"Girl Day, Woo-Hooo!"

"Its Girl Day, woo-hoo!" This is what Layla screamed from the backseat as we pulled out of the driveway this morning. Our destination? Painting pottery in Des Moines with Grandma Marcia. Today was just the second time we've painted pottery and it amazes me just how long Layla can paint one ceramic piece. Today she choose a skateboard. Why? I have no idea. I didn't even know she knew what a skateboard was. For me she picked a flower vase shaped as a purse (that one I totally get). And Grandma picked a heart plate. We had fun and look forward to seeing the finished pieces next week. Please note that Layla is wearing her "make things shirt" and her gold angel shoes. Boy, do we both love Girl Day! Anyone interested in joining us next time? We've discussed getting manis and pedis.

...right down to the shoes

We spent Christmas Day with the whole Handsaker clan at Grandpa and Grandma's house in Nevada. It was a wild, crazy day filled with good food, lots of gifts and playing! The highlight of the day was the angel performance which was written, produced and directed by Grandma. Cousins Paige (4), Cheyenne (4) and Layla (3) sang Jesus Loves Me, This Little Light of Mine and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. As you can see by the pictures Grandma also hand made all of the angel dresses, halos, and wings. She thought of everything, right down to the gold shoes.

The girls loved it! Honestly, although Layla was all smiles during the performance, I think she was in it for the free dress and shoes. She wears the shoes everywhere! And when we have to go out in the snow, she wears her snow boats but packs her shoes so she can change into them when we get to our destination. She also checks her closet everyday and says, "Yup, its still there, my angel dress."

Thanks you Grandma Marcia!

Merry Christmas!

The older I get, the harder I seem to work at Christmas time and the faster it seems to go! This year marked our family's first year of spending part of Christmas at home creating our own traditions. Thus the extra work for mama! Wow, I didn't really appreciate how hard my mom had to work to make all of our holidays and special occasions so darn special! But, I'm not complaining because it was so joyous!

Christmas eve day was our Christmas day. We set all of the kid's presents out the night before and I was woken up at 6am with Layla saying, "Mama, there's something in the living room. Come quick!" Oh the magic of Christmas morning! When we reached the living room, there they stood, in the dim lights of the Christmas tree. It was her 4 story, 4 1/2 foot tall doll house and her pink guitar with silver flames. Man oh man, was this one excited little girl. All day long she kept coming up to Dave and I telling us how much she loved her presents and how she couldn't believe we got her exactly what she wanted. As she played through the day I kept hearing her say to herself, "Can you believe I got this cool doll house?"

Daddy day w/o a blog....no way

This is dad blogging today:

What - you say that dishwasher door can't handle a 24 1/2 pound boy....how does one occupy him will trying to clean up lunch? Today is daddy day and of course it would not be complete without a little blogging...right! Today has been a lot of fun, Layla got a haircut, almost a Christmas bob....she told Ashley to cut off 3 inches, wow that was a close one....dad might not have gotten any Christmas presents over that one. We got it stopped at 1 inch, ready for Grandma Marcia's!
My day has been easy no doubt due to Jen's incredible job with the kids....most everything has been on autopilot. Layla knows to go potty before naps, etc. Clearly mom has used consequences quite a bit, on the way down the stairs to nap, she said I don't want to read a book, just change my clothes. Must have been given the choice of one or the other....like I said, pretty much smooth sailin thanks for a great wife at home!

Lastly was the discussion about the little babies Layla likes to put under the dresses of her barbies and say they are pregnant.....we can address that one later. Now it is off for a quick nap before Cooper is back up and around...I guess the driveway won't get plowed today...have to see if Jen can remember how to drive the John Deere when she returns...ha, ha...or ho, ho...Merry Christmas from Daddy!

"UNCLE!"

Those of you who know me well know that it usually takes a lot to overwhelm me. I like a lot on my plate, I like being outside of my comfort zone....these things motivate me. However, this week I finally cried, "UNCLE" (I give up!) We've had a hard December. Between illnesses, Daddy's many long absences, new responsibilities for me at work, Cooper's teething and the fact that he is EVERYWHERE and into EVERYTHING, oh yeah and preparing for Christmas, I have been close to the BIG ONE (breakdown, not a heart attack) at least 3 times in the last 10 days. So, what is my answer to this chaos........a lot of prayer and a lot of activities.

This past week we have had two movie nights (Horton Hears a Who and Mary Poppins), made a gingerbread house, baked Christmas fudge and caramels, played cooking show with play dough and made 10,000 crafts! Oh yes, and three more trips to the Dr. office. Saturday we spent the day at Jeremy and Kelley's house (oh, it's such a homey house, we love being there) and the Kellen cousins played, played, played and even did some sledding.

Daddy is now home and I am trying to relax and bring my anxiety level down a few notches. Here are a few pictures from our "activities". I have to give a shout out to Jaime who supplied Layla with her beautiful arteest t-shirt. Layla now has to wear it every time we do a crafty activity. She says, "I have to get my make-things shirt on."

What-Proof?

Cooper's newest trick is to yank on all of the child locked cabinets until they give. Layla obviously wasn't as strong or determined or something because she still can't get them open!

Holly Jolly Bash

I was cleaning out my purse the other day and found a business card with a web site to view pictures taken at the Holly Jolly Bash (http://handsakerhouse.blogspot.com/2008/12/charley-brown-christmas.html) YES! I had totally forgotten there was a photographer there that night who took a picture of Daddy, Layla and I. Now you can all see Layla's wonderful accessories! What a fun night we had!

"Layla, do you know what Daddy hunts?"

This is day 1 of Dave's annual pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota. I am thankful he is cutting this year short, but also thankful that he gets some time away with his friends and his dogs.

When putting Layla down for her nap she asked me where Daddy was working today. I reminded her that he wasn't working, that he was hunting. "Oh yeah," she said.
"Layla, do you remember what daddy hunts for?"
"Yes, dogs."
"No honey, he hunts with his dogs, but he doesn't hunt the dogs. He hunts birds, remember? Pheasant."
"No mom, he does this," she explains as she gets up into the standing position on her bed, legs spread, knees bent and in the perfect shooting position. She then yells, "Reba," which is how Dave releases a dog to fetch a bird. She then apparently shoots Reba.
I'm a little horrified that my daughter has just shot a dog in her imagination.
Layla then sits down and says, "see mom, you just shoot her and she brings the pheasant back."
OK, I'm a little less horrified. She clearly doesn't understand. But oh my. My, oh my, oh my. Dave has some explaining to do when he gets home!

A Man with a Plan and a Very Serious Shopper

...that is what I have on my hands this week. Cooper continues to defy logic and get himself under and into the strangest places. Here he is caught under one of our bar stool. If you look closely, the only way in must have been on his belly. But, here's the thing....he does NOT want you to get him out. If you attempt to "save" him, he screams until you put him back. The same thing happened when he was stuck under the dining room table in the standing position. He is a man with a plan and its best to just let him work his plan.

Miss Layla, on the other hand, is completely entranced with her American Girl catalog. Our niece was into American Girl many years ago and at that time Dave and I had ordered her something. Ever since then, we have continued to receive the catalog and Layla is obsessed! She knows all the dolls names. No, she does not have any dolls but I can tell it is only a matter of time! Nothing can distract her from that catalog!

A Charley Brown Christmas

What a week we've had! Daddy got home late Wednesday night and our great friends from NY arrived Thursday morning. We did not sit still the entire weekend! We took Layla for a big girl night out Friday night. Ohhhh, how I wish I would've had my camera! She was so dang cute in her Christmas dress, her Fancy Nancy red ball earrings, many beaded necklaces and her bright pink and green garage sale purse. We took her to a Christmas show in DSM called Holly Jolly Bash. It was a dinner and performance and she was just glued to all the action. When Joseph, Mary and Jesus arrived on the scene she went completely still and didn't even blink. Needless to say, she had a great time and is still talking about it and reenacting it.

Cooper David has been another story this past week. His top two teeth are about to cut through, he has gunky eyes again and a double ear infection. I know, I know, I wasn't supposed to blog about sickness again, but that's just where we are right now! So, hopefully we've got all the right meds and will moving towards complete health for the whole family very soon!

Aside from feeling cruddy, Cooper is MOVING! The first two weeks of crawling were not happy weeks for Cooper. It just ticked him off that it took so long to get places. Seriously, it was so funny and so annoying all at the same time. He would crawl, but he would whine the whole way! Now, he's fast. He's figured out how to get up on things, down things and all around things. And, he is single minded. Layla really didn't get into stuff and she was easy to distract. Not this boy. If he wants it, he's going to get it and if he can't get it now, he'll wait to you turn your back or leave the room. One way or another, he will get what he wants!

Because of this, a big Christmas tree was not an option this year. So, we went to the tree farm and they hacked off the top of a tree for us. We took it home, put it up on a table and there you have it. It only took 5 minutes to string lights, we didn't have to battle trying to balance a huge tree into the tree stand and it only took 5 minutes to decorate. I don't know, I may want a little Charley Brown tree every year!

"I hear my voice in my ears"

Layla's first sentence to me this morning was, "Mommy, I can hear my voice in my ears."
"What?" I ask her.
"I hear my voice in my ears."
With her amount of congestion it wasn't hard to figure out what she was talking about. It turns out the poor little girl has a double ear infection. The doctor commented that she couldn't believe she hadn't been complaining as both ears were pretty bad.

I can never tell when this girl is really sick. Even when the stomach flu hit us all this weekend she was up dancing to Mickey's Club House in the middle of trips to the bathroom. This summer, she walked around with a strep infection for I don't know how many months before her pediatrician detected it at her 3 year check-up! I'm a terrible mom! I just always think "it's nothing, they'll get through it." HA!

So this is the last posting about anyone in this family being sick. I've decided that we are all getting better......NOW. However, if you don't see a post from me in the next 7 days, send help.

Snow Buddies

Layla came running from her room yesterday morning exclaiming, "mom and dad, there is a ton of snow outside!" Well, not a ton but a couple of inches of our first snow. Of course she wanted to get right out there and play. But, with church and lunch and naps, it just had to wait. Finally, at about 4:45 Dave and Layla got to go play in the snow. Here is their masterpiece. Poor Cooper, all he could do was watch out the front door!