School Christmas Party!

Today was Kendall's last day of school before Christmas and her party! Here she is with her friends, ready to eat lunch! She was so excited that Randy, Cooper, and I were there. She kept running over to us and giving us hugs. Love that!
Her best buddy in her class is Conner. They were in the same class last year and they just love each other! Today her teacher told me that another boy in Kendall's class came up to her (the teacher) and said, "Conner's saying that's HIS Kendall and she's not! She's MY Kendall!!" Then Conner said, "No - she's MY Kendall!" She already has boys fighting over her! Oh my. When we told Randy about this, he said, "Nope. She's MY Kendall." :)

All her friends were interested in her baby sister again like at Thanksgiving. It was quite a chore keeping them off her sometimes!

She loved all the attention! She just smiled and cooed at one of the boys for a long time!

So happy her Daddy was there!

My little buddy!

All the kids brought books and they exchanged. Kendall chose her own book, though! And loves it!

"Daddy, read it to me!" While she finished her cake.

In the carseat. Holding her sister.

Before we left, Kendall rode in the car in the ark area for awhile. She was so hyper.

See you later!!

The Christmas Story

Tonight Kendall put her reindeer from Carole and a little bear in Cooper's pink chair and brought her little Bible in to read to them. She said, "Mom I am going to read them 'bout Jesus." Then she did this:

"Jesus was born and he was in the manger. And he seened the angels. The end."

Pretty good retelling, but she left out one of her favorite parts to talk about: the "three old men."

She's so great. :)

Christmas at the Dane's

Randy put lights on the house for the first time this year! Mom and David had some extra lights that they gave us and we think they look great! Every time we pull up to the house, Kendall says, 'Ooooo there's our house! It's so booo-tiful!"

Kendall got a new tree this year! Our friend Erin Martin told us that her daughter Aubrey was finished with her pink Barbie tree and asked if Kendall would want it because she knew she loves pink. It is so cute in her room! Also, I found the pillowcase that my freshman year college roommate's mom made for me for Christmas that year and put it on her bed.
We are running out of room for all our nativities! This year we put the Jim Shore nativity in Kendall's room because we think it matches well and because Mom and David got it for us in Fredricksburg the weekend we found out we were pregnant with Kendall. We also set up some of her Christmas books with the Precious Moments nativity.

Cooper has a tree in her room, too! Kendall decorated this one for her, if you can't tell. :)

Our church partners with four countries that we do missions with: Bolivia, Cambodia, Kenya, and Mexico. We have at least one nativity from each and we set them up in our kitchen window - perfect for the missions pastor's house! :)

I love our Christmas tree!!!

My favorite part: the stockings! We just love having four stockings hanging on the fireplace this year. I am pretty proud of them!

Merry Christmas!

Holding Sister

Kendall loves to hold Cooper and is really good at it! She holds on tight and makes sure she is comfortable.

Last week we watched Sarah and Caleb while Mary and Nathan went on a date. Sarah wanted to hold Cooper, too!

Kendall and Baby Jesus

Kendall is all about Baby Jesus this year. We love it. She has loved playing with the Fontanini nativity set that my friends Janet and Shari bought us when we got marriend. It is the best nativity set because it is not breakable. She is also playing with her Little People nativity set a lot that Gigi and Peeps got her on her first Christmas. We have lots of funny Baby Jesus stories and I wanted to get them all written down before I forgot.

First: Kendall had the baby Jesus from the Fontanini set and was playing with him and talking to him. Randy was trying to listen and hear what she was saying, but she was talking really quietly. She had him cupped in her hands and he overheard her say, "Your mama said I could!" and then she opened the door to her microwave on her play kitchen and put him in there! Ha!

Next: She was carrying Baby Jesus around with her purse, and the manger. She said, "I put him in his bed in here so he could get some sleep." And she stuck him in her purse.

And my favorite story yet: I was feeding Cooper one day while she was playing with Jesus. She said, "Mom. I need to feed Baby Jesus." Then she proceeded to raise her shirt and pretend to nurse the Baby Jesus. Then she burped him. It was the cutest thing ever. And maybe a little irreverent. But we love it.

These pictures are from when she was singing Happy Birthday to him one day. Lately she has been saying, "First Jesus has a birthday, and then I have a birthday! I am going to turn three in February."

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!

Buddies

I love these friends!

Kendall calls them her "little friends." Her "big friends" come to our house every Thursday night for our young adult small group. That's Michael and Noelle, Jeff, Amy, Angela, Carlette, etc. But her little friends are Ethan and Ella, Sarah and Caleb, Lawson, Aubrey, Brynlee, etc. Mary and Holly came over one morning last week so we could work on some women's retreat stuff, and the kids played outside in the little house while we worked.
We told them to raise their hands and say "Merry Christmas!!"

Red Boots!

Gracie gave Kendall some red boots that were handed down to her. She had two pair and Kendall loved them, so Gracie shared with her! Kendall has loved wearing them and I think she looks so cute!
She wanted me to take a picture of the ornament that has a picture of her sitting in Santa's lap in it when she was 10 months old. Last year we recorded her saying "Ho Ho Ho" and she plays it all the time!

Check out her cute reindeer bow. A friend of mine made her and Cooper this one and a Christmas tree one, and we got some for Gracie and Evy to wear too. Maybe we'll get a picture of all four girls when they are back together for Christmas.

Thanksgiving Trip, Part 3

We spent the last three days of our trip at Granny and Papas' house. Granny came home on Friday from the hospital, so by Monday she was ready to see her girls. Kendall was so sweet helping me take care of Granny, and Cooper spent a lot of time sitting and recuperating with her. Alden and Scott came over for dinner Monday night, and her and Kendall played with some of the Fisher Price toys Granny has kept from when we were little.

Cooper took a break from Granny a few times and let Papas hold her. :)

Good medicine!

Cooper kept wanting to climb up Granny! She is getting so strong and kept working out those legs.

Granny got Kendall some gel window clings. One of them is a snowman that you put together, and Kendall had a lot of fun playing with them.

I think one of Kendall's favorite parts about staying at Granny's house was getting to see her cat, Cricket. They got a cat to stay outside and chase mice, but it got pretty cold, so Papas brought it in some. Kendall was so excited to get to hold it. She sat so still and was so sweet. Too bad she then started getting red splotches on her face - no more holding the cat!

At one point we looked over and this is how she was sitting. Really...is she five?! She is just getting so big!

Randy got super sick while we were at Granny and Papas house, but by Wednesday he had a few shots and was feeling better. We packed up and headed south! It was a great trip and we are looking forward to coming back in a few weeks for Christmas!