Ky-ee Mi-oh-neh-ee

"Ky-ee Mi-oh-neh-ee"

Translation: "Kylie is a missionary." This is something we hear from Will a lot now, because...

My sister, Kylie, left on her LDS mission to Orlando, Florida! She will be gone for 18 months.

(There is a very nice missionary picture of Kylie that should go here... Check back soon.)

We were able to go to California to see her off in February. We thought it would be a good last trip while Will could still fly for free (before turning 2 this next week!).

We had a lot of fun doing a lot of "last time for 18 months" things with Kylie - eating out at favorite places, going in the hot tub, and movie watching. We were also there to see her give her farewell talk in church (Will was bribed heavily with M&Ms) and to see her be set apart (where Will pulled down his pants - among other crazy antics). He sure adds a "fun" spirit to everything we do now.

(inside his first car wash - so exciting!

We were also able to spend time with lots of extended family.

Unfortunately, Will caught a terrible cold while we were there (which seems to happen every time!), so our last few days were spent with a sick toddler. I caught it a few days after that, and Daniel caught it several days after THAT - so we have been sick for the past 3 weeks (so far). That mostly explains the lack of blogging recently (which I heard my great-grandma was not happy about). So, here you go GG! :)

First Swim Lessons

We started swim lessons for Will. Daniel was kind enough to volunteer to be the one in the water with him. I got to sit back and watch my favorite boys.

What a cutie!

Christmas!

Christmas 2013 was such a great holiday for our family!

This was the first year, since we've been married, that we didn't travel home to California for the holiday break. It was Alexa's family's "year," and they actually came up to Washington.

It was awesome.

It was so relaxing to not spend the holiday season packing, cleaning, traveling, living out of a suitcase, etc. - especially with a crazy toddler. We had also finished all of our Christmas shopping before our November CA trip, so we didn't have to stress about that either. We just celebrated all month long.

Our Christmas Tree

Another in our Christmas of "firsts," we finally got a real Christmas tree! It didn't really make sense to get a tree when we'd be gone half of December, but this year we wanted to give it a try.

But there were specific constraints. Our little boy is a quite the spitfire, and any tree within his reach would not survive, so we needed a tree that would fit on top of our table. With that in mind, we went with some friends to cut down our own tree.

Will loves Seth.

And we all took turns taking cutout pictures.

The little 4 foot ones looked so scrawny, so we had pretty much given up. Luckily Seth and Sonomi found us the perfect tree on their way home from our unsuccessful tree trip. Yay! Will was a big helper getting it in the tree stand.

It was a perfect fit.

With that, it was on to decorating.

Our first family tree was complete!

Christmas Adventures

We also had some fun adventures with Seth and Sonomi (we're lucky to know them!)

First we went to Seattle. They had enormous gingerbread houses in a hotel downtown (including a Seattle-ized Jack and the Beanstalk and a really neat ship)...

 

...and we stopped by the market while we were there. Boy, was that ergo-carrier handy!

We also got the chance to see "Wild Lights," where the Seattle zoo was decorated for the holiday. It was incredibly cold, so Will was really bundled up.

Family Visits

Alexa's family came to visit starting Christmas day, and we had all kinds of fun - eating out, feeding ducks (pancakes... evidently, ducks love pancakes), seeing The Hobbit, finding a hobbit house in the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, celebrating Grammy's 90th birthday party, and playing with Will.

(This is Will playing with Grandma and one of his Christmas presents - colorful straws!)

We even got a little snow! Will loved it so much that we had a hard time getting a shot with his face in it.

The season wouldn't have been complete without an ugly sweater party!

We had fun reading Christmas books and playing with our new (kid-friendly) nativity from Grandma and Grandpa Larsen.

Will got some fun gifts from Santa. Yes, that is a pink stroller. He adored a stroller during our November CA visit, and he loves pushing his baby around in this one.

"I freaking love this stroller!"

It was a wonderful Christmas! A great season to spend with family and remember the Savior.

A Boy and His Baby - Part 2

Will has definitely hit the terrible twos now. There is a lot of whining, stomping, yelling, screaming, tantrum throwing, and "No!" saying. It is sad and exhausting. I am hoping that my sweet little boy is still in there somewhere. And (sometimes) I think he is.

He is always sweet to his baby. He takes such good care of her.

He likes to put the baby in baskets and carry her around.

He also rocks the basket while saying, "Rock, rock. Rock, rock."

He gives her his binkies (and sometimes even a snack).

He gives her kisses.

For Christmas, he even got a baby stroller. It was very exciting!

He really does have some very sweet moments - I just have to hold on to those and savor them!!