Manger
While in Baton Rouge for the weekend, we took Kaira and Lokei to see a live manger scene in town.
Roller Skating
At a birthday party for a classmate. At first she had to hold on to the edge and wouldn't let go, but she finally got the hang of it and did pretty good skating around all by herself.
Dress Up
One morning, Kaira was playing quietly in her room. I peeked my head in to see what she was up to - and found that Kaira had dressed poor Chloe up in her dress-up clothes.
New Class Book
Kaira's class made their third publication...
Candy Cane Reindeer
Having fun decorating candy canes... Gluing on googly eyes and a pom pom nose, and making antlers out of pipe cleaners... and at the end, our fleet of finished reindeer.
Decorating the Tree
Christmas Pageant
The kindergarten classes at Kaira's school had a Christmas pageant, and I took some pictures of her in her dress before she headed off to school that morning...
School Christmas Party
They decorated gingerbread men cookies. They also had a book exchange where each kid brought a wrapped book and they all traded and got to bring home a new book. The book that Kaira got had a big bow on it, which she took off and wore on her head. Then she refused to open the book, saying she was going to wait til Christmas... which she did (she was the only one in her class who didn't open the book immediately). And her and some of her friends being silly and making a train with the chairs.
Christmas Artwork
Christmas Story
Painting
Gingerbread House!
Making a gingerbread house has become an annual tradition. Kaira has been able to help a little more each year, and this year was able to help mix the dough and roll it out, hold the house together while the icing set (we finally cheated and tied it with string), and of course, help decorate it. She also got to decorate the gingerbread boy/girl cookies we made.
Santa!
Of course we had to make a visit to the big guy. She was super excited to go visit, even though she knows that the mall Santas "are not the real Santa, they are helpers that go back and tell Santa what all the boys and girls want." She clammed up when she got on his lap and wouldn't say anything when he asked what she wanted. He said, "I bet you'd like a nice football," which I think was a throwback to the Christmas Story movie. She did exactly as Ralphie did the in the movie and nodded her head and said yes. This, of course, made Santa laugh. He finally got a few words out of her and she left happy as could be.
Letter to Santa
Kaira drew a picture to leave for Santa. She explained to me that it was a picture of her and that she was sad because she had not seen Santa in a very long time. And of course we left out the picture with milk and cookies on Christmas Eve.
Our Christmas Tree
Before and after Santa came...
Christmas Morning
Doll Bed
Kaira got a new doll at Thanksgiving from my aunt as an early Christmas present. She has been having fun playing with it, dressing it, etc. At night, she has taken to tucking it in in a variety of places including a bed made out of two chairs, on top of her table in her room, in a nest made out of blankets on the floor for it, etc. So I decided that she needed a bed for the doll... and made one for her as a Christmas gift. It was a little tricky seeing as she is pretty much always home when I am, so I had to do a lot of late night work after bedtime. But it gave me an excuse to play with my power tools (I got to use the circular saw, jigsaw, router and sander on this one!). It was the first thing she saw coming downstairs Christmas morning, and immediately tucked her doll into it (which, of course, she has brought down with her when she woke up). Here are pictures of the work in progress and the finished product. I also made a little mattress, comforter, and pillow to go with it.
More Presents...
Barrel of Monkeys (from Kevin), a play doctor set, and a football (of course the football was from "Santa" and she got a real laugh out of that)
Of course, the one thing Kaira asks for every year for Christmas is cars, even though she has an entire bin full of them now. She loves cars. So this year I got her a big stunt track to go with the cars... they flip and do loop-to-loops and fly off of ramps and all kinds of neat tricks. It even came with a launcher that can shoot off one car at a time down the tracks, or up to five all at once. Super cool. Needless to say, this gift was a big hit.
Karen's Stuff
The first semester is over... finally!! And I managed to keep my standing in the top half of the class. I ended the semester with a 3.2, which, of course, I would have liked to be higher, but it is medical school and I guess I am just going to have to get used to making some B's here and there. I keep hearing that the first semester is the hardest, so hopefully it should get better from here on out.
I hope everyone has enjoyed the pictures and posts throughout the year, and hope that this one finds you all in good health and spirits. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. I'm sure 2009 will be chock full of it's own joys, trials and memories. Looking forward to sharing them all with you. Have a good one!
