St. Nicholas Came to Monticello

So after the long trek home from Fargo, guess who came to our home while we were gone for Christmas? That's right St. Nicholas! Now many readers out there might be asking why St. Nicholas and not Santa? Well A. Because Santa is derived by St. Nicholas and B. My husband and I would rather teach our children about saints instead of telling them somoene who is commercialized all too much in our society today. I think the amazing history of St. Nicholas is a tradition my husband and I would much rather pass down instead of a jolly red coated man. Plus why not thank a saint for his amazing gifts he passed on through our Catholic tradition?

Sidenote aside: he brought the best gift of all for Mommy and Daddy, a toy to glorious that it has kept my daughter occupied for hours on end every day since she saw it Sunday morning: a Grand Walk-In Kitchen! Thank you to the many individuals who helped generously so that Preston and I would be able to afford such a marvelous kitchen. The best part about opening it was being able to Skype video call my grandmother, Babu, so that she could see B's face light up for the remarkable gift! Here are some pics!!!

Look at how big it is!

B Loves using the coffee maker...

She kept making Babu more on her conference call with her! Thanks Babu for playing along and taking a sip of your tea each time B offered her drink

Everything is B size! It's perfect!!

B can even be like Daddy and make eggs

Love and God Bless, Kym

Extended Family Christmas

So after we opened our presents, P and I decided we'd take the risk traveling through a blizzard storm to be with our extended family over the holidays. We really wanted to present our gifts to our secret santas, Cameron and Makensie, as well as Skylar and Landon. So we prayed our rosary as we treked to Fargo, where we had a fun time with our extended family! We were very blest with being able to stay at our family's home and it was quite snuggly with 16 busy bodies at the Allex household. It was fun! Everyone is so great! Here are some pics of our adventure!
B's face: terrified for the snow "Why are we in the car Mommy?!?!"

T loves sitting with Great-Grandpa Ed

B with Auntie Skylar, B loved every minute of play time with her aunties and uncles

Great shot of Great-Grandma Ellie, T, and me

B loved her Baby from Great-Grandparents. Her name is Lucy!

I love this pic of P consoling B after we attempted to put to her bed. She is clinging to Lucy!

T with Grandpa Grant

B with her Lucy and the awesome stroller Uncle/Godfather Addison got her!

True miracle of Christmas: the sippy cup B actually uses! Thanks Auntie Kensie

Yes, car in the back is ours... and yes it is almost completely covered by the blizzarding snow

Great Grandparents with the great-grandbabies

The Large Allex family with the small Allex family and the small Miller family! Thanks Grandpa Ed for taking the picture!

Love and God bless, Kym

Our Family Christmas

Well we wanted to celebrate Christmas as a small-but-growing-family before we headed out for an adventure to Fargo to celebrate the holiday with the extended Allex family. So Christmas Eve morning we woke up and opened more of our gifts before heading out to Fargo. It was nice getting to celebrate as a small family that morning and we had fun with B and T as they got to play and wear their amazing gifts. It was a nice Christmas Eve morning, but I can't wait til next year's Christmas morning at our home to impliment some new traditions for our small family!
Here are some pics:

Love and God Bless, Kym
Two presents under the tree for me from my hubbie

Aww he got me the Catholic Trivia DVD!

Well, we

T loves his gifts from Great Aunt Sue!

B loves her Curious George Puzzle

Trimming a Tree

Well, it's been a while of blogs... so here's some pics of trimming the tree. Preston surprised me with this gorgeous 6 foot tree after I was sick in bed for about 4 days at the beginning of December. Bella LOVED putting up the shatterproof ornaments and Teigan loved staring at the dim lights.


All done!

T loving the tree

B even helped put on the ornaments

Preston explaining to B where the balls go.

Thankfully B understood not to touch the tree after we were done decorating it!

First crush

So some cute little stories, so last night after youth group, P and I had a CHRP meeting with a few other adults from our parish. We are really gearing up for this great retreat for adults this upcoming year for women and one for men too! Now here's the thing, one of the other couples have two children. I find them to be absolutely adorable and they seem pretty good when they have their Leapfrog game systems...anyways, it's kinda known that when we have these meetings we bring our young children with us so we don't have to worry about babysitters and whatnot...so at the parish library last night, B was feeling very social. Too social to be held, so we let her out of our arms to walk around the library and eat her bottle. Well, she noticed a very "cute" 4 year-old named Zach, who also noticed B... before long, my daughter went in for the "kill". Her first attempt to lure him away from his video game was by showing him her new toy, a pink flamingo pen that Mommy was given. Poor Zack, he didn't have a chance. He took the bait and was soon enjoying and playing tickle with my 16 month-old! After she got him hooked on playing with her, she swooped in for the real deal: a HUG!!! That's right my daughter, at all of 16 months-old, has "game" (this is not in a prideful statement, more like a low moan accompanied by an OH NO!). For about an hour these two played, read a book, and hugged every so often. When the meeting was over, my daughter gave Zack about four hugs before letting him go. I think he can be her first official crush.... or at least a baby crush.
Now for T... this little man has had game since birth. Many of my youth have stated more than once that he is handsome and a charmer. I believe he got these traits from my husband. Well, today my friend Mel came over to help me with the kids since I was wiped out from working for thirteen hours yesterday... Well my son LOVES this young woman! Everytime he saw her, he would try to stand up, smiling and babbling towards her. It was very amusing and super great that she was able to keep him occupied as B would go back and forth to her toys and her brother.

God Bless

Thanksgiving 2009

This Thanksgiving was full of surprises! We traveled to Fargo (two times in one month!!! Go us!) to visit with Greatgrandparents and grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters, and even a cousin! Poor grandma Patti was sick, so we all chipped in to help Great Grandma Ellie prepare the foods!
P carving the turkey; his favorite activity other than eating it!
We realized we needed to spend some quality time with the kids, so we took the younger siblings and Bella to go to the movies: Planet 51... not the best movie, but it was cute seeing Bella fall asleep in her Daddy's lap!

The morning after Turkey Day, I woke up to P and the kids making a fort! It was amazing and very tall!

GreatGrandma with two out of three great grandchildren. Check out Aurielle on the left and Teigan on the right! He keeps getting BIGGER!

The festive table!

A wonderful Thanksgiving as a whole!

National Catholic Youth Conference 2009

WOW! +21,000 Catholic high school youth gathered for three days in Kansas City Missouri... breathless! It was very exciting, so much energy, so much love, so much faith...it was absolutely breathtaking to see all those youth on their knees for the Blessed Eucharist, for mass, for speakers on faith in action, in prayer, and in chastity. It was ridiculous! I was so impressed with my youth who were prayerful and considerate of others during mass, the sacrament of reconciliation, adoration and penance...it was amazing!!!! It only reaffirmed my place in ministry with youth. A youth and I bought a few of the same books, so we are having a social experiment where we willing be book clubbing different books and discussing the central messages on our blog. Feel free to join us, our first book is called "Wake Up to God's Word" by Mary H Reaman. I have to say I'm only a chapter in and it's fantastic!!! Please feel free to follow and join us reading this book... the first update will be posted by the end of this week I believe by Ashley, here, she's a great youth so please feel free to check out her blog. Alright well onto the next blog post!

I LOVED IT! God bless

Fargo's Newest State Championship Team

There are so many updates and posts I need to write...so I guess the next thing would be the trip to Fargo for Add's state championship football game. It was lots of fun to go, watch, and cheer them on for the nail-biting game! It was the first recorded ND state championship game that went into overtime. We were so excited to spend time with the family, and Preston even surprised me with a beautiful 2 bedroom suite to stay in while we visited. We utilized every space of it, including the continential breakfast with Add, Cam, and Miranda the first morning, and then with the guys the second morning. We also loved spending time with the younger siblings who loved the indoor pool! It was a nice trip and here are some pics!!

B with Great Grandpa Ed

Add's Team is the white ones!

B giving Great Grandma her second picture ever!

Add is the one who nailed the guy into the ground!

B with her cousin!

All around

What a wonderful Monday... nice and relaxed, just as I like it. Granted, tomorrow holds about 3 loads of laundry due to this weekend's game my children decided to play on Mommy and Daddy.... you've heard of the show "So You think you can dance" right? Well my babies have created a new show/game "So you think you can poo" This game includes countless hours wiping little tushies with gentle wipes and going through many, many diapers. From this game, Mommy now has a good 2 loads of dirty blankets, bedding, and clothes to do. But today was Mommy's day packed full of education time for the babies.
For Teigan, Mommy and him spent many hours having tummy time (which he can stand just a little bit more than Bella could stand it) as well as Baby-areobics. He LOVES it! I think his favorite is the Up, Up, Down, Down activity where mommy uses him as a weight. Painful, but so good! The bonus to this morning time with Teigan is that he naps a good portion in the afternoon! A big surprise today happened when I put him in Bella's old Jumparoo. Well, he LOVES it! He actually started to cry when I took him out of it...but I figured he needed a bottle to ease the transition to his napping.
For Bella, it was her creative day! We had fun coloring pictures for family members as well as a cheering poster for Addison's game this upcoming weekend! Side story: Addison is Bella's godfather as well as her uncle... This past weekend his football team won their division's game and this weekend they will be playing in the Fargo Dome! So naturally, we needed to make him a poster! Hopefully he will enjoy it! End of side story. So Bella had fun coloring this poster with help from Mommy and we are very excited to see him play this weekend for the State Championship!! Hopefully lots of people and family will be there to cheer him on! Besides that, this afternoon Bella and Mommy did the toddler aerobics where Bella loves to laugh at her Mommy doing funny positions and making noises and faces for her entertainment!
Other than that, here are some pics! Love!

She fell asleep while Mommy and Teigan were exercising!

He loves the Jumperoo!

Her "funny face" pose

His Tummy Time

A little bit of this and that

Ok so yikes a few days behind... yesterday was pretty uneventful... 6 loads of laundry done! YAY patience and endurance! I know that each time I finish with so many loads of laundry, I promise myself and my sanity that I will do better next time and not have so many loads pile up...but then life hits and I'm down for the count.
Beyond those 6 loads, I had a very exciting "friend" come and visit me..."His" name is "Fred"... and let's just say it's been about 2 years since I've seen this fellow...the thing is, Fred is the kind of friend a person normally can only handle about a few consecutive days a month; but for me, seeing Fred for the first time in 2 years was OH-SO-EXCITING! But I forgot "he" would visit sometimes soon, so I was totally unprepared and felt offguard when he did make an unexpected visit to my home. Basically, after yesterday I stocked up on chocolate and hot cocoa mixes!
Unfortunately, with this nasty little friend showing up, it was also our family portrait day at Preston's parish! They have a pictorial directory and staff members get a nifty gift card that allowed us to purchase free photos! Yes, dear family members, I thought of you and order BUNCHES of photographs that you will be receiving as part of your Christmas gifts! But I will say, my babies look soooo cute together for a sibling shot! And I am overall pleased...although completely unearthed by how much those darn things cost! Anywhooooo
Today has been very exciting for a few reasons! A) Bella is learning how to color! So she has been busy making crayon drawings for Mommy to send to relatives.... B) I finally figured out how to hook up her LeapFrog Puppy to my computer and now it sings songs that have her name on it. She LOVES it! Thanks Great Grandma Ellie for the very special gift! It's even more loved now that it knows her name!!! And thankfully Teigan has been great with the gift of sleep for me today as I have done more cleaning and chasing Bella around our home (with her fists full of crayons!). Now it is on to bigger things like figuring out Christmas gifts for family members and praying for Addison's football team to do great this weekend! Here are some pics!
Love

Bella with the Puppy Grandma Ellie bought her a while back... now Bella won't put it down!

My little artist... please note she likes to take off one sock and color.

Teigan sleeping through it all

Bella at Daddy's work, trying to feed St. Francis of Assisi... she tried to take his bird from him while thrusting her bottle at his head.

At Daddy's work, Bella loves to sniff the candles and put them back in their proper candle holding spot. This is right after the family photo shot!

Project Bliss

So today has been filled with exercise! Although I have been no longer pregnant for almost three months, I feel it is time to get into shape before the holiday pounds are packed...so I found this AMAZING yoga and exercise DVD from Parents Magazine made for Mommy and Baby and the second DVD for Mommy and Toddler... let's just say, I know I will feel the pain tomorrow..but today my kids LOVED it! Bella loves the Up, Up, Down, Down exercise as well as the breathing techniques where I get to blow on her feet, she laughs so hard every time!! Meanwhile, Teigan loves the quality time with Mommy as he gets the opportunity to look around and get so tuckered out!
After hours of exercise today, I finally sat down and updated this blog...so look downward... along with working on a hobby project that I have fondly named: Project Bliss! This project is inspired by a book called 14,000 Things to be Happy About. It's list of things that a woman wrote throughout her life that she later created into a book...A pic of my project is below...but it's just a black frame filled with different boxes of things that I love and that show me God's love! This project continues because I have an entire wall to fill and my list is so much longer than these 20 boxes that were allowed...so my plan is to get another frame and continue this as a collage of loves in hearts! So have fun checking it out!

It reads from top to bottom (in no specific order of love, but larger boxes are bigger loves!) Preston, ice cream, pink and red roses, the Allex-Miller family (Makensie, Winston, Aurielle), Vizdos family (Babu, Pa, ALS, UP, Mike, all boys), sweet tea, skirts and dresses, pearls, Isabella Rose, date days/nights, Mass, Teigan, Bosch family (Grandma Ellie and Grandpa Ed), dancing with Bella to itunes, Bubble baths, swings, wild cherry pepsi, tea cups, Allex family (Grant, Patti, Cameron, Addison, Miranda, Skylar, Landon), photography...

Bumblee Bees Attack

We celebrated All Souls Day twice this year. Once on Friday preceeding Halloween. My youth group had its second annual youth pumpkin carving party, where my whole little family came in support. Along with a few friends who were chaperones, my children love the youth group kids! So Teigan was dressed as a Tiger for this party, and Bella did not want to partake in costuming so we say she was a daily princess, as she is so crowned in our household.
The day of Halloween was fun... although neither of my children would cooperate with me to stay in their outfits, but that was ridiculous to think that my babies might cooperate anyway! Oh well, it makes fun pictures! We didn't have Bella go trick-or-treating because she was so upset with her costume..and Teigan is waaaaaaay to tiny to go door to door. So instead we had our friends over to play board games and gather in fellowship! Bella fell asleep pretty quickly, while Teigan wanted to stay awake and see all the comotion! It was loads of fun and I thank our friends for coming to our annual board game night! Here are pics!

Bella finding candy! She had so much fun inspecting the wrapers!

Bumble Bees! Bella crying b/c she disliked her costume so much!

Teigan with our dear friend Natalie at the Youth Group

Bella in her Halloween onesie!

Love!