Busy much?

Almost another month has flown by at our house. I love and hate the holiday season for that. It makes work seem to fly by, but this wonderful time of excitement for the kids also goes by too fast.
What have we been up to? Emerson's birthday party went well. We had about 14 people in our comfy little house and Emerson was surprised by a big cupcake birthday cake decorated to look like Elmo (her first love!). Aside from Kaleb being jealous over the attention shown to Emerson and wanting all of her new toys for himself, the day was great. Our little girl is now two. We're not worried about the terrible twos because they hit over 4 months ago!!! The girl is scrappy. She can fend for herself and talks back like a 16 year old. But she is so dang loving. She still says "I hold you" daily to me and then climbs up onto my lap to cuddle. She is now extremely obsessed with the movie Annie. Yes, our two year old will sit through an entire movie of the original Annie. Daily in fact.
Emerson had her 2 year well check last Friday. She weighs 27lbs (50%) and is 36 inches(95%). No concerns for Emerson. She seems to be on track with all of her milestones and progression. The funniest part about the whole visit was Kaleb working her all up about getting a shot. He kept telling her it was going to hurt and that she would cry. He even told her he would hold her hand when she got the shot. Getting a little too much excitement out of Emerson getting a shot, and not him this time! Well, it came time for the shot and while Emerson did cringe she never did cry. I pulled her pants up and she grabbed her leg, said "Owwww" and whimpered a little which was all made better when daddy held her. Kaleb almost seemed let down that she didn't cry!
Kaleb is doing great. He is pumped about Christmas this year and best of all he believes us when we say that Santa is watching. Jason also like to pull out the "I'll call Santa" trick when he is desperate!! Kaleb is so dang smart, at times a smart mouth, but for the most part he is a really good kid. He enjoys doing 'homework' daily. I brought him home some pre-k workbooks and he loves doing them and putting a star at the top. Lets hope this homework appreciation continues into school. Kaleb is starting to turn into more of a boy, ha ha. He loves playing with his cars and is now talking all about the bumblebee transformer and the black and red power rangers. He has never really gotten into playing consistently with toys, especially boy ones, except for tools and Lego's. It is nice to see him finding more things in common with the boys at school.
Kaleb and I have been regulars at St. John's church since this summer and he will now be participating in the Christmas play in two weeks. I think they gave him a non speaking role such as a shepard, but I still can't wait. The kid is a ham. Everyone at church tells me how cute he is and how they love seeing him go up for children's time because he is always doing something to draw everyone's attention.
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We ate dinner with my parents, Grandma Rice, Lindsey, Derek and even got to see Chris and Craig Dahlke for a little bit. Chris seems to be doing well after fighting cancer over the past year. I hope she continues to recover. I know the family has a lot to be grateful for this year! The day after Thanksgiving, Chris and Sarah brought the kids for a visit. They all love playing together so much. Emerson likes to call them ClarCarElsa (Clara, Carter, Elsa). It was a nice visit. The weekend after Thanksgiving was of course spent putting up our outside lights and Christmas tree. We have only had one major tree accident this year. Don't worry, Emerson will be ok! I heard a crash, Emerson crying, and Kaleb saying "Sorry Mom" all at the same time! No shopping on black Friday for me though. Jason had to work and I wasn't in the mood to go alone. Instead Jason and I did our shopping this past Saturday. While I feel like we should be done, sadly we are not! There are still a few more gifts to get before we can begin wrapping.
We are busy, but doing well. I am really looking forward to our family party this coming Sunday at my Aunt Diane and Uncle Dan's house. I love getting to hang out with my cousins. I can't wait to see how big Dylan is now. In a little over a week Renae and the girls will be coming home from California for a 3 week visit. We can't wait to see them as well.
I'll also come on later to update with some pictures. We took the pictures for our Christmas card yesterday. I have some good outtakes to share with you!
Take care.