Christmas Day

Happy New Year everyone! I started class again today so before the semester gets out of control and Al gets crazy busy with tax season, I thought I would at least get our Christmas pictures posted!
Christmas was in MN this year and we realized it was the first time we have had Christmas in our house even though we moved into it in 2006. It was a relatively nice and quiet holiday break for us which was good. We all needed some R&R and time to recoup for the new year!

A quick festive picture of our fireplace with Santa toys laid out (the Nutcrackers are not for Taylor..those are part of our collection). Even though our family room is decked out in wood paneling and old-school ceiling tiles, it's actually our favorite room in the house. It is so cozy in the winter with all the Christmas decorations up. Al and I were commenting the other day that our house looks best during Christmas. ;)

Taylor with her first taste of present opening since her birthday in August. She was pretty excited about it for the first couple of presents.

Her big Santa present was set up in the basement. Our basement is actually not ideal for hanging out in. We plan on refinishing it in the next few years, but until then, Al did a great job of clearing out some space and cleaning up a good spot for Taylor to have a play space. That's where her new tunnel toy was set up. It's four tunnels, an intersecting part and two tents. It's so big that we couldn't put it all in the same space. She LOVED it. I wish we had taken a picture of the whole contraption put together!

Later that morning, we made the 90-mile drive to spend Christmas day with most of my mom's side of the family in Rochester. Not everyone lives in MN, but we had a pretty good number show up.

Four-generation photo with both Grandma Kneeskern's:

Taylor loving her Santa hat that great-aunt Mary let her wear!

The Kneeskern/Voigt women, Grandma, Taylor, Joni and Katrina:

Some of the great-granddaughters, Taylor, Bianca, Mia, Megan and Benaysay:

Almost 50% of the great-grandchildren with great-grandma:

The day after Christmas, we had our immediate family's Christmas dinner and present opening.

Here's daddy helping Taylor clean off her fingers! These two are always cracking me up!

Taylor helping Grandma clean up the turkey. The outfits were a coincidence!

Here a just a couple of additional fun photos of Taylor post-Christmas.

I just bought her some barrettes for her bangs because she won't let me trim them. She looks like such a big girl when she wears them! This is also another classic "cheese" face of hers. ;)

Taylor loves her "ba-bas" and they seem to like her a little too. Here's a picture of her and Chewy hanging out one morning while we were trying to get her dressed.

One of Taylor's most recent Christmas gifts from Mimi (Al's grandma). She bought Taylor her own rocking chair and the first one we received wouldn't go together correctly. So we had them send us another one and just received it on Friday. She loves it!

Holiday Tid-bits

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! It's Christmas Eve and I wanted to add a couple of pictures on the blog of some holiday fun. I'm sure there will be another posting of Christmas-day events. Now that I am on vacation and have a few weeks off from school, I can "play" a little and keep this blog updated a bit more. :)

Taylor is getting pretty "hammy" lately. Someone taught her how to say "cheese" when a picture is being taken and now says "mo, mo" (more) when we are taking pictures. While it doesn't produce the cutest face (saying cheese) it is really pretty adorable when she is doing it:

Every year, my family has a tradition of making Christmas cookies. About five years ago (give or take) my Godparents, Joan and Bryan, offered up their big kitchen to us. With their nice countertops and 2 convection ovens, we are able to make an octuple batch of cookies in about two hours! It has been a fun tradition for everyone.

Here is Taylor's first cookie cutting experience assisted by Grandma and Grandpa (or as Taylor says it "Bumpa"):

"Bumpa" helping Taylor decorate:

Even Mommy did a good job, "Yaaay"!:

Here is the new "cheese" face. Like the shirt? That was a gift from Godfather Kolin in Austin:

It has been awhile since we posted a video and I was finally successful today.

Here is a little glimpse of how Minnesota parents torture their toddlers: You begin by wrestling them into snowpants, boots, coat, jacket and mittens. All the while, they turn completely limp and lose all functionality of their limbs. It is literally like wrestling a greased pig or putting a cat in a kennel, depending on the level of agitation of said toddler. Then, you get to strap the poor kid into the car seat with all the gear on and head out into a blizzard. It is advisable to double check the temperature before you head to the park, but what's the fun in that?

I leave you with Taylor's first sledding experience. This was run number one of two. We hadn't realized that the temperature had dropped to 6 degrees (that's right, SIX) during her nap, and the wind was really blowing. Needless to say, she did not have fun, but we have a great video! Did I mention she throws tantrums now? I don't really blame her for this one....

Thanksgiving and 15 Month Stats

Hi everyone! I can't believe we didn't manage to get a post in the month of November. We're getting worse instead of better! School is going well, but it's definitely created a deficit in our "free" time bank. We're managing though and enjoying as much family time as possible.

Taylor just turned 16 months yesterday and becomes more and more enjoyable each day. Who knew that was even possible?? She loves exploring her environment and discovers new things every day. Of course her favorite passtime is stacking and unstacking Tupperware containers. LOVES it. What's even better, she loves to put them away when she's done. Everything has its place and she is very aware of that. Apple of mommy's eye!

We have her 15 month stats from her appointment last month:
Weight - 23 pound 13 oz (70%ile)
Length - 32 inches (90%ile)
Head - 19 inches (96%ile) BIG head! Makes us very aware of the types of shirts we buy. They need to have a stretchy hole opening or lots of button. ;)

Now for some pictures!

Loving on her stuffed tiger that grandma bought her the day she was born:

For Thanksgiving this year, we drove down to Kansas to see Al's family. It was a great weekend and so nice to spend four full days down there with everyone. Even Al's great-grandmother, Mawlene, made it up from Texas with Al's grandma (Mimi). So we had a few opportunities of 5 generation photos. Very special.
We were also there for the arrival of our newest nephew Caleb Isaac and during the weekend, Al's cousin Kristi got engaged. Big weekend and lots of pictures!

Taylor running around with Nana's hat:


All the little grandbabies loved getting a ride on Mawlene's walker:

Running around Nana and Papa's backyard. The weather was great the first couple of days!

Al's family (Taylor was napping):

Baily (Taylor's cousin) was trying very hard to get Taylor to laugh. Taylor just laid there motionless with no expression the whole time. Finally Baily put her hands in the air and said, "That's all I've got!" and walked away. So funny!

Baily spent the night at Nana's since her mom (Al's sister Kelly) was schedule to go into the hospital the next morning. The two cousins got to play that night, very sweet.

Taylor hanging out with her cousins Deidric and Tavaris. They were so sweet to share their toys with her.

We also found some time to visit a high school friend of Al's (Adam) and his family. They have a 2 year old daughter, Ainsley and a 2 month old son, Fletcher. Now Fletcher, Al and Adam all share the same September 22 birthdate!

Taylor and Ainsley being goofy together:

Taylor not sure what to think about this little baby in daddy's arms:

Later that night, Caleb Isaac was born. Here's a picture of big sister, Baily with the proud daddy (Justin):

Nana and Taylor hanging out in Taylor's favorite chair of the weekend. She loved it so much that we're getting her one for Christmas from Mimi:

Taylor not happy that she has to share her ride with Al's cousin's boy, Logan:

Five generation photo including Joni and Les (Papa):

Al and Taylor with Grandpa Voigt:

Taylor and Joni finally getting to meet baby Isaac:

Happy Halloween and updates!

Ok, ok, we are HORRIBLE now at keeping up with our blog. Once a month posts are not acceptable so we apologize. :) School is keeping me busy and Al has been diligently working on our finances since we are in the process of finally setting up Miss Tay's college fund. We couldn't let Halloween pass by though without some pictures.

First, a few updates on Taylor's latest developments. Late last week (around Oct 22nd), Taylor took some official steps between Al and I. She was loving it so much that she completely exhausted herself. After awhile, she would take one step, then collapse to her knees and crawl the rest of the way. As of Halloween though, she can slowly work her way across a room. She stands by herself really well and can even stand up if she's sitting in a small chair or something. It's so cute! I know they say be careful what you wish for, but constantly carrying a 23+ pound 14 month old is not fun anymore. Especially when all she wants to do is have you walk her around bent over and having her direct where she wants to go.

She is also mimicking and verbalizing really well. As far as sign language goes, she knows "food", "more", "please", "thank you", "milk", "all done", "water" and "drink". So dang cute.

For words she says, "ma-ma" and "da-da" although she also uses these words for many other things. She also says "Hiiii", "more", "banana" (nana!), "bye-bye", "ba-ba" means doggies, "turtle", and she'll mimick almost everything we say, like thank you, bye-bye, uh-oh, etc.

She blows kisses (she makes a loud smacking noise on her hand) plus she gives real kisses, puckers her lips and everything. The cutest thing is if one of us is walking around with her (like I was carrying her at Target), she will move our face to hers and lay a big fat one on us. Here's a cute story. After her night of walking for the first time, she and I were hanging out on the floor and she started smacking my face and waving her arms everywhere. I was trying to tell her "nice touches" and finally just closed my eyes until she was done for fear of getting a scratched cornea. Next thing I know, after about 3 seconds of my eyes being closed, I got a big, wet smooch right on the kisser. I just cracked up and she was so proud of herself. Such a funny little girl.

She loves being at events, especially events that have cheering. Even if we're watching a UT game, she will join in on the clapping. Most times she thinks we're cheering for her, of course.

Little miss is down to one nap a day most days. Especially at daycare. I guess the timing works since she'll have to do that in the toddler room starting in December.

Her favorite foods are bananas and carrots. She could eat those all day every day.

Lastly, she is still a total daddy's girl. I honestly don't know when it will be my turn again. I'm not that surprised though, I knew Al would be a very attentive daddy and she always prefers being in his arms. The little stinker will even look at her bedroom door when I go and get her up in the morning. She just stands there and waits for him to come pick her up out of her crib. I keep joking that hopefully we'll have a boy next so I can get my Mama's boy! ;) The only time I really am the prefered one is if we're around other people, then I'm #1. ;)

Ok, time for some pictures!

This year we decided to have Taylor be a little gorilla for Halloween. It was so funny. She does a monkey noise where she goes "ooh! ooh! ooh!" and slaps her chest. I honestly don't know where she picked that up. But of course we had to use "nanas" for her finishing touch props.

Here she is with her fake banana for the daycare party on the 30th:

She was not in much of a festive mood that night. The day was unseasonably warm and all the tots were uncomfortable in their warm costumes.

Here she is tired and hot (with her costume unzipped):

Now for her first trick or treating outting. Her mood was a lot better and she hammed it up a bit for our neighbors. Here is her first piece of candy that she enjoyed gumming:

This is her and Mr. Dude, our neighbor's 4 month old bull-dog that outweighs Taylor. So cute! I think he's trying to snag her snicker bar. Taylor's favorite part of the nights, was emptying out the candy bowls piece by piece and then putting them all back.

Here are some cute pictures from the past month.

Daddy and Taylor on one of the Saturdays that mommy was in class:

Taylor proud of herself after completing her favorite task, putting clothes in the laundry shute. Look at that belly! :)

Sweet face:

Family shot at the Apple House. It was FREEZING that day (one week ago) and has been beautiful since then:

Ok, this next picture is very unflattering, but I thought it was a hilarious "before" and "after" shot of Taylor. Taylor has a tendency to wipe her messy hands in her hair during meals. Of course the messier the better in her mind. So this night she was eating some ravioli and marinara...you can actually see the chunks in her hair. I had to wipe her down before I even put her in the bath!

Before:

After! Is that the same kid??? ;)

Home Improvement

So first, we apologize for not posting anything in over a month! It's been an incredibly busy end of the summer and beginning of fall. The biggest new event is that I (Joni) went back to school on September 13th. I started an MBA program and am really excited about it. It's a ton of work, but only 20 months long and every other Saturday classes. Al is being extremely supportive and helpful so its helping me a lot mentally. I'm not pulling my hair out yet!

In other news, back in May we got hit with a pretty hard hail storm. It shredded our newly planted landscaping in back and also did some damage to our house. In ones way though, Mother Nature worked in our favor. We hated the outside of our house, but couldn't justify new siding in the foreseeable future. Even though the hail only damaged one side of our house, the insurance company couldn't match the aluminum stuff we had so we ended up with the whole house redone and the detached garage! Oh, and a new roof, but that's not as exciting. Anyway, we're sorry for not having some Taylor pictures (we've tried to upload some videos...or Al has...but it hasn't been cooperating), but hopefully those will come soon (Al has to take over the blogging for now).

For tonight, I just wanted to show some house progress!

The front of our house before the facelift. In this picture you can also see some stone by the sidewalk. I had taken 2 days off from work and did some landscaping. It was actually very therapeutic. Out all day in the sun for 2 days, improving the yard, getting away from work and having "me" time.

Here is the side of our house (the side that was actually damaged) with all the ivy and overgrown foliage. Ugh.

Close up of the side (before). Seriously, everything had been so unkempt when we first bought the house in 2006 and we just hadn't had the time to work on this side yet. Unfortunately it's the side that is most exposed since we're on a corner.

Back of our house (picture taken in 2006 before our patio). Notice all the ivy on the addition. It was beautiful in the summer, but looked bad in the winter. Plus when it dies off, it's impossible to come off (the front of our house was an example of this).

Here's a picture of Al taking things into his own hands. We decided that since we were changing our house color, we wanted to get rid of the awful brick in front. It had been painted white and was falling apart anyway. Al worked on it for a few days with a small sledge hammer and a crow bar. It actually came out pretty easily! We just have to pay for the siding that covers that area since it wasn't a "necessary" add-on. Well worth it for us!

Close up of the front of the house. You can see what the ivy does to the siding and brick when it dies off. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get off too. Yuck.

A fun shot of all the brick we took off of the house. Woo!

Ok, drum roll please! Just to give you an appetizer, here is the "after" picture of my landscaping. It was really gratifying to do this myself, but now I know that I could never do it for a living. I was so sore for days! In case you're wondering, the white-looking stuff behind the stone is grass-mulch mix. Next season it should fill in nicely.

Close up of one side. The one plant in the front is a really nice hosta, but the white flower got chopped off by another storm we had in August. Next year it will look even nicer. I love the perennials in the back because they are at peak time right now (September) with bright pink color. The middle ones now have a purple daisy-like flower. It's amazing how many new neighbors you meet while doing some landscaping. I was surprised by how many people stopped while driving by to tell me how good it was coming along. So nice!

Front of the house after new siding and new roof. Next season we're going to look into tearing out the big bushes and redoing the landscaping. We want big bushes like this for the privacy, but the ones we have are dying out and in bad shape. We also need to find a way to cover the foundation. It will be really fun to get some ideas from the landscaping company we used for our patio.

North side after new siding and all of the bushes ripped out. We will hopefully landscape this area too next year. Al is working on getting the shutters up on this side currently. The one bad thing about the new siding though is that the window trim looks shabby now (older windows) and are covered with dead ivy remnants.

Back of house. It looks SO different without the ivy! So bare, but nice. Al redid the downspouts and tore out the ivy roots, except for what is on the chimney. We're debating on leaving that part. You can also see the handrail by the backdoor that Al put up about a month ago. He is getting to be so handy!

Back of the house with the new siding and patio. We like how the Texas sign looks against the new house color.

Ok, so that's all for the house, here is your reward for looking at all of that. Taylor and daddy during the first game of the year. So precious! She's getting to be such a big girl .