening.

She loves making this "cheese" face these days!

While Cailyn blew out her #2 candle, Rylee and Avery had Santa candles.

Cailyn loves this "We Did It!" Dora (she calls it her Dora Baby) that Grandma Karen and Grandpa Dave sent her.

We got her an easel, which has been a big hit!

We also got her a plasmacar...if you haven't seen them, you should watch this video. They're really cool, but hard to explain without seeing them in action! She loved it, but Rylee has kind of taken it over from her and rides it all over the house...we might have to buy another one for Rylee's birthday in a couple weeks.

The "friend party" was scheduled for Saturday...although it turned out to be another family party, because everyone else had to cancel at the last minute! Oh well - she's two and didn't know the difference and had a blast!

These are the invitations...

...and we had all of the food in the book, which means there were both cupcakes...

..and chocolate cake.

Not to mention cherry pies,

and all other sorts of yummy food! (The only thing we were missing was plums...nobody carries them in December.)

We made caterpillars

(Cailyn loves Shellie!)

and butterflies.

(Cailyn also loves sticking her face straight into her food these days.)

And I just love that she had already managed to down a cupcake and was covered in frosting before we even got around to singing Happy Birthday!

Don't forget the lollipop and ice cream cone!

At this party she was very excited about her tea set and bath tub Sleeping Beauty Barbie.

Rylee loves holding Liam.

Since we were fewer in numbers than anticipated, we didn't even touch the chocolate cake...luckily, Uncle Colin's birthday was the next day, so he got a hungry caterpillar cake for his 18th birthday! Bet not many people can say that!

(Doesn't it look just like in the book?)For the next few weeks, Rylee kept building fruit "caterpillars" on our counter...

...even after I cleaned them up, we'd find them again!

We had fun, and Cailyn was well celebrated!

Now I can do my Christmas post...but not tonight!

Deadman to Marathon Man

Two and a half years ago, Quinn's dad was hit by a boat whil riding a jet ski. He technically died several times within the first 24 hours after the accident, was in a coma for 10 days, in the hospital for 6 weeks, and wasn't able to return to work full time for about 6 months.

This month he ran a marathon. He did it in Las Vegas, because that's where the accident was and where he was operated on and hospitalized. (You can read more about his story on his blog.) Most of the family (minus Quinn and Colin) were able to be there for the race.

(I took this picture of Rylee that I love while we were waiting for Grandpa)

Looking good! His official time was 5:00:46.

The granddaughters didn't give him much recovery time...

(Well, this WAS the day before Cailyn's second birthday...and as I've mentioned before, she's got plenty of terrible-two-year-old attitude!)

Dr. Laura Boomer, one of the surgeons (the one who left the cool scars!) who saved Dad's life was able to be there. It was the first time we'd seen her since the hospital, and it was a very special and sweet reunion!

(Can you see the relief?)

So the marathon is done. Santa brought him a bike now so that he can start training for an Iron Man...we all think he's a little crazy. Isn't a marathon enough?

It was fun (as always) to spend time with those Bergs.

The girls wore their Christmas jammies since Ava spent Christmas in Texas with Josh's family.

Un-Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving 2 weeks early, and it is now a month after Thanksgiving...I almost skipped putting these pictures up, but then decided to go ahead and do a few of them anyway!

Here's Cassie helping the girls assemble the Turkey Cookies:(This is the original one that Grandma Mac made...
...but some of the others that were made by the less meticulous gave a whole new meaning to "turkey breast!")

Rylee helped Katie paint the popsicle sticks to make

these fabulous beaks and gobblers for everyone!

(Somebody at the above table took a picture of our table with beaks, but it wasn't on my camera...)

These girls were so funny...throughout the entire meal, they were "gobble gobble gobble"-ing at the top of their lungs!

Rylee never quite figured out exactly what to do with the whole gobbler thing...

(And Cailyn had just woken up from a nap, so she wasn't really in the mood to even attempt it.)

Little Liam was the quietest turkey in the bunch!

Of course, no party is complete without some Rock Band!

The girls played and played...but of course, there aren't any pictues where they're ALL smiling!

And I just loved watching Cailyn and her daddy playing!

Lots of good memories and lots to be thankful for.

Do you know who Santa's grandfather is?

Jesus.

At least that's what Rylee just told me.

Merry Christmas!

3, Please.

Cailyn just turned two on December 6th. (We had a fun Hungry Caterpillar birthday party...add that to my list of pictures that I will put up here someday.) I think I'm ready for her to turn three.
I thought she acted two starting several months ago; I was wrong. Her temper has taken a sudden turn for the moodier, grumpier, and more stubborn since her birthday.
This morning she woke up cheery and sweet. Within 3 1/2 minutes she was throwing a tantrum.

Part of this morning's dialogue went as follows:
Cailyn: (sobbing) I'm GRUMPY!
Daddy: Don't be grumpy, Cailyn.
Cailyn: No, I'm NOT grumpy!

Right now she's snuggling on my shoulder working out her post-sobbing sniffles and heavy breathing. Good thing she still snuggles sometimes, or I just might have to ship her off for the next year!

Christmas Spirit

Rylee's bedtime prayer tonight:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day,

thank you for our food,

thank you for Santa and his reindeer and his sleigh.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

At least she's got the gratitude part down...

It is my Christmas wish that one day I will find time to put some pictures up here. I sure do have some cute ones! But it might take a Christmas miracle for me to find the time...maybe I should pray for Santa to bring me some extra time?