Christmas, 2012

 We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  Both my brother and sister were able to spend Christmas morning with us, so like Thanksgiving, we had our entire immediate family at the house for the holiday.  With every one in my family married now, who knows how many opportunities we will have to all be together like this.  I know next year we are going to try to be in New Jersey for Christmas, and hopefully we will be able to have a second child by 2 Christmases from now, so we will probably want to actually spend Christmas at home.

We definitely enjoyed the day, and especially watching Kalea take every thing in for the first time.  Here is my parents tree Christmas morning.  Santa stopped by our house and delivered a nice tricycle for Kalea since she was such a good girl this year.

Gramma and Grampa picked out a nice Kalea sized chair for her to enjoy.

Of course Santa provides a new toothbrush, and this year he even brought 2 so she can keep 1 at our house and 1 at Gramma's house.

She really enjoyed spending time with her Aunt and Uncle.  i don't know why she was doing this, but I just loved her "Home Alone" look I caught on camera.

Every one enjoying the morning together.

The stalking all hung by the chimney with care.  Including Kalea's temporary stalking nice and small in the middle.  Gramma is still working on finishing her cross-stitched version.

Kalea really enjoyed her gift from Santa.  Here she is checking it out with Uncle John.

She likes it!  Grampa pushing her back and forth.

Daddy's turn to show her the ropes on her new bike!

What a wonderful Christmas we had.  I couldn't have asked for a better day, except of course for having Mom Mom and Pop Pop there as well!  I hope everyone  had a wonderful Christmas.  We are looking forward to the new year and what surprises and changes it will bring with our family.

Grampa's Birthday and Christmas Eve

My Dad's Birthday is very close to Christmas, and because of this, he grew up very particular about how he likes to celebrate his big day.  Now with Kalea in our lives, he has someone in the family to commiserate with in having a birthday so close to a big holiday.  He now is able to share in a joyful occasion with his first grandchild.

Here is a picture of the Christmas babies spending some time together watching football.

Kalea has a brand new outfit and I decided to have her wear it for Grampa's birthday.  Here she is chasing after Charlie.

My Dad's favorite birthday cake is usually made by my mom, but she took him to dinner while we set up his birthday festivities at home.  Needless to say from this picture, the cake turned out a little funny.  At least it still tastes great!

Skyping with John and Kristin while opening birthday presents.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Now on to Christmas Eve.  Sorry Dad, I just have to since I don't have a lot of pictures from that day!

We had some time in between wrapping presents and enjoying tamales to play "So Big" with Kalea while playing with a football.

Taking a break on the kitchen floor.

On Christmas Eve, my family always opens one gift and it is a new set of Christmas pajamas.  After the pajamas, it is time to read "The Night Before Christmas."  We read it to Kalea last year, but of course she was only 2 days old, so she really didn't know what was going on.  This year, she enjoyed listening to the story while playing with a new book.  In this picture, she is actually looking at the story, but for the most part she was playing with her book.

We really love the Holidays; spending as much time as possible with our family is the most important part of the Christmas season for us.  In the end the presents don't matter, they will be forgotten with time.  I love making memories and traditions that hopefully Kalea will be able to share and pass down to her family some day in the future.  Merry Christmas Eve!

A Teddy Bear Tea Party

When deciding what "theme" to do for Kalea's first birthday, it took me quite a long time.  A lot of it had to do with the craziness of this last year and not having a lot of time to get ready.  All I have to say is thank goodness for my Mom and Sister, otherwise there wouldn't have been much of a party theme going on.  When I finally figured out what I wanted to do, it was one of those moments when you just think, "Of course!"  I decided I needed to incorporate teddy bears into the theme since she absolutely loves her teddy bears she has.  My mom has a ton of them for her Christmas decorations, so I figured that way it wouldn't look too funny with all of the decorations set up for the Holidays.  I wanted the party to be easy in terms of set up so it turned into a "Teddy Bear Tea Party."

My mom and sister created this banner with a picture from each month.  It is now hanging in her room!

We used a combo of her teddy bears and Gramma's and had them set up all over the house with tea sets.  

I love having this picture of the hubby drinking his tea.

The dessert table with cupcakes and cookies.

My mom decided to put marshmallow teddy bears on top her smash cake.  She was originally going to dip them in chocolate, but I went for simplicity instead.

Her "Kalea is 1!" banner

The guests enjoying the party.

Kalea was starting to get a little tired, so we sped up the party a bit and went to the opening of the gifts fairly quickly.  She loved this balloon given by Carla; later she popped it but it kept her entertained for quite a while.

The buchner girls smiling for the camera, notice Gma on the right also smiling...I love it!

Her cousin Aydan giving her a big hug.  She was a great helper in opening the gifts since Kalea wasn't too interested.

Showing off her new clapping skills.

I love Gma!  Isn't she pretty?

Aydan really enjoyed all of the new toys she got to play with since Kalea isn't quite there  yet in knowing what it is all about.

Family picture

She loved her birthday cake!  Gramma did a great job!

She was a little interested in the cake, but not as much as Aunt Sara wanted.  She was very proper in the eating of her cake.

Later in the evening, after her nap, she played dress-up with some of her new clothes.  This adorable dress is from our cousin Jacque.  

Kalea just looked on while Gramma opened all of the gifts from the packaging and the other kids played with them.

This outfit is from Aunt Sara and she is so cute in it.  She is playing with the gift from Mommy and Daddy

She looks tough in the picture, I love it!

We ended the birthday festivities with a small family dinner at Islands restaurant.  This is the best picture I was able to get with Gramma, Grampa, and Kalea.  It was a wonderful first birthday!  Thank you to everyone who made it out the last Saturday before Christmas to help us celebrate!

Kalea's 1 Year Stats and Pics

Just over a week ago, our little girl turned 1.  I know how often people say the time will fly by; but until you are actually a parent, it doesn't seem like it will go as fast as it actually has!  Pat and I love this little girl so much, it is really difficult to describe.  We have grown so close as a couple, and this is because of sharing the parenting of our little one.  

This last year has definitely changed us, Pat is now incapable of watching "Father of the Bride" (his exact words:  "I hate this movie!"  when the little girl says "Daddy, I met a boy and we are getting married") and I break down in tears any time I see a show where the oldest daughter goes off to college (thanks Parenthood!).  These are definitely emotional changes we will take any day because it shows us how much we love this little ball of joy, and it has only been a year!

Her 1 year stats from her doctor's appointment:

Height: 29.9"  (75%)

Weight: 18.5 pounds (10%)

Head Cir: 17.75"  (50%)

This entire year she has been at the higher end in height and the low end on weight.  She eats really well, but she just can't seem to catch her weight up.  It is looking like she will have great potential for a future volleyball career =)

Lots of changes this last month.  She is now crawling like a champion and loves chasing after our cats.  She can get up on her knees as she is playing, and loves to crawl over our legs.  She is starting to talk, babbling tons.  She says "hi" "da" "kittie" "Oh wow"  and lots of other sounds bunched together.  She sometimes sounds like she says "ma" and "tigger" (one of our cats names).  She has 6 teeth now,  2 of them coming through within a week of each other.

She loves to talk to herself and then hysterically laugh at something only she knows.  She has learned how to do "So Big!" with her arms raised thanks to Mom Mom in New Jersey.  She started to clap on the morning of her first birthday.  She points to everything, whether it is for the name of the object, to go in that direction, or just to say hello.  

Kalea is fiercely a "Daddy's Girl,"  especially when she is tired.  His is usually the only shoulder she will cuddle on any time of the day, if not him then his Pop Pop of Grampa will suffice.  She gives the biggest smiles to almost anyone, once she has warmed up to new surroundings.  She loves to be chased around the house and now to chase us as she crawls after us.   She loves to "read" books, flipping through the pages and looking at the pictures.

She loves to play with our cell phones and computers.  It has gotten difficult to Skype with the grandparents as she only wants to play with the keyboard so they just see the top of her head.  She is really enjoying all of her new toys from her Birthday and Christmas, so far figuring out how to play with the "Ball-cano" Gma bought her and banging together or chewing on the rest of the toys.

Happy Birthday to the best little girl Mommy and Daddy could ever ask for.  We are so blessed to have you in our lives and we look forward to spending every moment we can with you.

Here are some pictures from her "photo shoot" in her Minnie onesie she wore every month.  

In this next picture, Pat is blowing in her hair.  I just love the look I captured!

"Are you done taking pictures yet Mommy?"

Enjoying her first taste of marshmallow with her Daddy.