Merry Christmas!

We had a great "white" Christmas! We now have at least a foot of snow on the ground. It started to snow on Wednesday night, all day Friday and on and off today.
Christmas was wonderful! It was just us, Jacob, Taylor, Kamdyn and I. This is the first time ever but it was nice. My mom and grandma are coming on Monday for a week.
We (Taylor) all woke up around 7:30am. No sleeping in for this family especially when you tell your 2 1/2 year old that if she goes to sleep, she will be able to open presents in the am! We came down stairs and I had the video camera...it was great! We set the video camera up to capture the moments of opening presents and of course Kamdyn's 1st Christmas When we were all finished, I went to look at the video and nothing...it wasn't video taping at all! It was defiantly a sad moment. But we video taped much of the day to make up for it.
The girls love there gifts. We gave Taylor a pink guitar, microphone and amp. She loves it! Along with many other dolls, books and a Dora bike helmet (she asked for it.)
Kamdyn, got a "Dino"(special to our family) dog, a toy turtle that makes noise and rolls on the floor and a ball that lights up and rolls on the floor. She loves her toys as well!
We followed up the presents with watching the movie "UP". If you have not watch this movie, it is so cute and perfect for kids. Nothing bad...just pure joy!
As the kids were napping, I started on dinner preparations. We had one amazing dinner. Rosemary and garlic rib eye from Whole Foods, saute green beans with mushrooms, shallots and bacon, cream cheese mash potatoes, candied pecan, apple, goat cheese, red onion, spinach salad, home made rolls and a chocolate citrus two layer cake. Yes, I made everything and everything was amazing! Melt in your mouth amazing! I have to give "Southern Living" magazine the credit though, I did take every recipe from them except the rib eyes. I do have pictures to prove it.
We had such a wonderful day!
On a side note please pray for the Loux family, wife and 10 children. Derek Loux a christian singer, song writer and leader of the International House of Prayer died in a car accident Dec 23. Pray for strength for his family!

update

I can't believe its already 1 week until Christmas! Boy, this year has flown by!
We as a family, are doing well. We are getting more and more settled here in Kansas City. The weather on the other hand is not settling! It is so dry here, we are routinely putting on lotion and chap stick. It is also a bit colder here than South Carolina and Florida, but other than that we are really well.
Kamdyn is cutting her first tooth. I could feel it coming through tonight. Poor thing, I'm glad we do not remember the pain that is behind getting our first tooth! She's been so cuddly, which I love! We also had her first well visit to the pediatrician here in KC. We finally found a Dr that we love, she is amazing! Kamdyn (8mths), weighted in at 14lbs and 25 inches long. She is in the 5% in weight and in height, she's just a little girl! It is surprising because she was 8lbs 3oz's at birth! But not surprising because her momma is little!
Ta did the same thing, she was 14lbs 4ozs when she was 8 or 9 months old, tiny!
Taylor, is doing well also. She is getting excited to open presents on Christmas. We have decided as a family, not celebrate Santa but, instead tell our children about St. Nicholas. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus not some fake icon. The gifts are from Mommy and Daddy. We want our children to realize that mommy and daddy have worked hard for these gifts! Anyways.....We were listening to Christmas songs on the radio and "Jingle Bells" came on and Ta said mommy "this is a song about Tinker Bell!" I thought it was so funny, I had to write it down! So, if I do not blog before Christmas. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I realize that it has been quite some time since my last post.
We have been extremely busy.
In the beginning of November we went to Breckenridge, Colorado for a week on vacation. It was so beautiful! We explored the cute little town, did some shopping, went sledding, visited the Continental Divide, Ta and I painted pottery, built snow men and just relaxed in our amazing 3 bedroom hotel!
Kamdyn and Taylor are doing well. Kamdyn, said "DaDa" to her daddy, for the first time On Wednesday the 25th and she said "MaMa" to me for the first time today.
Taylor, is growing. We've been working on her pronunciation of words and she is doing so well. She's been asking about dance classes. We can't start them until she is 3! But she get's excited just talking about them.
We went home to Illinois for Thanksgiving, to spend time with Jake's family. We had such a nice time. Ta and Kam were spoiled with lots of toys! The Sunday following Thanksgiving, Jake preached and lead worship at a church not to far from his home town in Carmi, Illinois. He did really well and we love the people at Mercy Gate!
Our kitchen is almost complete with renovations. I can't wait until it is finished. It already looks like a totally different kitchen. I will post pictures of the before and after!
We purchased our Christmas tree on Monday and decorated it last night! We had such a good time. We are going today to get Kamdyn's stocking done, buy an ornament for her first Christmas and an ornament in honor of my dad. It's a little difficult right now thinking about this first Christmas with out my dad. It will be different.
I will post pictures as soon as I can. Merry Christmas......I love this time of year!