A model already

Today I went to have Brayden's 1 month pictures taken and was excited to find his newborn picture framed on the shelf. If you're ever at Main Place Mall stop in The Picture People and check it out.

Brayden's 1 Month Photo Shoot

AND

Katelyn's 18 Month Pictures

Let it Snow!

Katelyn loved playing in the snow this year. She had so much fun running around making little foot prints in the snow with her boots. I'm amazed by how warm blooded she is. We couldn't get her to keep her hood up or her gloves on. Watching her enjoy something as simple as snow really reminded me of the first time I saw snow as a child. The year we spent Christmas with my Mom's parents in Boston, MA, it didn't snow much, but my brother and I were old enough to enjoy the couple of inches on the ground. We built a snowman and attempted to make snow angels. While we didn't do either of those with Katelyn this year, I know we'll have many more years to make these wonderful memories with our kids.

Sizzler Traditions

Every Christmas that we spend in Big Bear it's one of our traditions to eat at the Sizzler for dinner. This tradition goes far back for the Circle clan... long before I joined them. I think it's so much fun to bundle up and head over to Sizzler's for some steak and shrimp. This picture was taken right before Katelyn decided to have a major meltdown, which lasted the entire meal. So much fun! Thankfully, Brayden slept through the whole episode.

After an hour of being home Katelyn finally relaxed and we were able to take a few pictures before she headed to bed. I'm surprised we were able to get her to smile. We figured out that she is teething and has since spent the last several days chewing on her pacifier or her fingers like crazy. Poor thing!

Spoiled for Christmas

Katelyn had so much fun this year ripping into present after present. She especially enjoyed the fact that she got to open most of Brayden's presents too since he's too little to do so himself. This year Kyle's parents, sister, and brother and my parents all spoiled this kids with new wardrobes of clothes, puzzles, toys and games. We ended up having Katelyn begin opening presents on Christmas Eve and then a few at a time all day long on Christmas Day. I think by the end of the day she was very overwhelmed and stimulated as she had a bit of a meltdown at The Sizzler that night. Thank you so much Gigi, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Leah, Brendan and Ashtyn for loving on our kids and blessing them with so many wonderful gifts this Christmas.

This Christmas we began talking to Katelyn about Santa. We even made sure to have a present under the tree for Katelyn from Santa. Thanks to some of our friends the Caston's we were able to find a great present for Katelyn from Santa, a vacuum. For the last several month Katelyn's been afraid of the vacuum, but at the Caston's party it was her favorite toy of Kylie's to play with. We thought that getting her one might help her overcome this fear. She loved the gift!! Between the kitchen set my mom got her and the vacuum she's in 7th Heaven!

The Circle's go bowling

Every Year.

We bowl!

Competitively!

Of course I never win, but I sure try. This year we even had them put up the bumpers a couple of times so Katelyn could try bowling as well. She had so much fun at the bowling alley and constantly exclaimed, "Whoa." Every year we are usually all trying to beat Kyle's brother, Brendan, but this year we were all trying to beat Kyle. He kept bowling strikes and spares. All in all it was tons of fun as always. I love this family tradition we have!

Brendan, Doug, Kyle

Katelyn's 1st attempt to bowl

Merry Christmas in Big Bear 2009

This year we spent Christmas in Big Bear with Kyle's family. We always have so much fun going up to Big Bear. It's so relaxing and we always feel like it's a great mini vacation. It's always an experience packing up the Tahoe to drive up there. I'm amazed by how much stuff you need to pack for 2 kids just to leave your home for 3 days. I kept telling myself that we'd have a lot less stuff coming home, but then we arrived in Big Bear and saw the piles of gifts for the kids and knew we were going to have a full car going home. Our kids are so blessed!

This year we spent 3 days in Big Bear so while it was relaxing we had a lot of traditions we had to pack in and 1 less day to do them in. Bowling, skiing, napping, playing in the snow, opening gifts, and Christmas dinner at Sizzler. I'm so thankful for my Circle family. They are so amazing and I cherish every memory that I am able to be a part of with them.

Brayden's Newborn Pictures

I had these pictures taken when Brayden was 10 days old, but it's taken me a while to get them scanned into the computer so I could post them. Brayden looked adorable and didn't fuss at all while having his pictures taken. It's so crazy to look at these and see how much he's changed in only 1 month.

Guess Who?

Brayden's newborn picture is the 1st picture and Katelyn's newborn picture is below. It's so cute how similar they look, only Katelyn was a little chunkier.

Cookie Decorating

Today, after Katelyn's doctor's appointment we were supposed to head over to Katelyn's friend's Jake and Brooke's house to decorate the cookies she and I made yesterday. However, Jake came home from preschool sick and so I promised that after "night night" (nap time) she could decorate her "Ka Ka" (cookie in her words). As soon as she got up she was already in the kitchen pointing to the cookies on the counter. Who knew she would understand what activity she had missed out on that morning and that she would remember after her nap that I had told her she could decorate a cookie. So I set everything up in the kitchen and she had a BLAST decorating and eating her cookie. Talk about a sugar rush. Should help her sleep tonight once she crashes from the sugar high. Just kidding!

While Katelyn decorated her cookie we were able to get on the computer and Skype with her Great-Nana so she could watch her. I think it was fun for both of them. I love Skype, it's been such an amazing video chat program for my family the last 2 years.

We tried to involve Brayden, but this is how he chose to spend his time rather than decorating cookies. Oh well, maybe next year!