Stowellzone

Every year we have a Christmas party with some friends and it’s always a blast when we get together!  The kids love playing together and we have them at the Platinum building and they just run wild.  Of course the adults always have fun together, too!  We always have lots of yummy food and have a white elephant gift exchange for both the kids and the adults.  Then there’s usually a craft or something for the kids to do and then they watch a movie while the adults play a game or talk.  It’s always a great time!

Kids Gifts

I didn’t get a picture of our gift…we started out with some expired food storage, lol, but ended up with a game

The Craft

The movie (few kids aren’t pictured)

The running

We went to Lynndyl on Christmas Eve for the annual family party.  It wasn’t quite the same because everyone was still in shock over losing Wendell and it was first Christmas without him or Grandma, but it was nice to visit with everyone.  Jodi brought some crafts for the kids to do but really me and Jodi did them, lol!   The kids each got a present out of the Christmas pie!

This isn’t the best picture, but Kinley found some new friends who loved to play with her (very nice for me!) and by the end of the holidays, she was talking about playing with Saydee.  They couldn’t get her to say Shyanne. although they tried hard!

We decided one day to go to the zoo and see the zoo lights.  We called both our parents to see if they wanted to come up, but Ethan had wrestling so Jeremy’s couldn’t make it.   My parents climbed in the car though and made their way up here.  The parking lot was packed when we got there, but inside it didn’t seem crowded at all.  It was pretty cold, but the kids held up well and had a great time!  Yes, that is a rug burn on Mason’s nose, we are not sure how it got there, he said it happened on the couch downstairs.

Don’t ask me what he’s doing

Indoor animals

A cool tiger

On the carousel(yes I know, not the best pictures)

On the way home with the new elephant swords

We got some very sad new right before Christmas that Jeremy’s Uncle Wendell had been killed in plane crash.  He was an avid sky diver, who had completed over 3800 jumps, and had done one jump on the morning of December 18th and was going up for a second when the plane, that was about 200-300 feet in the air, suddenly stopped and came down.  There were 5 people aboard and 2 walked away, but Wendell and 2 others were killed.  While I’ve been married to Jeremy, we’ve only seen Wendell and Sandra during Christmas time over the 10 years, but during that short time, I learned that he was the most kindest, sweetest man I had every met.  He always gave you his complete attention while you were talking and was always genuinely interested in everything going on in the family.  He will be so missed and I feel very blessed for the short time I got to know him!

The sibling, besides poor Doug who had just had back surgery, flew to Louisiana for the funeral.  They learned just how many people loved Wendell.  During Christmas and New Years we had a very nice service in Delta.  It was really nice for those of us who couldn’t go to Louisiana.  Everyone wrote a message to him on a balloon and then we let them fly in the Blue Sky.  It was incredible hear all the stories about him and the great life he lived.

While we were in Delta over Thanksgiving, we went to the light parade then went to see Santa.  Mason was so excited, he really wanted a certain toy, Stinky the Garbage Truck, so he couldn’t wait to tell Santa.  The previous years, he wasn’t too sure about Santa, but this year he jumped right up on his lap and told him right what he wanted.  He told us he was going to ask for Stinky and all 3 Toy Story movies, then he was pretty upset when he realized he forgot to ask for the movies!  I knew he was also going to come and visit and his preschool so I told him he could tell him then.

Kinley was a different story

She is pretty funny because she says hi to everyone and I mean everyone when we are at the store, and gets mad and yells hi at them until they look and say hi back, lol, but she also can be really shy.  Today, she was shy.

After Santa, we went back to my parent’s for a little party for Kinley.  It was a little late because my Dad had to work late and we couldn’t have the party without him!  But she was pretty tired by the time we got everything going.  It was pretty simple, just cake and ice cream and opening presents.  She loves Minnie Mouse, so I made her a Minnie cake.  I worked really hard to make it Minnie, made sure there was a bow and eye lashes, but she broke my heart and said “Mickey” when she saw it!

You could tell she was tired because she didn’t devour the cake.  She still ate it though!

She LOVES dogs so when my parents got her this Go, Go, My Walking Pup, I knew it would be a hit.  At first she was a little scared of it, but by the next day, she was packing it around everywhere.  She doesn’t “walk” it very good, but so loves it to pieces and carries it everywhere and is always petting and talking to it and putting “treats” in it’s mouth.

And a few more fun toys and clothes.

I still can’t believe my little girl is 2 already!!  Its seems just yesterday that we brought her home!  We are so blessed to have her in our family, she really adds a whole new dimension to it.  Here is a little update on McKinley.

Currently, she weighs 25 lbs and is 34 in. tall.  That puts her in the 28th percentile for weight and the 55th percentile for height.  She is generally a pretty happy little girl, but definitely a girl with an attitude and a girl who knows what she wants.  We have had an eye opener when it comes to emotions with her.  Mason was generally a pretty level headed kid, but this one…she can go from happy as can be, to her world has ended in a matter of seconds.  She definitely takes charge and kind of runs all over Mason, who is just too nice to do anything to hurt her or make her sad.  She likes to pick on him and do things to get a rise out of him (like take his toy and run away), but she always gives it right back if he gets too upset (or we get mad at her, haha).  She loves sweets more than anything!!  She is always wanting something sweet and once she gets it, she doesn’t like to share it and if she thinks she can get another one, she shoves it into her mouth as fast as she can to make sure.   She’s been a fairly picky eater, but lately is starting to do better and if she doesn’t like something, she’ll just hold really still with it in her mouth until I get something for her to spit it out in!  It’s pretty funny.  She doesn’t like to be dirty or have anything “gross” on her.  She is terrified of any kind of bug or anything that looks like it might be a bug.  Apparently she is scared of mice, too, because my mom gave the kids rubber mice for Halloween and she still doesn’t like it near her, but she used to cry and run away if she saw it.  Just recently, too, she started being girly!!  I was getting kind of nervous because she loved playing with cars and trucks like Mason, didn’t want ANYTHING on or in her hair, and could care less about girl things.  Then almost over night she wants flowers (or pretties as she calls them) in her hair all the time, wants to wear her dresses all the time, and can’t put down the princess dolls.  She wears her church shoes all the time (cause they’re pretty) and always has to have necklaces on.  She does still like play with cars, though, but that’s ok!  Sher loves her big brother so much and copies everything he does!  She has a hard time saying Mason for some reason.  At first, she’d only call him “brother” or mix up her letters and call him “Manus”, lol, but now she just calls him Buddy, it is really cute.  She hates to be cold, but loves to be outside.  She has the sweetest laugh and gives the world’s best hugs.  She always wants to hug and “give squeezes” and does just that, she squeezes so tight!  She is still a mommy’s girl, but she loves her Daddy and is always so excited when he gets home from work everyday.  She has her Dad wrapped around her finger pretty tight!  She also has a sweet little voice and as I’m typing this, she is playing behind me with her two little dolls and having them talk back and forth.  She is probably ready to be potty trained, but mom is struggling to get on the same page.  I’m having a hard time with her growing up.  With Mason, I was always ready for the next step and excited, but I don’t want to her to grow up!  She talks all the time and says more and more sentences every day.  Our family wouldn’t be completed without her and we are so blessed she is in our family!