Puetz Family Christmas

Saturday was our first Christmas celebration of the year at Lee's Grandma Puetz' house. I must say, this particular celebration is much more convenient now that we live only about 10 blocks from her!

Taryn got to love on some Baby Brock! He is such a happy little bald guy!

There are about a million kids that all need to open presents, so it definitely takes awhile for everyone to get their turn. Taryn decided to take the bull by the horns and do some sucking up to Gma Puetz. Apparently it worked because soon her wait was over and she had a gift to open! She has been waiting SO long to open a present this holiday season!

Family pic time! With the addition of Ella, Lee's immediate family is up to 19 people! 10 adults and 9 kids. We just barely outnumber them. The pics of Lee's parents with all the kids did not pan out. It was a little too close to some of their nap times.

One of the perks of living so close is that I was able to bring Taryn home and put her down for a nap. I may have taken one myself. The downfall of living so close to Grandma Puetz is that all 19 of the Klemme's came back to our house afterwards. I spent all morning cleaning and in about 5 minutes the whole house looked like a tornado went through it!

After the Klemme's packed up and left, we cleaned the house a second time and set up our extra bedroom for Jamie & Garret who came to visit! We went to The Local and had some awesome karaoke. Lots of beer later, we got a ride home in the back of Lee's cop car. Talk about a perk! He even breathalyzed us!

Hello again Rue!

Last week my cousin Joey and his wife Jackie brought their daughter Rue up to Lafayette. It was their first time being home since Rue was born. They live in TN now. (Yes, if you read the Hunger Games, so did Rue's dad!) Speaking of Rue's dad... She couldn't look much more like him unless she grew a beard.

Per usual, Taryn was pretty pumped up to hang out with a baby. She was getting Rue magnets to play with off the fridge, then stealing them from her. I think she was a little confused why Rue couldn't get up and dance with her on her own.

Taryn has formed a bond with my cousin Carly recently. Taryn is going to be the flower girl in Carly's wedding on New Year's Eve, and since finding out, Carly is very magical in Taryn's opinion.

It was so great to see Rue again (and Joey & Jackie too). It was also awesome to see my Grandma get to meet her 3rd great-grandchild.

Welcome Ella Lynn!

On December 7th, Ella Lynn entered the world. Just 2 days before her big sister Cora's 3rd birthday! I love the name Ella Lynn. Ella is after Sonia & Lee's great aunt. Lynn is after Sonia's Godmother and aunt who passed away about 25 years ago after giving birth.

Lee and I got to see her the following day. She was so tiny and when she was awake, she was so alert. We got to see her again last weekend at the Puetz family Christmas. Congratulations Sonia, Wyatt and big sis Cora on your little bundle of joy!

Fowler's Christmas Stroll

The town of Fowler really knows how to keep their short residents happy. They really do it up for the kids around each holiday, and today was their Christmas Stroll. We started out by going to a "bazaar" at the Catholic school in town. Though there were tons of crafts and knicknacks, my mom and I only bought food... Coffee cakes, a cupcake for Taryn, and fudge for ME!

Taryn, after MUCH deliberation, got her face painted. First she wanted to, then she got a little scared. After watching a baby get it done and negotiating to sit on my lap while it happened, she agreed. Then she couldn't decide what to get... A train? Dora in a Santa hat? She finally settled on her holiday love... The Christmas tree!

After the bazaar, we headed to the fire station. They had free cookie decorating. You can tell in the first picture, Taryn was just going to straight up eat the plain cookie. But, then she, er Grandma, decorated the cookie.

Then we waited in a LONG line to see Santa. Even though someone didn't want to see Santa so much. Come on Taryn, it's a holiday tradition that parents traumatize their young children for a good photo op with the big guy! The kid behind us brought a toy magazine with a bunch of pages flagged. He is on top of things!

So, it turns out Santa is scary as heck... But, Mrs. Claus is AOK. Taryn went right to Mrs. Claus and got a candy cane. In order to get a pic with Santa, mommy and Taryn had to sit on his lap... I felt like a dork! Please don't let that pic show up in the paper!

After the Santa drama, we headed around the corner for a FREE carriage ride! The line was LONG and a little nippy, but Taryn was pumped to ride the horsey.

And we finally got our turn... Just in the nick of time before Taryn melted down from her nap being delayed!!

Christmas Decor

I am thankful everyday to finally be back in a bigger house that allows us some space to work with. When the holidays roll around, I am EXTRA thankful for our extra space. We can finally decorate and we're no longer constrained to a little 3 foot tree on an end table.

Oh, and we have a fireplace to hang the stockings!! Woohoo!

Taryn is going to be FUN this Christmas. She LOVES Christmas trees. When we drive around town and people have Christmas lights, she oohs and aahs and says "Look, another one another one!!!" Watching her eyes light up when the tree does could really warm the heart of any ol' anti-Christmas scrooge! Seeing the excitement of the holidays through a child's eyes really makes it so much more fun!

We bought Lee's parents pre-lit tree. Man, those things are convenient! It is huge, but fortunately my grandma borders on hoarding Christmas decorations from all 81 years of her life, so she had some to share. When the tree was decorated Taryn said "Oh, mommy, it's beautiful." And looking at it through eyes, I have to agree!

Gobble Gobble!

The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving used to be the night we called Wild Turkey Night or Drunksgiving because we always went to Harry's and drank and visited with old high school friends. This year was the first time I had not attended that tradition in, um, 9 years. Wow. Things change. Taryn and I spent the night before Thanksgiving making these turkeys from our handprints. Her turkey has little sprouts that have what Taryn is thankful for listed on them. These were things that ranged from her parents and grandparents to church to her froggy potty.

Lee had to work the night before Thanksgiving and the night of Thanksgiving, so Taryn and I were solo for the day. We picked up my mom and my grandma and headed over to Kokomo to celebrate at my uncle's house. It was rather low key this year, well, except for Taryn. She didn't eat much of the Thanksgiving dinner aside from about 10 deviled eggs.

On Saturday we went to the Klemme's for another Thanksgiving celebration. Lee got to attend this one! Taryn and Cora had a blast playing together. Above they both have balloons in their shirts pretending to be Cora's mom who is 9 months pregnant.

When the meal was done, the kids got out the Christmas decor and went to town!

I think Taryn is most thankful for... Christmas trees! She is totally in love!!

Sleepy!

I fell asleep putting Taryn to sleep... Taryn fell asleep putting her baby to sleep. The result, we all three got a good nap!

Lil Comedian

The bigger her vocabulary gets, the funnier Taryn gets each day.

*Today, she woke up from her nap in a terrible mood. She was laying on my lap and oozing onto the floor, then crying because she wasn't on my lap. At one point she leaned over to get her blanket and put it on her lap. Lee goes "Are your feet cold?" She looked at him and said, "Stop attacking me! Stop attacking me, daddy." I think this was a little glimpse of the teenage years.

*Later in the evening, Taryn was playing with her toy makeup. She was putting lipstick on her mouth, nose, eyes. Then she put some on Lee. Lee asked her, "Am I pretty?" She replied, "Not yet!"

*Lee and I worry about completely different things. While I stay up at nights worrying about sexual predators and kidnappers, Lee worries that Taryn will have a lisp. Taryn calls her backpack a "pack-pack". Lee has made it his personal mission to get her to pronounce it correctly. Today he was sitting with her, pointing at her back. "What is this?" "My back." "Now say BACKpack." "Pack-pack!" Rinse and repeat.

*Today Taryn was playing with some of her dolls while I organized her room, putting old toys down the basement to make space for new Christmas toys. While organizing, I found an outfit for one of her baby dolls, so I put it on the baby doll. Taryn looked at it and gushed, "Baby, you are BEAUTIFUL! Look at me, baby. You are beautiful."

Halloween 2011

This year Taryn decided she wanted to dress up as Akilla for Halloween. Akilla is my mom's white huskey and possibly Taryn's favorite living being in the world! Akilla is always listed 2nd on her prayer list before bedtime. She squeals with delight when she walks in the door, and is always concerned with Akilla's "ouchie eye". (Akilla is blind in one eye.)

GRRRR................................................................ Twins!

I can take close to NO credit for the costume. All I did was buy the white sweatsuit and the furry material. My mom did all the rest. Which is good since I am not exactly handy with a sewing machine. Oh wait! I also drew on her black nose! Go Lauren!

We had a busy evening. We went to the park for a costume contest (our neighbor won, he was dressed as a lumberjack). Lee was there "on duty" handing out glowing necklaces and Trick-or-Treat bags. Then we came home for some dinner. We made the trip over to Lee's Grandma Puetz' house which was a total mob scene (Lee has a huge family)! Then finally came back over to our area for some Trick-or-Treat action. It's a good thing all of these locations were a mile apart. Taryn did a great job, despite being a little bit scared from time to time.

Enjoying her spoils!!

Sweetheart!

"And in my spare time I enjoy helping the elderly."

Taryn Originals

Starting this summer, Taryn has had her own digital camera. A long time ago, I broke yet another digital camera, and just put it in Taryn's toybox for her to play with. Well, apparentls she dropped it enough times that it started working again. Anytime I have my camera out, Taryn wants to take some pics too. Her favorite subjects tend to be the cats and her baby dolls, her parents and herself! Here are some of my favorite "Taryn pics".